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Less than 24 hours ago, Donald Trump proposed a dramatic option for Iran: take out two American cities. His White House would now like you to believe you didn’t hear that correctly. Meanwhile, there are actual weapons of mass destruction to worry about. Two people are reportedly dead after a suspected plague outbreak tied to a Russian biological weapons facility. Then, after the real funding source of Trump’s ads was unveiled by the Washington Post, Trump says MAGA Inc. will pick up the tab going forward. Just don’t expect a refund for the millions already spent.But Trump isn’t the only one with ad problems. In Texas, leaked audio has Ken Paxton admitting he has little control over his own campaign, with Trump and DC calling the shots. And after viewing the GOP’s latest ad featuring his estranged wife, we have to agree with Ken. Rashad Robinson of the Committee for the First Amendment joins us after an FBI whistleblower alleged Trump ordered an investigation into anti-ICE protesters he saw on TikTok. Plus, an 18-year Interior Department lawyer quits over what he calls the Trump administration’s “assault on the rule of law.”

With the news surrounding the Cornell Seven, the message from survivors today feels more urgent than ever. At the Trump-Epstein Bookmobile in New York City, Epstein survivors took the mic alongside Robert De Niro, Rosie O’Donnell and others to demand what they’ve been denied for decades: the full truth and real accountability. But the message went beyond Epstein. Survivors drew a direct line from the failures that allowed Epstein to operate for years to what’s happening at Cornell today. And to close out the event, Miles had a message for the men who say they stand with women. It starts with what we do in November. And a huge thank you to DEFIANCE members, who helped fund the Trump-Epstein Bookmobile and keep it on the road.

Trump’s tourist attraction turned “military installation” just met its match: veterans. This morning, veterans descended on Memorial Circle with Public Citizen and members of Congress to protest Trump’s 250-foot vanity arch. Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, joins us fresh off the protest to talk about their fight to stop it and Trump’s sudden insistence that the arch needs drones and snipers. Pasted text Then, nearly nine months after Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE officer Jonathan Ross, her family is taking another route to justice. Her wife and brother have filed two lawsuits, including one that names Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem and other Trump immigration officials.Then we’re back into the Epstein files cover-up, where one foreign country is showing what accountability can look like, while breaking news here at home shows this regime seems just fine with letting a new Epstein class grow. Meanwhile, survivors are still doing the work this administration won’t. Reckoning Action Executive Director Cheyenne Hunt and Trump survivor Alva Johnson join us to discuss the Epstein reckoning in Norway and the Cornell Seven.

This is your weekly mission briefing!

Remember that government-funded Trump ad we showed you last week? Well, it’s gotten a LOT bigger. What started with roughly $14,000 in estimated spending has now grown to more than $1.7 million across three Trump ads. One of them is nearly identical to an ad Trump’s campaign ran in 2024. The biggest change? “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” Glenn Kirschner joins us to talk about the legal questions surrounding the ads, including who could be held accountable if they crossed the line. We also have new whistleblower documents from the Kennedy Center, where leadership had millions in federal funding to fix the very problems it is now using to justify shutting down. Pasted text Trump’s deals aren’t looking much better. His own ambassador says Trump offered to sell American weapons to Xi Jinping, while hundreds of millions of dollars in Venezuelan gold is sitting unsold because buyers can’t certify it isn’t tied to organized crime. Art of the Deal, baby. Pasted text The Trump administration also canceled $810 million Congress had already approved, hitting programs for refugees, migrant students and other services. Chicago educator Hilario Dominguez joins us to talk about how cuts like these make their way into communities like Chicago and who ends up paying the price. Pasted text Plus, one of Trump’s most dedicated “Front Row Joes” has officially left the building.

Trump’s press ban just got blocked by a judge. And somehow, his own DOJ helped make the case against him. To justify the ban, they pointed to a Politico story quoting an anonymous “senior administration official.” That official? JD Vance, speaking on an official White House press call where reporters were specifically told to identify him that way. Stephanie Grisham joins us to talk about Trump’s latest loss and a taxpayer-funded Trump ad that made its way onto cable news last night. Two words: Hatch Act. Then Trump rolls out the red carpet for Xi Jinping…literally. And after months of pressure surrounding the Epstein files, federal investigators are finally looking into two people who have been hiding in plain sight: Epstein’s longtime lawyer and accountant. The DOJ says it investigates when “the evidence presents itself.” So why now? Comedian and writer Ginny Hogan joins us to talk about the sudden movement and what she’s seeing on the road with the Trump-Epstein Bookmobile.Want more of Ginny? Pick up her latest book “OBEY IN ADVANCE: HOW TO SURVIVE (AND THRIVE) UNDER AUTHORITARIANISM”

