Latest news with #deepstate
Daily Mail
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE 'He's calling her': Tulsi Gabbard allies say 'Deep State' hit job designed to torpedo her with Trump as he ponders war
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has been the target of a smear campaign from 'deep state' intelligence officials seeking to undermine her influence through strategic leaks as President Trump ponders whether to join Israel's war against Iran, those close to her tell the Daily Mail. Multiple intelligence officials spoke with the Daily Mail about Trump's spy chief's schedule and work since Israel launched an attack on Iran last week, shedding light on a normally clandestine affair. Gabbard is in the room, helping the president and his team determine an informed path forward, these officials stressed, pushing back against multiple reports indicating that she's been sidelined. In fact, the president is calling on her, the sources claim. 'All the National Security Council meetings she's in on, and then, I mean, there's lots of impromptu ones where he's calling her into the office,' one senior intelligence official shared. 'She's in there at all the key junctures,' the source added. 'She's been in every meeting,' a White House official told the Daily Mail, adding the DNI 'has not been sidelined whatsoever.' Reports have suggested that Trump has been advised by a smaller cohort, including VP J.D. Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine. They say Gabbard and Pentagon Sec. Pete Hegseth are on the outside looking in. But these Gabbard allies told the Daily Mail the DNI has attended practically every crucial meeting at the White House and Situation Room since the conflict began. VP J.D. Vance also threw his weight behind Gabbard with a glowing social media post: 'She's an essential member of our national security team, and we're grateful for her tireless work to keep America safe from foreign threats.' The White House official added that Hegseth has also been an integral member of ongoing military discussions regarding the Middle East. As the war between Iran and Israel waged for a seventh day, President Trump said Thursday he will give himself two weeks to decide whether the U.S. will go into the conflict, but a strike could still come at any moment. Israeli officials and some U.S. lawmakers have suggested that Trump drop bunker-busting bombs on the remaining functional Iranian nuclear sites, like Fordow, which is built hundreds of feet under a mountain range. Though one military official told the Daily Mail that conventional GB-57s, the most powerful bunker busters in the U.S. arsenal, may not be enough and that a tactical nuclear weapon may be needed instead to ensure the destruction of the Uranium enrichment labs. A former Democratic congresswoman, Gabbard is a noted anti-interventionist, a perspective informed by her time in the military. Others in the administration have suggested the U.S. take more direct action, putting the DNI at odds with Iran hawks urging Trump to bomb Iran. 'She's doing everything she can to find inefficiencies within the intelligence community, but also to clean up a lot of places that have been problematic in the past,' the source told the Daily Mail. 'That's why you're seeing so many, you know, hit pieces and attacks against her.' Another intel official described the campaign as 'a wedge to get her out' because she's a 'disruptive influence.' 'The IC and a lot of the DC community wants to see her removed because the traditional role of the DNI has been a willfully blind tool of the Intelligence Community; DNI Gabbard is not that.' Gabbard caught flak for missing a retreat with the president at Camp David earlier this month before the conflict broke out, but she had prior commitments to train with her National Guard unit the same weekend, the White House official said. She also took heat for a video she posted warning of 'nuclear annihilation' that reportedly upset the president. But multiple administration officials claim that while Trump was not 'thrilled' with the clip, he was not 'engaged' as some articles claim. 'There's a lot of exaggeration and mischaracterization of the nature of all this,' a White House official said. Critics have also gone after Gabbard for the DNI's testimony in March that Iran was not actively pursuing nuclear weapons. But the spy chief herself told reporters that she and Trump are 'on the same page' about Iran's nuclear weapon production timeline. Meanwhile, at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), several longtime staffers expressed concern over Gabbard's priorities. Sources inside the ODNI accuse Trump's spy chief of focusing on her appearance rather than her intelligence work, CNN reports. These staffers pointed to her polished Instagram making her appear more like a fitness influencer than a Cabinet member. During her tenure, Gabbard has overseen the release of the JFK, RFK and MLK files, a directive ordered by the president in his early days in office. In May, she fired two high-ranking intelligence for their opposition to her leadership, and she has also revoked over 60 clearances and referred at least three individuals to the DOJ for prosecution over leaking.
Russia Today
03-06-2025
- General
- Russia Today
Trump still uses personal phone
US President Donald Trump continues to rely on his personal cellphone, despite repeated warnings from aides and security experts about foreign surveillance risks, The Atlantic reported on Monday. The phone remains Trump's main link to the outside world, connecting him with friends, family, lawmakers, corporate leaders, celebrities, world leaders, and journalists, sources close to the president told the outlet. He also often answers calls from unknown numbers, reportedly viewing them as opportunities for spontaneous conversations, they claim. 'He likes to call people. He likes to be called,' one adviser reportedly said. Another noted that 'probably a ton' of people have Trump's personal number, while a third estimated the figure at 'well over 100.' President Trump at Mar-a-Lago on the phone working. An absolute machine 🔥 Trump reportedly uses multiple devices, with at least one dedicated to social media. Several sources claim Trump often leaves lengthy voicemails and inquires if recipients have shared his messages with relatives and friends. They also claim Trump distrusts White House landlines, fearing eavesdropping by what he sees as the 'deep state.' 'His perspective was, 'I can't trust anyone on the White House staff, so I have to use my cellphone,'' a former adviser told the outlet. Security officials have long warned Trump that personal phones are vulnerable to hacking and wiretapping. In late 2024, the FBI claimed Chinese hackers had breached US telecom networks, allowing them to eavesdrop on calls involving Trump and other political figures. Despite the concerns, the president reportedly dismissed the warnings. 'He'd just reject it and say, 'It's not true,'' a former adviser said. 'He'd say, 'My phone is the best on the market.'' Advisers eventually gave up trying to limit his phone use, the sources claimed, although one said the devices had been upgraded with additional security features. The White House declined to confirm those details. 'We will not discuss or disclose security measures regarding the President, especially to The Atlantic,' Communications Director Steven Cheung told the outlet in an emailed statement. The White House recently had issues with the magazine after an Atlantic editor gained access to an internal chat involving senior Trump officials discussing a strike against the Houthi militants and then writing a story about it. Cheung defended Trump's approach, saying his use of a personal phone makes him 'the most transparent and accessible President in American history.'
Associated Press
30-05-2025
- General
- Associated Press
Trump has long warned of a government ‘deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
NEW YORK (AP) — As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be 'our final battle.' 'With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,' he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. 'We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.' Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys — most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former President Joe Biden's use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet many of Trump's supporters say it's not enough. Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected. His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of 'deep state' actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians. 'People are tired of not knowing,' conservative commentator Damani Felder said on podcaster Tim Pool's show last week. 'We actually demand answers and real transparency. It's not that hard to deliver.' A promise to reveal and dismantle the 'deep state' Trump has long promised to dismantle the 'deep state' — a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes — to build his base of support, said Yotam Ophir, a communications professor at the University at Buffalo. 'He built part of this universe, which at the end of the day is a fictional universe,' he said. Now that Trump is in power and has stocked loyalists throughout his administration, his supporters expect all to be revealed. Delivering on that is difficult when many of the conspiracies he alleged aren't real, said Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist who studies conspiracy theories at the University of Miami. To be sure, the president has prioritized retribution in his second administration. He has fired federal workers and targeted law firms he disfavors in executive orders. He has ordered the revocation of government security clearances for political rivals and former employees who dissented during his first term. His Justice Department has fired prosecutors who investigated him and scrutinized career FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Even so, Trump's administration hasn't gone as far as many of his supporters would like. They want to see steps taken against people he has long claimed were involved in sinister plots against him, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. The administration also hasn't offered proof of the ' egregious crimes ' that Trump claims have corrupted the federal government for years. Conspiracy theorists focus on Epstein and Trump's assassination attempt Tensions erupted this month when FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, dismissed two of the unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that have animated Trump's base the most — that financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in a cover-up, and that Trump's attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a government plot. 'You know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was,' Patel said about Epstein's death in a Fox News interview. 'I have seen the whole file,' Bongino added. 'He killed himself.' Conservatives online demanded to see the evidence, pointing to Bongino's past statements as a podcast host, when he suggested the government was hiding information about Epstein. 'No matter who gets elected, you get the same foreign policy, you get the same economic policy, and the Epstein videos remain secret,' right-wing podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show. 