Trump Does Mental Gymnastics To Explain Steve Hilton’s Success After Election Fraud ClaimsAfter baselessly attacking California’s election integrity for days, President Donald Trump is now trying to explain why his favored candidate, Steve Hilton, was able to advance in the governor’s race after all. On Tuesday, Hilton, a conservative commentator endorsed by Trump, was projected to move forward in the gubernatorial primary contest, directly undermining the president’s unfounded statements alleging that the state’s elections were “rigged” against Republicans. In comments on Wednesday, Trump falsely argued that Hilton was able to secure his spot quickly after the president put “heat” on the state. “After a week, they determined that a kid who’s leading and had all the mojo, all of a sudden he doesn’t make the runoff, and then I hit them hard on that,” Trump told reporters, regarding Spencer Pratt’s loss in the Los Angeles Mayoral race. “I started talking about Steve Hilton who’s a fantastic guy and I saw them say it was going to be two weeks before they knew, and I started hitting them, ‘It’s going to happen to Steve Hilton too, watch,’” he added. “And they approved Steve Hilton very quickly…There was too much heat on them.” California takes longer to count ballots, in part, due to how widespread and accessible mail-in voting is in the state. Many of the mail-in ballots that are counted later in the process also tend to skew Democratic because Republicans are more likely to cast their votes early or in person. Both of those dynamics have fueled Republicans’ unfounded claims of fraud. As California Attorney General Rob Bonta has emphasized, there’s been no evidence of widespread voter fraud, something that Hilton himself also admitted on Tuesday. Latest Live UpdatesFlorida Supreme Court OKs GOP’s New U.S. House Districts For MidtermsThe Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed new U.S. House districts drawn by Republicans to be used in the midterm elections, marking another victory for the GOP in a nationwide redistricting effort aimed at helping the party retain its slim House majority.Attorneys for voters who sued had argued that the new congressional districts violate a state constitutional prohibition on partisan gerrymandering, and that the court should order the state to continue using the same districts as in the previous election. The Supreme Court, in a 6-1 decision, denied their request.Read more from The Associated Press:Trump Sees A Whopping 22 Medical Specialists, Analysis FindsPresident Donald Trump recently broke a personal record during his presidential checkup when he saw 22 specialists, almost twice as many as he has seen previously, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.White House officials reportedly said the high number of specialists was required for a “complete and preventive evaluation” of Trump, who is turning 80 years old next week.“The involvement of multiple specialists reflects a comprehensive, multidisciplinary evaluation consistent with best practices for executive-level medical care,” the White House said in a statement to the Post.Read more:Mike Johnson Says Trump's 'I Love The Inflation' Comment Was Taken Out Of ContextHouse Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) offered reporters a weak defense of President Donald Trump's bizarre comments about loving inflation."It was totally out of context," Johnson told reporters on Wednesday. "You know what he was talking about."Johnson said the president's comments were about how much he looks forward to seeing inflation numbers drop when the war with Iran ends, which the president claims is coming soon."The president is laser focused on the domestic economic situation," he said. "He is working to bring down prices. He's working to get the Strait of Hormuz open."Earlier Wednesday, when asked whether he was concerned about reports that inflation has accelerated to a three-year high, Trump said: "You know what I really love? I love the inflation." "When the war is over it's coming down," he continued. "It's gonna come down like a rock."Trump has publicly suggested a deal with Iran was around the corner at least 38 times since the war began in February, according to a tally from CNN.Graham Platner's First General Election Ad Claims 'Epstein Class' Is Against HimGraham Platner's first TV ad in the general election against Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) portrays him as the victim of a political establishment that loathes outsiders and loved the late sex predator Jeffrey Epstein. "Powerful Democrats and Republicans in the country were on Epstein Island," Platner says in the ad. "It seems the only thing the party establishments can agree on is a love of Jeffrey Epstein and a hatred of me."The ad is an attempt to deflect bipartisan disgust of Platner's past commentary and more recent stories about his sexting habits and allegedly volatile behavior in romantic relationships. The politicians tut-tutting Platner, the ad suggests, are some of the same people who used to hang out with the most notorious sex predator in U.S. history. Epstein was friends with President Donald Trump before the two had a falling out, and both Trump and former president Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's plane. But the most powerful political figure to have visited the island might be U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Russia Probes Car Bombs In MoscowRussian investigators said on Wednesday that they had arrested at least two suspects behind a car bombing