… Nobody is watching Sean Duffy’s Great American Road Trip show, which he filmed with his family over the course of 7 months while serving as Transportation Secretary. The 6 episodes of the YouTube show premiered yesterday and only had a total of just over 5K views combined after 24 hours.
… CNN: “The long-awaited ‘Great American Road Trip’ reality show from the Dept of Transportation starring Secretary Sean Duffy and his family has finally premiered after months of delays. The series follows Duffy and his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a co-host of Fox and Friends, and their 9 children through 7 states.”
… “The 6-episode series was published on YouTube. It was originally planned to premiere in June, ahead of the July 4 celebration, but was delayed. All 6 episodes are now available on the Dept of Transportation YouTube page. Each episode is about 30 minutes long.”
… “The first follows the Duffy family to Philadelphia, in an episode titled, ‘Where America Began.’ The Duffy’s see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. They end the trip sprinting up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, also known as the ‘Rocky Steps,’ from the 1976 film with Sylvester Stallone.”
… NOTUS: “After 4 female press secretaries during his two terms, Trump has told close advisers he would prefer a man to fill Karoline Leavitt’s position. Trump has signaled interest in Scott Jennings, a conservative media pundit who has been widely reported to be among those being considered for the position. Trump, however, is not quite sold on the idea.”
… “Other men have also been floated for the role, including Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary under George W. Bush. There’s also another option the president may consider. A person close to the WH predicted that all of the attention on the president’s close aide Natalie Harp could catapult her into the position.”
… Source: “She was on OANN. The media is going to make her press secretary.”
… MS NOW: “Trump’s closest aide, Natalie Harp, declined multiple times over more than a year to seek a routine security clearance normally obtained by West Wing staffers to work at the WH. Sources said Harp’s reasoning for declining to complete the process was unknown. After concerns mounted among the WH counsel’s office and security officials, the president himself intervened, and Harp in recent months filled out the forms.”
… “The lack of a security clearance is one of several red flags raised about Harp internally by Trump’s top aides since he returned to the WH. Harp operates unusually close to the president and filters much of the information Trump sees on a daily basis, and that proximity has spurred frustration inside the West Wing. One national security official voiced concern that Harp’s proximity to the president gives her access to the most sensitive info around Trump, more than nearly all other senior WH officials.”
… “Since joining the president’s orbit ahead of his 2024 presidential campaign, Harp has emerged as a key gatekeeper to the commander in chief. She is known to deliver to the president troves of printouts, including favorable coverage, positive poll numbers from questionable sources and messages from Trump confidants — and those who want to be — trying to get his attention.”
… Source: “Harp plays into the less productive and more troublesome parts of his nature, putting things in front of him that aren’t vetted.”
… Daily Mail: “Natalie Harp spent the summer of 2023 sleeping in the women’s locker room at Trump’s Bedminster golf club so she could remain close to him. She had initially secured a maid’s room but moved into the locker room because it was closer to the main house and allowed her to respond more quickly whenever Trump called.”
… “During the campaign, Melania Trump once stumbled upon Harp late at night inside Trump’s private quarters at Mar-a-Lago, an area typically off-limits to anyone outside the family. Harp was reportedly delivering documents to Trump that she did not want to wait until morning to hand over.”
… Just a late night “document delivery” to the private quarters.
… Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) on MS NOW:
“It’s been amazing to watch this WH melt down over this all week. And about Natalie Harp, these WH staffers are adults, public officials paid by the taxpayer, with immense power in positions of public trust. And whether it’s Harp printing out Trump’s daily dose of delusion and flattery, or Peter Navarro steering taxpayer-funded loans to Trump family investments, or Pete Hegseth deluding the president daily into deepening this quagmire in the Middle East, no one cares about their feelings.”
“The sailors on the Lincoln are fighting his war, a war based on lies, while he plays with his new ballroom, flies around on a jet given to him by a foreign prince, and retreats into this circle of sycophantic aides who tell him every day what he wants to hear, not what he needs to hear.”
Q - “There are people out there who believe that you are deliberately trying to carve out these little bites that will specifically provoke Trump. Is that what you’re doing? Ossoff: I’m trying to make sure that folks in GA know the truth about this admin. And apparently in the WH, the truth hurts.”
… Tomorrow is the deadline for the Supreme Court to intervene on the ballroom or construction must be halted based on a prior court order if they choose not to take the case.
… Trump’s Freedom Grand Prix car race is in DC this weekend. Newsmax brought on INDYCAR President Doug Boles to preview the event taking place on the streets of DC:
“We had to weld down 200 manhole covers to get ready for this and obviously take out some of the street lights.”
