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Trump’s pick to run ICE just got pulled after a Republican senator refused to let the nomination move forward. A damning new documentary about Elon Musk might get buried by the studio that owns its distribution rights. Mitch McConnell appeared to vote with Democrats by mistake before aides scrambled to fix it. And a federal judge just stepped in to stop the Trump administration from demolishing the Kennedy Center.
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The White House has officially withdrawn Lance Schroyer’s nomination to lead U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This comes less than three months after President Donald Trump announced him as the pick to run the agency at the heart of his mass deportation push.
Trump didn’t give an official reason was given for the withdrawal. But the timing lines up with Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky refusing to schedule a confirmation hearing.
Paul chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and he’s had a long-running feud with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who is a former Republican senator from Oklahoma. Paul demanded more answers about the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who federal agents in Minneapolis killed, before allowing Schroyer’s nomination to move forward.
That feud goes back further than this nomination. During Mullin’s own confirmation hearing, Paul accused him of justifying a 2017 attack by Paul’s neighbor that left the senator seriously injured. Mullin called Paul a “freaking snake” in response. Paul went on to be the sole Republican vote against Mullin’s confirmation.
Schroyer was initially been a state trooper in Oklahoma and served as Mullin’s senior advisor. Some immigration officials had already questioned whether he was qualified for the job, telling Politico they’d rather see acting ICE director Dave Venturella, who’s more similar to border czar Tom Homan, lead the agency instead.
ICE hasn’t had a Senate-confirmed director since the Obama administration. It’s been cycling through acting leadership for years now, and this withdrawal means that streak continues.
Meanwhile, the agency is under growing scrutiny. Despite promises that enforcement would focus on “the worst of the worst,” Reuters found in July that people with actual criminal convictions made up less than a quarter of ICE arrests. Back in December 2024, that number was closer to 60 percent.
Director Alex Gibney’s groundbreaking new documentary on Elon Musk got a five-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month. Attendees even shouted their appreciation to Gibney for the incredibly detailed investigation.
But Universal Pictures, which owns the film’s international distribution rights, still hasn’t set a release date. The studio hasn’t communicated with the filmmakers about its plans at all. Sources close to the situation told the Hollywood Reporter that Universal may end up handing the rights back rather than release the film.
The documentary has sharp political undertones. AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told filmmakers on camera that data gathered during Musk’s time running his DOGE initiative could be used to influence the midterm elections.
Musk has responded to the film by calling it a “hit piece,” despite never actually seeing it. His lawyer sent an ominous letter to Gibney’s production company, which is likely what made Universal Studios so nervous.
There’s also an element of potential corruption at play. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has a close relationship with Musk, and the FCC is currently investigating Comcast and NBCUniversal over its previous embrace of diversity, equity and inclusion programming. That gives Universal’s parent company extra incentive not to make Carr, or the Trump administration, angry with them.
This wouldn’t be the first time a media giant shelved a project to avoid friction with this White House. Amazon backed off releasing a film called Artificial around the same time it inked an official partnership with OpenAI, which runs ChatGPT. ABC News and Paramount both paid significant settlements to Trump over lawsuits that legal experts said had very little merit.
Universal bought the Musk documentary’s rights back in 2023, long before Musk and Trump were politically aligned. The landscape has clearly shifted in the last few years.
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Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky returned to the Senate this week after a three-month absence that his office never actually explained. During Wednesday’s Agriculture Committee vote on the Farm Bill, he appeared to vote “no,” siding accidentally with Democrats.
At that point, Republican Senators John Hoeven of North Dakota and John Boozman of Arkansas, who were seated on either side of McConnell, leaned in and quietly whispered something to McConnell. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota reportedly smiled and nodded along as the moment played out. McConnell then corrected his vote to “aye.”
Hours later, McConnell’s office posted a statement on X written in the first person, praising the bill’s support for farmers. The contrast between that polished statement and his visible confusion in the room raised more questions than it answered.
McConnell was found unconscious in his D.C. home back on June 14th and hospitalized. Since his return to Capitol Hill this week, he’s been photographed repeatedly with a blank expression and his mouth hanging open. He hasn’t spoken to reporters trying to check in on his condition. And his office still has yet to be fully transparent about whether the 84 year-old is capable of serving out the remainder of his term.
A federal judge on Thursday officially ordered the Trump administration to give 30 days’ notice before making any changes to the Kennedy Center, including anything that would resemble demolition of its main building.
The ruling came just one day after Trump was photographed looking at a document that appeared to reference the Kennedy Center being demolished. The image wasn’t fully visible and the White House hasn’t explained it, so the full context remains unclear.
Kennedy Center officials told the court this week’s sudden closure of the main building is only for a week and that its continued closure is subject to weekly review. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, a Barack Obama appointee, wants updates on that closure by next Wednesday.
Trump has previously threatened to close or “rip down” the Kennedy Center if his name isn’t added to the building. Congress already approved $257 million for renovations, but Trump has said he’ll withhold that money from being spent unless his name goes back on the building’s facade.
Cooper ruled back in May that Trump’s name had to come off the Kennedy Center entirely, after his allies on the board had renamed it the Trump-Kennedy Center without prior approval from Congress. An appeals court rejected Trump’s request to pause that order in July. This week, Cooper reinforced it, pointing out that the board can’t add memorials for Trump or anyone else without Congress signing off.
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I’m British Chris, with Raw America. Once again, be sure to click the ❤️ and restack this newsletter so we can reach the people who really need these stories. Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting independent media. We’ll see you tomorrow.