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Secretary of State Marco Rubio is taking heat from parts of the right after he told a Mar-a-Lago crowd that President Donald Trump launched the Iran war “for you.” Some of Trump’s own supporters say the line may have sunk Rubio’s ambitions, and the party with them.Rubio spoke Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference’s “Gathering of Visionaries” at Trump’s Palm Beach club, days after Republicans lost both chambers of Congress. Trump himself has acknowledged that the war’s unpopularity cost the party.“He did it for you. Not for him. Not for anybody else,” Rubio said of Trump’s decision to confront Iran, according to a clip shared by Fox News host Sean Hannity, who presented the moment approvingly.Conservative podcast host Kacee Allen summarized Rubio’s message: that “we all owe him deep gratitude because previous presidents ‘ignored’ the threat.”“Meanwhile the GOP just got wiped in the midterms due to this very” war, Allen wrote.Some on the right were blunter about it.“Rubio just destroyed his 2028 presidential hopes by essentially echoing Trump’s statement that the destruction of the GOP was worth it to fight the Iran War and these jokers applauded him,” wrote David Pyne, editor of The Real War newsletter and a former Army headquarters staff officer. “None of them care that they just handed the keys to controlling the US to the Democrat socialists for the next decade or two.”Pyne went further and called on Trump, Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to “resign in disgrace or be impeached and removed from office.”“@MarcoRubio just killed any chance he had to win the presidency in 2028,” wrote Pat Dollard, a former Hollywood talent agent and Breitbart writer.Some of Trump’s own base saw a bigger reckoning. One X user, whose bio describes her as a “TradCatholic” nationalist who puts “God, Family, Country” first, said Trump had betrayed the voters who put him in office.“It’s over! We wanted Trump to burn the establishment, he burned down the conservative Repub party by showing who he really is,” she wrote. “It will take decades to come back, if we even have a country left.”Writer Sean Colarossi pointed to Rubio’s history with Trump. “It’s amazing how much @marcorubio has beclowned himself for a guy he once accurately called a con man,” he wrote. During the 2016 Republican primary, Rubio called Trump a “con artist.”Rubio has been widely discussed as a potential 2028 contender. On Friday he also flew to Florida with Trump on Marine One, alongside newly named chief of staff Stephen Miller.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) is promising that Congress will dig into the Trump administration’s ties to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, after a New York Times report that a Chinese businesswoman close to Huang was an asset of Beijing’s top spy agency.“The more I learn about the insane relationship between the Trump Administration, Chinese spies, and AI billionaires, the more I’m convinced there is nothing this administration does that isn’t corrupt,” Coons wrote on social media on Saturday. “Congress will investigate and get answers.”Coons’ post drew nearly 300,000 views. His threat carries more weight after Democrats won control of the Senate on Tuesday, which will give them subpoena power and committee gavels in January.The Times reported that a memo circulated among top Trump administration policymakers last spring cited intelligence that Alice Huang, a Chinese executive who developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, was working for China’s Ministry of State Security. The two are not related.According to people briefed on the intelligence, Alice Huang was recruited to collect intelligence on the Nvidia chief. It was part of a drive by Beijing to learn more about American AI chips and potentially influence the company to push for its most advanced chips to be made available to China.The Times previously reported that Trump was briefed last year about Huang’s relationship with the woman “but chose not to do anything about it.”Jensen Huang is one of Trump’s most influential allies in the tech world. In 2025, he persuaded Trump to roll back a ban on AI chip sales to China, according to the Times. The two later struck a deal allowing Nvidia to sell its second-most-powerful chip to China, with the U.S. government taking a 25% cut of sales.Alice Huang’s company, Megaspeed, began a multibillion-dollar purchase of advanced AI chips in 2024. It has built data centers in Southeast Asia and rented their computing power to Chinese internet giant Alibaba, which the Times described as “a backdoor way” for China to access advanced Nvidia chips it can’t buy directly.Republicans are paying attention too. On Thursday, the GOP leaders of three House committees asked Jensen Huang to appear at a closed-door briefing later this month about his interactions with Alice Huang.Nvidia spokesman John Rizzo told the Times that the company does not share classified information with customers, and that Huang’s interactions with Alice Huang were “not unusual.” A spokesman for the Chinese embassy called the reporting “unsubstantiated” and “nothing but smears against China.” The White House and CIA declined to comment.Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser to former President Barack Obama, sounded the alarm, too. “This is insane. Huge national security threat. WTAF?” Rice wrote on social media, sharing a post from Chris McGuire, a former national security official, that recapped the reporting on the alleged spy operation.

Attorneys for a group of Iranian nationals in ICE custody say the Trump administration was preparing to deport them back to Iran on a pre-dawn flight Sunday, in apparent violation of a federal court order.In an overnight filing in federal court in Washington, D.C., the Iranian American Legal Defense Fund said it learned Saturday evening that ICE planned to remove 11 Iranian nationals, 10 men and one woman, at about 4 a.m. Sunday.According to the filing, the group was to be flown to Islamabad, Pakistan, with a refueling stop in the country of Georgia, then transferred to Iran on Tuesday. The detainees had been issued 15-day temporary visas to Pakistan, the filing states.The group submitted the filing as a “notice of apparent violation” of an Oct. 15 order in its lawsuit against Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials.The plan came to light through the U.S.-citizen wife of one of the detainees, according to the filing. She told attorneys that her husband learned the details in person on Friday, when an official of the Iranian government met with him and six other detained men at a detention facility in Arizona, “announced the schedule, and, on request, showed him the flight list bearing his name and the names of ten other Iranian nationals.”The man has been in ICE custody since October 2025, according to the filing. He was moved from Georgia to Louisiana on Oct. 28 and then to Arizona on Nov. 1.Politico’s Kyle Cheney, who flagged the filing, noted that it “follows a similar planned flight of Afghan nationals stopped last week by a court.”It was not immediately clear whether the flight took off or whether the court has intervened.OVERNIGHT: Attorneys for Iranian ICE detainees say the Trump administration was seeking to hurriedly deport 10-11 Iranian nationals back to Iran (via Pakistan) in violation of court orders. This follows a similar planned flight of Afghan nationals stopped last week by a court. https://t.co/jOYgpxsT76— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 8, 2026

See My World, an event highlighting the pan-African thought via film, poetry and dance, builds on momentum sparked by local activists and creativesAfrican philosophies including exploring how lessons from the past can shape the present and near future have inspired a film festival coming to Manchester.See My World, a day dedicated to independent creators from across the African diaspora in the north of England, will take place at the Contact theatre on 21 November. Continue reading...

First lady Melania Trump faced a torrent of outrage after lavishing praise on a Kremlin official whose past has haunted Ukrainian families.Melania Trump hosted Russian and Ukrainian representatives at the White House on Thursday, where she thanked Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova, saying her "dedication brings hope and dignity to those devastated by war," according to a video posted by journalist Aaron Rupar.Ukraine's security service accused Lantratova in 2024 of helping deport children from occupied Kherson to Russia, the Ukrainian news outlet Babel reported.The gathering followed a humanitarian ceasefire in the occupied city of Oleshky that the White House credited Melania with helping broker, the Associated Press noted.BBC local radio correspondent Euan MacDonald laid out the international penalties and Ukrainian charges Lantratova faces, asking if Melania was seriously thanking Lantratova, "who is under international sanctions by the EU, US, UK, and other nations, and who has been charged in absentia in Ukraine for her alleged role in facilitating the unlawful transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied territories to Russia?""What a disgusting spectacle," MacDonald blasted. "Shame on America."Nicolas Tenzer, a French foreign policy expert, similarly pointed out that Melania was "praising a person sanctioned by the EU, the UK, Ukraine...and the US for her active role in the deportation and forced russification of Ukrainian kids."Former U.S. ambassador Luis Moreno echoed the ire, lamenting, "You know, all kidding aside. FLOTUS not only invited this war criminal who kidnaps Ukrainian children to Russia, into the White House, but she's honoring and praising her. Beyond disgusting."Branislav Slantchev, a political science professor at the University of California San Diego, turned his fire toward the Trump administration for cozying up to Moscow."This entire f— administration is trying to normalize relations with the war criminals who created the humanitarian disaster these two are now 'solving,'" Slantchev railed.Retired NASA astronaut Terry Virts, a former International Space Station commander who now comments on politics, declared that "the Trump family and MAGA admiration of Russia and Putin is one of the most disgusting episodes in American history."

