Trump Says His Energy Secretary Is ‘Running Venezuela’President Donald Trump praised Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Thursday, saying that the former fracking CEO had been recommended to him for the job.“And he’s turned out to be incredible. Really incredible,” Trump said during an Environmental Protection Agency event. “He’s running Venezuela — running more than anybody has ever run before, I think we can say, Chris, right?”Trump ordered the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro early this year on charges of narco-terrorism and drug trafficking, setting up the foreign leader for a trial in June next year. His administration has collected some $13 billion in Venezuelan oil money, but where that money has gone is not clear.Trump Says Falsely That Americans Are Pushing For Data CentersPresident Donald Trump claimed that some communities in the U.S. are pushing hard for AI data centers to be built, but data shows many Americans are concerned about the centers’ affects. “You have communities that really want the data centers,” Trump said Thursday while speaking about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. “And frankly, those are the smart communities.”However, research has shown that many Americans are concerned about the negative environmental and economic impacts from the centers, including higher energy costs.Roughly 40% of Americans believe data centers have a negative affect on the environment, Pew Research data shows.Seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of AI data centers near their homes, according to a Gallup News survey. Is Mitch McConnell OK? His Office Shares Statement From 11 Days Ago.It’s been 39 days since anyone has publicly seen Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has been in the hospital with a mysterious health condition after an emergency medical team found him unconscious and in cardiac arrest at his home.On Thursday, HuffPost asked his office for any health updates on the 84-year-old senator, or any details on when or if he plans to return to the Senate. His spokesperson responded by providing a statement from the senator — from 11 days ago.“The Senator continues to improve and we will be sure to keep you updated – in the meantime, nothing to add to what he shared,” his spokesperson said in an email, sharing a link to this July 12 statement, in which McConnell says only that he’s recovering from a fall and a mild case of pneumonia.“As much as it frustrates me, this process takes time,” reads his old statement. “And on the advice of my doctors, I won’t be able to return to the Senate floor to vote quite yet.”Lawmakers Propose AI ‘Kill Switch’ After OpenAI Model Goes Rogue, Hacks CompanyU.S. President Donald Trump’s top technology adviser is monitoring the situation after OpenAI disclosed that one of its AI systems had gone rogue during testing, a White House official said on Thursday, as lawmakers proposed an “AI Kill Switch Act,” which would allow federal authorities to halt AI models.In addition to the Kill Switch Act, a bipartisan group of six U.S. House lawmakers also proposed legislation that would require developers of the most powerful AI models to submit them for independent security audits, according to a copy of the new bill. The auditors would be accredited by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the department would create a new position to oversee AI security.Read more, via Reuters:Trump Says He’s Mulling ‘Massive Attack’ On Iran: ReportPresident Donald Trump has reportedly said he is weighing a “massive attack” on Iran that is “bigger than ever before.”The comments to Axios, published Thursday, suggest the president is considering an escalation of combat operations in the Middle East as his rhetoric has became increasingly hostile in recent days. “I am considering a massive attack,” the president told the outlet. “Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it.” The U.S. has carried out a 12th night of strikes across Iran as the two countries vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz.On Wednesday, Trump threatened to destroy one bridge or power plant each time Iran shoots at a ship in the strait, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio a day later saying Trump has adopted a “head for an eye” policy. Read more at Axios:John Thune Snipes At Karoline Leavitt After She Warns Trump's 'Patience Is Running Out'Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had a bold suggestion for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt after she said President Donald Trump was growing impatient with the senator. “Well maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes, right?” Thune said in response to Leavitt’s comments that the president’s “patience is running out,” over Senate Republican’s inability to pass his SAVE America Act. When asked Thursday about Trump’s apparent frustrations with Thune, Leavitt said: “The president spoke about this directly yesterday. His patience is running out.” “He wants to see as much of the SAVE America Act passed as possible by the August recess,” Leavitt continued. Speaking at a Georgia rally on Wednesday, Trump talked about his irritation with Senate Republicans, who have been unable to garner enough votes to pass the act. “The senate, what they’re doing, it’s just not right,” Trump said. “It’s like the Senate is where you send things you want them to die.” “Everybody call John Thune ... and tell him to get this stuff approved,” he continued. Minnesota Man Gets 2 Life Sentences For Killing Democratic Lawmaker And Her HusbandThe Minnesota man who pleaded guilty to killing a top Democratic lawmaker and her husband was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison on Thursday, a little over a year after the political attacks.Vance Boelter, 59, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms plus 40 years in prison after pleading guilty in June to the six counts related to the killings of House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, and the shootings of state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.Read more from the Associated Press:White House Can’t Say Why Saudis Should Have A Nuclear Program But Iran Can’tWhite House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was peppered with questions Thursday about the agreement President Donald Trump forged with Saudi Arabia that opens the door to uranium enrichment there for a civilian nuclear program.She was unable to answer most of them.The deal is apparently contingent on Saudi Arabia signing the Abraham Accords, which would require the country to normalize relations with Israel. Asked what steps the U.S. is taking to get Saudi Arabia to join the agreement, Leavitt read a social media post from Trump that noted Saudi Arabia would have to join the agreement.Asked why that condition wasn’t mentioned yesterday when the Energy Secretary announced the deal, Leavitt again couldn’t say.