Trump Torches Neocons, Intervention, Backs 'Peace Through Strength' Deals In Saudi Speech

 Some highlights of President Trump's lengthy speech before the US-Saudi Investment Forum, wherein he frequently praised his Saudi host crown prince Mohammad bin Salman and advanced peace through deal-making...

Markets Rocking

The stock market is “gonna go a lot higher." He said "People should have listened. We’ve never had anything like this," and he cited the "explosion of investment and jobs." Business executives "weren’t that happy when they saw me,” a month ago, but changed their tune as markets rose," Trump added.

"We are rocking: The United States is the hottest country, with the exception of your country," Trump said, pointing to MbS in the front row before him.

Saudi Arabia as Global Business/Tech Hub

“Mohammed do you sleep at night? How do you sleep?” he said, addressing the crown prince. "Critics doubted it was possible, what you’ve done, but over the past eight years, Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong."

"...Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives, developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions and charting your own destinies in your own way."

Silence befell the crowd as Trump said that it was his "fervent wish" that Saudi Arabia "will soon be joining the Abraham Accords" - but he ultimately conceded that the kingdom will do it in "it's own time".

“It will be a special day in the Middle East, with the whole world watching, when Saudi Arabia joins us. And you’ll be greatly honoring me, and you’ll be greatly honoring all of those people that have fought so hard for the Middle East. And I really think it’s going to be something special — but you’ll do it in your own time. And that’s what I want, and that’s what you want, and that’s the way it’s going to be."

Iran put on Notice

"In the case of Iran, I have never believed in having permanent enemies. I am different than a lot of people think. I don’t like permanent enemies. Sometimes you need enemies to do the job, and you have to do it right. Enemies get you motivated," Trump said.

He continued, "I want to make a deal with Iran. I can make a deal with Iran. I’ll be very happy if we’re going to make your region and the world a safer place." He offered a "much brighter future" if Tehran will do a deal.

"If Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive, maximum pressure … and take all action required to stop the regime from ever having a nuclear weapon. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon," he said.

Lifting Sanctions on Syria

"Syria, they’ve had their share of travesty, war, killing in many years. That’s why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade," Trump said.

"The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as an important — really an important function — nevertheless, at the time. But now it’s their time to shine," he added. So I say, 'Good luck, Syria.' Show us something very special."

"Oh what I do for the crown prince," Trump said to wrap

Blasted NeoCons & Liberal Interventionists

"In the end, the so-called ‘nation-builders’ wrecked far more nations than they built—and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies they did not understand," Trump said.

"The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neo-cons, or liberal non-profits like those who spent trillions failing to develop Kabul and Baghdad."

"In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that we must all hope will succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace."

Gaza, Yemen

"The people of Gaza deserve a much better future," Trump said. "But that will or cannot occur as long as their leaders choose to kidnap, torture and target innocent men, women and children for political ends."

Trump also proclaimed that he ordered the cessation of US-Houthi hostilities in the Red Sea, after the Pentagon flexed its military might.

* * *

Update(1005ET): Trump said to be moments away from speaking live from Riyadh after signing hundreds of billions of dollars in US-Saudi investment deals (watch below). "U.S. and Saudi Arabia sign largest defense sales agreement in history—nearly $142 billion, part of $600 billion investment package President Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman signed in Riyadh bringing an infusion of cash to the United States," according to a White House correspondent. 

"Today in Saudi Arabia, President Donald J. Trump announced Saudi Arabia’s $600-billion commitment to invest in the United States, building economic ties that will endure for generations to come," a fresh White House fact sheet begins. "The first deals under the announcement strengthen our energy security, defense industry, technology leadership, and access to global infrastructure and critical minerals."

The following represent just a few of the many transformative deals secured in Saudi Arabia:

• Saudi Arabian DataVolt is moving forward with plans to invest $20 billion in AI data centers and energy infrastructure in the United States.
• Google, DataVolt, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD, and Uber are committing to invest $80 billion in cutting-edge transformative technologies in both countries.
• Iconic American companies including Hill International, Jacobs, Parsons, and AECOM are building key infrastructure projects like King Salman International Airport, King Salman Park, The Vault, Qiddiya City, and much more totaling $2 billion in U.S. services exports.
• Additional major exports include GE Vernova’s gas turbines and energy solutions totaling $14.2 billion and Boeing 737-8 passenger aircraft for AviLease totaling $4.8 billion.
• In the healthcare sector, Shamekh IV Solutions, LLC will be investing $5.8 billion, including a plant in Michigan to launch a high-capacity IV fluid facility.
• Investment partnerships include several sector-specific funds with a strong emphasis on U.S. deployment—such as the $5 billion Energy Investment Fund, the $5 billion New Era Aerospace and Defense Technology Fund, and the $4 billion Enfield Sports Global Sports Fund—each channeling substantial capital into American industries, driving innovation, and creating high-quality jobs across the United States.

