Raw Story

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) became angry and ended an interview with conservative radio host Michael Smerconish after he defended a transgender friend.

During a Friday interview on SiriusXM, Smerconish told Mace that his friend had served for 16 years in the Virginia National Guard as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot and machine gunner.

"Recently, like many others, drummed out of the military because Joe has transitioned," the host explained. "And I know Joe to be such a patriot who has invested all that time on behalf of, now I will say, her government, why shouldn't she be able to continue to serve?"

"He is not a she," Mace insisted. "That a man thinks that he can become a woman and adopt the struggles that we have had for hundreds, if not thousands of years, to get to where we are today. And, in fact, we've never had a female president of the United States of America. And I'm not going to have some guy in a dress to take away the achievements of women who have not achieved everything."

"And it's offensive and it's gross and it's grooming and men and women's spaces."

Smerconish said he was worried that children who were confused about their gender could harm themselves after being demonized.

"And when Nancy Mace says, you know, uses words like gross and they're all mentally ill and so forth, I'm worried about the kid who's going to not feel welcome and harm themselves," he observed.

"Now you're saying kids are to commit suicide because of what I say!" Mace exclaimed. "Maybe I don't come back on [your show] because that is not at all. It's a mental illness."

"Nancy, I'll say to you directly, you're part of a climate of hostility that I think is going to cause these kids to really question themselves," the host explained.

"For my rights as a woman, and you're calling me hostile for doing that!" Mace said. "I have to be hostile."

"I didn't call you hostile," Smerconish pointed out, "but you are contributing to a hostile environment."

"You're on the left!" the lawmaker shouted. "And you're being disrespectful to the female guests on your program."

"I'm a gun owner who's for the death penalty, who's represented cops as a lawyer. You don't know anything," Smerconish shot back. "I'm the real conservative. I'm the Barry Goldwater, stay out of my bedroom, live and let live. Mine, which respects individual liberties."

"You're advocating for men in my bedroom, in my bathroom!" Mace claimed.

"Oh, and she hung up. Just for the record. Just for the record, she hung up," the host remarked.

In an interview released on Thursday, Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Comey Barrett had to be asked twice what the nation’s highest court would do if Donald Trump turned up his nose at an adverse ruling and refused to abide by it.

In a wide-ranging interview with the New York Times’ Ross Douthat, Barrett was first asked about the extent of the president’s power over the government that has been a central tenet of Trump’s second term as his inner circle has pushed the so-called “unitary executive theory" that slots him above the legislative and judicial branches of government.

According to Trump’s last appointee to the court, who replaced the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020, “It would imply strong presidential power over executive agencies. There has been a lot of debate and some new originalist scholarship debating right now whether indeed it has sound originalist credentials. But yes, it is one that has traditionally been associated with originalists.”

She then noted that debate is currently being addressed “in some of the cases on the court’s docket now.”

With that looming over the court as an avalanche of challenges to the current president are overwhelming federal courts, Douthat pointed out to the justice, “The Supreme Court does not command the power of the purse, doesn’t command the military, doesn’t have police powers. What it has, in a sense, is prestige, public support, a historic constitutional role.”

Adding, “... we’re in a moment — and we don’t have to make this specific to the Trump White House — when it’s very easy to imagine, from either the left or the right, some present or future president deciding to test the court, Andrew Jackson-style, saying: Interesting ruling, Justice Barrett. Good luck enforcing it,” he proposed, “How do you think about that potential challenge, as a member of the court?”

Admitting the NYT columnist was correct, Coney Barrett attempted, “... just as the court must take account of the consequences on the institutional dynamics, say, between a current president and a future president, the balance of power between the executive branch and the legislative branch, that of course, those same kinds of institutional concerns for the long run are ones that play a part in the court’s separation of powers decisions and always have, because they also are reflected in concerns of the constitutional structure.”

Unsatisfied with the lack of clarity in her answer, Douthat pressed, “OK, let me try that again: If a president defied the Supreme Court, what would you do?”

Coney Barrett then admitted that the court’s hands would be tied because there is no enforcement mechanism at their disposal.

“Well, as you say, the court lacks the power of the purse. We lack the power of the sword,” she conceded. “And so, we interpret the Constitution, we draw on precedents, we have these questions of structure, and we make the most with the tools that we have.”

You can read her entire interview here.

Border czar Tom Homan dodged reporters at the White House as he refused to say if he took a $50,000 cash bribe in an FBI sting.

Despite finding time for a Fox News interview on Thursday, Homan immediately turned and walked quickly to avoid other reporters at the White House.