“The president is always the final dealmaker, as you know, and this is something that he has mentioned,” she said.Asked if there’s any indication that Saudi Arabia is even considering this, Leavitt could say only that Trump is talking to the Saudis.Will Saudi Arabia be exempt from international inspections as part of this deal?“I don’t want to comment on the specifics of the deal,” she said.Has the president talked to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman since this new condition was added?“The president just put out this new statement a few hours ago, I don’t believe he’s had a call with MBS,” she said.In the past, the Saudi government has said they wouldn’t consider entering into the Abraham Accords unless and until there’s a Palestinian state. What makes you think they’re going to change their minds?“I won’t get ahead of the president’s conversations but this is something he feels strongly about,” she said.And then there was this doozy: Why does Saudi Arabia get a civilian nuclear deal, but Iran doesn’t get a civilian nuclear deal?Leavitt responded by ignoring the content of the question, instead reading a prewritten statement about how it would benefit American companies.“This agreement … does give priority access for American companies and the Saudi nuclear program which will ultimately benefit American industry workers and supply chains,” she said.Trump Border Czar Gloats About ‘Deportation-Maxxing’President Donald Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has adopted the language of online influencers and deployed a new phrase to describe the administration’s immigration crackdown.“We’re deportation-maxxing,” Homan told NewsNation on Wednesday as he boasted about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s record-breaking arrests in June, and how July is set to be higher still.He appears to have debuted the phrase when appearing on the podcast of Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, earlier this week.As Miller laughed when he used the phrase, Homan said: “You like that, don’t ya?”“I do like that,” Miller replied. “Hashtag deportation-maxxing.”“Maxxing” is internet jargon that means optimizing an aspect of a person’s life, and is most often associated with the “looks-maxxing” trend.The White House recently spun a security upgrade to the Qatari-gifted Air Force One as “plane-maxxing.”Homan’s gloating comes in the aftermath of ICE agents shooting and killing two men, in Texas and Maine, in less than a week.White House Annoyed By Markwayne Mullin Blunders: ReportHomeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has not endeared himself to the White House after a series of blunders in his first few months in the role, according to NBC News.The outlet reported Thursday there are “growing tensions” between President Donald Trump’s inner circle and Mullin, who took over the job from ousted Kristi Noem in March. Among his missteps, the former senator is said to have annoyed the president by pausing most ICE vehicle stops after fatal shootings in Texas and Maine.An angry Trump, who had not been informed of the policy shift, reversed the decision.“Every Cabinet secretary knows that they have to come to the White House for major policy decisions,” an administration official told the outlet. “The president sees, hears, reads everything.”Read more at NBC News:Trump Threatens ‘Major Military Punishment’ As Yemen’s Houthis Attack Saudi TankersPresident Donald Trump threatened “major military punishment” against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels after they said they had attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea on Thursday.The attack comes after the Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait earlier this week, putting another key shipping route in jeopardy amid the stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz.The move follows the Saudi blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on the international airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.In a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump warned against the Houthis continuing the attacks.“If they do this again, the U.S. will hold Iran responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and/or Proxy of Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” the president wrote.Trump Says Saudi Nuclear Deal Hinges On Joining Abraham AccordsPresident Donald Trump on Thursday said the U.S. and Saudi Arabia civilian nuclear deal will only go ahead if Riyadh joins the Abraham Accords — the U.S.-brokered agreements that formalized relations with Israel.In a Truth Social post, Trump also said the deal would not permit uranium enrichment.A landmark deal was signed, seen as a pathway for Saudi Arabia to build a uranium enrichment facility.“The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote. “The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities.”Saudi Arabia has repeatedly rebuffed U.S. attempts to get the kingdom’s leaders to sign on to the Abraham Accords, which normalized commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and a trio of Arab nations during Trump’s first term.Oil Prices Rise For A 5th Day As U.S.-Iran Hostilities Threaten Supply RoutesOil prices hit their highest in more than a month on Thursday, rising for a fifth day after Yemen’s Houthis said they struck two Saudi oil tankers, raising fears that disruption to global oil supplies could spread beyond the Strait of Hormuz.Brent crude futures were up $4.52, or 4.80%, at $98.59 a barrel by 0935 GMT having reached their highest since June 3.Read more at Reuters:Trump Seems To Welcome Jack Smith Criminal ReferralPresident Donald Trump on Thursday seemed to welcome House Republicans’ decision to refer former special counsel Jack Smith to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.“Justice at last???” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.In a letter to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, accused Smith of lying during a December deposition when he said he had not sought a search warrant for lawmakers’ texts.“While testifying under oath, Mr. Smith seemingly made willfully and intentionally false statements of material fact that contradict new documents obtained by the Committee from the Department of Justice,” Jordan wrote.Smith’s lawyers said their client’s referral is “based on a spurious claim.”Trump has previously called for the prosecution of Smith, who led high-profile criminal cases against the president.Breaking UpdateEU Hits Google With $1 Billion Fine Over Its Play App Store And SearchThe European Union on Thursday hit Google with a fine of 890 million euros ($1 billion) after it said the technology behemoth broke digital antitrust regulations by setting up Google Play and its ubiquitous search engine to corral consumers towards its own services and apps to the detriment of competitors.It was the latest major crackdown on Big Tech by Brussels, which has led the world in reining in some of the world’s largest companies from Silicon Valley to Beijing.Google had recently lost its appeal of a $4.5 billion antitrust fine imposed for throttling competition and reducing consumer choice through the dominance of its mobile Android operating system.NYT Analysis Shows Iran Maintains Ability To Hit U.S. TargetsWhile the Trump administration insists that it has greatly diminished Iran’s military capabilities, Iranian strikes on U.S. targets in the Middle East since the interim deal collapsed paint a different picture.A New York Times visual analysis of U.S. military bases and other locations hit by Iran indicate that Tehran retains the ability to strike precise targets despite the U.S. government’s claims.Read more at The New York Times:Rubio Says U.S.-Saudi Arabia Nuclear Deal 'Will Have Safeguards In Place'U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the U.S. decision to sign a deal with Saudi Arabia that would allow the kingdom to develop a civilian nuclear program, claiming that the agreement will include safeguards “to ensure that it can’t be turned into a weapons program.”“Any agreement that we’re going to make with any country in the world on civil nuclear energy is going to be one that will have safeguards in place to ensure that it can’t be turned into a weapons program. And one of the best safeguards is to make sure that American technology and American companies are the ones that are involved in doing it,” he told reporters.The text of the agreement has not be released but the deal reportedly does not require Saudi Arabia to comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency ’s Additional Protocol. The deal also requires congressional approval.Rubio Warns Iran Will 'Pay A Price' For Failing To Make A Deal To Permanently End WarU.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday lashed out at Iran, warning that Tehran will “continue to pay a price” for failing to agree to a deal to permanently end the war.“The problem with Iran is every time they make a deal, the people that are in charge there, they either break it or they want to change it. So it looks like they’re not ready to make a deal,” he told reporters at the ASEAN meeting in the Philippines. “So they’re going to continue to pay a price.”“The price will continue to get higher every single night until they come to their senses,” he continued.Following the collapse of an interim deal between Iran and the U.S., the two countries have been trading attacks, prompting fears that they are moving closer to an all-out war.Rubio Dismisses Reports That Russia Is Helping Iran Target U.S. TroopsSpeaking to reporters following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio dismissed reports that Russia has been helping Iran target U.S. troops in the Middle East.While Rubio declined to comment on the reporting, he claimed that Tehran is not in a position to hurt the U.S.“Nothing that Iran is doing, nothing that anyone’s doing to help Iran is in any way increasing their ability to target Americans,” Rubio said.Rubio’s comments come as Reuters reported that U.S. intelligence analysts are looking into whether Russia gave Iran targeting information or advanced drone technology to enable Tehran’s attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf region.Rubio said he had a “good” and “frank conversation” with Lavrov, without specifying whether the two of them discussed the Iran war.Tropical Storm Bertha Makes Landfall In Louisiana And Moves Toward TexasTropical Storm Bertha made landfall in Louisiana and was southwest of New Orleans while moving west toward Texas early Thursday morning, after closing beaches on the Gulf Coast from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi.The storm made landfall Wednesday afternoon in St. Bernard Parish about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of New Orleans. The storm was forecast to reach the upper Texas coast on Thursday before dissipating inland in Texas by Friday.Read more at The Associated Press:Passengers In Texas ICE Shooting Say Officers Were Not In DangerThe immigration officer who shot and killed 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston was not in danger of being run over, two passengers in his van told a federal court this week.The Department of Homeland Security said shortly after the July 7 shooting that Salgado Araujo had “weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer,” and that the officer had fired in self-defense.Read more from The Associated Press: