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A frantic appearance by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's before the media Thursday drew an accusation that he may require drug testing or an abuse intervention.The embattled President Donald Trump appointee spoke to reporters and attempted to address concerns about his deployment of an aircraft carrier in the Middle East that has lasted so long that one sailor attempted to leap overboard.Speaking to reporters in Panama, an intense Hegseth, 46, discussed the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier on extended deployment near Iran, the Daily Beast reported."We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain, has everything we can provide them at every single moment," Hegseth said, adding that he understood the strain of long deployments from his own military service in Iraq and Afghanistan.His appearance and rapid-fire commentary caught the attention of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who posted on X describing Hegseth as appearing "delusional, manic, agitated" and noting his "arm-thrashing display." Newsom questioned whether Hegseth had recently undergone drug testing, asking, "Has Pete Hegseth done a drug test lately? Why are the results not public?"This is not the first time Hegseth has raised concerns by acting in a "manic" manner, according to Pentagon insiders.Hegseth has a documented history of substance abuse concerns. His ex-wife told the FBI that he "drinks more often than he doesn't," and former Fox News colleagues said he reeked of alcohol before going on air. Hegseth pledged to abstain from alcohol ahead of his Senate confirmation, which was narrowly approved with Vice President JD Vance providing a tie-breaking vote.

President Donald Trump's touted Freedom Fuel gas-station network faces fresh scrutiny after a former State Department official questioned possible links to Venezuela.During an episode of Court of History, former State Department expert on international crime Jonathan Winer suggested Freedom Fuel may be tied to Venezuela's opaque oil revenue and selling cheaper gas through an arrangement that's "literally unprecedented in American history."Freedom Fuel appeared around Philadelphia in late June with regular gas priced at $3.47 a gallon, which was roughly 50 cents under local prices and below estimated wholesale costs. The White House has promoted the chain as proof that Trump's energy agenda is working without explaining how the stations undercut every competitor."People can't mysteriously get fuel at a lower price and continue to offer that," Winer said. "You could, of course, do a very short promotion, but you basically can't do it."Since January, the administration has controlled Venezuelan oil revenue under what it called a custodianship and with almost no public accounting, Winer noted."It's all remarkably opaque," he said. "You would think we would know, but we don't."The Trump administration led an operation to remove former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from power and detain him for drug trafficking charges. Winer noted that Trump boasted shortly after, "To the victor go the spoils, and these are the spoils," referring to Venezuelan oil. According to Winer, Trump even added, "We're getting billions."According to Winer, "Freedom Fuel is maintaining as much opacity as it can. It's not explaining anything." At the same time, "The White House is maintaining as much opacity as it can," except to say that Trump, his family, and their businesses have no financial stake in Freedom Fuel.However, Winer suggested that Freedom Fuel is "a patronage network which the United States is sponsoring." He called on Congress to subpoena records from the Treasury, State, and Energy departments."When you have governments that are being opaque rather than transparent, it's usually because there's something they want to hide," he warned.

CNN anchor Erin Burnett called the conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln "shocking" during a live broadcast on Thursday as new details emerged about dire troop morale.Burnett spoke with Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who sits on the Armed Services Committee. The lawmaker wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asking for information about the troops on naval ships and pushed back on Hegseth's claims."Hegseth trying to characterize these powerful, credible reports as fake news is really a disservice and profoundly disrespectful to the sailors who are on the USS Abraham Lincoln and enduring these hardships," Blumenthal said. He explained how the lack of supplies, access to food, hot water, toothpaste and soap affects morale and increases stress, which he said contributed to a sailor reportedly going overboard."Anyone who's familiar with how an aircraft carrier operates knows that these jobs are highly stressful, requiring stamina as these fighter jets land on an area that looks like a postage stamp as they begin their descent," Blumenthal said. "And these sailors, whether they are on the deck or below, doing mechanics or at the surveillance systems, fending off possible attacks, are all under tremendous stress and doing work that can be highly dangerous if they are either distracted or demoralized. So it's a real strategic issue."Reports indicated Thursday that the USS Washington was on its way to replace or relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been at sea for a record 200-plus days without a port call — they haven't touched ground since the ship deployed from San Diego in November 2025.But that still doesn't solve the problem, Blumenthal explained."The USS Washington is being taken away from its forward position in the far east. So the endless war of impulse without strategy and exit plan is having a toll on our military readiness," he added.Burnett pointed out why this was problematic."When you hear this as an American and Americans rightly have pride in the greatest military in the world, but to hear that you have a premier military ship like this, right, a carrier where people aren't getting enough food, I think it's stunning," Burnett said. "It's hard to hear. And it's frankly shocking. And the conditions on the Lincoln appear to be in no small part because of the war with Iran." Blumenthal described another disturbing report: sailors have not been receiving their care packages."Anybody who's had sons or daughters in the military, I've had two, knows that a stale cookie can be worth its weight in gold," he said. "That kind of destructive impact to morale can have a ripple effect in the crew."

