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‘Rank Incompetence’: Trump Says Hegseth Is ‘Safe’ Just Before Navy ‘Loses’ $60 Million Jet

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Editor’s note: A typo in the headline has been corrected.

Just hours after President Donald Trump declared in a newly published interview that he believes Pete Hegseth is “gonna get it together” and described his embattled Defense Secretary’s job as “safe,” the U.S. Navy accidentally lost a $60 million fighter jet when it fell into the Red Sea.

“A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet has been ‘lost’ at sea after it fell overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier while it was being towed on board, the Navy said in a statement on Monday,” according to CNN. Reports also indicate that “the Truman made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire, which contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard.”

The jet is said to have sunk.

In their interview, The Atlantic’s Ashley Parker told Trump, “You’re a big supporter of Pete Hegseth’s, but he’s fired three top advisers in recent weeks, he rotated out his chief of staff, he installed a makeup studio at the Pentagon, he put attack plans in two different Signal chats, including one with his wife and personal attorney. Have you had a talk with him about getting things together?”

READ MORE: ‘Heads on Pikes’: Trump White House Accused of ‘Vaguely Fascist’ Display

“Yeah, I have,” the Commander-in-Chief replied.

Asked, “What did you say?” Trump replied: “Pete’s gone through a hard time. I think he’s gonna get it together. I think he’s a smart guy. He is a talented guy. He’s got a lot of energy. He’s been beat up by this, very much so. But I had a talk with him, a positive talk, but I had a talk with him.”

And when asked if, “for now, you think Hegseth stays?” Trump replied: “Yeah, he’s safe.”

Critics were quick to weigh in.

“This is why I said @petehegseth’s rank incompetence needs closer scrutiny here,” wrote national security and civil liberties journalist Marcy Wheeler. “He keeps claiming his half-a—- campaign against the Houthis is having success. But s— like this keeps happening, planes dropping off aircraft carriers.”

“These are the sailors Whiskey Pete put at risk with his reckless treatment of classified information,” Wheeler added.

“Another win for this super competent national security team,” mocked U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). “I thought our strikes in Yemen were ‘restoring deterrence’.”

READ MORE: ‘Authoritarian Takeover’: Legal Scholars Warn of Trump’s ‘100 Days of Lawlessness’

Democratic political strategist Chris D. Jackson adds, “This is what happens when Trump and Pete Hegseth treated military leadership like a frat house. Unqualified leadership has real-world consequences.”

Barbara Starr, the former CNN national security reporter for more than two decades, strongly suggested there is more here than may appear.

“IMPORTANT: IF [the] Truman had to make a sudden hard turn to avoid enemy fire this is extremely significant. The goal for US troops is to always bring down the enemy as far away as possible NOT close in. And this potentially suggests further improvements in Houthi guidance and targeting. Def more to learn here.”

“Moreover,” Starr continued, “and equally important why does the military press statement not disclose this possibility?”

HuffPost’s White House correspondent S.V. Dáte commented, “Back when the Navy was woke I don’t recall them dropping an F-18 overboard.”

READ MORE: Trump Calls to ‘Immediately’ Eject ‘Disruptors’ as GOP Congressman Faces Boos, Backlash

 

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In ‘Historic’ Rebuke Senate Votes to Curtail Trump

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The U.S. Senate has advanced a resolution that would require President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval for any further military action or additional U.S. troops in Venezuela — “a rare and notable rebuke of the president,” according to Axios, and a rare assertion of the Senate’s constitutional war powers.

Big setback for the White House as 5 GOP Senators join all Democrats in voting to start debate on a war powers resolution re: Venezuela,” congressional reporter Jamie Dupree noted.

NBC News reported that the vote is “the first test of whether Republican lawmakers will publicly oppose Trump’s actions against the country after the capture of its president, Nicolás Maduro.”

PBS News noted that the resolution sets up “a test” for President Trump’s “expanding ambitions in the Western Hemisphere.” The Trump administration has said it would veto it should it come to his desk.

