Tag Archives: Democrats

POLITICO: Duckworth says DHS ‘fled the base’ during visit by Democrats

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Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Homeland Security officials “locked the doors” of the Great Lakes Naval Base.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said federal officials disappeared from a Navy base near Chicago on Friday after Democrats announced they would tour the facility ahead of the arrival of immigration officers.

In an interview with host Margaret Brennan on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Duckworth said when she joined fellow Illinois Democrats Sen. Dick Durbin and Rep. Brad Schneider for a tour of the Naval Station Great Lakes, Department of Homeland Security officials had given staff the day off, “locked the doors and left the base.”

“Basically, they fled the base,” Duckworth said. Naval Station Great Lakes, which opened in 1911, is the site for boot camp for Naval trainees.

Officials last week said that up to 300 ICE agents would be operating out of the Great Lakes Naval Base as President Donald Trump ramps up his efforts against Democratic-controlled sanctuary cities. Trump also said the administration will deploy the National Guard to the city, drawing outrage from Democrats including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Ahead of the lawmakers’ trip to the base, Duckworth said, she and her colleagues asked DHS if they could come tour the facility to have a “better understanding of what your operations are.”

DHS officials, she said, replied no.

“This is not the action of someone that’s doing something legal or that they’re- that they’re proud of,” said Duckworth.

“We certainly have sent the administration multiple inquiries about what they are planning on doing. Who are they bringing into Chicago? Are they planning to bring the National Guard in? They’ve none of that. They’ve not even reached out to local law enforcement to try to coordinate,” she added. “And we’ve not gotten any communications or feedback from the administration, whatsoever.”

Navy officials that were on the base during the Democrats’ tour told them that the assistance they’ve been requested to provide so far is only office space for ICE, Duckworth added.

While it is unclear when ICE officials or the National Guard will be sent to Chicago, Trump on Saturday said his administration will go to “WAR” with the city of Chicago.

“Chicago [is] about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, referring to the Department of Defense’s planned name change.

Illinois officials quickly responded to the post, calling the president a “tyrant” and a “declaration of war.”

“I take what the President of the United States says very seriously, because that is the respect you have to give to the office,” Duckworth said on Sunday. “And if that’s what he’s declaring, then let me make it clear, it would be an illegal order to declare war on a major city, any city within the United States, by the President of the United States.

Duckworth says DHS ‘fled the base’ during visit by Democrats
Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Homeland Security officials “locked the doors” of the Great Lakes Naval Base.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/07/duckworth-dhs-fled-naval-base-visit-00549536

NBC News Exclusive: DOJ says names of two associates Epstein wired money to should stay secret

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Exclusive: DOJ says names of two associates Epstein wired money to should stay secret
The DOJ Friday cited privacy concerns when asking a federal judge overseeing the case of Jeffrey Epstein to deny a request from NBC News to unseal the names of two associates who received thousands in payments from Epstein in 2018. NBC News NBC News’ Yamiche Alcindor reports with Alex Witt.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/exclusive-doj-says-names-of-two-associates-epstein-wired-money-to-should-stay-secret/vi-AA1M1Am0

I’ll bet these two are pals of Trump, if not Trump himself.

The coverup continues!

Washington Examiner: Congress seethes over Trump’s $5 billion clawback that risks a government shutdown

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GOP critics of President Donald Trump’s nearly $5 billion “pocket” rescission for foreign aid said the controversial move, which some have suggested may flout the law, would do them no favors in winning over enough Democrats later this month to fund the government by Oct. 1.

The words of caution extended beyond the GOP’s usual centrist detractors, such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), foreshadowing what is likely to be a messy showdown with Democrats in the upper chamber over the coming weeks.

“Anything that gives our Democrat colleagues a reason not to do the bipartisan appropriations process is not a good thing,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) said. “And if they can use that as an excuse, that causes us a problem.”

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), a leadership member, said her “preferable route” to cancel previously appropriated funds would be through the standard annual budget process.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) predicted the legality of pocket rescissions, not used since 1977, will “be tested and litigated in courts.” He reassured Democrats that GOP leadership remained committed to ongoing budget negotiations.

