Trump’s DHS Chief Admits He Doesn’t Know What Agency Does
Trump caught lying about major strike in Iran, Project 2025 economist issues dire warning about Trump’s economy; Newsmax executive picked to lead Voice of America
Raw America
Mar 19
Trump personally approved Israeli strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, then went on Truth Social and lied about it to the entire world. A Heritage Foundation economist and Project 2025 architect is warning the U.S. economy cannot handle what this war is doing to energy prices. A former Newsmax executive was quietly installed to run Voice of America. And Trump’s pick to lead Homeland Security doesn’t appear to know what one of its most important agencies actually does.
Trump lied about knowing. U.S. and Israeli officials say otherwise.
After Israeli strikes hit Iran’s South Pars gas field, Iran’s primary source of national income, Trump posted on Truth Social claiming the United States knew nothing about it. Sources inside both the U.S. and Israeli governments say that is false. Multiple senior officials told reporters that Trump personally approved the strike before choosing to publicly deny it. The operation was designed to pressure Iran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
The denial became impossible to sustain when Iran retaliated beyond U.S. borders. Tehran struck Qatar’s Ras Laffan industrial zone, one of the world’s most critical LNG facilities, twice. Iran also launched missiles toward Saudi Arabia, which were reportedly intercepted. Qatari officials were furious, demanding answers from Washington about what prior knowledge the U.S. had. Trump’s Middle East envoy scrambled to arrange an emergency call between the president and the Qatari emir.
Brent crude surged more than 7 percent to $111.23 a barrel. One analyst said the conflict is “no longer just about military headlines or Strait of Hormuz closure.” It is now hitting the plumbing of the global energy system.”
Trump’s response was to threaten even more destruction, warning Iran that if Qatar’s LNG infrastructure were struck again, the U.S. would wipe out the entire South Pars operation. He approved the strike and lied about it publicly, and his own officials contradicted him within hours. The global energy market is now in crisis, and the president’s answer is more threats.
Even Project 2025’s Own Economist Says This Economy Can’t Handle It
E.J. Antoni, the Heritage Foundation’s chief economist and a co-author of Project 2025, told a financial publication this week that the U.S. economy simply cannot absorb $100-a-barrel oil. “I don’t think this is an economy that is going to be able to handle $100 a barrel for oil; it’s just not,” he said. “The economy is weaker than we thought it was, and inflation is worse than we thought it was.”
Lower energy prices in 2025 had been helping keep a lid on inflation. With oil now surging past $111, the opposite pressure is building. Groceries, utilities, gas, and consumer goods across the board will feel it. Working families will feel it first and worst.
This warning is not coming from a Democrat or a critic of the administration. It’s coming from a Project 2025 architect, a man Trump once wanted to install as head of the Bureau of Labour Statistics. When the people who wrote the blueprint for this presidency start warning that its war is going to hurt ordinary Americans, that’s not something you can dismiss as partisan spin. The economic alarm is now sounding from inside the MAGA house itself.
Voice of America Gets a Newsmax News Director
One day after a federal judge ordered more than 1,000 Voice of America journalists back to work, reversing Trump’s efforts to effectively shut the agency down, the administration installed a former Newsmax news director as VOA’s deputy director via an unsigned internal memo. It remains unclear who authorized the appointment.
VOA was founded in 1942 specifically to counter Nazi propaganda. It broadcasts in 49 languages to more than 360 million people living under authoritarian governments around the world. Its editorial independence is mandated by Congress. The Trump administration has already attempted to air Newsmax content on VOA’s networks and sought contract language giving Trump appointees veto power over editorial hires.
This is the same playbook being run on the domestic press. The FCC is threatening broadcast licenses over war coverage. David Ellison, who already controls CBS News, is closing in on an acquisition of CNN, HBO, and Warner Bros. Discovery. Pete Hegseth said publicly that Ellison’s CNN takeover could not come soon enough. Voice of America abroad, CBS at home, and CNN potentially next. This is a coordinated effort to control what Americans and the world are allowed to hear about this war and this administration. It is exactly why Raw America exists.
Trump’s DHS Pick Doesn’t Know What DHS Investigations Do:
Senator Markwayne Mullin had a difficult confirmation hearing Wednesday for the role of Homeland Security Secretary. When Senator Ruben Gallego asked him to describe the primary mission of Homeland Security Investigations, Mullin gave a vague non-answer about DHS agencies working toward a common goal. Gallego stepped in and answered his own question, explaining that HSI is the unit that handles human trafficking, smuggling, counterfeit goods, and financial crime.
HSI is ICE’s criminal investigations arm and one of the most consequential law enforcement bodies in the federal government. A nominee to run the department overseeing it should know what it does.
The gap points to a real and ongoing problem. HSI agents have already been pulled off core investigative work under Trump’s deportation push. One report found HSI spent roughly 33 percent fewer hours on child exploitation cases last spring. A five-agent child exploitation squad in Los Angeles was reassigned to immigration duties. Work on sex trafficking, terrorism, and illicit finance has all slowed.
Mullin also faces questions about a mysterious overseas trip he refuses to explain publicly, claiming the mission was classified. Senator Rand Paul says he plans to vote no on confirmation. With eight Republicans and seven Democrats on the committee, that could force Mullin to find at least one Democratic vote to move forward 