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Trump: Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader, but I said no thanks

Trump’s “Iran asked me to be Supreme Leader” joke at an NRCC fundraiser uses a real, deadly leadership crisis in Iran to normalize assassination-as-policy and blur what’s confirmed about the war and succession.

Mar 26, 2026

Featured

‘Men need to be perp-walked’ after Epstein files release, Massie tells BBC

A GOP lawmaker says the Epstein document releases are still falling short—because redactions and withheld material may be blocking accountability and survivor-centered justice.

Mar 25, 2026

Buried.News

The stories buried under the noise

Primary focus

Trump fires Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary

A Cabinet secretary was forced out amid contracting and oversight scrutiny, signaling that executive control—not transparent accountability—can dictate leadership of the agency driving mass detention and deportation.

Mar 5, 2026

Featured

The Trump gold coin is not normal : Consider This from NPR

A federal design panel OK’d a Trump portrait for a commemorative gold coin, but the key question is whether Treasury can legally bypass long-standing limits meant to keep living politicians off U.S. money.

Mar 23, 2026

Featured

White House Confronted Over Huge Bets Made Minutes Before Trump’s Big War Move

A $580 million burst of oil-futures selling minutes before Trump’s Iran “talks” post raises a basic public-interest question: did anyone trade on advance knowledge of a market-moving national security decision?

Mar 24, 2026

Norms Impact

Call Grows to Impeach Trump, ‘The Most Dangerous Man on the Planet’ | Common Dreams

A president launched lethal strikes and an assassination abroad without Congress’ consent, daring the nation to accept unilateral war-making as normal executive power.

Congress

Mar 2, 2026

⚖ Legal Exposure

Ethics Violation

Likely Unlawful

Potentially Criminal

Likely Criminal

The article alleges unprovoked U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran including an “unlawful assassination” of Iran’s Supreme Leader and a bombing of a girls’ school killing over 108 civilians, which—if substantiated—creates significant potential criminal exposure consistent with war-crimes investigation. It also alleges unconstitutional war-making without congressional authorization, a major oversight/impeachment trigger but less directly a standalone criminal theory absent additional statutory predicates. Overall, this is not a money-for-access pattern; it is high-risk alleged unlawful use of force with potentially prosecutable international-law-linked crimes pending factual development.

Sources

https://www.commondreams.org/news/impeach-trump-iran-war

Summary

The United States, alongside Israel, carried out strikes on Iran over the weekend that included the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei and a bombing that hit a girls’ school, killing more than 108 civilians, mostly children. The episode centers on presidential war-making without explicit congressional authorization, intensifying calls for impeachment and a War Powers vote. The practical consequence is a rapid escalation toward broader regional war while Congress tests whether it can reassert constitutional control over the use of force.

Reality Check

Unilateral war-making sets a precedent that hollowes out Congress’ constitutional authority and shifts life-and-death decisions into the hands of one office. When military force is used without clear, enforceable legislative constraint, our system’s separation of powers becomes optional in practice. This conduct reflects prosecutable corruption risk because normalizing unchecked executive action in war erodes rule-of-law expectations and blurs accountability for unlawful uses of force. If Congress cannot impose consequences now, future presidents will inherit a widened permission structure to initiate conflict, evade oversight, and treat democratic authorization as irrelevant.

Legal Summary

Legal Analysis

18 U.S.C. § 2441 — War Crimes (grave breaches / violations of Common Article 3)

Allegations describe an “unprovoked bombing of Iran” including bombing of an Iranian girls’ school killing “over 108 civilians, mostly children,” which—if substantiated—maps to intentionally directing attacks against civilians and other grave-breach conduct.
The article characterizes the strike as a “serious war crime” and “breach of US and international law,” supporting investigative inference of knowledge/willfulness at senior decision levels (including the President as commander-in-chief) given the scale and nature of alleged civilian harm.
Key gap: the article does not provide targeting intelligence, rules of engagement, or mens rea facts; however, the alleged civilian-object strike and described unlawfulness create substantial criminal exposure pending investigation.

18 U.S.C. § 1116 / related federal homicide provisions — Killing of foreign officials (potentially)

The article alleges an “unlawful assassination” of Iran’s Supreme Leader, which—if proven and within statutory scope/jurisdiction—could implicate federal criminal prohibitions concerning killings of certain foreign officials/internationally protected persons.
Structural inference: a deliberate leadership-targeted killing framed as “assassination” supports intent to kill rather than incidental battlefield harm, heightening criminal exposure.
Key gap: the piece does not specify the victim’s statutory status for §1116 or the operational/jurisdictional predicates; further factual development required.

50 U.S.C. §§ 1541–1548 — War Powers Resolution (procedural/constitutional compliance)

The article claims an “illegal, unconstitutional war on Iran” and emphasizes Congress’s Article I war powers, suggesting potential noncompliance with reporting/authorization constraints and an asserted lack of congressional authorization.
This is primarily a separation-of-powers/legal-process exposure rather than a classic bribery quid-pro-quo pattern; it supports oversight and impeachment risk more than standalone criminal prosecution.
Key gap: no specific War Powers reporting timeline, AUMF theory, or asserted statutory authorization is described.

Conclusion: The alleged conduct presents high-end criminal exposure driven by purported war-crimes facts (civilian-target strike and “assassination”) rather than mere political irregularity, though critical intent/jurisdiction details are not provided in the article and would be central to charging decisions.