"I don't have time today, folks. I'm 20 minutes late," he said.

"Did you take the $50,000 cash in a bag?" one reporter shouted.

"Give me a break!" Homan responded as he fled.

After reports emerged last month that Homan had taken $50,000 cash from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen seeking government contracts, Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked him about the allegations.

"I did nothing criminal or illegal," the border czar said without denying that he took the cash. The Fox News host declined to ask a follow-up question.

"This response will likely trigger more reporters to ask [the] same question," CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane predicted after Homan dodged the question on Thursday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made a horrific apparent gaffe when discussing a swastika spotted in a Republican congressman's office.

U.S. Capitol Police were called to investigate a display of an American flag altered to show the Nazi symbol pinned to a wall in a cubicle used by Angelo Elia, a staffer for Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH), and the GOP speaker attempted to distance the party from fascist ideology.

"With regard to the swastika thing, this happened last night, a Republican congressman, allegedly, one of his staffers had something in the background, something in a Zoom, that's what I heard this morning," Johnson told reporters. "He says that that's not his and there was a proper investigation ongoing, and the congressman did exactly what he should have done, and that is report it. It's under investigation, and I can't comment on it any further until that's done."

The swastika display was noticed a day after Politico reported on a Young Republican group chat where organization leaders used racial slurs, joked about the Holocaust, celebrated slavery and rape, and praised Adolf Hitler.

"But I will say, obviously, that is not the principles of the Republican Party," Johnson said. "We stand for the founding principles of America – want me to articulate them for you right now? Individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, peace through strength, fiscal responsibility, free markets, human dignity – the things that lead to human flourishing."

"We have stood against that, we have fought against the Nazis," Johnson added, and then apparently misspoke before insisting Nazi sympathies were a problem in both parties. "We defended that evil ideology. We roundly condemn it, and anybody in any party who espouses it, we're opposing that."

Epic Freudian slip

"We fought the Nazis, we defended that evil ideology" -Mike Johnson pic.twitter.com/uvVcUtNBJT
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) October 16, 2025

President Donald Trump's big supporters are getting a clear message to "reconsider their relationship to the regime" — and back off — as millions of people prepare to hit the streets for "No Kings" protests across the U.S, according to an analyst.

More than 2,500 events are scheduled across 50 states on Saturday and "the need for resistance is urgent," Chauncey DeVega writes in a commentary piece for Salon.

Trump has been emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court, moving quickly to impose aggressive immigration tactics, drawing the National Guard to multiple states and unleashing attacks on the media and comedians. He's also signaled invoking the Insurrection Act and targeting "left-wing" groups.

"These lies, and the hostility behind them, reflects a larger dynamic: Trump is seen by many of his supporters as a type of god-king on a divine mission. In this worldview, resisting Trump and the MAGA movement is an act of evil — unpatriotic at best, and outright treasonous at worst," DeVega writes.

His supporters could now see the mounting tension and decide where they stand, the writer argues. And some might have a different view.

"But America is still a democracy, albeit an increasingly weak one, and Trump still needs to maintain a veneer of public support," DeVega writes. "Protests and mass mobilization threaten his legitimacy. They counter the narrative that Trump and the MAGA movement enjoy unstoppable, popular momentum. No Kings will remind political bystanders — and the undecided — that resistance is not futile. Such protests can also send a signal to elites that it may be in their self-interest to reconsider their relationship to the regime."

The protests Saturday could also have a negative impact and empower Trump to move further into attack mode.

"But protests and marches also provide an opportunity for autocrats to expand their power," DeVega writes. "Trump has repeatedly signaled his desire to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to bypass the courts and to 'legally' deploy the military against the American people to put down 'civil unrest' or a 'rebellion.' Such a move could also be a prelude to de facto martial law, cancelling elections and suspending other civil rights and freedoms."

It could set the stage for the Trump administration's increased retaliation against people pushing back — and the stakes are high as people resist.

"Many have observed that Trump, with his actions against Democratic-led cities like Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Portland and Chicago, is looking to create a pretext for a much harsher crackdown. This makes Saturday’s No Kings protests even more consequential. In the event of any violence, whether from protesters or agent provocateurs, the president will doubtless seize on it to expand his power," DeVega explains.

"While important, attending No Kings protests is a beginning and not an end. It should be seen as a first step of sustained political activity to slow down the Trump administration and MAGA movement’s attempts to end multiracial democracy," DeVega writes.

