Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America. Before we get into the news, take a few seconds to click the ❤️ and hit restack. That’s how we break through and reach the people who really need to read these stories.
Here’s what’s going on: House Republicans canceled votes and left town early, and one GOP leadership source is telling Raw America that it’s specifically to avoid having to vote on a resolution to impeach Pete Hegseth. The man Donald Trump put in charge of the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates just raised them due to Trump’s policies. The president’s own base is now turning on him over his embrace of AI data centers. And a Republican senator is now openly blaming the Trump administration for people dying of measles.
But first, a quick ask: the Trump White House is censoring us and we need your help. We’ve learned that our White House reporter, Brian Karem, has been blocked from accessing the White House despite having a valid pass and covering every president since Reagan. We’re clearly getting under Trump’s skin. But because we have no billionaire backer, we’re counting on readers like you to chip in so we have the resources to fight back. Subscribe for just 22 cents a day to help keep us in the fight.
Thanks to our paying subscribers, we’re bringing you another original report from Washington, which you can read just below. And tomorrow at 1 PM ET, we’re bringing you another exclusive live interview, this time with former Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Conor Lamb. Watch it live in our homepage at RawAmerica.com.
SCOOP: GOP Source Confirms Republicans Skipped Town to Avoid Hegseth Impeachment Vote
The House of Representatives has officially packed up and left Washington until after the midterm election a full two days ahead of schedule. GOP leadership added they were cancelling all votes scheduled for Thursday.
The swift recess came after Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky filed a privileged resolution to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. House rules dictate that a vote on a privileged resolution has to happen within two legislative days, meaning lawmakers would have had no choice but to vote on Thursday.
But now that House Speaker Mike Johnson gaveled the body out of session, that pushes any vote on Hegseth’s impeachment until after the November election. Lawmakers won’t be back in Washington until November 9th.
GOP leaders maintain this had nothing to do with Massie’s resolution. But one source inside Republican leadership told Raw America White House reporter Brian Karem something entirely different.
“We know that if the Democrats are in control of the House after the midterms their first order of business will be impeaching the Secretary of War. That’s one of the big reasons we kicked the can down the road,” the source said. “We got enough trouble trying to maintain the House majority. If we took it up now we’d be slitting our own throats.”
Speaker Johnson dismissed Massie’s effort as a publicity stunt and said it would get tabled the moment it comes up, meaning it would effectively be killed. He also defended Hegseth’s record as defense secretary during the ongoing war with Iran, which most voters don’t support.
Massie has consistently been a thorn in Johnson’s side, especially over Iran. He’s voted for multiple War Powers Act resolutions trying to rein in Trump’s ability to attack Iran, putting him squarely in the White House’s crosshairs. A Trump-endorsed primary challenger succeeded in ousting Massie earlier this year, who Massie accused of being bankrolled by Israeli money.
Before Massie leaves Congress, he’s clearly intent on leaving as much of a mark as possible, regardless of how much it damages his own party’s leader.
Sponsored Kalshi Question: 2028 Democratic presidential nominee?
Fed Chair Trump Appointed to Lower Interest Rates Just Raised Them Anyway
The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, marking the first official increase in three years.
This is particularly notable because Kevin Warsh, who Donald Trump appointed to be Fed chair last year, was put there specifically to bring rates down. Instead, the Fed set interest rates to now land between 3.75 and 4 percent.
The vote was unanimous across all twelve members of the central bank’s policy board. Warsh said that inflation has been too high for too long, and that the board wanted to show it was serious about reining in runaway prices.
The key driver behind high inflation is Trump’s war with Iran. Global oil prices are on the verge of hitting a four-month high, and the national average cost of a gallon of gas is now at $4.30. That’s than a $1.30 higher than before Trump launched his war. Diesel prices are also approaching record highs with a gallon of diesel running you between $6.27 and $6.29. That pushes up shipping costs on basically everything that gets hauled by a truck including groceries, clothes, furniture and other consumer goods.
Iran has continued to maintain a tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, which is a critical shipping route for roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply. Saudi Arabia also recently shut down a pipeline that had been routing around the strait. That tightened up the oil supply even further and drove prices skyward.
While Americans are getting squeezed by inflation thanks to a war Trump started with no plan to end it, they’re also watching borrowing costs go up on credit cards and mortgages. No matter which way you look, we’re all going to be experiencing significant sticker shock for the foreseeable future.
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Truth Social Users Turn on Trump Over His Embrace of Data Centers
Trump has loudly endorsed the development of massive hyperscale AI data centers across the country. They’re known for burning through huge amounts of electricity, driving up utility bills for local residents and using an immense amount of water to cool servers. A vast majority of Americans don’t want to live anywhere near a data center.
On Monday, Trump posted to his Truth Social account that data center critics are a lot like people who are worried about global warming, suggesting that both groups are consumed by a hoax. This is, of course, despite actual science backing up both anthropogenic climate change and the very real harm data centers pose to water supplies and, tangentially, agriculture.
Even his own supporters on Truth Social sounded off on his post. The New York Times analyzed replies to Trump’s post and found that negative comments easily outnumbered positive ones by an almost four-to-one margin. Keep in mind that we’re talking about Truth Social, which is already the biggest MAGA echo chamber on the internet.
One user who identified as a Trump supporter replied to the president’s post saying that data centers are wrecking quiet neighborhoods with nonstop noise, light pollution, and rapidly vanishing water supplies. The user then asked why no one is building data centers next to Mar-a-Lago.
Another commenter warned that downplaying rural communities’ concerns about data centers is a great way to make sure Trump’s 2024 coalition stays home during the November midterms.
The outrage on Truth Social is just one small subset of voters, though. A recent New York Times and Siena poll released this week found a whopping 61 percent of likely voters oppose data center development, including nearly half of Americans who voted for Trump just two years ago. This is one of those a rare times where opposition to an issue is limited to just one side of the partisan divide. Trump cheerleading an industry that’s open about replacing millions of American jobs doesn’t play well in an election year.
GOP Senator Blames Trump Administration for Measles Deaths
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who chairs the Senate health committee, is now blaming measles deaths in Pennsylvania squarely on the Trump administration. At least three Pennsylvanians have died during the worst measles outbreak the country has seen in more than three decades, and Cassidy — a physician — says the White House’s vaccine skepticism is at fault.
Cassidy, who is a physician, said that while suffering from any disease is already bad enough, suffering from a completely preventable one like measles is that much worse. He called for health leadership that makes decisions based on science, rather than politics, and said the current measles outbreak will be a permanent stain on Trump’s legacy. It’s important to note that Cassidy voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary last year, only for Trump to then endorse his primary opponent this year and render Cassidy a lame duck.
During a recent Health Committee hearing, Cassidy pressed Nicole Saphier, who is Trump’s pick for surgeon general, on whether she’d tell parents the truth that the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine doesn’t cause autism. Saphier said that while she can’t speak to the president’s claims, she doesn’t believe the vaccine is lethal and said it was a great tool for both fighting measles and building herd immunity.
That answer is interesting as it directly contradicts Trump, who has repeatedly made false claims about the safety of the MMR vaccine.
To his credit, the Louisiana Republican has gone on the record disputing Trump’s claims about the MMR vaccine, calling them reckless. He also said RFK Jr. personally promised him the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would keep language on its website stating that vaccines don’t cause autism. But since Kennedy was confirmed as health secretary, that page has indeed been altered with a footnote suggesting the root causes of autism are still unknown. That language, of course, clearly breaks the promise Kennedy made to Cassidy.
Help Us Fight Back as Trump Tries to Shut Us Up
We’re gearing up for a fight with the Trump White House to make sure our reporter can access the grounds, as is his right as a credentialed journalist. But because we don’t have a corporate parent or a billionaire owner keeping us afloat, we need readers like you, who understand the importance of independent journalism, to kick in and help us continue this work. All it takes is 22 cents a day.
Everything you just read is only possible with the support of our paying subscribers. In addition to helping us have two reporters on the ground in Washington covering the stories the billionaire-owned outlets are ignoring, our readers are also helping us bring you in-depth live interviews with the people shaping the news. Tomorrow at 1 PM ET, Raw America managing editor Carl Gibson will be speaking with former Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Conor Lamb about Senator John Fetterman and the biggest political developments in one of the most pivotal swing states. Watch live on our homepage at RawAmerica.com.
I’m British Chris, with Raw America. If you haven’t already, take a few seconds to click the ❤️ and restack this newsletter so we can reach the people who need these stories the most. Thanks for reading, thanks for supporting independent media.
Here are some stories you may have missed:
House GOP Meeting Devolves Into Profane Shouting Match. House Speaker Mike Johnson recently convened various Republican leaders for a meeting about whether to suspend the gas tax as a way to slightly lower gas prices headed into the midterms. But the meeting apparently turned into a shouting match as various Republicans accused each other of hypocrisy, with House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland reportedly shouting “this is f—ing war” at another Republican member. Johnson sent lawmakers home Wednesday before any vote could happen.
Kennedy Center Surrounded by Metal Barricades Day After Court Ruled Against Trump. Metal barricades were seen surrounding the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. on Thursday, just one day after a federal judge ruled that Trump’s handpicked board couldn’t name the facility after Trump in any way without the prior approval of Congress. Trump apparently threw a “tantrum” following that decision according to Democratic Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio, who is an ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center board. Security guards at the Kennedy Center wouldn’t answer questions about why the barricades were there or how long they would remain in place.
Hackers Tear Down Flock Camera, Hack Its System and Leak Details to Media. Wired and 404 Media recently obtained internal Flock camera data from a hacker group named Stegan0gram, who tore down one of the ubiquitous automatic license plate readers and leaked its contents to them after hacking into it. According to the group’s findings, that one camera recorded roughly 50,200 vehicles and created around 1.6 million images. Flock cameras then share vehicle details with law enforcement agencies in a searchable database that makes not of features like make, model, color, bumper stickers and other distinguishing characteristics. Multiple police officers in several states have been arrested and fired in recent months for using Flock cameras to stalk women. One woman in Texas had her movements tracked via Flock cameras as she traveled out of state to obtain an abortion.
