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President Trump continues to insist that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was vandalized, even after D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro admitted in court that it was not. Speaking to reporters outside of Air Force One in Los Angeles Tuesday night, Trump defended the contractor who handled the pool’s renovation, despite Pirro’s office dropping charges against all of the people accused of vandalizing the pool, including former Olympian David Hearn.  “I just think he’s totally wrong. They did a beautiful job. There were a couple of little things, but that was not a big deal. And everybody saw the vandalism, all you have to do is look at the tape, if you look at the tape. Plus, we have a witness, or two witnesses that saw the vandalism. So certainly where there was vandalism, there was actually, in my opinion, there was major vandalism, and I told [Pirro] I was not happy,” Trump said. He was noncommittal when asked if Pirro would be staying at her job. Trump: "Everybody saw the vandalism. All you have to do is look at the tape." (There is no tape. Trump is nuts.) pic.twitter.com/iAOI7gBG5Q— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 5, 2026Trump’s claim of there being video proof doesn’t appear to be true, as it was never mentioned in charging documents. It’s not clear which witness or witnesses he is referring to either, as the Department of Justice’s main witness actually undermined the vandalism case against Hearn. The contractor assigned to clean up the pool, the ironically named Greenwater Services, put hydrogen peroxide into the pool to kill algae, causing Trump’s personally chosen “American flag blue” paint to begin peeling. Trump’s comments come after he, Pirro, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who was in charge of the pool’s renovation, reportedly got into a screaming match in the White House over the vandalism cases. Despite Pirro taking in a box of evidence to prove the vandalism cases were weak, Trump still believes his own version of the story. Then again, Trump never liked admitting when he’s wrong. 

GOP Representative Max Miller was accused of holding a gun to his ex-wife’s head, scalding her with boiling water, and breaking his two-year-old daughter’s collarbone. He also shared pictures of his daughter’s genitals. House Speaker Mike Johnson is still supporting him.“I haven’t spoken to Max about this in the last few days. Of course, I will,” Johnson told Politico’s Dasha Burns in an interview. “There’s all sorts of domestic events going on with 435 members of Congress all the time, it’s not my business to get engaged in it.”The House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into the abuse claims against Miller, as well as allegations of drug use. The claims were made by his ex-wife Emily Moreno, daughter of Republican Senator Bernie Moreno.“I think Max is taking them seriously. I think our colleagues are,” Johnson continued. “But, again, we have to allow this process to play out. It’s just begun.”House Speaker Mike Johnson broke days of silence on the domestic abuse allegations against Rep. Max Miller in an interview with The Conversation.He told our @DashaBurns the claims are "serious" but insisted the House Ethics Committee process should run its course. pic.twitter.com/utuScRopJV— POLITICO (@politico) August 5, 2026It does not look like Miller is taking it seriously. He posted a 20-minute video on Sunday denying all of his ex-wife’s allegations, arguing that her being civil to him after the period of alleged abuse delegitimized them. His own lawyer admitted to accidentally uploading nude pictures of his daughter via Dropbox. Miller claimed that they were part of a Child Protective Services investigation. That same Dropbox contained recordings of Miller saying throwing hot water on Emily was a “playful incident.”Miller has remained indignant, making multiple media appearances—all of which make his situation look worse. He claimed on CNN Tuesday night that Johnson and the rest of the party were “standing behind” him.“My constituents know who I am, and they also know who my ex-father-in-law is, and they also know who my ex-wife is.... People aren’t running from me,” Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “Speaker Mike Johnson, everyone else—they’re standing behind me. No one has told me to get off the ballot.”But even that’s up for debate. While Johnson offered tepid support, Senator Moreno said Miller needed “serious psychological help,” and called on him to step down from Congress and abandon his current reelection campaign. And Trump, who was also initially supportive, called Miller personally to tell him that things weren’t “looking good.”Even still, Johnson chose to trust the ethics committee process rather than call on Miller to end his train-wreck of a political career.“It’s, in his own words, a nasty divorce proceeding, and it’s gotten ugly and it’s gotten public,” Johnson said. “But he’s saying the same things privately to members that he is publicly, that he denies all this.... There’s a process. The House Ethics Committee does that. We always withhold judgment on this, whether it’s Republicans or Democrats.”Miller has five days to drop out if Republicans have any hope of replacing him on the ballot.🤯 Rep. Max Miller's interview with Jake Tapper is an utter trainwreck 🤯Miller went on CNN to try to push back against credible accusations that he abused his ex-wife and child, but he only made things worse for himself. He threatened his ex-wife's father (Sen. Bernie Moreno)… pic.twitter.com/BGOIcKIdKx— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 4, 2026

