The Daily Herold: 6/19/26 - Tulsi's COVID Declass, Solomon Goes Gov & Israel Blows It

Jon Herold comes in on Juneteenth in surprisingly good spirits and with a lot to sort through. Tulsi Gabbard released her COVID declass video on her final day as DNI, and Jon's take is the same as it always has been: Fauci directing the intelligence community to suppress the lab leak was already true in 2021 and her saying it now does not make it more true, though it might finally convince the people who needed an authoritative figure to say so before they believed it. Jon also shares a rumor from a well-connected source that the election declass is delayed to around June 24 and is coming from the Presidential Intelligence Advisory Board rather than the DNI. John Solomon just announced he is stepping aside as editor in chief to serve as an unpaid government employee identifying classified documents, and Jon finds the timing interesting. Israel bombed Hezbollah immediately after the MOU was signed, JD Vance publicly criticized Netanyahu, and Jon sees it as the clean exit ramp he has been hoping for. CJ Pearson turns out to be a registered foreign agent taking $20,000 a month from the Bahamas, and Jon wants the whole influencer ecosystem audited. Also: Jon tracked down the screenshot evidence on CannCon's gas price bet and played the tape.