February 8, 2026 at 2:17 PM EST
Reporter brings receipt after Republican downplays Trump's infrastructure name demand

What's in a name? Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) on Sunday claimed he "could care less" about "the name of a building or infrastructure project" after the New York Times on Friday reported top White House officials pressured Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to help name multiple U.S. facilities after President Donald Trump. But one reporter resurfaced an old Lawler tweet that shows the Republican lawmaker wasn't always so magnanimous about infrastructure name changes. According to the Times, citing four people familiar with the conversations, top Trump administration officials in recent weeks have told Schumer the president would release "billions of dollars he has frozen for a rail tunnel under the Hudson River" if the Democratic leader agreed to name "New York's Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after" Trump. As the report notes, "The Trump administration began withholding funds for the new tunnel connecting New York City and New Jersey, a $16 billion project, in October." Lawler, who earlier this week offered a tepid critique of Trump after the president's official Truth Social account posted a racist AI video depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, was asked about Trump's naming demand on ABC This Week. "We learned that President Trump told Chuck Schumer, the Senate leader, that he would be willing to unfreeze $16 billion in funding for a major infrastructure project in New York and new Jersey if Schumer were willing to endorse the idea of renaming Penn Station, and by the way, Dulles Airport, after Donald Trump," ABC News' Jonathan Karl explained Sunday. "How is that OK?" Lawler replied that the Hudson River Tunnel Project is a "critical infrastructure project" and "critical for my district" before blaming Schumer for the frozen funds. "Schumer decided to shut the government down for 43 days and as a result, this critical infrastructure was frozen during that shut down," Lawler alleged, describing the discussions as a "negotiation between" Trump and Schumer. The Republican lawmaker the recalled former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo "negotiated the renaming of the Tappan Zee Bridge after his father [former New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo] and the renaming of the Triborough Bridge after his former father-in-law [Robert F. Kennedy]." "This is not new," Lawler claimed. "Renaming critical infrastructure projects is not a new concept." "Okay, I mean, he's holding the money hostage for having these things named after him," Karl replied. "This isn't like, 'Let's honor somebody.' Trump wants it named after himself. And he saying he'll unfreeze the money if they do it." "At the end of the day, I could care less what the name of a building is, or a critical infrastructure project is," Lawler insisted. "I care that it gets done." WNYC reporter Jon Campbell on Sunday noted Lawler "brought up the Cuomo Bridge" during the ABC interview "as a prior example of government officials naming infrastructure after family." But, as Campbell noted, Lawler failed to mention his former critique of Mario Cuomo's name on the Tappan Zee bridge. In March 2021, then-assemblyman Lawyer introduced a bill to change the name of the Gov. Mario Cuomo Bridge back to the Tappan Zee Bridge, arguing the legislation as essential because it "bears the same last name" as Andrew Cuomo, who patch.com reported at the time was "mired in controversies over inappropriate behavior with women and the state's rules about nursing homes at the start of the pandemic." The following year, Lawler found renewed interest in his anti-Cuomo crusade, telling CBS News in March 2022 "the time for compromise on this has passed, with respect to adding the Tappan Zee name back." "The governor didn't want [compromise] at the time," Lawler said in 2022. "He wanted the Cuomo family name. He, through his own actions -- not mine, not anybody else's, through his own actions -- has disgraced that name and it needs to come off the bridge." In 2024, while running for reelection in his competitive district, Lawler even sold t-shirts about the bridge bearing the Cuomo family name. It appears Lawler's specific position on renaming infrastructure projects is he "could care less" about appeasing Trump. But when it comes to a bridge bearing the name of the father of his political foe, well, that's a bridge too far.

February 8, 2026 at 12:30 PM EST
Trump calls US Olympian 'a real loser' for saying he represents what's 'good about the US'

President Donald Trump on Sunday jumped into the fray of MAGA Republicans complaining about U.S. athletes at the Olympic Winter Games in Milan who've expressed unease about recent actions by the federal government. As the New York Times reports, "By Sunday morning, no member of the U.S. team in Italy had spoken publicly in support of the Trump administration. U.S. Olympic committee guidelines stipulate that athletes can advocate social and racial justice, but should avoid partisan politics." Still, athletes have been forced to answer questions about what it means to represent the U.S. in the age of Trump. "It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now, I think," first-time Team USA Olympic skier Hunter Hess said Friday. "It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on that I'm not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren't." "I think, for me, it's more I'm representing my friends and family back home, the people that represented it before me, all the things that I believe are good about the U.S. If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it. Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S," he added. Hess' remarks appeared to pierce through Trump's algorithm by Sunday Morning. Posting on Truth Social, the president called Hess, a skier representing the country he leads, "a real loser." "U.S. Olympic Skier, Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn't represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics." Trump said. "If that's the case, he shouldn't have tried out for the Team, and it's too bad he's on it. Very hard to root for someone like this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

February 8, 2026 at 11:22 AM EST
'Time for a moral reckoning' as Epstein files reveal associates in Trump's inner circle

British-American journalist Sarah Baxter on Sunday laid bare the "deafening" silence of President Donald Trump's inner circle as several of his top aides and advisors are revealed to have associated with late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. According to Baxter, the release of the Epstein files "has laid bare the immorality of America," noting people who were "caught lying" about the extent of their relationships with Epstein are now forced to "duck and dive for cover." "Their strategy comes straight out of the PR playbook of the malevolent Donald Trump whisperer, Steve Bannon, who was asked by his pal Epstein in 2019 whether to 'continue to ignore' personal attacks," Baxter wrote. "Bannon said yes. Responding, he said, 'makes it way worse.' He is now following his own cynical advice on the subject." Baxter noted that a former Trump foe, Hillary Clinton, has the "power to blow this conspiracy of silence apart" after the former first lady demanded a public hearing before the House Oversight Committee. Chairman James Comer (R-KY), Baxter explained, "is now scurrying for excuses to resist this demand." "His reluctance to call anybody in Trump's circle to appear matches the quiescence of the Maga and QAnon conspiracy-mongers," Baxter wrote. "If Hillary Clinton has to give evidence, let's hear from all of them," the journalist added. "And yes, that includes all the Trumps." "It's time for a moral reckoning," she said.

February 8, 2026 at 11:04 AM EST
DOJ seeks to quash Trump chief of staff subpoena

A court filing in a federal criminal lobbying case against a former Republican congressman confirmed what the government watchdog Public Citizen warned against as soon as President Donald Trump appointed Susie Wiles to be his chief of staff: that her "lobbying client list is both extensive and littered with controversial clients who stand to benefit from having their former lobbyist running the White House." The court filing was submitted Thursday by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and sought to "quash" a subpoena that was served to Wiles in December.

February 8, 2026 at 10:02 AM EST
Ex-KGB official says 2 countries have copies of compromising Trump video

Former KGB officer Alnur Mussayev, who once headed Kazakhstan's security services, said both Kazakhstan and the Kremlin are in possession of an incriminating video of U.S. President Donald Trump, among other "compromising material," Ukraine's Kyiv Post reports. Mussayev on Friday spoke with Ukraine's Espreso TV program "Studia Zakhid," where the Kyiv Post reports he "reiterated a claim he has expressed publicly for years - namely, that there is a Kremlin file with compromising video material from Trump's stay at Moscow's Ritz-Carlton hotel in 2013" for the Miss Universe pageant. According to Mussayev, Kazakhstan is also "in possession of that same kompromat." Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB) both have a copy of the file, "including possession of film footage, presumable of a sexual nature," according to the report. Mussayev told Ukraine's "Studia Zakhid" the files "were used by former chairman of the National Security Committee Karim Masimov during a meeting with Secretary of State [Rex] Tillerson in the United States." Tillerson met with Masimov at the U.S. State Department in October 2017, according to Tillerson's public schedule. Trump fired Tillerson in March 2018. Mussayev said Kazakhstan obtained the video because a Kazakh oligarch named Bulat Temuratov owned, and still owns, the Ritz Hotel. According to Mussayev, Temuratov is "close to [Kazakh] President [Nursultan] Nazarbayev." "Whatever was filmed at the Ritz Hotel belonged to Kazakhs," Mussayev explained. "Russian special services used camera surveillance in the rooms. In addition to the Russians, it got through to the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan via Bulat Temuratov," Mussayev added. Mussayev has long claimed Trump was "groomed in 1987 as a potential Soviet asset," according to the Kyiv Post. In Feb. 2018, Mussayev wrote on Facebook Trump is in the category of "ideally recruitable people."

February 8, 2026 at 9:01 AM EST
Trump constantly 'screws up' White House messaging with his own 'garbage posts': analysis

Journalist Jonah Goldberg on Sunday explained the negative impact of President Donald Trump's "garbage" Truth Social posts on his own White House agenda, noting the president is "constantly screwing up" the administration's messaging with his "irresponsible" social media habit. Speaking on Air Force One Friday, Trump tried to shift the blame for an AI video depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The post appeared overnight Thursday on the tail end of a video pushing conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. As even Republican supporters of Trump expressed outrage over the post, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to defend the image of the Obamas as "an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King." "Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public," Leavitt said of Trump's post, despite there being no ape characters in the Lion King. Several hours after Leavitt's remark, Trump's Truth Social account finally removed the video, and a White House official claimed the post was "erroneously made" by a staffer. Trump on Friday told reporters he never saw the end of the video. "I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of picture people don't like," Trump said. "I wouldn't like it either, but I didn't see it. I just, I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud." "It was really about voter fraud and the machines - how crooked it is, how disgusting it is," Trump continued. "Then I gave it to the people, generally they'd look at the whole thing but I guess somebody didn't and they posted it. And then we deleted it." Asked about his Republican defenders urging him to apologize for the clip, Trump argued he "didn't make a mistake." "I look at a lot of, thousands of, things, and I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine," Trump said. Goldberg on Sunday said the incident is indicative of the White House's messaging struggle frequently brought on by the president himself. "I take Trump at his word on this,"Goldberg explained. "... Trump's explanation is entirely plausible to me. He was stupid, lazy and irresponsible and forwarded a video only after watching it for 10 seconds. Doesn't mean he wouldn't have still sent it if he watched the whole thing." "My point is, he posts irresponsible stuff all the time," Goldberg continued. "And that's the thing I thought was most interesting about the Karoline Leavitt response is when they were in full defensive mode, she said, 'Why don't quit with the fake outrage? Why don't you guys report about something the American people care about?' And the problem is that Donald Trump is constantly screwing up their messaging by posting garbage like this, which is not what the American people care about. And then the media covers it." Goldberg went on to note the "reason you got blowback from a lot of Republicans is now we're in 2026, we are in full midterm mode, and anything that distracts from the messaging that they want, they are more inclined to criticize going into the midterms, including stuff like this."

February 8, 2026 at 8:43 AM EST
State officials worry protections against Trump are eroding

When President Donald Trump pressured state and local officials to intervene in his behalf in the 2020 election, it wasn't a matter of abstract constitutional theory for the people running elections. It was armed protests outside offices, threats against their families, subpoenas for voter data, and months of uncertainty about whether doing their jobs would land them in legal jeopardy. This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.

February 7, 2026 at 2:58 PM EST
'Stay home': MAGA world 'heartbroken' as US athletes turn on Trump

Conservative website Townhall and the MAGA community are exploding over American athletes "going viral" for "choosing to diss the country that they were sent to represent at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games." The MAGA community and its entertainers take as fact that President Donald Trump and America are one and the same, despite one being a 250-year-old nation and the other being a 79-year-old man in declining health.

February 7, 2026 at 2:55 PM EST
Trump 'the laughingstock' of polite society: NYT editorial

New York Times Columnist Jamelle Bouie says the easiest way to read the motivations of an insincere person like President Donald Trump is to see him "at his most unfiltered." That involves his late-night posts on social media, far away from the eyes of handlers.

February 7, 2026 at 12:49 PM EST
Gabbard blocked reports of Trump aide's foreign intel contact: whistleblower

A whistleblower tells the Gurdian that National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard blocked the publication of an intelligence report concerning an "unusual phone call between an individual associated with foreign intelligence and a person close to Donald Trump." The details of the communication are not known, but the Wall Street Journal reported it could cause "grave damage to national security" if it becomes public, according to an official. The information also "implicates another federal agency" and reportedly includes "claims of executive privilege that may involve the White House."

February 7, 2026 at 12:41 PM EST
Trump is persecuting Christians -- thanks to the media

In Washington this week, at the National Prayer Breakfast, the president actually took credit for the Bible being a bestseller. "In 2025, more copies of the Holy Bible were sold in the United States than at any time in the last 100 years," Donald Trump said.

February 7, 2026 at 12:08 PM EST
Kid Rock is two decades past his peak -- and his fame pales compared to Bad Bunny

Forbes Magazine reports Turning Point USA's choice of country-rapper Kid Rock to perform at an alternative halftime show during the Super Bowl was two decades too late. Conservative organization Turning Point is looking to build a halftime home for frustrated Trump voters riled at the idea of Spanish-speaking U.S. citizen Bad Bunny headlining the NFL show. But Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, isn't likely to hit with many people under the age of 40.