Senator Chris Murphy Says Trump’s East Wing Demolition “Absolutely Illegal”

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Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to demolish part of the White House’s East Wing to make way for a new ballroom, calling the move “absolutely illegal” and emblematic of what he described as the administration’s ongoing disregard for the rule of law.

Speaking Tuesday on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, Murphy drew a direct line between the destruction of the East Wing and Trump’s broader pattern of unilateral decision-making, including the controversial military strikes in the Caribbean that have drawn international scrutiny.

“There’s a lot of history that has taken place in the East Wing,” Murphy said. “It was just destroyed without any conversation with the American public, without any consent of Congress. It was absolutely illegal.”

Murphy described the demolition as both a physical and symbolic act, warning that it illustrated the extent to which Trump views himself above the law. “That visual is powerful because you are essentially watching the destruction of the rule of law happen as those walls come down,” he said. “It’s just a symbol of how cavalier he is about every single day acting in new and illegal ways.”

The senator linked the East Wing demolition to what he characterized as a growing list of extrajudicial actions by the president — including recent strikes that have killed suspected drug traffickers at sea — saying both reflect an alarming erosion of democratic norms.

“The president just doesn’t believe that any law applies to him,” Murphy continued. “He thinks he can destroy federal property, steal from American citizens, kill with impunity, throw anyone in jail.”

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Jack Dorsey Backs GOP Rep. Thomas Massie for President in Surprise X Post

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By New York Post. Jack Dorsey endorsed Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie for president — a surprise nod that lit up social media and showed the billionaire’s growing embrace of anti-establishment politics.

The Twitter co-founder and Block CEO posted a six-word message on X on Sunday night: “@RepThomasMassie for president.”

The post racked up millions of views within hours and drew a wave of reactions from across the political spectrum — from libertarian fans to Trump loyalists to progressives puzzled by Dorsey’s latest move.

Massie, the Republican lawmaker known for his maverick streak and frequent clashes with party leadership, quickly acknowledged the endorsement.

“I doubt I’ll run for POTUS, but I appreciate the support @jack,” Massie wrote in reply.

“I’d be happy if we could just get 4 or 5 more voices in Congress who don’t always just do what their party tells them.” (Read more from “Jack Dorsey Backs GOP Rep. Thomas Massie for President in Surprise X Post” HERE)

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Ron Paul knocks ‘hysterical’ Trump ‘rant’ criticizing Rand Paul

By Yahoo News. Ron Paul, a former House of Representatives member and presidential candidate, hammered President Trump on Monday over a post calling his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a “nasty liddle guy.”

“In an hysterical rant over the weekend, President Trump has blasted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as a couple of ‘wackos’ who refuse to vote with the Republican Party,” Ron Paul, a Libertarian and former Republican who represented Texas in the House and thrice ran for president, wrote in a social media post.

“Meanwhile, President Trump has just announced that his first in-person fundraiser of the election cycle will be for…Lindsey Graham! Also today, Israel breaks ceasefire and kills dozens more Palestinians in Gaza,” he added.

The president has frequently slammed Rand Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) as RINOs, meaning Republicans in name only, for breaking with the GOP on key legislative votes.

The Kentucky senator notably voted against Trump’s summer spending package dubbed the “one, big beautiful bill.” (Read more from “Ron Paul knocks ‘hysterical’ Trump ‘rant’ criticizing Rand Paul” HERE)

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Rand Paul says Trump didn’t invite him to GOP lunch

By The Hill. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday he was not invited to lunch at the White House with other Republican senators, after President Trump noted his absence.

“I actually wasn’t invited to the White House lunch today, but that’s ok,” Paul posted on social media.

Instead, Paul said he was having a “Liberty Caucus” lunch with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has also drawn Trump’s ire.

Trump hosted Republican senators in the Rose Garden on Tuesday to express his appreciation after the upper chamber advanced dozens of nominees, and to present a united front as the government shutdown drags into its fourth week.

