Tag Archives: The New York Times

Independent: Even El Salvador’s president questioned Trump team on if migrants being sent were actually gang members: report

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El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele privately ‘expressed concern’ about who the Trump administration sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, according to the report

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele asked the Trump administration for evidence that the 238 Venezuelans deported to his country’s maximum-security prison last month were actually part of a notorious gang, according to a report.

While Bukele and President Donald Trump appeared to be on the same page at last month’s meeting in the Oval Office, Bukele privately “expressed concern” about who the Trump administration sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, according to The New York Times.

Bukele’s concern sparked a “scramble” among U.S. officials to get him evidence that the migrants belonged to the transnational Tren de Aragua gang, The Times reported.

Even El Salvador’s president ‘questioned Trump team if migrants were gang members’
El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele privately ‘expressed concern’ about who the Trump administration sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, according to the report

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/bukele-trump-el-salvador-migrants-deal-b2742597.html

Raw Story: ‘Open hostility’: Reporters despair at what Karoline Leavitt [Bimbo #1] has done to the White House

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt [Bimbo #1] has created an atmosphere of hostility, mockery, and disparagement in the briefing room, a veteran reporter told Politico.

In a lengthy profile, correspondent Adam Wren quoted Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent with The New York Times, who has covered 17 press secretaries over his career.

Wren wrote, “He told me that the current tension ‘goes beyond anything that is traditional to the point of open hostility, and mockery and disparagement in a way that’s meant for the larger audience, not for the people in the room.'”

Baker continued, “They don’t view the briefing room as a way to impart information. They don’t even view the briefing room as a way to shape reporters’ stories. They view the briefing room as a theater for the MAGA audience.”

Wren wrote that Leavitt [Bimbo #1] “relishes dispatching mainstream reporters’ hardballs with dismissive quips and, increasingly, welcomes right-leaning influencers’ softballs.”

What do you expect in a White House run by an orange-faced clown surrounded by a collection of suck-up sycophants, failed right-wing fringe politicians, and Fox celebrities looking for a better gig?

‘Open hostility’: Reporters despair at what Karoline Leavitt has done to the White House
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has created an atmosphere of hostility, mockery, and disparagement in the briefing room, a veteran reporter told Politico. In a lengthy profile, correspondent Adam Wren quoted Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent with The New York Times, who has covered 17 press secretaries over his career. Wren…

https://www.msn.com/en-in/lifestyle/smart-living/open-hostility-reporters-despair-at-what-karoline-leavitt-has-done-to-the-white-house/ar-AA1DCymq

NBC News: Info Hegseth shared with wife and brother came from top general’s secure messages

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Hegseth has denied the information he shared was classified, but it was given to him on a system for sensitive and classified information, sources told NBC News.

Minutes before U.S. fighter jets took off to begin strikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen last month, Army Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, who leads U.S. Central Command, used a secure U.S. government system to send detailed information about the operation to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

The material Kurilla sent included details about when U.S. fighters would take off and when they would hit their targets — details that could, if they fell into the wrong hands, put the pilots of those fighters in grave danger. But he was doing exactly what he was supposed to: providing Hegseth, his superior, with information he needed to know and using a system specifically designed to safely transmit sensitive and classified information.

But then Hegseth used his personal phone to send some of the same information Kurilla had given him to at least two group text chats on the Signal messaging app, three U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the exchanges told NBC News.

Info Hegseth shared with wife and brother came from top general’s secure messages
Hegseth has denied the information he shared was classified, but it was given to him on a system for sensitive and classified information, sources told NBC News.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna198838

MeidasTouch News: White House Initiates Search for New Secretary of Defense, Report

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In a stunning turn of events, NPR is reporting that the White House has begun the process of seeking a new Secretary of Defense, according to a U.S. official who spoke under condition of anonymity. This development follows a rapidly escalating crisis within the Department of Defense, as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth faces mounting scrutiny and calls for his resignation amid a series of scandals and growing dysfunction at the Pentagon.

I guess the drunken wifebeater isn’t working out?

White House Initiates Search for New Secretary of Defense, Report
The White House has denied the report.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-initiates-search-for-new-secretary-of-defense-report/ar-AA1DkWLh

New York Times: A Venezuelan Is Missing. The U.S. Deported Him. But to Where?

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The immigrant does not appear on a list of people sent to a prison in El Salvador, and his family and friends have no idea of his whereabouts. He has essentially disappeared.

Ricardo Prada Vásquez, disappeared Venezuelan immigrant

In late January, Ricardo Prada Vásquez, a Venezuelan immigrant working in a delivery job in Detroit, picked up an order at a McDonald’s. He was heading to the address when he erroneously turned onto the Ambassador Bridge, which leads to Canada. It is a common mistake even for those who live in the Michigan border city. But for Mr. Prada, 32, it proved fateful.

