Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
Trump staffers and Republican leaders are telling Raw America’s new White House reporter that everyone is quietly worried the president’s marathon July 4th speech in triple-digit heat could lead to a medical emergency. The president is also reportedly furious over dismal turnout at his National Mall state fair. A former Olympic athlete just got hit with a felony indictment for allegedly touching the Reflecting Pool’s liner. And Trump’s FBI just assigned 260 staffers to investigate supposed fraud in Georgia’s 2020 election, five and a half years after the fact.
Before we get to the news, we need to acknowledge that Raw America is bringing you something today you won’t find in any billionaire-owned outlet: an exclusive report from sources within Congress and the Trump administration expressing fear about the president’s ailing health. With your support, we were able to hire veteran journalist Brian Karem as our new White House reporter. Brian brings decades of experience and longtime relationships with a plethora of sources in Washington, and we’ll be consistently breaking news from the halls of power. This kind of independent reporting requires resources, and because we don’t have a billionaire owner writing checks, we need readers like you to step up so we can keep this work going. If you’re still reading this on the free list, make today the day you become a paying subscriber.
Scoop: GOP leaders tell Raw America Trump’s July 4 Marathon Speech Could be ‘Potentially Lethal’
Raw America’s new White House reporter Brian Karem is reporting that President Donald Trump’s promise to deliver a record-breaking speech in the oppressive July 4 heat is causing significant concern among high-ranking members of his party. One source confided that the 80 year-old president suffering a potential medical episode could lead to a worst-case scenario in Vice President JD Vance inheriting the Oval Office.
“He’d love to set a record for his speech but his people have to tell him that at his age being in the heat that long is potentially lethal,” one unnamed member of Republican leadership told Raw America. “No one wants to see JD in the big chair.”
Read that again. Republicans are more scared of President JD Vance than they are of their own guy having a heat stroke on live television.
Staffers are also expressing concern about the octogenarian president speaking at length in temperatures that could be well into the triple digits, with Trump saying that he would deliver his speech even if it’s “going to be 107 [degrees].” An anonymous staffer told Raw America that the president’s safety will be a high priority, but that they won’t stop him if he plans on following through with the marathon speech.
“The boss will make the call,” a Trump associate told Karem. “But we are going to make it as safe as possible for him if he wants to go.”
Trump’s speech will notably come several hours after New York City Zohran Mamdani’s planned speech, which he will deliver from the George Washington desk at City Hall, while being surrounded by naturalized U.S. citizens. Americans will get to see two very different visions of what the country’s birthday should look like.
Trump Reportedly ‘Livid’ Over Tiny Crowds at His ‘Great American State Fair’
Speaking of birthday parties that didn’t go as planned, Trump is reportedly furious over the paltry crowds at his Great American State Fair on the National Mall. According to reports, the president didn’t even realize how poor the turnout was until someone showed him an aerial photo of empty fields of grass stretching out far behind his supporters.
The president was apparently “livid.” White House officials scrubbed the photo from social media, and Trump himself insisted on Truth Social that the National Mall was “packed to the brim” with “at least 45,000 people.” Official estimates are nowhere close to that.
This fair has been a mess for months. Musical acts cancelled one after another. Multiple states refused to participate over cost concerns, and other state booths sat nearly empty. A power outage melted the ice cream. And a viral video showed a youth band performing to an audience you could count on two hands.
Now White House officials are bracing for potential embarrassment on July 4th, which Trump has billed as “the most unforgettable birthday party any country has ever seen.” One official confided to CNN that he was “not sure who thought this was a good idea,” citing the event’s late start time well after 10 PM. Organizers started selling tickets for the area closest to the stage just to make sure the cameras have something to point at.
Trump DOJ Indicts Olympic Athlete for Allegedly Damaging Reflecting Pool
Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro just brought a felony indictment against 67-year-old David Hearn, who represented Team USA’s canoe team in three consecutive Summer Olympics. His charge? Allegedly pulling up part of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool’s new liner.
Pirro announced the charge in a Thursday press conference, claiming Hearn “forcefully and violently” damaged two square feet of sealant. He’s facing up to ten years in prison, though people actually convicted under that particular statute typically get far less time. Pirro says her office is reviewing about half a dozen similar cases and expects most to result in misdemeanor charges.
It’s important to mention that the Reflecting Pool has leaked since it was built in the 1920s. The Trump administration’s new “American flag blue” liner has had consistent problems with algae blooms and peeling. Trump himself claimed without evidence that vandals used “sharp knives” to damage the pool. A preservation group even asked a federal judge to pause the whole renovation project over concerns the administration skipped required reviews.
And the supposed 350-foot gash Trump cited as evidence of vandalism is also almost the exact length his motorcade drove when Trump “inspected” the new liner after it was installed. The weight of a half dozen cars seems a far more plausible explanation than people with box cutters.
This is where we are. A celebrated Olympic athlete could spend a decade in prison over two square feet of sealant on a pool that’s been falling apart for a hundred years, and that was almost certainly damaged by Trump himself.
Kash Patel Assigns 260 FBI Agents to Investigate ‘Fraud’ in Georgia’s 2020 Election
And finally, the FBI is dramatically ramping up its investigation into the 2020 election in Georgia. CNN obtained an internal memo calling the probe a “priority” and requesting 260 additional intelligence staffers on top of the agents already working the case out of Atlanta.
This is all part of a concerted effort to lend credibility to the president’s widely debunked allegation of supposed “fraud” in the Peach State’s 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden by less than 12,000 votes. Election denier Kurt Olsen, who the White House tapped to dig into that race, made the referral back in January that kicked off the whole process. You’ll recall that several weeks later, the FBI served a warrant at an elections warehouse in Fulton County, where agents walked out with 700 boxes of election materials.
Federal prosecutors have also charged a small number of people over voter registration issues in later elections, and a grand jury has demanded records on thousands of election workers who helped run the 2020 count in Fulton County, which covers Atlanta. County prosecutors are still fighting the federal government in court over that demand.
The FBI hasn’t yet said anything about the investigation publicly. But 260 new staffers on a nearly six-year-old election is a small army amassed to investigate claims that every judge laughed out of court after Trump lost.
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Today we published an original report on how an administration obsessed with spectacle is willing to risk an octogenarian president’s health for a speech. We also covered how the Justice Department is prosecuting a canoeist over pool sealant and pour federal resources into re-litigating an election that was settled almost six years ago, all while Americans are struggling under higher prices. And today we broadcasted a live interview with Dr. Rob Davidson, a practicing emergency room physician and executive director of the Committee to Protect Healthcare, where he diagnosed the problems with the American healthcare system and how to fix it. You can watch the full interview below, or by clicking here.
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Thanks for watching. I’m British Chris. We’ll see you next time.
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