Q - “How have you had to adjust the race to be held on a city street? Boles: There’s 7 corners, 6 of them are 90 degrees. It’s gonna be very fast. It’s gonna be hard to pass here, there’s gonna be a bit of carnage on this because everyone wants to win this race.”
… WH Director of Protocol Monica Crowley: “We’re gonna have 25 indy cars flying around the nation’s iconic streets, going upward of 180 to 190 miles per hour!”
… NYT: “There has never been a Pentagon spouse quite like Jennifer Hegseth. In May she was in camouflage shorts and a sweat-drenched T-shirt that said ‘This Is War’ working out with sailors, Marines and her husband, Pete Hegseth, on the deck of the USSS Boxer in Singapore.”
… “In June she and 6 of the couple’s 7 children accompanied Hegseth to the D-Day commemoration in Normandy, where a DOD promo video with a swelling, cinematic soundtrack captured husband and wife walking arm in arm on Omaha Beach. The imagery seemed to cast her as the first lady of the Pentagon.”
… “Last year Washington got a different view when she was included in a group Signal chat in which Hegseth shared attack plans for US warplanes targeting the Houthis in Yemen. Mrs. Hegseth was for years Mr. Hegseth’s producer at Fox as he built a broadcast career.
… Now, 7 years into their marriage, she is his most influential adviser and his de facto producer at the Pentagon. She has prepped him for appearances, sat in on his meetings with journalists, interviewed potential members of his staff and brainstormed ideas for DOD videos he - and sometimes she - appears in.”
… John Ullyot, who left the Pentagon as chief spokesman after 3 months working under Hegseth: “It’s bonkers that a defense secretary would involve his wife in his sensitive official duties, including sharing details of an impending military operation, and face zero consequences. Any president deserves better judgment from his national security leaders.”
… Sen. Chris Coons, a senior Dem on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee: “This is not normal. Secretary Hegseth has one of the highest levels of classification access. He can’t just hand that to his wife and say, ‘Here, honey, hold my beer, and hold my classified information.’”
… WSJ: “The elimination of a futuristic drone battalion is part of a broader ‘back-to-basics’ approach ordered up by Gen. Christopher LaNeve, the acting chief of staff of the Army who is closely aligned with Pete Hegseth. The battalion was a signature initiative of LaNeve’s predecessor, Gen. Randy George, whom Hegseth ousted in April.”
… Cool, cool. We are going back to a military prepared to fight 20th century wars. What could go wrong?
… WaPo: “A FL school board that was at the epicenter of national debates over covid mask mandates and book bans lost its conservative majority this week, a change that some say signals a priority shift among voters. Two Democrat-backed candidates beat out conservatives in the school board election in Sarasota, FL, flipping the board’s majority.”
… “Helmed for the past year by Bridget Zeigler, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, the board is moving in a new direction, the winners said. A third Democrat-backed candidate will head to a runoff election against a contender endorsed by Republicans in November.”
… Megan Tennimon, a former teacher who won election to the board: “I really think at the end of the day, regardless of political affiliation, our community was just tired of the culture wars, the political theater and being the center of national attention for all the wrong reasons.”
… I lived in Sarasota for 28 years. My kids were born there and still live there. I was involved in many of these fights against Moms for Liberty in 2020-2022 before moving to Maine. Sarasota was once a nearly 50/50 county for many years until a huge influx of Republicans from other states during covid transformed it for the worse. I am very happy for the people there who have risen up to fight back.
… Former Republican Rep. David Jolly, who is now the Democratic nominee for governor in FL, was on CNN and then MS NOW:
“Byron Donalds says the race is not about Trump because he is running from the president that endorsed him. He didn’t break 50% in his own primary. Donalds is in trouble because Trump is in trouble.”
“I want to end the culture war not out of a progressive platform, but old school Republican ‘stay out of your life’ platform. Stay out of your bedroom, your doctor’s office, your personal life.”
“This is a 1974 post-Watergate moment. What is emerging in FL right now is that you don’t have to be a Democrat to vote for a Democrat. My job is to amplify Democratic values and bring in independents and Republicans. I didn’t join the Democratic Party to change it. I joined to the party to grow it. And that is exactly what’s happening on the ground.”
“Nationally, it completely restructures American politics when a Democrat gets elected in FL. The road to the WH changes dramatically in 2028. We can claw back congressional seats that were just gerrymandered. But more importantly, we let voters reimagine what our politics can look like.”
