… Text messages shared with MeidasTouch by a family member of a service member currently deployed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln paint a bleak picture of daily life on board, more than 8 months into a deployment that was supposed to end in May and instead has no announced return date.
… “Why isn’t there milk?!” the family member asked in one exchange. The sailor explained that the ship’s supply runs simply can’t keep perishables fresh long enough to make the trip out to the carrier. “So the supply ship that comes here can’t bring fruits and stuff cause it can’t stay fresh long enough with the time it gets them to get here. So we haven’t had anything fresh but meat cause it’s freezed. Sometimes it gets here rotten.”
… In a separate message, the sailor sent a photo of a plastic container of what looks like cereal, writing: “Hey honey I’m eating cereal rn. Wish there was milk tho. Haven’t had milk in 3 months.”
… The sailor also described a deployment that veteran crew members are calling unlike anything they’ve experienced. “This deployment is the worst one and I pray no other boat goes through the same. Even people that have been deployed a hundred times claim this one to be the worst and believe it can get worse than this. The Navy does not care.”
… These texts add a firsthand voice to reporting from Military Times, Stars and Stripes, and MS NOW over the past week, which detailed multiple attempted overboard incidents on the Lincoln, food and supply shortages, weeks without laundry or hot water, and a ship that has now set a Navy record for continuous days at sea.
… Meidas reporter Aaron Parnas reached out to sailors on the Abraham Lincoln and their family members to hear their stories. He posted several text messages on social media that he received:
… Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ): “The reports from the USS Abraham Lincoln about multiple sailors attempting to jump into the sea are disturbing. Long deployments are hard. They are a lot harder when the mission isn’t well defined and there is no end in sight.”
… Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ): “The Dept of the Navy must allow a bipartisan Congressional Delegation to visit the USS Lincoln to conduct oversight investigation into this horrible situation. CODELs have visited war zones to inspect the conditions of our troops. There is no reason to be denied access.”
… Politico: “The Pentagon is shutting congressional Democrats out of classified briefings — and even Republicans are shocked by the brazen partisanship. Pete Hegseth trekked to Capitol Hill at least twice in recent weeks to make closed-door pitches for his record $1.5 trillion defense budget. But lawmakers in both parties say he followed an increasingly familiar pattern of excluding Democrats.”
… “The freezeout underscores the Trump admin’s hyperpartisan approach to Congress — particularly the Pentagon’s penchant for secrecy under Hegseth. Whether keeping lawmakers in the dark about the rationale behind prolonged boat strikes in the Caribbean or a decoy Air Force One flight, the admin risks jeopardizing its main priorities by cutting out key players.”
… Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC): “He calls himself the secretary of war, but ironically, he doesn’t want to go to war and win the argument with nearly half the members of the Senate. You got to engage.”
… “Blowing off Democratic lawmakers could doom Hegseth’s push to enact Trump’s unprecedented Pentagon budget increase, which worries Republicans who are largely supportive of it. Without Democratic support in the Senate, the effort could fail this fall.”
… On Republican senator on the Armed Services Committee: “They’re preaching to the choir when they have Republicans on the Armed Services Committee and they’re making a case for the budget. It’s a briefing that should be provided to 100 senators.”
… The Hill: “The Treasury Dept officially repealed a requirement for US companies and individuals to report beneficial ownership info to its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. In addition to repealing the reporting requirement, the rule exempts Americans who have obtained FinCEN IDs from having to update or correct the info they provided to receive them. It also eliminates the requirement for foreign companies to report Americans who helped them register to do business in the US.”
… “The Treasury Dept during the Biden admin implemented the initial reporting requirement pursuant to the Corporate Transparency Act, which Congress passed as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2021. The requirement went into effect at the start of 2024.”
… It just so happens that Marco Rubio wrote the legislation for the Act that Scott Bessent is now attempting to ignore. This is what Rubio posted about it at the time when he was a senator:
On Dec. 9, 2020: “My ‘Corporate Transparency Act’, the most significant anti-corruption and money laundering law in decades and which forces anonymous shell companies to disclose their true owners is going to pass as part of the end of year defense bill.”
On Dec. 11, 2020: “My Corporate Transparency Act goes after anonymous shell corporations, often used for money laundering, sex trafficking and terrorism.”
… I wouldn’t count on Rubio saying anything now about the Trump admin had decided it is simply going to ignore the law he wrote to fight money laundering and sex trafficking.
… Telegraph: “ICE agents will be given gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks. Officers and agents could be fitted with the ‘conductive distraction and de-escalation devices’ by March, according to a notice published by DHS. The devices, called Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter (G.L.O.V.E.), have been used in recent years by some jails and police depts in the US.”
… “ICE plans to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of them. They function as a normal pair of gloves, with the electric shock occurring when officers press a switch to activate an electrical mode. The gloves must be placed on skin to deliver the pain stimulus, which helps an officer gain compliance within seconds, according to the company.”
… Tom Homan on Fox: Q - “DHS plans to spend $20 million on electric shock gloves to aid federal agents. How would that work? Homan: It’s another device to help someone be compliant when they’re not. You can’t have the first thing you go for be lethal force.”
… Chandra Law Firm: “Today, Emily Moreno on behalf of her two-year-old daughter, filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit in the US District Court for the N. District of OH against Rep. Max Miller, his attorney Aaron Minc, and the law firm Minc LLC, alleging that they recklessly published and distributed on the internet an unredacted nude photograph of Miller and Moreno’s daughter displaying her uncovered genitalia.”
… “The lawsuit asserts federal claims under 15 U.S.C. § 6851 (civil action relating to disclosure of intimate images), state-law claims for civil liability for criminal acts under R.C. 2307.60, wrongful-intrusion invasion of privacy, negligence, and civil conspiracy.
The statute makes it illegal for anyone to disclose intimate visual depictions without consent.”
… Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on CNN:
Q - “You received $10,000 from Max Miller’s PAC this election cycle. You have no plans to return the money. Miller has been accused of abusing his ex-wife and his daughter. Why have you decided not to return the $10,000? Lawler: I know Max very well. The fact that some in the media and my democratic colleagues have tried to turn it into a spectacle is wrong.”
Q - “It sounds like you’re saying you’re not going to return Max Miller’s donations because you believe him. Lawler: Look, this is a private family matter. Max has also made allegations against his ex-wife. Nothing has been corroborated here. Do you have information that proves the allegations?”
Q - “Why not just give the money back? Lawler: You just acknowledged you don’t have evidence to verify the allegation against Max Miller. Q - I’m not making the allegation. His ex-wife and his ex-father-in-law Bernie Moreno are. Why not just give back the money? Lawler: Thus far there’s been nothing to verify any of the claims that have been leveled.”
… Democrats’ House Majority PAC: “Mike Lawler will eagerly accept campaign contributions from his friends accused of abusing women and children.”
… Rep. Tom Barrett (R-MI) was also asked about contributions he received from Miller: Q - There are folks in your district calling for you to return campaign contributions from Miller. Barrett: Obviously the challenges that Max Miller is going through is obviously sad to witness. I’m somebody that believes in due process. That is a fundamental right we have to believe in as Americans.”
… Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on CNBC: Q - “Do you regret voting for RFK Jr? Cassidy: If you want to tell me that somebody didn’t tell me the truth, and I should’ve seen in the future they were not gonna tell the truth, you can say, ‘Bill you should’ve seen into the future’.”
… Yeah, because it was impossible to tell based on a decade of documented RFK Jr conspiracies and insane statements that this was going to happen. Cassidy knew what RFK Jr was all about, but at the time of the confirmation vote Cassidy was still hoping to get Trump's endorsement for his reelection race. So he voted for RFK Jr for his own selfish reasons. Then Trump endorsed his opponent anyway and Cassidy lost.
… NY Post: “WH press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s announcement that she’s leaving her role stunned many insiders — who immediately began buzzing about who might replace her behind the briefing room lectern. Sources within and close to the admin told The Post that early front-runners for the role are believed to include Alina Habba and Breitbart DC Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle.”
… “Other contenders could include former WH deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich, who departed that role last Sept to return to the private sector, and current WH communications director Steven Cheung. Also subject to heavy speculation are Katie Miller, a former aide to Elon Musk at DOGE and the wife of deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller.”
… “Other names bandied about include Scott Jennings and Kari Lake.”
… Daily Beast: “Trump repeatedly called his 28-year-old press secretary asking when she would be back during her brief maternity leave from the WH. Karoline Leavitt announced on Wed that she is quitting a post that no one younger than herself has ever held because doing it has meant she could not be ‘the best mom my two young children deserve.’”
