The former Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who became Deputy Chief of Staff to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Linda Sun, has been indicted on a host of federal charges for acting as an agent for China, bribery, kickbacks and fraud.

NEW YORK (AP) — Already charged with acting as an illicit agent of the Chinese government, a former aide to two New York governors is being accused of illegally profiteering off the state’s pandemic-era scramble for face masks.

Linda Sun — who worked for Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Kathy Hochul, both Democrats — and husband Chris Hu were indicted Wednesday on bribery and other charges in the alleged mask graft.

“When masks, gloves and other protective supplies were hard to find, Sun abused her position of trust to steer contracts to her associates so that she and her husband could share in the profits,” Brooklyn-based U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. said in a statement Thursday.

[…] The new indictment accuses Sun and Hu of reaping millions in kickbacks by exploiting her role on a Cuomo administration team that procured much-needed personal protective equipment in the spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold.

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President Trump takes part in a White House event to promote the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” as he pushes lawmakers to pass the megabill before the July 4th recess. The anticipated start time is 4:00pm ET. Livestream Links Below:

UPDATE: Video Added

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Last night on CNBC Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff hinted that some stunning revelations around expansion of the Abraham Peace Accords would likely surface in the next week.   Immediately thereafter, President Trump sent a message of support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, against a judicial effort targeting the Prime Minister.

Today, we start to hear of some rather stunning developments in the region that might explain multiple background stories, including the above and the severity of response from President Trump when he felt that Israel was overreacting to the Iran missile fired during the early hours of the ceasefire.

In a stunning development, Israel Hayom is reporting on the outlines of a peace agreement and long-term solution for the Israel-Gaza conflict.  The report might explain why President Trump made bold moves in Syria recently, including the removal of all U.S./western sanctions and the close relationship between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MbS).

According to Israel Hayom, there was a 4-way call (Trump, Netanyahu, Rubio, Dermer) after the Iran strikes. President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to “fundamental principles in general terms” including:

♦ “Gaza hostilities will conclude within two weeks.” ♦ “Four Arab nations (including Egypt and the UAE) will administer the Gaza Strip, replacing the murderous Hamas terrorist organization.” ♦ “The remaining Hamas leadership will face exile to other countries (possibly Qatar and Turkey), while the hostages gain freedom.” ♦ “Multiple nations globally will accept numerous Gaza inhabitants seeking emigration.” ♦ “Abraham Accords expansion will bring Syria, Saudi Arabia, and additional Arab and Muslim countries to recognize Israel and establish official relationships.” ♦ “Israel will declare its willingness for future Palestinian conflict resolution under the ‘two states’ concept, contingent upon the Palestinian Authority reforms.” ♦ “The United States will acknowledge limited Israeli sovereignty implementation in Judea and Samaria.”

President Trump was reportedly angered by Israeli strikes after his Iran ceasefire announcement, because he feared further hostilities would derail this complicated deal.

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine hold a press briefing at the Pentagon, to cover the NATO meeting and the strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.  WATCH (prompted):

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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The timing of the Israeli judicial system against the backdrop of recent events seems to highlight the accuracy of our prior presentation about the internal political dynamics at play. [Go Deep] and [Go Deep]

According to a message of support sent by President Trump, the Israeli judiciary are now back to targeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for removal.

We suspect this would not have happened, at least the timing herein, if President Trump had not just executed a bold strategic move to disconnect U.S. interests directly from the interests/influence of the Israeli government.

This response from the Israeli deep state is in alignment with our expectation.

(via Truth Social) – “BREAKING NEWS…I was shocked to hear that the State of Israel, which has just had one of its Greatest Moments in History, and is strongly led by Bibi Netanyahu, is continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister! Bibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land. Anybody else would have suffered losses, embarrassment, and chaos! Bibi Netanyahu was a WARRIOR, like perhaps no other Warrior in the History of Israel, and the result was something that nobody thought was possible, a complete elimination of potentially one of the biggest and most powerful Nuclear Weapons anywhere in the World, and it was going to happen, SOON!

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President Trump announces via Truth Social:

“Secretary of Defense (War!) Pete Hegseth, together with Military Representatives, will be holding a Major News Conference tomorrow morning at 8 A.M. EST at The Pentagon, in order to fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots. These Patriots were very upset! After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times.

They felt terribly! Fortunately for them and, as usual, solely for the purpose of demeaning PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, the Fake News (Times and CNN) lied and totally misrepresented the Facts, none of which they had (because it was too soon, there were no Facts out there yet!). The News Conference will prove both interesting and irrefutable. Enjoy!” ~ President Donald J Trump

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Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff deserves a great deal of credit for what followed in the aftermath of President Trump’s final elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat.  Throughout the 12-day war, Witkoff maintained a diplomatic connection to the Iranian delegation in order to position a ceasefire upon conclusion.

The Trump administration is now taking a more firm stance toward who in Iran they will accept negotiations with.  As noted by Secretary Rubio, the use of intermediaries has exhausted its usefulness.  While Qatar may play a role as an interlocutor to bridge the two sides, the time has come for direct face-to-face discussions with Iranian officials.

With the potential of a peace agreement and increased stability throughout the region, there is an opportunity for an expanded investment and economic zone throughout the middle east, not just in Iran.  As CTH noted regarding the threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, technically it is not the Iranian government who closes the strait, but rather the maritime insurance companies who refuse to underwrite an enlarged risk.  The same concept applies when the absence of conflict becomes the norm.  Steve Witkoff draws attention to this background context within his remarks.

An ancillary benefit in the Russia-Ukraine conflict comes from a very public display of FAFO outcomes.  None of the principle characters within NATO, the EU, the U.K nor Ukraine or Russia want to face the Godzilla FAFO strategy that President Trump is willing to deploy.

The reason why the NATO partners responded with great deference to President Trump in the Netherlands is no global observer wants to face Godzilla in FAFO mode, militarily or economically.  Even before the dust settled from 70 tons of massive ordnance detonation deep underground in Iran the leaders of the world knew things would be different now.

How different?  We saw the outcome at the Hague.

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I’m just going to outline this post as it is framed by Vice President JD Vance without anything…

JD Vance – “This is such a revealing clip. The American media is full of the least curious, least insightful people in our country.

To recap, an out of context, “low confidence” and incomplete intelligence report was selectively leaked to the media. The media reported on the findings without any real effort to figure out whether they represent any part of (much less the full) truth. The way the media has presented the report is contradicted by the IAEA, the Iranians themselves, and the administration’s political and defense leadership. More importantly, the media’s reports are contradicted by common sense.

[Vance, cont…] “To summarize: a dozen 30,000-pound bunker busters were dropped on Iran’s main nuclear site. (The other two sites that were targeted suffered heavy damage too). No one disputes they hit their targets. No one disputes the explosive or destructive power of the weapons. No one disputes that a week ago, Iran could have easily assembled a nuclear weapon and now they can’t.

The entire debate–even accepting the press’s dishonest framing–is not about whether Iran can now build a nuke. They can’t. It’s about how much rebuilding the Iranians would have to do in order to achieve a nuclear weapon. In other words, after a wildly successful military operation with no American casualties, the American media is trying to blame Donald Trump for the existence of facilities *that haven’t even been built yet.*

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