Amid Iran blockade, Pentagon replaces US navy secretary ‘effective immediately’ with deputy
The Pentagon just announced that “Secretary of the Navy John C Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately”.
The head of the US navy, which is now enforcing a wartime blockade of Iranian ports, was replaced by the undersecretary, Hung Cao, now acting secretary of the navy, according to a statement posted on social media by chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, who offered no explanation for the change.
Key events
US navy secretary John Phelan was fired – report
Amid a blockade of Iranian ports, the unexplained ouster on Wednesday of US navy secretary John Phelan, the service’s top civilian leader, came just weeks after Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, fired the US Army’s top uniformed officer, Gen Randy George.
Two sources confirmed to Reuters that Phelan was fired, in part, they said, because he had fallen out with key Pentagon leadership.
Our colleague Hugo Lowell reports that Phelan had “an increasingly rocky relationship” with Hegseth and senior members of his Pentagon team, “who openly appeared to prefer Hung Cao”, the former navy special forces officer who was named acting secretary on Wednesday.
Hegseth also “blamed Phelan for not going aggressively enough against” Arizona senator Mark Kelly, a retired navy pilot, who recorded a social media video in which he reminded active-duty service members: “You can refuse illegal orders.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that Pentagon leaders were annoyed that Phelan bypassed Hegseth last year when he pitched his idea for the navy to build a new “Trump-class” battleship directly to Trump.
As the Associated Press reports, the removal of Phelan, a major donor to Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, was so sudden that it came less than 24 hours after Phelan hosted the chairman and ranking member of the House armed services committee, congressmen Mike Rogers and Adam Smith to discuss the navy’s budget request, and his office posted video of him addressing sailors and industry professionals at the navy’s annual conference in Washington on Tuesday about the future of the force.
Republican senator Tom Cotton also denounces White House plans to bail out Spirit Airlines
Tom Cotton, a Republican senator from Arkansas, has joined his colleague Ted Cruz in denouncing the reported Trump White House plan to bail out Spirit Airlines, the troubled budget carrier that could be pushed into liquidation by the spike in jet fuel prices during the Iran war.
“If Spirit’s creditors or other potential investors don’t think they can run it profitably coming out of its second bankruptcy in under two years, I doubt the US Government can either,” Cotton wrote. “Not the best use of taxpayer dollars.”
Virginia attorney general to appeal ‘activist judge’ who blocked redistricting approved by voters
Virginia’s attorney general, Jay Jones, promised on Wednesday to appeal an injunction issued by a circuit court judge that temporarily blocks the state from certifying the results of the Tuesday’s redistricting referendum.
The injunction from the Tazewell county circuit court granted a request by the Republican National Committee to pause the certification of the referendum, in which voters approved redrawing Virginia’s congressional maps to cancel out the partisan advantage Republicans in Texas sought by redrawing their maps.
The measure was approved by about three percentage points, 51.5%-48.5% according to the Virginia Department of Elections.
“My office will immediately file an appeal in the Court of Appeals,” Jones said in a statement. “As I said last night, Virginia voters have spoken, and an activist judge should not have veto power over the People’s vote. We look forward to defending the outcome of last night’s election in court.”
Jones, a Democrat, was elected attorney general last year, despite a furore over comments he made in a text message that were cast as an endorsement of political violence, but were actually a version of an old joke popularized by the US version of The Office.
On social media, Aaron Fritschner, an aide to Virginia Democratic congressman Don Beyer, dismissed the Republican lawsuit as frivolous.
“Republicans have repeatedly taken challenges to the Virginia referendum to a local judge in the most conservative part of the state to get silly rulings that are immediately overturned on appeal,mainly so they can add the word ‘illegal’ to their talking points about it,” he wrote. “The Virginia Supreme Court will have the last say on the referendum but this rando judge in Tazewell is just giving them free in-kind messaging contributions, which is the whole point.”
New acting US navy secretary Hung Cao once expressed fears that witches could take over Virginia
The surprise announcement on Wednesday that the US navy is now being led, during wartime, by a failed Republican Senate candidate from Virginia, Hung Cao, brought renewed attention to Cao’s 2023 comments that that “witchcraft” had “taken over” Monterey, California, and should not be allowed to spread to Virginia.
