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President Trump Requests Supreme Court Intervention in Lisa Cook Removal from Fed

U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer has filed a motion with the Supreme Court [SEE HERE] requesting intervention in a lower court ruling that blocks President Trump from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

As noted in the filing, “As her removal notice observed, before taking office, Cook had made contradictory representations in two mortgage agreements a short time apart, claiming that both a property in Michigan and a property in Georgia would simultaneously serve as her principal residence. Each mortgage agreement described the representation as material to the lender, reflecting the reality that lenders usually offer lower interest rates for principal-residence mortgages because they view such mortgages as less risky. When her apparent misconduct came to light, the President determined that Cook’s “deceitful and potentially criminal conduct in a financial matter” renders her unfit to continue serving on the Federal Reserve Board, and at a minimum demonstrates “the sort of gross negligence in financial transactions that calls into question[her] competence and trustworthiness as a financial regulator.” App., infra, 29a. To this day, Cook has never attempted to reconcile these representations.” (READ MORE)

“The Federal Reserve Act’s broad ‘for cause’ provision rules out removal for no reason at all, or for policy disagreement,” Sauer wrote. “But so long as the President identifies a cause, the determination … is within the President’s unreviewable discretion.”

“The President may reasonably determine that interest rates paid by the American people should not be set by a Governor who appears to have lied about facts material to the interest rates she secured for herself — and refuses to explain the apparent misrepresentations,” Sauer wrote.

Cook maintains she dindunuffin.

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Sunday Talks – House Speaker Mike Johnson Discusses Impact of Charlie Kirk Assassination on Washington DC

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson appears on Face the Nation to give his thoughts on the murder of Charlie Kirk.  CBS’s Major Garrett brings the conversation into Washington DC, asking how the assassination of Charlie Kirk is impacting the members of Congress.

Yes Alice, in the epicenter of all things narcissistic and self-centered, the discussion always has to focus on how it impacts them.  Go figure. WATCH: 

[Transcript] MAJOR GARRETT: The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who joins us this morning from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, it’s good to see you. I appreciate your time. The burdens of speakership are always manifold. You know that. Previous speakers I’ve covered know that, but they feel particularly heavy after the events of this week. I just want to ask you, Mr. Speaker, how are you doing?

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President Trump and Jerome Powell Tours the Federal Reserve Construction at the William McChesney Martin Building in Washington D.C.

President Trump heads to the Federal Reserve today to tour a new FED building and renovation process that is experiencing massive cost overruns.  There are some impromptu remarks that were previously made moments ago that I will break out in another post; however, President Trump is expected to deliver remarks shortly.

Livestream Links Below:

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OMB Director Russ Vought Discusses Concerns with FED Spending and Rescission Cuts Sent to Congress

Office and Management of Budget Director Russ Vought discusses the ongoing concerns with FED Chairman Jerome Powell and the FED’s ridiculous cost overruns for their offices in Washington, DC.  In addition, at the 6:00 mark of the video below, Vought discusses the first $9 billion rescission package that has passed the Senate, along with more rescission cuts that are likely to be submitted to congress.

Gotta give Director Vought a lot of credit for holding the fire to federal government spending.  This is a new tone for the DC spending guards, and they are certainly on notice the Trump administration is watching.  WATCH:

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White House NEC Director Kevin Hassett Gives Overview of BBB Economic Impact

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett gives an impromptu press conference today giving a big picture overview of how the BBB passing will lift the economy.  WATCH:

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President Trump Firm, No More Tariff Extensions Beyond July 8th

There is some interesting information within the video of President Trump aboard AF-1 as he returns from Florida. However, one of the more interesting aspects comes around 05:39 when asked if he was thinking about extending the tariff pause beyond July 8, 2025.

As noted by President Trump, very firmly, no. There is no reason to extend the deadline for reciprocal tariffs beyond July 8th for any country not in direct negotiations as of that date. Trump intends to just send them a letter outlining the applied tariff rate and that’s it. Done is done. WATCH:

This firm date is why India has extended their negotiation team in Washington DC, and is also the reason why Europe is coming Thursday.  The baseline tariffs are done, everyone pays 10% regardless of a FTA or not.  The reciprocal tariff rate will be applied to those without an FTA effective July 9th.

[The EU (who wants a trade deal now) is eventually going to align with Canada (who will need a trade deal later).  This factors into the current trade dynamic and looms over the decision making.]

Post July 9th, President Trump moves on to other important geopolitical matters with the tariffs as an ancillary weapon for adherence to the new international trade alignment.  Those who want to benefit commit to the U.S. dollar as the trade currency (that’s the reason for India’s announcement today), and trade preferences are then used to shake up the geopolitical alignments.  Watch for how this plays out with Trump’s planned UK visit.

From there, and after the gnashing of teeth settles down, later in the summer President Trump then triggers the USMCA renegotiation phase with Mexico and Canada.   President Trump is essentially ambivalent to the pleas from nations who want to continue their trade imbalance.  This sequencing and outline appears clear; but let’s watch and see what happens.

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Speaker Mike Johnson Wants Big Beautiful Bill Through House by Independence Day

♦ Some people just can’t take a win.  For the “I need to be outraged” group I would suggest their best time for complaining would be to join the collective association of the tech crew (Musk/Thiel), the alligator emojis (DeSantis/Cruz Crew) and the CONservative free traders (Massie, Paul, Roy).  That group of always unhappy, whining and never satisfied knuckleheads will welcome the griping, bitching and moaning.

However, that doesn’t work here. We have a big win to celebrate.

♦ The Senate version of the previously passed Big Beautiful Bill cuts more spending than originally delivered from the House.  You might ask why then did spending opposition narratives surface now and not when it passed through the House? Good question, we’ll get to that ‘political answer’ in a moment.

For now, the BBB is on track as it was originally planned (by July 4th); albeit right at the outer limits of the predicted timeframe that was announced in January.

[SOURCE]

The Senate BBB passed on a 50-50 vote split, highlighting it was the most conservative bill that could possibly squeak through the Senate.  It is the culmination of MAGA interests -vs- MAGA opposition, with the biggest win being the $70 billion for border security and ongoing deportation operations.

The original plan was always to use rescission bills to cut out the DOGE waste. Per Senate rules, the rescissions/cuts cannot be done until after the initial funding bill is passed (that’s BBB). Timeline: July – BBB, Aug – Rescission bills to cut DOGE waste {examples}, and Sept – FY 2026 Budget bill which begins October 1st.

Additionally, the narrative about the Senate bill including Medicaid spending for illegal aliens is false.

♦ The ban on Medicaid for illegal aliens is actually stronger than initially thought [See page 602. Section 77109].  As noted by Senator Schmidt, “the bill actually goes much further than the house version – beyond banning Medicaid for 1.4 million illegal aliens, it: • Requires states to verify citizenship status before providing coverage • Bans automatic Medicaid enrollment for children of illegal aliens • Excludes DACA from Medicaid.”

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OMB Director Russ Vaught Breaks Down Major Value of Big Beautiful Bill and Likelihood of Passage

Another facet not discussed in the BBB background is data released by the US Office of Personnel Management showing a reduction of approximately 23,000 federal employees since the Trump administration took office. [LINK HERE] OPM adds that hundreds of thousands will drop from payroll in October 2025. [link]

Office of Management and Budget Director Russel Vought appears on CNBC to discuss the non-pretending facts within the Big Beautiful Bill as it passed through the Senate.  The House now needs to reconcile, support the bill and send it to President Trump’s desk by July 4th.

The key notation from Vought comes at 06:07 of the video below as he explains the BBB is just one facet of a larger cost-cutting initiative (tariff revenue, recission cuts, discretionary spending reductions etc.). WATCH:

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I’ve got two words for the Musk fanboys, Tech bros, CONservatives, Massie/Paul/Roy fools, and those who clutch pearls on the false budget apoplexy; those two words are not ‘Merry Christmas.’

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President Trump Responds to Elon Musk Opposition

President Trump notes the financial motives behind Elon Musk’s opposition to the Big Beautiful Bill.

[Source]

Musk has previously said his opposition to the bill stems from the fiscal spending and aggregate, unsustainable national debt issue.  However, as President Trump and NEC Director Kevin Hassett have noted, the debt issue is a combination of spending and growth.  The economic goals of the administration are to grow the economy at a GDP rate larger than 3%, while simultaneously using the Office of Management and Budget to curtail spending allotments from congress.

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National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett Outlines Importance of Big Beautiful Bill

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett appears on Fox News to outline some of the background details of the Big Beautiful Bill.  Interestingly, after happy Hassett outlines the specifics of the benefits within the bill, he dodges a question about possibly becoming the next Fed Chairman.   🤔…  A Happy Fed Chair?

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