'They told us for months leading up to the Election that it wasn't suicide,' Newsmax host Todd Starnes wrote on X.. 'But now they tell us it was suicide.' He added: 'Pardon me, but what the heck is going on at DOJ?' Attorney General Pam Bondi said this month that FBI officials were poring through 'tens of thousands' of videos related to Epstein and would make more materials public once they took steps to protect the victims. In the same Fox News interview, Bongino and Patel said they had been briefed on the attempted assassination of Trump during a rally in July and there was no explosive conspiracy to be revealed. 'In some of these cases, the 'there' you're looking for is not there,' Bongino said. Skepticism among 'deep state' believers Bongino appeared to try to throw a bone to Trump's base this week when he announced the agency would reopen some prominent cases that have attracted public interest. He said the FBI would investigate the planting of pipe bombs found near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, the leak of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson draft opinion in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and the discovery of cocaine in the White House in 2023. But it wasn't enough for everyone who weighed in on his X account. 'Anything to distract from the Epstein files,' one user replied to his announcement. 'No results,' wrote another. In an interview Thursday on 'Fox & Friends,' Bongino teased that the FBI would soon release video captured outside Epstein's jail cell and materials related to Trump's attempted assassination. He said he understands the public's demands for transparency but called for patience and noted not all information is the FBI's to declassify. That didn't satisfy everyone who wants answers to the conspiracy theories. 'I am convinced that the deep state can only be defeated by God at this point,' Philip Anderson, a right-wing influencer who participated in the riot at the Capitol, wrote Thursday on X. 'Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Pam Bondi are completely useless.' Promoting conspiracy theories as a tactic to distract All the while, Trump has continued promoting conspiracy theories on his Truth Social platform and elsewhere. He shared a video this month about mysterious deaths allegedly being linked to the Clinton family and shared someone's image of himself with former President Barack Obama with the text, 'ALL ROADS LEAD TO OBAMA, RETRUTH IF YOU WANT MILITARY TRIBUNALS.' Ophir, the University at Buffalo professor, said it's a tactic that distracts Trump's base and helps inoculate him from criticism. 'When something good happens, it's because Trump is great and his agenda is brilliant,' Ophir said. 'When something bad happens, it's because of the Obamas or the Clintons or whatever forces are undermining him from within Washington.' Trump this week fueled newer theories, without sharing evidence, that Biden's use of a mechanical device called an autopen during his presidency meant he didn't sign his executive orders willingly or that aides profited from controlling it. He has called for people who operated it to be charged with 'TREASON.' The narrative has gained momentum on the right because of allegations that Biden's aides covered up his mental and physical decline. Presidents have used autopens for years to sign certain documents. 'Whoever used it was usurping the power of the Presidency, and it should be very easy to find out who that person (or persons) is,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. At least one user of his platform was unimpressed and questioned why Trump and his allies, holding all the power, still didn't have any answers.
CTV News
30-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Trump has long warned of a government ‘deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
Attorney General Pam Bondi, right, and FBI Director Kash Patel speak during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) NEW YORK — As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be 'our final battle.' 'With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state,' he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. 'We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.' Four months into his second term, Trump has continued to stoke dark theories involving his predecessors and other powerful politicians and attorneys — most recently raising the specter of nefarious intent behind former president Joe Biden's use of an autopen to sign papers. The administration has pledged to reopen investigations and has taken steps to declassify certain documents, including releasing more than 63,000 pages of records related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Yet many of Trump's supporters say it's not enough. Some who take him at his word are beginning to get restless as they ask why his administration, which holds the keys to chasing down these alleged government secrets, is denying them the evidence and retribution they expected. His Justice Department has not yet arrested hordes of 'deep state' actors as some of his supporters had hoped it would, even as the president has been posting cryptic videos and memes about Democratic politicians. 'People are tired of not knowing,' conservative commentator Damani Felder said on podcaster Tim Pool's show last week. 'We actually demand answers and real transparency. It's not that hard to deliver.' A promise to reveal and dismantle the 'deep state' Trump has long promised to dismantle the 'deep state' — a supposed secret network of powerful people manipulating government decisions behind the scenes — to build his base of support, said Yotam Ophir, a communications professor at the University at Buffalo. 