Natasha Bertrand

this is wild: while Stephen Miller's guy was in Minnesota for his uncle's funeral, somebody was able to see his entire phone and take pictures of his Signal group chats talking about military deployments to Portland, and brought them to the Strib (gift link: www.startribune.com/trump-offici...)

Trump admin tells Congress the US is in ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels | CNN Politics Trump admin tells Congress the US is in ‘armed conflict’ with drug cartels

Trump has determined that the US is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels & deemed them "unlawful combatants," according to the Pentagon. DoD general counsel briefed hill yesterday. The admin has been weighing the combatant designation for months. www.cnn.com/2025/10/02/p...

“It’s about getting the horses into the stable and whipping them into shape,” said a defense official. “And the guys with the stars on their shoulders make for a better audience from an optics standpoint…[message will be] get on board, or potentially have your career shortened.”

Hegseth’s surprise gathering of top military brass is to deliver speech on ‘warrior ethos,’ sources say | CNN Politics Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s surprise gathering of hundreds of generals and admirals in Virginia next week is being called so he can describe the administration’s reinvention of the Department ...

News: Hegseth’s surprise gathering of top military brass in Virginia next week is being called so he can describe the administration’s reinvention of the Department of Defense as the “Department of War” and outline new standards for military personnel, sources say www.cnn.com/2025/09/26/p...

NATO divided on how to respond to repeated Russian incursions | CNN Politics NATO allies are divided over whether the alliance should make it a policy to shoot down Russian jets that violate NATO’s airspace, with some countries including the US, Poland, and Baltic nations sign...

NATO allies are divided over whether to make it a policy to shoot down Russian jets that violate NATO’s airspace, with some countries including the US & Poland signaling that future violations should be met with force, while others, including Germany, urge more restraint. www.cnn.com/2025/09/25/p...

The Pentagon, the Press and the Fight to Control National Security Coverage

“The rules set out by the Pentagon under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seek to establish new constraints on journalists that news organizations consider unconstitutional and at odds with democratic norms.”

Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/24/u...

Pentagon Expands Its Restrictions on Reporter Access

Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, indicated that the Pentagon’s move here is illegal.

‘This policy operates as a prior restraint on publication which is considered the most serious of First Amendment violations,’ Mr. Stern said.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/b...

Trump’s New York Times lawsuit struck down for not being ‘short, plain, direct’ | CNN Business In a ruling dripping with derision, a federal judge has rejected President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Times. Trump has a month to refile.

"In a ruling dripping with derision, a federal judge has rejected President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against The New York Times, asserting that the rambling 85-page suit did not follow federal rules for filing civil complaints." www.cnn.com/2025/09/19/m...

Trump admin has been quietly pushing to retake Afghan base from the Taliban for months, sources say | CNN Politics President Donald Trump has been quietly pushing his national security officials for months to find a way to get Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan back from the Taliban, three people familiar with the mat...

President Trump has been quietly pushing his national security officials for months to find a way to get Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan back from the Taliban, per 3 sources--possibly putting US troops back on the ground there www.cnn.com/2025/09/18/p...

Welcome Zach! so happy to have you!

Secretary of Culture War: How Hegseth wields power at the Pentagon | CNN Politics Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had only been in the job for a matter of days before he angered his new boss, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

NEW: NDAs around the Pentagon, increasingly scarce contact with Congress, a fixation on social media and public image — and a wariness of anyone who threatens it, including the Army secretary.

Secretary of Culture War: How Hegseth wields power at the Pentagon www.cnn.com/2025/09/12/p...

Senior Democrat says Pentagon didn’t present conclusive evidence alleged drug smugglers killed in strike were gang members | CNN Politics Defense Department officials briefing congressional staff on Tuesday about last week’s US military strike on a boat in the Caribbean did not present conclusive evidence that the targets of the attack ...

In briefing to the hill, DoD did not present conclusive evidence that the targets of last week’s attack were members of Tren de Aragua, top Armed Services Dem and sources say. Briefers also acknowledged the boat turned around before being struck. www.cnn.com/2025/09/11/p...

Russia’s drone incursion into Poland marked the first time in its history that NATO planes have shot down potential threats in allied airspace, per NATO spokesperson.

German Patriots in Poland were also placed on alert, he said.

Hegseth in the Oval Office just now says the Pentagon wants "Maximum lethality -- not tepid legality.”

Comes amid questions about the legal authorities the administration relied on to strike a Venezuelan boat it accused of carrying cartel members and drugs.

Trump will sign an executive order tomorrow making the “department of war” the “secondary” name for DoD, until Hegseth can propose a legislative solution for a more permanent change. Hegseth to also be renamed Sec of War…

See you next week, DC… (maybe!!!)

