Breaking News
Breaking News
from Washington and beyond

World Leader Caught on Hot Mic Asking Trump for Meeting With His Son

Why does Indonesia’s president want a private meeting with one of the leaders of the Trump Organization?

Donald Trump and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto shake hands.
Suzanne Plunket/Getty Images
Donald Trump and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto shake hands at the summit in Egypt on the Gaza ceasefire deal on October 13.

A conversation caught on a hot mic between President Donald Trump and President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia reveals that Trump was arranging a conversation between his son Eric and the Indonesian president, as world leaders gathered at Monday’s ceasefire summit in Egypt.

In the clip, Prabowo can be heard discussing a location that is “in a region” that’s “not safe, security-wise.” Trump says something in response, but can’t be heard clearly.

“Can I, can I meet Eric?” Prabowo asks the president, who promises to arrange a phone call: “I’ll have Eric call you,” Trump says. “Should I do that? He’s such a good boy. I’ll have Eric call.” Prabowo says yes, and, after an inaudible exchange, Trump thanks him.

It’s not certain what the two were discussing, but it’s possible the conversation was related to at least one of various existing and pending projects in Indonesia by the Trump Organization, where Eric Trump is an executive vice president.

In March, the president’s organization opened a new golf club in Indonesia, in a joint venture between the Trump Organization and MNC Group, an Indonesian conglomerate. The Trump Organization also lists a golf club and resort in Bali as “coming soon” on its website, and in February, development on a Trump Organization–MNC Group project was halted by Indonesian environmental authorities.

As the conversation continues, Prabowo adds, “I told Hary also”—possibly referring to Hary Tanoesoedibjo, a businessman who owns MNC Group and has partnered with the Trump Organization on its Indonesian projects.

Trump asks if Prabowo had spoken to someone whose name is inaudible, before Prabowo replies, “We’ll look for better place,” which Trump seems to agree is a good idea.

Trump then tells Prabowo to reach out to him at a later stage—“You let me know when something [inaudible],” he says—to which the Indonesian leader agreed.

“I’ll have Eric call you,” Trump assures him again, and Prabowo also mentions he would be open to speaking to Trump’s eldest son, Don Jr., who is also a Trump Organization executive vice president.

“Eric or—Eric or Don Jr.,” Prabowo says.

After sharing more inaudible words, Trump calls Prabowo a “fantastic guy” and promises to “have one of them call you.” Trump continues: “Thank you, my friend. I like that you told me,” and their conversation cuts off as Trump says: “We don’t need—”

While the conversation was unclear, it certainly seems to be yet another example of Trump, as is his wont, blending the presidency with his personal business interests.

DHS Downplays Horrific ICE Arrest by Straight Up Lying About It

A viral video shows officers surrounding a woman’s car, dragging her out of it, and arresting her.

Three ICE officers stand in front of a gas station in Chicago
Octavio Jones/AFP/Getty Images

The Department of Homeland Security has been caught in yet another lie about the victim of a violent immigration arrest.

A shocking video that went viral Saturday showed the violent arrest of a young woman by law enforcement officers. In the video, unmarked cars swarmed a suburban street, as another vehicle screeched to a halt on what appears to be a driveway. As the driver was pulled from the stopped car, she could be heard loudly pleading with the arresting officer. The officer threw her to the ground and appeared to put his knee on her neck as he restrained her hands behind her back. Multiple X accounts claimed she had yelled, “I’m 15!”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin denied that the arrest was part of a rash of brutal arrests by federal law enforcement that took place in Chicago over the weekend, claiming the footage wasn’t even from this year.

“Imagine being so desperate to demonize law enforcement you post a video from a burglary arrest Chicago Police made over a year ago,” McLaughlin wrote on X Sunday. “This isn’t even ICE.”

But McLaughlin wasn’t telling the truth.

McLaughlin was referring to the 2024 arrest of a 15-year-old girl who was charged with attacking and robbing multiple people on public transit. But the video couldn’t possibly be of that arrest. The Chicago Police Department said the teen charged with robbery had been arrested on the 1200 block of West 109th Street, a location in South Chicago, CBS News reported. Block Club Chicago identified the location of the video as Hoffman Estates, a Chicago suburb an hour away.

CBS News confirmed late Monday that the video showed the Friday arrest of 18-year-old Evelyn, a U.S. citizen, and reported that she had not claimed to be a minor but shouted, “I’m not resisting!” during her arrest. Evelyn and her friends had been monitoring ICE’s presence in the area, according to independent journalist Jacqueline Sweet.

Evelyn’s parents told CBS News that their daughter and her two friends were taken in cars to the Hoffman Estates Police Department parking lot, where they remained for hours before being released without charges. It’s still unclear what agency was responsible for making the arrest.

Hoffman Estates police released a statement confirming that ICE was present in their parking lot on Friday. “Two ICE agents also came into the police department to make a police report regarding an incident that occurred while in our Village,” the statement said.

Illinois Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi condemned the brutal arrest and demanded transparency from DHS. “The events in Hoffman Estates embody everything that’s wrong with the Trump Administration’s militarized ICE raids: cruelty without accountability, secrecy without oversight, and power without restraint,” he said in a statement.

Since federal forces have been unleashed on Chicago as part of President Donald Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz,” DHS has appeared to bend the truth on several occasions. Last week, an attorney told a judge that Border Patrol agents had rammed into his client’s car, not the other way around as federal officials claimed, and one agent had menacingly said, “Do something, bitch,” before shooting his client five times. DHS claimed the officer had acted in self-defense.