Jeanine Pirro’s grand case against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s Reflecting Pool cover-up was a showdown worthy of reality TV.Pirro, the daytime cable judge turned U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, rolled into the White House Monday toting boxes of evidence supporting her argument that the pool had not been vandalized. Donald Trump, the Apprentice host turned president, was already fuming.Days prior, Pirro withdrew charges against three-time Olympic canoeist David Hearn, the highest-profile figure accused of vandalizing Trump’s patch job at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Via court filing, Pirro admitted that her fast-track July indictment against Hearn was actually a dud predicated on baseless accusations pushed by Interior Department officials. The filing also suggested that Burgum had failed to competently oversee the renovation by Atlantic Industrial Coatings, a Virginia-based firm that Trump chose because they had previously worked on his golf club’s swimming pools. When the pool lining began to crack and peel in large, irregular chunks, Burgum convinced Trump that the damage had been caused by vandals.And Trump remained unconvinced by Pirro’s analysis. Speaking with reporters behind the Resolute Desk Monday morning, the president accused his family friend and decades-long ally of “folding like an umbrella” and “choking” on the charges, which for weeks provided backbone to his repetitive (and increasingly nonsensical) claims that vandals gashed the memorial pool’s lining.Pirro arrived at the Oval Office that night in a cherry-red blazer, ready to tear Burgum’s excuses to shreds. Burgum was already there, alongside Trump’s chief of staff “Ice Maiden” Susie Wiles and White House counsel David Warrington, reported The New York Times.The back-and-forth lasted about an hour, during which Pirro repeatedly raised her voice and directly confronted the interior secretary for misleading the president. She claimed that Burgum’s explanation of the recent damage at the Reflecting Pool was little more than a self-serving cover story to save his own skin.Burgum was more reserved but did his best to defend himself against Pirro’s accusations, according to sources that spoke with the Times.Pirro emerged from the meeting with her job intact, but it’s not clear if that will stay true. When asked directly by reporters on Tuesday if he would keep Pirro in her current position, Trump said he hadn’t yet “made a determination.”

Ohio Representative Max Miller crashed and burned while attempting to downplay releasing a nude image of his young daughter as part of his crusade to deny domestic abuse allegations.During an interview on CNN Tuesday evening, Miller defended sharing a Dropbox folder over the weekend that contained a nude image of his two-year-old daughter that could qualify as child sexual abuse material. Anchor Jake Tapper asked Miller to explain the “shockingly reckless behavior” as the lawmaker challenged horrific abuse allegations brought by his ex-wife, Emily Moreno. “I wouldn’t say that it’s shockingly reckless,” Miller said, claiming that the photograph was already available to the public because it was part of an investigation by Child Protective Services. “This is being taken very much out of context,” Miller said. “There is no genitalia of my daughter that was exposed. And this is once again a very salacious headline.” “We called the court today, it’s not publicly available,” Tapper said, noting that Miller’s attorney, Aaron Minc, had publicly apologized for releasing the photo. “I’m not defending it, it’s awful,” Miller said. “You just defended it. You said it’s taken out of context,” Tapper said. “‘Cus it is taken out of context, in terms of how the articles have been written about it. I didn’t do this. My attorney took full responsibility. I believe that it’s awful. There was never any intent to do that,” Miller said. 🤯 Rep. Max Miller's interview with Jake Tapper is an utter trainwreck 🤯Miller went on CNN to try to push back against credible accusations that he abused his ex-wife and child, but he only made things worse for himself. He threatened his ex-wife's father (Sen. Bernie Moreno)… pic.twitter.com/BGOIcKIdKx— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 4, 2026An analysis conducted by Politico’s Playbook of metadata of four documents in Miller’s Dropbox folder revealed that the authorship was “Office of Rep. Max Miller—Legal Counsel.” After Playbook asked if congressional resources were used to create them, Minc said he would alter the metadata, which now reads: “Minc Law LLC.” Minc also said the error may have been the result of AI use.Phil Poe, Miller’s chief of staff, told Playbook that Miller had been the only one to handle the Dropbox documents, and insisted that Miller’s office doesn’t employ anyone with the title of “legal counsel.”This news is the latest domino to fall for Miller. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno, Miller’s ex-father-in-law, finally came out against the lawmaker on Sunday, saying he needed “serious psychological help” and calling on him to step down from Congress and abandon his current reelection campaign. Moreno has since accused Miller of holding his daughter’s favorite stuffed animal hostage, and of putting Moreno’s family through “the seventh level of hell.”On Monday night, Miller reportedly received a call from President Donald Trump—who has publicly said he feels “badly” for the Republican congressman—to tell him that “things aren’t looking good” for his campaign. Miller was dealt another blow that same night when his ex-girlfriend, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, filed a temporary restraining order against him.

