Raw Story

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is facing mounting pressure from within the MAGA movement over the fate of Andrew and Tristan Tate, the manosphere influencers arrested last week on sex trafficking charges, according to a new report.

Rubio holds the authority to block or allow the Tate brothers' extradition to the United Kingdom — a decision that has become the focus of an increasingly vocal campaign from prominent figures on the right, The Bulwark reported Thursday.

Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) has emerged as one of the most outspoken advocates for the brothers, according to the report.

Hamadeh described their prosecution in both the UK and Romania, where they have for years faced rape and sex trafficking allegations, as politicized "lawfare" and called on the Trump administration to refuse extradition of the dual American-British citizens.

Other right-wing figures, including podcaster Nick Fuentes and commentator Patrick Bet-David, have echoed similar defenses, with Bet-David going so far as to call the Tates an inspiration to fatherless children.

The pressure comes despite — or perhaps because of — a documented pattern of goodwill between the Tates and figures close to Trump, the Bulwark reported.

The brothers have reportedly had friendly exchanges with Barron Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and Trump-aligned official Ric Grenell reportedly engaged with Romanian officials during the years the Tates were barred from leaving that country, shortly before travel restrictions were lifted.

The Tates were also reportedly socializing with administration figures in Washington just days before their arrest.

At a press conference this week, Rubio declined to say whether the State Department would intervene, telling reporters he didn't see a role for the department "at this moment" and that he wouldn't "opine on something that's still working through a legal process."

That carefully hedged language has left open the possibility of future involvement, even as both Rubio and Trump are reportedly not currently planning to act on the brothers' behalf, the Bulwark reported.

Adding to the pressure, Tate attorney Joseph McBride — a MAGA-aligned lawyer who has also represented Jan. 6 defendants — has been amplifying supportive commentary from administration-adjacent figures online, including a tweet from GSA official Paul Ingrassia referencing the "presumption of innocence."

President Donald Trump's $10 billion BBC defamation lawsuit threatens to expose his repeated legal losses to attorney and former special counsel Jack Smith during sealed grand jury proceedings.

The BBC filed a reply brief Wednesday, asking Chief Judge James Boasberg to unseal rulings from the Smith investigation in which courts uniformly rejected Trump's attempts to shield witnesses from testifying under presidential executive privilege.

According to the Smith report, between August 2022 and March 2023, courts rejected Trump's privilege claims in five sealed proceedings, covering 14 witnesses.

Trump is now asserting identical privilege claims to block the BBC from reaching the same witnesses and evidence regarding January 6 incitement allegations, per the reply brief.

The BBC told Boasberg it would be fundamentally unjust to allow Trump to hide behind "already-rejected privilege claims."

Additionally, U.S. Magistrate Judge Enjoliqué Lett of the Southern District of Florida ruled Trump must surrender financial records tied to more than 400 companies, Politico reports.

The trial is scheduled for February 2027.

Watch the video below.

Trump biographer Michael Wolff argued First Lady Melania Trump has become an unnervingly unpredictable force within the White House that administration insiders cannot manage or predict.

In his Substack newsletter HOWL, Wolff writes, "Of all the self-dealing among Trump family members, Melania's moves—not just about money, but about calling attention to herself—are seen as most disturbing to the White House, and most in danger of putting her on a collision course with the president."

According to the Daily Beast, Wolff claimed the couple barely speaks and maintains little pretense that Melania resides at the White House full-time, spending most time in New York.

He characterized Melania as "a wild card that he can't seem to control or even game."

“Almost nobody near Trump—including Trump himself—knows Melania’s moves until she makes them,” Wolff writes.

Financial disclosures show Melania earned $10.71 million from her documentary despite it earning only $16.7 million worldwide, plus roughly $521,000 from her memoir.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle dismissed Wolff, cursing him off.

Watch the video below.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's press conference to attack his Democratic rival, state Rep. James Talarico, went off the rails on Tuesday as reporters repeatedly asked him about his own political scandals — ultimately driving him to cut the event off early and run away.

The event was a gathering of Texas sheriffs, intended to focus on police issues and attack Talarico for supposedly wanting to defund law enforcement.

"General, I wanted to give you a chance to respond to State Representative Talarico and his campaign," said one reporter. "They've made a lot about the reports that have come out, one in the New York Times, about you acquiring properties worth—"

"Can we keep this to law enforcement?" Paxton said, cutting him off.

"I'm giving you the opportunity to answer—" the reporter said.