“I think [Democrats] may try and use that as an excuse for not working in a bipartisan way on appropriations, but that’s all it’ll be: an excuse,” Thune told reporters. “They know that I’m committed, Senator Collins is committed, our conference is committed to working constructively to try and fund the government through the normal appropriations process.”

Appropriators are working behind the scenes to craft a yearlong bipartisan spending plan but are likely to need another stopgap funding measure to avoid a shutdown, which will require at least seven Democrats to cross the aisle and break a 60-vote filibuster. Some Democrats say Trump’s pocket rescission, a legally untested maneuver under the Impoundment Control Act that allows presidents in certain cases to withdraw funds without lawmakers’ approval, underscores the need to bolster their resistance to the administration.  

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), a Democratic leadership member with potential 2028 presidential aspirations, previewed the blunt message he was advocating to his progressive colleagues: “It’s time to fight.”

“This is a time to draw a line. I am not giving my vote away to Donald Trump on a budget that’s going to hurt people, on a budget that’s going to take away healthcare, on a budget that’s going to hurt families who are really struggling,” Booker said. “I’m telling folks this is a crossroads.”

Republican leaders expect the rescission, announced last week by the White House budget office, to be ultimately settled by the courts and is already the subject of ongoing litigation. The administration’s legal justification last week was that the money, $3.2 billion for the U.S. Agency for International Development and $1.7 billion for State Department programs, was for “wasteful foreign assistance programs” and international groups that “do not support major U.S. policies or priorities or have been operating contrary to American interests for many years.”

A separate rescission from Trump earlier this year required the approval of Congress, which both GOP-led chambers supported. But without buy-in this go-around and so close to a funding cliff, the heartburn is palpable among even Republican appropriators.

Collins, chairwoman of the Appropriations panel facing a battleground reelection next year, has criticized the rescission as a “clear violation of the law.”

Murkowski, another centrist and frequent critic of the president who sits on the Appropriations Committee, doubled down Tuesday in her belief that the White House was unlawfully attempting to further flout Congress’s authority.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of tools, do we?” Murkowski said. “In terms of, is there something legislatively we can do, that’s the challenge. There are a lot of political paths.”

Does anyone actually think a narcissist like Trump cares one bit if his actions adversely affect anyone other than himself?

Congress seethes over Trump’s $5 billion clawback that risks a government shutdown
GOP critics of Trump’s “pocket” rescission said the controversial move would do them no favors in winning over enough Democrats to fund the government.
Congress seethes over Trump’s $5 billion clawback that risks a government shutdown

Newsweek: ICE detains dad who entered US with green card 50 years ago—Family

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Ahusband and father of four from Michigan who arrived in the United States over 50 years ago on a green card has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainment for nearly a month, according to the man’s family.

Newsweek reached out via email to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security via email for comment.

Why It Matters

Nael Shamma, a 58-year-old Palestinian from Burton, Michigan, was getting his wife, Christina, a cup of coffee when an unmarked car reportedly pulled in front of the family’s home and took him into custody, according to Flint news station ABC12.

Shamma’s detention sparks questions about the Trump administration’s wide-ranging immigration crackdown, which has included apprehending both criminals and non-violent offenders alike. ICE and DHS have remained adamant that immigrants who possess a green card are provided “a privilege, not a right,” and that the government has the authority to revoke a green card if laws are broken or abused.

What To Know

An ICE spokesperson told The Detroit News that Shamma “has a two-decade-long rap sheet” that includes breaking and entering, armed violence and aggravated battery.

“He freely admitted to ICE officers he ‘ran’ with the Latin Kings street gang in Chicago in the 1980s and has had a final order of removal since 1989,” they said.

Christina Shamma stated that her husband has resided in the U.S. for over five decades and has consistently complied with reporting requirements. His green card was revoked in his 20s when he went to prison for assault, resulting in annual check-ins since 2012, according to The Detroit News.

“He was ordered to report once a year,” she told ABC12. “He just reported in May. They told him everything was fine.”

Nael has been held at The North Lake Processing Center in West Michigan.

Shamma’s niece, Sara Haddad, told The Detroit News that ICE attempted and failed to deport him in 2012 after Israeli officials wouldn’t sign off. Shamma was born in Jerusalem one year before Israel took control of the city, effectively leaving him “stateless,” according to news outlet MLive.

