Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
A federal judge just handed the BBC a massive win, allowing it to subpoena Donald Trump’s own family and inner circle as part of his own defamation lawsuit against the network. Hundreds of journalists and press freedom advocates are now demanding the White House Correspondents’ Association finally stand up to Trump’s attacks on the media at this week’s rescheduled correspondents’ dinner. Trump is yet again exploiting fallen American soldiers, this time putting words in the mouths of four service members killed in the Iran war last weekend. And even though Senator Mitch McConnell’s status remains unknown, the state’s entire congressional delegation won’t say whether they’ve even talked to him.
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Judge Allows BBC to Subpoena Trump’s Closest Associates
Donald Trump may have bitten off more than he could chew. The president sued the network for $10 billion over its 2024 Panorama documentary that used footage from his January 6th speech. The episode spliced together his “fight like hell” line from his speech on the Ellipse with a section where he told the crowd to protest peacefully. Trump claimed the edit amounted to defamation. The BBC apologized in 2025, but refused to pay him a dime.
This week, a judge ruled the BBC can subpoena the people closest to Trump. That includes members of his family, deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. The network’s stated goal is to establish what Trump truly intended to happen on that day.
The judge also ruled Trump had to hand over hundreds of his own personal financial records. The president’s lawsuit argued the documentary damaged his businesses, which means his own finances are now fair game in the discovery process.
This leaves the door wide open for journalists at the BBC to look into more than 400 companies tied to Trump’s family trust. Trump’s previous lawsuits against networks like ABC and CBS resulted in millions of dollars in settlements. But this time, his penchant for legal warfare might be the one thing that exposes him the most.
Journalists Demand White House Correspondents’ Association Finally Stand Up to Trump
On Wednesday, several hundred former journalists along with eight major press organizations sent a letter to the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) ahead of this week’s rescheduled correspondents’ dinner, after a shooting preemptively ended the first one this spring. Journalists are now demanding the WHCA publicly confront Trump over his escalating war on the free press.
The April shooting was disrupted by Secret Service agents, who rushed Trump, Vice President JD Vance and other VIP guests out of the venue as shots rang out in what prosecutors say was an assassination attempt against the president. The rescheduled event will happen Friday, with tighter security, at what used to be the Trump International Hotel in Washington.
The journalists’ letter points out that since April, the Trump Department of Justice has subpoenaed New York Times reporters for simply covered security concerns over Trump’s new jet gifted to him by the Qatari royal family. Federal investigators have even pulled phone records belonging to a reporter’s mother, along with two spouses of other journalists.
The letter also noted that Trump has threatened the broadcast licenses of networks that refuse to adhere to his demands. Signatories argue that it’s hypocritical to celebrate the First Amendment in the same room as a president actively working to dismantle it. Trump says he’s attending Friday’s dinner, calling it a show of strength, though he hasn’t confirmed whether he’ll still deliver the same combative speech he was expected to give back in April. Keep a close eye on this one.
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Trump Exploits Soldiers’ Deaths to Sell Iran War
Four American service members were killed in the Iran just in the last week, as the conflict continues to escalate with both sides digging in.
While en route to a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base, Trump insisted that each of the fallen troops said the U.S. “cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” There’s no evidence any of thosre troops actually said that. But that oft-repeated line just so happens to be essentially the last remaining talking point Trump has to sell a war that’s deeply unpopular with Americans on both sides of the political aisle.
Keep in mind, this is the same president who has reportedly referred to Americans killed in foreign wars as “suckers” and “losers.” And before he put words in those dead soldiers’ mouths, Trump was on his social media platform comparing the death toll from the Iran war to those in Vietnam and Korea, seemingly arguing that 18 dead Americans in four months isn’t so bad by comparison.
Those soldiers’ families may disagree.
Kentucky’s Congressional Delegation Refuses to Talk About Mitch McConnell
The situation with Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has become increasingly strange in recent weeks. It’s been almost six weeks since he last cast a vote in the U.S. Senate vote, and just as long since the 84 year-old was rushed to the hospital on June 14.
