‘Tear that letter!’ Stunned expert makes dramatic protest of Trump’s Fed firing on MSNBC
A legal expert lost his cool on MSNBC on Monday night after President Donald Trump announced he fired Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, effective immediately, citing mortgage fraud allegations from his administration.
Norm Eisen, the founder and chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund, joined "The Weeknight" to discuss Cook's firing, a historic and unprecedented move that is expected to trigger court challenges, as Federal Reserve governors can only be removed “for cause."
Cook previously denied wrongdoing and said she had no intention of resigning.
MSNBC host Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee, noted Trump's decision to "summarily fire a Fed board member" comes in the "face of the fact that this body relates its history back to the early days of the founding of this country."
"Alexander Hamilton, Mr. President, you may recall him ... very bright lines were drawn with respect to the banking relationship between the Reserve and the government," said Steele.
Eisen said this firing was unlike other cases pending final disposition at his organization.
"We’re litigating some of them about the extent of the president’s firing power. And the Supreme Court said so in the Gwynne Wilcox case that the Fed is different," he emphasized, referring to a major legal battle over Trump's attempt to oust a member of the National Labor Relations Board without showing cause.
Eisen attacked the president in a fiery takedown.
"But Donald Trump doesn’t care about the Constitution! He doesn’t care that Congress has said you can only fire somebody for cause! He doesn’t care that he has no cause here!" he exclaimed.
Eisen asserted Cook's firing was based on a social media post by one of his "most-sharp partisans," Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
"This is irrelevant to him. You have somebody in the White House who himself is a convicted felon. Thirty-four counts. No wonder the federal courts have shot him down 200 times for illegal actions. This is another one," Eisen continued.
Eisen then asked Steele to hand over his copy of Trump's letter to Cook announcing her termination.
"And you know what? Remember — can I have that letter? This is Donald Trump’s letter," he said. "Do you know what Lisa Cook should do? What Nancy Pelosi did. She should tear that letter."
Eisen tore the letter in half and handed it back to Steele.
"Now you’ll need to tape it for the rest of the segment," he concluded.
‘Bad outcome’: Expert warns National Guard set to ‘become the adversary’ under Trump
As President Donald Trump threatens to use his authority to deploy more National Guard units to various U.S. cities, one expert on authoritarian regimes is sounding the alarm that Trump could end up irreparably damaging the U.S. military's reputation as a result.
While speaking to MSNBC host Jason Johnson, New York University professor and author Ruth Ben-Ghiat said Trump's use of the military to perform domestic law enforcement duties was a page out of the playbook of some of the world's most notorious far-right dictators. She argued that Trump was attempting to condition the population to seeing the military on their streets on an everyday basis.
"Part of this is, of course, intimidation. And the optics of it are very important to this administration," she said. "They want Americans — starting with [Los Angeles, California], where you had actual Marines as well as National Guard there — they want Americans to become habituated to the idea of state security forces and military being used to police civilians."
According to Ben-Ghiat, other authoritarian regimes in the past that have used the military as a state security force have seen the military lose the trust and support of the U.S. population as it becomes more closely associated with the current regime. She pointed to Chile under far-right dictator Agosto Pinochet as one example, and said that the National Guard (which is typically made up of civilians on temporary duty as first responders following a natural disaster) could soon face the same fate.
"The state security forces and the military end up losing their integrity," she explained. "And instead of being used like the National Guard to help Americans, or like the military to guard us from foreign adversaries, they become the adversary to the people, and they lose all of their integrity and their soul and their honor, and people come to hate them and that is a bad outcome for these forces."
Fox News reported last week that Trump is using his Title 32 authority (which doesn't go against the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878) to deploy the National Guard to 19 different states by the end of September, as part of a mission to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He has also threatened to have the military occupy U.S. cities like Chicago and New York City similar to Washington D.C.
Former Army Major General Randy Manner (Ret.) told CNN earlier on Monday that Trump's use of the National Guard in this way, while technically legal, was nonetheless "abhorrent" in how he was selectively sending the military to Democratic-run cities in blue states. Manner compared the president's deployment of "specialized units" of guardsmen to "Germany in the 1930s."
Watch Ben-Ghiat's segment below, or by clicking this link.
‘On notice!’ Trump threatens retaliation for countries that tax or regulate tech companies
President Donald Trump on Monday night threatened to hike tariffs and impose export restrictions on countries that tax or regulate American tech companies.
Trump vowed on his Truth Social platform to "stand up" to countries that he said "attack our incredible American Tech Companies."
"Digital Taxes, Digital Services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology," he asserted. "They also, outrageously, give a complete pass to China's largest Tech Companies. This must end, and end NOW!"
Trump added that, "With this TRUTH, I put all Countries with Digital Taxes, Legislation, Rules, or Regulations, on notice that unless these discriminatory actions are removed, I, as President of the United States, will impose substantial additional Tariffs on that Country's Exports to the U.S.A., and institute Export restrictions on our Highly Protected Technology and Chips."
He concluded that neither the U.S. nor tech firms are a "piggy bank" or a “doormat” for other nations any longer.
"Show respect to America and our amazing Tech Companies or, consider the consequences!" he said.
The Wall Street Journal noted that Trump’s threat came just hours after he met with President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea, where lawmakers are weighing a proposal to regulate online tech platforms. The plan has faced opposition from U.S.-based companies and was previously criticized by Trump’s trade chief.
Marco Rubio outed as Pop-Tart fiend who can’t stomach RFK’s ‘coolers full of sauerkraut’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio can barely stomach the Trump administration's wellness obsession.
Appearing on the Katie Miller podcast this week — hosted by the wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller — alongside his own wife, Jeanette, Rubio torched the carnivore-and-fermented regimen pushed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the face of the "Make America Healthy Again" movement.
Kennedy has bragged that he eats almost nothing but "meat and ferments," a diet loaded with red meat and sauerkraut, which he credits for shedding 20 pounds in 20 days.
Rubio took a different view of the fad diet.
"I'm not gonna travel the world with a cooler full of sauerkraut," he said, marveling that Kennedy reportedly lugs the fermented cabbage everywhere he goes. "It's ridiculous. I can't do it. It's not sustainable."
Even so, the secretary quickly insisted he supports the MAHA push and wants Americans to be healthy — he's just not living it himself. Vice President JD Vance had flagged his infamous sweet tooth, and Jeanette happily confirmed her husband's weakness for ice cream, sugar and fast food.
Rubio's real allegiance: a breakfast pastry.
"The Pop-Tart is one of the great American innovations in the history of the world," he declared, gushing over its foil pack and 30-second prep. He took issue with his wife's report that he eats them regularly.
When Rubio tried to claim he was "MAHA," Jeanette was having none of it.
"No he is not," she said, cutting him off. "He is completely not."
When asked, "What does he eat?" she immediately replied, "Pop-Tarts! You eat sweets!"
Rubio was no kinder to keto, another diet with fans in Kennedy's orbit. Rubio said a stab at the no-sugar plan years ago sent him into such brutal withdrawal that, had he attempted it as America's top diplomat, he might have urged Trump to "bomb Paraguay" for no reason.
The jabs come as Kennedy doubles down on his food crusade, recently launching a cooking show critics savaged.
