Milo Yiannopoulos says he is “very ashamed” that he ever supported President Donald Trump, delivering an extraordinary repudiation of the political movement that once made him into one of the most recognizable provocateurs on the right.

Speaking to Piers Morgan in his first interview since being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and subsequently deported to the United Kingdom, Yiannopoulos contrasted the optimism he felt about Trump's first campaign with what he sees nearly a decade later.

“To think that the promise and hope and joy and the anticipation of Trump 2016 could, sort of, over the course of 10 years, collapse into this ugly, warmongering, whole mentally ill heap of crazy — with some of the most unstable and lunatic people, seemingly directing the President’s actions!” Yiannopoulos told Morgan.

“If I had any clue that anything remotely like this was even possible, I would never have got involved in supporting Trump in the first place,” he continued, “and I’m very ashamed that I did.”

It is a remarkable reversal for a figure whose rise to political prominence was closely intertwined with the insurgent right-wing politics of Trump's first presidential campaign.

But Yiannopoulos's break with Trump has now become considerably more personal.

Yiannopoulos Admits He Previously Cheered ICE On

Yiannopoulos acknowledged an uncomfortable irony during his interview with Morgan: He had previously celebrated aggressive immigration enforcement himself.

But he argued that ICE should be concentrating its resources on violent criminals and drug dealers rather than people in circumstances like his own.

Yiannopoulos disputed the suggestion that he had deliberately remained in the United States without addressing his immigration status.

He claimed immigration officials sent letters concerning his work visa to old addresses and said his lawyer was never contacted.

Yiannopoulos also pointed to his marriage to an American and his professional circumstances as reasons he would have had little incentive to knowingly overstay a visa.

He said he applied for a Green Card in 2017, shortly after getting married.

“I don’t really do the right-wing provocateur thing anymore,” Yiannopoulos told Morgan. “I manage lawyers for a living. I’m a pretty organised and together person when I’m not being silly on Twitter.”

“And I’m married to an American. There’s no reason I would take a risk like this,” he continued. “I didn’t need to overstay a visa. There were dozens of companies who could have sponsored me.”

‘It Was Humiliating’

Yiannopoulos also painted a grim picture of his treatment after being taken into federal custody.

He alleged that authorities repeatedly moved him between facilities, leaving his attorneys struggling to determine where he was being held.

“I was put from a detention facility to a correctional facility; every three hours, they were sort of trying to keep ahead of my lawyers,” he said.

Yiannopoulos claimed officials would not explain what was happening and alleged that he was denied both a telephone call and access to a nurse.

“No one would tell me anything,” he said. “I mean, I know it’s designed to be like that, but it was humiliating, and it was disorientating all the rest of it, it was physically degrading. It was frightening.”

Again, those allegations come from Yiannopoulos himself, and the material provided does not include a response from ICE addressing his description of his detention.

Laura Loomer Says She Reported Him

The saga has also reignited Yiannopoulos's bitter feud with conservative activist and Trump ally Laura Loomer, who has claimed credit for bringing his immigration status to the government's attention.

Before Yiannopoulos's detention, Loomer had publicly demanded that the administration deport him.

“Why hasn’t the Trump administration deported Milo?” Loomer wrote on X, alleging that he was living in Los Angeles on an expired visa.

“He is calling for regime change in the US and posts Holocaust denial as an immigrant,” she continued. “It’s time for him to be deported.”

Loomer also stressed Yiannopoulos's lack of loyalty to Trump.

“He didn’t campaign for Trump,” she wrote. “Milo is a foreigner.”

After ICE detained Yiannopoulos, Loomer claimed she had reported him to officials.

He used his interview with Morgan to unload on her.

Milo Says Something Is ‘Very, Very Wrong’ With Loomer

Yiannopoulos told Morgan he had once considered working for Loomer before deciding there was something “very, very wrong” with her.

