“Look what we’ve done here. I almost cried.” Unreleased documentary footage shows late US Senator Lindsey Graham celebrating the war on Iran, saying it was ‘the best thing’ he had ever done and revealing he had pushed for military action for years.
Published On 27 Jul 2026
Inside the Waldorf Astoria on Friday evening, President Donald Trump took to the stage at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and tried out some Don Rickles-like shtick, interspersed it with some of his greatest rally hits and fixated on some of his obsessions, including his plans for a White House ballroom.
What stood out during his one-hour-and-two minute remarks, though, was the silence in the crowd: many jokes didn’t land, he meandered into asides and veered into insider-ish attacks that likely went well over the heads of the TV audience. Much of what he said wasn’t humor, in contrast to the tightly scripted routines of his predecessors, but akin to a fever dream from someone who has spent a bit too much time watching right-wing TV.
At about 45 minutes in, guests were looking at their phones and fidgeting in their seats. I looked around and locked eyes with a man who gave a brief yawn. It was Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary.
The length of Trump’s remarks were a reminder of one of Johnny Carson’s quips from the Oscars decades ago: “Welcome to two hours of sparkling entertainment spread over a four-hour show.” It should be noted that Trump’s weaving from topic to topic included a riff on the Academy Awards and how they have gotten too anti-Trump, but even that didn’t get much of a response.
The president did deliver some funny lines, including quips about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire, very delicious beef tenderloin, very special beef. And I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here, personally ran over the cow in his car.”
Trump also revealed that he still counts how many front-page stories he gets in the New York Times, and gave some practical guidance for reporters who have his phone number and want to call him directly, and why he answers some of them. “I always find that when you don’t speak to the press, you always get a bad story. When you do speak to the press, you have a shot at a good story.”
Yet in a room full of journalists, Trump’s attacks on figures like CNN’s Kaitlan Collins were met with stone-faces from those who were well aware their reactions could be caught on C-SPAN cameras. His personal insults, ranging from Adam Schiff having a pencil neck to Chris Christie’s weight to Bruce Springsteen’s aged face, also were repeats of various Truth Social posts.
The event, in the Waldorf Astoria ballroom, was in a much smaller venue than the Washington Hilton, making it more intimate and putting many attendees face-to-face with Trump’s top advisers and members of his cabinet including Stephen Miller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. With a much smaller crowd, and no pre-event receptions, the enhanced security generally moved briskly.
There were standout moments during other parts of the evening. This was the rescheduled dinner after April’s event was stopped by an apparent assassination attempt on the president, as a gunman breached security and the sounds of gunfire sent the thousands of attendees at the Washington Hilton to the floor. The WHCA paid tribute to the Secret Service officer, Victor Gonzales, who helped stop the gunman, as well as the Washington Hilton staff.
WHCA president Weijia Jiang, White House correspondent for CBS News, gave a very personal and heartfelt speech about her journey, having been born in China, raised in Appalachian coal country and, inspired by Connie Chung, landing in the “Oval Office to ask questions of the president of the United States.”
L-R: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, President Donald Trump and Weijia Jiang
Eric Lee/Getty Images
There was pressure on the WHCA to directly confront Trump for his attacks on the press. Jiang talked about the purpose of the First Amendment and the intent of the founders, while commenting more generally on the state of the situation rather than call out specific episodes. She said, “Criticism of the media can be unfair. It can also be legitimate. We get a lot right, but sometimes we get things wrong. We mistake proximity to power for understanding it, and at times we get trapped in our own bubbles. There is a difference, though, an existential difference, between criticizing the press and trying to undermine it.”
When it came to the defense of the press at a difficult moment, the approach of the WHCA appeared to be that of what is taught in J-school: Show, don’t tell. A video segment featured an AI-generated James Madison explaining the importance of the First Amendment, with clips of Trump’s predecessors, including Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, acknowledging the essential role of the press corps. Comments from Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson reinforced how the adversarial nature of the relationship is nothing new.
The most direct face-to-face with Trump’s press attacks came when Wolf Blitzer presented an award to Wall Street Journal for its reporting on an alleged bawdy letter that Trump wrote to Jeffrey Epstein. As Blitzer noted that Trump sued the Journal for $20 billion, the president gave a smirk, to some laughter, then he shook hands with the reporters who received the prize. After it was over, he threw his hands up in the air, as if to say, whatever.
Toward the end of his winding remarks, Trump did say that he respected those in the room, but also that he planned to be back at the event next year.
What seemed to really wow the room came at the end, when mentalist Oz Pearlman performed a series of feats, made all the more notable when they involved UN Ambassador Mike Waltz and Blanche. The latter figure, awaiting Senate confirmation to take the DOJ post permanently, gamely played along as Pearlman asked him to lie about how much money he had in his wallet. Blanche said $130; Pearlman wrote down the correct figure, $85.
Later, Pearlman had Blanche sign one of his $20 bills.
“Hold it up and let everyone see the federal offense you have just committed,” Pearlman quipped. “He just clearly lost the Senate confirmation hearings on camera.” The interplay made sense a little later when Pearlman performed another feat, writing a figure on a whiteboard that matched the serial number to Blanche’s bill.
The moment was a bit incongruous to what is going on in D.C. and with Blanche himself, what with the DOJ recently issuing subpoenas to reporters from The New York Times, and then withdrawing them in the face of a judge’s criticisms. But for the WHCA dinner, a tradition that has traditionally mixed the serious with showbiz, Pearlman’s routine at least proved to be a bit of sparkling entertainment.
A vendor livestreaming from the Bite of Seattle festival captured the moment shots rang out near the Space Needle. At least two people were killed and five others, including a 2-year-old child, were wounded in the shooting.
Published On 27 Jul 2026
Sumaya Yaghi returns to what’s left of her destroyed home in southern Lebanon after Israeli troops withdrew from her ‘pilot zone’ village under a US-backed agreement.
Published On 26 Jul 2026
The US military has released footage it says shows forces boarding one tanker and disabling another accused of attempting to breach its naval blockade of Iran. CENTCOM says 12 commercial vessels have been redirected and two disabled for failing to comply.
Published On 26 Jul 2026
How far have US politics – and media – really shifted on the topic of Israel?
For US politicians, travelling to Israel has become a rite of passage and almost always involves going on an Israeli government-led PR tour of the country.
US Congressman Ro Khanna departed from that pattern this past week when he joined Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
What happened next – a confrontation with Israeli soldiers and the media reaction that followed – revealed a lot about the reality for Palestinians that Israel and its supporters are determined to conceal.
Contributors:
Maya Rosen – Assistant editor, Jewish Currents
Yumna Patel – Editor-in-chief, Mondoweiss
Dalia Hatuqa – Multimedia journalist
Omar Baddar – Political and media analyst
Despite experiencing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, Sudan rarely receives the media coverage it deserves. Now, the United Nations is warning that another catastrophe is unfolding in the city of el-Obeid, which is on the verge of being cut off from the world and where there are barely any international journalists on the ground. Nicholas Muirhead speaks to Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan, one of the few reporters who have reported from the city.
Kim Ou-joon is part journalist, part activist, part political performer. An outspoken and sometimes controversial voice who leans to the left ideologically, Kim leads South Korea’s biggest YouTube-based news network.
The Listening Post’s Meenakshi Ravi reports on what Kim Ou-joon – and others like him – reveal about the world of politics and media in South Korea.
Featuring:
Kim Ou-joon – Founder and host, News Factory
Jane Yeahin Pyo – Assistant producer, Tulane University
Shreyas Reddy – NK News
Published On 26 Jul 2026
At the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Friday, Donald Trump delivered an hour-long speech blending shopworn rally material with a string of leaden one-liners.
He was making his first appearance as president at the dinner, which had to be rescheduled last April after a shooter attempted to rush the ballroom and was subdued by the Secret Service. While presidents for decades have long used the event’s keynote slot to zing reporters to varying degrees, Trump lapsed into rally mode, only deviating for some personal broadsides at members of the press, marbled with references to their appearance.
After one clanger about an elderly U.S. senator’s sex life drew crickets, Trump asked, “Does anybody get that? I thought that was actually great. That was actually the only thing I thought was good in this whole frickin’ stupid speech. It was the only good one, and that went down with not exactly great laughter.”
Over the rest of the meandering speech (watch the whole thing below), Trump seemed to recognize that many of his would-be jokes were not landing. There were few laughs or reactions at all beyond squirming or fidgeting as he veered in stream-of-consciousness fashion from topic to topic.
“Tonight’s event is even crazier than the last time,” Trump said. “It’s so successful that I’ve been informed by CBS News’ David Ellison” (Ellison is CEO of CBS parent Paramount) that “next year, they’re going to call it the Trump White House Correspondents’ Dinner.” Changing the name, he added, “is the only way you’re going to get me back here.”
The hour-long speech tested the patience of all but the fiercest Trump loyalists in attendance. The audience only sporadically reacted, with long periods of near-silence prevailing in the ballroom. Once Trump’s remarks concluded and mentalist Oz Pearlman took the stage, a number of guests streamed toward the exits.
Compared with April’s event at the Hilton, the ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria is much smaller. Trump cabinet members mingled with reporters in an aisle near one of Paramount’s tables. Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim was at the dinner just a couple of hours after the decision to push back the company’s planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery amid an antitrust challenge. At a Paramount table with Delrahim were Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, presidential advisor Stephen Miller and his wife Katie Miller. Also at the event: Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert Kennedy Jr. and his wife Cheryl Himes, as well as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was at the center of one of Pearlman’s mental feats.
Prior to Trump’s remarks, there were some awkward moments onstage as annual awards were given out, including to some journalists who investigated the president. As Wall Street Journal reporters accepted an honor for their Jeffrey Epstein story, Trump shook their hands and then threw his hands up in the air and smiled a bit. Wolf Blitzer, who was presenting the award, noted that he sued the WSJ over the story for $20 billion.
Once at the lectern, Trump went after Josh Dawsey, one of the WSJ winners, and CNN host Kaitlan Collins with highly personal digs, but the room fell nearly silent as the would-be laugh lines were delivered. Weijia Jiang, outgoing president of the WHCA, largely stayed serious, not giving up a reaction, as Trump went into the would-be-roast-like digressions.
CNN even released a statement during the speech, defending its journalists.
The president appeared to have a set of prepared jokes, but he frequently veered off script, or their subjects seemed to remind him of an aside. The result was a speech that weaved through familiar political attacks, like on Adam Schiff’s appearance, to an extended riff on his plans for a White House ballroom. At one point, he pointed to details on the chandeliers at the Waldorf Astoria venue, which he built and previously operated as a Trump hotel. Some of his biting insults at the press were perhaps more muted than they otherwise would have been, given the sheer length of the speech and the topics covered.
When Pearlman took the stage, he noted that Trump had made “an announcement that he will attending next year’s event. I thought he was going to be speaking until next year, actually.”
Trump had been scheduled to speak at the April dinner, but it was interrupted and then ended after a gunman breached a security barricade. The incident took place just outside the Washington Hilton ballroom, but shots could be heard among dinner guests. That sent the Secret Service scrambling to remove Trump and Vice President JD Vance from the dais, as well as other guests seated in the ballroom.
Trump urged the White House Correspondents’ Association to reschedule, but the new arrangements were for a new venue at the Waldorf, formerly a Trump hotel, and with a new set of security measures in place.
But just as in April, there has been attention on the WHCA and what would be said during the evening, not just by Trump but by other journalists. In addition to a flurry of lawsuits against media outlets and routine rants about the news media, Trump has threatened to pull network broadcast licenses and his Justice Department has subpoenaed reporters to try to obtain their sources. In the latter case, the DOJ this week withdrew subpoenas issued to New York Times reporters who wrote pieces on the lack of security features on the new Air Force One. That followed a court hearing in which a federal judge criticized government attorneys for the way that the subpoenas were issued.
The president skipped the WHCA dinners last year and during his first term, at times holding counter events. But he agreed to attend this year, putting him front and center at an event celebrating some of the journalists he has attacked. Among those receiving awards were reporters for The Wall Street Journal who reported on a bawdy letter with Trump’s signature sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump denied he sent the letter, and sued the publication, along with its publisher and Rupert Murdoch.
Inside the Waldorf Astoria on Friday evening, President Donald Trump took to the stage at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and tried out some Don Rickles-like shtick, interspersed it with some of his greatest rally hits and fixated on some of his obsessions, including his plans for a White House ballroom.
What stood out during his one-hour-and-two minute remarks, though, was the silence in the crowd: many jokes didn’t land, he meandered into asides and veered into insider-ish attacks that likely went well over the heads of the TV audience. Much of what he said wasn’t humor, in contrast to the tightly scripted routines of his predecessors, but akin to a fever dream from someone who has spent a bit too much time watching right-wing TV.
At about 45 minutes in, guests were looking at their phones and fidgeting in their seats. I looked around and locked eyes with a man who gave a brief yawn. It was Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary.