Yesterday on Uncovered, we led off the show with a deep dive on all angles of the Natalie Harp saga, plus Trump’s lies about the USS Lincoln, his carrier redesign plans, rambling comments about the ballroom, South Korea, Darlene Graham’s debate disaster and lots more! Link to the show is here.
If you missed the last Bulletin, you can find it here.
… Former Clinton aide Keith Boykin talked about Trump-endorsed Darline Graham’s disastrous performance in the SC senate debate: “To me, this is a reflection of the hypocrisy of the lie about meritocracy, the idea that they actually cared about merit. We saw this going back to Sarah Palin, to the president.
… They continue to promote unqualified, incompetent Republican candidates and they stuff them down our throats. Then they complain about black people and other women who happen to be progressive and say that we’re not qualified. It’s a lie. And
they never cared about meritocracy in the first place. From Trump on down.”
… Fox host Sean Hannity brought Graham on to try and rehabilitate her:
Hannity: “I bet based on all your time with your brother, that you know probably everything about the Middle East. Graham: Absolutely. I know national security is important. We have a wonderful commander in chief. I know that we need to stand with Israel.”
Graham: “I tripped up on one question last night, regarding Taiwan. I don’t speak politician. I was just honest. Of course, Taiwan is our friend. But I think people in SC are more worried about boys in girls sports.”
… NYT reporter Trip Gabriel: “Taiwan bought F-16 fighter jets assembled in Greenville, creating many local jobs. SC was the first southeast state to open a trade office in Taiwan.”
… WSJ: “US debt has surpassed $40 trillion, a new milestone in the country’s struggle to control its finances. $40 trillion is a big number, likely to at least briefly draw attention to what economists broadly agree is an unsustainable fiscal trajectory. In recent days, rising long-term govt borrowing costs—and a sudden reversal after the Treasury announced plans to buy back more long-term debt—have underscored the stakes.”
… Capitol Hill reporter Jamie Dupree: “The National Debt is now over $40 trillion. It was $36.2 trillion when Trump took office. That’s an increase of $3.8 trillion in 19 months.”
… Scott Bessent on CNBC:
… Republicans have been saying that since 1981.
… CNBC: “Bond yields climbed Thursday morning, erasing most of the pullback they saw the previous day after the Treasury Dept announced an intervention aimed at easing pressure on longer-dated govt debt. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond - the primary focus of the accelerated buyback - was up 5.7 basis points at 5.251%. Yields on 10-year Treasurys - the main benchmark for mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt - moved 5.1 basis points higher to 4.704%.”
… “The 10- and 30-year yield levels were right around the level they held before the 8:30 AM announcement Wednesday that Treasury would be stepping up its bond buyback program. The moves underscored the difficulty of market interventions, particularly at a time when US debt faces a slew of factors that have been pressuring yields higher.”
… “In a move announced Wednesday morning, Scott Bessent announced that Treasury would at least double the size of its govt debt buybacks, starting Sept. 9 and running through Nov. 4. Yields tumbled following the announcement, with the 30-year down about 10 basis points after previously hitting its highest in about 19 years, predating the global financial crisis in 2008.
… However, the trade quickly unwound, with yields higher Thursday as the market digested the move, as well as the longer-term structural problems facing the fixed income market.”
… WSJ: “This year’s upward march in bond yields has many drivers, from sticky inflation to heavy AI-linked corporate borrowing. Lurking in the background, though, is a more troubling possibility. Treasurys, long the world’s preferred ‘safe’ asset, are looking less safe. Relative to other securities, their yields are no longer quite so low, and in moments of stress, they don’t behave like a haven.”
… “The main reason for this is that the US has flooded the market with additional debt, reaching $40 trillion this week. There is no sign of the flood abating. Treasury’s surprise announcement that it would boost buybacks of less-liquid longer-term debt simply treats the symptoms rather than the underlying cause. The move, while reducing yields in the short run, might yet raise them in the long run by eroding the US’s reputation for stability and predictability.”
… NOTUS: “The Treasury Dept has seen a dramatic exodus of Trump’s own appointees, outpacing the turnover of any other recent admin. Since the start of the second Trump admin, 7 of 16 Treasury appointees confirmed by the Senate — or roughly 44% — have either quit or been pushed out of their positions. That does not account for the turnover in Scott Bessent’s office; he has had at least 3 different chiefs of staff since the beginning of the admin.”
… “At least 4 of the 7 top Treasury officials left after disagreements with the WH over demands to stretch, if not violate, tax law. Those disputes included Treasury resistance to a controversial push to use taxpayer data as part of the admin’s immigration crackdown, as well as the president’s push to establish a $1.8 billion fund to compensate allies as part of a deal with the IRS to drop any past or future tax audits of the president and his family.”
