Tennessee Rep. Mark Green (R) has quietly resigned from Congress, shrinking the GOP's narrow majority.
Green's last day at work was Sunday, July 20. The Republican had previously announced he would retire before the end of his term, but his departure came with little fanfare.
The Republican said his work is finished after he helped pass the immigration portion of Trump's mega bill, the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The House now has 219 Republicans and 212 Democrats after Green's resignation.
“It’s with a heavy heart that I say farewell. To my constituents across Tennessee’s 7th District—thank you. The trust you put in me is humbling. I will look back fondly on my years of serving as your voice in Washington,” he said on X.
As chairman of the Homeland Security Committee since 2023, Green helped advance President Trump's immigration agenda.
He led the impeachment of Joe Biden's Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, and shaped the House Republicans' policy response to Biden's border crisis, H.R. 2.
Green planned to retire sooner but was convinced to seek another term in 2024. He delayed his resignation to secure border funding in Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill," which received final House approval in early July.
"Though I planned to retire at the end of the previous Congress, I stayed to ensure that President Trump’s border security measures and priorities make it through Congress," Green said.
"By overseeing the border security portion of the reconciliation package, I have done that. After that, I will retire, and there will be a special election to replace me."
In September, Green was accused of having an affair by his wife, who exposed him in a group text to other lawmakers, and he filed for divorce.
An Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, Green was first elected to the House in 2018. His 7th district is seen as safely red, having been won by Trump by over 20 points in November.
The congressman's resignation kicks off a special election to fill the remainder of his term, and GOP candidates are already lining up for the job.
New York Republican Rep. Andrew Garbarino has been chosen to replace Green as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. Garbarino beat out three other contenders for the role, which is central to immigration policy.
Green is heading into the private sector to pursue a new business opportunity. He has provided no details on the venture, although he says it would play a role in keeping America competitive against China.
President Trump hosted a calendar girl competition at Mar-A-Lago where Jeffrey Epstein was a guest, the New York Times reported.
The detail was first reported in 2019 by the New York Times and the outlet shared it again in a recent article about Trump's past friendship with Epstein.
Trump does not stand accused of any wrongdoing with Epstein, and Trump has always denied knowledge of Epstein's crimes. The former neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida socialized together for more than a decade before they grew estranged in 2004.
Their past friendship has fallen under scrutiny again as Trump confronts anger and skepticism over his administration's handling of the Epstein files.
Trump has dismissed the persistent interest in the story among MAGA supporters as a distraction and a "hoax" being pushed by Democrats.
That Trump led a playboy lifestyle in his younger days is no secret. A 1992 video filmed by NBC News shows Trump dancing with glamorous young women at a Mar-A-Lago party where Epstein was also present. At one point in the footage, which was released in 2019, Epstein doubles over with laughter from something Trump says to him.
That same year, Trump hosted a calendar girl competition where Epstein was reportedly the only guest.
"Months later, when Mr. Trump hosted a party at Mar-a-Lago for young women in a so-called calendar girl competition, Mr. Epstein was the only other guest, according to George Houraney, a Florida-based businessman who arranged the event," the New York Times reported.
Trump's rupture with Epstein came after Trump beat his friend's bid for a beachfront mansion in Palm Beach. But Trump later told people that he felt obligated to bar Epstein from Mar-A-Lago after learning that he acted inappropriately with the daughter of a club member.
"Brad Edwards, a lawyer who has represented many of Mr. Epstein’s victims, said. Mr. Trump told him a similar story in 2009," the Times noted.
Trump's relationship with Epstein unraveled around 2004, before Epstein's first arrest, which led to a notoriously lenient plea deal. In 2019, Epstein was charged a second time with sex trafficking.
“I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him,” Trump told reporters at the time. “I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him. He was a fixture in Palm Beach. I had a falling out with him a long time ago. I don’t think I’ve spoken to him in 15 years. I wasn’t a fan.”
Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal for defamation after the newspaper published a bawdy letter that Trump allegedly sent to Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003. The letter features an imagined conversation between the two men written inside a sketch of a naked woman.
