Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

Washington Post: Gabbard fires leaders of intelligence group that wrote Venezuela assessment

Posted on by
Reply

The director of national intelligence fired top officials weeks after their group authored an assessment contradicting President Donald Trump’s legal rationale for deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members.

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has fired the top two officials at the National Intelligence Council, weeks after the council wrote an assessment that contradicted President Donald Trump’s rationale for invoking the Alien Enemies Act and deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process.

Gabbard removed Michael Collins, the acting chair of the National Intelligence Council, as well as his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, according to a spokesperson for Gabbard’s office.

The actions are the latest purge by Gabbard, who has said she is fighting politicization of the intelligence community but has removed or sidelined officials perceived to not support Trump’s political agenda.

Fighting politicization? It’s Trump and his band of sycophants who are politicizing everything.

In any case, Trump doesn’t dare keep people like Michael Collins and Maria Langan-Riekhof around. People who tell & write the truth are so inconvenient.

Gabbard fires leaders of intelligence group that wrote Venezuela assessment
The director of national intelligence fired officials weeks after their group wrote an assessment contradicting Trump’s rationale for deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/05/14/gabbard-intelligence-venezuela-tren-de-aragua

National Security Journal: NATO Is Now Dead

Posted on by
Reply

NATO, in its current form, is depicted as a “corpse,” its strategic effectiveness undermined by decades of European defense underfunding (“free-riding”) and US strategic overstretch.

-Most member states fail to meet spending commitments, rendering the alliance a hollow shell, a reality starkly exposed by the war in Ukraine where the US carries the primary burden.

-President Trump’s approach is seen not as the cause of NATO’s decline but as a catalyst for a necessary reckoning, forcing Europe to confront its defense responsibilities.

-A fundamental reset towards a European-led security framework, with US support rather than dominance, is essential for future relevance.

NATO Is Now Dead
President Trump’s approach is seen not as the cause of NATO’s decline but as a catalyst for a necessary reckoning, forcing Europe to confront its defense responsibilities.
NATO Is Now Dead

MSNBC: Trump administration suspended clearances of lawyers from targeted firm

Posted on by
Reply

President Donald Trump’s administration is still working to exact his vengeance against at least one of the law firms he has targeted, even as several firms are fighting back in court — largely successfully so far.

The latest evidence of the administration’s efforts comes from a court filing Tuesday to the judge handling the case of WilmerHale, one of the firms that sued instead of settling or preemptively cutting a deal with Trump. The firm told U.S. District Judge Richard Leon that two WilmerHale lawyers received letters from a government agency telling them their security clearances have been suspended.

“This development underscores that the Executive Branch stands ready and willing to implement the Executive Order absent judicial intervention,” wrote attorney Paul Clement, who’s representing the firm. He didn’t specify which agency sent the letters but said he would provide them under seal to the court if the judge asked to see them.

Trump administration suspended clearances of lawyers from targeted firm
It shows the government’s willingness to implement Trump’s order “absent judicial intervention,” WilmerHale told the judge.

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/trump-wilmerhale-security-clearances-suspended-rcna206730

Mediaite: Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal

Posted on by
Reply

President Donald Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times White House reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.

Trump is currently on a four-day swing through the Persian Gulf region with stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, which has been dogged by the controversy over his eager acceptance of a $400 million “flying palace” from Qatar to serve as Air Force One.

The trip has also drawn attention to Trump’s family businesses, including the cryptocurrency firm World Liberty Financial.

That company’s USD1 currency was selected by state-owned UAE firm MGX to pay for a $2 billion investment in Binance earlier this month. The deal was announced by WLF co-founder Zach Witkoff, son of Trump Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Trump plays dumb:

JONATHAN SWAN: An Emirati government-backed firm did a $2 billion deal using the Trump digital coins. How did that deal come about?

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I don’t know anything about it. I really don’t know anything about it. But I’m a big crypto fan, I will tell you. I’ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign. I’m a believer in crypto.

Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal
Trump was confronted aboard Air Force One by New York Times reporter Jonathan Swan over a $2 billion foreign deal that’s being paid for with Trump crypto.
Trump Confronted on Air Force One by NY Times Over $2 Billion Crypto Deal

Raw Story: ‘Unfit to serve’: Trump DOJ official dragged after unveiling ‘name and shame’ crusade

Posted on by
Reply

As the Department of Justice becomes the Department of Revenge:

Outgoing acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin is moving to a new Justice Department effort named the “Weaponization Working Group,” and he’s already issuing threats, NBC News reported on Tuesday. However, legal experts have their own comments, and one has citations.

Martin, a defense attorney who represented several Jan. 6 defendants, could not garner support from a top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee for the U.S. attorney post. So, he has been shifted to the Justice Department for the working group that aims to investigate anyone involved in the probes into President Donald Trump and his allies, NBC said.

In a news conference on Tuesday, Martin told reporters, “There are some really bad actors, some people that did some really bad things to the American people. And if they can be charged, we’ll charge them. But if they can’t be charged, we will name them. And we will name them, and in a culture that respects shame, they should be people that are ashamed. And that’s a fact. That’s the way things work. And so that’s, that’s how I believe the job operates.”

