President Donald Trump continued his efforts to concentrate and consolidate power, launching attacks on Harvard University, The Federal Reserve Bank, and on “The Democrats,” including Democratic U.S. representatives who have called for the House to impeach him. Critics, including legal experts, are once again sounding alarms.

In a largely false missive, President Trump attempted to pressure the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, once again threatening the independence of the 112-year-old institution that sets and implements monetary policy.

The President also declared he is removing the tax exempt status from Harvard University, established 389 years ago, making it the oldest higher education institution in the country. Trump’s reason: “It’s what they deserve!”

And, in another, lengthy broadside, Trump lashed out at his political opponents, declaring Democrats “are really out of control,” and claiming they “have lost everything, especially their minds!”

READ MORE: Democrats Call for Hegseth’s Ouster After Trump Demotes National Security Advisor

Trump alleged that Democrats have “two ‘No Name,’ little respected Congressmen, total Whackjobs both, throwing the ‘Impeachment’ of DONALD J. TRUMP around, for about the 20th time, even though they have no idea for what I would be Impeached.”

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) introduced seven articles of impeachment that, he said in a statement include “a sweeping abuse of power, flagrant violations of the Constitution, and acts of tyranny that undermine American democracy and threaten the rule of law.”

Among other criticisms, Trump falsely alleged he had to clean up, as he described, “the Highest Inflation in our Country’s History.” Under President Biden, the highest inflation was 9.1%, less than half the highest inflation in recorded U.S. history, and far lower than at other times the U.S. has experienced.

Trump ended that complaint with this threatening statement about Democrats:

“These are total LOWLIFES, who hate our Country, and everything it stands for. Perhaps we should start playing this game on them, and expel Democrats for the many crimes that they have committed — And these are REAL crimes. Remember, ‘Shifty’ Adam Schiff demanded a Pardon, and they had to use the power of the Auto Pen, and a Full Pardon, for him and the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, to save them from Expulsion, and probably worse!”

In calling for the Fed to lower interest rates, Trump made this claim:

“Gasoline just broke $1.98 a Gallon, lowest in years, groceries (and eggs!) down, energy down, mortgage rates down, employment strong, and much more good news, as Billions of Dollars pour in from Tariffs. Just like I said, and we’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!! Consumers have been waiting for years to see pricing come down. NO INFLATION, THE FED SHOULD LOWER ITS RATE!!! DJT”

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely No Clue’: Trump Roasted Over Unique Declaration of Independence Interpretation

According to AAA, which published the national average price of gas daily, Friday’s average is $3.18. The price of groceries overall has risen since Trump took office, egg prices at the retail level remain high. Trump repeatedly promised to lower the cost of “groceries” on “day one.” More than 100 days later, he still has not.

Mortgage rates have dropped over the past two weeks, according to the Associated Press, and employment remains strong, but a CBS News fact check published this week refutes most of the claims Trump made.

Political and legal experts sharply criticized President Trump, with many singling out his attack on Harvard as especially egregious.

“That’s blatantly illegal,” wrote New York Times columnist David French, a conservative, about Trump’s attack on Harvard. “Every American who cares about free speech should find this revolting. Is this a power we want to give presidents?”

“This is the President using the IRS to punish people for free speech,” noted former Obama senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer, also responding to Trump’s Harvard attack.

“This is what fascist do,” added The Atlantic’s Dr. Norman Ornstein, the well-known political scientist.

“Trump’s directive to the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax exempt nonprofit status is clearly unlawful,” wrote U.S, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY). “It can’t be done without legitimate cause and the courts will not allow it to happen. But it goes directly to Trump’s attempt to crush dissent and his war against free speech and academic freedom. Any institution of higher learning who he disagrees with and who refuses to bow down to his views he will try to destroy. That is un-American and undemocratic and we must not allow it to happen.”

Professor of Law and former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance, the well-known MSNBC legal analyst, responding to Trump’s Harvard threat, added: “This is what drunk on power looks like. It’s why we don’t have kings. (Also, he’ll lose in court if he follows through).”

READ MORE: ‘Out of Order!’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Triggers Shouting Match Between Comer and Top Dem

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Democrats are calling on President Donald Trump to fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, blasting the Commander-in-Chief for waiting an entire month to act on SignalGate—widely regarded as the most serious national security breach of his current presidency, and one of the worst since his previous term. On Thursday, Trump responded by effectively demoting National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, nominating him to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

“They’re firing the wrong guy,” Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters, The New York Times reported on Thursday. “They should be firing Hegseth.”

Secretary Hegseth remains under fire for his role in Signalgate. The Defense chief reportedly shared sensitive and classified information with non-authorized personnel, including his wife, his brother, and his attorney.

RELATED: ‘Lying Again’: Hegseth Ripped for Ending ‘Woke Biden Initiative’ Trump Signed Into Law

Last month, The New York Times reported that sources said that “the information Mr. Hegseth shared on the Signal chat included the flight schedules for the F/A-18 Hornets targeting the Houthis in Yemen — essentially the same attack plans that he shared on a separate Signal chat the same day that mistakenly included the editor of The Atlantic.”

“Trump is ousting his National Security Advisor Mike Waltz,” noted House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. “Next up? The woefully unqualified Secretary of Defense must resign or be fired immediately.”

“It took more than a month for Trump to hold anyone accountable for the Signalgate fiasco,” observed U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA). “Next up should be Pete Hegseth.”

Also responding to the Waltz news, U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) wrote: “Now do Hegseth.”

“Waltz is out,” said U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA). “Hegseth, you’re next.”