* * *

If there's one thing that's clear by now, it's that Saudi Arabia and the royal family loves President Donald J. Trump.

For example, in an unusual move and break with protocol, it was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) who rushed to greet Trump the moment the president stepped off Air Force One at the Royal Terminal on Tuesday.

Via Al Monitor

The greeting was typically lavish, as Trump was received at the Royal Terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, after which he and MbS walked a lavender carpet and sat down amid marble columns in navy-and-gold armchairs, as the NYT Times detailed.

"Trump lands in Saudi Arabia to a royal welcome from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman," Al-Monitor journalist Elizabeth Hagedorn pointed out. "Biden, by contrast, got the governor of Mecca."

As Air Force One entered the kingdom's airspace earlier Tuesday, Saudi fighter jets escorted it while approaching the Saudi capital.

And later, "The presidential limousine, nicknamed The Beast, was escorted by riders on Arabian horses as it drove to the royal court," NYT detailed.

Among the first major events includes Trump speaking at an investment forum hosted by the Saudi government. Accompanying him are Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other top officials.

The investment forum has also seen the Saudi crown prince greet Elon Musk as well as other important tech and silicon valley chief executives, including from BlackRock, Palantir, Nvidia, OpenAI, IMB, CitiBank, and others.

Others eyeing potential investments from the Saudis, include billionaire medical entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of The Los Angeles Times.

The president said before cameras upon the start of bilateral talks, "MBS is a friend, we have a good relationship."

"I really believe we like each other a lot," Trump added.

Via Reuters

Trump is hoping to secure a $1 trillion investment in US industry from the kingdom, significantly over and above the crown prince’s earlier investment pledge of $600bn, upon this first stop in his Gulf tour which will later include Qatar and UAE.

Importantly, the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, was at the airport with MbS for Trump's grand greeting at the VIP Royal Terminal.

Trump is more of a Diet Coke drinker, (or perhaps there was a remote fear in his mind of being poisoned?)...

President Trump salutes as the Saudis play the American National Anthem...

developing...

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-trumps-lavish-welcome-saudi-arabia-mbs-breaks-protocol-greets-him-plane

Florida Troopers Now Federally Credentialed To Arrest Illegal Immigrants On Their Own

 by Darlene McCormick Sanchez via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Florida officials announced that 1,800 state Highway Patrol troopers are the first in the nation to receive federal credentials under an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agreement allowing them to arrest illegal immigrants on their own.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and a local police officer arrest an illegal immigrant in Florida in April 2025. ICE

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference on May 12 that the state’s ongoing partnership with ICE included what is known as 287(g) agreements, where state and local law enforcement partner with ICE to help arrest and deport illegal immigrants.

The Florida Highway Patrol entered into a 287(g) task force model that gives them the power to arrest foreign nationals who are in the country illegally and place detainers on them during routine policing, such as traffic stops.

In essence, it allows local law enforcement to operate as an extension of ICE under federal supervision.

DeSantis encouraged other states to support President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport illegal immigrants, noting the success of Operation Tidal Wave. The recent joint federal-state operation arrested more than 1,100 illegal immigrants.

Some of those arrested included members of gangs such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, both designated as terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.

Additionally, DeSantis said Florida also swore in 100 troopers as special deputy U.S. marshals, which will allow them to execute federal search warrants and remove dangerous illegal immigrants.

Dave Kerner, director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said during the press conference that the Florida troopers are the first fully credentialed law enforcement to be fully operational under the 287(g) task force model.

“What that means is, if you see a state trooper, he or she has federal authorities to detain, investigate, apprehend, and deport,” Kerner said. “We have troopers in all 67 counties of this great state that have that authority.”

Kerner told The Epoch Times that troopers serving as U.S. marshals will be able to go into homes to serve warrants, which isn’t part of the 287(g) agreements.

He said that the programs offer flexibility to state and local jurisdictions, allowing them to determine their level of involvement once they sign up for the agreements.

“It is, by and large, a voluntary effort,” he said. “You can decide how much you want to participate.”

Illegal immigrants from Venezuela turn themselves in to Texas state troopers after crossing the border from Mexico into Del Rio, Texas, on May 18, 2021. John Moore/Getty Images

DeSantis added that there’s a plan on the table that, if approved by the federal government, would allow military judge advocates to act as immigration judges and provide makeshift detention space and transportation for illegal immigrants.