It’s a move that side-steps long-standing Justice Department protocols, NBC News said, and legal experts caution that it could lead to lawsuits.

“I mean, if the government wants a slew of Privacy Act lawsuits, I guess that’s their business,” said national security lawyer Bradley P. Moss on Bluesky.

…

Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who serves as the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, called for Martin to be pulled from working anywhere in government.

“Ed Martin is unfit to serve in the federal government. His ties to Nazi sympathizers and antisemitic extremists make American Jews feel less safe. Trump must rescind this dangerous appointment immediately and never allow Ed Martin to serve in any position in the United States government,” he wrote on X, while also sharing a letter also signed by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Brad Schneider (D-IL).

A past precedent:

Semafor reporter David Weigel pointed to a key quote in the report by Ryan Reilly: “The justification given for Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey was that Comey had given a press conference in which he released ‘derogatory information’ about then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016.”

https://www.rawstory.com/department-of-justice-2672000423

And here’s a U.S. Senator who is less than enchanted with Trump’s nomination of Ed Martin to be the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.:

https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/ed-martin-2671901204

But King Donald keeps supporting his favorite hater:

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-ed-martin

Mirror: CNN abruptly halts broadcast for breaking news about Trump’s ‘wrong’ gift from Saudi Arabia

Posted on by
Reply

Nonetheless, [Erin] Burnett on CNN assailed the act as blatantly inappropriate, likening it to the “modern definition of a Trojan horse.”

…

Lambasting Trump’s choice to take the plane, the news anchor declared: “Let’s be honest here, the President of the United States has no business accepting a plane for anything and from anyone. It is not political.”

She went on to argue that this situation was evidently black-and-white, concluding boldly: “Because this is something that is actually an easy call. It’s wrong. But Trump’s team will circle the wagons, it seems, on pretty much anything.“

CNN quickly halts show for breaking news about Trump’s ‘wrong’ Saudi Arabia gift
CNN host Erin Burnett was left fuming as she reported that American President Donald Trump had been gifted a $400 million jet by officials in Qatar – and he accepted it

https://www.themirror.com/entertainment/cnn-abruptly-halts-broadcast-breaking-1150472

Daily Express: Trump claims Supreme Court ruling could ‘end the US’

Posted on by
Reply

President Donald Trump condemned the Supreme Court after it denied him permission to deport 200 Venezuelan men whom his administration accused of being linked to gangs currently detained in Texas.

“If we’re not allowed to send the murderers and other criminals of every type, size, and shape, IMMEDIATELY out of our Country, we aren’t going to have a Country anymore. Radical Left Judges and politicians don’t care, but 90% of the people in the U.S.A. do. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will agree with this and, SAVE AMERICA!” Trump wrote.

Cry me a river, you piece of self-indulgent shit. Thankfully we have judges doing your job for you by upholding our Constitution and the rule of law.

Trump claims Supreme Court ruling could ‘end the US’
Trump cried that Supreme Court ruling against him ‘could lead to the end of the US’ as they ruled against the Alien Enemies Act

https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/171697/trump-claims-supreme-court-ruling

Washington Post: In rare move, Congress pushes back on Trump over Library of Congress

Posted on by
Reply

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Congress refuses to accept the appointment of King Donald’s stooge as the head of their library:

In a rare bipartisan effort to defend its institutional authority, Congress is quietly resisting President Donald Trump’s attempt to assert control over the Library of Congress — a move that experts say threatens the separation of powers and the integrity of the legislative branch’s premier research body.

Pushing back on Trump’s designation of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as acting librarian, lawmakers said Tuesday that control of the institution remains with its top career official, Robert R. Newlen. Newlen told staff at the library that he is the acting head, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post.

In rare move, Congress pushes back on Trump over Library of Congress
Lawmakers are raising separation-of-powers concerns as the White House seeks to install a Justice Department official at the legislative-branch institution.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/13/trump-library-of-congress-power-struggle

Associated Press: 2-year-old girl reunites with her mother in Venezuela after US deportation

Posted on by
Reply

A 2-year-old girl arrived Wednesday in Caracas to reunite with her mother after she was separated from her parents when they were deported from the U.S. in what Venezuela denounced as a kidnapping.

Maikelys Espinoza arrived at an airport outside the capital, Caracas, along with more than 220 deported migrants. Footage aired by state television showed Venezuela’s first lady Cilia Flores carrying Maikelys at the airport. Later, Flores was shown handing the girl over to her mother, who had been waiting for her arrival at the presidential palace along with President Nicolás Maduro.

…

The U.S. government had claimed the family separation last month was justified because the girl’s parents allegedly have ties to the Venezuelan-based Tren de Aragua gang, which U.S. President Donald Trump designated a terrorist organization earlier this year.

The girl’s mother was deported to Venezuela on April 25. Meanwhile, U.S. authorities sent her father to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador in March under Trump’s invocation of an 18th-century wartime law to deport hundreds of immigrants.

2-year-old girl reunites with her mother in Venezuela after US deportation
A 2-year-old girl has arrived in Venezuela to reunite with her mother after she was separated from her parents when they were deported from the U.S.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-deportations-trump-maikelys-maduro-migrants-89caaeed43cfb92369626435bfa6483e