Smithsonian Secretary Defends Work After White House AttackSmithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III is reportedly working to rally his staff this week after the White House accused the institution of trying to "divide, dispirit, and discourage" American citizens through its educational programs, research and museums.In an email to his staff on Tuesday, Bunch hit back at the White House Domestic Policy Council’s recent scathing assessment of the federally funded institution, calling it an unfair characterization, The Washington Post reported.“While there will always be room for improvement, this report is not a fair characterization of the work and totality of the National Museum of American History,” Bunch stated in the email obtained by the Post. “At the Smithsonian, our work is driven by scholarship, accuracy, and an uncompromising commitment to tell the fullness of America’s story.”The White House’s 162-page assessment released on Saturday attacks the Smithsonian’s current leadership and accuses the institution, particularly the National Museum of American History, of failing to inspire pride and patriotism.Latest Live UpdatesSenior Military Official Retires Early, Citing 'Personal Reasons'Brig. Gen. Eric Widmar, the senior legal adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff chair, is exiting the post early, ProPublica reported on Wednesday, becoming the latest high-profile official to leave the military in the second Trump administration.Widmar is retiring about a year before the end of his term, citing "personal reasons."“Earlier this year, my wife and I reflected on the demands of this role, which have required me to live apart from my wife for the past two years and created additional challenges for me and my family," he told ProPublica in an emailed statement. "After careful consideration, I decided it was time to place my family at the center of my life and focus on our next chapter together."Military experts as well as current and former high-ranking military officials told ProPublica his early retirement is alarming given the string of departures of well-respected senior military leaders under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.Read more at ProPublica:Bill Pulte Keeps Firing Career Intel Staff. Wait Until You See Some Of His Past Hires.Bill Pulte has been on a firing spree in the weeks since President Donald Trump tapped him to be his acting director of national intelligence, but some of his past personnel choices are deeply questionable ― and his agency is threatening to sue reporters who cover it.A wealthy housing executive with no experience in intelligence or national security, Pulte, a staunch ally to Trump, has fired dozens of intelligence officials and pushed out dozens more career and political staffers since the president put him into this role on June 19.Read more here:James Talarico Raises $30 Million In Q2, More Than Ken Paxton's Total Campaign FundTexas state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate race in Texas, has raised $30 million in campaign funds from April through June, his campaign stated Wednesday — tripling the total war chest raised by his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Ken Paxton.According to the Texas Tribune, his campaign said the fund is a record total for a U.S. Senate candidate in the second quarter of an election year, with more than $70 million raised across 1.5 million donations, including 780,000 individual contributors, since launching his bid in September.“I’m honored to stand alongside more than 780,000 neighbors who are tired of being divided into teams — red versus blue, left versus right, rural versus urban,” Talarico said in a statement. “We are uniting Texans onto one team to change this broken, corrupt political system and bring down costs for working families.”Buckling Manhattan High-Rise Inspector Was Previously Cited For Alleged Violations: ReportThe private firm that inspected the Manhattan high-rise that displayed signs of collapse earlier this week has been previously cited for missing warning signs at other building projects across New York City, The New York Times reported on Thursday.It is unclear if any of the work the company inspected at the building was linked to the support columns buckling on the 21st floor of the office tower, the report said.The Times noted that Domani Inspection Services has been accused of violations by the New York City Department of Buildings on three occasions between 2012 and 2017. The alleged violations included conducting unlicensed concrete testing and failing to report a facade collapse, the report added. Ultimately, two of the cases were tossed out, while a third one resulted in the issuance of a $1,000 fine, the Times said, citing records.A few years later, the company was fined $12,500 after part of a concrete wall came loose from the 25th floor of a building the company was hired to inspect on the Upper East Side, per the Times.Read more at The New York Times.GOP Megadonor Says He's Inclined To Back Rubio In 2028: AxiosDuring the annual Allen & Company conference, also known as the "Billionaire Summer Camp," New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday asked GOP megadonor Ken Griffin to spell out who he would back in a potential 2028 GOP primary between Vice President JD Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Axios.Griffin said he's supported Rubio in the past and would be inclined to do the same in 2028, the outlet said.Griffin previously urged Trump not to pick Vance as his vice president during the 2024 campaign, according to a book by Axios reporter Alex Isenstadt.Read more at Axios:Breaking UpdateBonnie Tyler, Who Topped The Charts With Epic 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart,' Has Died At 75Bonnie Tyler, the gravelly voiced, Grammy-nominated Welsh pop star best known for singing the chart-topping power ballad "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in 1983 and seeing new generations succumb to its bombastic charms during solar and lunar eclipses, has died. She was 75.Tyler died "unexpectedly" in a hospital in Portugal where she was being treated for an illness, her family said Thursday in a statement on her website. She was hospitalized in May in Faro, where she had a home, for emergency intestinal surgery and was later placed in an induced coma.Read more at The Associated Press:Illinois Democrat Calls For Congress To Hold Trump Admin Accountable For Iran WarIllinois Rep. Delia Ramirez (D) on Wednesday urged Congress to take a stand regarding the U.S. war on Iran after President Donald Trump launched a series of fresh strikes this week. “We cannot rely on warmongers to bring an end to this war,” Ramirez wrote in a post on X. “Congress must reclaim our authority and hold the administration accountable!”In June, both the House and Senate approved a war powers resolution that directed Trump to remove U.S. forces from "hostilities" with Iran, though it was a largely symbolic effort. Trump Plans To Ask SCOTUS To Reconsider Birthright Citizenship Case ‘IMMEDIATELY’President Donald Trump is planning to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider a case on birthright citizenship, he announced in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. “I will be asking for a Rehearing by the United States Supreme Court, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote. “This miscarriage of justice will destroy America if they don’t change their absolutely insane decision.”Last week, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold birthright citizenship, a decision that Trump has repeatedly criticized in the days since. Last year, Trump tried to end birthright citizenship in an executive order, which the court struck down in its ruling.According to The New York Times, it’s rare for the court to rehear one of its decisions – and it's only reversed itself once after doing so. DSCC Commits To Fund New Nominee To Replace Graham PlatnerThe Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee said it has started a fund that will be given to the nominee to replace Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race after being accused of sexual assault. “Susan Collins is more vulnerable than she has ever been after voting with Trump 96 percent of the time, being the decisive vote for the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, and selling out to the special interests that fund her campaigns after three decades in the Senate,” DSCC executive director Devan Barber said in a statement Wednesday. “The DSCC will work tirelessly to ensure the new Democratic nominee has the infrastructure and resources to immediately turn their focus to the general election, and in November we will defeat Susan Collins and win a Senate majority.”Venezuela Quake Survivors Improvise Showers, Toilets Amid Water ShortagesThousands of people affected by the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela last month are increasingly facing challenges in accessing clean water, sanitation and hygiene services.Families in the hardest-hit state, La Guaira, have taken to the beach to shower and relieve themselves, with excrement now dotting parts of the once-crowded Caribbean beaches. Others are using the little water that did not spill from their home storage tanks to do dishes and clean themselves. Many are living in temporary shelters or outdoors after 190 buildings collapsed and 856 others were damaged, according to Venezuelan officials, in the back-to-back earthquakes on June 24 that killed 3,811 people.Read more from The Associated Press:See All Updates