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June 25, 2025

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President Donald Trump thanked former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush after he praised the president’s decision to order strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

‘Thank you to Jeb Bush — Very much appreciated!’ Trump declared in a Tuesday Truth Social post.

Bush, the chairman of the organization United Against Nuclear Iran, issued a statement with several others from the group hailing the president’s move.

‘We applaud President Trump and the United States for this decision—one of the most important of the 21st century,’ the statement declared, calling it ‘an act of courage, clarity, and historical necessity.’

‘President Trump’s decision to neutralize Iran’s regime’s nuclear program is a watershed moment—one that reasserts American strength, restores deterrence, and sends an unmistakable message to rogue regimes: the era of impunity is over. Where others delayed and wavered, President Trump acted,’ the statement asserted, in part.

Bush is the son of the late President George H.W. Bush, and the brother of former President George W. Bush.

The former Sunshine State governor was one of the Republicans who pursued the GOP presidential nomination during the 2016 election cycle, but he dropped out after failing to perform well in early GOP nominating contests.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence are also among those who have expressed support for Trump’s move.

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Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that Moscow is not planning to supply Iran with nuclear warheads, after President Donald Trump mocked him for suggesting that other countries would step in and provide Iran with nuclear weapons after the U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. 

Medvedev, now the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, originally said Sunday that Iran would continue to advance its nuclear program and would receive assistance from other nations to do so.

Although Medvedev did not specify any countries, he clarified later Monday that he was not talking about Russia. 

‘I condemn the U.S. strike on Iran — it failed to achieve its objectives,’ Medvedev said in a Monday post on X. ‘However, Russia has no intention of supplying nuclear weapons to Iran because, unlike Israel, we are parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.’

‘I know quite well what this would entail, having overseen our nuclear forces as president,’ Medvedev said. ‘But other countries might — and that’s what was said.’ 

Medvedev’s statement came after Trump called him out by name in a post on Truth Social following the Russian leader’s original Sunday remarks. 

‘Did I hear Former President Medvedev, from Russia, casually throwing around the ‘N word’ (Nuclear!), and saying that he and other Countries would supply Nuclear Warheads to Iran? Did he really say that or, is it just a figment of my imagination? If he did say that, and, if confirmed, please let me know, IMMEDIATELY. The ‘N word’ should not be treated so casually. I guess that’s why Putin’s ‘THE BOSS,’’ Trump said in a Monday Truth Social Post. 

Andrea Sticker, the deputy director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ nonproliferation and biodefense program, chalked up Medvedev’s initial statement as an attempt to brag and said it was unrealistic for any country to provide such assistance to Iran. 

‘Medvedev’s original claim was likely bluster about Russia or another country supplying Iran with nuclear weapons,’ Stricker said in a Monday email to Fox News Digital. ‘No country, including Pakistan or North Korea, would supply atomic devices to Tehran because they would be held accountable by the United States if Iran used the weapons. Moscow and Pyongyang, at least from available open-source information, appear to be standing mostly idle as their ally Iran takes a major beating.’

The U.S. launched strikes late Saturday targeting key Iranian nuclear facilities, which involved more than 125 U.S. aircraft, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters Sunday. 

Trump announced early Tuesday that a ceasefire had gone into effect between Israel and Iran but scolded both countries hours later following accusations from both sides that the other had violated the agreement. 

Trump told reporters both Israel and Iran failed to follow the terms of the agreement, which he said is still in effect. 

‘I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either but I’m really unhappy with Israel going out this morning,’ Trump said at the White House Tuesday morning. 

‘We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f— they’re doing,’ he said. 

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Emil Bove will appear Wednesday before the Senate, where he is expected to face tough questions during a hearing about his controversial entrance into Justice Department leadership and former role as President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.

Trump nominated Bove, who fiercely defended the president during his criminal prosecutions, to serve in a lifetime role as a judge on the Pennsylvania-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Trump said Bove would ‘restore the Rule of Law,’ a remark that came as sitting judges have drawn Trump’s ire for handing down dozens of orders blocking parts of his agenda.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who has worked closely with Bove for years, told Fox News Digital in a phone interview ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that Bove was a ‘freaking brilliant lawyer’ and that his nomination to the appellate court was a ‘no-brainer.’

Blanche described his colleague as the ‘most gentle, empathetic, great person that anybody could ever work with,’ a characterization sharply at odds with some who have been in Bove’s crosshairs.

In his early years, Bove was a high-achieving student, a division one athlete on his college lacrosse team and a Georgetown University law school graduate.