At one point, Trump marveled at the attendance, noting only one senator was not there, without naming them. (Read more from “Rand Paul says Trump didn’t invite him to GOP lunch” HERE)

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Donald Trump Thinking of Pardoning Diddy After Bail Decision

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Donald Trump’s White House has been in communication with Diddy’s legal team about a potential pardon for the music mogul, and we’ve learned the decision may be determined by the judge’s ruling on bail.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ … Donald Trump is “more than open” to pardoning Diddy, but he wants to wait to see what Judge Arun Subramanian does with Diddy’s latest bail petition. We’re told if Diddy is granted bail, Trump will not make a decision on a pardon until Diddy is sentenced. If the judge denies bail, a decision will be made immediately. . .

Our sources say, Diddy’s case has resonated with Trump because the President believes Diddy — like him — was unfairly targeted by the feds. They note Trump’s Dept. of Justice recently fired Maurene Comey, the lead prosecutor in the Diddy case, and daughter of former FBI head/Trump nemesis James Comey.

What’s more, our sources believe the timing for a pardon would be “perfect,” because it would be a major diversion from the Epstein scandal. (Read more from “Donald Trump Thinking of Pardoning Diddy After Bail Decision” HERE)

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House Judiciary Committee Refers John Brennan To DOJ For Criminal Prosecution

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The House Judiciary Committee referred former CIA Director John Brennan to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution on Tuesday over allegations that he “knowingly made false statements” to Congress about his role in the Russia collusion hoax.

In the letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi obtained by The Federalist, Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argued that “Brennan made numerous willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact contradicted by the record established by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) and the CIA.”

“Making false statements before Congress,” Jordan wrote, “is a crime that undermines the integrity of the Committee’s constitutional duty to conduct oversight.”

The referral highlights numerous instances in which Brennan allegedly issued untrue remarks when testifying before the Judiciary Committee in May 2023. Among them are comments the former CIA director made when discussing his agency’s role in helping craft the 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that advanced the false narrative that Russia “developed a clear preference” for Donald Trump and “aspired to help” him win the 2016 election.

As noted by Jordan, “This conclusion — now known to be false — was based in part on the Steele dossier,” a series of reports containing salacious and unproven allegations about Trump that was bought and paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign’s law firm. The dossier was ultimately shopped to the FBI in early July 2016 and later used by the agency to obtain a warrant to spy on Trump campaign official Carter Page. (Read more from “House Judiciary Committee Refers John Brennan To DOJ For Criminal Prosecution” HERE)

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Virginia Giuffre Was a ‘Huge Trump Fan’ Because She Believed He’d Release Epstein Files, Ghostwriter Says

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Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent Jeffrey Epstein accusers, was reportedly a “huge” fan of President Donald Trump — in large part because he campaigned on releasing the long-awaited Epstein files.

Giuffre died by suicide in April at age 41. But prior to her death, she prepared a book about her alleged abuse at the hands of Epstein and members of his inner circle, including his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, and Prince Andrew. . .

Giuffre’s ghostwriter, Amy Wallace, spoke with CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Tracy Smith about the book, as well as Giuffre’s feelings toward Trump, a former friend of Epstein.

“She was a huge Trump fan, because he campaigned on releasing the Epstein files,” Wallace revealed in the interview, which was broadcast on Oct. 19. “She was very excited that he had made that one of the main planks of his campaign, and she felt validated by it.”

Giuffre did not implicate Trump in any of the claims of abuse made in her book, and she allegedly told Wallace that the future president was “kind to her” when the pair were introduced at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. (Read more from “Virginia Giuffre Was a ‘Huge Trump Fan’ Because She Believed He’d Release Epstein Files, Ghostwriter Says” HERE)

Cracker Barrel CEO Makes Admission to Investors About the Logo Change

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Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Felss Masino told an investing conference on Tuesday that the company updated its logo so that it was more visible on highway billboards.

She noted that the move wasn’t meant to be ideological, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“Part of this transformation is setting up success for the long term,” Masino said during the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit in New York City on Tuesday.

Those plans quickly came to a halt after public outcry forced the company to reverse the move.

