The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
During a podcast interview, former President Barack Obama swiped at Donald Trump claiming the former President is not taken “seriously” in the city he called home for years, New York City.
Obama was asked on the “SmartLess” podcast by co-host Jason Bateman whether he was surprised how quickly the “protection and passion for democracy was diluted” in recent years. Obama responded by noting the trend began during former President Clinton’s time in the White House before accelerating during his presidency.
“I have been surprised that there haven’t been guardrails inside the Republican Party. Trump didn’t surprise me,” he said, before taking aim at Trump.
“I mean, he comes from New York. There’s nobody in New York who does business with him or lend him money. He’s not considered a serious guy here,” Obama added.
Obama went on to explain how he thought more Republicans would say some of Trump’s behavior went too far.
“But, so I was surprised he was elected, but I wasn’t surprised in terms of his behavior. I did expect, and I suspect Bill and Joe, you’d agree with this, that there would be some folks in the Republican Party who would say, no, you can’t go that far. You can’t start praising Putin and saying that his intelligence is better than the US intelligence agencies,” he said.
Trump is currently on trial in New York for falsifying business records to make alleged hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
Shipping and logistics company DHL sued Mike Lindell’s MyPillow this week over an alleged shipping debt of nearly $800,000.
In the lawsuit filed in Minneapolis on Monday, DHL alleged Lindell’s company violated a previous lawsuit settlement from May 2023 which required MyPillow to pay off its $775,000 debt to DHL in 24 monthly installments.
According to the lawsuit, MyPillow only partially paid off the required installments, paying DHL $64,583.34, with the last installment in June.
DHL reportedly threatened to sue MyPillow in July and, after several months of no success, finally filed its lawsuit in court this week.
DHL is now seeking $799,925.59 from MyPillow, along with attorney fees and an 18% annual interest.
Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image
Lindell who has been a vocal and active supporter of former President Donald Trump has been embroiled in a number of lawsuits over the past few years, including defamation lawsuits from Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic over his allegations that the 2020 election was rigged.
In February, Lindell was ordered to pay $5 million to a man after he lost his own “Prove Mike Wrong” challenge.
In March, MyPillow was evicted from a warehouse in Minnesota for allegedly being $200,000 behind on rent.
President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud at the Royal Court Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)
Earlier this week, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia opened up about why he decided to leave the Democrat Party to support President Donald Trump.
During an interview with former White House official Katie Miller – the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller – Gebbia revealed how he became drawn to the Republican Party through Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the crisis at the southern border.
“At what point did you know in the last election that you were like, ‘I wanna help President Trump’? Was it Bobby Kennedy and your love for MAHA? Like, what was it?” asked Miller on The Katie Miller Podcast.
Gebbia responded, “I’ve been on my journey. Everyone’s been on a journey, and I think through, you know, certainly Bobby Kennedy and supporting him, and I’ve been so grateful for the work that he’s doing, to be somebody who just cares so much about the health of our nation, and you know, has no ties to industry and is really just able to bust through walls and sort of, like, right size the ship.”
The Airbnb co-founder revealed that he “grew up in an alternative medicine, health food household,” which made him gravitate towards Kennedy when he ran for president on a “Make America Healthy Again” platform.
Watch:
From Airbnb to the Trump Administration's DOGE initiative—my conversation with Airbnb co-founder @jgebbia covers his remarkable journey and what's next.
0:00 – Introduction 1:14 – Joe’s background 3:13 – First website 4:57 – Airbnb foudning 11:07 – First guests 15:04 – South by… pic.twitter.com/936wGkzJMr
However, Gebbia told Miller it was the crisis at the southern border that ultimately made him lose faith in the Democratic Party and become a Republican.
“I think it was early 2021, mid-2021, the activity at the border caught my attention, and I just remember thinking, ‘What’s going on with this topic? It seems as if there’s no border,’” he said. “And as it got worse that year, I felt like I needed to understand this problem more, so I reached out to my friends, largely on the Democratic side of the house, at all levels, from the highest level all the way down.”
Gebbia said that while he received “some answers” from friends in the Democratic Party, he ultimately “felt unfulfilled,” and so decided to talk to former Trump senior adviser Jared Kushner about the issue:
I get on the phone with Jared and say, “Hey, can you help me? Fill in the gaps for me. Like, what am I missing here? Is this normal? Like, seems there’s no enforcement of our own border. Like, don’t nations need borders to be a nation?” And so he put me on this curriculum of just talking to experts in the field, and I remember just being like holy cow, this is crazy. Like, this is not right. This is a real problem and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be enforcing the laws of our country and our border. And so I think, as I started to pull on that thread, I sort of, you know, begin to look at other topics and eventually came to the point where I don’t think I can support a political party that wants to have an open border, that lets in criminals and dangerous people into our country. That’s just not something I can get behind.
