Raw Story

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) scolded Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for repeatedly interrupting her at a House hearing.

During his Wednesday testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee, Sanchez instructed Bessent to restrict his answers to yes or no.

"Mr. Secretary, do you still believe that the president's tariffs are going to be a one-time price adjustment for American families?" she asked.

"If prices go up, they will be one time," Bessent stated.

"Okay, well, unfortunately, you appear to be talking out of both sides of your mouth because you yourself have admitted, after conversations with Walmart, that some tariff costs are going to get passed on to consumers. And in fact, we've already seen that prices are rising on many everyday goods," Sanchez remarked.

"No, Congresswoman, today we had a point one increase..." Bessent interrupted.

"The time is mine," Sanchez fired back. "The time is mine. Please don't interrupt me. I will ask you questions and I will grant you an opportunity to answer them."

"But please don't interrupt me during my time," she continued. "Okay, I know I'm a woman, but please try to limit yourself to answering my questions."

Sanchez then responded to others in the room who were groaning at her complaints.

"No, I'm sorry, but we get talked over all the time, and I don't want that to happen at this hearing," she insisted.

"I would remind members, the gentlelady is recognized," Chairman Adam Smith (R-NE) pointed out.

"Thank you," Sanchez said. "The time is mine. Clothing is going up 20%. Shoe prices in canned goods like chicken noodle soup and canned fruit and microwave meals have gone up 15%. Toys are getting more expensive. Walmart just raised the prices of dinosaur action figures."

"On average, Trump's tariffs are estimated to cost households $3,000 more for the same goods than they would have last year," she added.

"That's incorrect," Bessent interrupted again.

"The best estimates are that consumers will pay $3,000 more for the same goods," Sanchez said. "And that estimate is from what they did last year."

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A leaked memo shows a Donald Trump appointee has instructed the National Parks Service (NPS) to invite visitors to report anything they believe portrays American history or geography in a negative light.

NPR obtained the June 9 memo sent National Park Service comptroller Jessica Bowron instructing regional directors to post signage to encourage public feedback through QR codes or other methods to report any material or display that "inappropriately disparages Americans past or living and instead focuses on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people, as ordered by the president.

"The instructions come in response to President Trump's March 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' executive order and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum's follow-up order last month requesting its implementation," NPR reported. "Trump's original order included a clause ordering Burgum to remove content from sites."

Bowron's memo sets a mid-July deadline to ensure all public-facing images, descriptions and other materials that might be disparaging.

"An example image of a sign leaked to NPR for Wilson's Creek National Battlefield in Missouri, the site of the second major battle of the Civil War, ahead of its potential installation, asks visitors to identify 'any signs or other information that are negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features,'" NPR reported.

The directive applies to other Department of the Interior bureaus, as well, including Land Management, Indian Affairs and the Fish and Wildlife Service.

"This order reaffirms the NPS mission by emphasizing the importance of accuracy in how we tell stories of American history," NPS spokesperson Rachel Pawlitz said in a statement. "Our visitors come to national parks to celebrate the beauty, abundance, and grandeur of America's landscapes and extraordinary multicultural heritage. This allows them to personally connect with these special places, free of any partisan ideology."

But experts are alarmed by the order and its chilling effect on historical accuracy.But others have voiced concern about these developments.

"It's pretty dangerous when you start rewriting history," said Theresa Pierno, CEO and president of the independent National Parks Conservation Association. " It's so important that we learn from our history. To think that that could be erased or changed because visitors might prefer that story not be told — or not be told accurately — is frightening."

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) grilled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about his views on Russia's war in Ukraine.

"Number one, who's the aggressor and who's the victim in the conflict?" McConnell asked Hegseth during a Wednesday Senate subcommittee hearing.

"Russia's the aggressor," Hegseth said.

"Which side do you want to win?" McConnell pressed.

"As we've said time and time again, this president is committed to peace in that conflict," Hegseth dodged. "Ultimately, peace serves our national interests, and we think the interest of both parties, even if that outcome will not be preferable to many in this room and many in our country."

"Which side is President Xi pulling for?" McConnell wondered.

"There's no doubt that China would prefer that Vladimir Putin have a good outcome," Hegseth admitted.

"One thing I'm sure we agree on is we don't want a headline at the end of this conflict that says Russia wins and America loses," McConnell stated.

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CNN commentator and longtime GOP insider Scott Jennings tore into California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, accusing him of launching a presidential campaign “on top of this lawlessness” in Los Angeles.

The fiery remarks from Jennings came moments after the Democratic governor delivered a nationally televised address accusing Trump of unleashing a “military dragnet” across Los Angeles. But Jennings wasted no time unloading on Newsom over what he mocked as a “litany of complaints” in his speech.