Last month, DHS claimed that ICE had shot and killed “a criminal illegal alien with a history of reckless driving” while trying to detain him—but a closer look found that the man had no criminal history, and his last traffic violation was in 2013.

ICE Detains Citizen After Saying She Doesn’t “Look Like” Her Last Name

She even had her U.S. passport on her.

Masked federal agents in Chicago
DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images

ICE agents kidnapped a U.S. citizen in Chicago who had just finished working a double shift because she didn’t “look” American to them.

Maria Greeley, 44, was on her way home from her job at Beach Bar earlier this month when she was surrounded, seized, and zip-tied by three ICE masked agents without cause or warning and interrogated for an hour. ICE determined she was an undocumented immigrant because she didn’t “look like” a Greeley. Greeley, who was born in Illinois, is Latina and adopted. She had her U.S. passport on her when she was detained.

“I am Latina and I am a service worker,” Greeley said. “I fit the description of what they’re looking for now.... They said this isn’t real, they kept telling me I’m lying, I’m a liar,” she told The Chicago Tribune. “I told them to look in the rest of my wallet, I have my credit cards, my insurance.”

Greeley was later released.

This type of indiscriminate racial profiling has been protocol for ICE for some time now, and is effectively legally codified. Last month, the Supreme Court lifted an injunction blocking federal agents in Los Angeles from accosting and harassing people based on their race or ethnicity. This is exactly what’s happening in Chicago and other cities nationwide, and there’s no sign of anyone stepping in to stop it. There will only be more Maria Greeleys in the near future.

Pete Hegseth Sent National Guard Troops Home for Being Too Fat

The defense secretary has implemented some bonkers new rules for physical appearance in the military.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks down during a Trump Cabinet meeting
Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

The military has no more space for overweight soldiers.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegesth confirmed Monday that he had sent some of the Texas National Guard members stationed in Illinois back to their home state for failing to meet the department’s new height and weight requirements.

“Standards are back at The @DeptofWar,” Hegseth wrote on X, circulating a screenshot of an article announcing the sudden change of the guard.

The troops’ departure followed public backlash to a string of photos published by ABC News, which captured several heavyset Texas National Guard members as they arrived in the Prairie State.

“In less than 24 hours, Texas National Guardsmen mobilized for the Federal Protection Mission,” a department spokesperson told military news website Task & Purpose over the weekend. “The speed of the response necessitated a concurrent validation process, during which we identified a small group of service members who were not in compliance and have been replaced.”

But fat people aren’t the only individuals that the former Fox News host has chosen to discriminate against: Hegseth announced new physical expectations for U.S. troops during a rare assembly of the military’s top brass late last month. Speaking before hundreds of America’s top military commanders at a mandatory in-person meeting in Quantico, Hegseth unveiled his latest efforts to de-woke-ify the country’s armed forces, including resetting military combat requirements to the “highest male standard only.”

“When it comes to any job that requires physical power to perform in combat, those physical standards must be high and gender neutral,” Hegseth said during his speech. “If women can make it, excellent. If not, it is what it is. If that means no women qualify for some combat jobs, so be it.”

In the same speech (that military leadership found pointless and uninspiring), Hegseth pledged that there would be “no more beardos” in the U.S. armed forces, a decision that will disproportionately affect Black service members due to the potentially injurious effects of frequently shaving their faces, given the curl pattern of their hair.

Ironically, Hegseth’s strict new standard is undermining one of Donald Trump’s goals: sending troops to U.S. cities.

Pete Hegseth Is About to Kick All Outlets Out of the Pentagon—but One

Only one network has agreed to sign Hegseth’s new rules for reporters.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stands at the entrance of the Pentagon
John McDonnell/Getty Images

It looks like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s new press policy will ensure that the only outlet with a desk inside the Pentagon is a MAGA propaganda machine.

Hegseth, who has reportedly been “consumed” by trying to stop numerous leaks from his department, has moved to install a new “pledge” for journalists covering the Pentagon, requiring them to abstain from receiving any unauthorized material. Under the new rules, all agency information “must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” and those who fail to follow the policy would have their credentials revoked.

If Hegseth wanted a press he could control, it seems he may be getting his wish. Nearly every mainstream outlet has balked at the policy. As of Tuesday morning, it looks like the only news outlet that will retain access to the Pentagon will be One America News Network, a right-wing news outlet that is outrageously pro-Trump.

In May, OAN partnered with the United States Agency for Global Media to replace Voice of America, a government-funded broadcaster the Trump administration was recently blocked from shuttering, with its own right-wing newsfeed.

Hegseth claimed in a post on X Monday that the new press policy would prevent the reporters from roaming free, require them to wear badges, and bar them from “solicit[ing] criminal acts.” But reporters were always required to wear badges and never allowed to wander the halls of the Pentagon. Still, the secretary had previously barred the press from certain areas of the building in May.

The Military Reporters and Editors, a nonprofit for journalists covering the military, published an article by military journalist Steve Walsh Monday urging reporters not to sign onto the new policy, calling it an “unprecedented attack on the First Amendment.”

“Secretary Hegseth has not briefed Pentagon reporters in nearly four months, and Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson has not conducted a briefing in two months,” Walsh wrote. “The Defense Department has avoided questions from the press, all while U.S. troops are operating around the globe, the Pentagon has conducted legally questionable military strikes that have killed people in international waters and the administration has deployed troops to American cities.”

Even Fox News joined with ABC, CBS, CNN, and NBC to release a statement Tuesday afternoon rejecting the policy, saying it was “without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections.”

This story has been updated.