In an effort to calm his base, Trump has ordered attorney general Pam Bondi to request the release of grand jury materials in the Epstein case from a court in New York. But Trump predicted that "troublemakers" will never be satisfied with the government's answers.
"Even if the Court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more," Trump said.
President Barack Obama might not have been as radical as other Democrats, as he was in office prior to the super "woke" era, but don't let that fool you -- he's very much playing the role now.
According to the Daily Wire, the former president made several bizarre remarks about gay men on his wife, former First Lady Michelle Obama's podcast.
Barack Obama insisted during the interview that he believes straight men need gay male friends to hold them accountable for making "ignorant" remarks and also to prepare them in case they end up with a gay or "non-binary" son.
The weird remarks came as he interviewed with his wife and her brother, Craig Robinson, who co-hosts the "IMO" podcast.
The topic of conversation, at one point, was about the challenges of raising boys, which sparked Barack Obama's thoughts on what straight males should be doing in this day and age.
The Daily Wire noted:
When the discussion turned to raising young men, Obama said boys need “exposure” to all sorts of male role models, who can sometimes shed “perspective” on their own dad.
"And that’s one of the things that I think a lot of times boys need, is, not just exposure to one guy — one dad," Mr. Obama said. "No matter how good the dad is, he can’t be everything. And that boy may need somebody to give the boy some perspective on the dad, right?"
The former president then recounted the relationship he had with a former professor of his, who happened to be gay. He claimed that the professor held him accountable for any "ignorant" remarks.
"One of the most valuable things I learned, as a guy, was I had a gay professor in college, at a time when openly gay folks still weren’t out a lot, who became one of my favorite professors, and was a great guy, and who would call me out when I started saying stuff that was ignorant," Obama said.
Barack Obama says all young men need a gay friend.
This is a peculiar thing to say; it's awkward and sounds like he doesn't even believe it.
But... maybe he does. pic.twitter.com/EoSUCYBB9X
— Dale Jackson - AL and TN’s Most Trusted Journalist (@TheDaleJackson) July 18, 2025
Obama also explained that he believes it's important for men to have gay friends to prepare for future gay sons.
"You need that, to show empathy and kindness,” he said.
Obama added, “And by the way, you need that person in your friend group, so that if you then have a boy who is gay or non-binary or what have you, they have somebody that they can go, ‘Okay, I’m not alone in this.'"
It probably won't be the last time Obama makes those kind of remarks, as they're great for exposure for his wife's podcast.
President Donald Trump, in recent photos, has shown some bruising and swelling in his hands and legs, prompting a medical checkup that cleared him for duty.
However, according to Fox News, the clear bill of health hasn't stopped doctors and other experts from weighing in on what they believe could be a potential cause for his age-related conditions, which are normal and nothing to be alarmed about.
Earlier this week, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, in an "effort of transparency," shared a note from President Trump's doctor after the president was given a "comprehensive examination" by the White House's medical staff.
The note proved that Trump has some normal, age-related conditions that cause swelling in his legs and hand, with the doctor adding that part of the reason for the hand bruising is due to the amount of hands Trump shakes.
Trump's conditions were described as "common" during a White House press briefing this week.
Fox News noted:
During a press briefing, Leavitt stated that Trump’s swollen legs were part of a "benign and common condition" called "chronic venous insufficiency" that can affect older individuals. (The president is 79.)
The White House press secretary pointed out that the physician's note proved, "Importantly, there was no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease."
Leavitt added, "This is consistent with minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen."
"This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy, and the president remains in excellent health," she continued.
In several media interviews, a number of doctors confirmed that Trump's conditions are completely normal for his age.
"Leg swelling is a common condition, particularly among older adults. As a practicing vascular surgeon, I see patients for this issue more frequently than almost any other complaint," Scott A. Sundick, M.D. said.
The symptoms Trump is experiencing, while mild in his case, can be rooted in something more serious, like Deep Vein Thrombosis.
That and other serious conditions were ruled out by Trump's White House doctors.