"I'd like to — because we're here with the sheriffs, I'd like to keep today to law enforcement," said Paxton. "So that's what I'm going to hand you. Questions about law enforcement."

Paxton's aide then called on another reporter.

"Will you answer a question about why you voted in Collin County?" asked the reporter. "Clear that up?"

Paxton shook his head with agitation, as his aide said, "So we're just going to do questions on law enforcement today, because we're joined with 22 amazing law enforcement officers."

Shortly after this, as another reporter tried to ask a question, the aide started waving her hand, saying, "We're going to get out of here. We're going to get out of here," as Paxton walked off the stage, leaving the sheriffs to stand around.

A House Republican berated Smithsonian history director Anthea Hartig, suggesting that historical 'oppressors' should receive more celebration.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), chair of the House Oversight subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, called the hearing Tuesday to challenge how the National Museum of American History tells the nation's story.

It marked the first time a top Smithsonian leader had been publicly grilled by Congress since President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing officials to "remove improper ideology" from the institution's museums.

Burchett opened Tuesday's session by accusing the museum of having "become infected by a woke ideology that has seeped into public displays, educational materials, and planning documents."

"But in the museum's current telling, history is just an ongoing power struggle between oppressors and the oppressed," Burchett said. "Only the oppressed are celebrated, especially illegal immigrants."

Burchett then challenged Hartig over exhibits on "race, identity, gender, and sexuality."

"Yes, sir," Hartig replied. "We strive to create a museum where our visitors will be inspired by the collections, programs, and exhibitions, and they will choose what they each will do to keep our American democracy strong and vibrant, and they'll play that chosen part with passion. That is our hope."

Burchett pointed to images he had posted on a display board behind him, describing what he called sexually explicit content in museum exhibits.

"You have pictures of bondage," the lawmaker complained. "You have some overtly sexual things up there. You have transgender folks...?"

"The exhibition and project you're referring to is Girlhood: It's Complicated, which was a temporary exhibit in our museum that closed —" Hartig began.

"Ma'am, I didn't ask you that," Burchett cut her off. "I asked you: do you think it is appropriate?"

Hartig said the exhibit had featured, with the author's permission, a 13-year-old's diary that covered sleepovers, Latin class, and math exams. She said the exhibit carried a parental advisory label at its entrance.

"Do you think that is appropriate for a child to see? Yes or no?" Burchett pressed.

"I understand your question, sir," Hartig said.

"No — don't. You're not answering. You're just running on, ma'am," Burchett shot back.

In his closing moments, Burchett cited three statements he attributed to Hartig — that America was founded on "the supremacy of white men," that loving America is "very complicated," and that the nation's 250th anniversary is worth "problematizing."

"It is the honor of my career to serve as the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the National Museum of American History," Hartig replied when asked if she should continue leading the museum.

Joe Kent, the former senior intelligence official who resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the Iran war, made a stunning claim Monday that “something” happened to President Donald Trump that “changed” him from that point forward.

“Something in the late spring, early summer time frame happened – I don’t know what happened,” Kent said during an appearance on the “Julian Dorey Podcast” published on Monday.

“I can’t tell you why his mentality changed, but it went from, ‘we’re gonna create the most space we can for [Iran] negotiations and we’re not interested in the war,’ to, ‘okay, we’re gonna support the Israelis, do Midnight Hammer and we’re gonna continue to entertain this.’”

A key pledge of Trump during his 2024 campaign was that he would not send Americans “to fight and die in stupid foreign wars that never end,” reiterating that promise during his victory speech: “I’m not going to start a war,” he said.

And yet, in late February, Trump launched Operation Epic Fury with a large-scale attack on Iran that months later now risks sparking a broader war.

Kent, who's long championed Trump's anti-interventionist rhetoric, said he was confused by the president's apparent shift, and while he could narrow down roughly when it happened, he still couldn't say what caused it.

“I don’t know what happened. And so for me, when something like that happens, from an intelligence background, you do have to step back and look at what else could be influencing the president,” Kent said.

“Did he just change his mind? For him to go through with [launching the Iran war], ultimately, I do think there’s potentially other factors there: so what could those other factors be? Why would a president make decisions that he doesn’t agree with?”

Other conservative figures have speculated as to why Trump launched a war against Iran despite his frequent anti-war rhetoric, including prominent conservative figure Tucker Carlson, who in April floated a disturbing theory that a “blackmail” operation perpetrated by the Israeli government could potentially have forced the president’s hand.