Good evening. I’m British Chris, and you’re watching Raw America.
ABC is fighting back against Trump’s FCC in a First Amendment battle. Trump’s adult sons are quietly building a billion-dollar empire in industries their father is expanding. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s fiancé just quit his job as a White House correspondent after Trump publicly insulted her. And the Iran war that was supposed to be “another Venezuela” has turned into a quagmire that’s draining Trump’s patience. Let’s get into it.
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ABC and Disney Sue Trump’s FCC
ABC is accusing the Federal Communications Commission of violating its First Amendment rights in a new lawsuit, and the filing they submitted this week is pretty remarkable.
The network is asking the FCC to reaffirm its long-standing approach to the “bona fide news interview exemption” that protects shows like The View from equal-airtime requirements for political candidates. ABC says a series of recent FCC actions amount to “major shifts in policy and practice” that need to be reviewed by the full Commission and the courts.
What’s driving this? The FCC has been trying to reverse an earlier finding that The View qualifies as a legitimate news program. They’ve also asked Disney to file its broadcast license renewals early, right in the middle of an investigation into the company’s DEI policies. ABC isn’t buying the idea that those things are coincidental, saying the FCC is using license applications to “chill core First Amendment-protected speech for years and potentially decades to come.”
ABC’s lawsuit is a stunning about-face, considering the company paid $15 million to settle Trump’s defamation lawsuit over George Stephanopoulos’ on-air comments. The network also briefly pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! when the FCC threatened Disney’s broadcast licenses over a joke Kimmel made on his show.
The network seems prepared to fight. The filing was signed by Paul Clement, a former solicitor general under George W. Bush and one of the most prominent Supreme Court litigators in the country. This isn’t going away quietly.
Trump’s Sons’ Plan to Cash in On His Presidency Revealed
Since Trump’s second term started last year, his sons have been quietly building what amounts to a billion-dollar investment portfolio in sectors the White House is pushing.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. have both put personal money into investments managed by Dominari Holdings, a brokerage with offices inside Trump Tower. That firm, through an arm called American Ventures, has steered roughly $1 billion into about two dozen smaller publicly traded companies. The industries include things the Trump administration has championed, like AI, cryptocurrency, and drone manufacturing.
The two brothers hold roughly 12 percent of Dominari collectively. Their spokespeople describe them as “passive” investors with no operational role and no contact with federal agencies. But critics aren’t buying it.
Democrat Jamie Raskin called the family’s commercial activity “emblematic of a Trump family self-enrichment plan.” And Democrat Robert Garcia said these kinds of ventures “signal to foreign entities that our institutions are for sale.”
The timing of all of this is highly suspect. Before the 2024 election, Eric and Don Jr. were each worth an estimated $40 to $50 million. Forbes now puts Eric at around $400 million and Don Jr. at roughly $300 million. The president himself has gone from $3.9 billion to $7.3 billion in a single year. And we made Jimmy Carter sell his peanut farm.
MTG’s Fiancé Quits White House Reporter Job After Trump’s Latest Attack
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s fiancé, Brian Glenn, announced this week that he’s leaving his job as a White House correspondent for MAGA outlet Real America’s Voice.
Glenn had been covering Trump for years, describing himself as something of “the MAGA mouthpiece” for the America First agenda. But things got awkward last week when Trump, with Glenn right there in the Oval Office, said: “I love this guy. He’s a great guy, even though I don’t love his girlfriend too much.”
Greene and Trump have had a falling out over a few things, including the handling of the Epstein files, which Greene has been pushing for full transparency on, and the Iran war, which she’s been openly critical of. She left Congress in January after Trump endorsed her primary opponent, announcing she wouldn’t seek reelection.
Glenn says he and Greene are planning to get married by the end of the year. His soon-to-be-wife is rumored to be a potential 2028 presidential candidate, running in a primary against, possibly, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Keep an eye on her, she’s not done.
Trump Is ‘Bored’ with Iran War and Can’t Figure Out How To End It
Trump told us Iran war would be quick. He told staff it would be “another Venezuela,” a fast, decisive show of American military power. But now he’s bogged down, unable to find a quick off-ramp, and has become bored with the whole ordeal.
The initial U.S.-Israeli operation killed Iran’s supreme leader and reportedly devastated much of the country’s missile capabilities. But Iran didn’t collapse. Instead, it attacked Persian Gulf neighbors, seized control of the Strait of Hormuz, and effectively shut down a waterway that carries about 20 percent of the world’s oil, causing energy prices to skyrocket.
Trump’s been extending cease-fire deadlines, issuing threats he doesn’t follow through on, and trying to get Iran to the negotiating table. So far, none of it is working. The one-page memorandum of understanding his team put forward is sitting unanswered in Tehran. A formal negotiating round led by Vice President Vance ended without a deal. A follow-up session never happened.
Behind the scenes, Trump is reportedly frustrated by Iran’s refusal to budge, while Republicans are watching gas prices climb and poll numbers fall. And the war is making Republicans’ chances of staying in power after November more unlikely every day it drags on.
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I’m British Chris, with Raw America. Thanks for watching. We’ll see you next week.
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
MAGA Pastors Insist Giant Gold Statue of Trump Isn’t a False Idol. A new 22-foot gold-plated statue of President Donald Trump was recently unveiled at his Miami-area golf resort. During the dedication ceremony, Pastor Mark Burns — who helped organize the building of the statue — made sure to emphasize that the giant statue of the president wasn’t a “golden calf.” The statue’s construction was funded by a cryptocurrency group, which launched the project in the wake of the July 2024 attempt on Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump’s Former Counterterrorism Chief Insists Iran ‘Wasn’t Developing a Nuclear Weapon.’ Joe Kent, who served as Trump’s National Counterterrorism Center director before resigning in protest of the Iran War, recently confirmed that the Islamic republic had no nuclear weapons-related plans prior to the initial February 28 strikes. Kent based his conclusion on findings from the U.S. intelligence community, which agreed that the most likely outcome from attacking Iran was the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and counterattacks on American bases in the region.
Top House Democrat Says Party Will Go ‘All In’ on 2028 After Virginia Ruling. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is doubling down on redistricting in blue states after the Virginia Supreme Court on Friday invalidated the voter-approved redistricting plan that favored Democrats. Jeffries told CNN that Democrats’ response to Virginia would be to go “all in” on the 2028 election by passing new maps in Democratic-controlled states like Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and Washington state that would give Democrats an additional edge. Jeffries argued such a move was necessary after the Supreme Court paved the way for Southern states to erase majority-Black congressional districts with last week’s Louisiana v. Callais decision that significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Trump Administration Proposes U.S.P.S. Rule Allowing Shipment of Handguns. Americans may soon be able to mail handguns across the country, if a new Trump administration proposal for the U.S. Postal Service takes effect. The rule would overturn a longstanding policy put in place in 1927 prohibiting the mailing of handguns in an attempt to deter crime. In January, the Department of Justice described the rule as “unconstitutional” and argued it violated the Second Amendment. Democratic attorneys general from two dozen states have co-signed a letter in opposition to the proposal.
Melania Trump Blasted Over Mothers’ Day Op-Ed in Bezos’ Washington Post. First Lady Melania Trump published a Washington Post op-ed on Friday commemorating American mothers as “first teachers of empathy, aspiration and discipline” while attacking feminism for “plac[ing] career above family, with consequences to our nation.” The comments section of the article was full of criticism of the first lady, with one reader calling her a “disgrace” for living “a life of excess and materialism” while calling on moms “who work two or three” jobs to be more present at home. Another commenter noted: “Your husband compared a reporter to a female dog the other day.”
