Is Trump really trying to buy seat fillers for Saturday's parade?
President Donald Trump is holding a large military parade to commemorate the Army's 250th birthday on Saturday, a date that also happens to be the president's birthday.
Trump has long expressed admiration for militaristic parades that are often held by countries with authoritarian leaders, including China and North Korea. The parade has also been the subject of criticism.
Democratic governors defend sanctuary policies before Congress
The ad purports to be seeking seat fillers for an event on Jun. 14, with potential attendees instructed to wear red, white and blue with gold accessories. People of color are encouraged to apply for 'perception control.'
The ad states that attendees will be given a red hat to wear, a fast food lunch will be provided and they will receive a flat fee of $1,000 paid in an unnamed cryptocurrency.
Watch: Hegseth, Joint Chiefs of Staff chair testify before Senate on Defense budget
There are numerous elements in the ad that could indicate a hoax posting, and fake postings for paid attendees at Trump events have been posted before.
The picture accompanying the ad shows a Russian military parade, potentially a nod to Trump's long-standing entanglements with Russia.
The group purporting to host the event, T-Mellon Events, also doesn't appear to have any digital footprint or evidence that it exists.
Trump has allegedly paid people to attend events before, and mega donor Elon Musk is facing legal challenges over payments made to voters during the election.
'God Bless the USA' singer Lee Greenwood to perform at Army parade
T-Mellon Events has no footprint, but could have a connection to Trump donor Timothy Mellon. The company said to be providing the cryptocurrency, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT LLC, is the one that administers Trump's memecoin.
NewsNation has reached out to Craigslist for information on the posting and has not heard back.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
31 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Trump Signs Tax-and-Spend Bill Into Law at White House Ceremony
By and Jennifer A Dlouhy Save President Donald Trump signed his $3.4 trillion budget bill into law Friday, enshrining an extension of tax cuts, temporary new breaks for tipped workers and funding to crack down on illegal immigration. The package encompasses a suite of priorities Trump campaigned on in 2024 — and its enactment at a White House ceremony represents a major political victory for the president whose second term was marked until now by executive rather than legislative action.
Boston Globe
36 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Russia launches largest missile and drone barrage on Kyiv since war in Ukraine began
The US has paused some shipments of military aid to Ukraine, including crucial air defense missiles. Ukraine's main European backers are considering how they can help pick up the slack. Zelensky says plans are afoot to build up Ukraine's domestic arms industry, but scaling up will take time. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the call. Advertisement The seven-hour bombardment of Kyiv caused severe damage across multiple districts of the capital in a seven-hour onslaught, authorities said. Blasts lit up the night sky and echoed across the city as air raid sirens wailed. The blue lights of emergency vehicles reflected off high-rise buildings, and debris blocked city streets. 'It was a harsh, sleepless night,' Zelenskyy said. Russia has been stepping up its long-range attacks on Ukrainian cities. Less than a week ago, Russia launched what was then the largest aerial assault of the war. That strategy has coincided with a concerted Russian effort to break through parts of the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where Ukrainian troops are under severe pressure. Advertisement Russia launched 550 drones and missiles across Ukraine during the night, the country's air force said. The majority were Shahed drones, but Russia also launched 11 missiles in the attack. Alya Shahlai, a 23-year-old Kyiv wedding photographer, said that her home was destroyed in the attack. 'We were all in the (basement) shelter because it was so loud, staying home would have been suicidal,' she told The Associated Press. 'We went down 10 minutes before and then there was a loud explosion and the lights went out in the shelter, people were panicking.' Five ambulances were damaged while responding to calls, officials said, and emergency services removed more than 300 tons of rubble. In Friday's call, Zelensky said he congratulated Trump and the American people on Independence Day and thanked the United States for its continued support. They discussed a possible future meeting between their teams to explore ways of enhancing Ukraine's protection against air attacks, Zelensky said. He added that they talked in detail about defense industry capabilities and direct joint projects with the US, particularly in drone technology. They also exchanged views on mutual procurement, investment, and diplomatic cooperation with international partners, Zelensky said. Peace efforts have been fruitless so far. Recent direct peace talks have led only to sporadic exchanges of prisoners of war, wounded troops, and the bodies of fallen soldiers. No date has been set for further negotiations. Ukrainian officials and the Russian Defense Ministry said another prisoner swap took place Friday, though neither side said how many soldiers were involved. Zelensky said most of the Ukrainians had been in Russian captivity since 2022. The Ukrainian soldiers were classified as 'wounded and seriously ill.' Advertisement The attack on Kyiv began the same day a phone call took place between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Asked if he made any progress during his call with Putin on a deal to end the fighting in Ukraine, Trump said: 'No, I didn't make any progress with him today at all.' 'I'm very disappointed with the conversation I had today with President Putin because I don't think he's there. I don't think he's looking to stop (the fighting), and that's too bad,' Trump said. According to Yuri Ushakov, Putin's foreign affairs adviser, the Russian leader emphasized that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the 'root causes' of the conflict. 'Russia will not back down from these goals,' Ushakov told reporters after the call. Russia's army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO. Zelensky has repeatedly called out Russian disinformation efforts. The Ukrainian response needs to be speedy as Russia escalates its aerial attacks. Russia launched 5,438 drones at Ukraine in June, a new monthly record, according to official data collated by The Associated Press. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said earlier this week that Russia also launched more than 330 missiles, including nearly 80 ballistic missiles, at Ukrainian towns and cities that month. Throughout the night, AP journalists in Kyiv heard the constant buzzing of drones overhead and the sound of explosions and intense machine gun fire as Ukrainian forces tried to intercept the aerial assault. Advertisement 'Absolutely horrible and sleepless night in Kyiv,' Sybiha wrote on social media platform X. 'One of the worst so far.' Ukraine's Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko described 'families running into metro stations, basements, underground parking garages, mass destruction in the heart of our capital.' 'What Kyiv endured last night, cannot be called anything but a deliberate act of terror,' she wrote on X. Kyiv was the primary target of the countrywide attack. At least 14 people were hospitalized, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Zelenskyy called the Kyiv attack 'cynical.' In Moscow, the Defense Ministry claimed its forces targeted factories producing drones and other military equipment in Kyiv. Ukrainian air defenses shot down 270 targets, including two cruise missiles. Another 208 targets were lost from radar and presumed jammed. Russia successfully hit eight locations with nine missiles and 63 drones. Debris from intercepted drones fell across at least 33 sites. In addition to the capital, the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, and Kyiv regions also sustained damage, Zelensky said. Emergency services reported damage in at least five of Kyiv's 10 districts.
USA Today
36 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump signs megabill that slashes taxes, Medicaid while boosting national debt
President Donald Trump capped the whirlwind opening stretch of his second term with a Fourth of July signing ceremony for his signature legislation, reveling in pushing the megabill through a fractious Congress and delivering on multiple campaign promises. The measure cements into law much of Trump's agenda and is being hailed by the president and his supporters as a major victory. It includes tax cuts, increased spending on immigration enforcement and the military and deep spending reductions to Medicaid that Democrats and some Republicans have strongly criticized. But with the furious legislative debate behind him, Trump was ebullient as he signed what he has dubbed the 'Big beautiful bill' into law during a White House ceremony that included legislative leaders and a flyover from military planes. 'It's really promises made, promises kept,' Trump said, addressing a crowd of supporters gathered on the White House South Lawn, his wife at his side. Trump sketched out some of the broad strokes of the bill on the campaign trail as he proposed to cut taxes on tipped wages and overtime pay and greatly expand immigration enforcement and deportation efforts. The legislation does that, and a lot more. It extends the 2017 tax cuts that Trump passed and were set to expire at the end of the year and has many other provisions, including reducing taxes on corporations and large estates, boosting the child tax credit, increasing the deduction for state and local taxes to $40,000 and eliminating dozens of green energy incentives. The bill reduces tax revenues by roughly $4.5 trillion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In the process, it adds $3.4 trillion to the national debt over a decade, according to CBO, and includes a $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. CBO projects it will result in 12 million people losing health insurance, while the Senate Joint Economic Committee Minority estimates that about 20 million people could lose coverage. Medicaid is being cut by nearly $1 trillion. Different factions of Republicans took aim at the bill, with some complaining about the Medicaid cuts and other arguing the legislation didn't go far enough to cut spending. Yet the nearly 900-page legislation cleared Congress less than six months into Trump's second term, allowing him to quickly put in place the centerpiece of his agenda. Since reclaiming the White House, the president has moved aggressively to implement his priorities, from overhauling the federal government to mass deportations. Trump has relied heavily on executive orders to accomplish his goals, which can be reversed if a Democrat wins the presidency. The legislation he signed July 4 could be a more lasting legacy. He was able to hold together a GOP caucus that at times seemed poised to buck him, but ultimately fell in line, once again demonstrating the president's immense influence within his party. 'I think I have more power now,' Trump said after the bill passed, in discussing his sway with congressional Republicans. The legislation narrowly cleared the Senate, with three Republicans breaking ranks to vote against it and the chamber ending in a tie vote that was broken by Vice President JD Vance, resulting in a 51-50 margin. It passed the House 218-214 with two Republicans opposed. Democrats were united against the measure, saying that it disproportionately benefits the wealthy and hurts lower-income Americans. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, laid out these concerns in a marathon address that broke the record for longest House speech. "I rise today in strong opposition to Donald Trump's disgusting abomination… that guts Medicaid, rips food from the mouths of children, seniors and veterans, and rewards billionaires with massive tax breaks," Jeffries said. The legislative drama will now give way to a political messaging battle over the legislation. Trump and his allies predict it will turbocharge the economy and ultimately benefit the party, even as polls show it's unpopular. "It's going to make this country into a rocket ship," Trump told reporters June 3. Former Trump White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer called the legislation "a massive legislative and political victory' and said passing it now allows time for its effects to 'marinate into the economy and I think will be a huge bonus for Republicans in both chambers running" in the 2026 midterm election. 'The consequence and effects of this bill will be baked into the economy for 18 months and I believe spur economic growth, job creation' Spicer said. Some Republicans are nervous about political fallout, though. North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis opposed the bill because of the Medicaid provisions. In a Senate floor speech criticizing the legislation, Tillis attributed his rise to U.S. senator to blowback against former President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law, the Affordable Care Act, which fueled crushing Democratic losses across the country. The GOP is now rushing into similarly perilous territory, Tillis implied, by cutting Medicaid. Contributing: Sarah Wire, Phillip Bailey, Reuters
