Good evening, and welcome to Raw America. I’m British Chris.
There’s a lot happening, and it’s moving fast. Thousands of Marines are potentially headed to Iran. Pete Hegseth is cheering on Trump donors buying CNN. There’s a new development in the Epstein investigation. And a deep-red state is quietly changing the rules to stop a major protest later this month. Let’s break it all down.
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Now let’s get into the news.
5,000 More Marines Heading to the Middle East
Remember when Trump said the Iran conflict was over? That was just days ago.
Well, the Pentagon apparently didn’t get the memo, because as many as 5,000 additional U.S. Marines are being deployed to the Middle East.
We’re talking about a Marine Expeditionary Unit, several warships, and what’s being called an “Amphibious Ready Group.” The USS Tripoli is reportedly heading over from Japan as part of this deployment.
Now, what does an Amphibious Ready Group actually do? One of its official purposes is the rapid insertion of, and this is a quote from the ARG’s own documentation, “boots on the ground.”
That matters a lot here. Because if ground troops enter the picture, there’s no clean exit. Trump can’t do what he did with Venezuela, where he grabbed Maduro, declared victory, and moved on. A ground war in Iran is a different animal entirely.
The pressure’s coming from multiple directions. The two-week air campaign hasn’t brought down the Iranian regime. The Strait of Hormuz remains paralyzed by Iranian missile attacks, which is squeezing global oil markets. And Trump’s MAGA base wants a win. To make things worse, the U.S. death toll is climbing. Six more Americans were confirmed dead on Friday after a refueling aircraft went down in western Iraq.
This is not winding down. It’s escalating.
Hegseth Says the Quiet Part Out Loud
This one’s extraordinary, and not in a good way.
Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary of the United States, said publicly on Friday that, and here’s the direct quote: “The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
He was talking about CNN.
It’s unprecedented for a sitting Secretary of Defense to root for a specific billionaire to take over a major American news network so that network will be friendlier to the administration.
Journalist Pedro L. Gonzalez put it bluntly. He wrote that Hegseth “forgot that he’s not actually supposed to admit that the administration is counting on Ellison to make the media entities he controls friendlier to the regime.”
That’s it. That’s the game. It’s not subtle anymore. They’re not even pretending.
This is why Raw America was created. When the defense secretary is publicly cheerleading for right-wing billionaires to own the media, the stakes couldn’t be more obvious. Independent outlets don’t have billionaires keeping the lights on. We have you. Subscribe right now.
The Epstein Investigation Isn’t Going Away
The House Oversight Committee has formally requested testimony from Tova Noel, a former federal prison guard who has said she believes she’s the last person to have seen Jeffrey Epstein alive.
Here’s what they’re looking into. On the morning of August 10th, 2019, Noel and her partner Michael Thomas were supposed to be checking on Epstein every 30 minutes. He was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. He’d previously attempted suicide. The checks were mandatory.
They didn’t do them. Both admitted it. Both were charged with falsifying records. Those charges were later dropped under a deferred prosecution agreement.
Documents released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act now show that Noel was allegedly searching online for information about Epstein between 5:42 and 5:52 in the morning. His body was found at around 6:30 a.m.
When a DOJ inspector general asked Noel about the search in 2021, she said she didn’t remember doing it, and that the computer’s homepage often displayed Epstein-related news automatically. When pressed on what the search logs showed, she said that wouldn’t “be accurate.”
Comer also told Fox News this week that the committee wants to ask Noel about money transfers she received around that time, including a $5,000 transfer that a bank had flagged as suspicious.
Nobody’s formally accusing Noel of anything. But these are serious, unanswered questions about one of the most controversial deaths in recent American history. And a lot of people want answers.
Red State Quietly Attempts to Shut Down Upcoming ‘No Kings’ Protest
This one flew under the radar, and that was almost certainly the point.
Montana state officials quietly updated permitting rules late last month to ban permitted public events on Capitol grounds during weekends and holidays. The new policy limits permits to weekdays only, between 7 AM and 6 PM.
The state says the change was made to save money and reduce strain on state resources. They weren’t required to notify the public. And they didn’t.
The timing is hard to ignore. The next nationwide “No Kings” rally is scheduled for Saturday, March 28th. The state capitol has been a central site for these events.
Without a permit, organizers can’t access the building’s power or set up a stage. Indivisible Helena, the group organizing the March 28th rally, says they can’t change the date because it’s a national event. So now they’re planning to park a flatbed trailer on the street in front of the Capitol and use that as a stage instead.
Organizers insist they have the right to assemble, and that the new rules “inhibit our right to free speech.”
Other organizers have pointed out that limiting permits to weekdays essentially disenfranchises working people. Most folks who’d want to attend a rally can’t just take a Tuesday off.
The state says its lawyers reviewed the change and found it constitutional. Indivisible Montana says it plans to fight back after the 28th.
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Raw America is now on the ground in Washington D.C.
Our team is covering Iran war protests in real time. Congressional hearings featuring Kristi Noem. And votes like the War Powers resolution in the House of Representatives.
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I’m British Chris, with Raw America. Thanks for watching. We’ll see you next week.
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Trump Admin to Receive $10 Billion Fee for TikTok Merger. The Trump administration is set to receive several multibillion-dollar payments from investors in the recent deal to take over social media app TikTok’s U.S. operations. Those investors include tech titan Oracle — which is chaired by Trump donor Larry Ellison — along with private equity firm Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX, who all purchased TikTok’s U.S. operations from Chinese company ByteDance.
Trump Loyalist Steps Down as Kennedy Center President. Richard Grenell — who was once the acting Director of National Intelligence during President Donald Trump’s first term — is resigning from his role as president of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Grenell spearheaded many of the controversial changes at the Kennedy Center that led to numerous artists cancelling scheduled performances. The facility was later closed for a two-year renovation project.
Federal Judge Quashes DOJ’s Subpoenas of Federal Reserve as Part of Powell Probe. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who is the chief judge of the District of Columbia, quashed several grand jury subpoenas issued to the Federal Reserve as part of the Department of Justice’s investigation into Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Boasberg wrote in his ruling that the subpoenas are designed to “harass and pressure Powell either to yield to the President or to resign and make way for a Fed Chair who will.”
Member of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission Resigns Over Iran War. Sameerah Munshi, who is an adviser to Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, announced on Friday she was resigning from the panel in protest of Trump’s attack on Iran. Munshi also stated that her resignation was in response to the removal of Carrie Prejean Boller, who was booted from the commission for her support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Republicans Warn Trump’s Voter ID Bill Is Doomed to Fail. Several Republican members of the U.S. Senate are warning their colleagues that public embarrassment is likely after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) agreed to schedule a vote for the SAVE Act. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is not running for reelection, said the bill has a “zero percent chance of success” due to it needing 60 votes to pass. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also said it would be “impossible to pass it” under the current Senate rules. Seven Democrats would need to break ranks to get the bill across the finish line, as Republicans only hold 53 seats.