Defiance weekly mission

Trump’s press ban is heading to court tomorrow, and the judge assigned to the case has been here before. Timothy Kelly, who Trump appointed, is the same judge who ruled against his White House in 2018 and ordered it to restore Jim Acosta’s press credential. Before the first hearing has even happened, Trump is already talking about an appeal. In moments like this, it’s hard not to feel like fate is on the side of the DEFIANCE. The ban isn’t going much better outside the courtroom. Last night, Zohran Mamdani welcomed the banned outlets outside Gracie Mansion and took their questions with Trump standing beside him. The White House insisted Trump wouldn’t be answering any. You can guess how long that lasted. Then, something strange happened over at the Justice Department. For several hours this morning, the DOJ’s public record of Trump’s pardons disappeared from its website. The DOJ says it was a technical glitch, but we’ve heard that excuse before. Could it have anything to do with the pardon-broker racket being exposed for all of America to see? We’ll be watching this one. Then we turn to Austin, where another ICE shooting has left us with two conflicting accounts of what happened. Wilber Garcés Pérez was working as a DoorDash driver when an ICE officer shot him. His attorney now says he’s back in the hospital with partial paralysis on his left side. Chuck Rocha joins us to talk about what he’s hearing from Latino communities in Texas as questions around the shooting continue. Plus, for Who’s Joining the DEFIANCE, Gorillaz played Atlanta over the weekend and decided to weigh in on American politics. Millennials, this one’s for you.

On Friday, when Trump announced his ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, we were skeptical the rest of the press corps would stand up with them. Today, we’ve never been happier to be proven wrong. Trump’s attempt to shut out the press is already backfiring, and it happened in a way that would almost be too on the nose if we wrote it ourselves. Then, remember all that talk last week about needing AI guardrails? Well, we now know an AI screwup came frighteningly close to putting U.S. forces in direct conflict with China. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam joins us to talk about what happened and whether Washington is moving fast enough to prevent the next mistake. Plus, Republicans have built a massive midterm war chest but some of that money is ending up in places they probably didn’t expect to be spending it. Independent Senate candidate Brian Bengs joins us from South Dakota, where AI money has also found its way into the race. And for Who’s Joining the DEFIANCE, Don Jr.’s Russian oligarch-funded wedding festivities have caught the attention of a Republican senator.

Donald Trump just announced he is banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. Sound familiar? Jim Acosta joins us after living through his own White House ban during Trump’s first term. He takes us inside what happened when the administration came for his press pass and what today’s announcement means for the reporters facing the same threat now. Then Brian Karem joins the conversation with a message for the journalists who still have access to the White House. We also sit down with Carlos Calzadilla-Palacio, founder of Disrupt, before getting into some of this week’s MAGA losses. There were enough to keep us busy. We didn’t get enough time to properly settle this week’s Solemate Awards, so we’re handing it over to you. Cast your vote at solemate.vote, and we’ll reveal the winner Monday.

After just seven workdays back from summer break, the House has already split for recess. Some say members need the time to campaign back home. Others might point to Mike Johnson’s ever-melting spine when it comes to dealing with the pressure building in Congress. I mean, he did pick one hell of a time to skip town… Fears around autonomous AI are pushing Congress to act, while some of the billionaires calling for regulation seem awfully eager to collaborate. Oh, and Thomas Massie just put Pete Hegseth’s impeachment on a clock. Then Trump has his own problem with someone telling him “no.” After a judge blocked his attempt to close and rename the Kennedy Center, Trump was photographed holding plans that appear to read “KENNEDY CENTER DEMOLISHED.” Today, that judge stepped in again. Andy Ostroy joins us to talk about what Trump is doing to the Kennedy Center and why he thinks Chuck Schumer should pull an RFK.

Weekly Mission: Protect the Peach (State)

AI leaders are warning that the technology is moving faster than our ability to control it. Trump’s response? He says the only guardrail we need is him. So today, we’re going all in on AI and trying to figure out which fears deserve our attention and which ones are getting ahead of the facts.

A whistleblower alleges Trump’s DHS told federal officers to misrepresent themselves to access Americans’ voter records, despite warnings it could break state law. Plus, a Putin-linked oligarch helps fund Don Jr.’s wedding, and Tim Whitaker joins us on Trump’s evangelical support.

Before we get to this week’s MAGA losses, we start with something much more important. Twenty-five years after 9/11, families are still fighting for answers. At Ground Zero, one widow used the anniversary to call on Trump to step up and provide them, rather than doing business with them. Then, we let our hair down. Kurt Bardella joins us for MAGA Losses of the Week, and after spending the week down the road from Trump-a-Paloozer, we finally have a chance to fully unpack it. Because for a convention meant to convince Americans to vote Republican, they sure gave us a lot to laugh at. Unfortunately for some of the Republican candidates, they probably could’ve used the help. A few of them are having some trouble of their own thanks to some...interesting campaign ad choices. We also have newly released texts showing what happened when the internet started making fun of Kash Patel and he had an idea: get the FBI involved. But perhaps our favorite loss combines two of Trump’s favorite things: the Reflecting Pool and voter fraud. Yes. Those two stories have finally found each other. After all that, there’s only one thing left to do: hand out this week’s Solemate Award.