Speaking to Sean Feucht, a far-right pastor, in 2023, Cao said, on camera: “There’s a place in Monterey, California, called ‘Lover’s Point’. The original name was ‘Lovers of Christ Point’, but now it’s become, they took out the Christ, it’s ‘Lover’s Point’, and it’s really – Monterey’s a very dark place now, a lot of witchcraft, and the Wiccan community has really taken over there. We can’t let that happen in Virginia.”
Cao’s comments were widely circulated by opposition researchers in 2024, when he ran as the Republican candidate against Democratic senator Tim Kaine, and was ultimately defeated by nine percentage points.
During the same interview, Cao, a Vietnamese refugee and a retired navy special operations officer, also said “I’m African American because I grew up in Africa, too,” referring to a few years spent in Niger as a child.
Cao, who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, was also endorsed on the campaign trail that year by Donald Trump. “This is a great gentleman,” Trump said during a campaign event at a Vietnamese restaurant in Virginia.
“This is a great gentleman, I love his name: Hung Cao. I love that name. And that name alone should get you elected,” Trump said to uneasy laughter in the room.
Senate Republicans defeat war powers resolution to end US war on Iran
Senate Republicans defeated another war powers resolution, which called for an end to US hostilities against Iran, on Wednesday by a vote of 51-46.
The vote was mostly along party lines, with only Democratic senator John Fetterman joining the Republican majority to vote against the resolution. One Republican senator, Rand Paul, voted with the Democrats in favor of the measure.
Three senators, Chuck Grassley, Dave McCormick, and John Warner did not vote.
Amid Iran blockade, Pentagon replaces US navy secretary ‘effective immediately’ with deputy
The Pentagon just announced that “Secretary of the Navy John C Phelan is departing the administration, effective immediately”.
The head of the US navy, which is now enforcing a wartime blockade of Iranian ports, was replaced by the undersecretary, Hung Cao, now acting secretary of the navy, according to a statement posted on social media by chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, who offered no explanation for the change.
Ted Cruz calls government bailout of Spirit Airlines ‘an absolutely terrible idea’
As jet fuel prices spike amid the ongoing energy crisis sparked by Donald Trump’s war on Iran, Ted Cruz, the Republican senator and podcaster, has denounced a proposed US government bailout of budget carrier Spirit Airlines.
Cruz, who called Trump “a pathological liar” during the 2016 Republican primary before becoming a staunch supporter, reacted on social media to news of the bailout, which our colleague Lauren Aratani reports is being finalized by the White House.
“This is an absolutely TERRIBLE idea,” the Texas senator wrote on social media, comparing it to the US government’s 2008 Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as Tarp. “The TARP corporate bailouts were a huge mistake”.
Cruz also pointed to reporting that the deal could leave the US federal government owning up to 90% of the airline, adding: “The government doesn’t know a damn thing about running a failed budget airline.”
The senator also blamed Joe Biden, the former president, for “killing” Spirit Airlines because a proposed merger with Jet Blue was blocked during his presidency, in 2024, when a federal judge appointed by Ronald Reagan agreed with the Department of Justice that the merger of the two airlines would have violated antitrust law.
FBI investigated New York Times reporter for potential ‘stalking’ over reporting on Kash Patel’s partner
The FBI opened an investigation of a New York Times reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, using government resources to provide his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, with security and transportation, the Times reports.
“Agents interviewed the girlfriend, queried databases for information on the reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, and recommended moving forward to determine whether Ms Williamson broke federal stalking laws,” an unnamed source told the newspaper.
The FBI told the Times that “investigators were concerned about how the aggressive reporting techniques crossed lines of stalking”, but are not pursuing criminal charges.
“The FBI’s attempt to criminalize routine reporting is a blatant violation of Elizabeth’s first amendment rights and another attempt by this administration to prevent journalists from scrutinizing its actions,” Joseph Kahn, the executive editor of the Times, said in a statement. “It’s alarming. It’s unconstitutional. And it’s wrong.”
Republican Bill Cassidy, a doctor, uses ChapGPT to factcheck RFK Jr’s false claims about vaccines during hearing
The US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy, has concluded his testimony to the health, education, labor and pensions (Help) committee, but before the hearing ended viewers were treated to an unusual spectacle: the health secretary’s anti-vaccine claims were factchecked in real time by the panel’s Republican chair, Dr Bill Cassidy, who is the first physician to lead the committee.