Media

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Detail

Over the weekend, the United States and Israel conducted strikes on Iran that included the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. In the first wave of the U.S. military attack, an Iranian school for girls was bombed, killing over 108 civilians, mostly children.

In response, calls grew for President Donald Trump to be impeached and removed from office. Some members of Congress pushed for a vote this week on a War Powers Resolution aimed at curtailing U.S. military operations against Iran, while others called for stronger congressional action to end the war-making.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll reported Sunday found less than 25% support for the strikes. Commentators and advocates cited Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, arguing that only Congress has the power to declare war and to fund and regulate the military, and they urged lawmakers and the public to hold the president and his administration accountable for alleged breaches of U.S. and international law.

White House circulating blatantly illegal draft emergency order to take control of elections

A circulated draft emergency order would strip states of constitutional control over elections, using a fabricated emergency to let one president unilaterally ban core voting methods nationwide.

Executive

Feb 26, 2026

⚖ Legal Exposure

Ethics Violation

Likely Unlawful

Potentially Criminal

Likely Criminal

Circulation of a draft emergency order to seize federal control over elections—coordinated with outside anti-voting activists—presents a significant abuse-of-power and ultra vires (unconstitutional) risk. If signed and implemented, it could implicate criminal civil-rights and conspiracy theories, but the article’s facts primarily support a serious investigative red flag rather than completed prosecutable structural corruption or a clearly satisfied criminal statute.

Sources

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/white-house-circulating-blatantly-illegal-draft-emergency-order-to-take-control-of-elections

Summary

Anti-voting activists say they are circulating a draft emergency executive order, in coordination with the White House, to declare a national emergency and let President Donald Trump take control over voting. The draft asserts an expanded presidential role in elections despite the Constitution’s Elections Clause placing election authority with states, not the president. If pursued, it would attempt to unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines nationwide on claims of foreign-interference susceptibility.

Reality Check

Seizing election administration by emergency decree would set a precedent for executive control over the ballot, weakening democratic stability and putting our voting rights at the mercy of a single officeholder. On these facts, the conduct reads less like lawful governance than attempted abuse of emergency powers to override the Elections Clause and suppress lawful voting mechanisms. Even if the order itself would be challenged as unconstitutional, coordinating to implement it could implicate federal election crimes depending on acts taken—particularly 52 U.S.C. § 20511 (fraud in voter registration and voting) if false claims are used to interfere with lawful voting processes. The core violation here is structural: using the White House to advance a conspiracy-based pretext for federal takeover of state-run elections is a blueprint for authoritarian control of future outcomes.

Legal Summary

Legal Analysis

52 U.S.C. § 20511 — Federal election fraud; intimidation/interference (limited fit)

The draft order would “unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines,” which—if implemented—could function as an unlawful interference with lawful voting processes; however, the article does not allege intimidation, fraud in vote tabulation, or specific coercive acts toward voters.
Key gap: the context describes a circulated draft and asserted lack of presidential authority, not executed conduct targeting voters or falsifying election results.

18 U.S.C. § 242 — Deprivation of rights under color of law

If a president used emergency powers to override state election administration (mail ballots/machines) without lawful authority, that could constitute acting “under color of law” to deprive citizens of constitutional/statutory voting rights.
Key gap: the article reports circulation/coordination around a draft order and expert views that it would be unconstitutional; it does not allege the order was signed or enforced.

18 U.S.C. § 371 — Conspiracy to defraud the United States (impair lawful governmental functions)

Anti-voting activists are said to be “in coordination with the White House” to advance an emergency order premised on a conspiracy theory to justify federal takeover of election administration contrary to the Elections Clause.
Potential theory: coordination to impair the lawful function of state-run federal elections and related federal oversight through deceitful premises; key gap is lack of detail on deceptive acts, participants, or concrete steps beyond circulating a draft.

Constitutional / administrative law exposure — Elections Clause & separation-of-powers violations (civil/unlawful order risk)

The article states the Elections Clause gives states sole authority over elections; experts and a state election chief say the president lacks authority to claim these powers, making any attempt “blatantly unconstitutional.”
This supports strong civil illegality / ultra vires risk if executed, but without a described enacted order, the current exposure is primarily procedural/abuse-of-power red flag rather than completed prosecutable conduct.

Conclusion: The described conduct reflects a serious investigative red flag involving politicized and potentially unlawful executive overreach toward election administration, but the article does not establish an executed deprivation of rights or a fully formed criminal conspiracy with concrete overt acts beyond circulating a draft order.

Detail

Anti-voting activists said they are circulating a draft emergency executive order that would declare a national emergency and enable President Donald Trump to take control over voting.

The draft order is described as rooted in a conspiracy theory that China interfered with the 2020 election. It would authorize the president to unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines on the stated ground that they are susceptible to foreign interference.

The activists circulating the draft said they are coordinating with the White House. One advocate identified is Peter Ticktin, an attorney for Tina Peters, the former GOP Colorado county clerk serving a nine-year state prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting-system breach tied to efforts to find fraud based on election conspiracies.

Voting-rights experts, democracy advocates, and at least one state election chief said the president lacks authority to claim such powers and that any attempt would be unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause assigns election authority to states, not the president.