Today in Politics, Bulletin 153. 6/17/25 Ron Filipkowski Jun 17 … Director of WH Personnel Sergio Gor refuses to say what country he’s from and refuses to complete the paperwork for his background check. NY Post: “Gor is in charge of picking about 4,000 executive-branch staff … but has not turned in his Standard Form 86 - a more than 100-page set of questions required for officials who need security clearances.” … “Gor claims to be from the island country of Malta, though an official there could not confirm his birthplace when provided his exact birthday, saying: ‘No acts are registered with the provided details.’ Gor declined to divulge his birthplace to The Post.” … Source: “SF-86 is the first step in receiving a security clearance. Everyone — EVERYONE — fills one out, even if they’re not going into a role that will ultimately need an activated clearance - random comms people, administrative staff, legislative affairs. It seemed like a ‘The lady doth protest too much, methinks’ type situation. Like why are you going so crazy about not wanting to fill this out?” … “Gor strongly opposed use of the SF-86 form during the presidential transition, claiming he was concerned about the ‘deep state’ weeding out Trump’s picks: ‘He was actively working to convince everyone, including the lawyers, that the SF-86 was unnecessary and that Trump could just provide everyone with a clearance through his executive authority. He basically argued that the ‘deep state’ could corrupt the clearance process by weaponizing the SF-86 and background check investigations.‘“ … The form includes questions on place of birth and all former places lived, foreign contacts and family members, foreign funding, drug use and more. … CNN reported that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was rushed to the hospital today by ambulance. DHS spokesperson Tricial McLaughlin: Secretary Noem had an allergic reaction today. She was transported to the hospital out of any abundance of caution. She is alert and recovering.” … Trump met with his national security team today in the Situation Room. Before that he made a series of posts making it clear that “we” are fighting a war against Iran: “Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” “Publicity seeking President Macron, of France, mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to DC to work on a ‘cease fire’ between Israel and Iran. Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong. Stay Tuned!” “I have not reached out to Iran for ‘Peace Talks’ in any way, shape, or form. This is just more HIGHLY FABRICATED, FAKE NEWS! If they want to talk, they know how to reach me. They should have taken the deal that was on the table - Would have saved a lot of lives!!!” “Iran should have signed the “deal” I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” [ISRAEL HAS NUCLEAR WEAPONS!] “We know exactly where the so-called “Supreme Leader” is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now. But we don’t want missiles shot at civilians, or American soldiers. Our patience is wearing thin. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured “stuff.” Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA.” … Axios: “US officials said Trump is seriously considering joining the war and launching a US strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, especially its underground uranium enrichment facility in Fordow. Two Israeli officials told Axios that PM Netanyahu and the Israeli defense establishment continue to believe the Trump is likely to enter the war in the coming days to bomb Iran's underground enrichment facility. So far the US has helped Israel defend itself from incoming missiles, but declined to take part in offensive operations.” … CNN asked Trump about his post telling all 10 million people in Tehran to evacuate the city immediately: “I want people to be safe. That’s always possible something could happen." … Trump posted this on Twitter on November 10, 2013: “Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate - not skilled!” … Trump was asked about his DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s testimony before Congress that the consensus of the US intelligence committee was that Iran was at least 3 years away from developing a nuclear weapon: “I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having it.” … Gabbard in March: “The intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.” … Fox asked Netanyahu about Gabbard’s testimony. Q - So did something change from the end of March until this week? Was the US Intel wrong? NETANYAHU: “The intel we got and we shared with the US was absolutely clear that they were working in a secret plan to weaponize the uranium. They were marching very quickly.” … CNN: “US intelligence assessments had reached a different conclusion – not only was Iran not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, it was also up to three years away from being able to produce and deliver one to a target of its choosing.” … So either Gabbard lied in her testimony, Trump is relying on Israeli intelligence over our own, or Trump has just decided he wants a war and is creating his own Iraq/WMD situation to justify it. I’m betting the second one motivated by the third. … It is possible that Israeli intel was more accurate than ours, but it still seems that they didn’t have a specific time frame. It is also possible Israel exaggerated the situation