He went on to clerk for two federal judges and worked for about a decade as federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, where he led high-profile terrorism and drug trafficking cases through 2019.

Blanche brought Bove into his private practice, where they tag-teamed Trump’s prosecutions, including by appearing by the president’s side during his six-week hush money trial in Manhattan last year. At the end of it, Trump was convicted by a jury of 34 counts of falsifying business records, marking the lone case out of Trump’s four to lead to a conviction.

Blanche said that behind the scenes, Bove was critical to their defense work and wrote the vast majority of their legal briefs.

In letters to the Senate, a group of Republican state attorneys general said Bove was courageous for representing Trump ‘when few other attorneys would step up.’ Attorney Gene Schaerr called Bove’s brief writing ‘superb.’ One of Bove’s past law firms said he was ’eminently qualified.’

Nearly three dozen retired law enforcement officials praised Bove as a ‘trusted and respected partner,’ saying he had a profound understanding of the Drug Enforcement Administration and was responsible for breaking apart transnational criminal networks.

‘His efforts have directly contributed to high-impact cases that have saved lives and protected vulnerable populations,’ the retired officials wrote. Others heaped similar praise.

The rosy picture that Blanche and Bove’s supporters paint is drastically different from the one presented by a handful of DOJ officials who left the department because of Bove and defense lawyers who observed him in action during his time as a New York prosecutor.

While Bove was serving as acting deputy attorney general ahead of Blanche’s confirmation in March, two top lawyers in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office and five officials in the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section chose to abruptly leave their jobs instead of complying with Bove’s order to drop New York Mayor Eric Adams’s federal corruption charges.

During the debacle, a judge dismissed the Democratic mayor’s charges with prejudice, instead of without prejudice as Bove had requested, meaning the Trump administration could not bring the case again.

The judge’s decision came after the ousted lawyers blasted Bove for engaging in a dishonest quid pro quo with the mayor. The chain of events left some conservative legal analysts harshly questioning the wisdom of Bove’s actions, saying it undermined the DOJ’s work.

Trump’s mass deportation plan involved the unprecedented move of invoking a wartime law called the Alien Enemies Act. Bove indicated during an internal meeting in March that he anticipated judges would attempt to shut down the operation, according to attorney Erez Reuveni.

Reuveni, a 15-year DOJ veteran who was fired after struggling to defend one of the Trump administration’s deportation during a Maryland court hearing, said in a whistleblower complaint published Tuesday that Bove shocked meeting attendees by telling them they would ‘need to consider telling the courts ‘f*** you’ and ignore any such court order.’

Reuveni said Bove’s remarks were far afield of anything he had heard at DOJ during his tenure there and that court defiance and misleading judges were a hallmark of the department during some of the most controversial immigration cases that arose in March.

DOJ attorneys have been admonished by judges for appearing to flout court orders, but they have, thus far, avoided being held in contempt of court and other sanctions.

Bove was known by some of his peers as a zealous prosecutor during his SDNY days, but defense lawyers were alarmed by his ruthlessness. Some viewed him as vicious, rude and power-hungry, according to interviews with attorneys and media reports.

One longtime defense lawyer who crossed paths with Bove in New York told Fox News Digital the nominee was an arrogant ‘bully’ and browbeat people.

In 2018, a band of defense lawyers said in emails reported by the Associated Press that Bove needed ‘adult supervision’ and could not ‘be bothered to treat lesser mortals with respect or empathy.’

A retired New York City FBI agent told the Associated Press that Bove’s perceived turnabout on Jan. 6 riot cases was ‘almost like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.’ Bove showed no outward concerns while in New York when he helped with prosecuting the cases, the retired agent said.

When Bove stepped into his role at Trump’s DOJ, he warned the FBI in a formidable memo that leadership would take ‘personnel action’ against FBI agents who participated in Jan. 6 cases, which Trump ‘appropriately described as a ‘grave national injustice’ that has been perpetrated upon the American people,’ Bove wrote. The notion that thousands of employees who interacted in some way with a Jan. 6 case would see their jobs at risk prompted Bove to issue a follow-up note clarifying that employees who merely followed orders had no reason to worry.

An online petition launched by retired New York federal prosecutor Laurie Korenbaum has dozens of signatures as of this publishing and calls Bove’s nomination a ‘travesty.’

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have demanded more information on Bove’s time at SDNY, signaling they plan to grill Bove over it during the hearing.

Blanche told Fox News Digital the viewpoints surfacing in the media about Bove were ‘distorted.’

