Good evening. I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America. Very quickly, take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and restack this edition. That’s the best way to help independent journalism break through to reach the most people.
Democratic senators told Raw America that the Trump administration’s decision to kick 760,000 people off their Affordable Care Act plans is a “human tragedy.” Attorney General Todd Blanche is now asking a federal appeals court to stop a judge from forcing the release of Epstein files that are still under seal. Maine Republican congressional candidate Paul LePage, who has supported Trump’s ICE crackdown, now wants an exception for one of his own family members scheduled for deportation. And Minnesota Republican U.S. Senate nominee Michele Tafoya is struggling to explain multiple deleted social media posts attacking the same state she’s running to represent.
Before we dive in, we’re gearing up for the fight ahead and need your help. Trump revoked credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico after he yanked them from our own White House reporter, Brian Karem. While those outlets all have corporate owners and plenty of resources at their disposal to fight back, we’re an independent outlet that relies entirely on support from readers like you. Help keep this work going for just 22 cents a day. We can’t do this without you.
Raw America Capitol correspondent Luke De Cresce outside the U.S. Capitol (Photo: Luke De Cresce / Raw America)
Raw America Capitol correspondent Luke De Cresce spent time on Capitol Hill today asking senators about how President Donald Trump’s administration kicking hundreds of thousands of Americans off of their health insurance plans impacted their constituents.
Vice President JD Vance previously tried to justify the removals by insisting they’re part of his agenda to combat alleged fraud. During a press event with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz, Vance suggested the people who lost coverage were bad actors who were gaming the system.
But Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut disputed that characterization. He told De Cresce that he doesn’t accept the administration’s claim that the only people who lost their healthcare coverage were fraudsters, and that many of his own constituents are facing impossible choices.
“I talked to people in Connecticut who have lost their healthcare insurance, and they are distraught. With good reason,” Blumenthal said. “They simply can’t afford $800 bucks a month. And we need to shame Republicans into providing for this. I’m not saying it’ll work easily, but the human tragedy is just unspeakable.”
Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey was also sharply critical of the move, telling Raw America that the administration “hurt people that legitimately need their health insurance.”
“They’re throwing people off. That’s just not what government does. Literally, people could be hurt,” Booker said. “People lose their medication, lose their health care, because of the way they approached it.”
The New Jersey Democrat told De Cresce that the administration is “doubling down” on what it previously did with the passage of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which Booker said “push[ed] millions off of healthcare and endanger[ed] hospitals all over this country.”
The timing of this is particularly head-scratching. These 760,000 people were removed from Affordable Care Act plans just weeks before the midterm elections, in which the affordability crisis is a front-and-center issue. This move also happened after Republicans in Congress allowed Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire last year, which made monthly health insurance premiums double and even triple in cost for thousands of Americans in dozens of states.
Sponsored Kalshi Question: Michigan Senate winner?
Attorney General Todd Blanche is now asking a federal appeals court to halt a district judge’s order forcing Trump’s Justice Department to release foreign-language Epstein files.
In a motion filed Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Blanche asked the court to halt two orders from U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan — an appointee of former President Bill Clinton — and to speed up the appeal. Those orders came in a lawsuit against Blanche brought by attorney and journalist Katie Phang.
Sullivan’s order handed down on June 25 directed the DOJ to begin reviewing and producing foreign-language documents as required by federal law under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump himself signed into law last fall. A second order on issued last week gave the department until tomorrow, September 24 to start that process and notify the court. Sullivan has temporarily paused that deadline while the stay request is pending.
The DOJ’s main argument is that Phang has no legal standing to sue them in the first place. According to the motion, “Congress chose not to include a private right of action” in the law. Government lawyers even noted that a proposed “Epstein Files Transparency Act II,” which would let victims and certain public officials sue the attorney general, as evidence the original law doesn’t allow for suits like the one Phang filed.
The DOJ also argued that Sullivan overreached at the preliminary injunction stage. And it insisted there would be no damage to Phang from a pause in the case, writing that “Phang will suffer little harm from a brief delay during an expedited appeal.”
The appeals court has consolidated the DOJ’s challenges to both orders. It’s particularly striking that the administration is not only refusing to follow the law the president signed by releasing all of the Epstein files as described in the legislation, but that they’re doubling down on keeping information about child sex trafficking hidden from the public. Keep an eye on this one.
Ask yourself why the news outlets owned by Trump’s billionaire friends aren’t leading their newscasts and front pages with these stories. Raw America can, because we don’t answer to a MAGA oligarch. We answer to you. Keep this work going by becoming a paying member for just 22 cents a day.
Paul LePage, the Republican former governor of Maine who is now running to represent the state’s 2nd Congressional District, confirmed this week that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is deporting one of his relatives.
During an event in the capital city of Augusta, LePage told a Portland Press-Herald reporter that his son’s father-in-law — who has a valid work permit — is facing deportation because “certain people in Washington” don’t like the country he’s from. LePage didn’t name the relative in question or divulge his country of origin.
He then insisted that he still supported ICE, but that agents should focus on criminals.
“Would I go after everybody that’s here, that have work permits and have been here for decades? Probably not,” LePage told the Portland Press-Herald. At that same event, LePage heaped criticism on Maine’s new law that limits local police cooperation with ICE.
The data from Maine shows ICE hasn’t been targeting the “worst of the worst,” as Trump has promised. Of the nearly 200 people detained during the initial surge in January of this year, only 11 had criminal convictions. And out of everyone ICE arrested in Maine between January and July of 2026, 68 percent of them had no criminal record at all.
In July, an ICE agent shot and killed 25-year-old Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine in front of his toddler-age daughter, kicking off massive protests. Guerrero, a Colombian who was in the country legally with his wife and young daughter, wasn’t even the target of the agents’ investigation. This was at least the 11th fatal shooting involving ICE agents since Trump’s second inauguration.
Former NFL reporter Michele Tafoya, who is now the Republican nominee in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate, has been caught deleting multiple social media posts implying she was “embarrassed” to call the Gopher State home.
In a March 2023 post the Daily Beast discovered through online archives, Tafoya wrote, “I’m embarrassed to say I live in Minnesota.” When a local radio host grilled her on the post, Tafoya claimed she “never said that.” She did concede, however, that she’d wanted to leave two years ago, but that her children’s love for the state ultimately changed her mind.
The paper trail goes well beyond one post. In 2024, she called herself “a future former-Minnesotan.” And in a 2025 response to a post from California Governor Gavin Newsom, Tafoya wrote that while she’d moved to Minnesota, she “will be leaving.” And during a podcast interview last fall, Tafoya said she viewed Minnesota as no longer as safe, clean, or beautiful, while adding, “I won’t be here for the long haul.” Four months later, she filed her U.S. Senate campaign paperwork.
Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party — the state’s version of the Democratic Party — has since called Tafoya “Minnesota’s Biggest Hater.” She’s facing Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan in six weeks in the race to fill the seat being vacated by outgoing Democratic Senator Tina Smith. She’s also the same candidate who dismissed concerns about high gas prices from Trump’s war with Iran war by saying Americans should take one less trip to Starbucks.
This week, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison — the son of billionaire Trump donor Larry Ellison — effectively completed his takeover of CNN after the state attorneys general suing to stop his company’s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery caved and agreed to a settlement. This means one MAGA oligarch will now control CBS, CNN, TikTok and a whole host of cable channels and movie studios.
Raw America will never be able to compete with the billionaires on audience size, but we can beat them by being the one thing they can never buy. Become a paying member of Raw America and help support the independent journalism that’s holding the rich and powerful accountable.
I’m British Chris, with Raw America. Thanks for reading, and thanks for supporting independent media. Once again, please take a second to click the ❤️ and hit restack so we can reach the readers who need these stories.
Here are some additional stories you may have missed:
With just a few more weeks to go before the midterms, a growing number of Democratic officials and experts are warning that President Donald Trump could eventually deploy the National Guard to discourage voter turnout. Maj. Gen. Steven Lepper, who is a retired Air Force lawyer, said Trump’s “dwindling” options mean that a National Guard deployment shouldn’t be ruled out, despite federal law barring armed federal agents from polling places.Officials Fear Trump May Use National Guard to Disrupt Election.As diesel prices continue to hit new record highs, the Trump administration is now reportedly weighing whether to ban all exports of diesel fuel until 2027. According to Politico, the proposal has caused friction among several members of the Cabinet, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright discouraging the idea along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Several oil executives have said that such a move would only have fleeting short-term benefits while ultimately driving prices up even higher over the long term.Trump Reportedly Considering Banning Diesel Exports for 90 Days.During a Tuesday hearing, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly — who Trump appointed to the bench during his first term — said “due process wasn’t followed” when the president revoked press credentials for CNN, MS NOW and Politico last week. This could mean that the three outlets have their credentials temporarily restored while their First Amendment lawsuit plays out. Trump had accused the outlets of reporting “fiction” and “lies” when announcing the revocation of their credentials, but a legal precedent set nearly 50 years ago establishes that reporters are entitled to due process before previously issued credentials can be revoked.Judge Suggests Trump’s Media Ban Directly Conflicts with Established Precedent.