to manipulate Trump and draw us into the war, which they would very much want to happen. … Fox reported that Gabbard was excluded from Trump’s meeting last week at Camp David to discuss Israel and Iran: “We can report via a US official that Gabbard was not invited to last week’s Camp David retreat where President Trump convened senior national security officials to discuss the Middle East.” … Trump posted this text he received from US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee: “You have many voices speaking to you Sir, but there is only ONE voice that matters. HIS voice. No President in my lifetime has been in a position like yours. Not since Truman in 1945. I believe you will hear from heaven and that voice is far more important than mine or ANYONE else's. You sent me to Israel to be your eyes, ears and voice and to make sure our flag flies above our embassy. My job is to be the last one to leave. I will not abandon this post. Our flag will NOT come down! You did not seek this moment. This moment sought YOU!” … It appears this is also a Holy War. The 9th Crusade. … I can tell you that there is a significant chunk of evangelical Trump supporters who support Israel for biblical reasons. If Jesus was Greek, they wouldn’t care about Israel. It seems odd to me that they would use the christian bible to dictate their views on foreign policy in 2025, but that is definitely the case for many. … Trump was asked why he didn’t just stay in Canada at the G7 Summit: “Not having to use telephones so much, because I don't believe in telephones, because people like you listen to them.” … An odd statement to make just hours after he launched his new Trump Mobile cell phone company. Greatest pitchman ever! Reminder that there is no Bulletin tomorrow because I have my podcast Uncovered where we do a deeper dive on the Top 10 stories of the week. After that I have the new 15-minute ‘Ask the Editor’ show with Ben which we post here on Substack. Last week was great, but I thought it would be better if YOU got to ask the questions from now on. So submit any question you want about anything in the replies to this and we will take 5 of them for me to answer tomorrow. It can be on any topic - not limited to what is in this Bulletin. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a resolution which was co-sponsored by several Democrats: “This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution. I’m introducing a bipartisan War Powers Resolution tomorrow to prohibit our involvement. I invite all members of Congress to cosponsor this resolution. … Co-sponsors as of this writing are Greg Casar (D-TX), Lloyd Doggett, Chuy Garcia (D-IL), Val Hoyle (D-OR), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Summer Lee (D-PA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Delia Ramirez (D-IL), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Ro Khannna (D-CA), and Don Beyer (D-VA). … Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) are introducing a similar resolution in the Senate. Fox asked Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) if he would vote for it: “I'm going to vote it down. I really hope the president finally does bomb and destroy the Iranian regime.”  [TIME TO REPLACE JOHN FETTERMAN!] … Meanwhile, Russia launched its largest strike yet on the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv along with other population centers. But after threatening additional sanctions 4 times in 4 months, Trump has decided it would cost the US too much money: “When I sanction a country, that costs the US a lot of money - a tremendous amount of money. It's not just, let's sign a document. You're talking about billions and billions of dollars. Sanctions are not that easy. It's not just a one-way street.” … Russian Security Council Chief Shoigu announced after his trip to North Korea that they will send another 6,000 men to Russia. They claim that they will be in non-combat support roles, but they have lied about that in the past and been shoved into the front lines against their will. … While many MAGA activists and influencers continue to denounce Trump’s Iran policy after he promised them no new wars, Trump has the support of the same establishment Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham who led the charge for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mitch to CNN: “What’s happening here is some of the isolationist movement led by Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon are distressed we may be helping the Israelis defeat the Iranians.” ***TRUMP'S ECONOMIC DESTRUCTION!**** … CNBC: “Consumer spending pulled back sharply in May, weighed by declining gas sales and a looming unease over where the economy is headed. Retail sales declined 0.9%, even more than the 0.6% drop expected from the Dow Jones consensus. The decline followed a 0.1% loss in April and came at a time of unease over tariffs and geopolitical tensions.” … Trump was asked why he never called MN Gov. Tim Walz after the shootings in his state: “I’m not calling him. Why would I call him? I could call and say, ‘Hi, how you doing?’ The guy doesn’t have a clue. He’s a mess. I could be nice and call, but why waste time? I think the governor of MN is so whacked out.” … Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) tracked down Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to confront him about his repulsive posts about the murders: "Honestly, I don't think this is a person who is used to be confronted. I don't think he's used to be challenged, and I think he didn't quite know what to do. He needs to apologize. I really think he should take that post down.” … NBC then tried to ask Lee about his conversation with Smith but he ran away from them while a staffer held up a notebook to block their camera. He’s a tough guy behind a keyboard though. … Lee FINALLY deleted all three of his reprehensible posts about it this afternoon. … WaPo: “The NAACP will not invite President Trump to its national convention this year - the first time in the civil rights organization’s 116-year history that it has excluded a sitting president - citing what it described as his attacks on American democracy.” … NAACP President Derrick Johnson: “The president has signed unconstitutional executive orders to oppress voters and undo fed civil rights protections; he has illegally turned the military on our communities, and he continually undermines every pillar of our democracy to make himself more powerful and to personally benefit from the US govt. There is a rich history of both Republicans and Democrats attending our convention - from Truman to Eisenhower, Reagan, Clinton, Bush, Obama, and beyond. But this admin does not respect the Constitution or the rule of law.” … WH Spokesman Harrison Fields: “The NAACP isn’t advancing anything but hate and division, while the President is focused on uniting our country, improving our economy, securing our borders, and establishing peace across the globe.” … Politico: “Trump told reporters this morning he ‘probably’ will extend the TikTok divestiture deadline again. Asked if he has the legal basis to do so, he replied: ‘Yes.’ It would be Trump’s third extension since Congress passed a law to force the sale of the Chinese-owned app by Jan 19 or ban it in US.” … This is a bizarre situation. The law was passed by Congress. Trump is simply ignoring the law. There is no provision in the law for the president to grant “extensions”. He’s just refusing to enforce it. A deal was reportedly close to being done for US investors to take a controlling interest months ago, but then Trump imposed his tariffs on China and they pulled the deal. It was a bipartisan bill pushed mostly by Senate Republicans, who now won’t say a word about it. … I’m not saying that I want TikTok shut down, but this bill requiring divestiture passed overwhelmingly with votes from both parties, Trump is just ignoring the law, and nobody in Congress who pushed for it and said there would be dire consequences if it wasn’t sold now won’t talk about it at all. Although it’s not a law I especially want enforced, it really sets a bad precedent when Trump can just ignore it and nobody in Congress will say anything. … Trump has now reversed his policy directing ICE not to conduct raids at farms, hotels and restaurants after intense backlash from his MAGA base. WaPo: “Officials from ICE told agency leaders in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting immigration raids at agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants. The new instructions were shared to representatives from 30 field offices across the country.” … Gov. Gavin Newsom: “Looks like Stephen Miller is the boss, after all. Trump got big footed by his own staff. Pathetic.” … AG Secretary Brooke Rollins posted on social media on Sunday how important it was to make an exception for migrant workers on farms. She was apparently overruled the next day when TACO Trump changed his mind again. Asst. DHS Sec Tricia McLaughlin: “There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts. Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.” … Two new polls on Trump and Mike Johnson’s budget bill are out, and public opinion continues to sink. WaPo poll-23% support the bill. KFF poll-35% support it. … Sen. Rand Paul on Fox: "I will not be the deciding vote against this - I promise you that. If I'm the deciding vote against this, they will negotiate with me. Right now they're not negotiating with me because they don't think they need me." … PBS on the Medicaid cuts in the bill: “Was Trump unaware of provider tax change? Sen. Josh Hawley told us he spoke to Trump today and that Trump was surprised about the Medicaid provider tax change - and said he did not know about the changes affecting rural hospitals (a top concern for Hawley).” … This is a major part of Trump and Mike Johnson’s bill. A provision some key Republicans have complained about because it could literally bankrupt hundreds of rural hospitals. But apparently Trump didn’t even know it was in the bill. … Financial Times reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick continues to push his ‘Trump Gold Cards’ on foreign trips where people can buy US citizenship for $5 million: “Whenever I meet with international executives, I always go through it with them and sell it to them. I can’t help myself.” ICE GESTAPO: WHERE'S THE WARRANT?  … NYC Comptroller and Mayoral candidate Brad Lander was handcuffed and detained by ICE agents after asking to see a warrant for people who were detained after an immigration hearing. Fellow mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, who showed up to support Lander, to PoliticoNY: “What we saw this morning was Comptroller Lander asking ICE to follow the law. But ICE only has an interest in terrorizing people across this country.”