The U.S. authorities took Mr. Prada into custody when he attempted to re-enter the country; he was put in detention and ordered deported. On March 15, he told a friend in Chicago that he was among a number of detainees housed in Texas who expected to be repatriated to Venezuela.

That evening, the Trump administration flew three planes carrying Venezuelan migrants from the Texas facility to El Salvador, where they have been ever since, locked up in a maximum-security prison and denied contact with the outside world.

But Mr. Prada has not been heard from or seen. He is not on the list of 238 people who were deported to El Salvador that day. He does not appear in the photos and videos released by the authorities of shackled men with shaved heads.

https://archive.is/5WSq8

Huffington Post: Congressman: It’s ‘Fair To Wonder’ If Pete Hegseth Was Drinking Amid Signal Use

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Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) said Monday that it’s “fair to wonder” if Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been drinking alcohol again given his “reckless” use of Signal, a third-party messaging app, to share highly sensitive military plans with national security officials and separately with members of his family.

“When Secretary Hegseth keeps making reckless mistakes with our national security – like leaking war plans in Signal chats or the chaos we’re seeing at the Pentagon – it’s fair to wonder if he actually stopped drinking like he promised during his confirmation,” Gomez told HuffPost in a statement. “People have legitimate concerns about whether his judgment is compromised.”

Congressman: It’s ‘Fair To Wonder’ If Pete Hegseth Was Drinking Amid Signal Use

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/congressman-it-s-fair-to-wonder-if-pete-hegseth-was-drinking-amid-signal-use/ar-AA1DlzsX

WCCO Radio: Hegseth had a second Signal chat where he shared details of Yemen strike

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created another Signal messaging chat that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of a March military airstrike against Yemen’s Houthi militants that were sent in another chain with top Trump administration leaders, both The New York Times reported and CBS News has confirmed.

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The second chat on Signal — which is a commercially available app not authorized to be used to communicate sensitive or classified national defense information — included 13 people, the person said. The person also confirmed the chat was dubbed “Defense ‘ Team Huddle.”

The New York Times reported that the group included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, who is a former Fox News producer, and his brother Phil Hegseth, who was hired at the Pentagon as a Department of Homeland Security liaison and senior adviser. Both have traveled with the defense secretary and attended high-level meetings.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/hegseth-had-a-second-signal-chat-where-he-shared-details-of-yemen-strike/ar-AA1DjQgV

New York Times: Pressuring Migrants to ‘Self-Deport,’ White House Moves to Cancel Social Security Numbers

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By placing migrants in Social Security’s “death master file,” the Trump administration is seeking to cut off their access to credit cards, bank accounts and other financial services.

People who have been here LEGALLY may soon discover that they are “dead”.

Since taking office, the Trump administration has moved aggressively to revoke the temporary legal status of hundreds of thousands of immigrants who were allowed into the country under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Now, the administration is taking drastic steps to pressure some of those immigrants and others who had legal status to “self-deport” by effectively canceling the Social Security numbers they had lawfully obtained, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and interviews with six people familiar with the plans.

The goal is to cut those people off from using crucial financial services like bank accounts and credit cards, along with their access to government benefits.

The effort hinges on a surprising new tactic: repurposing Social Security’s “death master file,” which for years has been used to track dead people who should no longer receive benefits, to include the names of living people who the government believes should be treated as if they are dead.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/us/politics/migrants-deport-social-security-doge.html

Money Talks News: 26 Social Security Offices Expected to Close Down by This Fall

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The Associated Press (AP) recently obtained an internal planning document from the General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate, that includes the dates on which some of those leases are expected to end. The AP also searched publicly available data to find additional information on these leases.

The publication identified 26 SSA offices that will close in 2025.

This news comes just after the SSA implemented stronger identity verification practices. Beneficiaries must now verify their identity in person before they can change their direct deposit information or claim benefits. Closing SSA locations will make it more difficult for beneficiaries in certain areas to do that.

26 Social Security Offices Expected to Close Down by This Fall

Patch: Trump Admin Pulls Vaccine Funding, Forcing Minneapolis To Halt Clinics

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While the full ramifications are still unfolding, the Minneapolis Health Department announced it must immediately shut down its free vaccination clinics and halt all immunization outreach.

The local impact includes canceling five free vaccine clinics scheduled for April and halting partnerships with providers like M Health Fairview, Odam Medical Clinic, and Neighborhood HealthSource, city officials said.

The funding doesn’t just affect COVID-19; it halts access to routine immunizations like polio, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), and other childhood vaccines.

Trump Admin Pulls Vaccine Funding, Forcing Minneapolis To Halt Clinics
The funding doesn’t just affect COVID-19; it halts access to routine immunizations like polio and MMR, city officials said.

Trump Admin Pulls Vaccine Funding, Forcing Minneapolis To Halt Clinics