Haddad said that she is fearful that her uncle will be deported to Gaza. Sending him to the wartorn area “would be sending him to death,” she said.

“It’s been very, very hard on everyone,” she told The Detroit News. “We love him so much, and he really helps take care of everyone.”

Newsweek reached out to Haddad via email for comment.

Haddad is listed as the petitioner on both a Change.org petition for Shamma and a GoFundMe that has raised more than $3,400 from 51 donations as of Thursday morning.

The pages state that Shamma is the third oldest of seven siblings, came to the U.S. at the age of 9, and has four children and two grandchildren. He’s described as “a hardworking man” who provides for his family and the “kind of person who doesn’t wait to be asked for help.”

“He is a proud American, even if the government hasn’t always seen him that way,” the Change.org petition reads. “He pays his taxes. He contributes to his community. He comes home to his two dogs, plays with his grandkids, and tries to be the best man he can be. And yet, ICE ripped him from his family without warning.

“They came to his home—a home he worked hard to earn—and took him away from the people who love and depend on him. There was no crime, no threat, no reason for such cruelty. Just a sudden, violent separation that has left his children, wife and elderly parents reeling. One moment he was feeding the dogs. The next, he was gone.”

What People Are Saying

An ICE spokesperson indicated to The Detroit News that the agency might send Shamma to a third country: “When an immigration judge orders an alien removed to a country that will not accept them, ICE coordinates with the State Department to look for a third country that will.”

What Happens Next

Shamma’s family has called for assistance from national and state lawmakers, including President Donald Trump, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Michigan U.S. Senators Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, both Democrats.

ICE detains dad who entered US with green card 50 years ago—Family
ICE said Nael Shamma of Michigan “has a two-decade-long rap sheet” that led to his green card being revoked.

https://www.newsweek.com/ice-detains-father-green-card-michigan-2124475

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Former MSNBC Host Predicts Trump Won’t Leave Office

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Former MSNBC anchor Joy Reid has raised concerns regarding the integrity of the upcoming midterm elections, believing President Donald Trump may aim to retain power indefinitely. Reid argued that Trump’s actions, along with those of several Republican lawmakers, have undermined the fairness of future elections.

Reid’s speculation follows her dismissal from MSNBC earlier this year, which she has attributed to her criticism of Trump and other controversial topics.

Reid said, “The way Trump is behaving, he’s not acting like somebody who worries that his party will lose power or that even if somehow we had normal elections and Democrats took control of either the House or the Senate — he’s not acting like somebody who’s worried about the consequences of that.”

…

Reid criticized Trump’s perceived increase in authoritarian behavior. She expressed doubts about the likelihood of normal elections and called for an extraordinary movement to drive meaningful political change.

Reid said, “I don’t think Trump intends to leave office.” She added, “I’ve been very clear about that. I think he intends to stay in office like Putin until he dies.”

Reid stated, “Whenever Democrats say to me, ‘this is the reason we have to coalesce for 2026,’ I always add to the end of their sentence, ‘Yeah, assuming we actually have free and fair elections.’”

Democratic strategist James Carville also expressed similar fears, warning that Trump could resort to extraordinary measures. He stated, “I don’t put anything past him — nothing — to try to call the election off, to do anything he can.”

And a little humor at the end:

A White House spokesman stated, “President Trump has taken more action to restore the integrity of our elections on behalf of the American people than any president in modern history. According to the Democrats, voter fraud doesn’t exist – but clearly they are already searching for copouts preparing to lose big again in the midterms.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/former-msnbc-host-predicts-trump-won-t-leave-office/ss-AA1LIbIL

MSNBC: ‘Answer the question you coward!’: Anti-Trump protests hit cities and town halls

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‘Answer the question you coward!’: Anti-Trump protests hit cities and town halls
Host Of “The Bulwark Podcast” Tim Miller, MSNBC Senior Political Analyst Matt Dowd, and Princeton University Professor Eddie Glaude join Stephanie Ruhle – in for Nicolle Wallace to discuss the growing dissatisfaction with Donald Trump’s agenda and what Democrats can do with the heightened engagement from voters.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/answer-the-question-you-coward-anti-trump-protests-hit-cities-and-town-halls/vi-AA1LFbw0

Alternet: ‘Turning people against him’: Trump’s approval is ‘cratering’ on every major issue

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Barely more than one-third of Americans approve of how President Donald Trump is doing his job, and on key issues, his support is underwater.

