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A former CIA officer on Sunday floated a disturbing new theory about when late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) actually died.Reports indicate that Graham suffered from cardiac arrest at his Washington, D.C., residence late Saturday night, and that he was pronounced dead at George Washington University Hospital later that night. However, the timeline of events leading up to Graham's death didn't make sense to former CIA officer Charles Johnson, who floated a new theory about when Graham died in a new Substack essay. "This is total bulls---!" Johnson wrote about the official story of Graham's death. Johnson noted that Graham had traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 10, which makes the timeline of his death harder to believe. "So, let’s go [through] the timeline," Johnson wrote. "Senator Graham arrived in Kyiv between 09:45 [and] 10:45 local on July 10th. The train he took from Poland departed Warsaw at 18:15 hours local on July 9th. It was an overnight train. To arrive in Poland in time to take the 18:15 train, Lindsey would have departed Dulles International Airport at around 0700 local on July 9 — the flight from Dulles to Warsaw is 9 hours.""So, Lindsey Graham arrives in Kyiv by 11 am (sic) Friday morning. He meets with Zelensky and tours a drone factory. Then we are asked to believe that he returns to Washington, D.C., after spending less than 24 hours on the ground. Again, I call bulls---!!" he added. Additional details of Graham's trip made it seem likely that he actually died in Kyiv, possibly while he was traveling back to the U.S., Johnson noted. "The earliest train back to Warsaw departs Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi at 07:40–08:00 on the 11th and arrives Przemyśl Główny in the afternoon (~17:00–18:00). That is at least nine hours. That would make it roughly 1100 hours in Washington, D.C.," he wrote. "Let’s assume he has an hour to get to the airport and the plane takes off at 1900 hours local from Poland. The flight going west takes 10 hours… This means the earliest the plane could have landed at Dulles is midnight on the 11th. That is 3 ½ hours after Graham reportedly died at home," Johnson added.

Sen. Lindsey Graham's (R-SC) sudden death reverberated across the globe on Sunday as world leaders reacted to the news. Graham died late Saturday night after a "brief and sudden illness," according to his office. It is believed that Graham suffered from cardiac arrest before his death. President Donald Trump described the late Senator as "one of the greatest people and Senators that I have ever known." Leaders of American-allied nations reacted to the news on Sunday, offering condolences to Graham's family and colleagues. However, the mercurial senator's death also sparked a more terse reaction from America's enemies, particularly inside the Kremlin. "He worked tirelessly to strengthen sanctions, in close coordination with the E.U.," Ursula von der Leyen, the E.U. commission president, remembered in a post on X. "A determined and fearless leader. He will be deeply missed." "Throughout his career, he stood resolutely in defense of democracy and freedom, most recently and particularly with Ukraine and its people," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney posted on X. "I offer my condolences to Senator Graham’s family, friends, and all those who served alongside him."Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, also thanked Graham for his staunch advocacy for Ukrainians defending their country against Russian aggression. "We will always be especially grateful for the recognition of our people and words of admiration for the courage of Ukraine’s defenders," Zelenskyy noted in a post on X. "America and the world have lost a determined leader."Graham's death sparked a much different message inside Russia's Kremlin and among the Putin regime's propagandists, The Daily Beast reported. Alexey Pushkov, a Russian lawmaker who represents Putin's party, called Graham "bloodthirsty" in a Telegram post shortly after his death, according to the report. Kremlin propagandist Sergei Mardan added that the Russian people "certainly won't miss him," the report added.

Shortly after the United States launched a fresh round of strikes at Iran on Sunday, the United Nations secretary-general pleaded with all parties to practice restraint, or risk sparking global and imminent “catastrophic consequences.”On Saturday, the United States launched strikes at Iran in response to an attack on a container ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and in a manner that Iran claimed to be in violation of the U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement. Iran responded early Sunday morning with strikes targeting major U.S. allies in the region.On Sunday, the United States retaliated again with a new wave of strikes, only this time, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres pleaded with all parties involved to stop hostilities, The New York Times reported.“A return to full-scale hostilities would have catastrophic consequences [for the region and for the global economy],” Guterres said, according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.Guterres went on to say he was “deeply concerned by the serious escalation” and urged both the United States and Iran “to exercise maximum restraint, avoid further escalatory action and take immediate steps to de-escalate.”The United States’ most recent attack on Iran, according to a U.S. official who spoke with the Times under the condition of anonymity, was to degrade “Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping vessels,” the Times reported.On Saturday, Iran also announced that the Strait of Hormuz – a critical shipping route through which around 20% of the world’s oil trade flows – was “closed until further notice,” citing “America’s interventions in the region.”

The sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and the mysterious absence of a sickly Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have thrown the Senate GOP into "chaos" ahead of crucial vote, analysts contend. It remains unclear whether the senate Republicans will now be able to pursue plans to rush the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act to a vote without the two powerful representatives at hand, Democratic strategist and MS NOW contributor Max Burns argued Sunday."Lindsey Graham's sudden and unexpected death throws into chaos the Senate GOP's plan," he wrote on X. " Without McConnell and Graham they are in a real tight vote situation."That's because opposition from Democrats has been mounting.Six Democratic senators last week urged colleagues to block the NDAA's advancement until a provision they believe to be"reckless" can be removed, according to a recent Truthout report. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and five others urged colleagues not to support the U.S.-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative which would mandate cooperation between the U.S. and Israel militaries and intelligence, according to the report. “These agreements threaten U.S. national security interests by handing the Netanyahu government leverage over American weapons systems and military technology,” the letter stated. “This is not hypothetical."Iran also poses a problem. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) announced over the weekend he would not vote to approve the NDAA over concerns about the war. "We haven’t even had an up or down vote to authorize this war in the first place," Schatz said Saturday. "Trump wants a 50 percent increase at DOD - they expect money without accountability or strategy. I usually vote yes on NDAA but this is an easy call for me."With opposition mounting, Senate Republicans needed Graham and McConnell to help them fend off this attack from Democrats, argued political reporter Igor Bobic on Sunday."Senate was set to take up the NDAA upon returning from the break," he wrote. "Will be harder with Graham’s passing and McConnell’s absence amid rising Dem opposition over Iran."Last week, Politico reported an already thin margin for Republicans to push military spending.

A bizarre incident involving a Fox News host and the interim president of a foreign nation has become one of President Donald Trump's favorite stories to tell, according to a new report. The New York Times Saturday profiled Secretary of State Marco Rubio and revealed his growing power over Venezuela and the apparent pleasure it gives the president. This becomes evident when the Times details an Oval Office encounter between the two men. "Mr. Rubio could be the next leader of Venezuela, Mr. Trump suggested," according to the report. "And while the president’s aides say he was joking — and that he frequently teases Mr. Rubio about an overseas assignment — the fact is that Mr. Rubio does not need to move to Caracas."Rubio's control over the foreign nation, whose leader, incumbent Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, the U.S. captured during a military strike on Jan. 3, has only grown, the Times reports.Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s vice president, now leads the country on an "acting basis" but with detailed instructions from Washington, according to the report. The Times then detailed the backstory of a '"surprising" announcement, made before even the Venezuelan government could, that Rubio made about Rodríguez earlier this year. Rubio announced she would would travel to India. "When the Fox News anchor Bret Baier contacted Ms. Rodríguez about participating in an interview, she told him that Mr. Trump would have to approve," the Times reports."Mr. Trump loved that Ms. Rodríguez was deferring to him, and has repeatedly recounted the story to others when they ask about her, according to multiple people familiar with his comments."

President Donald Trump late Friday night publicly threatened to decimate "all areas of Iran" over mounting fears for his personal safety. Trump's took to Truth Social about 11:20 p.m. to inform to Iranians that he would not hold back should any assassination attempt occur. "1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran," wrote Trump, "with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!Trump was likely responding to the Wall Street Journal report Thursday that Israel intelligence shared with the U.S. may indicate Iran has developed a new plan to assassinate Trump."Iran for years has vowed openly to retaliate against Trump for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, who was a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in the president’s first term," the report noted. Trump said late Friday that any word of such attempt would result in an enormous retaliation effort from the U.S. "Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran," said Trump. The months-long war began earlier this year with a strike, subjected to new scrutiny last week from CNN, which resulted in the bombing of a school and the deaths of 168 children. CNN's unnamed sources said an important step had been skipped. "Senior US military commanders bypassed warnings in critical databases that intelligence about potential targets in Iran was severely out of date," the report stated. "The decision by senior commanders to ignore the warnings was made for 'expediency,' two of the sources said, in a rush to provide targets at the start of the war. But it also directly contributed to the accidental strike on the school."Trump concluded his threat Friday night with the words "PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!"Read the full post here.

The Trump administration admitted it's worried that a nuclear deal with Iran is increasingly unlikely, the Wall Street Journal reported.Senior U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that a nuclear deal with Iran is "growing increasingly unlikely" in a "rare acknowledgment."A deal to limit Iran's nuclear capacity was one of Trump's "core foreign-policy goals," the Journal noted. However, the senior officials who spoke to the Journal are expecting Iran to release a statement declaring that it will stop firing at ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz and leave it open."One of the officials suggested there would be serious consequences if such a promise isn't made by Saturday," the Journal wrote, referring to the Strait of Hormuz statement. "Others didn't suggest there was a firm deadline."The Journal noted that Trump told reporters earlier this week that Iran will "never build a nuclear weapon under our deal, but I don't know if we're going to have a deal." Sources told the Journal that a nuclear deal wouldn't be possible unless Iran hands over control of its buried enriched uranium, and the U.S. has "low-cost military options to block access to the nuclear material forever." Under the current memorandum of understanding, the U.S. and Iran have 60 days to reach a final nuclear agreement, which could be extended, the Journal added. "Iran made no explicit promises to scale back its nuclear program in the interim deal," the Journal wrote. "But it did commit to the two sides reaching a satisfactory solution for handling Iran's existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium."

Innocent man lynched by mob in West Bengal as police killing of suspect further escalates tensionsProtests have engulfed the Indian state of West Bengal after the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, the subsequent lynching of an innocent man and the police killing of one of the accused.Outrage erupted on Sunday after the body of a missing girl was recovered from a pond in a town just outside the state capital, Kolkata. Continue reading...