Trump's DHS Chief Admits He Doesn't Know What Agency Does

Trump caught lying about major strike in Iran, Project 2025 economist issues dire warning about Trump's economy, Newsmax executive picked to lead Voice of America

Good morning, Raw America family! Thom Hartmann is on vacation today.

Trump personally approved Israeli strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, then went on Truth Social and lied about it to the entire world. A Heritage Foundation economist and Project 2025 architect is warning the U.S. economy cannot handle what this war is doing to energy prices. A former Newsmax executive was quietly installed to run Voice of America. And Trump’s pick to lead Homeland Security doesn’t appear to know what one of its most important agencies actually does.

If you’re new here, Raw America is Raw Story and Really Americans’ people-powered response to MAGA and the billionaire takeover of American media. CNN and CBS are running cover for a war now destabilizing the entire global energy market. The FCC chair is threatening to pull broadcast licenses from any outlet that doesn’t fall in line. We don’t have a billionaire writing us checks, and we don’t take orders from one. Please become a paid subscriber today. Independent journalism that challenges power has never mattered more, and we cannot do this without your support.

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Trump Lied About Knowing. U.S. and Israeli Officials Say Otherwise.

After Israeli strikes hit Iran’s South Pars gas field, Iran’s primary source of national income, Trump posted on Truth Social claiming the United States knew nothing about it. Sources inside both the U.S. and Israeli governments say that is false. Multiple senior officials told reporters that Trump personally approved the strike before choosing to publicly deny it. The operation was designed to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

The denial became impossible to sustain when Iran retaliated beyond U.S. borders. Tehran struck Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial zone twice, one of the world’s most critical LNG facilities. Iran also launched missiles toward Saudi Arabia, which were reportedly intercepted. Qatari officials were furious, demanding answers from Washington about what prior knowledge the U.S. had. Trump’s Middle East envoy scrambled to arrange an emergency call between the president and the Qatari emir.

Brent crude surged more than 7 percent to $111.23 a barrel. One analyst said the conflict is “no longer just about military headlines or Strait of Hormuz closure. It is now hitting the plumbing of the global energy system.”

Trump’s response was to threaten even more destruction, warning Iran that if Qatar’s LNG infrastructure was struck again, the U.S. would wipe out the entire South Pars operation. He approved the strike, lied about it publicly, and his own officials contradicted him within hours. The global energy market is now in crisis, and the president’s answer is more threats.

Even Project 2025’s Own Economist Says This Economy Can’t Handle It

E.J. Antoni, the Heritage Foundation’s chief economist and a co-author of Project 2025, told a financial publication this week that the U.S. economy simply cannot absorb $100-a-barrel oil. “I don’t think this is an economy that is going to be able to handle $100 a barrel for oil, it’s just not,” he said. “The economy is weaker than we thought it was, and inflation is worse than we thought it was.”

Lower energy prices in 2025 had been helping keep a lid on inflation. With oil now surging past $111, the opposite pressure is building. Groceries, utilities, gas, and consumer goods across the board will feel it. Working families will feel it first and worst.

This warning is not coming from a Democrat or a critic of the administration. It’s coming from a Project 2025 architect, a man Trump once wanted to install as head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. When the people who wrote the blueprint for this presidency start warning that its war is going to hurt ordinary Americans, that’s not something you can dismiss as partisan spin. The economic alarm is now sounding from inside the MAGA house itself.

Voice of America Gets a Newsmax News Director

One day after a federal judge ordered more than 1,000 Voice of America journalists back to work, reversing Trump’s efforts to effectively shut the agency down, the administration installed a former Newsmax news director as VOA’s deputy director via an unsigned internal memo. It remains unclear who authorized the appointment.

VOA was founded in 1942 specifically to counter Nazi propaganda. It broadcasts in 49 languages to more than 360 million people living under authoritarian governments around the world. Its editorial independence is mandated by Congress. The Trump administration has already attempted to air Newsmax content on VOA’s networks and sought contract language giving Trump appointees veto power over editorial hires.

This is the same playbook being run on the domestic press. The FCC is threatening broadcast licenses over war coverage. David Ellison, who already controls CBS News, is closing in on an acquisition of CNN, HBO, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Pete Hegseth said publicly that Ellison’s CNN takeover could not come soon enough. Voice of America abroad, CBS at home, CNN potentially next. This is a coordinated effort to control what Americans and the world are allowed to hear about this war and this administration. It is exactly why Raw America exists. Please become a paid subscriber today.