"In the president’s case, these more concerning causes were appropriately ruled out through a combination of diagnostic testing, including a venous Doppler ultrasound, echocardiogram and laboratory evaluations respectively," Sundick said.
President Donald Trump has cut off $4 billion in federal funding for California's high-speed "train to nowhere," sparking a furious response from the state's Democrat governor, Gavin Newsom.
The Trump administration says California has breached the contract the federal government reached when it initially agreed to help build the high-speed rail project, which was first approved by voters in 2008.
“The Railroad we were promised still does not exist, and never will,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This project was Severely Overpriced, Overregulated, and NEVER DELIVERED."
The original plan was to build an 800-mile track connecting the state's two biggest cities, San Francisco and Los Angeles, by 2020.
Newsom later downsized that ambitious vision to a 171-mile stretch of the Central Valley. The California High-Speed Rail Authority now hopes to connect Merced and Bakersfield by 2033, but a 300-page compliance review by the Federal Railroad Administration determined that even that small portion of the original plan is underfunded and has "no viable path" to completion.
Calling the bullet train saga a “story of broken promises," the administration pointed to ballooning costs -- from roughly $33 billion in the beginning to $135 billion -- and repeated delays that have slowed progress to a standstill. To date, not a single track of rail has been laid down.
“After over a decade of failures, CHSRA’s mismanagement and incompetence has proven it cannot build its train to nowhere on time or on budget,” said Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. “It’s time for this boondoggle to die.”
The federal government's $4 billion share accounts for about a quarter of the total funding. The total projected cost would pay for roundtrip flights for every resident of San Francisco and L.A., Duffy said.
The governor, who took office in 2019, has repeatedly sparred with Trump over California's left-wing policies.
Trump last month signed a resolution that blocks California from implementing its first-in-the-nation ban on gas-powered cars.
Newsom is now suing to block Trump from canceling the federal government's share of bullet train funding, calling it a "heartless" act of retaliation that will hurt residents of the Central Valley, one of the state's poorest regions.
“Trump’s termination of federal grants for California high-speed rail reeks of politics. It’s yet another political stunt to punish California. In reality, this is just a heartless attack on the Central Valley that will put real jobs and livelihoods on the line. We’re suing to stop Trump from derailing America’s only high-speed rail actively under construction," Newsom said.
California authorities have defended the slow progress, citing over 50 structures built, including viaducts, bridges, and overpasses.
But skepticism is widespread, with Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan telling a recent budget hearing that her constituents "overwhelmingly believe” the state has been reckless with its spending on the project.
Hunter Biden defended his father from Democrats who blame Joe Biden for the party's demoralizing defeat in 2024.
Democrats lost because they "did not remain loyal" to the former president, Hunter told former Democratic party boss Jaime Harrison, a fellow Biden loyalist.
Bucking the conventional wisdom, Hunter asserted that his father was well-positioned to win re-election when Democrats suddenly panicked following his infamous debate on CNN.
Biden's feeble performance cost him support from Democrats and liberal media organizations that had defended him throughout his presidency.
As Biden grew isolated, he leaned on his family, who encouraged him to stay in the race. But Biden eventually stepped aside, endorsing vice president Kamala Harris to take his place. She floundered on the national stage, despite an initial burst of hype.
“We lost the last election because we did not remain loyal to the leader of the party,” Hunter told Harrison's podcast.
“That’s my position. We had the advantage of incumbency, we had the advantage of an incredibly successful administration, and the Democratic Party literally melted down,” he added.
Hunter also dismissed accusations that he played a high-level role in his father's White House, telling Harrison that he “stayed as far away as I possibly could — which, by the way, broke my heart.”
Hunter predicted that the impact of the Democratic party's implosion will linger for some time.
“You know what, we are going to fight amongst ourselves for the next three years until there’s a nominee. And then with the nominee, we better as hell get behind that nominee,” he argued.
Before leaving office, Joe Biden gave his son a controversial blanket pardon for tax and gun charges, despite promising not to do so. The decision clouded Biden's final days in power in scandal.