The governor noted that the state’s experience with disaster response, such as during hurricanes, helped the state come up with the plan. He said there are 70,000 to 80,000 illegal immigrants in the state, with final deportation orders issued by a judge.

Getting rid of criminal illegal immigrants helps cut down on crime and save lives, DeSantis said.

“You’re really making a difference in your community,” he said.

Some 11 million illegal immigrants were apprehended at U.S. borders over the past four years, according to Customs and Border Protection data.

Trump campaigned on border security and illegal immigrant deportations. Upon returning to the White House, he has moved to keep that promise through a whole-of-government approach that has included designating several Mexican cartels and other transnational criminal groups as terrorist organizations. As a result, some members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs have been deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT.

As of May 8, ICE statistics show there are 531 agreements with state and local agencies throughout the country. Another 105 applications are pending.

Although dozens of states have agreements under the 287(g) program, Florida is the first to have its law enforcement officers credentialed.

U.S. military personnel escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and the MS-13 gang recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, in San Luis Talpa, El Salvador, on March 30, 2025. Office of the President's Press Secretary/Reuters

Law enforcement nationwide has been encouraged to sign up for 287(g) agreements by the Trump administration because there are not enough federal officers to find and process millions of illegal immigrants.

Besides the task force model, the federal government created the jail enforcement model and the warrant service officer model.

The jail enforcement model allows local officers to identify and process removable noncitizens already booked into local jails. The warrant service officer model allows officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on illegal immigrants already in custody.

Florida had 266 agreements that included all 67 sheriff’s offices in the state, according to the Florida Sheriffs Association. Texas had the second-highest number of agreements at 77.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/florida-troopers-now-federally-credentialed-arrest-illegal-immigrants-their-own

Trump To Scrutinize Pardons Biden Issued Before Leaving Office

 by Zachary Stieber via The Epoch Times,

President Donald Trump’s newly tabbed pardon attorney said on May 13 that his work will include scrutinizing pardons that former President Joe Biden issued just before leaving office in January.

“I do think that the Biden pardons need some scrutiny. And they need scrutiny because we want pardons to matter and to be accepted and to be something that’s used correctly,” Ed Martin, the pardon attorney, told reporters during a press briefing in Washington.

“So I do think we’re going to take a hard look at how they went and what they did and if they’re, I don’t know, but null and void, I’m not sure how that operates,” he added.

Biden’s pardons, issued in his final hours in office, went to multiple individuals, including former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.).

Biden said at the time that the people “do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.”

Trump said in March that the pardons were “hereby declared void” because, he alleged, they were done with an autopen, or a device that lets people sign documents with preloaded signatures.

Martin said on Tuesday that the pardons were not particularly reasonable but that he did not necessarily think the use of an autopen would nullify them.

Martin is stepping down as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia on Wednesday. Trump on May 8 named Martin pardon attorney and director of the Department of Justice’s weaponization working group after some senators publicly opposed Martin’s nomination to take the U.S. attorney post permanently.

Asked later on Tuesday about the resignation of Denise Cheung, who had been chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia’s Criminal Division, Martin said that he had asked Cheung to look into what he described as unprecedented conduct, or $6.7 billion transferred from the government to a nonprofit that was created just six months prior.

That kind of conduct “does make you pause,” Martin said. “That’s what you’re supposed to do, is pause, just like if the Biden pardons are unprecedented in their extent. Right back to when Hunter Biden was whatever age you say, ’that’s uncommon, we ought to take a look at that.'”

Biden also pardoned his son, Hunter Biden, 55.

Martin also said that the weaponization working group has been looking at various actions taken during the Biden administration, including the prosecution of people who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol. He said that under him, the group will be giving more updates on its work and is exploring the launch of a portal that will enable people to provide them tips.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-scrutinize-pardons-biden-issued-leaving-office

Lexicon targets late 2025 Phase 3 start for pilavapadin and expands LX9851 partnership with Novo

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals (LXRX) reported Q1 2025 financial results and business updates. The company secured an exclusive license agreement with Novo Nordisk for LX9851, potentially worth up to $1 billion in payments. Their Phase 2b PROGRESS study confirmed 10 mg pilavapadin as the optimal dose for Phase 3 development in diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain. Q1 financial results showed revenues of $1.3 million, R&D expenses of $15.3 million, and reduced SG&A expenses to $11.6 million. Net loss improved to $25.3 million ($0.07 per share) from $48.4 million in Q1 2024. The company ended Q1 with $194.8 million in cash and investments. Lexicon is advancing multiple pipeline programs, including sotagliflozin for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the SONATA-HCM Phase 3 study.

https://www.stocktitan.net/news/LXRX/lexicon-pharmaceuticals-reports-first-quarter-2025-financial-results-lla03k0pod7t.html

Federal Grand Jury Indicts Wisconsin Judge Accused Of Helping Illegal Immigrant Evade ICE

  by T.J.Muscaro via The Epoch Times,

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was indicted by a federal grand jury on May 13, after being arrested and accused of helping an illegal immigrant evade Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month.