Just thirty-seven percent of Americans give President Trump good marks overall, while more than half the country, fifty-five percent, disapprove, according to the latest Quinnipiac University national poll.

The partisan divide is large, with 84% of Republicans saying he is doing a good job, and 98% of Democrats saying he is not. The majority of independents, 58%, agree with Democrats and disapprove.

Just less than three in ten women (29%) approve of President Trump’s performance, while 46% of men do.

On crime, the majority (54%) disapprove of Trump’s performance, just 42% approve.

On the economy, fewer than four in ten (39%) approve, and 57% disapprove.

Similarly, on trade, just 38% approve, while 56% disapprove.

On his efforts to end the Ukraine war, a majority (52%) disapprove, while just 40% approve.

“Voters have little confidence in President Trump’s effort to broker peace in Ukraine, and most voters don’t trust Vladimir Putin to keep a peace deal if one were reached,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy wrote. “And though the president has ruled out putting U.S. troops in the war theater to keep the peace, four out of 10 voters would support it,”

And two-thirds of Americans (67%) disapprove of his handling of the Epstein files.

According to the non-partisan group Political Polls, this is Trump’s lowest approval rating in this term.

Critics and strategists weighed in.

Mike Madrid, the top Republican Latino political consultant, remarked, “Brutal poll results for Trump. Just brutal.”

“Striking” is how The New Republic’s Greg Sargent described the poll’s finding on Trump deploying the National Guard, and he noted that Trump’s “overall approval on crime is cratering.”

“Predictably, Trump’s terrible overreach is again turning people against him in an area where he was previously perceived as strong, just as on immigration and the economy,” wrote Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA). “Per Quinnipiac, independents oppose his DC occupation 61-34. Overall: 56-41 against.”

‘Turning people against him’: Trump’s approval is ‘cratering’ on every major issue

https://www.alternet.org/trump-approval-2673933698

Alternet: Trump’s reckoning may be right around the corner — here’s why

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Trump’s possible connection to convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein — who allegedly died by suicide in prison — may be the one thing that undermines his base of support and causes his Republican loyalists in Congress to turn on him. This makes it politically explosive.

With Congress now returning from August recess and the media and Congress looking into “Epsteingate,” the issue will either grow or disappear in the next few weeks.

Roughly half of the country now believes that Trump was involved in crimes committed by Epstein, according to recent polls. And more than two-thirds believes that the Trump administration is hiding information about Epstein.

Before the 2024 presidential election, both Trump and JD Vance called for the release of files related to Epstein. On February 21, Attorney General Pam Bondi, in an appearance on Fox News, said the Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”

But the Trump regime still hasn’t released any trove of “Epstein files.” In fact, on July 7, the Justice Department released a memo saying it had found “no incriminating ‘client list’” for Epstein, directly contradicting Bondi.

Then came publication by The Wall Street Journal of what it said was a risqué birthday note Trump wrote to celebrate Epstein’s 50th birthday, prompting Trump to claim that “the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.” The next day, Trump filed a defamation lawsuit against Journal over its coverage of his relationship with Epstein, including the birthday note that Trump says he didn’t write.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche recently interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s co-defendant who was convicted of sex trafficking minors and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Late Friday, the Justice Department released transcripts of that interview in which Maxwell praises Trump, claims she never saw Trump engage in improper or illegal acts during his long friendship with Epstein, and that there’s no hidden list of powerful clients.

Maxwell’s credibility is questionable. She has a big incentive to tell Trump and his lackeys exactly what they want to hear because she has been trying to overturn or reduce her sentence. Right after her interview she was transferred to a minimum-security prison, a highly unusual move for a convicted sex offender.

Meanwhile, the House Oversight Committee has received the first tranche of the Justice Department’s documents in response to its subpoena for all Epstein-related files. Democrats on the Committee claim that fewer 3 percent of the documents are new.

“Epsteingate” has all the hallmarks of a cover-up. Will it bring Trump down? Here are three likely scenarios:

1. Epsteingate keeps growing until it reveals a “smoking gun” that brings Trump down. Assume Trump continues to try to deflect attention from his connection with Epstein by, for example, occupying several American cities and threatening war with Venezuela. Yet the more he tries, the more evidence of his involvement with Epstein mounts. Eventually, a “smoking gun” emerges that forces even Trump loyalists in the House and Senate to vote to impeach and convict him.

2. Nothing comes of it, although it continues to percolate. Periodically, a damaging headline emerges, as more evidence comes out about Trump’s close connections to Epstein. But Trump and his lackeys continue to deflect attention from the stories. His loyalists in Congress refuse to probe any deeper into the issue. He distracts the media with so many controversial neofascist maneuvers that the stories never become a full-blown threat to Trump.

3. The whole Epstein story is a distraction from Trump’s neofascist moves. In reality, the Epstein story is a continuing distraction from what Trump is really doing — his takeover of the nation’s public and private sectors and his alliance with Putin to carve up the world. Every time a new story emerges about the connection between Trump and Epstein, the Trump regime takes more initiatives that violate the laws and the Constitution, but they do so not to distract from his Epstein connection but to take advantage of the public’s obsession with Epstein to bury the regime’s horrific moves.

Trump’s reckoning may be right around the corner — here’s why

https://www.alternet.org/trump-epstein-reckoning-2673924289

Fox News: Democrats are ‘torn’ over their response to Trump’s crime crackdown, White House correspondent says

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Democrats are ‘torn’ over their response to Trump’s crime crackdown, White House correspondent says
‘Special Report’ panelists discuss Democratic governors rejecting possible troop deployment from President Donald Trump.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-are-torn-over-their-response-to-trump-s-crime-crackdown-white-house-correspondent-says/vi-AA1LcAdv

Raw Story: California just ‘flipped the script’ on GOP after major ‘bluff’ was called: report

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California “bluffed” its way into flipping the script on Republicans and Donald Trump, according to a new report.

Politico on Saturday published a story called, How California bluffed its way into a redistricting war with Trump, in which the outlet quotes “nearly 50 people involved with the effort” who “shared details with POLITICO about the tightly guarded process.”

California is currently in the process of potentially altering its district maps in response to Texas’ redistricting. But it started off as a “bluff,” according to reporters.

“When word got out that Texas might undertake an extraordinary mid-decade redistricting at Donald Trump’s behest, a handful of top California Democratic operatives floated an idea to Rep. Zoe Lofgren: Could California respond in kind?” according to the weekend report. “Lofgren, the chair of California’s 43-member Democratic delegation, consulted in June with a trusted data expert who dismissed it as absurd — a foolhardy end-run around the state’s popular redistricting panel with no guarantee of yielding enough blue seats to fully offset Texas. Deterred by those misgivings, California Democrats instead spent weeks putting up a front, dangling the threat of a countermove without making any real plans to do so.”

The piece quotes Lofgren as saying, “It seemed to me worth a bluff… If the Texans and Trump thought they’d go through all of this and they’d end up not gaining anything, maybe they would stop.”

She then added, “But they didn’t stop… They just doubled down.”

However, the bluff soon met reality.

“So did California Democrats, especially Gov. Gavin Newsom. In a matter of weeks, they bluffed themselves into the marquee political contest of Trump’s second term, a high-voltage fight to shape the outcome of the 2026 midterms and the remaining years of his presidency,” according to the outlet.

Summing up, the reporters wrote, “In the end, 87 of 90 Democrats voted to put the maps on the ballot — a display of consensus that [Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas] said was made possible by the California-under-siege mentality that had been building up ever since Trump re-took the White House.”

“It’s Whac-a-mole. We’ve been trying to play defense,” Rivas reportedly added. “But we finally just threw up our hands and said, ‘We’ve got to flip the script.’”

Read more here.

California just ‘flipped the script’ on GOP after major ‘bluff’ was called: report

https://www.rawstory.com/california-flips-the-script-gop