North Carolina Representative Chuck Edwards has called it quits on his reelection race.“After much prayer and reflection, I’ve decided to withdraw from my reelection campaign,” Edwards wrote on X early Wednesday morning. “I will complete my current term.”The congressman’s sudden exit came after the House Ethics Committee recommended that he be censured for “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers.”In a 25-page report published Monday, the committee listed out numerous occasions on which the married Republican had seemingly violated House rules relating to sexual harassment and hostile workplaces, revealing in detail how he made the women in his employ feel uncomfortable or unsafe.The list included “intimate” and expensive dinners, casino dates, strip club visits, expensive gifts, massages, and an insistence on personally handling the women’s yardwork or Christmas tree decorating—which Edwards skipped House votes to make time for.Edwards even wrote and performed poetry for one of his female staffers, hired a singer to perform Ed Sheeran’s “Hills of Aberfeldy” at one of their birthday parties, planned full-day excursions with them, and wrote personal notes expressing his “effusive affection.”The committee report also noted that many messages were missing from Edwards’s phone, including a photograph that depicted 30 different types of ice cream that he had delivered to one of his staffers’ houses, and her subsequent response that “this seems a bit excessive.”The report found no evidence that Edwards had engaged in sexual activity or “explicitly propositioned” the women, but found plentiful evidence that he had repeatedly made his staff feel scared and uncomfortable with his behavior.Yet Edwards’s exit from the race comes months after the legal deadline to do so (the deadline to withdraw was back in December). As a result, his name will most likely remain on the ballot come November, and any votes he receives will still be counted toward him, as explained by the state Board of Elections.

In the wake of a third ICE death at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, we speak with Gabriela Soto, whose husband Martín was one of the leaders of the May hunger strike at the immigration jail. Martín was transferred to Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey’s other ICE facility, during the hunger strike at Delaney. Gabriela is calling for the closure of both facilities. “At first, I was fighting for my husband, but then I started to meet all of these people who are just innocent, and they are the people that make this country great,” says Soto, who blames her recent miscarriage on the stress of her husband being detained. “I am still grieving,” she says. “To me, this is an ICE murder, too.” This comes as Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a Salvadoran immigrant, died Saturday after being held for six weeks at Delaney Hall. He is the third immigrant to die at the ICE jail, which has been open since May 2025. Lopez-Cornejo’s mother, Maria Cornejo, says her son took medicine to manage diabetes, seizures and his blood pressure, but had not received his medications regularly since being detained. ICE said in a statement that Lopez-Conejo experienced a “medical emergency” on Saturday and was transported to University Hospital in Newark, but Maria Cornejo says her son died at Delaney Hall. More than 70 people inside the ICE jail have filed lawsuits alleging medical neglect. That neglect was one of the factors that led to the hunger strike. “Individuals are not receiving the kind of healthcare that they in fact need, particularly for chronic health conditions, for pregnancies, for cancers,” says Analilia Mejía, Democratic congressmember from New Jersey. “Being undocumented should not be a death sentence.”

In the wake of a third ICE death at the Delaney Hall ICE jail in Newark, New Jersey, we speak with Gabriela Soto, whose husband Martín was one of the leaders of the May hunger strike at the immigration jail. Martín was transferred to Elizabeth Detention Center, New Jersey’s other ICE facility, during the hunger strike at Delaney. Gabriela is calling for the closure of both facilities. “At first, I was fighting for my husband, but then I started to meet all of these people who are just innocent, and they are the people that make this country great,” says Soto, who blames her recent miscarriage on the stress of her husband being detained. “I am still grieving,” she says. “To me, this is an ICE murder, too.” This comes as Edwin Lopez-Cornejo, a Salvadoran immigrant, died Saturday after being held for six weeks at Delaney Hall. He is the third immigrant to die at the ICE jail, which has been open since May 2025. Lopez-Cornejo’s mother, Maria Cornejo, says her son took medicine to manage diabetes, seizures and his blood pressure, but had not received his medications regularly since being detained. ICE said in a statement that Lopez-Conejo experienced a “medical emergency” on Saturday and was transported to University Hospital in Newark, but Maria Cornejo says her son died at Delaney Hall. More than 70 people inside the ICE jail have filed lawsuits alleging medical neglect. That neglect was one of the factors that led to the hunger strike. “Individuals are not receiving the kind of healthcare that they in fact need, particularly for chronic health conditions, for pregnancies, for cancers,” says Analilia Mejía, Democratic congressmember from New Jersey. “Being undocumented should not be a death sentence.”