“It's amazing to me,” Jennings said on CNN. “First of all, this guy is the governor of a state, and it has got one of its most important cities burning on his watch, and he's out here launching a presidential campaign.

Jennings blasted Newsom for pivoting from Trump’s military deployment in Los Angeles to broader attacks on the federal government, misinformation and political control.

“He went down a litany of things that have nothing to do with what's happening in California,” Jennings added. “We get this litany of complaints from Gavin Newsom about everything, about how much the Democrats in California have failed.”

The CNN conservative commentator blasted Newsom’s address as “opportunistic.” Newsom, in his video message Tuesday evening, warned that “the moment we have feared has arrived,” and called the president’s actions in his state a threat to democracy.

But Jennings quickly dismissed the Democrat’s framing of the fast-moving events.

“All that's happening in California is that a bunch of foreign nationals have occupied large swaths of the United States,” Jennings said. “One city is burning, and the president of the United States is trying to bring order. That’s all that's happening.”

Jennings added: “And people are going to wonder, ‘why in the world is the governor of California complaining about Harvard when one of his cities is on fire?’”

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered a blistering rebuke of Donald Trump on Tuesday, accusing the president of unleashing a “military dragnet” across Los Angeles and targeting vulnerable residents under the guise of law and order.

“This moment we have feared has arrived,” Newsom proclaimed in a televised address Tuesday.

“California may be first, but it clearly will not end here,” the Democratic governor added. “Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.”

Newsom said Trump’s federal agents were arresting “dishwashers. gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses” – far beyond the stated goal of apprehending violent criminals.

“That's just weakness. Weakness masquerading as strength,” he said. “Donald Trump's government isn't protecting our communities; they're traumatizing our communities, and that seems to be the entire point.” But he added: “California will keep fighting.”

He announced that the state had filed an emergency court order Tuesday to block the use of military forces for domestic law enforcement. The new action follows a legal challenge California filed Monday over what he called Trump’s “reckless deployment” of troops.

“Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles,” Newsom said Tuesday.

Newsom also warned that Trump has taken “a wrecking ball to our Founding Fathers’ historic project – three co-equal branches of independent government,” and also saved a jab for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

“Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility,” Newsom said.

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Since being ousted from his position in President Donald Trump's first administration, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has carved out a new lane casting himself as a populist outsider advocating for the American working class. But one analyst is arguing that Bannon's new image is simply an elaborate ruse.

In a Tuesday essay for the Hill, writer and researcher John Mac Ghlionn pointed out the numerous ways in which Bannon has "conned" his target audience. He accused the "War Room" podcast host of "LARPing as a coal-dusted crusader for the common man" despite having a net worth in excess of $20 million and a cushy career on Wall Street before launching his political career.

"Steve Bannon was something far less revolutionary: a banker. And not just any banker — he was a high-powered executive at Goldman Sachs, the very temple of global finance he now pretends to rage against," Ghlionn wrote. "He didn’t walk picket lines. He walked into boardrooms, advised mergers and helped move capital around like puzzle pieces in the portfolios of the powerful. He got in on the deals most Americans would never even hear about, let alone benefit from."

Ghlionn expanded on calling Bannon someone who "talks like a patriot but lives like a prince," pointing out that he was a "Hollywood financier" who acquired a stake in Castle Rock Entertainment — which produced the hit 1990s sitcom "Seinfeld." The analyst observed that every time Americans laughed at "Seinfeld" character Cosmo Kramer's over-the-top entrance, Bannon literally "got richer" thanks to the royalties he got from the show.

"While working-class Americans were juggling bills and wondering if they could afford another tank of gas, Bannon was cashing passive income from a sitcom about nothing," he wrote.

The essayist reminded readers that Bannon was also the brainchild behind a crowdfunding campaign that successfully convinced Americans to donate millions of dollars to build a wall along the Southern border. The former Breitbart leader ultimately pleaded guilty to fraud in order to avoid jail time (Bannon still went to federal prison in 2024 after defying a Congressional subpoena). Ghlionn contrasted Bannon's everyman branding as a facade to hide his true identity as a "salesman in battle gear, with a podcast mic and a passport full of donor meetings."

"The flannel, the Catholic mysticism, the bunker aesthetic — it’s all part of the shameless act," he wrote. "Underneath is a Machiavellian tactician who understands power not as something to dismantle, but to inhabit. Part P.T. Barnum, part Pat Buchanan, this is a man who preaches humility while flying private."

Click here to read Ghlionn's full essay in the Hill.