Trump says his sons have "inside information" and he feels sorry for them

In an interview that aired at 5:27 pm yesterday evening, the President of the United States struggled as he sat leaning forward in the Oval Office. As the questions turned to his family's business dealings and the billions of dollars his financial disclosures showed he had earned since taking back the presidency, his skin grew tackier with sweat the more he talked. When Kernen handed him what should have been the easiest opportunity to reassure Americans that his family keeps a clear line between public office and private profit, Trump did the opposite. He volunteered something about his own sons that no ethics lawyer would ever advise a president to say: "Almost anything they do... they have inside information."

Based on the events of 7-2-2026

The Breakdown:

• In a CNBC interview, Trump admitted his sons have "inside information" on "almost anything they do," while asking Americans to feel sorry for them
• His financial disclosures showed more than two billion dollars in revenue in 2025
• He could not name the firms managing his money and was unsure what rules he was supposed to follow
• U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced a felony indictment against 67-year-old Olympic canoeist David "Davey" Hearn for touching peeling paint at the Reflecting Pool
• The charge carries a maximum of ten years. Pirro claimed he "forcefully and violently" removed the liner
• Hearn says he stopped on a bike ride, touched a piece already peeling off, and was handcuffed and held for five hours
• His attorneys Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann called it "the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative"
• How the truth is that the administration rushed a vanity project, ignored experts, and hired the wrong company
• A reporter asked how Pirro could charge Hearn while over 1,000 January 6 rioters were pardoned. She refused to answer: "Who's next? Not you!"
• Even Republican Senator Thom Tillis: "What freakin' parallel universe did I wake up in?"
• Air Force Major Jason Watson became the first active-duty commissioned officer in American history to publicly call for a president's impeachment, conviction, and removal
• Watson recited his oath on the Capitol steps and listed the charges before being handcuffed while the crowd chanted "Who do you serve?"
• The career, pension, and freedom Watson knowingly risked, and the legal defense fund that raised more than $93,000 in 24 hours
• Jack Smith's first televised interview: "We are facing an attack on the rule of law that is different in kind and scope to anything I've seen in my lifetime"
• Smith on the "retribution prosecutions" of James Comey and Letitia James, and the agents Kash Patel fired
• Smith confirming he is still ready to bring the case to trial after Trump leaves office
• Smith's advice to state attorneys general: "I would be ready to litigate everything. Don't let reason be a limitation"

The oath exists for days like this one, when keeping it means risking a career, a reputation, or even freedom. In two days, America turns 250 years old, and that anniversary belongs to all of us. This has never been about left versus right. It is about those willing to defend our constitutional democracy and those willing to sacrifice it for power. The people who honored their oath this week have shown us the way forward. Now it is our turn.

This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

I'm Heather Claney Reese, and you're listening to Hope for America, where every day I bring you the truth about our politics, our country, and the forces trying to destroy them. Together, we cut through the noise, expose the lies, and stay focused on what really matters, fighting for the survival of our country. In an interview that aired at 527 last night, the President of the United States struggled as he sat leaning forward in the Oval Office, staring directly across at Joe Kernan from CNBC. As the questions turned to his family's business dealings and the billions of dollars his financial disclosure showed he had earned since taking back the presidency, his skin grew tackier with sweat the more he talked. From the first word he said, he seemed irritated, and even though his answers were careful, measured, and seemingly restrained, he still couldn't outrun who he really is. When Kernan handed him what should have been one of the easiest opportunities imaginable to reassure the American people that his family keeps a clear line between public office and private profit, Trump did the opposite. He volunteered something about his own sons that no ethics lawyer in the country would have ever advised a president to say. Almost anything they do, they have inside information. He offered it as an explanation for why he feels sorry for his children. He wanted Americans to sympathize with how difficult it is for them to make money while their father occupies the most powerful office in the world. I feel badly in a way for my kids because every time my kids do, if if they invest in a stock or if they go and do a bill, anything they do because the presidency is so powerful, so big, everything. If they buy a cupcake company, well, the energy to make the cupcakes is sort of like, how's my energy policy? So therefore you have a conflict. Almost anything they do, if they want to buy a truck, if they want to buy, you know, if they buy an energy efficient truck, they have inside information. He swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. And just a couple days before America's 250th birthday, he sat in the Oval Office and used that oath as a business model. He was not embarrassed and he didn't even try to hide any of it. He was explaining openly that the office he swore to honor is the very thing making his sons rich and asking the country to feel sorry for them because people keep noticing. His financial disclosures released just days ago showed more than $2 billion in revenue in 2025. He could not name the firms managing his money. He was not even sure what rules he was supposed to follow, saying, I think I'd be allowed to. When asked if he talks to Eric about his investments, I'm not sure even what the status is, but I don't. But he was not the only one who swore an oath who had something to say yesterday. Trump's handpicked U.S. attorney stood behind a podium in another part of Washington and announced a felony indictment against a 67-year-old American Olympian for catching pain. Janine Piro, the former Fox News host turned U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters yesterday that a grand jury had indicted David Davy Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist on a single felony count of destruction of property. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The alleged crime reaching into the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on June 19th and touching a piece of the new blue liner that had already peeled off the bottom. Pierrot described what Heard did as forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner of the pool with his bare hands. She said he damaged approximately two square feet of sealant. She said a park employee told him to stop and that he shouted at her, telling her she cared too much about the reflecting pool. She called his behavior belligerent, rude, and disrespectful. And she said she could prove the damage exceeded $1,000, which is the threshold that separates a misdemeanor from a felony. When a reporter asked how Pierrot said with an expert, when the same reporter pointed out that videos showed the pool's paint was already peeling, before Hearn arrived, Pyrrhot responded, Oh, he damaged it. He damaged the pool. He damaged this pool. Hearn tells a different story. He said he was on a 50-plus mile bike ride when he stopped at the reflecting pool out of curiosity. He said he noticed a piece of blue coating that had already partially detached from the bottom, reached down to feel what it was like, and described it as very rubbery. He said a park worker told him to stop and he did. Then the National Guard handcuffed him and held him for five hours. I did not remove, I did not damage, I did not rip, tear, break, destroy, or harm any part of the reflecting pool, Hearn said. His attorneys released a statement that we all should be reading that said, Davy Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American. This indictment reflects the administration's effort to shift blame for their own failures on the eve of our nation's Independence Day. Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative. And that is exactly what this is, a concocted story, because the truth about the reflecting pool is not that vandals destroyed it. The truth is that the Trump administration rushed a vanity project, ignored the experts, and hired the wrong company to do the job. And I want to stop and remind everyone that they're just saying that you can indict a ham sandwich. It's because the bar is so low to get this. It just means that there could be evidence to support it. Or not even. It just means that it's very easy to get an indictment and it means that you could take a little farther. So an indictment doesn't mean guilt. An indictment really doesn't mean much. What it does mean is that a prior Olympian is going to have to spend his time, energy, and money defending himself because Donald Trump needs someone to blame. And instead of admitting the failure, Trump blamed sick, deranged people for vandalizing the pool. He claims someone used some form of knife or blade to put a 250-foot long gash in the liner. He's said it was 200 feet, 250, 300, 350 feet. It it changes constantly. He's threatened years in jail, and Pyrrho, his U.S. attorney, delivered on that threat yesterday by indicting an Olympian who touched peeling paint with his fingers. It's shameful that this is the United