Cassidy intervened after Kennedy refused to agree with Bernie Sanders, who noted that vaccines had been responsible for sharply decreased mortality from infectious diseases in the US during the 20th century.
In response to Sanders, Kennedy cited a 2000 study led by Dr Bernard Guyer, which he said indicated that “almost none” of the drop in mortality “was attributable to vaccination, but was, instead, “was attributable to hygiene, to sewer plants, better water supplies … ”
A short time later, Cassidy told Kennedy that he was looking for the paper on ChatGPT and was unable to find it. Kennedy then spelled the name of the lead author, although his raspy voice made it difficult to be sure of what all the letters were. The health secretary then pointed Cassidy to a second study, from 1977, McKinlay and McKinlay, which he said supported his view that vaccines had had little impact on mortality from infectious diseases.
After Kennedy was then questioned by another Republican senator, Lisa Murkowski, Cassidy provided an update on his real-time research. “Just speaking as a doctor,” Cassidy said, “I’ve looked up the article.” He then read aloud a section of the Guyer paper which explained that while other factors were important in lowering mortality in the first half of the 20th century, the study noted that decreases in the second half were attributable to vaccination.
Cassidy explained to Kennedy that the paper noted that there were large numbers of annual cases of measles before the introduction of the measles vaccine and since the introduction of the measles vaccine “deaths have been virtually eliminated”.
An hour later, Cassidy returned with another update from his research. “Again, speaking as a physician, I looked up the McKinlay articles,” he said. Those studies indicated, Cassidy said, that there were about 3.5m cases of measles per year before the vaccine, and about 550 deaths, and then the vaccine took the case numbers to about 100 a year in the US, and “like zero deaths”.
“So, a tremendous impact of the vaccination,” Cassidy noted.
A more recent paper, published in late 2020, also available on the National Institutes of Health website, also notes that the authors of the 1977 paper Kennedy cites, John and Sonja McKinlay, had flatly rejected the use of their work by anti-vaccine activists, like Kennedy.
In that 2020 paper, David Kindig wrote:
It should be noted that some anti‐vaccine advocates have used the McKinlays’ paper as scientific support for their views. To this, the McKinlays reply that ‘we consider this an egregious misinterpretation of our research. Effective vaccines clearly have an important role in the ongoing containment of a disease after its prevalence has been reduced. Measles provides an excellent current example of the resurgence of a previously contained infectious disease following reduction in measles vaccination interventions.’
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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Donald Trump is, once again, pushing baseless claims that an election was “RIGGED”. This time, he’s questioning the results of Tuesday’s referendum that saw Virginia voters approve new congressional maps for the state. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that on Tuesday “Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive ‘Mail In Ballot Drop!’”
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Meanwhile, top House Democrats were in a triumphant mood at a press conference held after their victory in Virginia. The new maps could help Democrats win all but one of the state’s seats in the House of Representatives. However, there’s still the question of what Democrats’ recent embrace of retaliatory gerrymandering, to offset Republican efforts elsewhere, means for the party’s previous support for legislation to abolish the practice.
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Several cabinet officials were on Capitol Hill for hearings to defend the Trump administration’s budget blueprint for the next fiscal year. The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, insisted that gas would drop to pre-Iran war prices as soon as the conflict ends; Howard Lutnick, the commerce secretary, avoided questions about his ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; and health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr appeared twice before Senate committees where he fielded questions about his attempts to overhaul the US vaccine agenda.
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Representative David Scott, a Democrat from Georgia, has died at the age of 80. He is the fifth member of Congress to die in office within the last year. Scott was first elected in 2002, and served 12 terms in the US House. He was seeking re-election for his 13th, despite significant primary challenges. Speaking to reporters today, Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, called Scott a “trailblazer” who became the first African American member of Congress to chair the House agriculture committee.
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As debate begins on Senate Republicans’ budget bill to fund federal immigration enforcement, lawmakers are preparing for a marathon series of votes on any amendments to the legislation – known as a “vote-a-rama”. Democrats are likely to propose several changes, which are likely to go nowhere, but will show that this “will be a reconciliation of contrasts” according to Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader. “We are relishing that fight,” he told reporters. The legislation, which only requires a simple majority, asks for $70bn for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the border patrol for the remainder of Donald Trump’s second term in office.
