Donald Trump is looting the presidency
In an interview that aired at 5:27 pm this evening, the President of the United States struggled as he sat leaning forward in the Oval Office, staring directly across at Joe Kernen from CNBC. As the questions turned to his family’s business dealings and the billions of dollars his financial disclosures showed he had earned since taking back the presidency, his skin grew tackier with sweat the more he talked. From the first word he said, he seemed irritated, and even though his answers were careful, measured, and seemingly restrained, he still couldn’t outrun who he really is.
When Kernen handed him what should have been one of the easiest opportunities imaginable to reassure the American people that his family keeps a clear line between public office and private profit, Trump did the opposite. He volunteered something about his own sons that no ethics lawyer in the country would ever advise a president to say. “Almost anything they do... they have inside information.”
He offered it as an explanation for why he feels sorry for his children. He wanted Americans to sympathize with how difficult it is for them to make money while their father occupies the most powerful office in the world.
“I feel badly in a way for my kids, because every time my kids do, if they invest in a stock, or they go and do a bill, anything they do, because the presidency is so powerful, so big, everything, if they buy a cupcake company, well, the energy to make the cupcakes is sort of like, how’s my energy policy, so therefore you have a conflict. Almost anything they do, if they want to buy a truck, if they want to buy, you know, if they buy an energy efficient truck, they have inside information.”
He swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. And on the eve of America’s 250th birthday, he sat in the Oval Office and used that oath as a business model. He was not embarrassed, and he didn’t even try to hide any of it. He was explaining, openly, that the office he swore to honor is the very thing making his sons rich, and asking the country to feel sorry for them because people keep noticing. His financial disclosures, released just days ago, showed more than two billion dollars in revenue in 2025. He could not name the firms managing his money. He was not even sure what rules he was supposed to follow. “I think I’d be allowed to,” he said, when asked if he talks to Eric about his investments. “I’m not sure even what the status is, but I don’t.”
But he was not the only one who swore an oath who had something to say today. Trump’s handpicked U.S. Attorney stood behind a podium in another part of Washington, and announced a felony indictment against a 67-year-old American Olympian for touching paint.
Jeanine Pirro, the former Fox News host turned U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters today that a grand jury had indicted David “Davey” Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist, on a single felony count of destruction of property. The charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. The alleged crime: reaching into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19 and touching a piece of the new blue liner that was already peeling off the bottom.
Pirro described what Hearn did as “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner” of the pool with his bare hands. She said he damaged approximately two square feet of sealant. She said a park employee told him to stop and that he shouted at her, telling her she “cared too much about the Reflecting Pool.” She called his behavior “belligerent, rude and disrespectful.” And she said she could prove the damage exceeded one thousand dollars, which is the threshold that separates a misdemeanor from a felony. When a reporter asked how, Pirro said, “With an expert.” When the same reporter pointed out that videos showed the pool’s paint was already peeling before Hearn arrived, Pirro repeated, “Oh, he damaged it. He damaged the pool. He damaged this pool.”
Hearn tells a different story. He said he was on a 50+ mile bike ride when he stopped at the Reflecting Pool out of curiosity. He said he noticed a piece of the blue coating that had already partially detached from the bottom, reached down to feel what it was like, and described it as “very rubbery.” He said a park worker told him to stop, and he did. Then the National Guard handcuffed him and held him for five hours. “I did not remove, I did not damage, I did not rip, tear, break, destroy or harm any part of the Reflecting Pool,” Hearn said.
His attorneys, Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, released a statement that needs to be read by every American tonight: “Davey Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American. This indictment reflects the Administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures. On the eve of our nation’s Independence Day, Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative.”
And that is exactly what this is. A concocted story. Because the truth about the Reflecting Pool is not that vandals destroyed it. The truth is that the Trump administration rushed a vanity project, ignored the experts, and hired the wrong company to do the job.
And instead of admitting the failure, Trump blamed “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE” for vandalizing the pool. He claimed someone used “some form of knife or blade” to put “a 250-foot long gash” in the liner. He threatened “years in jail.” And Pirro, his U.S. Attorney, delivered on that threat today by indicting an Olympian who touched peeling paint with his fingers.