In mid-August, Cracker Barrel introduced a new logo, replacing the familiar illustration of “Uncle Herschel” with a modern design featuring only the company’s name. It faced an onslaught of backlash, including from President Donald Trump, who posted on Truth Social that the company should admit it made a mistake and “manage the company better.” (Read more from “Cracker Barrel CEO Makes Admission to Investors About the Logo Change” HERE)

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FDA Stayed Silent As Internal Reports About Potential Tylenol Risks Piled Up

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defied the advice of its own drug safety experts to warn pregnant women about Tylenol for nearly a decade, internal reports and presentations obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation reveal.

FDA rank-and-file scientists repeatedly recommended the agency release information about Tylenol in pregnancy across three scientific reviews conducted in 2016, 2019, 2022 and two memos, one from the FDA’s maternal health division in 2016 and one from the FDA’s urological health division in 2017.

The scientific literature posits many plausible drivers of autism, the most well-established of which are genetic, and the FDA drug safety experts acknowledged that the research linking the condition to Tylenol is far from ironclad.

Still, as alarm bells rang within FDA headquarters and the boardrooms of Tylenol’s manufacturers, pregnant women heard nothing from either the government or the manufacturers about the potential risks until the September announcement by President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Read more from “FDA Stayed Silent As Internal Reports About Potential Tylenol Risks Piled Up” HERE)

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Trump Scraps Meeting with Putin

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The White House said on Tuesday that President Trump no longer plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, following a phone call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.

According to an official familiar with the situation, the Russians demonstrated a lack of willingness to align themselves with Trump’s plan for peace between Ukraine and Russia. The war has been ongoing for more than three years.

“Secretary Rubio and Foreign Minister Lavrov had a productive call,” a White House official told The New York Post on Tuesday. “Therefore, an additional-in-person meeting between the Secretary and Foreign Minister is not necessary, and there are no plans for President Trump to meet with President Putin in the immediate future.”

President Trump, following a phone call with Putin on Thursday, announced that Secretary Rubio and his Russian counterpart would lay the groundwork for the prospective meeting between the two leaders in Budapest, Hungary. (Read more from “Trump Scraps Meeting with Putin” HERE)

Gold Plunges Nearly 5% as Dollar Surges, Traders Cash Out After Record High

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Gold prices sank Tuesday in their steepest one-day drop in years, sliding almost 5% as a surging US dollar and heavy profit-taking halted the precious metal’s record-setting run above $4,300 an ounce.

As of noon Tuesday, gold futures were trading at $4,143.90 per troy ounce, down $215.50, or 4.94%.

The decline followed Monday’s close at $4,359.40, when the metal hit a fresh all-time high.

The selloff marks gold’s sharpest single-session decline since April 2013 and its first meaningful correction after a monthslong rally fueled by safe-haven buying and expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts.

Prices opened at $4,371, climbed briefly to a high of $4,393.60 — and then slid steadily through morning trading to a low of $4,090 before stabilizing. (Read more from “Gold Plunges Nearly 5% as Dollar Surges, Traders Cash Out After Record High” HERE)

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Speaker Johnson Makes Pledge For Epstein Files Release

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House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he won’t block a floor vote on a resolution to release records tied to Jeffrey Epstein’s records if it garners enough signatures.

The petition could hit that threshold once Democratic Arizona Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva is sworn in, though Johnson has delayed her seating by tying it to Senate action on House-passed government funding bills.

“If it reaches 218 signatures, it comes to the floor,” Johnson told Politico. He emphasized he would not block the bill, adding, “No, we’re not — that’s how it works: if you get the signatures, it goes to a vote.” . . .

Republican leaders have worked to keep the measure off the floor, arguing at a Tuesday press conference that the House Oversight Committee’s ongoing Epstein probe is already turning up new evidence.

“The bipartisan House Oversight Committee is already accomplishing what the discharge petition, that gambit, sought and much more,” Johnson said at the press conference. He added that all “credible information” uncovered in the panel’s months-long investigation would eventually be released to the public. (Read more from “Speaker Johnson Makes Pledge For Epstein Files Release” HERE)