“Judge Judy” Sheindlin called Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) hush money case against former President Trump “nonsense” in a recent interview.
“You gotta twist yourself into a pretzel to figure out what the crime was. [Bragg] doesn’t like him — New York City didn’t like him for a while,” Sheindlin said of Trump in a “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” interview streaming Friday on Max.
“I would be happier, as someone who owns property in Manhattan, if the district attorney of New York County would take care of criminals who were making it impossible for citizens to walk in the streets and use the subway, to use his efforts to keep those people off the street, than to spend $5 million or $10 million of taxpayers’ money trying Donald Trump on this nonsense,” the longtime TV judge told Wallace.
Watch:
Judge Judy: “As a person who owns property in Manhattan I would be happier if Alvin Bragg took care of criminals who make it impossible to ride the subway or walk the streets, than spending $10 million of taxpayer money trying Donald Trump on nonsense.” pic.twitter.com/YBD2uBEub8
“I, as a taxpayer in this country, resent using the system for your own personal self-aggrandizement,” the “Judy Justice” personality said of Bragg.
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Asked by the CNN anchor what she thought of Trump, the 81-year-old former Manhattan Family Court judge replied, “I think he was a good businessman, a real estate guy. And he was certainly terrific on ‘The Apprentice.’”
They argue that Trump’s public statements have increased tensions and led to threats against Bragg and his team before Trump’s July 11 sentencing.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of a hush-money scheme to prevent porn star Stormy Daniels from speaking out about her alleged extramarital affair before the 2016 presidential election.
Before Trump, no sitting or former president ever faced criminal charges. This is the lowest level felony in New York, any potential sentence will more than likely be served after the 2024 election.
The order, issued before Mr. Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial began in mid-April, bars him from attacking witnesses, jurors, court staff and relatives of the judge who presided over the trial, Juan M. Merchan.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers have sought to have the order lifted since Mr. Trump’s conviction in late May. But in a 19-page filing on Friday, prosecutors argued that while Justice Merchan no longer needed to enforce the portion of the gag order relating to trial witnesses, he should keep in place the provisions protecting jurors, prosecutors, court staff and their families.
Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News
Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood said she would vote for former President Trump over President Biden in the November presidential election.
Wood took part in an interview with ‘Meet Kevin’ financial analyst and YouTuber Kevin Paffrath, during which she was asked the popular question, “Trump or Biden?”
Wood told the host she has three children with whom she has discussed the upcoming election and its consequences.
“As I’ve said to them, ‘Look, I am going to vote for the person who’s going to do the best job for our economy,’” Wood told Paffrath. “I am a voter when it comes to economics, and on that basis, Trump.”
She further explained that Laffer Associates founder and chairman Art Laffer “describes the first three years of the Trump presidency as the best in U.S. economic history, not the last one because of COVID, and I would agree.”
Watch:
🔥🔥Cathie Wood Ark investor and one of the most influential people in the business world just publicly announced that she'll be voting for Trump and that he had the best economy in history.
Dont vote based off personal feelings. Vote based off personal experience.
Mr. Mellon is now the first donor to give $100 million in disclosed federal contributions in this year’s election. He was already the single largest contributor to super PACs supporting both Mr. Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent. Mr. Mellon has previously given $25 million to both.
Billionaire Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO and co-founder of Blackstone, announced last month he will back Trump in the 2024 race after he previously called for the Republican Party to turn to a “new generation of leaders.”
On Monday, a Facebook spokesperson admitted the platform wrongly called the popular image of Donald Trump pumping his fist in the air after an assassination attempt against him an “altered photo.”
Meta Public Affairs Director Dani Lever later explained on X it was done in error as the systems were meant to detect a separate version of the image.
“This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed, and we apologize for the mistake,” Lever wrote.
This was an error. This fact check was initially applied to a doctored photo showing the secret service agents smiling, and in some cases our systems incorrectly applied that fact check to the real photo. This has been fixed and we apologize for the mistake. https://t.co/y613GuuJpV
Lever confirmed the mistake when Fox News Digital reached out for a comment.
The altered image Lever referenced featured the Secret Service members surrounding Trump smiling. USA Today and AFP United States previously fact-checked the images as “altered,” though it confirmed the accuracy of the original image.
“None of the agents in the original image are smiling as they surround Trump, who has blood on his face and his right arm in the air. The image – which was captured by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci and distributed by the AP – appeared with coverage of the shooting by CNN, The Atlantic, Business Insider and many other legitimate news outlets,” USA Today explained.