in Moscow, detaining teenagers who the domestic security service said were convinced to plant the bomb.There were two car bombs on Tuesday in Moscow - one which detonated in the morning in eastern Moscow and one which was identified by security services in southwestern Moscow.Read more, via Reuters:U.S. Solar Power Outpaces Coal For First Time, Even As Trump Tries To Turn Back The ClockData released Wednesday by global energy think tank Ember, along with a report by the Solar Energy Industries Association and analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, show the continued growth of solar and decline of coal in the United States despite federal policy. In May, for the first time, solar supplied more of the nation’s electricity than coal, or 12.8%, Ember said. Coal supplied 12.2%, its fourth-lowest monthly share ever.Read more from The Associated Press:Google And Meta Denied New Trial In Youth Social Media Addiction CaseJune 10 (Reuters) - A California state court judge has denied motions by Meta Platforms and Google's YouTube seeking a new trial after a jury found the companies liable for designing social media platforms that are harmful to young people.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn Kuhl ruled on the motions on Tuesday, according to court documents. The companies had sought a new trial in a lawsuit filed by a woman who said she became addicted to Google's YouTube and Meta's Instagram at a young age because of their attention-grabbing design. A jury found the companies negligent and imposed $6 million in damages.Kuhl rejected the companies' argument that they are shielded from the claims by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a federal law that generally protects online platforms from liability over user-generated content. Kuhl said the law does not address the companies' design choices and the jury was repeatedly instructed not to consider content."There was substantial evidence that Plaintiff was harmed by the design features of Instagram, regardless of any of the content found on that platform," Kuhl wrote.In a statement, a spokesperson for Meta said the company disagreed with the ruling.Bill Gates Tells Congress That Epstein Tried To Use His Extramarital Affairs Against HimMicrosoft co-founder Bill Gates told Congress that the late Jeffrey Epstein tried to use the tech giant’s extramarital affairs against him, but that he never engaged in criminal conduct with the disgraced financier.“At the outset, I want to state very clearly: I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone. While he may have sought to foster a personal relationship, I was never interested in that and never reciprocated,” Gates said in prepared remarks to the House Oversight Committee focused on Epstein’s case on Wednesday. Gates added that he regrets ever engaging with Epstein and lending him any credibility.He also described his interactions with Epstein between 2011 and 2014, many of which were “focused on identifying potential giving structures.” He described those interactions as a “dead-end" and said they stopped working together. However, Gates then claimed that Epstein had learned that Gates was unfaithful to his wife and unsuccessfully tried to leverage the affairs against him. “These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family,” Gates said. “As the public can now see, based on what has been released in the files, Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities — in addition to many lies that he layered on top — to pressure me to re-engage with him. He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”Trump's Bonkers Response To 3-Year Inflation High: 'I Love The Inflation'President Donald Trump said he’s happy about inflation surging to 4.2% as a consequence of his Iran war, because the U.S. has been secretly taking “millions of barrels of oil” from the country.New data revealed Wednesday that inflation is currently at its highest since 2023. “I love the inflation. You know why? Because as soon as this war is over — you know, I can say it now — do you know we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran, until right now,” Trump told reporters at the White House.“We took out the other night 22 ships, late at night, with no lights because they don’t have any radar because we blasted the crap out of it. That’s why oil is $85 a barrel,” he said.The president claimed once again that both inflation and oil prices will drop once the war is over. There is currently no end in sight.Trump Says U.S. Will 'Resume Bombing' Iran Amid Sagging Talks To End WarPresident Donald Trump on Wednesday doubled down on an earlier threat that Iran will "pay the price" for prolonged negotiations and announced the U.S. would attack again."Well, we're going to be attacking them, attacking them very hard... Based on the helicopter, I guess we have the right to do that," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office Wednesday, referring to U.S. retaliation after Iranian forces shot down a U.S. helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.Trump's statement came in response to a question about a post he issued on social media saying Iran would “pay the price” for taking “too long to negotiate” a deal to end the war. "We're really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers," he added.The president declined to say whether strikes would include civilian infrastructure such as power plants and bridges."All they have to do is, they have to start signing a paper," Trump said. "It's fully negotiated."See All Updates