… Insiders told the Daily Mail that the press secretary’s exit had been building for months. One source close to Leavitt told the newspaper that “she had been strongly weighing whether to quit during maternity leave, as the president would contact her often and repeatedly ask when she was coming back.”
… Another source: “It was a very stressful job to do with her children. She never got any sleep, and she didn’t want her performance to slip either.”
… The Mirror: “With Karoline Leavitt’s resignation, the saga of every single Cabinet departure under Trump’s admin being women continues. To date, all 5 officials who have left Trump’s second admin — whether through firing or resignation — have been women. The president has appointed men to succeed all 4 women.”
… Tom Nichols in The Atlantic on Trump hiding in the catering cart: “Imagine if something had actually happened to the decoy. Trump would later end up either having to lie or having to explain that he’d known that such a disaster was possible, and that he’d sent Air Force personnel and several American civilians—possibly including two Cabinet secretaries—to their death to cover his own escape.”
… “The larger issue is that Trump likely wanted this story buried because it makes him look cowardly and puts the lie to all his happy talk about the war. Trump has crowed—as he did at the time in Turkey—that the Iranians are beaten and pleading for a deal. In truth, the Iranians might have been planning to blow the president of the US and some of his top officials to smithereens.”
On Uncovered yesterday we did a deep dive into the election results in WI and MN, DSA, Trump’s crazy vaccine order, the catering cart controversy, Trump invoking emergency powers for midterms tampering, Fox coverage this week, the Trump Media insider trading scam, and lots more. Link to the show is here.
If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.
… John Hudson, national security reporter for WaPo: “CIA had ‘low confidence’ in Iranian threat to Trump in Turkey, but Secret Service took no chances. The assassination threat was relayed by the Israeli government to the CIA, where analysts viewed the intelligence skeptically. Despite US doubts about the intelligence, the elaborate plan enacted by the Secret Service was done out of an abundance of caution.”
… “Some US intel officials saw Israel’s sharing of the warning about threats to Trump’s life as designed less to inform than to influence the president’s decision-making and US policy in the region. To be threatened inside Turkey’s borders could weaken Trump’s trust in the Erdogan govt, which Israel views as a medium- to long-term threat and is anxious about the personal rapport between Trump and Erdogan.”
… A former US official: “It fit a broader pattern of Israeli intelligence reporting that some officials see as designed as much to shape presidential decision-making as to inform it.”
… Former Israeli intel officer Danny Citrinowicz: “Regardless of whether the intelligence itself was accurate, Israel should be extremely careful about creating a credibility problem in Washington. Against the backdrop of past controversies over intelligence regarding Iran’s nuclear program, there is a real risk that US policymakers could begin to assume that intelligence provided by Israel is intended to advance a particular policy objective rather than simply reflect developments on the ground.”
… “Once that perception takes hold, even accurate and important intelligence may be viewed with greater skepticism. Over time, that could significantly erode one of Israel’s most valuable assets in Washington: its ability to use credible intelligence to inform US assessments and shape policy debates.”
… Reuters: “Iran’s state media has mocked Trump after new details emerged about his secret aircraft switch during a visit to Turkey, saying it showed just how nervous he is about the Islamic Republic’s power.”
… An Iran state media host called it a “humiliation” for Trump on TV: “Again, Trump, with his new scandal, has become the top subject in the US media these days. A scandal stemming from fear of Iran’s military power, a power that caused Trump, last month, while returning from Turkey, to secretly switch his plane.”
… Iran's embassy in South Africa said in a post on X that Trump "will be hidden in a trash can before long. The one they claimed was hiding in a bunker was martyred in his office. Yet the one who boasted about his massive warships and advanced B-2 bombers ended up fleeing in a food truck.”
… The post was accompanied by a meme of Trump inside a catering box full of food.
… Irish Star: “Trump made sure that Natalie Harp, his beloved personal aide, was securely by his side after he sneaked off Air Force One to travel in a decoy jet. Hiding in a catering truck to escape the plane, which was packed with press and other members of the president’s retinue, Harp was among those secretly selected to accompany him on a military flight back from the NATO summit in Turkey.
… “Harp is said to have a long list of strange late-night duties that she performs for Trump. It comes as Trump’s marriage to Melania is reportedly at its ‘lowest point’ for a disturbing reason. According to Michael Wolff's book, the pair sleep in separate rooms at the WH, with the president allegedly requesting a key so he could lock the door of his room. Wolff alleged the president and his wife ‘barely speak,’ noting, ‘There is hardly even the pretense that she lives in the WH.’”
… WH spokesman Steven Cheung: “Michael Wolff is a lying sack of shit and has been proven to be a fraud. He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
… Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) on CNN: “My first question to those who are on the ‘leave behind’ decoy plane would be, do you realize the president just isn’t that into you?”
… Sen. Jon Ossoff on MS NOW:
“I think we have to step back and recognize that this entire war is based on lies. They told us last year that the Iranian nuclear threat was obliterated. Then they told us earlier this year that there was an imminent nuclear threat. On day 4 of this war, Trump declared victory.”
“Months ago, Hegseth said that all of our objectives had been achieved. The war continues. Iran still has its uranium. Hormuz remains closed. This is a complete fiasco. It is a catastrophic failure by the commander in chief personally and his entire national security team.”
On the midterms: “They see the writing on the wall this fall. They see the rebuke that is coming, and they fear the accountability that will follow it. And so they are trying to build a barrier around the president, the first family, the WH staff and the cabinet to try to make them impervious to congressional investigation, to try to protect all of these abuses of power and all of his self-dealing from the kind of rigorous congressional investigation that will expose the truth and allow the American public to ensure that there’s accountability for wrongdoing.”
“I don’t think that it will work. The truth will come out. Mark my words. The truth will come out. They can try to protect him from congressional oversight. But when we win the house and we win the senate, the truth is going to come out and accountability is coming.”
… Peggy Flanagan, Democratic nominee for senate in MN: “Republicans are going to run against every Democrat on fraud, because they want to distract from what’s happening under the most corrupt president we’ve ever seen - Michele Tayofa and Republicans up and down the ballot are going to have to answer for that. The grift has to stop.”
… “Michele Tayofa, my Republican opponent, used footage of ICE in the streets of Minnesota in her launch video, and recently said ‘ICE treated children really really well.’ Tell that to Liam Ramos or to the children who have been separated from their parents.”
… NYT reports that Trump is now attempting to circumvent the judge’s ruling that ordered the removal of his name from the Kennedy Center by putting a new inscription on the side of the building under the original name that reads: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.”
… Fox primetime host Bret Baier with a rare fact-check of Trump: “Usually about 20% of the global petroleum and 20% of liquified natural gas has come through the strait. Despite Trump claiming he has total control of the strait, traffic has slowed to a trickle. Before the conflict, more than 100 vessels a day crossing. Monday, 8 vessels crossed. Yesterday, 14.”
… Yahoo Finance: “Gasoline prices climbed on Wed, marking their highest level on record for this time of year. The national average for regular gas stood at $4.03 per gallon, according to AAA data. That’s about $0.16 higher than a month ago.”
… Gas market analyst Patrick De Haan: “The national average is now at its highest ever level this late in the calendar year. The national average has never been above $4 a gallon after Aug. 12 in any previous year- ever.”
… Not helpful for Republicans in the midterms.
… Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was asked about gas prices during a trip to MI today. Q: “A lot of people around here can’t afford to fly. Can you say something about gas prices being a dollar more than they were a year ago? Duffy: No one complained about Joe Biden’s inflation. Q: Can you talk about gas prices? Duffy: We can’t have Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
… PRNewswire: “There were 51.3% more home sellers than buyers in the US housing market in July, just shy of December’s peak of 51.8% and up from 47.9% the month before. That’s according to a new report from Redfin. The number of homebuyers in the market fell to its lowest level on record in July. Nationwide, there were an estimated 966,752 buyers in the market, down 2.5% from the month before.”
… “The seller surplus jumped from June to July because while fewer sellers entered the market, way fewer buyers entered the market. This isn’t a story of surging supply so much as sluggish demand; buyers who can’t stomach today’s prices and mortgage rates are simply waiting on the sidelines, pushing most of the country into buyer’s-market territory.”
… “Home buying demand fell in July largely because mortgage rates soared to their highest level in a year, straining affordability. Widespread economic and geopolitical uncertainty also deterred house hunters. Some prospective sellers pulled back as they took note of slow demand.”
… WSJ: “US Army troops faced off against Ukrainian drone operators at a military exercise in Germany earlier this year. It didn’t go well for the Americans. During the exercise, called Combined Resolve, Ukrainian drone units easily spotted and defeated US troops and armored vehicles on rotation from Fort Hood in Texas.”
