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Wednesday, August 12th, 2026 - Trump Fled in a Catering Truck & Got a Diamond Ring, ICE’S Shock Gloves Aug 12, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Trump secretly escaped Air Force One in a catering truck at the NATO summit in Turkey due to an Iranian assassination threat — leaving the press corps and cabinet members including Marco Rubio sitting inside the plane he'd just abandoned as a decoy. The plane he fled was the Qatari hand-me-down that clearly wasn't secure enough for the president. When asked if he'd declare a national emergency around the November midterms, Trump said "stranger things have happened, I'll leave it at that" and then actually left it at that, which is alarming, to say the least. Meanwhile, the DOJ deployed election monitors to Minnesota's two biggest counties for their primary elections, a federal judge blocked Trump's postal service mail-in voting restrictions, and Todd Blanche is apparently discussing using ICE at polling places, so the election interference infrastructure is coming together nicely. On the corruption beat, the Antwerp World Diamond Center gave Trump a ring the size of a watch with 300 diamonds, dozens of sapphires, two giant T's, and "crafted in Antwerp for Donald John Trump" engraved on it — and weeks later the Trump administration approved a tariff exemption for Belgium's diamond industry, prompting Elizabeth Warren to send a strongly worded letter. Moving on to Immigration, ICE is planning to spend $20 million on electric shock gloves for agents, made by a company called Compliant Technologies, because subtlety is not the vibe. And finally, a new study found that dogs can distinguish between fear, anger, and sadness in human facial expressions with more nuance than previously known, which is genuinely good news and the only story today that doesn't require a drink afterward.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

WaPo: Contradicting public statements, Trump took secret flight from Turkey amid Iranian threat

The Independent: Trump doesn’t deny a possible federal takeover of elections: ‘Stranger things have happened’

The Guardian: Polls close in South Carolina, where Republicans brace for runoff in race to replace Lindsey Graham – live

Axios: Trump's mail-in voting restrictions blocked nationwide by federal judge

AP News: Belgian diamond group that won tariff relief gifted Trump a lavishly encrusted ring

AP News: AP Exclusive: ICE plans to give officers gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks

WaPo: Dogs can tell when you're happy, scared or sad, new brain scans show

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Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Tuesday, August 11th, 2026 - Trump's Anti-Vax Executive Order, Zuck's 6500-Word AI Manifesto, July Is Hottest Month on Record Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Trump signed an executive order overriding the CDC's vaccine schedule authority, requiring the MMR vaccine to be broken into three separate shots at separate visits — while claiming he broke up his own kids' vaccines into five stops because he's "seen proof" that vaccines cause autism, which he described as a soda bottle poured into a child's body. Trump also admitted there was "some contractor error" with the reflecting pool while continuing to accuse a former Olympian of vandalism even though charges were dropped, and appointed a Project 2025 co-author as inspector general of the department that will review the reflecting pool renovation. On the tech beat, Meta and TikTok lost their attempt to dismiss thousands of lawsuits claiming their platforms are deliberately addictive and harmful to teenagers. Mark Zuckerberg responded to the cultural moment by releasing a 6,500-word AI manifesto arguing everyone's concerns are overblown and America needs to beat China anyway. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders sent a strongly worded letter urging OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta to pause AI development, citing all three companies reporting their own models going rogue in recent weeks and a petition signed by over 1,200 AI employees calling for an international safety framework. In scary weather news, July 2026 was the hottest month ever recorded in the United States going back to 1895, with NOAA forecasting more of the same through August. Finally, a 7.4 magnitude earthquake — the strongest recorded in the 21st century — hit Colombia and Ecuador, killing at least 111 people with many still missing.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

The Guardian: Trump signs order attempting to override CDC vaccine schedule and break up MMR shots

The Hill: Trump says there was ‘some contractor error’ during Reflecting Pool renovation

WaPo: Trump nominates loyalist to office that would oversee Reflecting Pool review

WaPo: Patriot Games open with dodgeball, lots of MAGA caps and even more questions

Axios: Meta, others lose appeal to drop thousands of social media addiction lawsuits