Despite Democrats' wishes for him to retire quietly, Biden has continued to speak up in defense of his legacy. He has denied being in cognitive decline while in office, and he clings to the belief that he could have won re-election, a conviction that few seem to share outside his immediate family.
In an interview with The View in May, Biden said the "only reason" he dropped out was to avoid dividing Democrats, and he said he takes responsibility for the party's defeat.
"I do, because, look, I was in charge and he won. So, you know, I take responsibility," Biden said.
The White House has agreed to keep funding AIDS treatments in foreign countries after pushback in Congress.
President Trump's budget director Russ Vought said the administration is fine with the Senate's amended $9 billion rescissions package. The amendment removes cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which was established by President George W. Bush.
“America remains the most generous country in the world because President Trump has a humanitarian heart, and we urge other nations to dramatically increase their humanitarian efforts," a senior official told Breitbart News.
PEPFAR has long enjoyed bi-partisan backing, with supporters crediting it with saving millions of lives in developing countries. The program provides
Trump has effectively dismantled America's foreign aid organization, USAID, which is mainly responsible for managing PEPFAR.
The Trump administration pushed for $400 million in cuts to PEPFAR in a rescissions package, which if approved, would cancel billions in spending that Congress authorized in the past, including funding for left-leaning public broadcasters like NPR.
During a congressional hearing in June, Vought, a budget hardliner, said the administration expected Africa to take on a larger burden with HIV/AIDS prevention.
"It is something that our budget will be very trim on because we believe that many of these nonprofits are not geared toward the viewpoints of the administration, and we’re $37 trillion in debt,” Vought said. "So, at some point, the continent of Africa needs to absorb more of the burden of providing this health care.”
The administration's PEPFAR plans faced backlash from some Republicans, leading to a compromise.
Vought argues the bill is "substantially the same package," and indeed, it still totals roughly $9 billion in funding cuts.
The administration also downplayed its reversal and dismissed the suggestion that Trump planned to take away life-saving care from anyone.
The State Department issued a "limited waiver" in February that allowed "life-saving" HIV services to continue despite Trump's pause on foreign aid.
“PEPFAR continues to support lifesaving HIV testing, care and treatment, and prevention of mother-to-child transmission services approved by the Secretary of State,” the administration official told Breitbart. “An estimated 86 percent of beneficiaries could be receiving lifesaving treatment and prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) services based on the full operational capacity of all active awards.”
The rescissions package advanced Tuesday, with Vice President J.D. Vance breaking a tie in the Senate.
President Trump can go ahead with mass layoffs at the Department of Education, the Supreme Court has ruled.
The decision is the latest in a streak of court victories for Trump, who is pursuing an aggressive effort to dismantle the Department and much of the federal bureaucracy.
The justices provided no explanation for the move, which reversed a lower court ruling that ordered Trump to reinstate 1,400 employees - roughly half the agency's workforce.
Trump has pledged to end the Department of Education, citing low academic performance in American public schools.
The Department handles roles like tracking student progress, overseeing financial aid, including student loans, and enforcing federal civil rights law. Since the agency can only be abolished by an act of Congress, Trump has tried to tear it down piecemeal.
A federal judge appointed by President Biden, Judge Myong J. Joun, had blocked Trump in May from firing 1,400 employees, ruling the mass layoffs amounted to an illegal effort to bypass Congress.
The Supreme Court's reversal is the latest Trump victory to come from the so-called emergency docket. Such rulings often come with little explanation and without a full briefing.
The court's ruling prompted a furious dissent from the liberal justices, who have vocally criticized recent Supreme Court rulings in Trump's favor.
The Supreme Court "hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out," liberal Sonia Sotomayor wrote.
"The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave."
The ruling allows Trump to proceed with layoffs while the legal battle continues.
While liberals responded with predictable alarmism, the Trump administration hailed the Supreme Court's decision as a necessary rebuke of judicial activism coming from lower courts.
White House spokeswoman, Liz Huston, said in a statement that the court had “once again recognized what radical district court judges refuse to accept — President Trump, as head of the executive branch, has absolute constitutional authority to direct and manage its agencies and officers.”