President Donald Trump might have a particular motivation for blowing a gasket about recent leaks like his catering cart escape to a secret plane.National security journalist Marcy "emptywheel" Wheeler raised her new theory in a post about the incident, which involved reporters and even some White House staff traveling in a decoy Air Force One flight without their knowledge during the threat of an assassination attempt — and it comes back to the fact that the only other significant people on the real flight were Trump aides Natalie Harp, Walt Nauta, and Dan Scavino."The details about who was in that catering cart are useful," she said, and not just because of the fact that "Trump took his comfort blonde, Harp, with him but not Stephen Miller (or any other Cabinet official, to include Marco Rubio)," wrote Wheeler. Rather, it could actually explain why Trump is so angry and scared about the leaks coming out of the White House.At the same time that The New York Times was hit with subpoenas for its journalistic sources about the Air Force One security issues, Wheeler explained."Susie Wiles and Kash Patel started seizing phones almost immediately. They also had to learn who was traveling with Trump — who was in that catering cart," Wheeler wrote.The simple fact is, said Wheeler, the nature of this leak means only a small handful of people could have tipped off the press — and most of those options aren't good for Trump. Those options include "One of those closest aides in the catering cart, or the junior people they brought with them; A very small group of the big-ego people left back as bait on Old Air Force One; Someone inside the Secret Service, involved in the ruse; [or] Turkish sources, who learned of the transfer."This means that for all Trump knows, one of his most trusted aides, like Harp, could have betrayed him. And it's vital to him to know whether that happened, Wheeler wrote."None of that justifies the abusive way Kash and Susie Wiles started chasing down sources," she concluded. "But it does explain it."

Former Republican insider Steve Schmidt argued on Wednesday that President Donald Trump's biggest fear is someone who tries to hold him accountable — like CNN's Kaitlan Collins.In his podcast and video series "The Warning," the co-founder of the anti-Trump organization, The Lincoln Project, compared Trump's "Trojan horse" move in Turkey, where he left journalists and his own aides as "bait on the chum plane" under a credible threat, to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II. He juxtaposed this with the moment FDR learned that a torpedo was fired at the USS Iowa, where he rushed to the rail to see it coming towards the ship. "When he was aboard a presidential aircraft flying with Dwight Eisenhower sitting next to him shortly after giving him command of the D-Day operation with the hydraulics out on the airplane, FDR lit a cigarette, threw his head back and laughed at all of it," Schmidt said, citing a book from Rick Atkinson that describes the incident."He says we'll see how good those Army Air Corps pilots are and has a big laugh," Schmidt said. "That's what courage under fire looks like. That's what cool under fire looks like. But this man, intimidated by Kaitlan Collins, is no FDR. He's no Eisenhower. He's the weakest American president in history, with a yellow stain as wide as his ankles running down the middle of his back. This is a fearful man, and you see it all the time."As Trump made his way off Air Force One with a catering cart, it revealed more about him "as an obese American fascist," Schmidt explained. And his reaction after the reports surfaced was telling."Look at this decaying geriatric sloth trying to make it up these stairs," Schmidt said. "Look at him coming down. Look at the bruising on his hand, the skin color, the preposterous wig. Decrepitude and decay etched all over his body and face. And we, the people, are his prisoners in a dungeon of rot and American decay.""With Pete Hegseth and little Marco as bait and Donald Trump safe on his way back to the loving arms of Melania," Schmidt added, mocking Trump. "What a sick and demeaning moment, perhaps in all the history of the country, the lowest in the history of the degraded American presidency."

Ángel Aguirre indicted in case that rocked Mexico and became symbol of its brutal cartel violenceThe former governor of Guerrero state in Mexico has been formally charged over his alleged involvement in the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, a case that has become a symbol of the country’s brutal cartel violence and government impunity.Ángel Aguirre, who was arrested last week, is accused of forced disappearance and obstruction of justice for ordering the destruction of surveillance tapes that may have shed light on what happened to the students from the Ayotzinapa teacher training college on the night of 26 September 2014. Continue reading...

Kyaw Zwar Minn was ousted for declaring loyalty to Aung San Suu Kyi after 2021 coup but refused to leave his homeMyanmar’s ousted ambassador to the UK has gone on trial on trespassing charges for refusing to leave a diplomatic residence after being unceremoniously locked out of the embassy in 2021.Shortly after Myanmar’s military seized power in 2021, triggering mass protests that spiralled into a civil war, Kyaw Zwar Minn was locked out of the embassy for declaring his loyalty to the deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Continue reading...

A frantic President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that the U.S. maintains control of the Strait of Hormuz even as transit hit record lows and peace talks stalled, reports show. “The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz," wrote Trump on Truth Social. "I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT! Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it."This boast arrived as problems mount in ceasefire talks with Iran, multiple reports show. "Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict and fully re-open the strait have continued to stall," Al Jazeera reported. "Iran has continued to assert its influence over the strait as it has pursued talks with Oman on future management. Wider peace talks with the US have been largely paused amid the Iran-Oman talks, which do not include Washington."What's more, multiple news outlets report just eight vessels passed through the strait this week, compared to pre-war 130 ships a day.Nonetheless, on Truth Social, the president claimed things could not be better.“They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their ‘Leadership’ is uncertain, at best!” he continued, “They have No Money - Their country is ‘shot.’”Trump also claimed Iran has a problem currently plaguing his own nation. “All they have is FAKE NEWS and 300% INFLATION, and getting worse! Iran is all talk and no action, the Bully of the Middle East No Longer," he wrote. "Praise be to Allah!”