Trump’s DHS Pick Doesn’t Know What DHS Investigations Does

Senator Markwayne Mullin had a difficult confirmation hearing Wednesday for the role of Homeland Security Secretary. When Senator Ruben Gallego asked him to describe the primary mission of Homeland Security Investigations, Mullin gave a vague non-answer about DHS agencies working toward a common goal. Gallego stepped in and answered his own question, explaining that HSI is the unit that handles human trafficking, smuggling, counterfeit goods, and financial crime.

HSI is ICE’s criminal investigations arm and one of the most consequential law enforcement bodies in the federal government. A nominee to run the department overseeing it should know what it does.

The gap points to a real and ongoing problem. HSI agents have already been pulled off core investigative work under Trump’s deportation push. One report found HSI spent roughly 33 percent fewer hours on child exploitation cases last spring. A five-agent child exploitation squad in Los Angeles was reassigned to immigration duty. Work on sex trafficking, terrorism, and illicit finance has all slowed.

Mullin also faces questions about a mysterious overseas trip he refuses to explain publicly, claiming the mission was classified. Senator Rand Paul says he plans to vote no on confirmation. With eight Republicans and seven Democrats on the committee, that could force Mullin to find at least one Democratic vote to move forward.

A Note From Raw America

Our reporters have been on the ground at the most important Capitol Hill hearings, including the Gabbard testimony you read about this morning. We have brought you exclusive interviews with top generals that you cannot find anywhere else. We are joining the Washington D.C. press pool to get the most important conversations directly to our viewers.

CNN is running cover for this war. CBS is being remade in MAGA’s image. The FCC is threatening any outlet that pushes back. Coverage that challenges power, refuses to sell wars, and won’t propagandize for the Ellisons of the world requires readers willing to fund it. If Raw America matters to you, please become a paid subscriber today. We work for you, not for them.

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STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

• Almost Half of Americans Believe ‘Total Economic Collapse’ Likely in Next 10 Years. A new poll from YouGov shows that 42 percent of Americans believe it is very or somewhat likely that a “total economic collapse” could happen in the United States over the next decade. Only 38 percent of respondents said such a scenario was “unlikely.” The poll comes as gas prices continue surging in response to the Iran war, with Brent crude trading at over $111 a barrel.

• Republicans Vote Down War Powers Resolution for Second Time. Republicans in the U.S. Senate recently shot down a second attempt to re-assert congressional authority to declare war by a 53-47 margin. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted no with 46 Democrats, and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voted yes with 52 Republicans. Had the measure passed, President Donald Trump would have had to ask Congress for the authority to continue his war in Iran. Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly states that Congress has the exclusive power to declare war.

• New Unredacted Epstein Email Contradicts Key Trump Claim. A 2009 email included in the latest batch of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents released by the Department of Justice directly contradicts Trump’s claim that he kicked Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club. The email — which is a summary of a phone call between Trump, his attorney and an attorney who represented Epstein’s victims — shows that Epstein was never asked to leave Mar-a-Lago, and that Trump may have been on Epstein’s notorious private jet and also may have visited Epstein’s house.

• Pro-Trump Reality Star Arrested for Child Molestation. 31 year-old Joseph Duggar, who was seen on the TLC show “19 Kids and Counting,” has been arrested in Florida on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior involving a child. The alleged incident occurred during a 2020 family vacation and involved a girl who was nine years old at the time. Joseph’s older brother, Josh, was convicted in federal court on child sex abuse material charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison. The Duggars are prominent conservative evangelical activists and outspoken Trump supporters.

• Trump’s Former Counterterrorism Chief Tells Tucker Carlson Trump Lied About Iran. Joe Kent — who resigned this week as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center over the Iran war — told far-right pundit Tucker Carlson this week that there was never any indication Iran was close to developing a nuclear weapon. Kent explained that Iranian leaders have had a fatwa, or religious order, in place since 2004 decreeing that the country would not develop a nuclear weapon, and that this was public knowledge. The Trump administration has made moves to discredit Kent, including naming him in n FBI investigation announced Wednesday.