‘The misconception about him is completely driven by kind of a fear that if he takes the bench, he’s going to do something crazy, which he will not,’ Blanche said.

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Sports merchandising giant Fanatics is aiming to build a training camp for athletes to prepare them for life off the field.

More than two dozen NBA, NFL and NHL players participated in the company’s Athlete Immersion Program this past weekend as part of Fanatics Fest in New York City. The program included three days of workshops on business, entrepreneurship, tech and more.

“This definitely opened my eyes,” said Cole Anthony, a guard for the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies. “I’m already trying to do things on the business side with my partners, my family. It just motivates me more.”

The “coaches” for the business boot camp included Fanatics founder Michael Rubin, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, Apollo Global cofounder and Philadelphia 76ers managing partner Josh Harris, Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro and Boardroom cofounder and CEO Rich Kleiman.

Aaron Donald, who retired from the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams in 2024 after winning the Super Bowl, has already begun a new career in business, including an ownership stake in sports nutrition company Ready. But Donald, likely a future Hall of Famer, said he was blown away by the all-star team of business leaders.

“I think it’s one of hell of an opportunity,” said Donald. “I’m in a room with guys running companies worth billions of dollars. How many opportunities are you going to get to do that? You have to take advantage of all of those opportunities and knowledge.”

Fanatics launched the Athlete Immersion Program in 2023 and this year is partnering with Boardroom, a media and advisory company cofounded by Kleiman and NBA superstar Kevin Durant.

“I think it’s great to be able to give them a bit of a blueprint,” said Kleiman. “Being able to put them in the room with people that have the answers, that have done it, that lead industries. I think you get so much power and opportunity just from the information you get from watching, from learning and from being in these rooms and understanding how to move.”

Kleiman pointed to former NBA player Junior Bridgeman, who made less than $3 million during his 12-year career in the league, but built a net worth of more than $1 billion after retirement primarily through investments in Wendy’s, Pizza Hut and Chili’s franchises and then later through Coca-Cola distribution.

“What he did, he’s exceptional,” said Kleiman of Bridgeman, who died in March. “He wasn’t just a name. He actually built an operational team, built them up, oversaw them, and he was a tycoon of a business mind.”

Fanatics Chief People Officer Toretha McGuire said the program is focused on helping athletes use their playing days, what they describe as their “1.0 career” to fuel their “2.0 career.”

It’s an experience similar to a business school with lectures, case studies and projects, in which each athlete creates their own limited-edition clothing line with vintage sports apparel company Mitchell & Ness, a subsidiary of Fanatics.

“They go through a base business case, we teach them business fundamentals, we take them through the Fanatics business case where we bring them to 2021 where Michael [Rubin] did a final capital raise and we basically say, ‘What would you have done?’” McGuire said.

Most professional athletes retire from playing when they’re still young, she added.

“The opportunities they have in their 1.0 careers in terms of access and expanding their networks are going to be very critical,” she said.

Graves, who founded the popular fried chicken chain Raising Cane’s, spoke on a panel about the realities and challenges of entrepreneurship

“If you absolutely want to start a business, imagine how hard it is, multiply that by infinity to be able to make it work,” he said. “You have to be passionate, you have to be in the details 100%. And you have to know what you don’t know, right? So that is bringing in great people to try and grow it.”

The Athlete Immersion Program is meant to be a continuous learning opportunity through which players receive support, education and networking opportunities from Fanatics and Boardroom before and after they begin their business journey.

The next session will be held in December for WNBA, NWSL and MLB athletes in the offseason.

For Anthony, who was recently traded to the Grizzlies from the Orlando Magic, it’s also shown him the real parallels between competing in sports and competing in business.

“The common thing with everyone who has spoken to us and I’ve been able to talk to one-on-one is that every person I met here has been a grinder,” he said. “They make whatever it is they are passionate about, or what they are working on their priority. I think that’s just dope to hear from other people I can relate to in that sense.”

A decade ago, reports suggested 16% of NFL players ultimately filed for bankruptcy — a sign of the type of financial strain many professional athletes face and a cautionary tale of life after the game.

But today, many of the people participating in the Fanatics curriculum believe opportunities like the Athlete Immersion Program can change the narrative — and their financial future.

For Donald, who will be remembered as one of the greatest defenders in NFL history, the focus now is finding the greatest opportunities for the next chapter of his life.

“It would be silly for me to stop the hard work, discipline, the structure that got me to a certain point,” he said. “I’m trying to build generational wealth for my kids.”

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS