Senator Mike Lee fled from reporters asking him about his deeply disturbing X posts making a mockery of the murder of Minnesota Democratic state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and lying about the killer being a leftist.

“Can you tell us about your conversation with Senator Smith? Do you regret your tweet? Do you stand by the post that you made on X? Have you had a productive conversation about that post?” multiple reporters asked Senator Lee as he rushed away silently.

The Senator Smith question refers to Democratic Senator Tina Smith, whose deputy chief of staff eviscerated Lee over email on Monday before confronting him in person in the halls of Congress.

“It is important for your office to know how much additional pain you’ve caused on an unspeakably horrific weekend. I am not sure what compelled you or your boss to say any of those things, which, in addition to being unconscionable, also may very well be untrue,” the email read. “Why would you use the awesome power of a United States Senate Office to compound people’s grief? Is this how your team measures success? Using the office of US Senator to post not just one but a series of jokes about an assassination—is that a successful day of work on Team Lee? Did you come into the office Monday and feel proud of the work you did over the weekend?

“You exploited the murder of a lifetime public servant and her husband to post some sick burns about Democrats,” the email continued. “Did you see this as an excellent opportunity to get likes and retweet? Have you absolutely no conscience? No decency?”

Senator Smith cornered Lee the next day, telling him he was being “brutal and cruel.”

“I wanted him to know about the consequence of his words. I went to him and I said, ‘Your message on social media showed the image of the man who killed my friend,’” Senator Smith said later on CNN. “And your message is, ‘This is what happens?’ You need to take responsibility and accountability for what you are saying out there in the social media world.’ And I wanted him to hear that from me directly.… This is not a joke.”

The shooter, Vance Boelter, has since been confirmed as a staunch Trump supporter.

Donald Trump admitted that he’s ignoring what his Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard tells him about Iran—he’s just going on vibes.

The president sided with Israeli intelligence over the intel from his own government Tuesday, telling reporters that he believed Iran was “very close” to having a nuclear weapon, despite Gabbard saying otherwise, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

“I don’t care what she said. I think they were very close to having it,” Trump said.

In March, Gabbard testified the exact opposite while presenting the annual threat assessment before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “The [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003,” she said. “The IC is closely monitoring if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program.”

U.S. intelligence suggested that Iran was three years away from obtaining its own nuclear weapon, four people familiar with the assessment told CNN in a story published Tuesday.

Gabbard, however, promptly began lying about her own threat assessment to reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, to appear more in line with Trump’s comments.

“President Trump was saying the same thing that I said in my annual threat assessment back in March,” she said, although it was completely untrue.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Sunday that Iran had a “secret plan” to acquire a nuclear weapon and was “marching very quickly,” as justification for his sweeping military operation in Iran that began last week.

Netanyahu brushed off the differing conclusions of U.S. and Israeli intelligence when asked if there had been a change between March and last week, or if the U.S. intelligence was incorrect. “The intel we got and we shared with the United States was absolutely clear,” he said.

Trump fled the G7 summit Monday night after just one day, claiming that it had nothing to do with a potential ceasefire between Iran and Israel, and that whatever it was was “much bigger than that!” Just hours before, Trump had demanded the evacuation of Tehran, causing widespread chaos as Iranians fled their homes for safety.

Trump hit back at Tucker Carlson after the former Fox News host stated that America’s involvement in Israel’s war on Iran will result in the “end of American empire,” suggesting that the move was directly opposed to Trump’s “America First” rhetoric. 

“I am saying this because I’m really afraid that my country’s gonna be weakened by this, I think we’re gonna see the end of American empire. Obviously, nations would like to see that and this is the perfect way to scuttle the USS America on the shores of Iran. But it’s also going to end, I believe, Trump’s presidency,” Carlson said in an interview with MAGA muse Steve Bannon. “The second you get enmeshed in a real war, not a fake, ‘Lets go bomb the villagers and declare success’ … it’s a whole other question, which is, ‘How prepared is the U.S. military for real conflict?’ And the answer is totally unprepared, scary unprepared.” 

“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, “IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” Trump posted on Truth Social, in direct response to Carlson’s take. 

“AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” he posted again just minutes later.  “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Carlson isn’t the only MAGA-leaning voice speaking out against Trump’s service to Israel. “Trump attacking @TuckerCarlson for not supporting a new WORLD WAR is not something any sane person should support! This is the stuff NIGHTMARES are MADE of…”........

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