NEWEST RECIPIENTS OF THE LOVE YOUR BLOCK MINI-GRANTS

Longtime Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon raged over what he said was Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's massive blunder during the administration's announcement of controversial changes to the H-1B visa program, the system of work permits for high-skilled workers commonly used by the tech industry.

According to The Daily Beast, Bannon saw it as particularly infuriating that Lutnick incorrectly said that the new $100,000 fee for H-1B visas will be an annual charge, forcing other administration officials to come out and clarify it's in fact a one-time fee.

“These are not tiny details in the document,” said Bannon on his "War Room" program. “These are not in the footnotes. This is the deal. You’re supposed to be a deal guy. You’ve got to understand your own deal that you put before the president.” He added that, “All I’m saying is the Secretary Commerce sat up there and gave not just erroneous information, but patently false information. During the show, in a hot take, I can sit and go, ‘that makes no sense,’ because, if that’s true, then, hey, we kind of won—the whole program, just shut the program down.”

Bannon, who has previously called Lutnick an "unmitigated disaster" and urged Trump to pull him off of TV, has previously called for the H-1B program to be eliminated entirely — but he is on board with the Trump administration's change to make it far more expensive.

The H-1B announcement has sent tech companies scrambling, with some prominent CEOs like OpenAI's Sam Altman singing Trump's praises in what one observer theorized was a plea to give him input in minimizing the impact of the change.

Lutnick, who has been at the forefront of selling Trump's trade war, has been at the center of extensive drama behind the scenes at the White House, with reports saying he used Trump's housing finance administrator to try to dig up dirt on Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whose job Lutnick had been initially angling for.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) offered an apology to fired CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez on Wednesday during the Senate Health Committee hearing, surprising CNN anchor Brianna Keilar.

"That apology from Sen. Kaine was really something," Keilar said, adding that officials who heard her testimony over her resignation called her and other CDC officials who resigned "heroes."

Monarez was fired by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccine policy disputes. In the hearing, Monarez testified that Kennedy asked her not to talk to senators and pressured her to give him full pre-approval over any changes to vaccine policies at the agency. She, along with other ousted colleagues, warned the senators that Kennedy is risking Americans' public health.

“Dr. Monarez, I owe you an apology," Kaine said. "When you were here for your confirmation hearing, I questioned you very significantly, not on your qualifications – you got over the qualifications bar easily – but my worries about the direction of HHS made me question you very significantly on your backbone, a trait that is not in long supply in this town. And then when I voted against your confirmation. I cited that as the reason. Again, no concern about your qualifications. I had concern about your backbone. And I was wrong and I apologize to you for being wrong. I think it’s important when you’re wrong to admit you’re wrong.”

Democrats had voted unanimously against her confirmation.

Kennedy, who is known for his anti-vaccine advocacy, later fired 17 CDC employees and replaced them with his own selected staff who follow his views.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel that issues vaccine recommendations, is scheduled to meet Thursday, according to reports.

The Washington Post on Monday reported that the suspected shooter behind Charlie Kirk's killing confessed to his friends in an online chat.

The post ‘Hey Guys…’ Suspected Charlie Kirk Shooter ‘Appeared to Confess’ in Gamer Chat, Washington Post Reports first appeared on Mediaite.