As Robert F Kennedy Jr’s second hearing of the day continues, the health committee chair, Republican Bill Cassidy, grilled the health secretary about Donald Trump’s new pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The president has nominated Erica Schwartz to lead the embattled agency, after months without a permanent leader. Schwartz, who served as the former deputy surgeon general during Trump’s first administration, has been a vocal proponent of vaccines.
Cassidy asked Kennedy whether Schwartz would “have the right to make decisions” independent of the health secretary’s “political appointees” who have worked to “undermine trust in immunizations”. A reminder that the CDC’s last Senate‑confirmed director, Susan Monarez, took over in July but was fired less than a month later after clashing with Kennedy over his vaccine agenda. Since then, the agency has seen an exodus of senior public health officials.
“Your characterization of the political appointees is wrong,” the health secretary told Cassidy in today’s hearing, before saying that the new CDC director would have the power to make decisions and replace or reassign political appointees. However, on Tuesday, at a separate hearing, Kennedy refused to commit to implement whatever vaccine guidance that Schwartz issues, if she is confirmed.
Lauren Aratani
The White House is finalizing a financing package to help the ailing US budget carrier Spirit Airlines, which could receive as much as $500m in loans as rising costs continue to plague the company.
News of the potential deal comes as Spirit and others struggle with soaring fuel costs due to the war with Iran.
Donald Trump said he’s aware that the company is struggling and hinted that federal aid could come. “Spirit’s in trouble, and I’d love somebody to buy Spirit. It’s 14,000 jobs, and maybe the federal government should help that one out,” Trump told CNBC on Tuesday.
Spirit has spent the last few years dealing with financial troubles, filing for bankruptcy twice in the last two years as the company struggled to bring in revenue amid higher costs. Reports from earlier this month suggested Spirit was close to liquidation and was holding talks with its creditors.
In return for the cash buffer, the federal government would receive warrants for a potential stake in the airline, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter.
A $3.8bn merger between Spirit and JetBlue was blocked by a federal judge on antitrust grounds in 2024. The deal would have saved the company, but the judge who stopped it said that the merger would harm consumers by reducing competition.
In a statement, White House spokesperson Kush Desai didn’t comment on the ongoing financing deal but said that the Biden administration had harmed the company.
Marathon votes on Republican budget bill expected following hours of debate
As debate begins on Senate Republicans’ budget bill to fund federal immigration enforcement, lawmakers are preparing for a marathon series of votes on any amendments to the legislation – known as a “vote-a-rama”.
Democrats are likely to propose several changes, which are likely to go nowhere, but will show that this “will be a reconciliation of contrasts” according to Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader. “We are relishing that fight,” he told reporters.
On social media, the president called on GOP lawmakers to “stick together and UNIFY” in order to pass the legislation – that only requires a simple majority – to ensure about $70bn for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the border patrol for the remainder of Donald Trump’s second term in office.
However, some Republicans are urging the party’s leadership to broaden the reconciliation bill to include other priorities, like Trump’s sweeping voter ID bill.
Trump pushes baseless claims that Virginia redistricting vote was ‘RIGGED’
Donald Trump is, once again, pushing baseless claims that an election was “RIGGED”.
This time, he’s questioning the results of Tuesday’s referendum that saw Virginia voters approve new congressional maps for the state.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that on Tuesday “Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive ‘Mail In Ballot Drop!’”
He added that the “Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory!”
The president also claimed that the language for the redistricting referendum was “purposefully unintelligible and deceptive”.
“As everyone knows, I am an extraordinarily brilliant person, and even I had no idea what the hell they were talking about,” Trump said, before telegraphing likely legal challenges.
Democratic congressman David Scott dies
Representative David Scott, a Democrat from Georgia, has died at the age of 80.
Scott was first elected in 2002, and served 12 terms in the US House. He was seeking re-election for his 13th, despite significant primary challenges. Speaking to reporters today, Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, called Scott a “trailblazer” who rose up from “humble beginnings” to become the first African American member of Congress to chair the House agriculture committee.
In a statement, Jon Ossoff, a Democratic senator from Georgia, said the state is a “better place thanks to the service of Congressman Scott”.
Georgia’s governor, Brian Kemp, now has 10 days to announce a special election, which then must take place within 30 days.
