Mary Trump slams ‘extraordinarily dangerous' attacks on Mamdani
Mary Trump, the president's niece, slammed right-wing attacks on Zohran Mamdani, the winner of New York City's Democratic mayoral primary, calling them 'extraordinarily dangerous' on SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah's Friday show.
'It is not going to stop here. It's going to get worse,' Mary Trump said in response to a question about comments by President Trump and others attacking Mamdani, who would be the city's first Muslim mayor if elected.
The president derided Mamdani, a democratic socialist, as a '100% Communist Lunatic' on Wednesday.
'This is not the first time that President Trump is going to comment on myself, and I encourage him — just like I encourage every New Yorker — to learn about my actual policies to make the city affordable,' Mamdani responded.
Other influencers and lawmakers in the MAGA ecosystem have gone even further, often playing on Islamophobic tropes.
Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) called on Mamdani, who became a U.S. citizen in 2018, to be denaturalized and deported. The president's son Donald Trump Jr. and conservative influencers Charlie Kirk and Laura Loomer have connected his election victory to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Mary Trump, who lives in New York City, condemned attacks against Mamdani as 'anti-Muslim bigotry.'
Mamdani has spoken openly about receiving violent threats throughout his campaign. The New York City Police Department investigated an alleged car bomb threat against him in early June, and his campaign hired security during the primary in response to an uptick in threats against him.
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Politico
21 minutes ago
- Politico
Republicans and Democrats to duke it out for North Carolina Senate seat
Democrats just scored a massive new pickup opportunity in North Carolina. Republicans are determined not to let them have it. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis' abrupt retirement announcement Sunday has blown the door open for potential juggernaut candidates on both sides of the aisle. Democratic former Gov. Roy Cooper plans to make a decision this summer on whether he'll mount a bid, according to a person close to him and granted anonymity to disclose private conversations. Democrats widely believe the popular former governor would give the party its best chance of winning the competitive seat. Meanwhile, former Rep. Wiley Nickel is already running. The GOP side could become a family affair for Donald Trump after he called for Tillis' ouster for voting against the megabill. Lara Trump, the president's daughter-in-law and past co-chair of the Republican National Committee, is 'taking a strong look' at the race and will have the family's support if she chooses to run, according to a person close to the Trumps and granted anonymity to speak candidly about their internal discussions. Another person said Trump was still likely to meet with all the GOP candidates. The White House also considers RNC Chair Michael Whatley, a former North Carolina GOP chair, a strong candidate, per a Republican operative granted anonymity to describe internal thinking. And some in Trump's orbit are promoting Rep. Pat Harrigan, according to a person close to his political operation. Asked if he would back a successor, Tillis sidestepped the question on Sunday night. 'Dependent upon whether or not President Trump endorses somebody it could be an open primary,' Tillis said. 'He could close it out and the party could get behind it, I suspect that's what they do. I just really hope he has some discernment because obviously Mark Robinson was a bad pick.' North Carolina, a perennial battleground since Barack Obama turned it blue in 2008, has largely eluded Democrats ever since. Making the state even more tantalizing, Democrats have generally won governorships. Cooper is considered particularly formidable, winning the governorship in 2016 and 2020 — when Trump also won the state. Similarly, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein last year beat scandal-ridden GOP Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to succeed Cooper even as Kamala Harris lost the state. But Democrats haven't won a Senate seat here in nearly two decades — and Tillis ousted that Democrat, Kay Hagan, to take it back in 2014. Among the more moderate Republicans in the Senate and an increasingly rare example of a GOP lawmaker willing to break with Trump, Tillis was one of the party's most vulnerable incumbents. Now his retirement is giving Democrats an even riper target. 'An open seat is a totally different ball game than a Thom Tillis seat in terms of flippability,' said a senior Democratic aide granted anonymity to speak candidly. 'That will be a blue seat come 2026.' North Carolina could become a rare bright spot for Democrats on what is otherwise a very difficult Senate map. They're defending a trio of competitive open seats, and their only offensive opportunities going into the cycle ran headlong into formidable incumbents like Tillis and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. 'It just shows you that the Republicans' majority is at risk because their Big, Ugly Bill is so unpopular, not just in North Carolina but throughout the country,' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement. All eyes are now on Cooper. The person close to the former governor said Tillis' announcement 'doesn't really change anything' about Cooper's own calculations, arguing that whoever emerges from the Republican primary will have either voted or voiced support for the Medicaid cuts that Tillis has criticized. 'This has always been a personal decision [for Cooper],' the person said. 'He's always believed that he could win and that he gave Democrats the best chance to win. None of that has changed this afternoon.' Tillis' decision to head for the exit is the latest sign that the GOP faces a difficult midterm battle on multiple fronts. The move comes less than 48 hours after reports emerged that centrist Rep. Don Bacon intends to announce his retirement Monday, opening up a swing seat in Nebraska in one of only three GOP-held districts Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential election. And Republicans are already poised to spend heavily in a bitter Senate primary in Texas between Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton, potentially forcing the party to divert resources from more competitive races elsewhere. Still, the path back to Senate control — gaining four seats — remains narrow for Democrats. Even if the party flips North Carolina's Senate seat, they would have to wrest back control of redder territory like Iowa or Ohio and unseat Collins in Maine to have any chance at a majority. And they still face expensive, competitive races to defend Senate seats in Michigan and Georgia, states Trump won in 2024, while protecting open seats in Minnesota and New Hampshire, too. That has led Democrats to look further afield for a path to a majority, with some in the party staking their hopes on winning Texas' Senate seat if Paxton, a controversial MAGA darling, becomes Republicans' nominee. But Democrats haven't held a Senate seat in the Lone Star State in over three decades. Tillis spent the week issuing increasingly dire warnings to his Republican colleagues that the party could lose seats — including his own — if it continued to pursue controversial changes to Medicaid, likening the public health care program to the political albatross the Affordable Care Act was for Democrats in 2014. Those concerns drove him to take a procedural vote against the megabill Saturday evening. Trump responded by threatening to find someone to primary Tillis, exposing the increasingly strained relationship between the senator, the White House and Senate GOP leadership as Tillis pushed back against the bill. 