Axios: Zuckerberg: AI's biggest risk is one entity with too much control

Axios: Exclusive: Sanders calls for AI development pause

Axios: The U.S. just had its hottest month on record

AP News: 7.4 magnitude quake strikes western Colombia, killing scores of people

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Monday, August 10th, 2026 - Trump’s Personal Atty Is AG, Meta Paid Neo-Nazi’s To Post, Iran Still Won’t Open The Strait Aug 10, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Todd Blanche was confirmed as attorney general 50-49 at 4am on Saturday — with spineless Bill Cassidy, who already lost his Senate seat thanks to Trump, casting the deciding vote anyway — cementing the man responsible for Ghislaine Maxwell's emotional support puppy as the top law enforcement officer in the United States. On an equally depressing note, Ohio congressman Max Miller, facing allegations of holding his daughter's stuffed bunny hostage among significantly more violent accusations, missed the deadline to drop out of his reelection race. Speaking of people with no shame, Meta was caught paying neo-Nazis through its invitation-only monetization program, including a white supremacist site banned from X for hate speech. Pivoting to international grifts, a Trump-linked oil company literally called Greenland Energy — incorporated last year by a Trump associate, with Dr. Phil retained to document the whole thing — is preparing to drill in Greenland without permission from Greenland, because why ask. On the war beat, the Pentagon is running dangerously low on weapons and gave defense companies three weeks to scale production, while Trump described ongoing Iran negotiations as "lowkeying it" and "like a chess game," and Iran announced it won't reopen the Strait until the US withdraws, ends the war, unfreezes assets, lifts sanctions, and pays damages — so just a few small asks. Netanyahu rejected Trump's 15-point Gaza plan, Hamas won't disarm until Israel leaves, Israel won't leave until Hamas disarms, and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey signed a mutual defense pact declaring an attack on one is an attack on all, which is either stabilizing or the beginning of something much worse.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

CNN: How each senator voted on Todd Blanche’s attorney general confirmation

Axios: Max Miller stays in as GOP replacement window closes

Futurism: Meta Caught Paying Nazis to Post on Facebook

The Guardian: Greenland issues ‘strong warning’ as Trump-linked oil firm prepares to drill

Reuters: Trump administration to invest $3 billion in minerals projects to boost US defense supply chains

WaPo: Pentagon presses defense firms to build weapons as Iran war depletes stocks

NBC News: Iran sets out steep demands for reopening Hormuz despite hopes Oman deal could break impasse

Axios: Trump to Axios: "We are low-keying it" with Iran

NBC News: Israel rejects Trump’s 15-point plan for Gaza, Netanyahu says

NBC News: Pakistan says new defense pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey is ‘purely defensive’ and open to others

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Friday, July 31st, 2026 - Iran Hacked Minnesota's Water Supply, Secret Service Stalked Comey, Claude Hacked Three Companies Jul 31, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Iran may have hacked over 30 Minnesota water systems, with the FBI investigating amid existing warnings that Iranian hackers have been specifically targeting water and wastewater infrastructure. Speaking of hacking, Anthropic's AI models hacked into three companies during tests, topping OpenAI's model which only hacked one, which is either a quality gap or a concerning arms race depending on how you look at it. On this administration’s shenanigans, Trump is threatening to pull Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination after Cornyn and Tillis refused to vote for him, though his plan appears to be waiting until their terms end and his preferred replacements take their seats — and a new court filing in the Comey case reveals that Trump's Secret Service tracked Comey's cellphone without a warrant in real time, coordinating directly with the DOJ and updating Air Force One, including while Comey stopped to visit his deceased son's grave, with one Secret Service agent noting internally that pinging the phone was "legally a bad idea." On the war beat, Trump announced a deal for Hamas to disarm and Israel to withdraw from Gaza, with neither Hamas nor Israel confirming any of it and no official timeline provided. The US continues heavy strikes on Iran while Saudi Arabia announced 14 countries have agreed to form a Maritime Defense Alliance to protect international shipping. Finally, two new studies confirmed that Europe's catastrophic wildfires were made significantly worse by human-caused climate change, with Spain's fire conditions made 20 times more likely and France's doubled, and scientists noting that no amount of money for fire prevention helps when climate conditions are this extreme — cool, cool.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

AP News: Cyberattacks on Minnesota water systems investigated as officials warn about Iranian hackers

WSJ: Anthropic AI Models Hacked Three Companies During Tests

WSJ: Trump Threatens to Pull Blanche Pick in Clash With ‘Wounded Bear’ Senators

MS Now: Secret Service felt pressure from administration to surveil James Comey, new documents reveal

AP News: Trump announces a deal for Hamas to disarm in Gaza, but many hurdles and uncertainty remain

CNN: Saudi Arabia says 14 countries backing maritime alliance to protect shipping routes

AP News: Human-caused climate change made Spanish, French fires much more likely, scientists calculate

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Thursday, July 30th, 2026 - Rand Paul's Fauci Circus, Iran War Back On…Again, Elon’s Coming for the Midterms Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Congress was quite busy. Rand Paul turned the Senate into a personal vendetta circus, dragging Anthony Fauci in for a hearing where he pleaded the Fifth almost 100 times — because the entire point was to find something to criminally prosecute him for despite Biden's preemptive pardon — and Paul is now threatening to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for asserting his constitutional right. Todd Blanche's attorney general confirmation vote was cancelled because Thom Tillis and John Cornyn want the bare minimum assurance that he won't create Trump's insurrectionist slush fund or give Trump permanent IRS immunity — things Blanche won't promise — though both senators still ultimately want to vote for him, so there really is no point to this. Jay Clayton, who has zero intelligence or national security experience, was confirmed as Director of National Intelligence anyway, because experience is optional now. On the war beat, Iran launched a ballistic missile strike on a US base in Jordan, Trump told Fox News the US would "beat the fucking shit out of them," the US and Saudi Arabia jointly struck Iranian-aligned militants in Iraq, and then Iranian drones set two ships on fire in an Egyptian port in what Iranian sources called a demonstration that "global shipping and energy supplies could be more deeply disrupted." Trump called it "more of the same" and said "it's our turn to hit them," he must think war works like the game Battleship. In election interference news, Elon Musk is reviving his America PAC for the midterms after spending $250 million to elect Trump in 2024, with plans for door-knocking, digital ads, and direct mail — and has reportedly been talking to Trump's team about how he can be most helpful. And finally, The Federal Reserve voted 9-3 to keep interest rates between 3.5 and 3.75%, with the three dissenting votes wanting a rate increase due to persistent inflation, which is not the news anyone wanted.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

WaPo: Rand Paul threatens to hold Fauci in contempt after he declines to answer questions

NYT: Senators Cornyn and Tillis Threaten to Block Blanche Nomination Over Trump’s IRS Deal

CNN: Trump’s new intelligence chief takes over an office in turmoil

Axios: Exclusive: Musk plans massive push for GOP in midterms

NYT: Iran War Live Updates: U.S. Begins New Wave of Attacks on Iran, Military Says

Axios:U.S. launches fresh airstrikes in Iran

AP News: Trump announces a $22.5B makeover of Dulles airport that will eliminate the 'people movers'

WSJ: Fed Holds Rates Steady but Three Officials Vote for Increase

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Wednesday, July 29th, 2026 - AI Is Destroying Rare Books, ICE Undercover at Airports, Beshear’s Ultimatum Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear issued Mitch McConnell an ultimatum — prove you can serve or resign — pointing out that if Mitch can chat with Scott Jennings for 20 minutes he can call into a Kentucky news station. Lindsey Graham's memorial service at the Capitol brought together an unlikely guest list including Zelensky and Netanyahu, both of whom used the funeral as an opportunity for behind-closed-doors Trump meetings — Netanyahu called it "one of the best conversations I've had with Trump, and Zelensky said it was "good" and they discussed Patriot missiles and Ukraine diplomacy. In other Trump adjacent news, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced plans to sell a $20 billion stake in the World Cup to private investors led by Thrive Capital, owned by Jared Kushner's brother Joshua Kushner and his wife Karlie Kloss, because of course it is, with reactions from FIFA's 211 member associations being nearly universally negative. On the AI beat, AI companies are now buying rare books in bulk and destroying them to scan the pages for model training, because they've run out of internet content that isn't their own slop. Additionally, Elon Musk is suing the state of Minnesota over its ban on AI nudification, arguing that generating non-consensual sexual images of people without their knowledge is "free speech." Finally, ICE agents are going undercover at at least 15 airports nationwide to arrest foreign nationals with expired visas while traveling — including spouses of American citizens — using airline data shared through TSA, and the administration simultaneously created a new rule channeling nearly half a million asylum seekers directly into deportation proceedings without a hearing, because due process is apparently optional now.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

Axios: Speak or resign: Beshear ups demand for McConnell health status

AP News: Lindsey Graham eulogized as an 'American original' with global reach

CNBC:Netanyahu, Zelenskyy come to DC for Graham's funeral, meetings with Trump amid wars

WSJ: FIFA Explores Stake Sale in New $20 Billion Entity

Futurism: AI Companies Are Buying Antique Books, Ingesting Their Contents to Train Models, and Then Destroying Them at Incredible Scale

KARE 11: Elon Musk's X.AI sues to block Minnesota's AI nudification ban, calling it a 'ban on free speech'

NYT: ICE Arrests Surge at Airports, Opening New Front in Deportation Drive

WaPo: Asylum seekers could be sent directly to deportation court under new rule

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Tuesday, July 28th, 2026 - Mitch's “Proof” Of Life 2.0, ICE's DNA Database, Trump Takes Mail Voting to SCOTUS Jul 28, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Mitch McConnell's office released a photo with his wife and a doctor's note confirming he's still in a rehab facility and won't make it to the Fancy Farm Kentucky annual picnic, because THAT’S what everyone was concerned about. To add to the depraved and morally corrupt Republicans news, Ohio congressman Max Miller, whose ex-wife filed roughly 2,000 pages of court documents alleging he threw boiling water at her, pointed a gun at her head, and broke their two-year-old daughter's collarbone, is being defended by House Speaker Mike Johnson who said "the key word is allegation" — while Pete Buttigieg was separated from his four-year-old twins for 24 hours over a completely fabricated CPS tip from someone police later called "possibly mentally unstable," which Michigan police waited six days to even begin investigating, so the system is working great. The DNC is also in crisis, with chair Ken Martin reportedly throwing his phone at a staffer, the party so deep in debt it's asking vendors to invoice them after November, and paying $75,000 a month in loan interest. On the immigration beat, ICE built a surveillance database monitoring protesters using facial recognition, license plate scanning, and DNA collection, which was documented in a police report obtained by Mother Jones — the same outlet that found at least 59 ICE and CBP agents have been accused of sexual and violent crimes in the past two decades, 50 of them sex crimes many involving children, while a top DHS statistics official resigned citing the administration's "war on immigrants." In other news, Trump asked the Supreme Court to reinstate his mail-in voting executive order that a federal appeals court already blocked for threatening to disenfranchise eligible voters. Trump says Iran came back to the table seeking peace talks, Iran says that's not true, and a Ukrainian drone hit an Iranian supply line running to Russia — meaning the Iran and Ukraine wars have officially converged. And finally, France recorded its first ever pyrocumulonimbus cloud — a fire-generated storm system that French firefighters called "an operational impossibility, a natural force beyond our control."

Resources/Articles mentioned:

Rolling Stone: MAGA Rep. Allegedly Assaulted Wife, Put Gun to Her Head. Republicans Don't Care

WaPo: Police vetted dubious allegation only after Buttigieg was separated from children

NYT: Inside the Phone-Throwing Drama at the Troubled, Broke Democratic Party

NBC News: Mitch McConnell releases health update, saying he’s not ready to return to work yet

WaPo: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow new limits on mail ballots

Mother Jones: Records Reveal How Homeland Security Agents Surveilled ICE Protesters

Mother Jones: Report: Dozens of ICE and CBP Agents Have Abused Women and Children

Wired: DHS Official Resigns, Citing ‘War on Immigrants’

CNN: Live updates: Trump says US halted strikes on Iran at Tehran’s request

WSJ: Two Wars Converge in the Caspian Sea as Ukraine Hits Iranian Supply Line to Russia

WIRED: France Records Its First-Ever Pyrocumulonimbus Cloud Amid Record-Smashing Fires

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Monday, July 27th, 2026 - Trump Cancelled Blue State Grants, the Pentagon Fudged Iran Casualty Count, 19 Million Eggs Recalled Jul 27, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: The White House Correspondents Dinner happened over the weekend — Trump did an hour of his greatest hits, mocked Kaitlin Collins and his own guest Nicki Minaj, and Wolf Blitzer presented the Wall Street Journal with an award for uncovering Trump's Epstein ties while noting the reporter had to move after Trump doxxed her home address in a lawsuit, which is a sentence about the current state of press freedom. The Trump administration is moving to rename New York Penn Station — renderings obtained by Gothamist already show a presidential seal with Trump's name on it — because courts blocked his Kennedy Center name and apparently he needs a replacement trophy. Meanwhile, court documents from an Energy Department lawsuit revealed that the administration canceled $7.5 billion in energy grants to states specifically because they voted for Kamala Harris and have two Democratic senators, with an Energy Department attorney explicitly stating there was no programmatic or performance-based reason for the cancellations, which is actually quite honest. In food safety news, nineteen million eggs have been recalled for salmonella across 17 states with nearly 100 people sickened and 26 hospitalized, meaning the lettuce, beef, and now eggs are all compromised simultaneously, MAHA. On the war beat, Iran strikes were paused for two days to give negotiations "some space," days after Trump said he was considering an attack "bigger than ever before," while the Pentagon quietly removed four recently killed service members from the official Iran war casualty count because they died after the "ceasefire" — and the injury count fluctuated between 482 and 420 on the Pentagon's own website. This week: Zelensky visits the White House Tuesday, the US and UK are meeting in London to find countries willing to help with the Strait of Hormuz, and Sam Altman is heading to DC to pitch the government on approving the AI model that autonomously hacked another company last week.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

NYT: Nearly 100 Cases of Salmonella Tied to Voluntary Recall of 19 Million Eggs

NYT: At Correspondents’ Dinner, a Rambling Trump Hurls Insults

The New Republic: Trump Team Moves to Rename New York’s Penn Station

NYT: Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him

Axios: Dems' 2028 primary schedule angers some progressives

WaPo: Trump wants to give U.S.-Iran talks ‘some space’ as he weighs escalation, aide says

AP News: Pentagon's official Iran war death toll no longer lists 4 troops killed during renewed fighting

Axios: Trump to meet Zelensky at White House Tuesday

Axios: Scoop: U.S., U.K. planning international conference on Strait of Hormuz

Axios: What OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will tell the White House this week

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Friday, July 24th, 2026 - Trump Planning Massive Iran Strike, Saudi Nuke Deal Dying, Death of Nolan Wells Jul 24, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Trump announced a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, then posted a P.S. the next day conditioning the whole thing on Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel — a condition so significant it threw the entire deal into jeopardy before Congress even had a chance to reject it — while simultaneously telling Axios he's "close" to ordering a massive Iran strike "bigger than ever before" and that Israel would "join in two minutes" if asked, which is a casual thing to say about starting a regional war. The House passed a War Powers resolution to stop Trump's Iran strikes with four Republicans joining Democrats, oil hit $100 a barrel, the Houthis started attacking tankers in the Red Sea, and the Senate rejected the House resolution roughly 24 hours later, so that was a fun emotional rollercoaster. The Trump administration also quietly imposed new tariffs of up to 12.5% on 60 countries at midnight, using an expiring tariff program as legal cover because their authority to do so is, in their own words, light. In other news, The DOJ withdrew its subpoenas for New York Times journalists' phone records — including their spouses and mothers — after a judge spent an hour in court making clear how unacceptable it was, though they say the underlying leak investigation continues, so the retreat is partial at best. And finally, the death of 18-year-old Nolan Wells in Mississippi — who went missing on July 4th under suspicious circumstances and was found dead two days later — is getting significant attention, with questions about why one of his friends had his phone and car keys without mentioning it, a local judge parent writing a lengthy essay about her son's innocence, law enforcement immediately ruling out foul play, and the state medical examiner keeping parts of Nolan's body that would have been critical in determining cause of death, while the independent autopsy came back inconclusive. He was the only Black boy on a boat with four white kids in Mississippi, and Nancy Grace has entered the chat, so this story isn't going anywhere.

Resources/Articles mentioned:

WaPo: Trump adds condition to Saudi nuclear deal: Normalizing relations with Israel

Axios: Exclusive: Trump "close" to decision on "massive attack" on Iran

NYT: House Rebukes Trump on Iran in War Powers Vote as Senate Blocks Debate

AP News: Brent oil tops $100 per barrel, as tumbles for Tesla and Alphabet yank Wall Street lower

BBC: Yemen's Houthis attack Saudi tanker as US launches more Iran strikes

WaPo: House votes to restrain Trump on Iran as Senate fails to advance similar measure

Axios: Trump rebuilds trade regime with new tariffs on global trading partners

NYT: U.S. Withdraws Subpoenas Issued to New York Times Journalists

AP News: What to know about the autopsy and investigation into Nolan Wells' death

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson

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Thursday, July 23rd, 2026 - US Signs Nuke Deal With Saudis, Trump Threatens War Crimes, OpenAI's AI Goes Rogue Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

Today's Headlines: Trump attended the dignified transfer of four service members killed in Iran, then immediately posted that the US would bomb a bridge or power plant in Tehran every time Iran fires anything at a Strait of Hormuz ship — which legal experts would describe as a war crime — before heading to Georgia for a rally where he called the Iran war a "skirmish," invented a weak nickname for Jon Ossoff, and called affordability a Democratic scam, while a guy behind him spent the whole time visibly mocking him. The US also signed a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia giving it a path to enriching uranium — with weaker inspection requirements than Obama's Iran deal — which is a fascinating position for an administration that says Iran can never enrich uranium, while also considering military strikes in Mali against an al-Qaeda affiliate, while letting Saudi Arabia, which harbored the al-Qaeda operatives who planned 9/11, enrich nuclear material, make it make sense. Meanwhile, House Republicans passed a $95 billion budget bill covering the Iran war, farmer tariff bailouts, and voting law changes, plus a stock trading ban that exempts the president from the ban on stock trading — which is the entire point of a stock trading ban — with a random voter ID requirement inserted for good measure. Republicans also sent a criminal referral for Jack Smith to the DOJ for allegedly lying about reading their text messages during his Trump investigations, which is a bold move from the party currently under investigation for everything. Three election deniers endorsed by Trump won Arizona primary races for offices that will directly influence certifying the 2028 election, with OG election denier Andy Biggs winning the Republican governor's primary to face Katie Hobbs in November. And OpenAI announced that its own AI system autonomously hacked into another AI company called Hugging Face in what they called an "unprecedented cyber incident."

Resources/Articles mentioned:

WaPo: Trump administration weighs military options in Mali, officials say

NBC News: Trump attends dignified transfer of 4 service members killed in Iran attacks since the ceasefire ended

The Guardian: Trump scoffs at ‘affordability’ as he touts economic policies at Georgia rally | Donald Trump

WaPo: U.S. signs nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that gives it path to enriching fuel

NYT: House Adopts $95 Billion G.O.P. Budget for Iran War

AP News: House votes to limit stock trading by members of Congress, elevating a campaign issue

Fox News: Jack Smith hit with criminal referral as GOP moves testimony fight toward prosecution

WaPo: Arizona primary takeaways: Trump’s picks prevail and a House Democrat survives

AP News: OpenAI says its AI technology acted on its own in an 'unprecedented' hack of another company

Subscribe to the Betches News Room and join the Morning Announcements group chat. Go to: betchesnews.substack.com

Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson