Media https://www.washingtonsun.com/media Media en-US Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:13:00 GMT ‘Pod Save America’ Is in the Wilderness Too https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/pod-save-america-democrats-podcast Emily Kennard A media platform once criticized for being too beholden to the Democratic “establishment” now reflects the party’s existential woes. Mon, 14 Sep 2026 09:13:00 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/pod-save-america-democrats-podcast Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vietor
A sit-down with the “Pod Save” crew is practically a required stop for any 2028 hopeful. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
The hosts of “Pod Save America” skipped their usual programming after then-President Joe Biden faceplanted in his debate with now-President Donald Trump. Instead of outlining an optimistic view of Democrats’ chances, the former Obama administration staffers taped an episode called “A Brutally Honest Debate Recap” about whether the 81-year-old incumbent was fit to run against Trump at all.

The break from party orthodoxy upset some Democratic bigwigs. That included Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Rob Flaherty, who sent a fundraising pitch to supporters after the episode aired, throwing out a veiled insult at “self-important Podcasters” who doubted Biden’s ability to win.

At some point over the course of more than a thousand podcast episodes, though, “self-important” turned into just “important,” no qualifiers.

Now, Democratic operatives widely agree that a candidate’s appearance on the show is unequivocally good for any campaign. A sit-down with the “Pod Save” crew is practically a required stop for any 2028 hopeful, whether to draw attention in a digital environment where people’s focus is getting harder to earn, or to attract organizers and donors who could fuel groundwork IRL.

“Pod Save” ranks among both Spotify’s and Apple Podcasts’ most popular shows in the U.S., and consistently sits among the top 25 podcasts in terms of reach in Edison Research’s quarterly metrics rankings since Trump’s second election. How Democrats use it to hash out their ongoing, heated intraparty debates over wokeness, foreign policy, health care and other issues could play a major role in where the party ultimately lands.

Still, in 2024, the podcasters got their way, but their team fell short: Biden dropped out and Trump won. This prompted reflection from the party, as well as from the podcasters.

“I want to do some personal soul-searching, and the party to do soul-searching to fix this, and to do better next time,” Tommy Vietor, one of the hosts, said at the time.

Nearly two years later, Vietor doesn’t have much to say about the results of that search.
Tommy Vietor (2864x1909, AR: 1.50)“I don’t remember saying that at all,” he told The Washington Sun. “What has that looked like? I don’t know. I don’t have a good answer to that.”

What was once a mainstream, often milquetoast liberal media platform that was criticized for being too beholden to the ever-amorphous party “establishment” now reflects the party’s existential woes.

Its relevance isn’t in question. But the hosts’ qualms with the party’s old guard have apparently resulted in a leftward drift in their content that’s made them divisive within the party.

“They are like men in a midlife crisis who were at the top of a medium that a lot of Dems did not understand,” said Yemisi Egbewole, a former Biden aide and now a fellow with the centrist organization Third Way. “I've watched lots of ‘Pod Save’ where they're critiquing the current Democratic Party and the Democratic establishment, and I just think: ‘Didn't you help construct this for eight consecutive years?’”

***

#Resisting Trump’s first term was the express reason the podcasters, former Democratic communications officials, started the show in January 2017. Vietor, Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett founded progressive media company Crooked Media at the same time, with the hope of building a network that could one day counterbalance the right’s well-funded media apparatus. They take turns hosting the show alongside Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser for Barack Obama.

“We just wanted to create a place where we could have these debates. We are not looking to be the deciders. We're not trying to be judge and jury,” Vietor said. “We’re all going to say what we think, and voice our own personal opinions, but we don’t want to be — in no way are we trying for the show to be a place that's adjudicating, or deciding what’s right and wrong.”

Crooked and its offshoots quickly became an all-inclusive Democratic powerhouse. If the focus was once counterprogramming to Trump’s stronghold over the Republican Party, their strongest leverage today is within their own party.

“They have high-level experience in Democratic politics and strong relationships with decision-makers who represent most of the perspectives in the party,” Andrew Bates, a former Biden spokesperson, said in a text message. “It’s valuable that Democrats who are on different wavelengths can get a fair hearing from ‘Pod Save America’ while at the same time being questioned by campaign veterans who talk like normal people and have a strong sense of conscience.”

