Good afternoon from hot, hazy Washington, where the Willard InterContinental across from the White House is teeming with Iraqi military leadership—in town as Iraqi prime minister Ali al-Zaidi meets with President Donald Trump. I was late to lunch as I waited at a security checkpoint behind a major in dress uniform and his deputy, who puffed from a Miami Mint–flavored Geek Bar vape as they bantered in Arabic.
Inside the White House, aides worked to prepare for Trump’s televised address this evening, a rarity in his second term.
To what do we owe the pleasure? Depends on whom you ask.
Initially, Axios reported that it’s because he simply wants to do more major speeches from the White House. The content of the address will be “a potpourri,” an adviser said—a slam poetry session of cobbled-together Truth Social posts.
Then, last night, Bloomberg reported the speech will focus on “previously unreported Chinese meddling in US elections.” Whoa.
Not so fast. According to Reuters, we knew a lot of this already—because Trump’s own administration reported it back in 2020. Trump is expected to allege a cover-up of this intelligence, though he may well elide the fact that it was gathered in 2020, while he was wrapping up his first term.
We shouldn’t overstate what the intelligence found. Per Reuters reporter Erin Banco: “The thinking was that China likely purchased the voter data, which is publicly available online. There was no evidence China changed details of that data at scale or that it changed the vote, officials say.”
The mixed messages from the White House are somewhat understandable. According to Dasha Burns over at Politico, Trump’s own advisers aren’t quite sure how far he’ll go in the speech tonight. Like a fresh episode of The Apprentice, you’ll just have to tune in to find out (or read Vanity Fair’s coverage, which I will be handling this evening).
In this edition of Party Animals: An update on the rapper Boosie’s quest for a Trump pardon, and an interview with Dr. Annie Andrews, the pediatrician running for Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat as a Democrat.
Also mentioned in this issue: Brad Parscale, Dr. Oz, Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman, Ro Khanna, the brothers Emanuel, Marc Caputo, Trey Yingst, and Todd Blanche.
Got tips? Hit the Party Animals hotline: aidan_mclaughlin@condenast.com. Or text me—my number is 917-817-8266. Complaints will be purchased by the CCP and covered up by the CIA. Praise will be announced in a prime-time Oval Office address.
