140+ US Troops Injured In Trump’s Iran War As Strikes Are About To Get Worse
PDS Published 03/10/2026
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The US and Israel are now hitting Iran harder than at any other point during the war, which Trump says may soon be coming to an end.
But that’s as he’s also continued to send mixed messages, and in the meantime, the death toll and the fallout continues to grow.
But starting with the ongoing assault on Iran, you had Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claiming at a press briefing this morning:
“...today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran: the most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes, intelligence more refined and better than ever.” (3:21-3:35)
And Hegseth’s claim? It seems to be backed up by the reality on the ground.
With people living in Tehran telling Reuters that recent US and Israeli bombardment of the capital has in fact been the most intense so far.
And other residents telling the New York Times pretty much the same—with one saying:
“It seems they are striking everywhere: homes, schools, mosques, hospitals.”
“If they keep hitting Tehran like this for another ten days, nothing will remain of [the city].” []
And as far as why the assault seems to be ramping up? No clear reason was given.
But it may have something to do with Iran being less able to defend itself and retaliate against the US and its allies—as well as the growing pressure on the Trump administration to end the war.
And, in Israel’s case, you have one source familiar with its plans telling Reuters that the military has been trying to inflict as much damage as possible before the window for further strikes closes—under the assumption Trump could end the war at any time. []
And, ultimately, that is what appears increasingly clear: how and when this war ends may be determined not by a clearly defined military objective but by the whims of the president.
And that was on full display at that press briefing this morning—with Hegseth going from saying the war could last three to eight weeks to now refusing to give a timeline, instead giving an answer allowing Trump to declare victory whenever he feels like it:
“From the beginning, from this podium, we haven't stated how long it will take. Our will is endless. Ultimately, the president gets to determine the end state of those objectives, right? But what he's said continually and I want the American people to understand is this is not endless. It's not protracted. We're not allowing mission creep. The president has set a very specific mission to accomplish. And our job is to unrelentingly deliver that. Now, he gets to control the throttle. He's the one deciding. He's the one elected on behalf of the American people when we're achieving those particular objectives. And so it's not for me to posit whether it's the beginning, the middle, or the end. That's his and he'll continue to communicate that.” (17:55-18:34)
But, of course, he hasn’t really communicated much at all.
Right, he’s talked a lot, but he hasn’t really said anything, as his answers have time and time again been in conflict with one another—including several times in just the last day.
In an interview with CBS News yesterday, for example, Trump declared: “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.”
But then, around the same time, the Defense Department’s rapid response account posted on X: “We have Only Just Begun to Fight.”
With that sounding a lot like Pete Hegesth just a few days ago when he told 60 Minutes “this is only just the beginning.”
But Trump not only contradicted—and was contradicted—by officials in his administration (as they also contradicted themselves).
Within a few hours, he appeared to undercut his own message—or, at least, he continued to insist the war would end soon while making vague threats that, if he followed through on, could require the war to last much longer.
With him describing the war in Iran as a “short-term excursion” to House Republicans at an event Florida while also claiming the war would continue until Iran is "totally and decisively defeated"— adding:
“We’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough. We go forward more determined than ever to achieve ultimate victory that will end this long-running danger once and for all.” (18:21-18:32)
Then, at a press conference, he again said the war would end soon, but that “if it starts up again, [Iran will] be hit even harder.”
With him also giving a completely open-ended answer to a reporter asking him about the conflicting statements made by him and Hegesth:
“Mr. President, you've said the war is, quote, very complete, but your defense secretary says this is just the beginning. So which is it? And how long should Americans be—”
“Well, I think you could say both. The beginning, it's the beginning of building a new country, but they certainly have no navy, they have no anti-aircraft equipment. It's all been blown up. They have no radar. They have no telecommunications. And they have no leadership. It's all gone. So, you know, you could look at that statement. We could call it a tremendous success right now, as we leave here I could call it, or we could go further and we're going to go further.” (BYTE: 18:48-19:25)
Of course, despite the lack of clarity coming from Trump, his suggestion that the war might be over soon did help bring oil prices back down after they hit their highest point since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
And where he has been somewhat consistent in his messaging is in his efforts to downplay that issue and calm the markets.