… “The exercise, coupled with US casualties in Iran, shows American vulnerabilities to drones—years after the US made uncrewed systems an essential part of warfare. America pioneered using long-range drones in war. The Pentagon has recently spent billions acquiring new drone and counterdrone technology and formed special units to operate it.”
… “Still, in the Middle East this year, the US has struggled to defend against Iran’s long-range drones, which have killed and injured soldiers and destroyed aircraft. The drubbing in Germany conveyed lessons from Ukraine focused on short-range battlefield drones. The exercise tested visiting troops’ ability to operate and defend against the proliferation of smaller, front-line drones that have dominated the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.”
… Austin American-Statesman: “The prospect of a televised debate between Senate hopefuls Ken Paxton and James Talarico is looking a bit dimmer. Both major party candidates have said they want to debate at least once before the Nov. 3 election, but the deadline to agree to the first proposed matchup passed on Wed without a commitment from Paxton. Talarico had agreed to the debate and has signed off on two other formal invitations to go one-on-one with his Republican opponent.”
… “The first debate was proposed for Sept. 22 at a venue in the Rio Grande Valley and would have been sponsored by Hearst Newspapers and the Spanish-laguage broadcast outlet NBC/Telemundo. However, Wed was the deadline to finalize the agreement and Paxton’s team neither accepted nor declined the invitation.”
… “Talarico’s campaign issued a statement in late July taunting the 3-term AG for not debating a political opponent in more than a decade and for not specifically accepting the debates offered by Hearst and Telemundo or the ones proposed by Nexstar and its Austin affiliate KXAN, or by Dallas’ WFAA and its parent TEGNA. The WFAA/TEGNA debate is planned for Oct. 8 in Dallas and the KXAN/Nexstar showdown would be Oct. 13 in Austin.”
… Bloomberg: “The US govt is about to sell 30-year bonds at the highest interest rate in a quarter of a century, after a historic selloff that has stirred speculation the nation will tilt borrowing further toward short-dated maturities.”
… “Treasury will offer $25 billion of 30-year debt at its monthly auction today. In the when-issued market, where securities are traded before they are actually sold, the new bond has a projected yield of around 5.24% — which would be the highest borrowing cost since 2001.”
… “It’s a headache for Trump and Scott Bessent ahead of midterm elections in November. Lofty govt financing costs are already feeding through to the broader economy, after years of elevated inflation and govt spending.”
… Kobeissi Letter: “The US Govt officially posts its largest July budget deficit in history, at $432 billion, due to an acceleration in federal spending. Interest on US debt rose $26 billion from last July’s levels to an alarming $118 billion for the month. This puts total interest expense for FY2026 up to $1.17 trillion in FY2026.”
… “As a result, interest expense has officially surpassed both National Defense and Medicare spending. In other words, the US govt now spends more money just on interest than it does to fund the entire US Military or to provide healthcare for seniors.
We cannot afford higher interest rates.”
… NYT: “Starting last fall, DHS spent $464 million on a no-bid contract to buy 10 used airplanes from a firm in Northern Virginia. That was an enormous price tag, but the department said it had no time to consider other offers. The planes were needed urgently for deportation flights. But since then, the dept has barely used this new fleet — for deportations, or anything else.”
… “3 of the aircraft are luxury business jets. Just months after acquiring them, the dept sought to loan or lease two to other agencies, including one for the use of FBI director Kash Patel. The other 7 are older Boeing 737 passenger jets, which the govt has left parked at an airport in Lake Charles, LA, for months at a time. An internal document said the agency did not have the staff necessary to operate them.”
… Semafor: “Bernie Sanders got his guy in Michigan, but he’s going to have to do more if he wants to successfully shepherd Abdul El-Sayed through the general election due to the huge spending disadvantage Democrats face. Sanders has more than $22 million in his campaign account, and he didn’t rule out using some of that to help El-Sayed.”
… Sanders: “I’m going to do my best in every way to see that he’s elected to the US Senate. We’re going to do everything we can.”
… A Democratic strategist said that if Sanders wants to show he can win tough elections, “he needs to put his money where his mouth is and invest the millions he has sitting in the bank account in winning Michigan.”
