Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America. If you’re watching this on Substack, help us get these stories in front of more people by clicking the ❤️ and tapping the restack icon. Those two clicks help more than you know.
Today, a White House insider tells Raw America that Donald Trump’s administration is in “full panic mode” over an upcoming documentary produced by a former Trump administration official. The president is also now defending Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic challenger Amy Acton, despite the ad being widely condemned by both Republicans and Democrats. The president has been threatening to withhold federal disaster relief, compensation for veterans and other federal money to various states if their voters elect Democrats on November 3. And the Department of Justice is now reportedly investigating former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski for allegedly using his role as former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s de facto chief of staff to cash in.
One more thing before the news: we’re aiming to grow our newsroom to be able to compete with the billionaires next year, but that can only happen with your help. As you’ll read below, Raw America’s White House correspondent, Brian Karem, has his ear on the ground and is working his sources within the administration to paint a fuller picture of what’s happening behind the scenes. Our Capitol reporter, Luke De Cresce, is developing his own sources in the House and Senate so we can bring you the stories the billionaire-owned outlets won’t cover.
Be sure to catch our interview with Kentucky’s Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Charles Booker tomorrow at 12 PM ET ! You can watch it live on our homepage at RawAmerica.com.
Trump Insider Says White House Currently in “Full Panic Mode” Over New Documentary
One source inside President Donald Trump’s administration confided that the White House is in “full panic mode” ahead of the release of a documentary produced by a former Trump administration official.
Miles Taylor — who was chief of staff in the president’s first-term Homeland Security Department before becoming a whistleblower — said he’s releasing the film next week through his website Defiance.org to show “what Trump has turned Washington into.”
“[Taylor] potentially has information that the president wouldn’t want people to see,” the White House official told Raw America’s Brian Karem. “... We’re anticipating the worst.”
Trump has also recently lashed out at journalists, telling The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg that he’d “better be careful” after asking him a question. The president later had Feinberg removed from the White House travel pool. Feinberg told Raw America that the move “felt like a brushback pitch,” referring to a baseball thrown high and tight near a batter to scare them away from home plate.
Other administration sources attributed the chaotic atmosphere in the White House to the president’s enabling of senior officials like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. Olivia Troye, who was a national security and counterterrorism advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence, called Miller a “horrible human being.”
“I think he is someone who has gone all in down the rabbit hole on extremism,” Troye said. “And I think in his mind, there would be no migrants, immigrants or any mixed race in our country.”
Other sources inside both the FBI and the Department of Justice have said they’re facing internal pressure to suppress votes ahead of the midterms and are “looking for a way out.” Naomi Seligman, who is president of whistbloweraid.org, encouraged those with information to come forward and said her organization “would be happy to talk with any or all of these folks, if they are interested.”
Trump Defends Ad Featuring Democrat’s Estranged Mother Despite Bipartisan Backlash
In Ohio, Trump is now officially defending one of the ugliest political ads of this cycle, if not this century. In a Thursday Truth Social post, the president defended a commercial produced by Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as “very powerful.” The ad featured Donna Arthur, who is the estranged mother of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton.
Arthur said in the ad that her daughter has “lied her entire life” and that she shouldn’t hold office. Trump wrote: “anybody whose mother spoke about a daughter in that way would normally lead to the daughter being precluded from serving in Office, let alone the Office of Governor,” in his signature style of oddly placed capital letters.
The ad leaves out important context. Acton’s stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was criminally charged with raping her when she was just a child. Acton’s mother stayed married to him despite her husband assaulting her daughter. The two fled the state after he was released on bond, and he stayed on the lam until he died in 2004. Acton said she hasn’t seen or spoken to her mother since she was 12 years old.
The backlash has come from both sides of the political aisle. Two-term Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine called Ramaswamy’s ad “deeply, deeply troubling.” Former Republican Senator Rob Portman told Politico the spot “crosses the line.” Trump dismissed the criticism, arguing DeWine “probably wants a Dumocrat to win” and said Ramaswamy should keep the ad on the air.