Right, at that event in Florida, for example, he suggested he would relax certain oil-related sanctions to help calm markets—even saying those sanctions might not be put back in place once the war was over.
And while specific countries weren’t named, the one that comes to mind is Russia—especially since this announcement reportedly came after a call with Putin, during which they reportedly discussed the wars in both Iran and Ukraine.
And actually, already, last week, the US issued a temporary 30-day waiver to allow India to buy Russian oil currently stranded at sea.
Also, at the press conference, you also had Trump opening the door to continued military action to secure the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway through roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes through:
"We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world." (10:51-10:58)
And with that, you actually him doubling down later in a social media post—saying:
"....they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far” — and continuing:
“Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!”
Now, with all that, Iranian officials have been hitting back.
Right, you had one top security official seemingly threatening Trump himself—writing on X:
“Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.”
You also had Iran’s speaker of Parliament writing that Iran was “definitely not looking for a ceasefire”— adding:
"We believe that the aggressor should be punched in the mouth so that he learns a lesson so that he will never think of attacking our beloved Iran again." []
And the country’s foreign Minister similarly said they are unlikely to go back to the negotiating table because they have “very bitter experience of talking with Americans" after the Trump administration twice broke off talks to launch attacks. []
And ultimately, the regime has rejected the notion that Trump is the one who gets to decide when this war ends.
With the Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming that it would “determine the end of the war” in the Middle East—and adding that they would not allow "one liter" of oil to reach the US or its allies while attacks on the country continue.
And while it may seem like Iran isn’t really in a position to be making threats, it’s not so simple
Iran doesn’t have to defeat the US and Israel militarily.
It only has to outlast them—or at least hang on long enough that the war becomes too politically and economically costly for the US and Israel.
With sources described as “Iranian insiders” telling Reuters that the regime has long known this day would come and has been getting ready—prepaing “a layered strategy coordinated across the Guards’ sprawling military networks and proxy forces.” ASSET []
You also had a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics telling the outlet:
“For them, they are waging an existential fight. This is an all-out war.”
“They believe their very survival is at stake. They're willing to bring the temple down on everyone’s heads.” []
With a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute adding:
“They're like a bleeding animal-- wounded, but therefore more dangerous than ever." []
Now, all that said, whether Iran’s strategy works may largely depend on how long it can keep up missile strikes.
American officials have said a large share of Iran’s arsenal has already been destroyed.
And Trump claimed just yesterday that “most” of Iran’s “tremendous number of missiles” had been “used or destroyed.”
But some reports indicate it may still have more than half its pre-war stockpile.
And, if true, that would mean it could keep launching missiles for several more weeks—which could prove to be a big problem for Trump depending on the situation with the Strait and the broader economic and political fallout. []
Now, with that, other countries also have to deal with this fallout, so they’re doing their best to mitigate it as well.
WIth the Strait, for example, it’s not just the US, but the leaders of several other countries trying to find ways to allow ships to keep passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
With France now actually sending 10 warships to the Middle East, some of which could be part of a force to escort ships through the Strait, as part of what the French president described as an “unprecedented” mobilization.
And that’s also just another example of how wide-reaching this conflict has become.
Right, to sum up, the US and Israel have struck Iran, Israel has also attacked Lebanon, and Iran has struck at least 10 countries since the war began.
But the total number of countries directly involved in this conflict according to a tally by Axios—which counted anyone “shooting, shielding or quietly supplying” —is actually twenty.
And it may be even more.
China, for example, may be preparing to supply Iran with financial assistance, spare parts and missile components, according to US intelligence.
And has reportedly already been sharing satellite imagery of US warships and aircraft with Iran—helping it target American forces across the region.
On the other side, Ukraine — which has spent four years defending against the same Iranian-made drones now being used against Gulf countries — has sent specialists and equipment to help them out.
And that’s as the war between US and Ukraine has been affected as well—with peace talks planned for Abu Dhabi postponed indefinitely, while Trump’s sanctions waiver would potentially provide a boost to Russia’s war economy.