States of America at the 250-year mark. And here's the part that made that press conference truly unbearable to watch. A reporter asked Pyrrho, how can you square charging this individual when there were over a thousand January 6th writers pardoned who caused millions of dollars in damages and can't forget people actually died that day too. And Pyrrho cut him off and said, Already, this is a problem, she said. The reporter continued, and Pyrrhot snapped, Are you really talking about January 6th? I'm not. Who's next? Not you. She would not answer the question. She could not, because the answer indicts the entire regime. Trump pardoned every single person who stormed the Capitol on January 6th. People who broke windows, beat police officers, and tried to overturn the certification of a presidential election. Every one of them walked free. And now his DOJ is pursuing a felony against the 67-year-old man who touched a piece of paint that was already falling off. And, you know, this is the people's capital. This is our capital. If we want to reach in and touch a piece of paint that will not damage anything, what have we become? What have we allowed to happen? Even Republican Senator Tom Tillis could not stomach it. What a freaking parallel universe did I wake up in? He said earlier this week, I don't know what's worse to you. Vandalizing a pool or assaulting a police officer. And you've let people that admitted to assaulting a police officer go and think I can take that person seriously. Nah. Pierrot swore an oath when she became U.S. attorney. She swore to uphold the law without favor. But Pierrot has a complicated history with oaths and the truth. She spent years behind a Fox News desk amplifying the very election lies that led to January 6th, lies so reckless that her owner producer warned her in a text message to be very careful with this stuff and protect yourself given the ongoing calls for evidence that has not materialized. That is what a broken oath looks like. And they are not just trying to set a precedent. They are sending a warning. Stay in line. You don't have to actually commit a crime in Donald Trump's America to be dragged through the criminal system. They are also hoping that their followers, the ones Trump brags that love him, the poorly educated, will actually believe that this past Olympian was actually harming the reflecting pool intentionally. They need a fall guy or half the population, the Democrats, to take the blame for Donald Trump's incompetence and poor leadership. But two days ago on the steps of that same Capitol, someone else actually honored their oath to the country. On July 1st, the day before Pierot's press conference, Air Force Major Jason Watson walked to the United States Capitol, stood at a podium in his military uniform, and said something that no active duty commissioned officer in American history has ever said in public. My name is Jason Watson. I am an active duty major in the United States Air Force. However, who I am is immaterial. In the grand scheme of things, I am just a nobody. What matters far more than who I am is what I have to say and the price I'm willing to pay to say it. And then he recited his oath, the same oath he first swore over 20 years ago at the United States Air Force Academy. I, Jason Paul Watson, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter. So help me God. Watson is a logistical readiness officer currently stationed in Poland. He has spent 17 years serving in Europe, working with NATO. He is not a Democrat. He said he knows next to nothing about the policy positions of the congressman who stood beside him. He was there for one reason, and he laid it out with the precision of someone who had thought about every word for months. Our Constitution binds us all together as Americans, Watson said. Like countless veterans before me, military members serving now, I've devoted my life to service to our democratic republic, always doing my best to honor my oath and protect America against foreign threats. But the greatest threat to our democratic republic is not a foreign one. It is us, we the people, not just the left or just the right, or just the center. All of us together define who we are as Americans. And like it or not, we have all played a part, myself included, in getting ourselves into the mess we are all in. And then he said the line that will define this moment. The burden of that culpability is much heavier for some amongst us than others, undeniably, and for those with a lion's share of guilt, such as those currently running the executive branch of the government, the bill must come due. He listed the charges, unconstitutional military action in Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran without congressional authorization, in violation of the War Powers Clause, resulting in the deaths of 13 service members and injuries to hundreds more, the granting of sweeping authority to an unelected megadonor to shut down federal agencies, access government databases, and terminate tens of thousands of civil servants, the denial of due process to hundreds of people before deporting them to a foreign prison notorious for human rig abuses, the sponsoring of violence against Americans exercising their constitutional right to protest. For this, Watson said after each charge, the president and vice president must be impeached, convicted, and removed. When he finished speaking, Watson walked to the steps of the Capitol. Representative Al Green of Texas, the only member of Congress who was forced a vote on impeachment during this term, had escorted him there. Shortly after, Capitol Police told Watson that demonstrating on the steps without a member of Congress present is against the law. That was after Al Green had walked away. They gave him a chance to leave. Watson did not leave. He stood holding a sign that read, Impeach, Convict, Remove. The officers approached multiple times before Watson carefully placed his sign on the ground. He was handcuffed and led away while the crowd chanted, Who do you serve? Who do you protect? Watson is a hero. He did what so many should be doing, and he will face consequences for being on the right side of history. Active duty military members are prohibited from speaking out against the commander-in-chief. Those restrictions exist to protect civilian control of the military, and they prevent political factions from forming inside the armed forces. They're supposed to keep the military nonpartisan, and that principle is foundational to our republic's survival. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, Article 88, prohibits commissioned officers from using contemptuous words against the president, the vice president, Congress, or the Secretary of Defense. The Department of Defense prohibits active duty members from participating in political activities while in uniform. Watson violated all of that. He did it knowingly. He did it in uniform. And the Air Force Secretary, Troy Mink, has already announced that a thorough investigation will proceed unimpeded and that commanders will ensure appropriate disposition when holding service members accountable in accordance with military law and due process. Watson could face administrative separation, he could face non-judicial punishment, he could face court martial. He will most likely lose his career, pension, and years of his life. He knew all of that before he climbed those steps. Jessica Denson, the founder of the Removal Coalition, said Watson reached out to them months ago. She said they took his desire to speak out very seriously and thought about the best way to make his sacrifice worth it. She said he is risking not only his military career and pension, but potentially prosecution. This is the example of sacrifice that members of Congress need to see and confront. There are moments in a democracy when the cost of silence becomes higher than the cost of speaking. Watson decided this was one such moment. He did not ask to be exempt from the consequences. He asked for us to understand why they were worth paying. I am calling on average Americans everywhere to peacefully exercise your First Amendment right in mass every day until this administration is removed and our Democratic Republic is restored. He went on to say, if just a nobody like me can take a stand for our Constitution and our Democratic Republic, then you can too. I hope you will join me in the defense of our republic. He is the first active duty commissioned officer in American history to publicly call for the impeachment, conviction, and removal of a sitting president. A fundraiser for his legal defense had already raised more than $93,000 in less than 24 hours. And then yesterday, the man who built the federal case against Donald Trump, the man who followed the evidence and the law and is no longer in his position for doing his job, spoke publicly for the first time. Jack Smith, the former special counsel, sat for his first televised interview since leaving the Department of Justice, speaking with Nicole Wallace on EmmaSnow. I think we are facing an attack on the rule of law that is different in kind and scope to anything I've seen in my lifetime, he said. He was not performing. He didn't do this for applause. He was doing what he has always done, stating what the evidence shows. He talked about the retribution prosecutions coming out of the DOJ, including the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. He talked about the agents who worked for him, the ones Cash Patel had fired, at least a dozen of them, including one who was fired shortly after his wife died of cancer, a woman he had been nursing through her final days, said, I feel terrible about what has happened to them. If there's one thing I've spent my time on since leaving my work as special counsel, it's doing what I can to help and support them. When Wallace asked about whether Trump's DOJ could come after him, Smith acknowledged it was possible. That it could happen, he said. But then he made something clear. There is no way in the world, if the thought was to go after me so that I wouldn't speak up about the corruption happening or speak up to defend these agents and prosecutors. That is a grave miscalculation. There is no way that I'm going to be intimidated. When Wallace asked whether he was still ready to bring the case to trial after Trump leaves office, Smith did not hesitate. Yeah, correct. And then when the conversation turned to November in the midterms, to what is coming next, Smith's voice carried the weight of someone who has seen the evidence from the inside. He said, I'm very concerned of what's going to happen in the next election. Absolutely. His advice to state attorney generals across the nation, I would be ready to litigate everything, every possible permutation, and don't let reason be a limitation. Imagine everything that could possibly be tried. And I hope they are ready to do just that because that is what the oath is for. Not for the easy days, not for the moments when honoring it costs nothing. It exists for days like this one, when keeping it means risking a career, a reputation, friendships, power, or even freedom. It is not the promise that no person stands above the Constitution and that our loyalty belongs first to the Republic, not to the people temporarily entrusted to lead it. Tomorrow America turns 250 years old. That anniversary doesn't belong to Democrats or Republicans. It belongs to all of us. Our founders didn't hand us a perfect nation. They handed us an unfinished one and trusted each generation to decide whether we would leave it stronger than we found it. November isn't simply another election. It is our opportunity to decide what the next chapter of those 250 years will look like. This has never been about left versus right. It has always been about those willing to defend our constitutional democracy and those willing to sacrifice it for power. We are not fighting over politics. We are deciding whether the next 250 years will be built on the constitution that is endured through war, depression, national tragedy, or the ambitions of one man and those who have chosen to abandon their own oath to serve him. The people who honored their oath this week have shown us the way forward. Now it is our turn. We may not all have sworn the same words they did, or none of them at all, but we can honor the same promise with our voices, our votes, our courage, and our refusal to surrender this country that generations before us fought to preserve. It is our turn to leave the next generation an America worthy of the next 250 years. Every time history has asked Americans whether democracy was worth defending, ordinary people have answered. We're about to answer again. And that is why so hope for America and you should too. And remember, no matter how dark the days get, I will be here every single day. And together, we will always find hope for America. I'll see you tomorrow.