… “The Senate Leadership Fund has $51 million invested in the MI race, AIPAC is expected to plow millions in to stop El-Sayed, and former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee, is one of the GOP’s better fundraisers.”
… “The Democratic Senate Majority PAC is doing all it can to keep up, with $20 million in TV ads reserved and a substantial digital investment as well. Still, there’s no question that Dems face a sizable money gap.”
… WSJ: “In the run-up to Michigan’s heated Senate primary, Abdul El-Sayed hit the trail with a key surrogate: Hasan Piker. The two took selfies with students in Ann Arbor and stopped by a pool party for content creators supporting El-Sayed in Detroit. In between, he popped over to Milwaukee to campaign for Democratic socialist Francesca Hong. On election night, Piker held court at El-Sayed’s watch party.”
… El-Sayed shortly before voting started: “Hasan is reaching folks no one else is talking to. Every event I do, I get seniors who ask how I got so many young people to come, and young people who say ‘I saw you on Hasan.’”
… “One of the most controversial—and influential—online commentators, Piker has become famous for the impassioned left-wing appeals he makes to an audience of millions. He criticizes Israel and its supporters on hourslong livestreams, leading opponents to accuse him of antisemitism. He has said that America ‘deserved 9/11,’ one of the remarks he said he could have phrased more carefully.”
… “His broadsides take aim at both Republicans and Democrats in a brazen, provocative tone that now suffuses the leftist internet, and has drawn 35-year-old Piker into debates and attack ads during the primaries. After El-Sayed’s primary victory, the RNC released an ad that seized on Piker’s remarks and criticized El-Sayed for refusing to disavow them. Days later, El-Sayed called the 9/11 comment ‘dumb,’ though he also characterized questions about the quote as ‘gotcha politics.’”
… Zohran Mamdani’s approval rating in the latest Siena Poll of NYC resident has soared to an all-time high for the NYC mayor. He is now at 69% Favorable and 24% Unfavorable.
… Dr. Jonathan Reiner in NYT OpEd: “I was Dick Cheney’s cardiologist for 27 years, including his two terms as VP. During his time in the WH, he needed stents, a defibrillator and medical treatment for an arrhythmia and a blood clot in his leg.”
… “Despite reassurances from the WH to the contrary, at times over the past year, the president has not looked well. I am not Trump’s doctor, and have only reviewed his records that have been made public. But Trump is probably the most photographed president in US history, and a variety of physical ailments are easy to see. He’s had large bruises on both hands, swelling in his legs and episodes when it appears that he is struggling to stay awake. He’s also had advanced imaging performed for unclear reasons.”
… “Dr. Barbabella’s recent report states that the president was evaluated by 22 consultants, an extraordinary number of specialists for even the most extensive executive health evaluation. Why were so many physicians summoned, and what were their specialties?”
… “Trump often shows prominent bruising on his hands, which the WH attributes to frequent handshaking and frequent use of aspirin. Trauma from handshaking has never seemed plausible, and it doesn’t explain why the president’s left hand is often similarly discolored. Also, why would the president take a dose of aspirin 4 times as high as the dose typically recommended by doctors?”
… “Swelling in the president’s legs last summer led to an unscheduled medical evaluation. The president’s physician described the problem as ‘chronic venous insufficiency,’ a condition common in older people, that results from leaky valves in the veins of the legs. It usually develops gradually over a long period.”
… “But during Trump’s comprehensive physical examination just a few months earlier, Dr. Barbabella documented no swelling in the president’s legs. If that’s true, his swelling would be by definition acute, not chronic. Acute leg swelling is a potentially much more consequential finding that can be caused by issues such as heart and kidney disease.”
… “The president often appears to struggle to stay awake, signs of a condition doctors refer to as excessive daytime somnolence. This problem, which is sometimes evident during Oval Office events, was not addressed in the report after Trump’s comprehensive physical exam in May. There are several possible causes for the president’s symptoms, some of which could have serious complications if left untreated.”
… “The president has spoken about how well he performs on cognitive testing. However, the exam that Trump describes, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, is a brief and basic screening tool, with simple questions (draw a clock, identify a camel), often performed in response to a concern from the patient or a member of the family. Why has the president undergone this test numerous times, and have there been more sophisticated neurocognitive assessments performed?”
… DC photographer Joe Flood took a photo of Reflecting Pool today and posted it on social media. This might take longer to get resolved than the Iran War.
