• FBI’s Russiagate “burn bags”: FBI Director Kash Patel has turned over thousands of previously classified and other sensitive documents he recently discovered to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley. The documents in question were found in multiple “burn bags” inside a secret room at the FBI’s Hoover Building headquarters. This annex of documents is directly related to the FBI’s investigation into the alleged Trump-Russia collusion, which the bureau dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane.” The FBI’s “burn bag” system is how it destroys documents designated as classified. According to an unnamed intelligence source, “The release of the classified annex will lend more credibility to the assertion that there was a coordinated plan inside the U.S. government to help the Clinton campaign stir up controversy connecting Trump to Russia.” The source added, “It’s really hard to see how [John] Brennan, [James] Clapper, and [James] Comey are going to be able to explain this away.”

• Federal Reserve stalls while GDP grows: The Federal Reserve held interest rates in place Wednesday despite (or because of) Donald Trump’s pressure on Chairman Jerome Powell to lower rates. Two Federal Reserve governors dissented in the vote on rates for the first time since 1993; the final vote was 9-2, with one absence. Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released its GDP report the same day, showing a healthy 3% growth for the economy after a 0.5% decline in the first quarter. However, there are some unusual numbers lower in the report. Imports fell 30% after climbing 37% in Q1, resulting in net exports adding 4.99% to the GDP. Private investment fell 15.6% after a climb last quarter, but inflation only increased 1.9% after a 3.4% increase previously. The line item for personal consumption expenditures, which excludes food and energy and is the Fed’s favorite inflation measure, rose 2.5%.

• Trade updates on Canada, South Korea, Pakistan, India: The “Summer of Trade Deals” is ramping up. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that he will recognize a Palestinian state in September if the Palestinian Authority makes certain concessions. Trump said this will make a trade deal with Canada “very hard” to reach, as he doesn’t like “rewarding Hamas.” Meanwhile, South Korea will invest $450 billion in the U.S., focusing on energy and investments directed by Trump, while also dropping all tariffs on American products. Pakistan and the U.S. will collaborate to develop the former’s oil reserves, potentially selling oil to India in the future, according to Trump. India, meanwhile, faces a 25% tariff in addition to penalties for purchasing Russian oil. Trump has repeatedly warned India that its tariffs on U.S. products are too high.

• Trump lambastes Grassley over “blue slip” ritual: President Trump criticized Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley over the slow progress on confirming his nominees. Specifically, Trump blamed the “blue slip” tradition, which gives senators of either party the ability to effectively veto nominees for positions in the senators’ home states. Democrats have been using the slips to block Trump appointees. Grassley fired back that Trump’s message was “offensive” because the president resorted to “personal insults.” He also defended blue slips, as they affect each state’s district judges and attorneys. Grassley is siding with Trump on the need to get nominees through the Senate, agreeing that not taking an August recess may be necessary to recover lost time. Senate Majority Leader John Thune warned Democrats that their obstructionism is setting a “dangerous and ugly precedent.”

• Kamala Harris will not be California’s governor: Kamala Harris has announced that she will not run in the Democrat primary to be California’s next governor, despite leading the field in early polling. Former Harris lover and mentor Willie Brown is likely pleased with her decision, as he had cautioned against her candidacy, touting instead the ability of Rick Caruso to offer California voters something new. Other party members worried that Harris’s political baggage might have prevented Democrats from retaking the House of Representatives in 2026. Harris has promised to focus on helping other Democrats get elected and will provide an update on her plans in the near future. Her name still tops polls for the Democrat presidential candidate in 2028; perhaps she still has her eyes on the White House.

• Anti-Trump NSA lawyer fired: The National Security Agency fired one of its top lawyers, April Doss, after The Daily Wire revealed that she has a history of expressing anti-Trump views. That’s not surprising given that she previously worked for Democrat Sen. Mark Warner. “When serving as the top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel,” the Wire said, Warner “hired Doss to tie Trump to Russia.” Doss is hardly apolitical — she advocated for cracking down on COVID “misinformation,” blamed Republican “extremists” for the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and labeled the January 6 Capitol riot an “insurrection,” which she blamed on Donald Trump. Warner called her firing “the result of a politically motivated smear campaign driven by a far-right conspiracy theorist, not any legitimate concern about her conduct or qualifications.” In truth, evidence suggests that Doss was a Democrat activist positioned to undermine the Trump administration’s agenda.

• BBC instructs humanitarian propaganda in Gaza: The United Kingdom’s premier news organization, the BBC, has been exposed for pushing blatant, anti-Israel propaganda. A leaked internal email dated June 25 directed staff on how to report on the humanitarian situation. “The argument over how much aid has crossed into Gaza is irrelevant,” the email says. “We should say” that Israel’s U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) distribution system “doesn’t work.” Furthermore, the email characterizes GHF as amateurish and feckless compared to Hamas-linked NGOs. The BBC is not interested in reporting the truth but in promoting an anti-Israel narrative. The Spectator’s Jonathan Sacerdoti, who broke the story, observes, “The BBC is publicly funded and legally obligated to remain impartial. This latest leaked email suggests it is failing in that duty. As ever, there is virtually no chance the organisation will admit, redress or be penalised for this failing. They never are.”

• Reduced traffic accidents in NY, LA: An interesting before-and-after statistic has been noted since Donald Trump began his crackdown on illegal immigration. In America’s two largest cities, Los Angeles and New York City, the number of traffic accidents from last year to this year has fallen precipitously. In LA, from January 20, 2024, to March 14, 2024, there were 2,289 collisions reported. Over that same period this year, there were 2,076 collisions reported, which represents a drop of 9.3%. In NYC from January 20, 2024, to July 23, 2024, there were 46,267 collisions reported. Similarly, over that same time period this year, there were 41,459 reported collisions, a 10.4% decrease. While correlation is not causation, could it be that a smaller number of illegal aliens has impacted these cities’ accident rates? It’s worth investigating.

Headlines

• Arrests made over Cincinnati attack (Newsweek)

• Brown University cuts deal with Trump to restore half a billion dollars in taxpayer funds (Daily Wire)

• Taxpayers on hook for $163 billion in project overruns (NY Post)

• A megamerger creates America’s first coast-to-coast rail operator (WSJ)

• Further data shows media wildly overestimated number of trans troops (The Federalist)

• Canadian church slapped with $2,500 fine for hosting pro-Trump worship leader (Christian Post)

• Humor: Federal judge orders Sydney Sweeney to gain 100 pounds and get one of those butch haircuts (Babylon Bee)

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