… Mark Mazur, who held senior positions at the IRS under both parties: “They’re asking them to do stuff that is well beyond the norm, and for some things that may or may not be legal. A lot of these people expect to have a career after this admin, and being disbarred would be a bad thing for them.”
… WSJ: “Walmart reported its smallest sales gain in more than 6 years as some Americans continue to spend cautiously—especially when shopping at the retailer’s physical stores. Walmart said sales from store and digital channels operating for the last 12 months, rose 2.6%. That is the smallest quarterly increase the retailer has reported since 2020. That is below analyst’s estimates of a 3.8% gain.”
… The Independent: “The number of Americans who file for bankruptcy is growing. More than 500,000 people took this step in 2025, nearly 50% more than in 2022. And the numbers have kept on climbing, with a 12% jump in June 2026 from a year earlier as many consumers struggled to pay their bills.”
… NYT: “The Trump admin has taken a series of extraordinary steps to attack CA’s position as a national leader in environmental protection, enlisting at least a 6 federal agencies to undermine the state’s efforts to pivot away from fossil fuels. The stakes are high. Because of its market muscle as the world’s 4th largest economy, CA’s environmental regs have influenced the manufacturers of autos and other consumer goods. And its green policies have spread to some other states in what’s known as the ‘CA effect.’”
… “But Trump has marshaled the full power of the federal govt to clamp down on the state’s climate initiatives. There are almost too many examples to list. Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have blocked CA from setting its own limits on automobile pollution, which fed law has permitted since the 1970s. The Energy Dept has announced $75 million for a new coal export terminal in Oakland.
… The Interior Dept has paid energy companies to cancel planned wind farms off the coast of CA and other blue states. The president ordered a company to restart a pipeline that caused one of the state’s largest oil spills in 2015. And just last week, the NOAA signaled it could curb the power of the CA Coastal Commission, a state agency that has protected the shoreline from threats like oil spills for more than half a century.”
… MS NOW: “Trump is set to record an interview on Thursday with Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer who later became a persistent public critic and the star witness in the hush money trial that led to Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts. Cohen announced that it will air on a radio show he’s hosting on Thursday night, with additional excerpts on his Sunday WABC show.”
… After disappearing for a week following his election loss in the Republican primary, Mike Lindell posted a video to social media to say his election was rigged: “Today, I’m announcing the largest privately funded recount audit in US history. My primary race for governor had many deviations and anomalies on election night. We have analyzed the election night reporting of results, and what we found demands answers. “
… Roll Call: “The DCCC is adding 5 more candidates to its ‘Red to Blue’ program for top recruits, including Maine State Auditor Matt Dunlap, who defeated the group’s preferred candidate in a primary earlier this year. The other 4 candidates are running in Republican-held districts that backed Trump by double digits in 2024, a sign of how broad Democrats believe this fall’s House battleground has become.”
… Dunlap is running for Maine’s 2nd District, where incumbent Jared Golden is not seeking reelection. The other additions are Army vet Leela Gray, who won the Democratic nod to challenge Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in FL’s 13th District; former fed prosecutor Zach Dembo, who is running for KY’s open 6th District; Navy vet Nancy Lacore, who’s seeking SC’s open 1st District; and former Rep. Tom Perriello, who is challenging Republican John McGuire in VA’s 5th District.”
… DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene: “All of these candidates are proven fighters who are running strong campaigns, talking to every voter, and building coalitions across the ideological spectrum to power their victories in November.”
… “The latest additions bring to 37 the number of Democrats in the ‘Red to Blue’ program, which comes with additional resources for the candidates looking to flip GOP-held seats.”
… AP: “Democrats narrowed the list of potential host cities for their 2028 presidential convention to Boston, Denver and Philadelphia as their party looks ahead to a wide-open primary to succeed Trump. DNC Chairman Ken Martin said in a statement the cities put forward ‘incredibly strong bids,’ and he promised the convention would be an ‘inspiring celebration of our party’s future nominee.’”
… “A final decision is expected to be made later this year by party leaders. Republicans have already chosen Houston for the site of their 2028 convention. The Democratic convention is scheduled for Aug. 7-10, 2028. The party didn’t specify why Atlanta and Chicago were eliminated. Officials visited all 5 cities in April and May, considering logistical and fundraising capacity among other factors.”
… NBC: “A National Park Service engineer warned the Trump admin about the floor of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool peeling in early June due to the renovation process and the materials used for the job, court filings revealed. Despite that warning, Trump accused multiple people of ‘destroying’ the pool once it reopened to the public - and the US attorney’s office in DC charged former Olympic canoeist David Hearn with destruction of property during a June 19 visit.”