'He built part of this universe, which at the end of the day is a fictional universe,' he said. Now that Trump is in power and has stocked loyalists throughout his administration, his supporters expect all to be revealed. Delivering on that is difficult when many of the conspiracies he alleged aren't real, said Joseph Uscinski, a political scientist who studies conspiracy theories at the University of Miami. To be sure, the president has prioritized retribution in his second administration. He has fired federal workers, installed loyalists in key positions and targeted law firms he disfavors in executive orders. He has ordered the revocation of government security clearances for political rivals and former employees who dissented during his first term. His Justice Department has fired prosecutors who investigated him and scrutinized career FBI agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Even so, Trump's administration hasn't gone as far as many of his supporters would like. They want to see steps taken against people he has long claimed were involved in sinister plots against him, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former FBI Director James Comey. The administration also hasn't offered proof of the ' egregious crimes ' that Trump claims have corrupted the federal government for years. Conspiracy theorists focus on Epstein and Trump's assassination attempt Tensions erupted this month when FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, dismissed two of the unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that have animated Trump's base the most — that financier and sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in a cover-up, and that Trump's attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a government plot. 'You know a suicide when you see one, and that's what that was,' Patel said about Epstein's death in a Fox News interview. 'I have seen the whole file,' Bongino added. 'He killed himself.' Conservatives online demanded to see the evidence, pointing to Bongino's past statements as a podcast host, when he suggested the government was hiding information about Epstein. 'No matter who gets elected, you get the same foreign policy, you get the same economic policy, and the Epstein videos remain secret,' right-wing podcaster and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show. 'They told us for months leading up to the Election that it wasn't suicide,' Newsmax host Todd Starnes wrote on X.. 'But now they tell us it was suicide.' He added: 'Pardon me, but what the heck is going on at DOJ?' Attorney General Pam Bondi said this month that FBI officials were poring through 'tens of thousands' of videos related to Epstein and would make more materials public once they took steps to protect the victims. In the same Fox News interview, Bongino and Patel said they had been briefed on the attempted assassination of Trump during a rally in July and there was no explosive conspiracy to be revealed. 'In some of these cases, the 'there' you're looking for is not there,' Bongino said. Skepticism among 'deep state' believers Bongino appeared to try to throw a bone to Trump's base this week when he announced the agency would reopen some prominent cases that have attracted public interest. He said the FBI would investigate the planting of pipe bombs found near the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, the leak of the Supreme Court's Dobbs v. Jackson draft opinion in 2022 that overturned the constitutional right to abortion and the discovery of cocaine in the White House in 2023. But it wasn't enough for everyone who weighed in on his X account. 'Anything to detract from the Epstein files,' one user replied to his announcement. 'No results,' wrote another. In an interview Thursday on 'Fox & Friends,' Bongino teased that the FBI would soon release video captured outside Epstein's jail cell and materials related to Trump's attempted assassination. He said he understands the public's demands for transparency but called for patience and noted not all information is the FBI's to declassify. That didn't satisfy everyone who wants answers to the conspiracy theories. 'I am convinced that the deep state can only be defeated by God at this point,' Philip Anderson, a right-wing influencer who participated in the riot at the Capitol, wrote Thursday on X. 'Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and Pam Bondi are completely useless.' Promoting conspiracy theories as a tactic to distract All the while, Trump has continued promoting conspiracy theories on his Truth Social platform and elsewhere. He shared a video this month about mysterious deaths allegedly being linked to the Clinton family and an image of himself with former President Barack Obama with the text, 'ALL ROADS LEAD TO OBAMA, RETRUTH IF YOU WANT MILITARY TRIBUNALS.' Ophir, the University at Buffalo professor, said it's a tactic that distracts Trump's base and helps inoculate him from criticism. 'When something good happens, it's because Trump is great and his agenda is brilliant,' Ophir said. 'When something bad happens, it's because of the Obamas or the Clintons or whatever forces are undermining him from within Washington.' Trump this week fueled newer theories, without sharing evidence, that Biden's use of a mechanical device called an autopen during his presidency meant he didn't sign his executive orders willingly or that aides profited from controlling it. He has called for people who operated it to be charged with 'TREASON.' The narrative has gained momentum on the right because of allegations that Biden's aides covered up his mental and physical decline. Presidents have used autopens for years to sign certain documents. 'Whoever used it was usurping the power of the Presidency, and it should be very easy to find out who that person (or persons) is,' Trump wrote on Truth Social. At least one user of his platform was unimpressed and questioned why Trump and his allies, holding all the power, still didn't have any answers. 'IF IT'S EASY,' the commenter posted. 'WHY HASN'T YOUR ADMINISTRATION FOUND THESE CRIMINAL'S ALREADY.' ___ Ali Swenson, The Associated Press The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Washington Post
30-05-2025
- General
- Washington Post
Trump has long warned of a government 'deep state.' Now in power, he's under pressure to expose it
NEW YORK — As he crisscrossed the country in 2024, Donald Trump pledged to supporters that voting him back into the presidency would be 'our final battle.' 'With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state ,' he said repeatedly on the campaign trail. 'We will liberate our country from these tyrants and villains once and for all.'