The only proof of life McConnell’s office has released has been a single photo of him in a hospital room smiling alongside his wife. He still hasn’t released a video or made any phone calls to reporters. This is despite growing rumors, with Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear recently telling Katie Couric that he was told McConnell may have passed away.
Now Kentucky’s congressional delegation appears to also be stonewalling. The Daily Beast contacted all seven other members of the the Bluegrass State’s House and Senate delegation with basic questions, like whether they’ve been in contact with McConnell at all. Nearly every member’s office refused to comment. Kentucky’s lone Democrat in Washington, Congressman Morgan McGarvey, appears to know about as much as we do, saying Kentuckians “deserve transparency.”
The only public comment from a Republican came from the office of Congressman Andy Barr, who won the Republican nomination to replace McConnell this spring. Barr referred to comments he made last month about exchanging texts with McConnell. Senator Rand Paul, when asked directly, admitted he hasn’t spoken to McConnell once during his hospitalization or recovery. Kentucky’s Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, says his office hasn’t heard from McConnell either, and he’s now facing pressure of his own for not taking further action.
A recent poll by the Daily Mail found that only 30 percent of respondents found it believable that McConnell was still alive. 17 percent said it was not at all believable, while 24 percent were undecided. Whatever the truth is, the silence from the people who are supposed to represent Kentucky speaks volumes.
Take a Moment to Keep Independent Journalism Alive
That’s your Wednesday evening rundown. Trump is now having his inner circle and personal finances scrutinized by reporters after a judge’s ruling didn’t go his way. Veteran journalists are urging the White House press corps to actually do their jobs and confront the president over his hostility toward the media. He’s using what should be a solemn ceremony to sell his deeply unpopular war to a skeptical public. And a sitting U.S. senator may or may not be dead, and his own party is refusing to talk about it.
Raw America is only able to cover these stories this way because we aren’t beholden to a billionaire, corporate advertisers, a hedge fund or anyone else who wants us to pull our punches so they can keep the gravy train rolling. We answer to readers like you, and only you. But we’re currently behind on our fundraising goals, and we need readers who believe independent media is worth financially supporting to chip in. If you found this newsletter valuable, the single most important thing you can do is become a paying subscriber. We’re counting on you.
I’m British Chris, with Raw America. Thanks for watching. We’ll see you tomorrow.
Here are a few stories you may have missed:
Trump DOJ Admits in Court It Doesn’t Want to Put Things in Writing. Lawyers in President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice recently made an eye-opening admission in the prosecution of two journalists who were arrested covering the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year. One of the journalists’ attorneys wrote a letter to the DOJ observing that one prosecutor said he didn’t want to respond to them in writing “out of the concern expressed on the call that what it represents to us could be put before the Court and/or otherwise used against it.” The comment seems to reveal that the Justice Department is hesitant to put anything in writing that could point to potentially illegal activity.
Senator Calls on His Party to Investigate Republicans Who Redrew Maps. Should Democrats retake at least one chamber of Congress in the November midterms, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) is hoping they’ll launch an investigation into Republicans who redrew congressional district boundaries earlier this year. Warnock said he wants to determine whether “racial animus” played a role in how Republican-controlled statehouses redrew maps, after the Supreme Court significantly weakened the Voting Rights Act in its Louisiana v. Callais decision.
Military Chaplain Accuses Hegseth of Tying Promotions to Religious Affiliation. One unnamed Christian military chaplain recently confided to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pressuring chaplains to adhere to his far-right fundamentalist Christian beliefs. The chaplain said the Pentagon’s “Spiritual Fitness” campaign — which was initially designed to help service members identify core values to keep them grounded — is now “inherently religious.” After Hegseth fired the head of the Army’s chaplain corps, he reportedly is now engaged in an “ongoing effort” to determine how closely chaplains’ own faith hews to his extreme brand of Christianity. The chaplain added that “many of us understand what is being rewarded and what is not.”
