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CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a secret trip to Moscow this week specifically to warn Russia against attacking NATO countries, according to people briefed on the visit — a trip President Trump publicly dismissed as merely "semi-routine."The trip was first reported on Tuesday, despite Kremlin denials that any talks were going on.The visit, whose purpose is now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, marks Ratcliffe's first publicly known trip to the Russian capital and comes on the heels of fresh U.S. intelligence assessments warning that Vladimir Putin could test NATO's resolve with a limited strike on an allied country, likely a Baltic nation, sometime in the next few years. Officials are worried Putin, boxed in by the war in Ukraine and facing domestic pressure, could launch anything from a cyberattack to a small-scale land incursion.Complicating matters further, U.S. weapons stockpiles have been stretched thin by both Ukraine transfers since Russia's 2022 invasion and the ongoing war with Iran, potentially factoring into Putin's calculus about how the West would actually respond to an attack.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Ratcliffe met with Russian intelligence officials during the trip, though not directly with Putin, who Peskov said was briefed on the discussions afterward.Trump offered little clarity when asked about the visit during a Wednesday interview with radio host Glenn Beck, quickly pivoting to talk about ending the Russia-Ukraine war instead."Something may come out of it," Trump said. "We're working very hard to get that war ended, and frankly they both want to see it ended at this point."Ratcliffe's trip follows several previous visits to Moscow by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff amid ongoing peace negotiations, but international visits by a sitting CIA director are notably rare. The last time an agency chief traveled to Moscow was November 2021, when then-Director William Burns delivered his own warning to Putin not to invade Ukraine — a warning that ultimately went unheeded just months later.

President Trump's escalating trade fight with Canada is about to make one of the most basic household necessities more expensive, as Canada prepares retaliatory tariffs on toilet paper and hundreds of other American goods.The news was reported by The Daily Beast on Wednesday.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled a list of nearly 900 products set for 25 percent to 50 percent tariffs starting in September, matching the levies Trump has already slapped on Canadian goods. Toilet paper made the list — a particularly painful target given that paper products already jumped in price after Trump's earlier 'Liberation Day' tariffs. Procter & Gamble, which makes Charmin, said those tariffs alone forced a 25 percent price hike on its paper products last summer, according to the report. The U.S. imported $328 million worth of toilet paper from Canada in 2024, more than from any other country, and even Costco's popular Kirkland private-label paper products are largely Canadian-sourced, according to the Guardian.The White House defended its posture toward Canada in a statement to the Daily Beast."Canada was offered the most generous trade deal of any of America's trading partners despite being overwhelmingly reliant on access to the American economy," the White House said.Trump has shown no interest in de-escalating, telling right-wing radio host Glenn Beck this week that Canada — a wartime ally in every major U.S. conflict since World War I — is one of the "worst countries in the world" for how it treats American consumers.The timing comes as Trump is already facing mounting criticism over the affordability crisis gripping American households. A three-time Trump voter publicly confronted him on live television this week, telling him in vulgar terms to focus on lowering costs. With Americans using an average of 141 rolls of toilet paper a year, more than any country on Earth, according to Statista, the coming price hike threatens to become an unusually literal symbol of the trade war's toll on everyday life.Ironically, the Trump administration faced toilet paper woes in the first term as well, when the beginning of the COVID pandemic led to widespread panic-buying and shortages.

President denies visit was to gain support for Iran sanctions or due to fears that Putin plans to ‘test Nato resolve’Donald Trump has downplayed a visit to Moscow by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, as “semi-routine” after he turned up in the Russian capital unannounced, triggering a wave of speculation about the reasons for his trip.Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on Tuesday in a rare visit after taking off from the Andrews air force base in Maryland. Continue reading...

Any hopes that President Donald Trump may have had about Canadians bowing to his trade demands likely died on Wednesday afternoon.With the American president going toe-to-toe with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a growing trade war, MS NOW’s Alex Tabet interviewed voters in Ontario and they had a lot to say.And more than a few words were bleeped when it came to talking about Trump after Tabet claimed most feel they have “been pushed to the brink.”One man challenged Trump to keep up the attacks after being asked, “What would you tell President Trump right now?”“Snuggle up, boy. Elbows up, Canadians,” he replied with a grin as his partner laughed. “We don't take that stuff, we don't back down from a fight. Never have, never will. Bring it.”A woman in a Toronto Blue Jays jersey stated, “I’m fully behind what Carney has done. F--- the U.S.”Another man was asked, “He's recently threatened to rename Lake Ontario, Lake America. What do you make of that threat?” Without pause, the man replied, “So I think there's also talk about renaming Lake Michigan 'Lake Epstein'.”“I tell him to f--- off,” another man in a cap told Tabet. “Be honest with you? Do something else. Get somebody in there that’s got some respect for people and his country.”After an edit he added, “I think they should shove it right where it belongs. I like Canada. Canada is Canada. It's been that way all the time, been a free country. I know we have some problems in our country, but poor states, we got health care. They look after us and it's fun being up here. Go down there, what do you get? Nothing. You got to pay for everything. How's that? How's that happen?”Returning to the studio and host Peter Alexander, Tabet dryly added, “You heard it there. Lots of flowery language. But in classic Canadian fashion, those curse words were immediately preceded by — I was going to say the Canadians are generally about as nice as folks get, but they had some tough words for the president.” - YouTube youtu.be

