Today in Politics, Bulletin 159. 6/26/25

… Sec of Defense Pete Hegseth gave an unhinged “press conference” this morning where he ranted and raved and angrily denounced the media for publishing a leaked DIA report which contradicted Trump’s assertions that Iran’s nuclear program had been “completely obliterated.”

… This was Hegseth’s second press conference as SecDef, and it followed the same pattern as the first - he conducted it at 8:00 AM ET while a big percentage of the country was asleep, and he came out with Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine to babysit him. I watched Caine’s confirmation hearing in the Senate and all of his briefings and he appears to be the only competent and honest member of this admin. He did not exaggerate the facts in this briefing either.

… Which means that Hegseth did most of the talking, even interrupting Caine when he started to answer why his previous statement about not knowing the extent of the damage was being contradicted by Trump and Hegseth. Reporter: You said final battle damage will take some time. What has changed? Would you use the term obliterated as well? Caine: “I'll refer that to the intelligence community.” Hegseth interrupts: “I explained what changed. There was a great deal of irresponsible reporting.”

… Michael Weiss, editor of The Insider: “Caine's presentation was detailed, precise and useful. But here's the thing: he represents a Commander-in-Chief who has spent years persuading the American people not to trust anything out of an intelligence community depicted as compromised, deceitful and ideologically motivated. Now Trump is desperate for the intelligence community to back up his claims about Iran to the point of getting it to do PR work on his behalf.”

… Hegseth ranted: “You - the press -cheer against Trump so hard! It's like in your DNA and in your blood to cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad! You have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes. You have to hope maybe they weren't effective, and manipulate the public mind over whether or not our brave pilots were successful!”

… Hegseth: “How many stories have been written about how hard it is to, I don’t know, to fly a plane for 36 hours. Has MSNBC done that story? Has FOX? It’s irresponsible!”

… Speaking of Fox, their highly-respected chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin asked: Are you certain none of that highly enriched uranium was moved? Hegseth responded angrily to his former colleague: “Jennifer, you've been about the worst, the one who misrepresents the most, intentionally, what the president says.”

… Griffin responded: “I was the first to describe the B2 bombers, the refueling, the entire mission with great accuracy. So I take issue with that.”

… Fox’s chief political analyst Brit Hume came to the defense of Griffin on air a short time later: “I’d like to say a word about Jennifer Griffin, who was attacked by the Defense Secretary today. An attack she certainly, in my view, did not deserve. Her professionalism, her knowledge, and her experience at the Pentagon is unmatched. And I have then, have had, and still have, the greatest regard for her. The attack on her was unfair.”

… Hegseth: “President Trump directed the most complex and secretive military operation in history!”

… Not D-Day. Not SEAL Team 6 taking out Bin Laden. Not Iwo Jima. Not the Manhattan Project. The Iran bombing.

… A minute after the press conference ended, Trump posted on Truth Social: “One of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen! The Fake News should fire everyone involved in this Witch Hunt, and apologize to our great warriors, and everyone else!”

… One minute after that, Hegseth posted a screen-shot of Trump’s post with the caption: “Thank you, Mr. President!”

… It was clear Hegseth’s entire remarks were directed at pleasing his audience of one in the WH. It was also clear he checked Truth Social as soon as he walked away from the podium to see Dear Leader’s reaction. He yelled at the press the whole time and praised Trump constantly, so of course Trump was happy.

… Hegseth hired one of his right-wing influencer buddies on social media to run the official DOD social media account, and he posted this: “SecDef just called out the Fake News: ‘I mean specifically you, the press core, because you cheer against Trump so hard …”

… It’s “press corps”, not “press core”.

… Trump later posted: “FAKE NEWS CNN IS SO DISGUSTING AND INCOMPETENT. SOME OF THE DUMBEST ANCHORS IN THE BUSINESS!”

… He wasn’t done: “FAKE NEWS REPORTERS FROM CNN & THE NEW YORK TIMES SHOULD BE FIRED, IMMEDIATELY!!! BAD PEOPLE WITH EVIL INTENTIONS!!!”

… Mad King Donald kept ranting more: “Rumor is that the Failing NY Times and Fake News CNN will be firing the reporters who made up FAKE stories on the Iran Nuclear sites because they got it so wrong. Lets see what happens?”

… Punchbowl reported that the WH pulled DNI Tulsi Gabbard from the team briefing the Senate on Iran today. The briefers will be CIA Dir Ratcliffe, Sec of State Rubio, Hegseth and Caine.

… Financial Times: “Preliminary intelligence assessments provided to European govts indicate that Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile remains largely intact following US strikes on its main nuclear sites, two officials have said. The intelligence suggested that Iran’s stockpile of 408kg of uranium enriched close to weapons-grade levels was not concentrated in Fordow at the time of last weekend’s attack. It had been distributed to various other locations, the assessments found. The findings call into question President Trump’s assertion that the bombing had ‘obliterated’ Iran’s nuclear program.”

… Press Sec Karoline Leavitt was asked about the report out of Europe: "There was no indication to the United States that any of that enriched uranium was moved prior to the strike."

… “Q: Trump revoked security clearances from several former administration officials, including Pompeo, Milley, and Bolton. Given tensions with Iran, is he considering restoring those details? LEAVITT: That's not under consideration right now.”