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), the bill’s sponsor, said on Wednesday that the vote is about “whether the United States should engage in military action against Venezuela on a presidential say-so without a vote of Congress.”

U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) voted to advance the legislation, and said: “I believe invoking the War Powers Act at this moment is necessary, given the President’s comments about the possibility of ‘boots on the ground’ and a sustained engagement ‘running’ Venezuela, with which I do not agree.”

NYU Professor of Law Ryan Goodman called the vote “Absolutely historic.”

 

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‘Significant Rebuke’: Republicans Preparing to Push Back on Trump

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As President Donald Trump issues increasingly challenging demands, loyal Republicans on Capitol Hill appear ready to at least start pushing back in what is being deemed a “Trump loyalty test.”

In an extremely rare move, the House will vote on Thursday on legislation to override two Trump vetoes in what Politico reported would be “a significant rebuke of the president.” GOP leaders believe there is a good chance enough Republicans will provide the votes necessary for an override. It is currently unclear whether the measure will pass in the Senate.

In another move against the Trump agenda, the House will vote on a bill by Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that would extend Obamacare subsidies for an additional three years. Nine House Republicans on Wednesday provided the votes necessary to bring the measure to a full floor vote.

READ MORE: Dr. Oz: Seniors Should Delay Retirement to Boost the Economy

“The move goes against the explicit wishes of Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump’s vision of creating an insurance plan that sends dollars directly to consumers instead,” Politico noted.

The bill’s future in the Senate may be unlikely, but it could provide fuel for a bipartisan group of Senators who are also working to extend the subsidies, while making policy changes to the Affordable Care Act.

One of President Trump’s big asks on Wednesday came in the form of a social media post that demanded the budget for the Department of Defense increase from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, shocking some critics.

“This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe,” Trump claimed.

“That’s not happening,” an unnamed House Republican told Politico.

Over in the Senate, a Democratic-sponsored bill that would require Trump to obtain congressional approval for any additional military action in Venezuela does not yet have enough GOP votes to pass.

But Politico reported, “keep an eye” on four undecided Republicans, including Lisa Murkowski (AK), Todd Young (IN), Susan Collins (ME) and Thom Tillis (NC).

Similar legislation in the House is being promoted by a Democrat.

READ MORE: Video Appears to Show Federal Agents Preventing Doctor From Helping Shooting Victim

 

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Video Appears to Show Federal Agents Preventing Doctor From Helping Shooting Victim

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A video obtained by HuffPost appears to show federal agents preventing a man who identified himself as a physician from assisting the 37-year old woman fatally shot by an agent on Wednesday in Minneapolis.

In the video, a federal agent tells the man to “back up now,” while he shouts, “I’m a physician!”

Another voice, apparently a federal agent, says, “I don’t care,” while another says, “We’ve got EMS coming.”

When he says, “We have medics on scene, we have our own medics,” a bystander shouts, “Where are they?”

She continues, “How can I relax, you just killed my f – – neighbor!” then asks, “How do you show up to work every day?”

READ MORE: Johnson Set to Jet to UK as Shutdown Looms and Majority Shrinks

“You’re killing my neighbors, you’re stealing my neighbors, what the f – – man?”

The now-deceased woman, who has been identified as Renee Good, was shot “after a group of people began blocking officers during an immigration-related operation in Minneapolis, the Department of Homeland Security said,” NBC News reported.

Some witness descriptions and videos that flooded social media conflict with official statements from DHS.

“Details remained in dispute,” The New York Times reported, “with President Trump saying the agents had acted in self-defense on social media, while state and local officials described federal accounts of the shooting with terms like ‘propaganda’ and ‘garbage.'”

According to BBC News, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said the officer “defensively shot to protect himself.” But Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey “disputes federal officials’ account of the shooting, and demands ICE agents leave the city.”

READ MORE: ‘Stalin-Level Propaganda’: White House Ripped for ‘Alternative’ J6 History in New Report

 

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