2.Hegseth Fires Top Military Intel Officer Over Iran Leak
The director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) was dismissed Friday, weeks after the agency prepared a preliminary bomb-damage assessment — later leaked to the media — that indicated U.S. strikes on Iran had delayed the country’s nuclear program by only a few months.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, who had led the DIA since February 2024, “will no longer serve as DIA director,” a senior defense official told The Post.
Deputy Director Christine Bordine is now listed as acting director on the agency’s official website.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly fired Kruse over a “a loss of confidence” in the lieutenant general, two congressional officials told the New York Times.
The DIA’s classified, “low confidence” assessment of the June 21 airstrikes on Iran’s Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz nuclear sites was leaked to CNN three days after U.S. B-2 stealth bombers and cruise missiles targeted the facilities.An official said the assessment was based on limited intelligence collected the day after the strike. The document reportedly concluded that Iran could restore elements of its nuclear program within one to two months and that its stockpile of enriched uranium had not been destroyed in the airstrikes.
The leak drew sharp anger from President Donald Trump and other senior administration officials. In a Truth Social post, Trump described the leak as “AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY.” He added in all caps: “THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!”
Special envoy Steve Witkoff dismissed claims that the United States failed to achieve its military objectives in Iran, calling such suggestions “completely preposterous” during an interview on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle.
He also condemned the leak of the DIA assessment, describing it as “outrageous” and “treasonous,” and urged an investigation to identify and hold accountable those responsible, the New York Post added.
Kruse’s dismissal marks the latest shake-up within the intelligence community under the Trump administration.
In April, former National Security Agency Director Timothy Haugh was removed from his post on the same day that at least three National Security Council staff members were also dismissed.
A Defense Department spokesman lashed out Wednesday at a Washington Post investigation into Secretary Pete Hegseth’s security detail, accusing the newspaper of endangering the Cabinet member and his family.
“WaPo intentionally published sensitive details of @SecDef’s security detail for him and his family – putting their safety at risk,” Joel Valdez, the acting deputy press secretary for the Department of Defense, said on X. “There should be severe punishment for what @TaraCopp, @DanLamothe, and @AlexHortonTX are doing.”
The Post story, headlined “Hegseth’s expansive security requirements tax Army protective unit,” was published Wednesday morning and was allegedly based on more than a dozen interviews. Reporters Tara Copp, Alex Horton, and Dan Lamothe detailed how Hegseth’s “unusually large” protective demands are straining the Army agency charged with safeguarding him, forcing agents to be pulled from criminal cases to cover his residences in Minnesota, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C.
“I’ve never seen this many security teams for one guy. Nobody has,” one Pentagon source said, according to the paper.
The story drew sharp criticism from Hegseth’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, who said the report ignored the volatile threat environment.
“In the wake of two assassination attempts against President Trump, ICE agents facing a 1000% increase in assaults, and repeated threats of retaliation from Iran for striking their nuclear capabilities, it’s astonishing that the Washington Post is criticizing a high-ranking Cabinet official for receiving appropriate security protection, especially after doxxing the DHS Secretary last week,” Parnell said.
“Any action pertaining to the security of Secretary Hegseth and his family has been in response to the threat environment and at the full recommendation of the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID),” he added.
The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown: “If You Want Free Stuff, Go Home.”
CONGRESSMAN RANDY FINE INTRODUCES BILL TO BAN NON-CITIZENS FROM RECEIVING WELFARE BENEFITS
Republican Congressman Randy Fine (R-FL)
has introduced a new bill that aims to ban all non-citizens from receiving any form of federal welfare benefits, including SNAP (food assistance), Section 8 (housing aid), and Medicaid (healthcare for low-income individuals)
He argued that the bill is designed to protect American taxpayers and prevent the federal budget from being “drained” by those who do not contribute to the system.
Supporters of the proposal see it as
a necessary step to ensure fairness in welfare programs, especially as illegal immigration continues to rise.
However, human rights organizations and Democratic lawmakers have criticized the bill as inhumane and potentially harmful to millions of legal immigrants who live, work, and pay taxes in the United States.
c47.DRAMA UNFOLDS! Karoline Leavitt’s Shocking Paper Could END Pelosi’s Freedom!
Leavitt read out loud a list of trades made by Pelosi and her husband, Paul Pelosi, that she said beat out Warren Buffett and every hedge fund on Wall Street.
“The president has spoken to Senator Hawley, who called him, and the president took that call,” Leavitt said. “As the president said in the Roosevelt Room yesterday, conceptually, he of course supports the idea of ensuring that members of Congress and United States senators who are here for public service cannot enrich themselves.”
She didn’t hold back when naming names.
“And the reason that this idea—to put a ban on stock trading for members of Congress—is even a thing is because of Nancy Pelosi,” Leavitt said. “I mean, she is rightfully criticized because she makes, I think, $174,000 a year, yet she has a net worth of approximately $413 million.”
“In 2024, Nancy Pelosi’s stock portfolio—this was a fascinating statistic to me—grew 70% in one year, and her portfolio outperformed every single large hedge fund in that same year, and even more than doubled the returns of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.”
Leavitt said the president supports the public’s outrage.
“So I think the president stands with the American people on this. He doesn’t want to see people like Nancy Pelosi enriching themselves off of public service and ripping off their constituents in the process.”
“As for the mechanics of the legislation and how it will move forward,” she added, “the White House continues to be in discussions with our friends on Capitol Hill.”
This came after Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, found himself on the receiving end of a harsh social media post by President Donald Trump.
Hawley is sponsoring a bill to ban members of Congress from being able to trade individual stocks. An amendment to the bill would have carved out an exemption to allow the president to engage in stock trading, but Hawley joined Senate Democrats in voting “no.” That prompted Trump to blast Hawley on Truth Social, calling him a “second-tier Senator.”
Hawley described the situation as a misunderstanding, telling Fox News that the bill exempts President Trump and Vice President Vance. The language instead bans future presidents from trading stock.
Republicans also attempted to add language that would have required a report on stock trades made by former Speaker Pelosi and her husband, but Senate Democrats and Republican Hawley teamed up and defeated the move.
In an interview with reporters on Tuesday, Hawley said that the legislation has the support of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), many Republicans, and even some Democrats. He also said Johnson told him President Donald Trump supported the original bill titled Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act.
“Members of Congress should be fighting for the people they were elected to serve—not day trading at the expense of their constituents,” stated Hawley in April when he originally introduced the bill. “Americans have seen politician after politician turn a profit using information not available to the general public. It’s time we ban all members of Congress from trading and holding stocks and restore Americans’ trust in our nation’s legislative body.”
The PELOSI Act would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses from buying, selling, or holding individual stocks while serving in office. Instead, lawmakers would be permitted to invest in diversified mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), or U.S. Treasury bonds.
