Letters from an American - Hostilities

Episode Date: July 14, 2026

July 13, 2026The US has few options for extricating itself from Trump’s war on Iran with conditions better than when it went into the war, or before Trump tore up the plan of action negotiated by President Obama, Trump is claiming that he will keep the Strait of Hormuz open, The administration continues to deny that Congress has any role in its activities in Iran, despite the clear language of the Constitution, Trump’s sons have amassed a portfolio of defense tech startups that are benefitting from what the Pentagon is doing, In Maine, an ICE agent shot and killed a man from Colombia who was on his way to work but it appears he was not the man that ICE and Border Patrol were looking for, Less an a week ago, ICE shot and killed a man in Houston, who was close to obtaining legal status who also was not the person ICE was looking for, In Florida, a judge said that Trump, his lawyers, and lawyers for the DOJ, had manufactured the settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, She said that they launched the lawsuit to confer legitimacy on a course of action that they did not want to subject to judicial review, She recommended legal sanctions against some of the lawyers, She was “extremely troubled” by the testimony of Todd Blanche, who comes up for confirmation as Attorney General, on July 15.Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

July 13, 26. Today began with yet another demonstration of the fact that the U.S. options for extricating itself from Trump's war on Iran with conditions anywhere near as good as they were under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, negotiated with a number of countries under President Barack Obama, or even as good as they were in February 26, before Trump and Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu launched air strikes on Iran. do not appear promising. At 1016 this morning, Trump announced on social media that the Strait of Hormuz is open and will remain open,

with or without Iran. We are reinstating the Iranian blockade, so named because it is only stopping Iran's ships or customers from entering or leaving. All other countries will have fair and open use of the strait. The USA will be from this point forward known as the guardian of the Hormuz Strait, but as such, and as a matter of fairness, will be reimbursed at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very

volatile section of the world. The process and formation will begin immediately. In other words, the U.S. is restarting hostility, a blockade is an act of war. And, according to Trump, will protect the Strait of Hormuz, but expects to be paid. Trump has been clear that he considers the Memorandum of Understanding he signed on June 17th no longer in force, probably not least because Iranian officials interpret the words of the hastily constructed deal as giving Iran control over the Strait of Hormuz. They have been clear they intend to charge fees for passage of the strait, a condition the U.S. rejects, although Trump's current claim that the U.S. will charge fees seems to undercut the U.S.

position. Crucially, officials in the Trump administration continue to deny that Congress has any role in declaring war, despite the clear language of the Constitution. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, the President can respond without a congressional input to an imminent threat so long as the president notifies Congress in writing within 48 hours of the beginning of hostilities. After that notification, the president has only 60 days before he must either end hostilities or secure congressional approval for them. Trump got around this law first by overruling his own intelligence agencies to insist that Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S.

Then, when the May 1st deadline for either withdrawal or congressional approval approached, he claimed that hostilities had ended on April 7th with the declaration of a ceasefire, notwithstanding that both sides continued to shoot at each other, and the U.S. maintained its blockade of Iranian ports. Now they are claiming the power simply to start the clock again. On Friday, Trump formally notified Congress, that the U.S. has resumed strikes on Iran, claiming the Pentagon has another 60 days to strike Iran before the timelines specified by the War Powers Act runs out.

Today, Elizabeth Dwaskin, Andrew Batran, Luis Melgar, and Peter Jamison of the Washington Post reported that Trump's sons, Donald Trump, and Eric Trump, have amassed a portfolio of defense technology startups that are benefiting from new Pentagon priorities and spending, further entangling the United States' interests and the Trump family's financial fortunes. They have invested in more than a dozen defense companies that have collectively received at least $3.2 billion in business directly from the government since those investments, along with $3.1 billion in options for future contracts. Tonight, U.S. Central Command announced it has begun a third night of strikes against Iran. At about 7.15 this morning, an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, shot and killed