… “The park service engineer alerted the admin to the peeling issue in an email sent June 11, which the US attorney’s office included in a court filing Wed. Prosecutors said that they were ‘not aware of or in possession of’ documentation that the Interior Dept had of installation problems at the time they charged Hearn.”
… Prosecutors are required under the Constitution to disclose exculpatory evidence (that could show innocence) to the defense as soon as they become aware of it.
… 19 months into her tenure, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was on Fox again blaming Biden for food prices: Q - “What are you doing to bring beef prices down? Rollins: Listen, what we are facing in America today is the direct result of the previous admin - a war on cattle and a war on agriculture in general.”
… Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) then came on and blamed the media: Q - “How can Republicans get the economic messaging our there and make sure it resonates properly, because it's not sticking. Steube: Well, it's not sticking because mainstream media is fighting against us.”
… Dep. WH Chief of Staff Dan Scavino posted this on X, which had Republicans, Democrats and reporters speculating whom he was talking about: “When you get fired for doing a spectacularly shitty job at an agency, with your badge deactivated, building access revoked - or when you get passed over for Ambassadorships, Boards, or Commissions - because there are candidates who are actually far more qualified than you, please resist the urge to sprint to every media outlet that will platform your lying bullshit, and then falsely attack the people in the Personnel Office who are out here serving Trump, the Admin, and the American people each and every day. Just take the L, and move on, LOSER.”
… Headquarters News (formerly Kamala Harris’s campaign account) made a list of the foods that had to be recalled so far under the Trump admin and HHS Secretary RFK Jr:
—Frozen blueberries, possible E. coli contamination
—Iceberg lettuce, possible Cyclospora contamination
—Shell eggs, Salmonella contamination
—Mixed berries, possible E. coli contamination
—Pistachio nut butter, Salmonella contamination
—Green powder supplements, Salmonella contamination
—Jalapeño-containing dips, salsa and guacamole products, Salmonella contamination
—Soup kits, Listeria contamination
—Salad dressings, Salmonella contamination
—Granola, Salmonella contamination
—Dog food, Salmonella contamination
—Jalapeño peppers, Salmonella contamination
—Pizza cheese bread products, Salmonella contamination (July)
—Dried herring fish, Botulism risk (July)
—Requeson cheese, Listeria contamination (July)
—Soft ricotta cheese, Listeria contamination (July)
—Infant formula, Botulism risk (July)
—Multiple cheese varieties, Listeria contamination (July)
—Cottage cheese and ricotta products, Listeria contamination (July)
—Organic moringa capsules and powder, Salmonella contamination (July)
—Smoked whole herring, Botulism risk (June)
—Enoki mushrooms, Listeria contamination (June)
—Parmesan ranch seasoning, Salmonella contamination (June)
—Cheese and garlic croutons, Salmonella contamination (June)
—Tahina, Salmonella contamination (June)
—Specialty beverages, Salmonella contamination (June)
—Multiple green superfood supplements, Salmonella contamination (June)
—Powdered beverage mixes, Salmonella contamination (May)
—Infant formula, Bacillus cereus toxin contamination (May)
—Potato chips, Salmonella contamination (May)
—Pork rinds and seasoning products, Salmonella contamination (May)
—Snack mixes, Salmonella contamination (May)
—Sour cream and onion cheese curds, Salmonella contamination (May)
—Flavored popcorn seasoning, Salmonella contamination (May)
—Coleslaw products, microorganism growth risk (May)
—Pita chips, Salmonella contamination (May)
—Chocolate bars, Salmonella contamination (May)
—White cheddar seasoning, Salmonella contamination (May)
—Kippered herring, Botulism risk (May)
—Peeled garlic, Botulism risk (April)
—Raw milk cheddar cheese, E. coli contamination (April)
—Brain tonic supplements, Botulism risk (April)
—Dried croaker fish, risk of harmful bacteria and toxins (March)
—Salmon products, Listeria contamination (March)
—Cream cheese and tofu spreads, Listeria contamination (March)
—Chicken dog treats, Salmonella contamination (March)
—Yellowfin tuna, Clostridium botulinum contamination (February)
—Organic chia seeds, Salmonella contamination (February)
—Green superfood supplements, Salmonella contamination (February)
—Tamales, potential Listeria contamination (January)
—Shrimp paste, lead contamination risk (January)
—Chocolate bars, Salmonella contamination (January)
—Sea Moss Gel Superfood, Botulism risk (January)
—Cheese products, potential Listeria contamination (January)