'With Donald Trump in the White House voting against his agenda, seems like either a decision to retire or suicidal,' said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.). The president on Sunday took a victory lap after the senator said he wouldn't run again: 'Great News! 'Senator' Thom Tillis will not be seeking reelection,' he posted on Truth Social. Before the post Tillis said he texted Trump, 'He probably needed to start looking for a replacement.' 'I told him I want to help him. I hope that we get a good candidate, that I can help, and we can have a successful 2026,' Tillis recounted Sunday night. One GOP strategist, granted anonymity to describe private conversations, said Republicans were breathing a 'sigh of relief' that Tillis was retiring, believing that a fresh candidate would better appeal to the voters as the incumbent butted heads with the president and showed a sagging favorability rating in polls. Democrats argue Republicans' support for Medicaid cuts give Cooper in particular an opening. 'He was obviously instrumental in getting Medicaid expansion here in the state and this bill will threaten it,' said Doug Wilson, a Democratic strategist who was an adviser on Kamala Harris' campaign in North Carolina. 'This gives him a lane to run on. 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San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
CIA chief told lawmakers Iran nuclear program set back years with strikes on metal conversion site
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Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
CIA chief told lawmakers Iran nuclear program set back years with strikes on metal conversion site
WASHINGTON (AP) — CIA Director John Ratcliffe told skeptical U.S. lawmakers that American military strikes destroyed Iran's lone metal conversion facility and in the process delivered a monumental setback to Tehran's nuclear program that would take years to overcome, a U.S. official said Sunday. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence, said Ratcliffe laid out the importance of the strikes on the metal conversion facility during a classified hearing for U.S. lawmakers last week. Details about the private briefings surfaced as President Donald Trump and his administration keep pushing back on questions from Democratic lawmakers and others about how far Iran was set back by the strikes before last Tuesday's ceasefire with Israel took hold. 'It was obliterating like nobody's ever seen before,' Trump said in an interview on Fox News Channel's 'Sunday Morning Futures.' 'And that meant the end to their nuclear ambitions, at least for a period of time.' Ratcliffe also told lawmakers that the intelligence community assessed the vast majority of Iran's amassed enriched uranium likely remains buried under the rubble at Isfahan and Fordo, two of the three key nuclear facilities targeted by U.S. strikes. But even if the uranium remains intact, the loss of its metal conversion facility effectively has taken away Tehran's ability to build a bomb for years to come, the official said. Rafael Grossi , head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said Sunday on CBS' 'Face the Nation' that the three Iranian sites with 'capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree.' But, he added, 'some is still standing' and that because capabilities remain, 'if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this again.' He said assessing the full damage comes down to Iran allowing in inspectors. 'Frankly speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared, and there is nothing there,' Grossi said. Trump has insisted from just hours after three key targets were struck by U.S. bunker-buster bombs and Tomahawk missiles that Iran's nuclear program was 'obliterated.' His defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has said they were 'destroyed.' A preliminary report issued by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, meanwhile, said the strikes did significant damage to the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan sites, but did not totally destroy the facilities. As a result of Israeli and U.S. strikes, Grossi says that 'it is clear that there has been severe damage, but it's not total damage.' Israel claims it has set back Iran's nuclear program by 'many years.' The metal conversion facility that Ratcliffe said was destroyed was located at the Isfahan nuclear facility. The process of transforming enriched uranium gas into dense metal, or metallization, is a key step in building the explosive core of a bomb. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in comments at the NATO summit last week also suggested that it was likely the U.S. strikes had destroyed the metal conversion facility. 'You can't do a nuclear weapon without a conversion facility,' Rubio said. 'We can't even find where it is, where it used to be on the map. You can't even find where it used to be because the whole thing is just blackened out. It's gone. It's wiped out.' The CIA director also stressed to lawmakers during the congressional briefing that Iran's air defense was shattered during the 12-day assault. As a result, any attempt by Iran to rebuild its nuclear program could now easily be thwarted by Israeli strikes that Iran currently has little wherewithal to defend against, the official said. Ratcliffe's briefing to lawmakers on the U.S. findings appeared to mesh with some of Israeli officials' battle damage assessments. Israeli officials have determined that Iran's ability to enrich uranium to a weapons-grade level was neutralized for a prolonged period, according to a senior Israeli military official who was not authorized to talk publicly about the matter. Tehran's nuclear program also was significantly damaged by the strikes killing key scientists , damage to Iran's missile production industry and the battering of Iran's aerial defense system, according to the Israeli's assessment. Grossi, and some Democrats, note that Iran still has the know-how. 'You cannot undo the knowledge that you have or the capacities that you have,' Grossi said, emphasizing the need to come to a diplomatic deal on the country's nuclear program. ___ AP writer Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