And then there’s concern about the conflicts that might come next.
Right, the Pentagon burned through $5.6 billion worth of munitions during just the first two days of its military assault on Iran—according to an estimate shared with the Congress yesterday.
And it has since continued to eat up stockpiles that have taken years to build up largely to deter China in the Pacific — raising real questions about what happens if Beijing finally makes a move on Taiwan.
And ultimately, with all that, you have Axios arguing:
“This isn't World War III. But it may be the closest we've come in decades — drawing in more countries, more great powers and more overlapping conflicts than any crisis since the Cold War.” []
And while the scope of the war expands, it’s also shedding light on how the way we fight wars today is changing.
And one way, of course, is with artificial intelligence.
According to The Washington Post, for example, a system built by Palantir is analyzing classified data from satellites, surveillance and other intelligence to provide real-time targeting and target prioritization to military operations in Iran. []
In fact, as planning was underway, the system reportedly suggested hundreds of targets, issued precise location coordinates, and ranked those targets according to importance. []
With one expert telling the Post that the ability to “develop targeting packages at machine speed rather than human speed” is the “key paradigm shift” taking place thanks in combat thanks to AI:
With him also saying the the downside is that “AI gets it wrong” — adding:
“We need humans to check the output of generative AI when the stakes are life and death.” []
And that comment stands out when you consider the strike on a girls school in Iran that killed 175 people—most of them children.
Right, because mounting evidence suggests that the US killed those girls, with even the military’s own investigators leaning toward that conclusion—although Trump has stood by his claim that Iran may be at fault.
And to be clear there’s no evidence that AI had anything to do with that but it’s an example of the type of mistakes that people are worried could happen at the hands of an algorithm.
But with all that said, what is also really notable about all this is that system the military is using? It may have been developed by Palantir, but embedded into it is Claude, the AI tool developed by Anthropic.
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But even though the military itself is apparently relying on Claude in Iran, the Pentagon has effectively banned the use of the technology for ALL other federal agencies and EVERY SINGLE company contracts with the DoD.
And now, Anthropic — which owns Claude — is suing the Pentagon, accusing the agency of exceeding its authority and violating the First Amendment.
But this case is absolutely massive: it has sweeping implications for all AI makers, the countless companies that use their tools, and any corporation that dares to show even the teeniest sliver of spine against the Trump Regime.
Right, and specifically, as we talked about a few weeks ago, this whole battle centers around a memo Hegseth issued in January, where he instructed all AI companies with Pentagon contracts to remove restrictions on their technology and give the military a blank check to use their products in whatever way it sees fit.
With the argument there being that the military should be able to use these technologies however they want, as they follow the law, and the companies can’t do anything to limit them.
And while most AI companies agreed to renegotiate their contracts and meet those terms, Anthropic — which had a $200 million pilot contract with the Pentagon — they insisted that the DoD agree to two major prohibitions for how the DoD could use their tech:
1) No domestic mass surveillance and 2) no weapons that make kill decisions without humans. []
You know, demands that I think we can all agree are fairly fucking reasonable, but the Pentagon refused to agree to those basic safeguards.
With Hegseth instead threatening Anthropic, saying if they didn’t come to heel, he would designate it as a supply chain risk.
Right, when a company is given that designation, it is effectively blacklisted from future government contracts, and the government is usually required to stop using its products.[]
But Anthropic, they held their ground, and aftr failing to meet a deadline to agree to the demands, rump announced in a post on Truth Social that he was quote:
“directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology.”
With him seemingly contradicting that literally two sentences later by adding that there “will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels.”[]
And not long after that, you had Hegseth confirming that he would be designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk, writing in a post:
“Effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.”
But adding that the military could have six months to phase out Claude, and start using what he described as a “more patriotic service.”[]
Or, to put it another way: “We want to punish your company because it’s not loyal enough, so we’re going to ban lots of people from using your technology, but WE get to keep using it because it’s been really helpful in our war on Iran.”
Right, and that move was absolutely huge for a few reasons.
First of all, the supply chain risk label is totally unprecedented.
Right, it’s usually only used for foreign adversaries — think Chinese and Russian firms suspected of helping foreign spies.
In fact, Anthropic even claimed that this is literally the first time in history that the designation has been publicly applied to an American company.
And second, there are TONS of huge companies with military contracts that use Anthropic's products — we’re talking about some of the biggest companies in the world like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, as well as major defense contractors like Lockheed Martin.
So Hegseth’s demand that all those companies must stop using Anthropic would have sweeping consequences and pose a massive challenge for the huge corporate interests that work with the military.
But, beyond that, many experts also say that Hegseth doesn’t have the power to force companies to end non-defense usage of Anthropic’s products — and that’s also a key part of the company’s new legal challenges.
Right, and specifically, you had Anthropic filing two different lawsuits asking federal courts in California and D.C. to strike down the supply chain risk label.
And in the suits, make two overarching arguments here — the first is that the Trump administration exceeded the legal scope of the federal statute that gives it the power to designate supply chain risks.
With the suits claiming that the law is narrow and intended to address foreign adversaries who pose a risk to national security, but claiming that the administration has failed to explain why Anthropic poses such a risc k.
They also say that the law does not give Trump the power to ban all federal agencies from working with Anthropic, nor does it give Hegseth the ability to ban other companies from using its products for non-defense purposes.
And adding that Hegseth of failed to follow proper government procedure to make the determination, including notifying Congress, consulting with certain authorities, and ensuring that the designation was the least restrictive option available — which is required under the law.
Right, and the second main argument the lawsuits make is that the administration’s actions violate the First Amendment, accusing them of illegally misusing the law meant for mitigating foreign supply chain risk to punish an American company for protected free speech.
And legal experts say they have a pretty damn good case here, with one arguing that this is clearly not the intended use for the supply chain risk designation law, especially given the fact that the Pentaon “has repeatedly sought to obtain Anthropic’s services for national defense.”[]
You also had others echoing the point that Hegseth can’t ban companies from using Claude for non-defense purposes — in fact, huge players, including Microsoft and Google, have publicly said they will continue using the products outside of their defense contracts.
And, on the note of other tech companies, we saw a few dozen employees with OpenAI and Google — Anthropic’s main competitors — filing a legal brief supporting the suit, arguing that if the Pentagon is successful here, its efforts would, quote:
“undoubtedly have consequences for the United States’ industrial and scientific competitiveness in the field of artificial intelligence and beyond.”
And adding, “By silencing one lab, the government reduces the industry’s potential to innovate solutions.”[]
And that was also echoed in a letter sent to Hegseth last week by a group representing some of the world’s biggest tech companies, where they also accused Hegseth of misusing a law that exists “for genuine emergencies.”[]
Right, and it’s incredibly notable that we’re seeing this rally around Anthropic from the tech industry and some of Anthropic's main rivals.
It shows that this is an incredibly serious concern for the industry as a whole — an industry that, in many ways, has kissed the ring and repeatedly bowed to Trump’s demands in other areas.
So the fact that they’re digging their heels in here and actually pushing back just highlights how serious they are about their own rights to regulate AI and impose guardrails.
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Diving back into the news, the FBI just subpoenaed the 2020 audit information for the most influential county in the swing state of Arizona, and we have to talk about why.
I mean, we know why. But we still have to talk about it.
Right, a federal grand jury just told the ArizonaSenate to hand over audit records from Maricopa County. []
Maricopa County is the largest county in Arizona. []
It was pivotal in the 2020 election, and helped swing the state in Biden’s favor, making the first time a Democrat had won Arizona since Bill Clinton in 1996.
Since Trump lost the state in 2020, he’s been obsessed with it.
Following the 2020 election, the Arizona Senate oversaw an audit of the election records, which was largely funded by groups who were openly MAGA and peddled conspiracy theories around the election. (BROLL :00-:10)
These groups provided more than $5.7 million for the audit.
These were organizations like America’s Future, chaired by former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, and a nonprofit ran by former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, who pleaded guilty in a case connected to her efforts to overturn Trump’s loss in Georgia in 2020.
Not surprisingly, the auditors submitted largely unsubstantiated claims that Arizona’s election included deleted files, faulty internet connections and questionable signature verifications. []
Maricopa County was pretty staunch about refuting these claims.
“This board is done with explaining anything to these people who are playing investigator with our constituents’ ballots and equipment, paid for with people’s real tax dollars.” (:00-:13)
There was also what felt like a live-Tweeting event circa 2010, where Maricopa County was fact-checking the claims against them in real time on social media, making their position clear that many of the false accusations stem from the auditors leading an inexperienced, seemingly clumsy audit. []
But it seems like Trump didn’t learn any lessons because Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen confirmed yesterday that the Senate did, in fact, now five years later, receive the subpoena, with which they complied. []
Reports have questioned the fact that Arizona state law requires paper ballots to be destroyed two years after the election. []
But the caveat here is that the audit team made digital copies of the 2020 ballots, according to Secretary of State Ken Bennett. []
It’s yet to be revealed if those copies were a part of the information turned over, however.
Nevertheless, this subpoena comes not even two months after the FBI seized an Atlanta election office, again, in connection to the 2020 election. (BROLL :11-:18)
If you remember, Georgia, heavily led by Stacy Abrams, landed in blue that year, which was the first time that had happened since 1992. []
Georgia was then also under MAGA fire for allegedly rigging the 2020 election. Are you starting to connect the dots here?
“If we could just go over some of the numbers, I think it’s pretty clear we won. We won substantially in Georgia. It never made sense. Much of that had to do with Fulton County.” (:47-:55, 1:06-1:08, 1:19-1:21)
We seem to be on the same loop here, and Trump is fine with it.
In fact, he was predictably elated to hear about the subpoena.
He posted on Truth Social calling it “great”. []
That’s somewhat of an odd reaction because, again, he’s yet to find any evidence of election rigging in this process.
In fact, after the 2020 Arizona audit, they found even more votes in Biden’s favor.
But outside of the president, other reactions have spoken to larger concerns.
People like Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (FON-tez, pronunciation 1:07) seem to have bigger questions related to the upcoming midterm elections.
Fontes has also spoken out about ideas that have been tossed around by Trump on nationalizing elections.
“There’s nothing more un-American. That’s just not how this country was built. That’s not what the constitution says.” (1:21-1:26)
He released a statement saying, “Recent efforts to relitigate the 2020 election are founded on conspiracy theories and raise serious concerns… Prolonged disputes and conflicting claims risk creating unnecessary chaos and undermining public confidence in our election system… We view this latest action as a move by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to undermine the legal process.” []
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes reportedly said the whole thing was "the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies." []
To be fair about these types of reactions, there is something to be said about this continual effort on the right to undermine the election process, and at times, even the voters.
Leading up to the 2020 election, when people like Abrams werea movementsagainst voter suppression and making some tangible differences in voter turnout, some of Trump’s biggest supporters were pushing back against the idea because, I guess, we want democracy, but not too much of it.
“A power grab is smelling more and more exactly like what it is.” (:35-:40)
And this type of talk was circulating on the right while there were very real and verifiable reports of voter suppression – long wait times, closedpolling locations – creating the very types of power grabs McConnell mentioned. [] []
“We know voter suppression is real, but we never talk about it, we take it for granted.” (1:02-1:06)
On the other side of that voter suppression, we have had a clear fight from the president and his cronies to put tighter restrictions on voting, which seems to be a part of a bigger play here.
“We’re going to end mail-in voting. It’s a fraud. It’s time the Republicans get tough and stop it because the Democrats want it. It’s the only way they can get elected.” (:58-1:09)
You also have the president ready to put Congress between a rock and a hard place over the SAVEAct, which he has already said is meant to guarantee that the midterms fall in Republican’s favor while Democrats are alerting voters of the severity of the situation.
“The SAVE Act would, in effect, take away your right to vote.” (1:58-2:02)
The larger concern here is that we have seen for years now a president seemingly trying to chip away at our voting system both in rhetoric and in policy.
