The Patriot Post® · Wednesday: Below the Fold
Paramount settles with Trump for $16M: The parent company of CBS News, Paramount, has settled a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump over deceptive editing in a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. The initial settlement is for $16 million, albeit with no apology. Fox News reports that a secondary settlement in the eight-figure range may be used for advertisements and similar content supporting conservative causes on CBS going forward. All this comes after “independent” Bernie Sanders and three Democrat senators wrote letters to CBS urging the company not to settle for fear of capitulating to “authoritarianism.” Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, likely pushed for the settlement to clear the path to a planned merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. CBS has announced that it will release full, unedited transcripts of interviews with presidential candidates in the future, calling it the “Trump Rule.”
Rubio shuts down USAID: It’s official — the United States Agency for International Development is no more. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that USAID, the outfit that had become, for all intents and purposes, a slush fund for promoting leftist ideology via nonprofits across the globe, has ceased all operations. The news was met with hyperbolic and disingenuous prognostications from Leftmedia outlets claiming the closing of USAID would result in millions more deaths due to a supposed reduction in U.S. aid. In truth, the move saves American taxpayers billions in wasteful spending — spending that both undermined our nation’s values and provided little in actual aid. As Rubio pointedly noted, “Development objectives have rarely been met, instability has often worsened, and anti-American sentiment has only grown. This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end.”
Trump admin ends Pride Month by banning rainbow crosswalks: On the last day of June, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent a letter to all 50 state governors, the mayor of DC, and Puerto Rico’s governor, issuing new guidelines tied to the Federal Highway Administration’s SAFE ROADS initiative. Noting that there were more than 39,000 roadway deaths last year, Duffy wrote that SAFE ROADS is keeping roadways “free from distractions,” which includes “crosswalk and intersection markings.” His letter pointedly states, “Roads are for safety, not political messages or artwork.” In that vein, SAFE ROADS bans rainbow-painted crosswalks, which a number of cities have adopted to push woke social and political messaging — and then arrested people for defacing them.
Idaho sniper and details on victims revealed: The Idaho ambush sniper was a 20-year-old who once wished to become a firefighter, according to his grandfather. He murdered two Idaho firefighters, Battalion Chief Frank Harwood of the Northern Lakes department and Battalion Chief John Morrison of the Coeur d'Alene department. Fire engineer Dave Tysdal is still fighting for his life in the hospital. The motive of the assailant is still unknown; he had moved to Idaho to live closer to his father and had supposedly been living out of his car. The sniper had been involved in disturbing online communities as a “brony,” a male fan of “My Little Pony,” and used the hashtag “furry” to describe himself. He is believed to have used a shotgun with rifled slugs to carry out the attack.
UPenn admits Lia Thomas is a man: The University of Pennsylvania wisely submitted to President Donald Trump’s executive order banning males from competing in women’s sports. Notably, UPenn was the school where a man,
William“Lia” Thomas, was allowed to compete on the women’s swimming team, breaking numerous women’s swimming records and winning the 2022 national championship in the 500-yard freestyle. The Ivy League school reached its decision as part of an agreement to settle a federal civil rights case raised by the Department of Education over UPenn’s failure to uphold Title IX protections for women’s sports. The agreement also includes UPenn sending personalized apology letters to each swimmer impacted by having to compete against Thomas, in which the school admits it was wrong in allowing a male to compete in female categories. It is not yet clear if Thomas will be stripped of any awards and honors.
FBI avoided investigating Chinese election meddling: In the summer of 2020, the FBI received intelligence regarding an election interference plot, wherein China provided thousands of fake driver’s licenses to facilitate casting mail-in ballots in favor of Joe Biden. According to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, FBI records show the Bureau halted an investigation into the Chinese plot because “the reporting will contradict Director [Christopher] Wray’s testimony.” Wray had previously testified before Congress that “we have not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it is by mail or otherwise.” Grassley noted that the FBI records show otherwise and “smack of political decision-making and prove the Wray-led FBI to be a deeply broken institution.”
Zohran Mamdani officially secures 56% of the vote: New York City has finished counting its ranked-choice ballots, and it’s official — Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim socialist, is the Democrat candidate for mayor. Mamdani secured 56% of the vote in the third round of ranked-choice votes. Turnout in the primary was slightly higher than in recent elections, with more than one million votes cast, the most since 1989. Mamdani is the favorite to win the November general election, with scandal-plagued incumbent Eric Adams running as an independent. Republican Curtis Sliwa is running for the second consecutive time, and the defeated primary challenger, the scandal-plagued Andrew Cuomo, will remain on the ballot after the deadline to withdraw passed last week.
Independence Day cookouts cost less: The American Farm Bureau Federation released its annual report on the cost of a 4th of July cookout for an estimated 10 guests. In 2024, the estimated cost was $71.22, but in 2025 it dropped to $70.92. Both numbers are significantly higher than the 2019 estimate of $52.80 during Trump’s first term. Some may recall the Biden White House touting the 2021 estimate that dubiously showed costs were down $0.16 from the previous year; surely this year’s actual decrease of $0.30 demonstrates why Republicans are more trusted on the economy. The Leftmedia had assured the nation that Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs would tank the economy, so prices might have been expected to soar. Instead, Trump delivered the first cost decrease since Biden dropped his inflation bomb.
Headlines
Sean “Diddy” Combs acquitted on sex trafficking, racketeering — guilty only of prostitution (NY Post)
Federal judge blocks Trump’s immigration policy in decision on Haitian protections (Fox News)
AOC under federal investigation for employing illegal immigrant, helping others evade ICE (Townhall)
U.S. halts some weapons shipments to Ukraine over stockpile concerns (UPI)
Iran to suspend work with UN nuclear watchdog, president says (Fox News)
Air Force, Space Force hit recruitment goal months ahead of schedule (Daily Caller)
FBI headquarters to stay in DC, will move three blocks away to Ronald Reagan Building (Washington Examiner)
Humor: Pride parade followed closely by disinfectant parade (Babylon Bee)
For the Executive Summary archive, click here.
Follow Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Jordan Candler on X/Twitter.