Her indictment comes after she was arrested by the FBI on April 25 and subsequently suspended from her duties as a judge by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The grand jury reviewed the charges brought forth in a complaint, as a check on the prosecutor’s power, and determined that enough probable cause existed to continue the case.

Dugan faces one count of “obstructing or impeding a proceeding before a department or agency,” and another of “concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest.”

Her next court appearance was previously scheduled for May 15, and she could face more disciplinary actions against her license to practice law.

According to her defense attorneys, she maintains her innocence and expects to be vindicated in court.

She was assigned to preside over a hearing for Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national who was charged with domestic violence, on April 18. Flores-Ruiz had previously been deported in 2013, and there was no evidence that he reentered the country legally.

The FBI agents and deportation officers planned to arrest Flores-Ruiz after the hearing.

However, according to the affidavit, witnesses said Dugan appeared “visibly upset and had a confrontational, angry demeanor,” upon learning of the arrest party’s arrival.

They alleged that Dugan “escorted” Flores Ruiz and his lawyer “out of the courtroom through the ‘jury door,’ which leads to a nonpublic area of the courthouse,” after she “ordered” the team of FBI and deportation officials to go to the chief judge’s office. 

The jury door is normally used by defendants only if they are in the custody of deputies.

Another officer, according to the affidavit, noticed Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer on an elevator and alerted the arrest team.

Flores-Ruiz was apprehended after a foot chase outside the courthouse.

FBI director Kash Patel said investigators believe Dugan “intentionally misdirected federal agents” away from Flores-Ruiz, as officers were preparing to arrest him in the courthouse where the judge works.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/federal-grand-jury-indicts-wisconsin-judge-accused-helping-illegal-immigrant-evade-ice

Trump Admin Targets Journal's "Proximal Origin" Paper Dismissing Possible Wuhan Lab Accident

 by Paul D. Thacker via the DisInformation Chronicle,

A brief flurry of media reports last month criticized letters sent to medical journals by Edward R. Martin Jr., the former interim U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who questioned whether journals have become “partisans in various scientific debates.” One liberal academic called the letters “fascist tactics” designed “to intimidate academic journals” triggering similar allegations across the media.

“Experts worry this will have a chilling effect on publications,” reported the New York Times, noting that an obscure journal called CHEST had been targeted.

“DOJ questions science journal about bias, triggering free-speech concerns,” reported the Washington Post, adding that three major publishers of medical journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and Health Affairs, said they had not received letters, while publisher Springer Nature chose not to comment. NPR reported last week that the New England Journal of Medicine had in fact received a letter as had the American Medical Association’s journal JAMA.

The DisInformation Chronicle has learned that the actual target of Martin’s letters is the Nature Springer journal Nature Medicine, publisher of a highly controversial paper “Proximal Origin” which has faced charges of corruption and calls for retraction. A source inside the Department of Health and Human Services said Trump officials suspect the paper is a quid pro quo, written by the authors to dismiss the possibility of a lab accident and who then received a large grant months later from Tony Fauci.

The existence of the Nature Medicine letter has not been previously reported and is being made public for the first time. After Martin lost support among Republicans to be confirmed as U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, President Trump picked him to head a new Weaponization Working Group inside the Justice Department.

Follow the science

Published in the third month of the COVID pandemic and arguing “we do not believe that any type of laboratory-based scenario is plausible,” the “Proximal Origin” paper became a handy tool for NIH officials and virologists attempting to dismiss as a “conspiracy theory” claims that the pandemic could have started in a Wuhan lab funded by Fauci. Nature Medicine’s editor-in-chief, Joao Monteiro, tweeted that the paper “put conspiracy theories” about the pandemic’s possible lab origin to rest.

NIH Director Francis Collins promoted the “Proximal Origin” paper weeks after Nature Medicine published it on his March 2020 NIH Director's Blog, and Fauci then seized upon the paper during a televised White House briefing a month afterwards.