MARION — Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody probably committed a felony crime when he told a witness to delete text messages they exchanged before, during and after he led raids on a newspaper office and the publisher’s home, a district judge ruled Wednesday.

But Cody won’t be tried for the raids, which Marion County Record editor-publisher Eric Meyer says is the real crime.

A two-hour preliminary hearing revealed new details about the texts that Cody exchanged with Kari Newell, whose drunk driving record and request for a liquor license at her restaurant ignited an international drama two years ago. Newell took the stand and testified that Cody told her during a phone call to delete text messages between the two of them so that people wouldn’t get the wrong idea about whether they were romantically involved.

“Chief Cody had stated that he felt it would be in my best interest to delete those,” Newell said.

About six weeks after the raids, Newell texted Cody to say she was concerned about having deleted their earlier messages, she said. Cody replied that she was being paranoid.

Their exchange coincided with widespread scrutiny of the police raids in August 2023 of the newspaper office in flagrant disregard for the First Amendment and legal protections for journalists. Kansas Reflector first reported on the chilling raids.

Cody, working in coordination with the sheriff’s office, county attorney and Kansas Bureau of Investigation, had investigated whether Meyer and reporter Phyllis Zorn committed identity theft and other crimes by looking up Newell’s driving record in a public online database. A magistrate judge, ignoring the absence of evidence and state law, authorized the police raids of the newspaper office, Meyer’s home, and the home of city Councilwoman Ruth Herbel. Meyer’s 98-year-old mother died in distress a day later.

Police exceeded the scope of the search warrants by seizing reporters’ personal cellphones, work computers, and other equipment. Video showed Cody reviewing a reporter’s file on allegations that had been made against him.

At the KBI’s request, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation conducted a yearlong inquiry into whether Cody or anyone else had committed a crime. Special prosecutors Marc Bennett, of Sedgwick County, and Barry Wilkerson, of Riley County, cleared all law enforcement of any wrongdoing in carrying out the raids, which spawned five ongoing federal lawsuits.

However, CBI special agent John Zamora learned from talking to Newell that she had deleted text messages at his request, spanning a period of one week before to one week after the raids.

The prosecutors presented an exhibit at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing that totaled 31 pages of text messages, including one where Cody said he was working with a publisher to write a book about the experience.

Zamora testified that he interviewed Newell in person in December 2023.

“Just tell me what’s happening,” he recalled telling her. “What’s going on here?”

Newell told him she agreed to delete texts, at Cody’s request, because she was worried that her now ex-husband would accuse her of having an affair with Cody, Zamora said.

Wilkerson asked Zamora, who has 30 years of law enforcement experience, if he had ever directed a witness to delete messages or documents.

“No,” Zamora said.

After talking to Newell, Zamora said, he obtained the deleted text messages from Jennifer Hill, the attorney who is defending the city and county from federal lawsuits over the raid. Cody, who had given her his cellphone, had not deleted the text messages himself.

Cody’s attorney, Sal Intagliata, of Wichita, cross-examined Zamora about his investigation. According to Intagliata, the special agent told Hill that he was just trying to “check all the boxes.” Zamora said he didn’t remember making the comment.

When Newell took the stand, she said she has had no communication with Cody since leaving town amid the controversy two years ago.

Zorn and Meyer sat front and center in the courtroom, with Zorn tightlipped and taking notes and Meyer in an incredulous slouch, newspaper tucked in his pants pocket.

Cody, who now lives in Hawaii, appeared by Zoom. He sat expressionless with his chin on his hand for most of the hearing.

District Judge Ryan Rosauer rejected Intagliata’s argument that it was “a legal impossibility” to blame Cody for deleting texts that he ultimately turned over himself. The judge found probable cause that Cody had committed the low-level felony crime of interfering with the judicial process by inducing a witness to withhold information in a criminal investigation.

Cody entered a not guilty plea, and Rosauer scheduled a trial for February.

If convicted, because he has no criminal history, Cody’s sentence would be presumptive probation.

In an interview after the hearing, Meyer said he was worried about the “big picture.”

“None of this has anything to do with the crime,” Meyer said, referring to the raids on his newsroom and home.

“This is not even about the case,” Meyer said. “This is about what he did after the case.”

He also said he was concerned that Cody was being made a scapegoat for the raids, despite the widespread involvement of other people and law enforcement agencies.

“We still want some statement, an official judgment of the court, that this was wrong, so that no one can use this excuse anymore that, ‘Oh, we aren’t sure that it’s illegal to raid newsrooms, and because we’re not completely sure, we can still do it,’ which seems like a stupid excuse to me,” Meyer said.