26-year-old Juan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. According to staff from the Portland Press Harold, Guerrero was from Columbia and was authorized to work in the U.S. The Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition, said he had a social security number and was on his way to work. Spokespeople for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, which oversees ICE, have not commented. Senator Susan Collins, a Republican of Maine, has called for a full and impartial investigation. But as her political opponents note, Collins voted just last month to give ICE another $70 billion. dollars. Ice and Border Patrol had become far less visible as Republicans worked to pass supplemental funding for ICE and Border Patrol through Congress. In the wake of that new funding,

immigration sweeps are back in the news. Protests broke out today outside Collins's Biddeford office. Senator Angus King, an independent of Maine, told Patrick Whittle Leah Willingham and Jack Brooke of the Associated Press that Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen told him Guerrero had tried to use his vehicle as a weapon against officers, forcing the agent to shoot. This allegation has been a common one for agents trying to justify fatal shootings, including that of Renee Good in Minnesota. Witness Daniel Boucher said that in the aftermath of the shooting, he saw Guerrero bleeding profusely from the head. He was talking. He said, I tried to stop. This evening, Representative Shelley Pingree, a Democrat of Maine, said she had learned that the man

I shot and killed was not the person they had an order to pick up. In a statement tonight, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that the officer shot because he was fearing for public safety. David Beer of the Cato Institute and Aaron Reichland Melnick of the Immigration Council both called out that language, noting DHS was claiming not that the officer feared for his life, but that he had a vague concern for public safety. The ice killing of a man in Maine comes less than a week after ICE shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Arraio of Houston, Texas. Salgado Arrayo was a Mexican national who had lived in the U.S. for 35 years and was close to obtaining legal status. His son told Lekin Oyakhanmi, Jack Brook, and Jeffrey Collins of the Associated Press that the home builder knew what to do when approached by ICE, but may have feared that the men following him in unmarked SUVs intended to steal his tools. I said the officers attempted to conduct a vehicle stop as part of a targeted enforcement operation to arrest an illegal alien.

And that Salgado Araya rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer. It added that an officer discharged his weapon in self-defense. A lawyer for two of the people in the van with Salgado Arraoyo denied that he tried to ram officers. A source later told Delia Fahade, Chris Boyett, Priscilla Alvarez, and Carol Alvarado of CNN, that ISIS's description of the events that killed Salgado Arayo as a targeted enforcement operation were misleading. While that may have been the case, Salgado Arraio was not the target. They saw him in his van near the target and thought he resembled the target. Jose Olivares of The Guardian noted that Salgado Arroyo was the 10th person shot and killed by federal

immigration officers from either ICE or Border Patrol since Trump took office a second time. 21 more people have died in ICE detention this year. This afternoon, the Trump administration finally turned over to Minnesota investigators evidence from the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretty in January. That evidence includes statements, video from police body cameras, and goods badly damaged SUV. Today, U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida, Kathleen Williams, said Trump, his lawyers, and the lawyers for the Department of Justice had manufactured the so-called settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the internal records.

service. The court finds that this matter was brought for an improper purpose to gain the imprimatur of judicial legitimacy for a settlement that had no viable basis in law or fact, she wrote. They launched the lawsuit as a means of conferring legitimacy upon a course of action that they were unwilling to subject to judicial review. The course of action they intended to take was to a establish a $1.776 billion slush fund for Trump loyalists, who claimed that the Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden had been weaponized against them. While that part of the deal got most of the attention, probably more important to Trump was the addition to the settlement announced the next day, a promise that Trump, his family, his businesses, and even his associates would be

immune from prosecution for any tax crimes revealed by audits of tax returns filed before May 19, 2026. No sitting president has ever sued federal agencies completely subject to his control for monetary benefits or any benefits that inore to him, his family, and associates, Williams wrote. After Trump dropped his lawsuit, 35 former judges had asked Williams to sit aside. her dismissal of the case, with the goal of determining whether the claimed settlement was a fraud on the court. In her opinion, she noted that the question before the court was simply whether there was a legitimate lawsuit, and the answer was no. The final disposition of the slush fund and the immunity were not questions before the court. Whether executive branch actors can privately

agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities and billions of dollars in tax monies for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced to this court. The question is whether the parties could do so by claiming to be adverse and engaging the legitimacy of a court proceeding. The answer is a resounding no. Williams recommended legal sanctions against some of the lawyers involved and said she was extremely troubled by the testimony of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, which was at best misleading and at worst disingenuous. Blanche used to be Trump's personal defense lawyer and has said he believes he has a continuing duty of loyalty to Trump. The president has nominated Blanche to become attorney general.

His confirmation hearings begin on Wednesday. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.