He’s talked ad nauseam about his mistrust of the voting systems in any state that he didn’t win. []
He’s pushed for some states to redraw their congressional maps to help election results lean further to the right. []
And he’s battered election offices and voters with politicalbullying tactics to force into laws measures that are blatantly meant to keep Democrats and the country paralyzed under Republicans. []
I mean, just today, news broke that the DNC sued the Trump administration in an effort to know for sure if we would have to worry about armed federal agents or military personnel at the polls. []
This bullying around voting has been pushed by fear tactics and conspiracy theories so much that some voters forget that they’re just that: conspiracy.
“Republicans have talked about voter fraud – which is largely a myth – so long and with such energy that we take it as a truth.” (:47-:55)
It seems to be creating this dynamic where, as many of us saw coming, our literal concept of democracy is crumbling under an administration that’s weaponized it against us over and over. []
And not that we’ve always hit the nail on the head when it comes to voting and our democratic process, but I think Stacy said it best:
“We’ve been practicing democracy for a really long time. America gets it right most of the time, but when we stumble, it’s really bad.” (1:17-1:24)
For now, we’ll just have to see where the FBI lands with this.
Until then, there are a few more concerning things going on on the federal level that even the Supreme Court can’t seem to agree on.
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because we’ve got two Supreme Court justices going head to head in front of an audience over the Trump administration’s attempts to skirt around the system to do his bidding.
Right, yesterday, Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made a rare public appearance together at an annual lecture in memory of a former federal judge and prosecutor, Thomas Flannery.
And they gave us a heated back and forth about how the court is handling a barrage of emergency requests to clear the way for Trump administration policies. []
Or, as heated as Supreme Court justices get.
But before we get into their sparring, we should talk about what exactly they’re arguing over.
Since coming back into office, the Trump administration has flooded the Supreme Court with emergency applications - asking them to give a quick greenlight for a whole bunch of stuff on the Trump agenda. []
Like immigration, federal funding, banning trans athletes, and firing of independent agency leaders.
Now, the court’s conservative supermajority has allowed many of the policies to take effect - even as the lower courts debate their legality.
For comparison, on the court’s normal docket, justices choose which cases to take up and are given extensive written briefs and hear oral arguments. []
From there, they engage in lengthy deliberations and often take months to come to a decision before publishing an opinion that lays out how each justice voted as well as their reasoning.
On the emergency docket, or “shadow docket,” cases are typically decided without oral argument or a full briefing sometimes in a matter of days - with no vote count and no reasoning whatsoever. []
And just for scale here - the Trump administration has won a staggering 80% of the cases they’ve brought on the shadow docket.
Which is leaps and bounds more than the Biden administration won. []
And it’s raised a lot of eyebrows and even drawn straight-up contempt from Democrats - who are accusing the court’s conservative majority of loading the scale in Trump’s favor. []
As you can imagine, the conservative justices have been quick to defend themselves and the emergency docket process.
With Kavanaugh making the case that we’re seeing this uptick in emergency applications because gridlock in Congress has led to more executive orders from presidents - leading to challenges in court. []
Saying,
“There’s a more aggressive executive branch over the years because it’s difficult to get legislation through Congress.” []
And he argued yesterday in his public appearance with Jackson that it certainly isn’t a new, Trump-exclusive thing.
Specifically pointing to the Biden administration’s emergency request to maintain access to the abortion drug mifepristone while the lower court heard a challenge. []
Justice Jackson, however, hit back with the fact that the Biden admin was just trying to keep up the status quo - maintain access, rather than establish a new policy.
Which, she argued, is what Team Trump is doing - saying,
“What is happening now is the administration is making new policy, but then insisting that the new policy take effect immediately before a challenge about its lawfulness is determined.” []
But rather than lay the blame wholly on Trump, she’s saying the issue also lies with the High Court itself.