First lady Melania Trump hosted a White House event on a Russian-occupied city’s ceasefire without mentioning President Donald Trump, the Daily Beast reported.The Thursday gathering marked a temporary, localized truce in Oleshky that ended Nov. 1. The Daily Beast reported it let humanitarian aid reach the city and covered the departure of roughly 800 people across six days, and the event came as the president has not made good on his claim that he could end the war in Ukraine on his first day back in office.Melania Trump said she was involved at each stage of what she called a “sophisticated ceasefire,” including reviewing roads and evacuation routes. The Beast said she learned of the crisis in September and served as the sole go-between.Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev credited her with a key coordinating role and said Vladimir Putin personally issued the needed instructions. He added that Putin appreciates the president’s peacemaking effort. Ukrainian politician David Arakhamia praised her work, and ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets gave her the Order of Princess Olga, 1st Class, on behalf of President Volodymyr Zelensky.She said the truce would not have happened without Putin or Zelensky and that their cooperation sets a “meaningful precedent.” She gave officials letters to carry to both leaders.Nobody in the room acknowledged Putin’s invasion caused the crisis, The Beast noted.Melania's role in the ceasefire agreement has been questioned by some observers, who point out that the Pope was involved in ceasefire discussions for Oleshky before Melania's involvement was ever publicly acknowledged.

Hollywood star turned right-wing commentator Russell Brand has been convicted of rape and sexual assault by a London jury.Jurors at Southwark Crown Court returned guilty verdicts Thursday on one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, TMZ reported. The jury found him not guilty of two other rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault. Brand, 51, had denied all the charges.The judge signaled that prison time is all but certain. “Obviously a custodial sentence of some length will result,” the judge told Brand after the verdict. He is scheduled to be sentenced Monday.Best known for Hollywood comedies like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "Get Him to the Greek," Brand reinvented himself in recent years as an online commentator popular on the right, building a massive following with anti-establishment videos. Deadline described him as a “MAGA outrider,” and after he was charged last year, Fox News host turned podcaster Tucker Carlson called on the Trump administration to “rescue” him from what Carlson called “political and absurd” charges.The trial featured testimony from several women who accused Brand of sexual misconduct, according to TMZ. One accuser, recalling an alleged 1999 assault, described his behavior as “lizard-like.” Another told jurors that after Brand raped her, he said he wanted to “push [her] further.”During the trial, the judge ordered a not-guilty verdict on one count of indecent assault, and prosecutors then brought a new charge of attempted indecent assault, on which the jury acquitted him.TMZ reported that Laura Brand, his wife, backed him throughout the proceedings and took the stand in his defense. She described him as a wonderful father and an “amazing, attentive husband.”

The massive electoral wipeout Republicans suffered on Tuesday did not go unnoticed by Iran’s leadership.According to Politico, Tehran took a victory lap as voters dealt a resounding blow to President Donald Trump’s Republican Party.“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X as the results came in.Ghalibaf, who has played a prominent role in negotiations to end the monthslong war, also threatened retaliation if Washington resumes all-out fighting, Politico is reporting.“If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” he wrote.Tehran had been anxiously watching the midterms for weeks. According to Politico, Iranian negotiators reportedly even stalled recent talks to keep gas prices high and fuel voter frustration with the Trump administration over affordability.Iranian state media also had a field day as Democrats flipped both the House and the Senate, according to the report.“War on Iran Emerges As Major Factor in Republicans’ Midterm Defeat,” read one headline from Tasnim News Agency, which is affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.State-run IRNA led with a headline announcing a “heavy defeat for Trump and his supporters,” citing “an unprecedented level of dissatisfaction with US President Donald Trump,” driven in large part by the war.Some anti-war voices in Washington also declared the vote a win for Tehran, Politico also reported.“The Democrats didn’t win the midterms,” wrote Trita Parsi, co-founder of the anti-interventionist Quincy Institute. “Iran did.”