The hosts’ positions within the ongoing intraparty war are hard to pin down. And how seriously they seem to think the Democratic Party at large should take their opinions is even harder to articulate — especially ahead of the party’s sure-to-be fiery and likely crowded 2028 presidential primary.
Dan Pfeiffer (2998x1999, AR: 1.50)“The day after the midterms, everyone is going to turn to focus on 2028. There will be fights about policy. There will be fights about the best way to communicate. There will be fights about electability. We’re going to go through all of it,” Vietor told The Washington Sun. “We just want to figure out how to provide a platform to all those candidates to make their pitch, to argue about their perspective versus another.”

Intentionally or not, the podcast’s hosts have found ways to wield their large platform’s influence on the party in recent years, like their post-debate episodes where they openly and forcefully questioned Biden’s viability. Or, more recently, in April, when Favreau grilled Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin over his committee’s butchered and then-unreleased 2024 election autopsy.

“I don't know that the current DNC leadership is the biggest fan of our show,” Vietor told The Washington Sun. The DNC did not respond to a request for comment.

They’ve leaned into the base’s progressive, antiestablishment energy, while also broadcasting pragmatic go-vote, get-involved advice to a country deeply disillusioned with, and deeply distrustful of, just about every major political institution.

Occasionally, the hosts poke at tensions within Democrats’ “Big Tent,” using terminology only someone doused in insular online Democratic discourse would understand. In July, Favreau jokingly introduced notorious centrist poster Matt Yglesias as “the online left’s favorite pundit,” as a spokesperson for “the ‘neolib’ shill faction,” and acknowledged that the show’s audience, as of late, has mainly heard from progressive, antiestablishment candidates hoping to push the party left.

“We haven't really had someone on, at least in a while, make a full-throated case for a center-left politics that emphasizes moderation,” said Favreau on the podcast, explaining the Yglesias appearance. “I know that probably sounds exciting and not at all annoying to many of you.”

It’s hard to find a positive comment on that video. Vietor said he and his co-hosts don’t pay much mind to viewer comments because people tend to take the time to do that out of anger. There seems to be no way for the podcast to make everyone in the party happy.

“We did an interview with Matt Yglesias. People were mad about that. Did an interview with Hasan Piker. People were mad about that,” Vietor said. “Same comments, different perspective. I think it's fine. It's a good thing.”

While the show’s hosts have caught a fair amount of flak for having had Piker — a Twitch streamer who’s stirred heated arguments within the party for his polarizing comments about Israel — on their show multiple times, Vietor acknowledged that Piker holds a valuable role in left-wing media.

“We need more people communicating with more groups of voters on every platform in authentic ways,” Vietor told The Washington Sun.

“Often, it's young men who feel especially estranged from the system, the establishment, from politics, and you know, talk to them about progressive values and prevent them from going down to the other side of the horseshoe and getting red-pilled and ending up watching Nick Fuentes,” he explained of Piker’s audience and influence.

***

Even if it’s not clear what the hosts think the party might, or should, look like by 2028, some listeners have noticed the hosts’ antiestablishment tack.

Longtime Democrats said they identified with the “Pod Save” hosts’ perceived political trajectory, or at least with their frustrations with the party’s status quo.

“They, like many sort of ‘normie Democrats,’ are really pissed at the party. They share a lot of rank-and-file party members' and Democratic primary voters' frustration with ‘the establishment’ — with the gatekeepers, with the old guard,” said Amanda Litman, cofounder of Run For Something, a progressive political organization that recruits and props up younger candidates for down-ballot races, who’s appeared multiple times on the show. “The version of us that has existed up until now has gotten us to this point. This point is bad.”
Jon Favreau,Jon Lovett (2954x1969, AR: 1.50)The show has maintained a particularly powerful platform, Litman said, not only because of the audience’s size, but because it’s chock-full of particularly eager and engaged Democrats. Sure, they might not represent a median voter, but their community — whose paid members are affectionately, parasocially referred to as “Friends of the Pod” — is activated by what they hear.

On the other hand, progressives say the hosts still seem to be grappling with their centrist, politics-as-usual tendencies.

Joe Wrote, the pen name for a Democratic socialist whose media criticism often gains online traction, said he’s noticed, while watching the show and reading viewer feedback, that “it seems like people are pretty solidly to the left of where they are, and they're being pulled along.” To him, the show’s welcoming platform is also its pitfall.

“When you have these politicians on, and you don't hold their feet to the fire or press them on how their beliefs are out of step with the Democratic electorate, then you're not really addressing the tension,” Joe Wrote said. “I think the ‘Pod Save America’ guys and their hosts do think that they can build a better world. I just think that at some point, they do have to ask themselves, ‘Is our theory delivering?’ Right? We spent the last decade telling people to vote, vote, vote. It didn't work.”

The hosts act more as wind vanes than bellwethers, other Democrats agreed.

“A bunch of people that were working within or working with the establishment when that was working for Democrats have seen the establishment fail,” said the digital strategist behind the X account OrganizerMemes, best known for holding workshops to help Democrats create memes for campaigns and progressive causes. “The movement is a different place than it was five years ago, 10 years ago, where a lot of people, I think, are more open to giving the more progressive wing a shot because of the failures.”

After this year’s midterms, which will follow a summer of bitter primaries for Democrats, the party will have only two years to gauge its base’s appetite for change and strategically market a wholesale vision of what a Democratic future can even look like post-Trump.

Trump “upended” American politics as the men had understood them, Vietor acknowledged — and he admits that “the base is getting fed up with the system,” and also that its voters “hate politics, they don’t think it’s working, and they want something different.”

Still, nearly a decade after their first episode, the hosts’ advice on how their listeners can save America remains unchanged.

“If you're frustrated, you know, get in there and change it. That's the only way it works. We — it’s a frustrating answer sometimes, but this is the country we've got. This is the political system we've got,” Vietor said. “And if you want to fix it, you know, roll up your sleeves. Like, that's my answer.”]]> Talarico Calls Kimmel Interview Drama the ‘Most Dangerous Form of Cancel Culture’ https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/james-talarico-jimmy-kimmel-texas-election-interview-abc-cancel-culture Angie Orellana Hernandez Jimmy Kimmel said ongoing threats from the FCC led ABC not to air the interview on television. Fri, 11 Sep 2026 15:20:31 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/james-talarico-jimmy-kimmel-texas-election-interview-abc-cancel-culture Jimmy Kimmel
Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP.
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico decried ABC’s decision to not air an interview he sat for on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” as “the most dangerous form of cancel culture,” while assailing the Trump administration for pressuring the network to alter its programming.

Talarico addressed the circumstances surrounding his interview with Kimmel on Thursday, telling MS NOW that “government censorship should be a concern to all of us, regardless of our political party.”

“I think it’s the most dangerous form of cancel culture,” Talarico said. “People at the top — powerful politicians, powerful media executives — censoring what we watch, what we read, what we say. That should be a concern to everyone who believes in the First Amendment and believes in the freedom of speech.”

Kimmel posted the full interview to YouTube late Thursday night. He asked the Texas state representative about religion, his opponent Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and voter suppression.

When Kimmel asked Talarico why the administration was so keen to get him off the air, Talarico answered, “They’re worried that we’re going to win this race in Texas.”

ABC has faced ongoing threats from the Federal Communications Commission and its chair, Brendan Carr, over workplace diversity practices, Talarico’s appearance on daytime talk show “The View,” and for remarks Kimmel made in September 2025 after the conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death, which resulted in a brief suspension of his show.

After the FCC signaled it would review the broadcast licenses of ABC’s owned and operated television stations years before they were set to expire, ABC accused the commission in a regulatory filing of retaliation. ABC and its parent company Disney sued the FCC on Aug. 18 over accusations that its First Amendment rights were being violated.

In February, an interview between Talarico and Stephen Colbert, who hosted a late-night show on CBS up until this spring, was also uploaded to YouTube due to the FCC’s enforcement of the “equal time” rule, which dictates that radio and TV broadcasters must provide equal airtime to competing political candidates if requested.

Kimmel titled his interview with Talarico “Jimmy Kimmel’s Interview with James Talarico That the FCC Doesn’t Want You To See” and began the conversation by saying the FCC has issued threats against him, his show, ABC and its affiliates because “they want to make our editorial decisions for us, which of course we cannot accept.”

That was why, Kimmel said, the interview would be posted on YouTube, “even though our government would clearly prefer that we not do it at all.”

Kimmel also said he would “love” to interview Paxton in accordance with the FCC’s “equal time” rule, saying he had a lot of questions for the Republican candidate.“Call me,” Kimmel said to Paxton at the end of the segment.]]> Kimmel Says His Interview With James Talarico Won’t Air Due to FCC Pressure https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/jimmy-kimmel-interview-james-talarico-air-abc-fcc-texas-senate-campaign-brendan-carr Angie Orellana Hernandez Kimmel said he would instead upload the segment on YouTube. Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:58:59 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/jimmy-kimmel-interview-james-talarico-air-abc-fcc-texas-senate-campaign-brendan-carr Jimmy Kimmel (ABC/Disney Entertainment press photo)
Kimmel said due to ongoing threats from the FCC against himself, his show and ABC, he would instead upload the interview on YouTube. (Disney/Randy Holmes)
An interview that Jimmy Kimmel conducted with Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico will not air on television amid an ongoing legal dispute between ABC and the Federal Communications Commission, the late-night talk show host said during a Wednesday monologue.

ABC and its parent company Disney sued the FCC on Aug. 18 over accusations that it was threatening broadcast licenses in violation of the First Amendment. The complaint, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleged the FCC had “waged a retaliatory campaign against ABC for a single reason: it disapproves of what ABC broadcasts.”

Kimmel said due to ongoing threats from the FCC against himself, his show and ABC, he would instead upload his interview with Talarico on YouTube.

“And thank goodness we have that,” Kimmel said, “because in the America we live in right now, that is the best that we can do until November, of course.”

In a statement Thursday, the White House denied that FCC Chair Brendan Carr had threatened Kimmel over his interview with Talarico or any other candidate.

“Jimmy Kimmel is play-acting — as he often does — to create a false narrative about this administration’s policies,” assistant press secretary Davis Ingle said. “Any media outlet blindly amplifying Kimmel’s egocentric delusion should insist on proof. Of which they will find none.”

The FCC did not respond to a request for comment.

FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez said Kimmel’s decision reflects “how far this Administration’s campaign of censorship and control has gone.”

“No host, local affiliate, or network should have to weigh federal retaliation before booking a guest for a newsworthy interview,” Gomez, the commission’s sole Democrat, said in a statement. “Any attempt to pressure broadcasters into self-censorship undermines both press freedom and the public’s right to hear from candidates in their communities seeking public office.”

Kimmel and President Donald Trump have shared a contentious relationship stretching back to Trump’s first campaign for office. Since Trump’s return to the presidency last year, the FCC and its chair Brendan Carr have waged a pressure campaign against ABC and Disney that centers around the company’s broadcast licenses.

After the FCC moved to review the broadcast licenses of the network’s owned and operated television stations — years before they were set to expire — ABC accused the commission in a regulatory filing of “retaliating against ABC for the exercise of its First Amendment rights.”

Top Trump administration officials have also targeted the network over its workplace diversity practices, Talarico’s appearance on daytime talk show “The View,” and for remarks Kimmel made in September 2025 after conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death, which resulted in a brief suspension of his show.

A February interview between Talarico and Stephen Colbert, who hosted a late-night show on CBS up until this spring, also went unaired due to the FCC's enforcement of the “equal time” rule, which dictates that radio and TV broadcasters give equal airtime to competing political candidates if requested.

In April, Trump again called on ABC to fire Kimmel after he joked that first lady Melania Trump had the “glow of an expectant widow.” Both Trumps said the remark was a call to violence before the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, while Kimmel defended the remark as a reference to the age gap in their relationship.

“I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject,” Kimmel said on his show in April following the criticism. “I think a great place to start to dial that back is having a conversation with your husband about it.”]]> The AP Will Keep Using ‘Lake Ontario’ Despite Trump’s Renaming Effort https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/associated-press-lake-ontario-trump Jenna Monnin The publication said it would refer to the body of water by Trump’s chosen name “Lake America” only “when relevant.” Wed, 09 Sep 2026 20:44:24 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/associated-press-lake-ontario-trump A computer screen displays Lake Ontario under the name “Lake America.”
"Canada, as well as other countries and international bodies, are not required to recognize the name change, and Canada has said it will not," the Associated Press style guide notes. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
The Associated Press said it will not refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America” unless it's deemed “relevant,” despite President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the body of water.

The AP provides a leading style and formatting guide for journalists, and the publication has faced criticism from the Trump administration for keeping the original names of other landmarks.

“The Associated Press will refer to Lake Ontario by its original name, including the name Trump has chosen when relevant,” AP spokesperson Patrick Maks said in a statement to The Washington Post published Wednesday. “As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are recognizable to broad audiences.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the guidance from the AP.

Trump’s Aug. 27 executive order directed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to update the Geographic Names Information System to reflect Lake Ontario's name change. The president personally applied pressure on companies like Apple to make the update.

The name change for the body of water that borders both the U.S. and Canada comes as the two countries are locked in an escalating, tit-for-tat trade war.

“The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote last month on X in opposition to Trump’s order.

The AP’s online stylebook points to that dispute: “The border between the United States and Canada runs through Lake Ontario. Trump's order only affects how the United States government refers to the body of water. Canada, as well as other countries and international bodies, are not required to recognize the name change, and Canada has said it will not.”

Since the start of his second administration, Trump changed the names of several bodies of water and land features, and he has recently teased renaming states to display more America-centric titles.

The AP did not follow Trump’s lead to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” The publication cited its status as a “global news agency that disseminates news around the world” and asserted that the “body of water has shared borders between the U.S. and Mexico,” so Trump’s executive order would only carry weight in the U.S.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also did not comply with Trump’s directive to rename the gulf, saying, “For us it is still the Gulf of Mexico, and for the entire world it is still the Gulf of Mexico.”

The AP did abide by Trump’s order to rename Alaska’s Denali as Mount McKinley. Even though lawmakers changed the name in 2015 from McKinley to Denali — which translates to “the tall one” in Alaskan Native languages — Trump pushed to “restore the name of a great president.”

“The area lies solely in the United States and as president, Trump has the authority to change federal geographical names within the country,” the AP wrote in its style guidance on the mountain.]]> The White House Called Fox News’ CEO to Complain About Bartiromo Firing https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/maria-bartiromo-firing-fox-news Torrie Herrington Administration officials conveyed to the network that the firing was “totally unacceptable,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said. Wed, 09 Sep 2026 19:21:33 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/trump-white-house/maria-bartiromo-firing-fox-news FOX News Bartiromo
President Donald Trump has defended Maria Bartiromo since her departure, calling her a “total professional” and “true warrior.” (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A top adviser to President Donald Trump said this week that unnamed White House officials called Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott to complain following the network’s ouster of longtime personality Maria Bartiromo.

It’s the latest twist in a long and complicated relationship between the Trump-era White House and Fox News, and comes after reports suggested Bartiromo’s ouster was a result of her decision to share newsroom communications about coverage with the White House.

Peter Navarro, Trump’s senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, made the claim during an appearance Tuesday on Newsmax’s “Greg Kelly Reports.” He also claimed the incident was evidence that Fox News was suppressing pro-Trump coverage and had abandoned its role as a conservative agenda-setter.

“Suffice it to say that Suzanne Scott got a call, and basically the White House let her know that that kind of thing is totally unacceptable,” Navarro said.

He later added: “The bigger story here is, forget about anybody thinking that Fox is a conservative network that’s friendly to MAGA, that’s friendly to Trump.”

Navarro’s comments came days after Fox announced that Bartiromo was no longer with the company after more than 12 years there. The network called her departure a “business decision” but did not provide a specific reason.

In an op-ed published Tuesday, Navarro said Bartiromo had planned to interview him about Trump’s July 16 speech, in which the president discussed debunked allegations of Chinese interference in the 2020 election. Navarro said Bartiromo later sent him internal guidance telling Fox Business staff not to promote the speech or discuss the 2020 election, which he passed along to other White House officials. Bartiromo’s disclosure of internal coverage decisions ultimately led to her firing, the media newsletter Status reported.

Bartiromo’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, has disputed that she was fired, saying reports that she was no longer a Fox employee were “absolutely and unequivocally false.”

Navarro nevertheless blamed Scott for what he described as a broader effort to keep Trump-focused coverage within limits.

“Suzanne Scott is the enforcer,” Navarro said on Newsmax, arguing that Fox will give its audience conservative programming while avoiding some of the issues most important to Trump and his supporters.

Fox has faced costly legal battles over its coverage of the 2020 election, and Bartiromo was among the Fox personalities named in several lawsuits alleging the network promoted false claims about voting-machine companies. Fox settled Dominion Voting Systems’ lawsuit for $787.5 million in 2023, while a separate Smartmatic case remains pending.

Trump has defended Bartiromo since her departure, calling her a “total professional” and “true warrior.”

Navarro has gone further, portraying Bartiromo’s exit as evidence that Fox is pulling back from some of the issues that have defined Trump’s relationship with the network.

“The muzzling of Maria Bartiromo by Fox News Media Chief Executive Suzanne Scott should be a wake-up call to every Fox viewer who believes the network is pro-Trump and pro-MAGA,” he wrote.]]> Fox Abruptly Parts Ways With Longtime Host Maria Bartiromo https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/fox-news-business-network-media-host-maria-bartiromo Associated Press The conservative media company did not specify a reason for the separation. Thu, 03 Sep 2026 17:50:12 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/fox-news-business-network-media-host-maria-bartiromo Maria Bartiromo
Maria Bartiromo had been with the company for more than 12 years. (Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)
Politically influential financial journalist Maria Bartiromo has departed Fox News Media after more than a decade, the company announced Thursday hours after Fox Business Network aired the final episode of the show that bears her name. The company did not specify the reasons for her separation.

“We thank Maria for her work over the last 12½ years,” a Fox statement read, “and wish her all the best on her next chapter.”

There was no immediate reaction from Bartiromo. Her X account still showed a banner photo Thursday afternoon encouraging people to “grab yourself a cup of coffee, and join us every morning for Mornings With Maria.”

Other high-profile, on-air personalities that have left Fox News Media in recent years include Tucker Carlson and Bill O’Reilly. Former Fox personality Pete Hegseth left the network in 2024 after being nominated as President Donald Trump's secretary of defense.

Bartiromo hosted “Mornings with Maria” that aired on Fox Business Network, the last episode of which aired Thursday morning, as well as “Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street.”

The first show will be renamed “Mornings with Fox Business” and will feature rotating anchors, the company said in its statement. The second will be renamed “FBN's Wall Street” and will also use rotating anchors. Additionally, her weekly Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures” will be hosted by Jason Chaffetz for the time being.

Bartiromo has frequently earned praise from Trump, who has granted her multiple interviews over the years. He has called her a “great reporter.” Vice President JD Vance, talking with reporters Thursday afternoon, said, “I love Maria.” He said he had not talked to her and did not know the back story.

In 2025, a lawsuit against Fox News by voting technology company Smartmatic alleged that Bartiromo spread false rumors about claims of election fraud on the air — a notion she had vehemently rejected.

Bartiromo had said before an earlier lawsuit involving Fox and Dominion Voting Systems that it’s “absurd” to think that she personally lobbied former Attorney General William Barr to aggressively investigate Trump’s charges of voter fraud during the 2020 election. Instead, she said she was doing a journalist’s job in asking follow-up questions. That case was settled in 2023.

Before Fox, Bartiromo worked for CNBC for 20 years as a financial journalist. Previously to that, she worked for CNN. At CNBC, she pioneered daily live reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and won an Emmy Award for a documentary about Google.]]> DHS Deports Far-Right Provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/dhs-deports-far-right-provocateur-milo-yiannapoulos Marissa Martinez The British national was detained this week in New Orleans. Sat, 29 Aug 2026 18:27:43 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/dhs-deports-far-right-provocateur-milo-yiannapoulos Milo Yiannopoulos
Yiannopoulos is from the United Kingdom and has been an outspoken supporter of mass deportations. (Mary Altaffer/AP)
Far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported back to the United Kingdom after immigration agents detained him in New Orleans on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed on Saturday.

Yiannopoulos was deported the day after he was reported to be in custody. The former Kanye West spokesperson and Marjorie Taylor Greene congressional intern entered the country legally in 2019 but “chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation’s laws,” a DHS spokesperson said Friday. A judge had ordered Yiannopoulos to be removed on July 22 after he failed to appear in immigration court, according to the agency.

Yiannopoulos is from the United Kingdom and has been an outspoken supporter of mass deportations and Immigration and Customs Enforcement crackdowns.

“Being in detention is a choice,” the agency posted on Friday alongside a photo of Yiannopoulos.]]> Billionaire’s WSJ Op-Ed Criticizing Bessent Was Written With AI https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/stanley-druckenmillers-wsj-op-ed-bessent-ai Jeff Stein “I write everything using AI now,” Druckenmiller, who questioned the treasury secretary’s bond market interventions, said. Tue, 25 Aug 2026 14:52:21 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/media/stanley-druckenmillers-wsj-op-ed-bessent-ai US Department of the Treasury
Stanley Druckenmiller worked with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent under George Soros, and is sometimes described as a “mentor” to the treasury secretary. (Jose Luis Magana/AP)
A billionaire acknowledged on Tuesday that his widely read opinion column in The Wall Street Journal criticizing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s bond market intervention was written using artificial intelligence.

Stanley Druckenmiller, a former hedge fund manager who founded Duquesne Capital, published “Let the Bond Market Speak” on Monday, questioning Bessent’s interventions to hold down yields on U.S. treasuries. The article drew added attention because Druckenmiller worked with Bessent under George Soros, and is sometimes described as a “mentor” to the treasury secretary.

Pangram, an AI detection tool, found that Druckenmiller’s op-ed had been written using artificial intelligence, according to multiple social media posts. In an interview with NOTUS, Druckenmiller said “of course I used AI” when writing the column, and argued he didn’t see a problem with doing so.

"There's a reason I moved from an English major to being an economics major," Druckenmiller said. "I'm not embarrassed by it … I write everything using AI now for the same reason I use a calculator when I do math problems.”

In a statement, Paul Gigot, the editorial page editor for The Wall Street Journal, defended Druckenmiller.

“AI is a fact of modern life. People will use it to assist in their work and their writing, including with research, checking grammar, editing and more,” Gigot said. “The question for us is whether what we publish from contributors reflects an author’s original argument, and if the author has the standing and credibility to make it. In Stan Druckenmiller’s case, we have had a relationship with him for many years, and nobody can doubt that his op-ed is his genuine opinion.”

The use of AI by economists and other experts in writing opinion pieces has gained renewed scrutiny as the tool has become more widely used.

Earlier this month, Harvard professor Ricardo Hausmann published a column in the Financial Times about Trump's tariff regime. The column appeared laced with AI-inflected language, and the Financial Times later appended a note saying: "It has come to our attention that AI was used to condense a longer draft of this column prior to submission to the FT and our own editorial involvement. The FT editorial code of conduct specifically prohibits the use of AI in the writing process."

Druckenmiller’s op-ed also included numerous phrases that sound like writing generated by AI, including: “There is a quieter cost, too” and “This wasn’t liquidity management, it was price management.”

A Pangram test posted on social media by the economist Claudia Sahm found that "100 percent of this text is AI.” Druckenmiller denied that “the whole thing” was written with AI and said that he rejected many of the AI’s suggestions during the writing process.

Some media experts have expressed concern about the proliferation of the tool. Chris Roberts, an associate professor at the University of Alabama specializing in journalism ethics, said “using AI raises questions about how much time and thought actually went into the piece.”

“We see a ton of this. We’re going to see more of this,” Roberts said. “Any time you take humans out of the process of communicating to other humans there can be blowback when the words or the intent is wrong, or it doesn’t sound like a human.”

Druckenmiller dismissed the use of the tool as unimportant because the op-ed reflected his intended meaning.

“I don’t know why this is relevant,” Druckenmiller said. “My name is on the piece. It’s my message.”]]> Pentagon Purges Leaders at Military Newspaper Stars & Stripes https://www.washingtonsun.com/defense/pentagon-defense-department-fires-editor-publisher-stars-and-stripes-military-newspaper Torrie Herrington, Angie Orellana Hernandez The publication’s editor in chief told NOTUS that he was let go at least partially because of a “CBS Sunday Morning” story that he recently appeared in. Fri, 21 Aug 2026 21:53:12 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/defense/pentagon-defense-department-fires-editor-publisher-stars-and-stripes-military-newspaper Sean Parnell
Earlier this year, Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell (pictured) called the publication “woke” but vowed that it would soon return to what he called “its original mission.” (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
The Pentagon on Friday purged the leadership of military newspaper Stars and Stripes, which has been at odds with Defense Department brass since President Donald Trump returned to office last year.

Max Lederer, publisher of Stars and Stripes, as well as the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Erik Slavin, and a reporter, Lara Korte, were all fired on Friday for insubordination.

The publication is partially funded by the federal government but operates independently from Pentagon leadership.

Slavin told NOTUS he was let go at least partially because of a “CBS Sunday Morning” story about Stars and Stripes that he recently appeared in.

“According to the notice, I am being fired for stating in a CBS interview that hypothetical censorship of news for service members would constitute a personal red line,” Slavin said in a statement. “The Pentagon’s public affairs office has charged me with insubordination. I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department’s own policies.”

The Department of Defense declined to comment on the situation, but a Pentagon official confirmed to NOTUS that the separation notices were issued.

Korte, who covered the Middle East for the paper and was also featured in the July “Sunday Morning” story, also said she received notice that she was being fired on Friday, connecting the incident to her appearance on the network.

In that story, she said: “I'm working for Stars and Stripes. Not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker. I’m here to cover the military community.”
Stars and Stripes AP - 26015712020023 (2000x1564, AR: 1.28)Lederer, who served as publisher for 19 years, had already announced his retirement Tuesday in a memo to the news organization’s staff, saying that his “understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes” contrasted in “fundamental ways” with Pentagon leadership’s vision.

Lederer’s announcement led a trio of Democratic senators to voice their concerns over the Pentagon’s oversight of Stars and Stripes. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) revealed that the Department of Defense had assigned an active-duty public affairs officer to serve as Lederer’s deputy — reportedly without consultation with the newspaper’s leadership.

The Associated Press reported that it’s unclear if that active-duty public affairs officer, Navy Capt. William Urban, would become the new publisher.

Blumenthal lashed out at Pentagon leadership Friday after news of the firings broke, telling NOTUS in a statement: “These firings are political interference and intimidation. This shameless censorship will only continues to erode veteran and servicemember credibility and trust in the newspaper, whose independence is essential.”

He added that he planned to call for Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on the matter and push for changes as part of the annual National Defense Authorization Act.

On Friday, Urban released an open letter on the Stars and Stripes website, telling the paper’s stakeholders that he is “mentally committed” to ending his time as a spokesperson for the Navy in order to help run the editorially independent publication.

“This may be difficult for some to understand, but I have had to adapt to changing assignments and roles through more than 30 years of service. This is certainly one of my most significant adaptations, but one that I am fully capable of making,” he wrote.

In April, the Pentagon also fired Jacqueline Smith, whose job as ombudsman had been to ensure the paper’s editorial independence.

The newspaper itself has been a focus for the department’s top officials.

In January, Hegseth’s spokesperson Sean Parnell said Stars and Stripes was “woke” but will be returning to “its original mission.”

“We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members,” Parnell said on X.

“Stars & Stripes will be custom tailored to our warfighters. It will focus on warfighting, weapons systems, fitness, lethality, survivability, and ALL THINGS MILITARY. No more repurposed DC gossip columns; no more Associated Press reprints,” he said.]]> Lawmakers Sound the Alarm After Leadership Shake-up at Military Newspaper https://www.washingtonsun.com/congress/military-stars-stripes-newspaper-pentagon-hegseth Angie Orellana Hernandez A trio of Democratic senators said they were recently informed the Pentagon unilaterally changed a senior leadership position. Thu, 20 Aug 2026 17:31:38 GMT https://www.washingtonsun.com/congress/military-stars-stripes-newspaper-pentagon-hegseth Pentagon
Max Lederer, who served as publisher for 19 years, announced his retirement Tuesday in a memo to the news organization’s staff, saying that his “understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes” contrasted in “fundamental ways” from Pentagon leadership’s vision. Alex Brandon/AP
A trio of Democratic senators voiced concerns Thursday over the Pentagon’s controversial oversight of Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper partially funded by the federal government, after clashes over the publication’s editorial independence and its longtime publisher’s abrupt retirement announcement this week.

Max Lederer, who served as publisher for 19 years, announced his retirement Tuesday in a memo to the news organization’s staff, saying that his “understanding of the value and mission of Stars and Stripes” contrasted in “fundamental ways” from Pentagon leadership’s vision. He elaborated in an interview with Stars and Stripes on Wednesday that he particularly opposed the Pentagon’s plans to shift the outlet to a digital-only format.

Lederer’s announcement is the latest development in a string of turmoil that has engulfed the storied publication, which was originally created during the Civil War and revived during World War I.

Pentagon leadership under the Trump administration canceled the use of news wire services such as The Associated Press and Reuters. They also banned cartoons and other syndicated content. The publication’s ombudsman, Jacqueline Smith, was fired in April after calling the changes an infringement of Stars and Stripes’ editorial independence in an op-ed.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire) said they were recently informed that the Department of Defense had assigned an active-duty public affairs officer to serve as deputy for Lederer, reportedly without consultation.

The leadership change, they added, would further erode the publication’s credibility. They requested answers by Aug. 28 as to who appointed the public affairs officer to the position, what the officer’s duties would entail and what safeguards would be put in place to ensure there would be no interference by the Pentagon with the publication’s editorial decisions.

“For generations, American servicemembers, particularly those stationed overseas and in combat zones, have relied on Stars and Stripes for credible and independent news,” the letter read. “That trust depends on preserving a clear separation between independent journalism and the Department’s public affairs apparatus. At this critical moment of leadership transition, that independence must not be compromised.”

On Thursday, CBS News reported that the Pentagon was considering firing Lederer prior to his scheduled retirement.

The Defense Department did not immediately return a request for comment on the lawmakers’ letter, whether it was considering firing Lederer or on the decision-making behind his retirement.

Defense Department spokesperson Sean Parnell said in January that Stars and Stripes was returning to “its original mission.”

“We are bringing Stars & Stripes into the 21st century,” Parnell wrote. “We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.”]]>