READ MORE: ‘Pro-Putin’ Billionaire Eyed as Trump’s Next National Security Advisor: Reports

“Pete Hegseth should be next,” wrote U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-VT).

It appears that despite President Trump’s admonishment, and his suggestion to not use Signal, Waltz and other top Trump national security officials continue to do so:

Outgoing national security adviser ⁦@MikeWaltz47⁩ using Signal at a cabinet meeting this week with ⁦@realDonaldTrump⁩. ⁦@Reuters⁩ photo by ⁦@evelynpix⁩ pic.twitter.com/Dr0P4YEeJy

— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) May 1, 2025

But according to Fox News, Secretary Hegseth’s job is safe.

READ MORE: ‘Pro-Putin’ Billionaire Eyed as Trump’s Next National Security Advisor: Reports

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin on-air announced that “for now, we understand that the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who shared sensitive, some say classified attack plans on that signal group chat is safe.”

Hegseth “was at the White House today in the Rose Garden, and other National Security Council officials brought in by National Security advisor, Mike Walz will likely be out soon, we’re told, as threats of U.S. Military action against Iran increase. 48 days ago, the U.S. Began an open ended military campaign to destroy the Hootis, and Iranian back proxy that’s been firing missiles at shipping targets in the Red Sea.”

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” Griffin added, “warned Iran in a late night tweet that its deadly support for the Houthies won’t go unanswered. Warning of military consequences in all caps, a message that sounded like an ultimatum eliciting partisan reaction from the hill.”

U.S. Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) wrote, “If anyone should get canned, it’s Hegseth.”

The powerful Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) added: “Reminder that Pete Hegseth is still serving in an incredibly important job that he has repeatedly shown he cannot do.”

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely No Clue’: Trump Roasted Over Unique Declaration of Independence Interpretation

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Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly suggested Len Blavatnik is a “Russian oligarch.” He is not a Russian citizen. We apologize for the error.

President Donald Trump is reportedly considering naming billionaire real estate mogul Steve Witkoff—his de facto envoy to Moscow—as the next National Security Advisor. Witkoff, who has no diplomatic or national security experience, has come under fire for his apparent closeness to Vladimir Putin. Among the concerns are that Witkoff has repeatedly been meeting the Russian leader alone, without any senior U.S. officials or policy experts present, to allegedly discuss ending Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine.

Thursday afternoon President Trump named Secretary of State Marco Rubio as interim National Security Advisor, and announced that Mike Waltz, now his former NSA, will be his nominee for U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, according to ABC News.

Regardless of President Trump’s intentions for Witkoff, serious concerns continue to swirl around him.

Anders Åslund, an economist and former Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, has described Witkoff as “pro-Putin.” The former head of the UK’s MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, has described Witkoff’s comments as “pro-Putin,” according to Sky News.

“Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Special Envoy, has a serious and unreported conflict of interest in Russia-Ukraine negotiations: his relationship with Ukraine-sanctioned businessman Len Blavatnik,” reported The Counteroffensive‘s Tim Mak, a former NPR investigative reporter.

RELATED: ‘More Shoes Could Drop’: SignalGate Scandal-Ridden Advisor Waltz ‘Out,’ Reports State

Witkoff’s “fortune is largely made up of the Witkoff Group, the New York-based real estate developer he founded in 1997,” Forbes reported in November. “He also owns homes in Manhattan, the Hamptons and south Florida, where he’s developing projects including the Dutchman’s Pipe Golf Club, a Jack Nicklaus-designed course with a luxury hotel, in partnership with Soviet-born billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries.”

Critics have been blasting Witkoff for meeting alone with President Putin — even his translator is reportedly provided by the Kremlin.

The New York Post calls the solo act “a break with longstanding diplomatic procedure,” and notes that “Russian media have picked up on a pattern of Witkoff parroting Putin, with state television announcers recently commenting that the American easily accepts Moscow’s narratives — even when Russians don’t.”

Witkoff’s actions are so upsetting to national security experts that one, Republican former U.S. Congressman Adam Kinzinger, last week called Witkoff’s decision to meet with Putin without any other U.S. representation, “pure, unadulterated, evil.”

RELATED: ‘Pure, Unadulterated, Evil’: Trump Envoy’s Putin Meeting Triggers Outrage

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lamented, “I believe Mr. Witkoff has adopted the strategy of the Russian side.”

“Consciously or not, he is spreading Russian narratives. Either way, it does not help,” Zelenskyy warned.

The Post also reports that Witkoff has been labeled a “bumbling f—— idiot,” by a former official in Trump’s first administration.

The Financial Times last week reported that Ukraine has “long suspected Witkoff of pro-Russian sympathies.”

Last week, Fox News’ Chief National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin blasted the Trump administration:

“Where are the subject matter experts with Witkoff? Putin, the KGB officer, is laughing,” Griffin noted. “Meanwhile the instability at the Pentagon is not helping project strength during these delicate negotiations. There is still no confirmed NSA [National Security Agency] (Cyber Command) director after Defense Secretary Hegseth fired Gen Hauck and his deputy for no reason, not even a nominee yet for the person overseeing the crown jewel of US intelligence and SIGINT, which might come into handy when you are negotiating with Putin and Xi.”

Among those reporting Witkoff is being considered for the vital role as National Security Adviser are Mark Halpern, Politico’s Jake Traylor, and CNN’s Kaitlan Collins and Kevin Liptak.

Politico adds that in addition to Witkoff, other possible candidates to replace Mike Waltz include “Trump’s top policy chief Stephen Miller, NSC senior director for counterterrorism Sebastian Gorka and Trump’s special envoy for special missions Richard Grenell.”

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely No Clue’: Trump Roasted Over Unique Declaration of Independence Interpretation

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