In a separate decision last week, the Supreme Court cleared Trump to lay off thousands of employees at different federal agencies, reversing a district court that tried to block the plan.
Within days of the Supreme Court's reversal, the State Department fired 1,300 staffers.
President Trump has named Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to be the new boss of NASA, at least temporarily.
In a post announcing the pick, Trump lauded Duffy for a "tremendous" job in his current role and acknowledged his new role would be short-lived.
“Sean is doing a TREMENDOUS job in handling our Country’s Transportation Affairs, including creating a state-of-the-art Air Traffic Control systems, while at the same time rebuilding our roads and bridges, making them efficient, and beautiful, again,” Trump wrote.
“He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time. Congratulations, and thank you, Sean!”
The shuffle still leaves NASA without a permanent leader. Trump had picked billionaire and private astronaut Jared Isaacman but withdrew the nomination in late May, citing a "thorough review" of his "prior associations."
Isaacman is a close associate of Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and a former Trump ally who has since turned against the president. Trump has said it would have been inappropriate for Isaacman to lead NASA, given his ties to Musk, the biggest player in the private space industry.
“I also thought it inappropriate that a very close friend of Elon, who was in the Space Business, run NASA, when NASA is such a big part of Elon’s corporate life," Trump explained in another post.
Duffy can be expected to faithfully execute Trump's agenda of government reform, which has prioritized cost-cutting and ending left-wing initiatives such as DEI.
Duffy is taking over from acting administrator Janet Petro, who is also the director of the Kennedy Space Center, NASA's primary launch center.
"Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let’s launch," Duffy wrote.
The change in leadership comes after the White House issued a controversial budget request that would trim NASA down to its smallest size since the early 1960s.
The plan cuts research programs like Mars Sample Return, while prioritizing ambitious feats like putting humans on Mars and returning to the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
The administration envisions a leaner NASA that is more reliant on support from private industry, but the budget has faced pushback in Congress, with lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations Committee voting to reject it last week.
Isaacman praised Trump's nomination of Duffy, writing, "Short of a new nominee, this was a great move. NASA needs political leadership from someone the President trusts and has confidence in.”
President Donald Trump's top law enforcement officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, are taking loads of heat over their assertion that there are no conspiracies around Jeffrey Epstein's death.
According to the Daily Wire, Patel responded to the backlash this week, doubling down in saying that there's nothing else being hidden and no wild conspiracies to speak of.
Breaking his silence on the matter came barely a week after it was announced that there was no official Epstein "list," and on the heels of the release of video surveillance footage from inside the prison where Epstein was held.
Many in the MAGA world are not happy with the official announcements and still believe there is something being hidden by the government -- this time, President Trump's government.
The issue has reportedly caused quite a bit of internal strife within the ranks of Trump's top officials.
It has been reported that Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino are considering resigning if AG Pam Bondi continues to remain at her post, though the reports have been disputed.
The Daily Wire noted:
Bongino is reportedly furious over Bondi’s handling of the files, and allegedly stormed out of a closed-door meeting on the matter. A source told The Daily Wire on Friday that Bongino has threatened to not return to his post if Bondi remains as attorney general.
Patel addressed the Epstein situation in an X post, which unsurprisingly generated tons of backlash on its own, as many still very much believe that Epstein had a list of some of the most powerful, influential figures in the world who might have done illegal acts with him.
"The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been," Patel said Saturday on X. "It’s an honor to serve the President of the United States [Donald Trump] — and I’ll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me."
The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been. It’s an honor to serve the President of the United States @realDonaldTrump — and I’ll continue to do so for as long as he calls on me.
— Kash Patel (@Kash_Patel) July 12, 2025
Users across social media simply weren't buying what Patel was selling.
"You completely switched up your tone in every issue. When you were talking in a podcast, you sounded like you really were for the people, but now you’re just another crook," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "You lied to the American people about the Epstein list."
Only time will tell if this really is the end of the issue or if there is more to be revealed down the road.