Ramaswamy’s campaign has reportedly committed another $4 million to the ad in the final weeks of the campaign cycle. Acton said the spot was tantamount to exploitation, adding that her mother “is not well.” Acton’s brother, Philip Stearns, told The New York Times that Donna Arthur “stayed married to Amy’s rapist until he died.”
Here’s Everything Trump Is Threatening to Hold Hostage if GOP Loses Midterms
The midterms are less than two weeks away, and Trump’s approval rating has plummeted to a record-low 36 percent according to the latest New York Times/Siena College poll. As desperation sets in, the president’s pitch to voters is sounding more like a shakedown every day.
During a recent rally in Gastonia, North Carolina on behalf of Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley, Trump said that if he loses to Democrat Roy Cooper, he may not send the remainder of the Tar Heel State’s pending Hurricane Helene relief funds. He reassured the crowd he was joking, but Democratic North Carolina Governor Josh Stein said that was “no way to run a country.”
A few days later in Greenville, North Carolina, Trump dangled the threat of withholding compensation for veterans from Camp Lejeune who were suffering health problems from contaminated water if Republicans didn’t win. And unlike his Gastonia comment, he didn’t couch his remarks in humor when he said “if we don’t win, there’s no money.” That’s a significant threat, as more than one million Marines, family members and civilian employees at Camp Lejeune were exposed to the toxic water between 1953 and 1987.
Over in Kansas, Trump promised year-round sales of E15 fuel, but conditioned it on whether Republican Senator Roger Marshall prevailed on November 3 against Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton. A spokesperson for the Hamilton campaign likened the president’s remarks to “blackmailing Kansans for our votes.” Trump also hinted that he wouldn’t send federal money to Ohio if Amy Acton is elected governor. And we all remember when he suggested he’d send every American adult a check for $5,000 if the GOP keeps its majorities in Congress. Moody’s economist Mark Zandi told Newsweek that offer “appears highly unlikely” to ever materialize.
Trump’s Former Campaign Manager Reportedly Under Federal Corruption Investigation
Our final story today is about Corey Lewandowski, who was Donald Trump’s campaign manager for his first White House run back in 2016. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is now investigating Lewandowski over claims that he leveraged his top post at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a money-making opportunity.
The investigation sprung out of a referral from the DHS’ inspector general. It’s the first publicly known example of the president’s second-term DOJ looking into someone who was once in Trump’s inner circle.
Lewandowski was a senior advisor to Kristi Noem when she led the DHS earlier this year, before both she and Lewandowski resigned in March amid heightened public scrutiny over excessive spending. While Lewandowski was working in Noem’s office an unpaid special government employee, he or his associates signed off on nearly every expenditure in excess of $100,000. DHS’ internal watchdog office found evidence he Lewandowski have been involved in improperly awarding contracts to friends and business contacts.
Lewandowski maintains he didn’t do anything illegal. Still, the Journal pointed out that Trump’s Justice Department has so far mostly focused its resources on hounding the president’s critics and reduced its renowned public corruption unit to just two prosecutors. Lewandowski has reportedly told people he expects Trump to pardon him if he’s ever formally charged, though his lawyer made sure to dispute that.
Support Media That Doesn’t Take Orders from a Billionaire
While Bari Weiss is driving CBS into the ground and CNN reporters are resigning in anticipation of David Ellison bringing in Weiss to do the same there, Raw America is doubling down on our commitment to provide you with the unfiltered truth not watered down by a billionaire owner with a Mar-a-Lago membership. We say this a lot, but it bears repeating: we don’t have a wealthy benefactor with a bottomless bank account keeping us afloat. We have you.
I’m British Chris. Thanks for watching, and thanks for supporting independent journalism. If you haven’t already, please help us break through the algorithm by tapping the ❤️ and clicking restack. And be sure to watch our live interview with Kentucky Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Charles Booker tomorrow at 12 PM ET.