US military deploying over 4,000 additional troops to waters around Latin America as part of Trump’s counter-cartel mission | CNN Politics The US military is deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels, two US defense officials tol...

Meanwhile...Breaking: The US military is deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels, two US defense officials told CNN. www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/p...

As of now, the Guard troops aren’t expected to be carrying their rifles as they walk around DC, an Army official tells me. They’ll have them nearby, though — for example, in their trucks— if needed for self defense, the official said.

Trump just announced that he’s activating the DC national guard (as many as 800 troops, per CNN reporting) and federalizing the DC police. Dramatic escalations as the city’s crime rate is at a 30-year low

Pay nothing TO QATAR for the plane is obviously what is meant here. As the article notes the US will likely pay hundreds of millions to retrofit it.

Qatari plane that could be new Air Force One will be ‘unconditional’ gift to the Pentagon, agreement says | CNN Politics The transfer of the jet from Qatar to the Trump administration sparked a political firestorm in the spring among Democrats and several influential Republicans.

New: Defense Secretary Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart have signed an agreement outlining the terms of Qatar’s “unconditional donation” of a Boeing jet to the Pentagon (and that is expected to be used by Trump), confirming that the US will pay nothing for the plane. www.cnn.com/2025/07/27/p...

Pentagon watchdog has evidence Hegseth’s Signal messages included classified information, sources say | CNN Politics The Pentagon’s inspector general has received evidence that the military plans shared from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s Signal account to a group chat earlier this year were taken from a US Cen...

New: The Pentagon’s watchdog has received evidence that the military plans shared from Secretary of Defense Hegseth’s Signal account were taken from a document marked classified at the time, sources say, undercutting Hegseth’s claims that nothing classified was shared.
www.cnn.com/2025/07/23/p...

The US and NATO are working with Germany to get additional Patriots to Ukraine “as quickly as possible,” the senior US military commander in Europe said Thursday.

"The guidance that I've been given has been to move out as quickly as possible,” US Gen. Alex Grynkewich said today in Wiesbaden.

Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized pause on weapon shipments to Ukraine, sources say | CNN Politics Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week, according to five sources familiar with the matter, setting off...

Secdef Hegseth did not inform the White House before he authorized a pause on weapons shipments to Ukraine last week, per 5 sources, setting off a scramble inside the administration to understand why the halt was implemented and explain it to Congress and Kyiv. www.cnn.com/2025/07/08/p...

UN nuclear watchdog chief says Iran could again begin enriching uranium in ‘matter of months’ | CNN The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog says US strikes on Iran fell short of causing total damage to its nuclear program and that Tehran could restart enriching uranium “in a matter of months,” contrad...

“Rafael Grossi’s comments appear to support an early assessment first reported by CNN which suggests the United States’ strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites last week did not destroy the core components of its nuclear program, and likely only set it back by months.”

www.cnn.com/2025/06/29/w...

US’ top general tells lawmakers | CNN Politics The US military did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran’s largest nuclear sites last weekend because the site is so deep that the bombs likely would not have been effective, the US’ top general...

New reporting: The US military did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran’s largest nuclear sites last weekend because the site is so deep that the bombs likely would not have been effective, the US’ top general told senators during a briefing on Thursday. www.cnn.com/2025/06/27/p...

Personal Attacks on Journalists Erode Trust in Fact-Based Reporting and Send the Message that Truth-Telling is Unpatriotic - PEN America Rather than addressing the substance of his own administration’s intelligence report, President Trump has resorted to vilifying journalists who accurately characterized that intelligence, sending a da...

We call on President Trump and his administration today to end their inflammatory attacks on CNN's @natashabertrand.bsky.social, and journalists and news organizations more broadly following reporting of an early intelligence assessment of the U.S. strikes in Iran. pen.org/press-releas...

Details emerge of secret diplomatic efforts to restart Iran talks | CNN Politics The Trump administration has discussed possibly helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program, sources say.

New CNN reporting: The Trump admin has discussed helping Iran access <$30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program, easing sanctions, and freeing up billions of dollars in restricted Iranian funds–efforts to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table. www.cnn.com/2025/06/26/p...

Exclusive: Early US intel assessment suggests strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites, sources say | CNN Politics The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an e...

Exclusive: US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US intel assessment. The WH says the assessment is "flat-out wrong." www.cnn.com/2025/06/24/p...

Israel says Iran was racing toward a nuclear weapon. US intel says it was years away | CNN Politics When Israel launched its series of strikes against Iran last week, it also issued a number of dire warnings about the country’s nuclear program, suggesting Iran was fast approaching a point of no retu...

“US intelligence assessments had reached a different conclusion – not only was Iran not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, it was also up to three years away from being able to produce and deliver one to a target of its choosing.” www.cnn.com/2025/06/17/p...