… Trita Parsi of the Quincy Institute to CNN: “Whether the Iranian program was obliterated or severely damaged, the real story is that Trump is looking for an exit because he does not want to be trapped by Israel into an endless war. Israel wanted the US to destroy much more than just the nuclear program. Despite all of this damage, it’s very clear the Iranians are not gonna back off from their insistence that they’ll continue to enrich uranium.”

… Parsi: “Netanyahu was very upset about Trump forcing a ceasefire on him because after finally having succeeded in getting the US into war with Iran, he was hoping the US would keep attacking Iran for some time rather than cutting it short after only one attack.”

I said this exact same thing on my podcast Uncovered yesterday, where we did a deep dive on the top stories of the week which began with a lot of the implications of the Iran bombing and all the lies being told about it by the Trump admin. A link to the show is here.

… CNN: “The preliminary DIA assessment was a Phase III analysis. It was only an initial report, based on roughly 24 hours’ worth of intel gathering. As more intel becomes available, process will repeat before final judgment. Final Phase III battle damage assessments traditionally include a recommendation about whether any additional military strikes are necessary to achieve the commander’s objective.”

… Which is why you wait until everything is in until you declare total victory and give your opponent a ceasefire to recover and regroup.

… Former Trump NSA John Bolton: “The effort to destroy a complex nuclear program involves strategically breaking the nuclear fuel cycle at multiple points. There is still more to be done to dismantle the Iranian nuclear program.”

… Ayatollah Khamenei: “My congratulations on our dear Iran’s victory over the US regime. The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing. The Islamic Republic delivered a heavy slap to the US’s face. It attacked and inflicted damage on the Al-Udeid Air Base, which is one of the key US bases in the region.”

… "The American president exaggerated events in unusual ways, and it turned out that he needed this exaggeration. The US has gained nothing from this war. American strikes did nothing significant to Iran's nuclear facilities. The Islamic Republic won.”

… New NBC poll shows that 38% of the American public now agree with the bombing.

… As the Senate closes in on a planned final vote this weekend of the budget reconciliation package to send it back to the House for negotiations (since they are making so many changes to the bill that passed the house), the Senate parliamentarian threw Republicans a major curveball by ruling that many provisions were improperly added to the bill.

… Republicans added in many provisions that would never be able to overcome a filibuster in the Senate as standalone bills, because a budget reconciliation package can go through on a simple majority. But the parliamentarian’s job is to stop those kind of shenanigans, and she did that job today.

… PBS reported on the provisions that were ruled out of the bill by the parliamentarian:

• Medicaid provider tax freeze/cut.

• Some ACA limits, including the proposed end to "silver-loading".

• The ban on transgender care in Medicaid.

• Denying Medicaid to green card holders and other legal non-citizens.

• Penalizing states providing health care to undocumented immigrants.

• Requiring immediate proof of citizenship for Medicaid

• Limiting some non-citizens from ACA tax credits

• Student loan repayment limits.

• Expanded Pell Grants.

• Restricting cost-sharing funding for health insurance that covers abortion services.

… Several Republicans then angrily called for the parliamentarian to be fired. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX): “It is time to FIRE the Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough. This is not about partisanship, it is about rule of law. She has failed to apply the rules of reconciliation accurately on multiple occasions. Leader Thune should fire her NOW.”

… Sen Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): “The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP. Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP.”

… Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) to CNN: “The parliamentarian is doing her job, and that's just the bottom line. So no, we're not going to throw the parliamentarian under the bus."

… Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) told HuffPost he would not vote to overrule the parliamentarian.

… Politico asked House Speaker Mike Johnson if Senate Republicans should vote to overrule the parliamentarian, which they can do but is highly unusual and very rarely done: “If only that were our decision. The senators have to make that call. I mean, I can make a case for it, but no one's asked me.”

… MAGA Mike - principled and courageous as always.

… Politico asked Senate Maj Leader John Thune if he would fire the parliamentarian or call for a vote to overrule her decisions: “No, that would not be a good option for getting a bill done.”

… Sen. Susan Collins: “People should remember that what comes around goes around when it comes to the parliamentarian. She may rule the way you like one day, the way you don’t the next.”

… So what now? Republicans can strip those provisions of the bill and put them in separate bills (which would be subject to the filibuster rule), or they can try to rework them. But Trump wants the bill on his desk for a big signing on July 4, and that is looking highly questionable.

…. HuffPost asked Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) what the rulings of the parliamentarian meant for getting the bill passed on time. He responded that the ruling was a “big ol’ grenade.”

… Trump on the bill which includes the largest Medicaid cut in US history and raises the deficit according to the CBO by $3.4 trillion over 10 years: "We're cutting $1.7 trillion in this bill and you're not gonna feel any of it. Your Medicaid is left alone. It's left the same."

… Trump: "We will deliver no taxes on social security for our great seniors." (That is not in the bill).

Thank you for the questions you submitted for our Ask the Editor video yesterday. Ben chose 3 of your questions and we also discussed some key points on Iran. You can watch the clip here. If you missed the last Bulletin, which was a wild ride, you can find that here.

… Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: “Senate Dems successfully fought a noxious provision that would’ve decimated America’s healthcare system and hurt millions.