He portrayed Loomer's relationship with Trump as mutually reinforcing, arguing that her enthusiastic support gives Trump the praise he desires while her proximity to the president increases her own political influence.

“She’s fallen into this kind of symbiotic, sort of toxic relationship with Trump where he can’t get enough of her obsequious toadying praise and she can’t get enough of the clout from the proximity,” Yiannopoulos said.

“And so I think he allows her to run riot because he likes anybody who praises him,” he continued, “especially, I guess, these days, because they’re pretty few and far between.”

From Trump Provocateur to Trump Critic

Yiannopoulos's political identity has changed considerably since the height of his notoriety.

Once one of the most recognizable personalities associated with the online pro-Trump right, he says he no longer makes his living as a political provocateur.

His deportation has nevertheless thrust him directly back into the political world he claims to have largely left behind.

Watch the interview.

Conservative radio host Erick Erickson unloaded on Fox News host Laura Ingraham Tuesday after she accused him of effectively rooting for Texas Democrat James Talarico by criticizing Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton.

The exchange began when Erickson promoted his latest Substack article, “The Pyrrhic Victory Long Ago Predicted,” arguing Republicans are now confronting exactly the problem he warned them about during the Texas GOP primary.

President Donald Trump backed Paxton against longtime Republican Sen. John Cornyn, and Paxton ultimately prevailed. But with the scandal-plagued Texas attorney general now facing Talarico in the general election — and Talarico leading Paxton in recent polling — Erickson argued Republicans may have traded a safer Senate seat for a costly rescue operation.

“The only thing for which Paxton has ever shown prodigious energy is philandery and possibly corruption,” Erickson wrote. “He is a lazy candidate in a heated race, and laziness is not a flaw you can fundraise your way around.”

Erickson said he warned during the primary that Paxton could defeat Cornyn but become a liability in November.

“We have arrived at that moment,” he declared.

Ingraham had a much simpler interpretation.

“Another NeverTrump Republican rooting for Talarico,” she replied.

That accusation prompted Erickson to turn his ire away from Paxton and directly toward the Fox News host.

‘I Deeply Oppose Talarico’

Erickson rejected Ingraham's characterization outright, arguing that his criticism of Paxton comes precisely from his desire to prevent Talarico from becoming a United States senator.

“Hey @IngrahamAngle, actually, I deeply oppose Talarico and don’t want him elected and am deeply frustrated that Paxton isn’t doing what must be done,” Erickson wrote.

He then made the exchange considerably more personal.

“But you spend each day telling people publicly things you know privately are not true (See e.g., your private statements about the 2020 election revealed in discovery) and lose the ability to hold your own side accountable as a syncophant,” Erickson wrote, apparently meaning “sycophant.”

The accusation was a reference to communications made public through litigation over Fox News' coverage of the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election.

Erickson later returned to the subject, pointing specifically to Ingraham's private criticism of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, two prominent figures involved in Trump's efforts to challenge the 2020 election results.

“Also, @IngrahamAngle here is a helpful reminder of what happens when you take one position publicly and another privately as opposed to just telling people what you think and not carrying water for one side,” Erickson wrote while sharing an article about those messages.

“I just like to tell my audience the truth,” he concluded.

Erickson Says Republicans Are Being Asked to Bail Paxton Out

Erickson's underlying argument is that Republican primary voters chose a candidate he believes was more vulnerable in November and are now demanding that the rest of the party spend enormous amounts of money protecting a Texas Senate seat that should not require such attention.

“Paxton’s supporters now insist everyone else must carry him,” Erickson wrote.

According to Erickson, the resources required to rescue Paxton could come at the expense of Republicans in considerably more competitive states.

“They want the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the outside groups, the donor class, and President Trump to spend whatever it takes, even if the money spent in Texas costs Republicans Alaska, Iowa, Maine, and Ohio, and even if it forecloses winnable pickups in Michigan and New Hampshire,” he wrote.

“Saving Paxton, they say, matters more than saving the country from a Democrat controlled Senate. That is nonsense.”

“I said it in the primary, and I stand by it now,” he wrote.

A Fight Over Loyalty Versus Electability

His argument is that Republicans should be able to acknowledge deficiencies in their own candidates without having their partisan loyalties questioned — particularly when those deficiencies threaten the party's broader electoral objectives.

The stakes become greater if Texas requires substantial outside spending because every dollar committed to defending Paxton is a dollar that cannot be spent elsewhere.

Erickson is therefore framing the Texas race not simply as a contest between Paxton and Talarico but as a potentially consequential resource problem in the battle for control of the Senate.

His original “Pyrrhic Victory” headline encapsulates the argument: Paxton's supporters won the Republican primary battle, but Erickson fears the victory could ultimately make winning the larger war more difficult.

Erickson Turns Ingraham's Attack Back on Her

But after Ingraham accused him of rooting for Talarico, Erickson transformed an argument over Republican electoral strategy into an argument over conservative media itself.

Rather than simply insisting that Ingraham misunderstood him, he accused her of refusing to criticize political allies honestly.

His invocation of her private communications about the 2020 election was designed to sharpen that point.

Erickson's argument was essentially that a commentator who privately recognizes problems on the right but presents something different to her audience cannot credibly accuse another conservative of disloyalty for voicing his concerns publicly.

That doesn't resolve the underlying strategic dispute. Republicans who believe Paxton can win could reasonably argue that sustained conservative criticism of him during the general election only makes Talarico's job easier, regardless of Erickson's intentions.

Erickson, however, believes the greater danger comes from pretending the problem doesn't exist.

Watch the clip.

Alina Habba may not be campaigning to become President Donald Trump’s next press secretary, but the longtime Trump ally now says she would have a hard time turning him down if he offered her the job.

Conservative influencer Benny Johnson floated Habba as a potential replacement for outgoing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during a recent interview, telling the former Trump lawyer that her name has been circulating as speculation grows over who will take over the briefing room.

“We are not telepathic, so we don’t know what the president’s thinking,” Johnson said. “We were just at the White House, and it was funny. He was, yeah, he was asking around, and, um, well, honestly, your name does come up. So, would you be press secretary at the White House?”

“I have always said, and I think I’ve said this for now five years, I serve this country. It is the greatest honor for me to do so, and I serve it as the president sees fit,” Habba responded. “Do I think I could do it? Absolutely.”

“I feel that I kind of had done it before he was in the White House, to some extent,” she added.

Johnson subsequently shared the exchange on X and gave his own endorsement: “The people want @AlinaHabba in the briefing room.”

Habba Says She Has a ‘Hard Time Saying No’ to Trump

Habba became one of Trump's most recognizable defenders during his years out of office, frequently appearing on television to defend him as he confronted an array of civil and criminal legal battles.

That experience appears to be part of why Johnson sees her as a natural fit for the White House briefing room.

“That’s what we’ve been saying,” Johnson told her after Habba suggested she had effectively performed a similar function before Trump's return to office.

Habba acknowledged that she misses the public-facing role she once occupied.

“And I get it, and I love it. I miss doing this. I don’t do it anymore like I used to,” she said.

Habba pointed to the same issue Leavitt has confronted while occupying one of the most demanding communications jobs in the world: raising a family.

“I, like Karoline, I have a family, and I’ve been enjoying that as well,” Habba said.

But that apparently wouldn't stop her if the offer came directly from Trump.

“If the president called me and asked me, of course I would do it,” she said.

Habba stressed that she was leaving the decision to Trump and would support whomever he ultimately selects.

“He knows what’s best for his administration and for the American people. And he knows what to do,” she said. “And I trust his judgment.”

Then she made her willingness even clearer.

“But of course, you know me, Benny. I have a hard time saying no to that man. I can’t.”

Habba Previously Said She Wasn't ‘in the Running’

The comments represent a notable change in tone from Habba's response to speculation about the job just weeks ago.

In mid-August, Habba publicly dismissed reports that she was among the candidates being considered to replace Leavitt after prediction markets began giving her favorable odds.

“Flattered by the Kalshi odds, but I’m not in the running for any job,” Habba wrote on X at the time.

She also poked fun at reports based on unidentified administration sources.

“However, if I’m getting a new one, I’d love for one of these anonymous sources to let me know first,” she wrote.

Habba's Long History in Trump's Orbit

Her work defending Trump turned her into a familiar face on conservative television and an unofficial public spokesperson for him long before his return to the White House. Her legal work has also generated controversy, including sanctions imposed by courts in connection with litigation brought on Trump's behalf.

Habba later served in the Trump administration and referenced both her time at the White House and Department of Justice while reflecting on the possibility of another assignment.

“I wasn’t gonna go to the White House, and then I did, and it was the greatest honor of my life, and the Department of Justice,” Habba told Johnson. “And I always say, it’s been quite the journey.”

Whether that journey eventually puts her behind the White House briefing room podium remains Trump's decision.

Watch the clip.

The Pentagon has quietly brought several retired military officers with large conservative social media followings into civilian government roles, reportedly as part of an effort to promote War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s agenda and defend the Trump administration online.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that the unusual hires include retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness and retired Army Col. Kurt Schlichter, both prominent conservative commentators with substantial audiences on X.

Despite records showing the men have official government email addresses, the Pentagon declined to tell the Post what exactly they are doing, whether they are receiving taxpayer-funded salaries or how long their positions are expected to last.

According to people familiar with the effort and material reviewed by the newspaper, however, its purpose is to “amplify Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s viewpoints and attack those who scrutinize the Trump administration.”

Conservative Commentators Placed in Pentagon Office

Maness and Schlichter are assigned to the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, according to Pentagon records reviewed by the Post.

Both had active government email addresses as of last week carrying a “.civ” suffix, identifying them as civilian employees rather than military personnel or outside contractors.

Maness, who spent decades in the Air Force before retiring as a colonel, has more than 135,000 followers on X. Schlichter, also a retired colonel who served in the Army, has nearly 620,000.

Both transitioned into conservative commentary following their military careers.

A third retired Army colonel, Thomas Anderson, was also reportedly listed in Pentagon records earlier this year as a civilian employee assigned to Tata's office.

Anderson, an attorney who posts under the pseudonym Cynical Publius, has built an audience of more than 323,000 followers on X.

Unlike Maness and Schlichter, however, Anderson was no longer listed in Pentagon records late last week, according to the Post. The report did not establish why his name had disappeared or whether his relationship with the department had ended.

The three accounts have audiences totaling more than one million followers on X.

Pentagon Won't Explain What They're Doing

Exactly what responsibilities the influencers have inside the Defense Department remains unclear.

Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez declined to tell the Post whether Maness, Schlichter or Anderson were being paid with taxpayer money, what positions they held or how long their assignments were intended to continue.

Tata and all three of the retired officers also declined to comment for the newspaper's report.

Report Says Effort Is Designed to Promote Hegseth's Agenda

According to the Post, the hires are part of an effort to promote Hegseth's priorities beyond the Pentagon's traditional communications operation.

Hegseth has made reshaping the culture of the military a major component of his tenure, frequently presenting his agenda in terms of restoring a “warrior ethos” to the armed forces.

Bringing retired officers who already command hundreds of thousands of politically engaged followers into the department could provide the Pentagon with another avenue for communicating that message.

But the arrangement raises a more fundamental question about where government communications end and ostensibly independent political commentary begins — particularly if audiences aren't aware that a personality defending Pentagon policy is simultaneously working for the Pentagon.

\Without the Pentagon disclosing the influencers' assignments, however, the precise scope of their work remains unknown.

The report comes just one day after The New York Times revealed how extensively political campaigns have begun paying social media personalities to promote candidates to their audiences.