The length of Trump’s remarks were a reminder of one of Johnny Carson’s quips from the Oscars decades ago: “Welcome to two hours of sparkling entertainment spread over a four-hour show.” It should be noted that Trump’s weaving from topic to topic included a riff on the Academy Awards and how they have gotten too anti-Trump, but even that didn’t get much of a response.
The president did deliver some funny lines, including quips about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “I hope that everyone finally got to enjoy their entire, very delicious beef tenderloin, very special beef. And I want you all to know that Bobby Kennedy, who’s right here, personally ran over the cow in his car.”
Trump also revealed that he still counts how many front-page stories he gets in the New York Times, and gave some practical guidance for reporters who have his phone number and want to call him directly, and why he answers some of them. “I always find that when you don’t speak to the press, you always get a bad story. When you do speak to the press, you have a shot at a good story.”
Yet in a room full of journalists, Trump’s attacks on figures like CNN’s Kaitlan Collins were met with stone-faces from those who were well aware their reactions could be caught on C-SPAN cameras. His personal insults, ranging from Adam Schiff having a pencil neck to Chris Christie’s weight to Bruce Springsteen’s aged face, also were repeats of various Truth Social posts.
The event, in the Waldorf Astoria ballroom, was in a much smaller venue than the Washington Hilton, making it more intimate and putting many attendees face-to-face with Trump’s top advisers and members of his cabinet including Stephen Miller, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. With a much smaller crowd, and no pre-event receptions, the enhanced security generally moved briskly.
There were standout moments during other parts of the evening. This was the rescheduled dinner after April’s event was stopped by an apparent assassination attempt on the president, as a gunman breached security and the sounds of gunfire sent the thousands of attendees at the Washington Hilton to the floor. The WHCA paid tribute to the Secret Service officer, Victor Gonzales, who helped stop the gunman, as well as the Washington Hilton staff.
WHCA president Weijia Jiang, White House correspondent for CBS News, gave a very personal and heartfelt speech about her journey, having been born in China, raised in Appalachian coal country and, inspired by Connie Chung, landing in the “Oval Office to ask questions of the president of the United States.”
L-R: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, President Donald Trump and Weijia Jiang
Eric Lee/Getty Images
There was pressure on the WHCA to directly confront Trump for his attacks on the press. Jiang talked about the purpose of the First Amendment and the intent of the founders, while commenting more generally on the state of the situation rather than call out specific episodes. She said, “Criticism of the media can be unfair. It can also be legitimate. We get a lot right, but sometimes we get things wrong. We mistake proximity to power for understanding it, and at times we get trapped in our own bubbles. There is a difference, though, an existential difference, between criticizing the press and trying to undermine it.”
When it came to the defense of the press at a difficult moment, the approach of the WHCA appeared to be that of what is taught in J-school: Show, don’t tell. A video segment featured an AI-generated James Madison explaining the importance of the First Amendment, with clips of Trump’s predecessors, including Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama, acknowledging the essential role of the press corps. Comments from Dan Rather and Sam Donaldson reinforced how the adversarial nature of the relationship is nothing new.
The most direct face-to-face with Trump’s press attacks came when Wolf Blitzer presented an award to Wall Street Journal for its reporting on an alleged bawdy letter that Trump wrote to Jeffrey Epstein. As Blitzer noted that Trump sued the Journal for $20 billion, the president gave a smirk, to some laughter, then he shook hands with the reporters who received the prize. After it was over, he threw his hands up in the air, as if to say, whatever.
Toward the end of his winding remarks, Trump did say that he respected those in the room, but also that he planned to be back at the event next year.
What seemed to really wow the room came at the end, when mentalist Oz Pearlman performed a series of feats, made all the more notable when they involved UN Ambassador Mike Waltz and Blanche. The latter figure, awaiting Senate confirmation to take the DOJ post permanently, gamely played along as Pearlman asked him to lie about how much money he had in his wallet. Blanche said $130; Pearlman wrote down the correct figure, $85.
Later, Pearlman had Blanche sign one of his $20 bills.
“Hold it up and let everyone see the federal offense you have just committed,” Pearlman quipped. “He just clearly lost the Senate confirmation hearings on camera.” The interplay made sense a little later when Pearlman performed another feat, writing a figure on a whiteboard that matched the serial number to Blanche’s bill.
The moment was a bit incongruous to what is going on in D.C. and with Blanche himself, what with the DOJ recently issuing subpoenas to reporters from The New York Times, and then withdrawing them in the face of a judge’s criticisms. But for the WHCA dinner, a tradition that has traditionally mixed the serious with showbiz, Pearlman’s routine at least proved to be a bit of sparkling entertainment.
GLP-1 drugs, originally developed to treat diabetes and now widely used for obesity, are reshaping healthcare in the US. As research uncovers potential benefits beyond weight loss, experts are asking whether these medications could one day be used far more widely.
Published On 25 Jul 2026
Paramount has agreed not to close its proposed merger with Warner Bros. Discovery until June 1, 2027, or until shortly after the merits of lawsuits brought by state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America are resolved.
The agreement is an extraordinary new development in the merger transaction, which has won regulatory approval from the federal government and European regulators.
After a court filing spelling out the agreement came during the last hour of trading on Wall Street, shares in Paramount added to what was already a lackluster day. They fell 3.3% on the day to finish at $8.21 after touching a 52-week low of $8.17. The stock slid another penny in after-hours trading.
Click here to read Paramount’s agreement not to close the transaction as legal proceedings take place.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin this week granted the states a temporary restraining order pausing the transaction for 14 days to hold a hearing on whether to grant a lengthier preliminary injunction. She later extended the TRO by another 14 days, through August 17. Now both sides have indicated that they want to schedule a trial.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in a statement on social media, called the agreement “a major victory for a free and fair economy, for the entertainment industry, for workers, for consumers, and for affordability.” He planned to share additional thoughts with the media at a Friday afternoon press briefing.
Hanging over the legal proceedings has been the prospect that Paramount would be on the hook to pay a $7 million-per-day “ticking fee” to Warner Bros Discovery for every day that the transaction does not close past September 30. The agreement opens the very real possibility that legal proceedings will extend well beyond that date. There is a $7 billion breakup fee if the deal falls apart.
In their filing in federal court Friday, the attorneys for the parties wrote, “The transaction at issue in State of California and Writers Guild shall not close, be consummated, or otherwise be completed and Defendants will not take any steps, directly or indirectly, to integrate or consolidate their operations pursuant to the Transaction until the earlier of (1) five days after the merits determination in these matters, or (2) June 1, 2027. This stipulation and order extends to Defendants’ agents, officers, servants, employees, attorneys, and other persons who are in active concert or participation with Defendants.”
A Paramount spokesperson said, “Today’s agreement is a significant win because the result is exactly what we have sought from the outset: a direct path to a trial based on the evidence. This is the fastest and clearest way to prove that this transaction is good for competition, good for consumers, and good for creators, a conclusion dozens of competition authorities around the world have already reached. Plaintiffs’ market definitions bear no relationship to the realities of today’s marketplace and cannot withstand scrutiny. We look forward to proving our case at trial.”
The judge still has to sign off on the plan, but she had asked attorneys for the plaintiffs and defendants to meet to try to agree to a schedule.
In a joint statement on the agreement, the WGA West and WGA East said, “Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery today agreed to what the state Attorneys General and the WGA both sought from the court: the merger will be put on hold pending the outcome of the states’ and the WGA’s cases or until June 1, 2027, whichever comes first. It remains our view that this merger is unlawful, and we will continue the fight to block it.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James, representing one of a dozen seeking to block the transaction, said in a statement, “From the workers and artists who bring stories to life to the families who buy tickets at the box office, Paramount’s illegal takeover of Warner Bros. is a bad deal for all those who count on a competitive entertainment industry. Halting this merger while our case proceeds is a critical victory in our efforts to uphold the law and protect the film and television industries. I look forward to continuing our case to stop this illegal merger.”
The sides also agreed to scrap the current briefing schedule, as well as an August 3 hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction. They also agreed to file a joint statement regarding the scheduling of a trial by July 31.
The state attorneys general sued July 13 to block the transaction, claiming that it would stifle competition for wide release theatrical film distribution, anticipated big budget blockbusters, and basic cable television channel licensing. The WGA filed its own suit a day later, contending that the merger would illegally limit competition for writers services.
Paramount called the state AGs lawsuit a “flawed application of the antitrust laws and is wrong on both the facts and the law. We will vigorously defend the transaction and demonstrate that this challenge is inconsistent with sound competition policy and the competitive realities of the media marketplace.”