Trump's Relationship with Aide 'Very Unhealthy,' Family Says

A Republican has been charged with two felonies for voter fraud, RFK Jr. is stopping the CDC from promoting flu vaccines, and the FCC is planning to shut down a program giving schools internet access

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

The family of a White House aide is concerned about her “very unhealthy” relationship with Donald Trump. A South Dakota Republican state senator turned himself in after being charged with two felonies related to voter fraud. Newly released emails show Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the CDC to pull flu shot ads already in circulation and to stop promoting the vaccine. And the FCC is considering killing a $2 billion program that connects schools and libraries to the internet, because students get too much screen time.

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White House Aide Has ‘Very Unhealthy’ Relationship with Trump

There is a man in Nicaragua who found out his sister worked for the president of the United States by reading a Daily Mail article about Trump’s “glamorous new assistant.”

That man is Preston Harp, 38, and he has now told The Daily Mail that his sister Natalie Harp’s relationship with the 80-year-old president is “very unhealthy.” He also called Trump a “national embarrassment” and described his sister as “just like his fan club.”

Natalie Harp, 34, is a former OAN host who joined Trump’s orbit in 2022 with no official role. She has since become his favorite personal assistant. She earned the nickname the “human printer” because she trails Trump with a portable printer, supplying paper copies of emails and articles so the president doesn’t have to read them on a screen.

Before joining the staff, according to the new Haberman and Swan book, she left gushing letters in Trump’s “personal spaces.” One reportedly read, “You are all that matters to me.” Susie Wiles, reading them, reportedly asked herself, “Where am I?”

The Secret Service reportedly once considered her a “potential danger.” Trump considered her something else.

“All of you will go off and make money,” he told staffers, according to the book. “She’ll never leave me.” That is not a job description. That is a hostage note.

Republican Charged with Two Felonies for Voter Fraud

A South Dakota senator just caught two felonies for rigging an election nobody else was even trying to win.

Republican Tom Pischke, 44, has been charged with two felonies for falsifying party nomination forms. Prosecutors say he submitted 16 forged forms to put candidates on the ballot for county party leadership. The candidates had no idea they were being nominated.

The scheme fell apart fast. Minnehaha County auditor Leah Anderson noticed one nominee’s address didn’t match their voter registration. Then she noticed all 16 forms shared similar handwriting and signatures that matched nothing the candidates had actually signed.

Pischke initially denied forging the forms. Then footage showed his car dropping the papers at the post office, and his DNA showed up on the envelopes. He turned himself in.

Pischke represents a deep-red district near Sioux Falls and ran unopposed in his own primary.

The chair of the county Republican Party, Korry Petterson, believes Pischke was trying to push the party further right and interfere with his more centrist agenda. He wants prosecutors to seek a severe punishment.

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RFK Jr. Ordered the CDC to Pull Flu Vaccine Ads

RFK Jr. put his vaccine conspiracy in an email chain, which is how you know nobody at HHS has watched a single true crime documentary.

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday released a cache of HHS emails that show Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressuring the CDC over its vaccine messaging. Kennedy directed the agency’s vaccine advisory panel to restrict access to vaccines, let researchers access “confidential data” to support the disproven autism claim, and changed COVID-19 shot recommendations for the public without CDC input.

One email shows a CDC staffer told to “pull out of circulation all campaign ad buys related to flu or anything encouraging shots or vaccinations.” The request, she wrote, “came directly from the Secretary.” A separate email from HHS communications director Andrew Nixon confirmed it was “a direct ask from Secretary Kennedy.”

In August 2025, Kennedy’s then-chief of staff emailed CDC Director Susan Monarez about the need for a “political review of major decisions at CDC” so political leadership could sign off before anything took effect.

Less than a week later, Kennedy fired Monarez for failing to rubber-stamp recommendations from the vaccine panel.

Sanders called the firing “outrageous,” requested a bipartisan investigation, and called on Kennedy to resign. Kennedy has not resigned, because that would require listening to medical advice.

FCC May Kill Program Giving Schools Internet Access

The Trump administration has decided to handle internet access for schoolchildren the way a worried parent handles a tablet at bedtime: by threatening to throw the whole thing out.

The Federal Communications Commission voted 2-1 today to advance a proposal that could scale back or eliminate E-Rate, the $2 billion-a-year Universal Service program that gives schools and libraries discounts on telecom services and equipment.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s stated reason is that students get too much screen time. He blamed schools for replacing books and pencils with digital tools and cited data that more than half of students use a computer up to four hours a day.

Carr used the word “reoriented.” The actual draft uses the word “sunset.” It asks for public comment on whether E-Rate should be limited or ended, and whether Congress ever intended it to operate indefinitely.

E-Rate began in 1997 to support basic internet access for educational purposes. Carr says it has “expanded exponentially.” Commissioner Anna Gomez, the FCC’s only Democrat, asked Carr’s office to strike the language about sunsetting the program entirely. Carr’s office declined.

Students in rural areas are out of luck. Students elsewhere will still find ways to access the internet — now they just won’t be using it to learn.

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