“There was a study recently that we can make available to you,” Fauci said during the White House briefing, “where a group of highly qualified evolutionary virologists look at the sequences there and the sequences in bats as they evolve and the mutations that it took to get to the point where it is now is totally consistent with a jump of species from an animal to a human.”

The paper would go on to become one of the most heavily cited scientific papers in 2020. The Nation reported in 2023 that “Proximal Origin” had been accessed online more than 5.7 million times and more than 2,000 media outlets had cited it. ABC News, for instance, ran an article titled “Sorry, Conspiracy Theorists. Study Concludes Covid-19 ‘Is Not a Laboratory Construct.’”

But by then, cracks had already appeared.

Follow the money, follow the documents

Emails made public through freedom of information act requests and by congressional investigators in 2022 showed that the papers’ authors had run it past funders—Francis Collins and Tony Fauci at the NIH, as well as with Jeremy Farrar, who was then at the Wellcome Trust. In one example, lead author Kristian Andersen with the Scripps Research Institute emailed the three funders thanking them for their “advice and leadership” and offering them a right to comment and give suggestions.

Further emails and internal slack discussions calling into question the credibility of “Proximal Origin” became public in the summer of 2023 following a congressional hearing. During the hearing, Republicans charged that Tony Fauci had helped orchestrate the paper’s publication. However, Democrats countered by releasing a report that found Wellcome Trust’s Jeremy Farrar helped “organize and facilitate” and “led the drafting process of the paper.”

“Jeremy, Dr. Farrar has been an amazing leader,” wrote “Proximal Origin” co-author Robert Garry of Tulane University in an email released by House Democrats. “Should be author.”

When questioned about his email during a House deposition, Garry agreed that Farrar should have been listed as an author.

According to Nature’s editorial policy, “A specific role for the funder in the conceptualization, design, data collection, analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript, should be disclosed.” However, the paper failed to note the involvement of either Fauci or Farrar, and Nature Medicine has refused to follow its own ethics guidelines.

News sites the Racket and Public co-published a slack message Andersen sent to his “Proximal Origin” co-authors on April 16, 2020, a month after Nature Medicine published the paper in March 2020.

“I’m still not fully convinced that no culture was involved,” Andersen wrote his co-authors, a month after publishing the paper that concluded the virus was not a laboratory construct. “We also can't fully rule out engineering (for basic research).”

Days after the congressional hearing, the group BioSafety Now wrote a letter to Nature Medicine, signed by over 50 scientists, demanding retraction of “Proximal Origin.” The letter cited an investigation published by The Nation reporting on internal emails by the “Proximal Origin” authors that showed they didn’t even believe what they wrote in the paper.

“The main issue is that accidental release is in fact highly likely,” the Nation reported that Andersen wrote in a message to co-authors some weeks before Nature Medicine published the paper. An online campaign by BioSafety Now has since garnered over 5,700 signatures petitioning Nature Medicine to retract the paper.

In his letter to Nature Medicine, Martin wrote that he has been told that some journals “have a position for which they are advocating due to advertisement (under postal code) or sponsorship (under relevant fraud regulations).”

The letter also asks, “How do you clearly articulate to the public when you have certain viewpoints that are influenced by your ongoing relations with supporters, funders, advertisers, and others?”

A source close to the investigation said this question pertains to a grant Fauci awarded Andersen and Garry several months after they published “Proximal Origin” dismissing the possibility of a lab accident. Allegations that this grant was a bribe from Fauci have dogged Andersen for several years, accusations which he dismissed under oath during the July 2023 congressional hearing.

“There is no connection between the grant and the conclusions we reached about the origin of the pandemic,” Andersen wrote in sworn testimony to Congress. “We applied for this grant in June 2019, and it was scored and reviewed by independent experts in November 2019.”

The Intercept later reported that Andersen “knew that was false.” NIH records show the grant to Andersen wasn’t finalized until May 21, 2020, two months after Andersen published “Proximal Origin” in Nature Medicine.

In a guest essay earlier this month for The DisInformation Chronicle, an NIH infectious disease researcher wrote that the “Proximal Origin” authors left a gaping hole in their analysis by failing to account for a common method to manipulate viruses called “serial passaging.”

“And because they didn’t discuss this very common laboratory practice, they did not ‘disprove’ a laboratory origin for the virus,” the NIH research official wrote. “I have no idea how ignoring something so obvious could make it pass peer review and get published in a prestigious journal like Nature Medicine.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-administration-targets-journals-proximal-origin-paper-which-dismissed-possible