And here is the part that made the press conference truly unbearable to watch. A reporter asked Pirro: “How can you square charging this individual when there were over 1,000 January 6 rioters pardoned who caused millions of dollars in damages?”
Pirro cut him off. “Already this is a problem,” she said. The reporter continued. And Pirro snapped: “Are you really talking about January 6? I’m not. Who’s next? Not you!”
She would not answer the question. She could not. Because the answer indicts the entire regime. Trump pardoned every single person who stormed the Capitol on January 6. People who broke windows, beat police officers, and tried to overturn the certification of a presidential election. Every one of them walked free. And now his DOJ is pursuing a felony against a 67-year-old man who touched a piece of paint that was already falling off.
Even Republican Senator Thom Tillis could not stomach it. “What freakin’ parallel universe did I wake up in?” he said earlier this week. “I don’t know what’s worse to you, vandalizing a pool or assaulting a police officer? And you’ve let people that admitted to assaulting a police officer go and think I can take that person seriously? Nah uh.”
Pirro swore an oath when she became U.S. Attorney. She swore to uphold the law without favor. But Pirro has a complicated history with oaths and the truth. She spent years behind a Fox News desk amplifying the very election lies that led to January 6, lies so reckless that her own producer warned her in a text message to “be very careful with this stuff and protect yourself given the ongoing calls for evidence that has not materialized.”
That is what a broken oath looks like, and they are not just trying to set a precedent; they are sending a warning: stay in line. You don’t have to actually commit a crime in Donald Trump’s America to be dragged through the criminal system. They are also hoping that their followers, the ones Trump brags that love him, “the poorly educated,” will actually believe that this past Olympian was actually harming the reflecting pool intentionally. They need a fall guy, or half the population to take the blame for Donald Trump’s incompetence and poor leadership.
But yesterday, on the steps of that same Capitol, someone else actually honored their oath to this country. On July 1, the day before Pirro’s press conference, Air Force Major Jason Watson walked to the United States Capitol, stood at a podium in his military uniform, and said something that no active-duty commissioned officer in American history has ever said in public.
“My name is Jason Watson. I’m an active-duty major in the United States Air Force. However, who I am is immaterial. In the grand scheme of things, I’m just a nobody. What matters far more than who I am is what I have to say and the price I’m willing to pay to say it.”
And then he recited his oath. The same oath he first swore over twenty years ago at the United States Air Force Academy. “I, Jason Paul Watson, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I’m about to enter. So help me God.”
Watson is a logistics readiness officer currently stationed in Poland. He has spent 17 years serving in Europe, working with NATO. He is not a Democrat. He said he knows next to nothing about the policy positions of the congressman who stood beside him. He was there for one reason. And he laid it out with the precision of someone who had thought about every word for months.
“Our Constitution binds us all together as Americans,” Watson said. “Like countless veterans before me, military members serving now, I’ve devoted my life in service to our Democratic Republic. Always doing my best to honor my oath and protect America against foreign threats. But the greatest threat to our Democratic Republic is not a foreign one. It is us, we the people, not just the left or just the right or just the center, all of us together define who we are as Americans, and like it or not, we have all played a part, myself included, in getting ourselves into this mess we are all in.”
And then he said the line that will define this moment: “The burden of that culpability is much heavier for some amongst us than others. Undeniably, and for those with a lion’s share of guilt, such as those currently running the executive branch of the government, the bill must come due.”
He listed the charges. Unconstitutional military action in Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran without congressional authorization, in violation of the War Powers Clause, resulting in the deaths of thirteen service members and injuries to hundreds more. The granting of sweeping authority to an unelected mega-donor to shut down federal agencies, access government databases, and terminate tens of thousands of civil servants. The denial of due process to hundreds of people before deporting them to a foreign prison notorious for human rights abuses. The sponsoring of violence against Americans exercising their constitutional right to protest.
“For this,” Watson said after each charge, “the president and vice president must be impeached, convicted, and removed.”
When he finished speaking, Watson walked to the steps of the Capitol. Representative Al Green of Texas, the only member of Congress who has forced a vote on impeachment during this term, had escorted him there. Shortly after, Capitol Police told Watson that demonstrating on the steps without a member of Congress present is against the law. They gave him a chance to leave. Watson did not leave. He stood holding a sign that read “Impeach. Convict. Remove.” The officers approached multiple times before Watson carefully placed his sign on the ground. He was handcuffed and led away while the crowd chanted, “Who do you serve? Who do you protect?”
Watson is a hero. He did what so many should be doing, and he will face consequences for being on the right side of history. Active-duty military members are prohibited from speaking out against the Commander in Chief. Those restrictions exist to protect civilian control of the military. They prevent coups, and they prevent political factions from forming inside the armed forces. They are supposed to keep the military nonpartisan, and that principle is foundational to our republic’s survival. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 88, prohibits commissioned officers from using contemptuous words against the president, the vice president, Congress, or the secretary of defense. The Department of Defense prohibits active-duty members from participating in political activities while in uniform.
Watson violated all of that. He did it knowingly. He did it in uniform. The Air Force Secretary, Troy Meink, has already announced that a “thorough investigation” will proceed “unimpeded” and that commanders will “ensure appropriate disposition when holding service members accountable in accordance with military law and due process.” Watson could face administrative separation. He could face nonjudicial punishment. He could face court-martial. He will most likely lose his career, pension, and years of his life.
He knew all of that before he climbed those steps. Jessica Denson, the founder of the Removal Coalition, said Watson reached out to them months ago. She said they took his desire to speak out “very seriously and thought about the best way to make his sacrifice worth it.” She said he is risking not only his military career and pension, but potential prosecution. “This is the example of sacrifice that members of Congress need to see and confront,” she said.
There are moments in a democracy when the cost of silence becomes higher than the cost of speaking. Watson decided this was one of them. He did not ask to be exempt from the consequences. He asked us to understand why they were worth paying. “I am calling on average Americans everywhere to peacefully exercise your First Amendment rights en masse every day until this administration is removed and our democratic republic is restored,” he said. “If just a nobody like me can take a stand for our Constitution and our democratic republic, then you can too. I hope you will join me in the defense of our republic.”
He is the first active-duty commissioned officer in American history to publicly call for the impeachment, conviction, and removal of a sitting president. A fundraiser for his legal defense has raised more than $93,000 in less than 24 hours.
And then, today, the man who built the federal cases against Donald Trump, the man who followed the evidence and the law and was forced to resign for doing his job, spoke publicly for the first time.
Jack Smith, the former special counsel, sat for his first televised interview since leaving the Department of Justice, speaking with Nicolle Wallace on MS NOW. “I think we are facing an attack on the rule of law that is different in kind and scope to anything I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Smith said.
He was not performing. He was doing what he has always done: stating what the evidence shows. He talked about the “retribution prosecutions” coming out of the DOJ, including the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. He talked about the agents who worked for him, the ones Kash Patel has fired, at least a dozen of them, including one who was fired shortly after his wife died of cancer, a woman he had been nursing through her final days. “I feel terrible about what has happened to them,” Smith said. “If there’s one thing I’ve spent my time on since leaving my work as special counsel, it’s doing what I can to help and support them.”
When Wallace asked whether Trump’s DOJ could come after him, Smith acknowledged it was possible. “That could happen,” he said. But then he made something clear. “There is no way in the world, if the thought was to go after me so that I wouldn’t speak up about the corruption that’s happening or speak up to defend these agents and prosecutors, that is a grave miscalculation. There is no way that I’m going to be intimidated.”
When Wallace asked whether he was still ready to bring the case to trial after Trump leaves office, Smith did not hesitate. “Yeah. Correct.”
And when the conversation turned to November and the midterms, to what is coming next, Smith’s voice carried the weight of someone who has seen the evidence from the inside: “I’m very concerned of what’s going to happen in the next election, absolutely.” His advice to state attorneys general across the country: “I would be ready to litigate everything. Every possible permutation, and don’t let reason be a limitation. Imagine everything that could possibly be tried.”
I hope they are ready to do just that. Because that is what the oath is for. Not for the easy days. Not for the moments when honoring it costs nothing. It exists for days like this one, when keeping it means risking a career, a reputation, friendships, power, or even freedom. It is the promise that no person stands above the Constitution, and that our loyalty belongs first to the republic, not to the people temporarily entrusted to lead it.
In two days, America turns 250 years old. That anniversary doesn’t belong to Democrats or Republicans. It belongs to all of us. Our founders didn’t hand us a perfect nation. They handed us an unfinished one and trusted each generation to decide whether we would leave it stronger than we found it.
November isn’t simply another election. It is our opportunity to decide what the next chapter of those 250 years will look like. This has never been about left versus right. It has always been about those willing to defend our constitutional democracy and those willing to sacrifice it for power. We are not fighting over politics. We are deciding whether the next 250 years will be built on the Constitution that has endured through war, depression, and national tragedy, or on the ambitions of one man and those who have chosen to abandon their own oath to serve him.
The people who honored their oath this week have shown us the way forward. Now it is our turn. We may not all have sworn the same words they did, but we can honor the same promise with our voices, our votes, our courage, and our refusal to surrender the country that generations before us fought to preserve. It is our turn to leave the next generation an America worthy of its next 250 years. Every time history has asked Americans whether democracy was worth defending, ordinary people have answered. We’re about to answer again. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather
PS. You can make a significant difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. Your support helps me cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in this country.
This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.
Picture of the day: Today I spent hours in the car running errands along the coast while thinking about all the Fourth of Julys I’ve celebrated. The patriotic bike parades of the 1980s, when my friends and I spent days decorating our bikes before riding through the neighborhood. And about our annual potluck, followed by fireworks, yard games, and staying outside until it was dark enough to see the sky light up in fireworks. Then the years when my children were little, gathering at my sister’s house for dinner before taking an evening walk and ending the night with sparklers in the front yard. I thought about wandering Balboa Island as a teenager with friends, admiring the red, white, and blue decorations while eating frozen bananas along the waterfront.
And I realized something. It was never just about celebrating another year of this great American experiment. It was about community. It was about neighbors who knew one another. Families gathered around picnic tables. Children laughing in the streets. The feeling that, for one day, we all belonged to something bigger than ourselves. That’s always been the promise worth celebrating. Not any one politician. Not any one party. But each other, and the country we’ve continued building together, generation after generation. I hope all of us can find a little of that feeling this weekend. Because that’s the America worth fighting for.
Sources:
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/02/5-takeaways-from-president-donald-trumps-interview-with-cnbc.html
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/25/politics/reflecting-pool-firm-renovation-unfeasible
https://www.rawstory.com/not-you-pirro-screams-at-reporter-during-indictment-announcement/
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5936446-tillis-pirro-reflecting-pool-prosecution/
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/02/politics/capitol-us-military-protest-trump-impeachment
https://www.ms.now/news/jack-smith-doj-trump-defends-investigations
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/02/jack-smith-trump-interview-doj.html
I have just listened to a Trump enthusiast talking about his marvellous president on the BBC news and practically choked on my tea.
He enthused about all the good things he has done - stopped illegal migration ( well faced with ice who wants to come to USA) and no longer taxing tips !
When asked about the appalling financial gains of the president and his family, it was all glossed over.
He did state that Trump is heading to Mount Rushmore to choose his place on the monument. He also when asked about the divided America effectively stated Mandani was on the extreme left ( implying communism ) These Trump acolytes are bonkers
I think Jason Watson has more likely hood of a place on Mount Rushmore, for the extremely brave stance he has taken, and I am so glad that Americans have stumped up to financially help his case.
I want to wish all intelligent, sensible Americans a lovely 4th of July, and all we can hope for is that the midterms overthrow this corrupt government and help right the ship of justice and common sense.
Outstanding post Heather - thank you. Examples of courage, sacrifice, and honoring what our country stands for, the principles it was built on and the rule of law that can keep it together.
Why is it that we the people and a few others not in the current regime get it, while the very people who COULD and SHOULD be taking corrective action sit in silence? For personal wealth accumulation or just blatant cowardice?
I’d say BOTH.
250 years and here we are. Time to clean house - both houses!