Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America.
Trump’s own $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC could expose him as January 6 records come to light. A White House aide who leaves Trump notes reading “You are all that matters to me” has earned the nickname “the human printer.” More than 130 election deniers have already secured spots on the November ballot in 35 states. And more than five million Americans have lost health coverage since Trump signed the largest healthcare cuts in U.S. history.
Corporate media is running cover. The FCC chair is making sure they know what happens if they don’t. And independent outlets are being bought out one by one. This is the news they don’t want you reading. AlterNet America is the people-powered response to the MAGA billionaire takeover of American media. We are reader-funded, editorially independent, and not for sale. We exist because of you. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, please upgrade today.
Now, let’s go.
Trump Lawsuit Against the BBC Could Expose Him Instead
If you’re going to sue someone for $10 billion over how they edited your speech, you should probably be comfortable with people reading the whole thing.
Trump filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the BBC over its Panorama documentary, which spliced together excerpts from his Jan. 6 speech out of sequence. The BBC admitted the edit “gave the mistaken impression” he had made a direct call for violent action.
Then the BBC’s lawyers did the math. They issued 47 subpoenas of third parties seeking every document concerning the attack on the Capitol following the “Stop the Steal” rally — the same records former special counsel Jack Smith used against Trump in his dismissed conspiracy prosecution.
Trump’s attorney Alejandro Brito is now slamming the BBC’s discovery as “excessive and impermissibly broad,” arguing the defense is trying to “conduct a trial as to the events that occurred on January 6th.”
The same morning, in a separate Florida case over the Pulitzer board, a judge reminded Trump he filed the lawsuit and insisted on it proceeding while in office. “He has to follow the rules like the rest of us,” Senior Judge Robert Pegg said. “There’s no exemption just because he’s a president.”
A hearing on the BBC discovery was pushed to July 21. Trump’s team asked for the delay, a bold move for the party that started this.
White House Aide Left Trump Adoring Notes in ‘Private Spaces’
The president has a favorite employee, and it’s weirder than you think.
Her name is Natalie Harp, a 34-year-old former TV presenter and Trump’s executive assistant, profiled in a new book by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. They report she is so omnipresent at his side, typing his Truth Social posts and printing out online articles, that staff call her “the human printer.”
Harp also leaves admiring notes for Trump in “personal spaces.” One read: “You are all that matters to me.” After the 2020 election, she followed him to Florida and supplied him with positive news stories on the golf course.
Trump, for his part, told staffers Harp “was the only one who loved him as much as his wife and kids.”
The White House defended her. Spokesperson Kush Desai called Harp “a beloved White House Official” and said the “Fake News Media will never understand what it’s like to be as trusted and admired as her.”
Trump said it plainly to his subordinates: “All of you will go off and make money. She’ll never leave me.” And before you ask — yes, the White House has an HR office. No, it has not commented.
Unlike Natalie Harp, we can’t follow you around leaving admiring notes. But we can show up in your inbox. If this kind of coverage matters to you, become a paid subscriber today.
132 Election Deniers Are Running This November
The people who tried to overturn the last election are now running in the next one.
A tally by the pro-democracy group States United Action found 132 election deniers across 35 states running for statewide or federal office this year. Democracy Docket flagged 19 to watch especially closely. The list reads like a reunion of the people who tried to overturn 2020.
Here’s the scariest part: many are running for governor or secretary of state, roles that wield enormous power over how a vote is counted, certified, and contested.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, now running for U.S. Senate, led the lawsuit drafted by Trump’s legal team that sought to throw out other states’ results. Jim Marchant, running again for Nevada secretary of state, took part in Trump’s fake elector scheme. RNC chair Michael Whatley, running for Senate in North Carolina, falsely claimed “massive fraud” took place in 2020 and later insisted Trump played no role in January 6.
Arizona’s Andy Biggs voted against certifying the election and asked Trump for a preemptive pardon. Pennsylvania’s Stacy Garrity stood next to Trump and said, “We know that he won.” Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn just introduced a bill to hand voter data to the Department of Homeland Security.
Whoever wins these races will oversee the next election. Some of these candidates have already told you what they do when they lose one.
5 Million People Lost Health Coverage Because of the GOP
The good news is that the richest 1% of Americans are getting an extra trillion dollars. The bad news is what happens to everyone else.
Around five million Americans have already lost insurance coverage less than a year after Trump signed the largest healthcare cuts in U.S. history into law. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act slashed nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and CHIP while handing roughly $1 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.
Medicaid and CHIP enrollment fell to 76.9 million, down from 80.8 million — a decline of more than 3.8 million people. Another 1.2 million lost ACA coverage after Republicans declined to renew the premium tax credits, doubling the average premium.
And the cuts haven’t fully taken effect. Next year, Medicaid recipients will have to prove 80 hours of monthly work activity, which could push 5.3 million more people off coverage by 2034. Another paperwork requirement is projected to add 700,000.
In total, roughly 15 million Americans will lose insurance over the next decade.
Meanwhile, a separate poll found 67% of voters disapprove of the administration’s handling of healthcare costs, and just 26% trust Republicans to fix them. Give it a year.
Nobody Owns This Newsletter but You
There is a reason the stories above are hard to find on a cable network. The FCC chair has made clear what happens to broadcasters who irritate the administration, the major networks have licenses they would prefer to keep, and the independent outlets that might fill the gap are being bought up one at a time.
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Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you tonight.
POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
The Senate Joins the House in Voting to Halt Trump’s Iran War. For the first time since the War Powers Act was written in 1973, both chambers of Congress have voted to tell a president to stop a war. The Senate passed the Iran war powers resolution 50-48, with four Republicans — Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Bill Cassidy — crossing party lines to join Democrats. This was the Senate’s tenth vote on Iran war powers this year. The House passed it earlier this month with four Republican defectors of its own. It’s a concurrent resolution, so it doesn’t go to the president’s desk and its legal force is debatable, but as a political signal, it’s hard to miss.
Brad Lander Defeats Rep. Dan Goldman in the NY Democratic Primary. Former city comptroller Brad Lander defeated two-term incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman on Tuesday for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 10th Congressional District, which covers Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. It is a significant win for New York progressives, powered by endorsements from Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Mamdani bucked party leadership to back Lander, whereas Goldman had Gov. Kathy Hochul and Hakeem Jeffries behind him. The race centered on U.S. policy toward Israel, with Lander pledging to be among the Jewish members of Congress “most willing to stand up for Palestinian human rights.”
Federal Judge Blocks Trump Policy of Arrests at Immigration Courts Nationwide. A federal judge in California on Tuesday issued a nationwide block against the Trump administration’s policy of making arrests at immigration courts, ending a practice that had seen ICE detain migrants in courthouse hallways, sometimes moments after they pleaded their cases. In a 71-page ruling, Judge P. Casey Pitts found the policy “arbitrary and capricious,” acknowledging its “chilling effect” on noncitizens’ willingness to attend their own court proceedings. For once, showing up to court will not be the thing that gets you arrested.
Justice Department Withdraws Subpoenas That Sought Reporters’ Grand Jury Testimony. The Justice Department issued and then withdrew subpoenas that sought to compel reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify before a grand jury, according to people familiar with the matter. One subpoena targeted Post national security reporter Ellen Nakashima, who has covered the Iran war and U.S. military boat strikes in the Caribbean. The Post called the subpoena “a clear violation of constitutionally guaranteed press freedom.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted “reporters are not our targets.” They were, however, one subpoena away from being witnesses against themselves.
