Good evening, and welcome to Raw America. I’m British Chris.
The Trump administration is about to pay Iran an enormous sum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. MAGA is increasingly doubtful that the attempt on Trump’s life in Pennsylvania was real. A judge Trump appointed is shutting down his administration’s voter data grab. And Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyer is betting that Trump will pardon his client. Let’s get into it.
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Trump May Offer $20 Billion to Iran to End War
The Trump administration is working on a deal that would have Iran surrender its stockpile of enriched uranium in exchange for roughly $20 billion in previously frozen assets.
That’s a significant concession from Trump, who has been looking for a way to end his war as gas prices skyrocket and the November midterms draw ever closer.
Here’s what’s actually on the table. Iran is sitting on nearly 2,000 kilograms of enriched uranium, It’s not weapons-grade, but it’s close. The U.S. wants it shipped out of the country entirely. Iran has pushed back, preferring to “down-blend” it under international monitoring. The current compromise would send some of it to a third country and down-blend the rest.
The moratorium on enrichment is another sticking point. The U.S. started by demanding 20 years. Iran countered with five. They haven’t bridged that gap yet.
After the story broke, Trump posted on Truth Social that “no money will change hands,” though he didn’t specifically address the idea of unfreezing Iranian assets. That’s a pretty notable omission.
There are hawks on both sides who want this to fail. And some in Washington are already comparing any deal to Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement that only gave Iran $1.7 billion, which Trump spent years attacking.
MAGA Increasingly Believes Trump’s Assassination Attempt Was Staged
Something unusual is happening inside Trump’s base. A growing number of MAGA figures, including some who were once among Trump’s most loyal supporters, are starting to publicly entertain the idea that the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, was staged.
This didn’t come out of nowhere. It started after Trump’s former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who resigned over the Iran war, went on Tucker Carlson’s show and suggested that investigations into the shooting had been shut down prematurely.
A Texas delegate from the 2024 Republican National Convention posted on X that Trump “has shown no interest in investigating what really happened.” She noted that Trump rarely mentions it anymore.
Comedian Tim Dillon, who had JD Vance on his podcast, said he thinks “maybe it was staged.” Candace Owens, who has completely broken with Trump, claimed billionaire Republican donor Miriam Adelson was behind the attempt because Trump hadn’t followed through on promises related to Israel. And Ali Alexander, the Stop the Steal architect, wrote on Telegram that the attempt was a sign Trump is the Antichrist, citing the Book of Revelation.
This is what a coalition looks like when it starts to fall apart.
Trump’s decision to enter the Iran war, his attacks on the Catholic Church, and recent remarks that seemed to compare himself to Jesus Christ have all created real cracks. These aren’t just fringe voices anymore. They’re Republican convention delegates and former administration officials.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s Lawyer Expects Trump Pardon
Even though Ghislaine Maxwell is a convicted child sex trafficker serving a 20 year prison sentence, her attorney, David Oscar Markus, is confident that Trump will eventually pardon her.
Markus is playing a central role in Maxwell’s communication with senior Justice Department officials, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is also Trump’s former personal criminal defense lawyer.
Last July, Blanche personally traveled to Tallahassee to meet with Maxwell for two days. She was granted limited immunity for the meeting. Afterward, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security facility in Texas, where Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes is also housed. Democratic lawmakers questioned whether that transfer was a reward.
Maxwell has not yet been granted clemency, and Markus says now isn’t the right time to push hard for it given the political firestorm over the Epstein files. Congress is still investigating. Former AG Pam Bondi was pushed out in part because of how badly the administration handled the release of those files.
But Markus doesn’t hide his optimism. Asked about the chances of a pardon, he said: “There’s a good chance and for good reason that she would get a pardon.”
That’s a remarkable statement about someone convicted of sex trafficking a minor.
Trump-Appointed Judge Shuts Down His Attempt to Seize Voter Data
A federal judge appointed by Trump during his first term has ruled against the Trump administration’s effort to obtain detailed voter registration data from Rhode Island.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy, who Trump appointed to the bench in 2019, sided with state election officials and civil rights groups, writing that the Justice Department was attempting a “fishing expedition” that federal election law simply doesn’t permit.
The administration had been seeking unredacted voter data, including birth dates, home addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers. DOJ lawyers acknowledged in court filings that the data would be shared with the Department of Homeland Security to check voters’ citizenship status.
Judge McElroy found that the federal government hadn’t even alleged that Rhode Island was failing to comply with voter list maintenance requirements.
This isn’t an isolated ruling. Courts in California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Oregon have all rejected similar lawsuits. A judge in Georgia dismissed a related case on procedural grounds.
The administration says it needs the data to ensure election integrity. State officials from both parties, along with privacy advocates, say the real goal is to build a federal surveillance database of American voters. That’s worth watching closely.
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I’m British Chris, with Raw America. Thanks for watching. See you next week.
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Senate Republicans Beg Trump to End Iran War as Oil Prices Skyrocket. Republicans in the U.S. Senate are fearing backlash in the November midterm elections unless President Donald Trump finds a way to quickly end his war with Iran. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she’s working on legislation to authorize a use of military force as a means of having Congress dictate how and when Trump could deploy troops in Iran. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said he’s eagerly awaiting an “exit strategy” from the White House, adding that “the clock is ticking” to lower gas prices before voters decide which party controls Congress this fall.
Caitlyn Jenner Complains About Trump Administration Forcing Passport Change. Conservative commentator Caitlyn Jenner — who is a transgender woman — recently lamented about the Trump’s administration forcing a change on the gender marker on her passport. Jenner, who has identified as a woman since 2015, was a stalwart supporter of Trump’s 2024 campaign in which he promised to crack down on transgender rights, called the change a “safety factor” and complained that she could no longer travel internationally.
Restaurants Push for Immigration Reform After Mass Deportation of Workers. A coalition of restaurant owners in Texas are now advocating for Congress to take up comprehensive immigration reform. The push comes amid thousands of Texas restaurant workers being deported by the Trump administration. Kelsey Erickson Streufert, who is the chief public affairs officer at the Texas Restaurant Association, told the New York Times that “the vast majority of Americans recognize that there is a large group of undocumented immigrants who have been literally keeping food on our tables.”
Trump Snubbing Former Official’s Birthday Party at Mar-a-Lago. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) — who was White House physician during Trump’s first term — is holding his upcoming birthday party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. However, despite him going through the trouble of booking the venue, Trump won’t be there. The president announced he would be missing his former doctor’s party to speak at a Turning Point USA event in Arizona. Jackson’s tenure as White House physician was marred by a scandal in which he provided easy access to prescription pills to White House staff, which ultimately cost him both his job and an appointment to lead the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.
Satire TurboTax Site Tells You How Your Tax Dollars Fuel Big Oil Subsidies. A new satirical website dubbed “TrumpoTax” is educating Americans on how their tax dollars are being funneled to Big Oil. The group United to End Polluter Handouts (UTEPH) is behind the effort, which includes sample questions like: “How many new oil wells did you drill this year?” And “do you operate your pipelines through a master limited partnership?” The site reminds users that Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” created $40 billion in new subsidies for the oil and gas industries.