USA Today’s fact-check on the altered photo was used as a “third-party fact-checker” when Facebook corrected the photo.
Google has recently come under criticism for omitting search results for Trump’s recent assassination attempt.
On Monday, former President Donald Trump moved to overturn his criminal conviction in the Manhattan hush-money case after the Supreme Court ruled presidents have immunity for “official acts” committed while in office.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president in May with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts in the Manhattan case.
Lawyers for Trump had filed a motion to dismiss the verdict hours after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The motion came on the same day that the district attorney’s office sent sentencing recommendations to Judge Juan M. Merchan – who presided over the Manhattan trial – though it remains unclear whether that will be seen by the public, per reporting from The New York Times. Judge Merchan has received a letter from Trump’s lawyers, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to Fox News Digital.
The letter asks for permission to file a motion to vacate the jury’s Manhattan verdict, asks for a delay of the July 11 sentencing, and cites the high court’s decision in arguing that evidence was included at trial that should not have been admitted.
To file a motion in New York, defendants must first request permission from the judge in the case.
🚨 #BREAKING: President Trump’s July 11 sentencing likely to be DELAYED, as the Manhattan DA’s office declines to push back on Trump’s requests to throw the case out.
On Tuesday, Manhattan prosecutors agreed with Donald J. Trump’s request to postpone his criminal sentencing so that the judge overseeing the case could weigh whether a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling might impact his conviction, according to The New York Times.
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a former president has absolute immunity for his core constitutional powers.
Former presidents are also entitled to at least a presumption of immunity for their official acts. There is no immunity, the court holds, for unofficial acts.
The Supreme Court returned the case to the trial court to determine what is left of special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment against the former President.
The family of late soul singer Isaac Hayes is suing former President Donald Trump for using the icon’s music at his rallies, Isaac Hayes III announced last week.
The filing accused the former president and the Republican Nation Committee of “willfully and brazenly” engaging in 134 counts of copyright infringement.
We the family of @isaachayes Isaac Hayes Enterprises, represented by Walker & Associates, are suing @realDonaldTrump and his campaign for 134 counts copyright infringement for the unauthorized use of the song “Hold On I’m Coming” at campaign rallies from 2022-2024.
A letter to Trump and his campaign from the Georgia-based law firm Walker & Associates reads:
Our firm has been retained by the family and Isaac Hayes Enterprises, who own the copyright to the musical composition and recording “Hold On (I’m Coming)” (the “Song”). It has come to our attention that you or the campaign have authorized the illegal public performance of the Song on multiple occasions during various rallies for your political campaign without authorization from the copyright holder, despite being asked repeatedly not to engage in such illegal use by our client.
Upon information and belief, you, your campaign, and/or the RNC and other parties have willfully and brazenly engaged in copyright infringement in violation of several provisions of Title 17 U.S.C., including § 501, of the Copyright Act of 1976, as amended, over one hundred times. We have attached for your convenience a non-exhaustive list attached hereto as Exhibit A. As we prepared this letter, there was an additional use in Montana just two nights ago, even with your office apparently aware that you had no permission. We and the family hereby demand that you cease the continual infringement of our copyright and stop all unauthorized use of the Song.
The suit further demands Trump pay $3 million, stop using the song, and to remove any campaign multimedia of the song being played at rallies. Hayes’ estate also demanded Trump issue a statement acknowledging he played the song without permission.
The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct has launched an investigation into a New York attorney’s claim that he advised Judge Arthur Engoron in the case against former President Donald Trump.
Attorney Adam Leitman Bailey told WNBC-TV that he had a courthouse conversation with Engoron three weeks before the judge would slap Trump with a $454 million penalty for fraudulently inflating the value of his assets.
New York judges are barred from considering outside opinions in such a way when litigating a case, yet Bailey said he discussed the legal questions at length with the judge.
Judge Engoron’s ruling ordered Trump to pay nearly $355 million, Donald Jr. and Eric to each pay $4 million, and ex-Trump Org chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg to pay $1 million. The order also barred Trump from serving as a corporate officer or a director of a company in New York for three years, and barred his sons for two years. The Trumps did avoid the so-called “corporate death penalty;”
“I actually had the ability to speak to him three weeks ago,” Bailey said in an interview with the station on Feb. 16, just hours before the judge issued his ruling.
“I saw him in the corner [at the courthouse], and I told my client, ‘I need to go,’” he recounted.
“And I walked over, and we started talking … I wanted him to know what I think and why … I really want him to get it right,” the attorney continued.
