Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
ICE is quietly pulling back on vehicle stops in response to widespread protests against agents killing two people in less than a week. Tesla CEO Elon Musk may soon face criminal charges in Wisconsin after election officials found probable cause that he violated the state’s bribery laws. American soccer star Folarin Balogun is speaking out about how Donald Trump’s phone call to FIFA’s president threw his Team USA into chaos right before its match against Belgium. And Mitch McConnell’s hospital stay is putting the Senate’s farm bill in serious jeopardy, with Republicans short on votes and time running out before the August recess.
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ICE Pauses Vehicle Stops in Response to Massive Protests Over 2 Shootings
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is now instructing its agents to pull back on most vehicle stops nationwide. This comes right after ICE agents killed two people in a single week.
In Texas, agents shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who’d lived in Houston for more than 30 years. He was driving to work with three passengers in the car. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later admitted Salgado Araujo wasn’t even who they were looking for.
Then in Biddeford, Maine this week, agents shot and killed a 26 year-old Colombian man named Joan Sebastian Guerrero, again during a vehicle stop. And similar to last week’s deadly shooting, the DHS couldn’t even say clearly whether he was their intended target.
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who’s up for reelection this year, called for a stop to non-urgent vehicle stops. But local protesters are pointing out that Collins personally voted to give ICE $70 billion in funding just last month.
Federal officials claim both men tried to flee. They have yet to release any video to back up that assertion. That matters specifically because in other ICE shootings, video eventually surfaced that completely contradicted the official story. One of those cases, involving an agent who shot a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis, has now led to actual state criminal charges against that agent.
At least 22 people have been shot at by federal agents since Trump’s second term began last year. Six people are dead, three of them U.S. citizens. This is a pattern, and the calls for accountability are growing louder and more frequent.
Elon Musk May Be Criminally Charged with Election Fraud in Wisconsin
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk may finally face legal consequences for allegedly trying to buy an election. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Wisconsin Elections Commission recently voted 5 to 1 to refer two complaints against Musk to the Brown County District Attorney. The commission found probable cause that Musk broke the state’s election bribery law.
Lst spring, you may remember how Musk handed out million-dollar checks to Wisconsin voters trying to help conservative Brad Schimel win a state Supreme Court race. He also paid people $100 each to sign a petition tied to the race. All told, Musk poured at least $20 million into that election, making it the most expensive judicial race in American history.
The centibillionaire originally posted on his social media platform that he’d give away a million dollars to people who’d voted in the race. Once election experts and Democrats pointed out that sounded like bribery, he deleted the post and reworded it.
Ultimately, Musk’s money didn’t matter. Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate in the race, ended up beating Schimel by double digits anyway.
The Brown County District Attorney’s Office now has 40 days to decide whether to actually prosecute Musk. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is also facing a separate lawsuit from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign trying to stop him from pulling this stunt again. Musk may be the richest man in the world, but even a man of his immense wealth may have to answer in court for allegedly trying to buy a state Supreme Court seat.
US Soccer Star Reveals How Trump Destabilized Team USA’s Morale
American soccer player Folarin Balogun scored three goals to help the U.S. reach the round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup. But he almost didn’t get the chance to compete against Belgium for a spot in the quarterfinals, because he’d been hit with a red card suspension.
Trump bragged about personally called FIFA president Gianni Infantino to get Balogun’s suspension overturned. Trump later admitted he didn’t even know what a red card was before all this happened. But FIFA gave in, Balogun’s suspension got reversed, and the whole thing became a global story.
Balogun is now telling his story of how the controversy rattled his teammates right before their biggest game. The 24 year-old said he “could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves,” and added it was difficult to block out the noise from Trump’s interference. The U.S. lost to Belgium in 4-1 rout. Belgium’s players went on to mock Trump’s dance moves both on the field and in the locker room. Their team account posted a two word response to Trump’s complaints: “Overturn this.”
The White House’s own World Cup task force director even admitted the saga “potentially” distracted the team. A human rights group has now filed a complaint with the International Olympic Committee accusing Infantino of caving to political pressure. Trump turned what he hoped would have been a glorious moment into a scandal that ended Team USA’s World Cup hopes.
Mitch McConnell’s Absence Jeopardizes Must-Pass Legislation
84 year-old Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s health is now complicating the fate of the farm bill. Kentucky’s senior U.S. senator has been in the hospital for more than a month: first for a fall, then for what he referred to in a statement as a mild case of pneumonia. He says he intends to come back, but has yet to give a timeline for his return.
Without McConnell’s vote, Senate Republicans won’t have the votes to move the farm bill out of committee on a party-line vote. Agriculture Chair John Boozman of Arkansas said he’s still hoping for a markup before senators leave for the August recess, but he added McConnell’s absence isn’t the only obstacle. Democrats are refusing to support the bill unless it delays new burdens imposed on states for paying for food stamp benefits — which used to be 100 percent covered by the federal government until the One Big Beautiful Bill Act became law last year. Republicans won’t consider it.
While McConnell’s health continues to dominate the headlines, farmers are increasingly desperate for billions in promised aid. Congress has mulled attaching that aid package to whatever legislation has the best chance of passing, whether that’s the farm bill, a Pentagon funding package, or something else entirely. As Boozman put it, farmers need help now, not later. But with one senator sidelined and Washington gridlocked, cash-strapped farmers may have to wait a little longer.
That’s your Tuesday evening rundown. ICE is in retreat mode after a wave of protests over its agents killing people, Elon Musk may find himself charged with election crimes in Wisconsin, Trump is being accused of derailing Team USA’s World Cup dreams, and help for American farmers may hinge on the health of an 84 year-old senator who’s been hospitalized since mid-June. The pro-Trump billionaires who own the major networks won’t cover these stories honestly. This is exactly why we need independent media, and why Raw America will never take on a billionaire backer or corporate advertisers. But that model only works if enough readers chip in to keep this work going. If you’ve been reading our newsletters on a free subscription, make today the day you upgrade to a paying one. Your support keeps all of this going.
Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris. We’ll see you tomorrow.
Here are a few stories you may have missed:
Trump’s Virginia Golf Club Has Pest Problem. A June 30 health inspection at the Trump National Golf Club in Loudoun County, Virginia found a “large quantity” of flies near the employee restrooms. Inspectors also found various perishable food items stored at temperatures too high to be considered safe for consumption, including blue cheese, sausage links, sausage patties and pasta. Trump’s golf resort in New York’s Hudson Valley received similarly poor marks from health inspectors earlier this year.
Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna Redouble Efforts to Strip Pro-Israel Provision from Military Funding Bill. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) are joining forces once again on an amendment to remove Section 219 from the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). That amendment significantly increases U.S. military commitment to Israel, which Military.com reports would involve appointing an official responsible for “coordinating joint research, testing, weapons development, technology integration and industrial cooperation” between the U.S. States and Israel. Massie stated that he wouldn’t support billing U.S. taxpayers for “genocide.”
28 Year-Old Man Killed By Semi Truck After Fleeing ICE Agents in Florida. ICE has now been involved in a third death this week, this time in St. Augustine, Florida. The Miami Herald reported that a 28 year-old man was killed Tuesday morning after being hit by a truck while he was running away from ICE agents. The driver of the truck attempted to render first aid, but the man ultimately succumbed to his injuries. The man’s name and immigration status remain unknown, along with his nationality.