Specifically, she says the fact that the court - namely the conservative justices like Kavanaugh - agreeing to these emergency motions is what’s emboldening the Trump administration to do it more. []
Arguing that by signaling a willingness to hear these cases before they make their way through the lower courts, they’ve created a, quote, “warped” kind of proceeding. []
Not least of all because of the lack of a written opinion in an emergency docket situation - with Jackson saying,
“When I am writing a dissent, I am speaking to the American people probably more so than anybody. The hope is that at some point in the future there will be enough people who are agreeing with the way I am viewing this particular issue.” []
Adding that this whole approach to the shadow docket, quote, “is not serving our court or our country well at this point.” []
Now, this isn’t to say that Kavanaugh thinks this is the best way to do things - he agreed with Jackson yesterday that the speed they have to turn out response to the emergency docket is frustrating.
Saying,
“None of us enjoys this.” []
Before going on to say that he doesn’t feel the court has a choice in the matter. []
So the question at this point is what exactly is our court system going to look like at the end of Trump’s second term?
Are we even going to bother with the system that we know now or will everything go to the shadow docket?
And with that, I’m going to pass the question off to you - what are your thoughts here?
Let me know in those comments down below.
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But then, back to the news, New Mexico’s Department of Justice is searching Epstein’s Zorro Ranch as part of its criminal probe into the property.
Right, newly released files accuse Epstein of abusing women and girls at the property, and there is even an allegation that he ordered the bodies of two girls be buried nearby. []
But despite these claims, the home was never fully investigated like Epstein’s other properties were.
So yesterday, the state’s DOJ announced this search, asking the public to “please stay away from the area and ground any drone activity nearby to avoid interfering with the ongoing law enforcement operation.”
But you also have officials tempering expectations and warning that the search might not lead to much, right.
With the state’s Attorney General recently writing an op-ed saying:
“I want to be honest about the challenges ahead. Epstein has been dead for years. Zorro Ranch has changed ownership. Physical evidence may no longer exist, and the statute of limitations has likely run on many potential offenses. These are real obstacles, and survivors deserve to hear them stated plainly. But we will follow the evidence wherever it leads and leave no credible question unexplored.”
And he also promised to release a public report of all findings in the investigation.
As for this ownership change, the estate sold back in 2023, and this year we learned it is now in the hands of a Texas real estate mogul, who actually just won the Republican primary for Texas comptroller.
He has promised to cooperate with the investigation and search fully, saying this is a “a welcome step toward truth and justice.”[]
But even with his support, since the home sold years after Epstein’s death, there are questions about what kind of evidence could even remain.
But still, lawmakers from the state are urging that no stone be left unturned, sharing a tipline for anyone with information on crimes Epstein and his associates committed in New Mexico. []
Over the weekend, there was also a major rally outside the ranch to coincide with International Women's Day.
And it was attended by the brothers of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who was one of the most vocal Epstein survivors until she died of a reported suicide last year.
And there, they demanded that the DOJ release the full files, including the names of the men that Virginia alleged abused her in New Mexico.
With some hoping that these state-level inquiries might be a turning point in the Epstein case since many are just not happy with how the federal government has handled it, with many thinking the DOJ is orchestrating a massive coverup.
But on that note, it is worth mentioning that after tons of public outcry, the DOJ did end up releasing previously withheld documents with allegations against Trump.
Right, in a series of FBI interviews from 2019, a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted by Epstein and Trump when she was a teenager.
She also claimed that Epstein blackmailed her mother for years after the alleged abuse.
Though the documents do not say whether or not the FBI found the information to be credible or what they did to verify the claims.
But between these Trump claims, this New Mexico search, and the overall constant headlines, it is clear that there are still tons of paths for lawmakers and investigators to go down in this case.
Which is why just last night, Rep. Ro Khanna wrote that:[]
“I will not relent until the files are released and we have investigations and prosecutions.”
With him also going on MS Now to emphasize the importance of public pressure:
“Here’s why people shouldn’t give up hope. Because when people cover it, when journalists make a big deal of it, then suddenly Pam Bondi relents and we get 10,000 more files, 40,000 more files. So we just need to be on this until we can get a judge to order the release of the rest of the files.” (3:37-3:56)
So we will have to see if he is right, if people keep their focus on it, will we get answers and justice?
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