He said he “explained to” Engoron that ruling against Trump would have far-reaching implications beyond destroying the former president, including damaging New York’s economy.
If Trump were forced to pay a hefty fine and shut down his business, it would make other companies concerned about similarly being targeted at any time, even when there were no actual damages or victims, as in this case.
Trump’s legal team raised the same points, which Engoron ignored in his verdict.
In a later interview with WNBC, Bailey walked back his claims slightly, saying they “didn’t even mention the word ‘Donald Trump’” during their conversation.
However, the attorney admitted that it was understood exactly what they were discussing.
“Well, obviously, we weren’t talking about the Mets,” Bailey said.
According to the New York State Rules of Judicial Conduct, “a judge shall not initiate, permit, or consider ex parte communications, or consider other communications made to the judge outside the presence of the parties or their lawyers.”
Al Baker, a spokesman for the state’s Office of Court Administration, denied that the judge had broken those rules.
“The decision Justice Engoron issued February 16 was his alone, was deeply considered, and was wholly uninfluenced by this individual,” Baker said in a statement, according to WNBC.
Former President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons]
On a bustling Thursday night in San Francisco, former President Donald Trump marked another impressive milestone in his 2024 presidential campaign. The presumptive Republican nominee and front-runner, according to the polls, celebrated a monumental $12 million fundraising haul. The fundraising event, hosted by prominent Silicon Valley figures, David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, highlighted the undeniable shift in the tech industry, an arena traditionally dominated by liberal ideologies.
“These are brilliant guys – AI guys – these are the guys that are doing all the things you read about,” Trump gushed to Fox News Digital. These are just a brilliant group of people. And they can’t relate to Biden because he is a stupid person – and I have a high IQ.”
Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“They don’t like dealing with an IQ that’s like, you know, 1/3 of theirs, because it is a difficult thing when someone has an IQ of 180, it is difficult to deal with a man with an IQ of 70 – or maybe lower,” Trump added, attempting to goad the current president.
Sacks endorsed Trump hours before the high-dollar fundraiser at his multimillion-dollar home, located near the residence of Nancy and Paul Pelosi, symbolizing the growing willingness of certain tech industry leaders to publicly support Trump, a stance that previously rendered individuals persona non grata in Silicon Valley. (RELATED: San Francisco Sued Over Gender Scheme Targeting Minority Men)
Known for his business acumen and successful investments, including his status as an angel investor for Facebook, Uber, SpaceX, and Airbnb, Sachs’ support signals a broader acceptance of Trump’s candidacy within a traditionally GOP skeptical community.
Trump told Fox News Digital that Sacks’ “strong” endorsement “is a great testament to what I’ve accomplished.”
“David Sacks — the king of that world — David Sacks and the group that we were with are the most respected people in San Francisco from both a business and high tech standpoint,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “They love our country and they understand what’s happening into the future with technology better than any group, anywhere in the world.”
“One of the primary reasons for the endorsement was the four years that we had in office, which was the best four years ever for high tech, which will play an increasingly important role in the future of our country, especially as it relates to AI and all of the other new and brilliant technologies coming right at this moment,” Trump said. “It is a very exciting time and it is a great honor to have the most brilliant minds supporting, by far, the most brilliant leader.”
Why I’m Backing President Trump
As many press accounts have reported, I’m hosting a fundraising event for President Donald J. Trump at my home in San Francisco this evening.
Over the last couple of years, I have hosted events for presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, Vivek…
“My reasons rest on four main issues that I think are vital to American prosperity, security and stability — issues where the Biden administration has veered badly off course and where I believe President Trump can lead us back,” Sacks said Thursday.
Other guests at Sacks’ Pacific Heights fundraiser included the Winklevoss twins, who successfully sued Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for allegedly stealing their idea, which later became Facebook.
JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
“He wasn’t the guy I see on TV,” one source told the New York Post. “He was very thoughtful and self-deprecating.” More than 100 guest attended the San Francisco soirée, paying as much as $300,000 a head.
Historically, Silicon Valley has been a bastion of liberal politics, with many tech leaders supporting Democratic candidates and policies. This alignment was driven by shared values around social issues and environmental sustainability. (RELATED: Google Shuts Down Its AI Chatbot ‘Gemini’ For Being Woke And Racist)
However, the dynamics may be changing. The industry’s rapid growth has brought increased scrutiny and regulatory pressures from Democratic lawmakers. Concerns over antitrust actions, data privacy regulations and labor practices have strained relationships between tech giants and the Democratic Party.
In contrast, Trump’s deregulatory stance, pro-business policies and tax reforms align with the interests of a growing number of Silicon Valley insiders.