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) wants to break the back of foreign actors who use US influencers as fronts, and she is willing to go around House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to get it done.In an interview with Politico Playbook, Luna, who has been a thorn in Johnson's side, claims she has seen contracts "in the millions" that could rock MAGAworld if they were exposed.The Florida Republican is rolling out the Foreign Propaganda Registration Act, an amendment to the Foreign Agents Registration Act that would require influencers to disclose when they're being paid by a foreign government to push political messaging, according to the proposal first shared with Playbook."Being an influencer right now is kind of like the wild west," Luna told Playbook. "There's a lot of things laws haven't caught up to."Luna received briefings on foreign influence efforts, spoke with multiple government agencies about the issue and heard about payments occurring "on the back end" from people inside the influencer world.When asked whether she was aware of specific influencers receiving foreign money, Luna said: "I have a number of those people. I'm not going to put anyone on blast. That's not my job."The practice reaches deep into the influencer ecosystem. "Some of your biggest profile names… a large portion of them, in some way, shape, or form, have been approached at one point to push a certain position that's probably tied to a foreign country," Luna said.Luna is confident Johnson will support the measure. If not, she has a familiar recourse: she previously used a discharge petition to try to bypass House leadership and force action on a congressional stock-trading ban, and a person familiar with her thinking said she could turn to the tactic again. According to the report, "The fight ballooned in recent months inside MAGA, where the sprawling influencer ecosystem that fueled Trump’s political rise faces growing accusations within its own ranks that foreign governments and other well-funded interests are trying to manipulate it. Allegations have been leveled against influencers targeting JD Vance, Tucker Carlson and recently that Laura Loomer’s trip to Ukraine was funded by the country — which she vehemently denied."

President Donald Trump hinted Tuesday that his administration may take immediate action to intervene in what he called a “humanitarian crisis of epic proportions” in Iran, demanding that it be addressed immediately.“The failing Islamic Republic of Iran is not paying large segments of their military, while at the same time killing protesters, even when they are not protesting, at levels not seen before,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “It is a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions, and must be stopped, NOW.”Iran executed a protester last weekend who was accused by Iranian officials of taking “operational action” on behalf of Israel, according to Iran International. A wave of protests broke out in Iran in January amid economic crisis, though Iran has accused Israel of stoking dissent. While Israel has not explicitly admitted to its involvement, the Mossad — Israel’s intelligence agency — admitted it was among protesters “in the field.” Israel’s far-right Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu admitted as much as well, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a similar admission.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a threatening ultimatum Monday with a message that CNN’s Jeremy Diamond said would “ripple around the world.”Speaking during a press conference at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., Bessent unveiled the Trump administration’s new “economic D-Day” plan, officially named Operation Economic Outcast, which is designed to financially squeeze Iran into submission through the use of secondary sanctions and other measures.“Nations that facilitate any interactions with the regime should quickly heed our message: those who stand with the United States will reap the rewards of our partnership — those who tether themselves to the Iranian regime should expect to share in the isolation of a withering regime,” Bessent warned.“The United States expects action… Every country has a defined timeline to shut down activities we have identified. Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the U.S. dollar system. The clock just started ticking.”Operation Economic Outcast was teased by Bessent on Sunday in an op-ed he penned for the Financial Times. Almost immediately, multiple experts warned that the plan was not only destined to fail, but could very well backfire, with one expert — political scientist Robert Pape — warning that it could potentially “shut down critical shipping lanes and spike oil prices overnight.”Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent threatens entire world with consequences for ignoring its new sanctions plan against Iran, says countries have a "defined timeline" to take action."Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the U.S. dollar… pic.twitter.com/oAYMLtwxOW— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) August 24, 2026

The Trump administration’s new plan to financially squeeze Iran and force it back to the negotiating table is dangerously short-sighted, sanctions expert Brett Erickson warned Monday, and ultimately has only two outcomes — both of which carry severe risks.Revealed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday, the Trump administration's new plan to force Iran into submission has been called an “economic D-Day,” and would see severe secondary sanctions imposed on any nation or entity providing Iran with financial assistance. However, Trump administration officials have yet to explain how they plan on executing such a plan without sparking a new trade war among the United States’ largest trading partners.In 2025 alone, trade between the United States and China totaled more than $494 billion, a figure notably more than 25% less than the previous year. China also happens to be one of Iran’s largest trading partners, being their single largest buyer of oil over the past several years, according to Reuters.Speaking to Al Jazeera for its report Monday, Erickson argued that for the Trump administration to execute its plan, it would have to either sever ties with China in a manner that could spark a “prolonged period” of potential economic hardship, or exclude China from its secondary tariffs, which itself would be a “tacit admission” that the plan was ineffective.“That is not a relationship you degrade lightly. If the United States decides to really bring China into the ring, it will be a serious indication that the United States plans to wage this economic war for a prolonged period of time,” Erickson told the outlet.“If they do not, it will be a tacit admission from the Trump administration that they do not believe economic hardship can seriously bring about a change in the Iranian position.”Erickson was far from the only critic of the Trump administration’s new plan, which has yet to be revealed in full. Political scientist Robert Pape also warned Monday that not only was the plan doomed to fail, but that it would likely backfire spectacularly, and potentially “shut down critical shipping lanes and spike oil prices overnight.”