Trump Flew to Knicks Game Amid Search for Missing American Pilots

President Trump went to the New York Knicks game while two U.S. soldiers were missing after Iran shot down their helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the timeline released by the U.S. CENTCOM, Iran downed two pilots operating a U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopter around 5:33 p.m. E.T. Trump was on his own helicopter on the way to Manhattan to share a VIP box in Madison Square Garden with his billionaire friend James Dolan at 7:02 p.m. The pilots weren’t rescued till nearly 30 minutes later.

One would think that the president would be made aware of a successful attack on a U.S. helicopter shortly after it happened, which would mean Trump found it more important to be at a Knicks game than to worry about the search for missing Americans.

Trump did seem to know about the attack after the Knicks game ended, telling media that the pilots were “fine” and that a report would be out the next day.

Even if he somehow wasn’t aware before he flew to the Knicks game, that poses bigger questions, like: Who is calling the shots if not the commander in chief?

“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump posted Tuesday afternoon, implying he was unaware of the attack for over 12 hours. “There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

A fund used to support Social Security retirement benefits is expected to expire in 2032, according to a new trustees report released by the Social Security Administration Tuesday.

The new expiration date for the Old Age and Survivors Insurance fund, or OASI fund, is three months earlier than what the SSA projected last year. The change comes as a result of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which was passed in July 2025. The bill lowered the ordinary income tax rate on Social Security benefits, which supports the funds.

Seventy-one million people receive monthly Social Security payments. The AARP, a nonprofit representing older Americans, determined that Social Security provides 43 percent of seniors with a majority of their income. 

“Congress needs to act,” AARP CEO Myechia Minter-Jordan wrote in a statement. “Americans have worked hard and paid into Social Security their entire lives, and they deserve to count on it when they retire. No family should see any cuts to what they’ve earned in Social Security.”

Social Security isn’t being scrapped anytime soon, but the OASI fund provides it with a serious amount of its money; if the fund is allowed to expire, 12 percent of retirement benefits will be lost. Social Security for one person would be cut $500 per month, on average, and in 29 states, losses would be even greater, according to research from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Congress can move money around to fill the funding gap and even combine the OASI fund with other funds. But merging funds just means taking money directed toward one set of recipients and giving it to another—certainly not a permanent solution.

While Trump has promised both on the campaign trail and in office not to cut Social Security benefits, his largest policy bill is poised to do exactly that. His administration is also pursuing legislation that would cut off disabled Americans from their SNAP benefits, after abandoning similar plans last year due to media backlash.  

One of Jeffrey Epstein’s assistants testified before the House Oversight Committee on Tuesday and claimed to know nothing about the billionaire sex offender’s crimes. 

Lesley Groff told members of Congress that she believed the massage appointments she made for Epstein were for massage therapists and not the women and girls he was exploiting, CNN reports. She called Epstein a master manipulator who kept his crimes a secret from her, saying that he didn’t sexually abuse her. Both Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, allegedly told Groff not to associate with their friends and colleagues, insisting that their business wasn’t her concern. 

Groff has been saying this since 2021. Back then, her lawyers announced that she had “never witnessed anything improper or illegal” and was “heartbroken” for Epstein’s victims. 

But Epstein survivors thought Groff’s words Tuesday were a cop-out. Many of them had told the FBI that Groff was the person they’d call to reach Epstein and schedule massages. Epstein would abuse women during those massage sessions, they said. According to emails from the government’s Epstein files, Groff also booked Epstein’s domestic and international travel. She was listed as a potential co-conspirator as part of the non-prosecution deal Epstein cut in 2008 with the federal government.  

“One of the hardest parts for survivors is hearing the people who were closest to Epstein claim they saw nothing,” Sharlene Rochard, one of Epstein’s victims, told CNN. “That doesn’t match my experience. Survivors deserve answers, not claims of ignorance.”

The Trump administration is attacking the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission—which helps maintain federal laws against workplace discrimination—for apparently violating the Constitution.

The Justice Department on Tuesday accused the EEOC of pressuring “employers to engage in race-based decisionmaking” and enforcing guidelines that “contemplate liability based on disparate effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent.”

“[The EEEOC] creates a near insurmountable presumption [that] unlawful discrimination exists where there are any differences in outcomes in certain circumstances among different races, sexes, or similar groups,” the DOJ press release reads, mimicking the language commonly used by conservatives to attack any kind of program intended to address centuries of racial discrimination.

The DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel attacked the EEOC’s consideration of “disparate impact,” holding employers liable for discrimination when policies disproportionately harm people of a certain race, ethnicity, or gender.

Now employers can use aptitude tests, criminal background checks, and other potentially problematic tools without fear of being charged with discrimination.

This story has been updated.

The U.S.-Israeli war in Iran is still ongoing, and while a worldwide soccer tournament played mostly in the United States should be an opportunity to promote peace and unity, it appears regular people in the Middle East will not be given that courtesy.

Iran, who qualified for the World Cup way back in March 2025, had their entire ticket allocation yanked away on Monday. The tournament begins on Thursday. It is unclear who made the decision, which leaves thousands of Iranians excited to watch the matches in person, many of whom had already booked flights and hotels, completely hung out to dry.

“Many Iranian football fans, relying on the officially announced process, had already made the necessary plans to attend the matches,” the FFIRI, Iran’s soccer federation, said in a statement. “Depriving Iranian supporters of access to their lawful and official allocation of tickets is an action contrary to the spirit governing international competitions and the principle of equality among participating countries.”

While the FFIRI did not specify who revoked their tickets, its statement certainly pointed to the U.S. The federation asked FIFA, the international body in charge of the World Cup, to stick to “principles of neutrality, fairness, and established regulations” and said the issue “raises serious questions about the interference of non-sporting and political considerations in the organization of the world’s biggest football event.”

Iran having a normal tournament was never going to be easy. Its men’s team protested the national government, which has killed protesters and restricted human rights, by refusing to sing the national anthem at the previous World Cup in 2022. Some members of the women’s team tried to seek asylum in Australia during the Asian Cup in January.

Iran’s base camp was moved from Arizona to Mexico in May due to American unease and fear from the Iranian team that they would not be able to acquire U.S. visas. The Trump administration finally awarded visas to all players last week but rejected some staff members’ applications.

Iran is scheduled to play its first two matches in Los Angeles, the first against New Zealand on June 15, and the second against Belgium on June 21. They will then head to Seattle to take on Egypt on June 26.

Hopefully the U.S., Iran, and FIFA can work something out, and everyday Iranians will get to rightfully attend the tournament. But with sadistic American leadership as well as FIFA president Giovanni Infantino’s fealty to Donald Trump, Iran has a tough road ahead both on and off the pitch.