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Trump’s ‘revenge’ meltdown plans leak for White House Correspondents’ Dinner: report
President Donald Trump is preparing to throw a scripted tantrum at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year, reported The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
"Donald Trump will launch a 'revenge' attack on the White House media when he confronts them in person at a Washington dinner on Saturday night — then flee before there can be revenge," said the report. "He is expected to target publications that he has accused of writing negatively about his administration and his war with Iran, in particular, according to sources."
This would track with his recent rants on Truth Social, where he has accused of the media of rigging reports about the Iran war to make it look like it's going worse than it actually is.
After he is done with his speech, said the report, he is skipping on the rest of the ceremony — in large part because he doesn't want to stick around for an award being given to a story that revealed his closeness to deceased financier and accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
"Trump will leave the White House Correspondents’ Association event after making his speech, so he will miss the presentation of press awards — one of which would be certain to embarrass him," said the report. "He has told aides he has no intention of still being in the International Ballroom at the Washington Hilton when the Wall Street Journal is honored with the Katherine Graham award for its scoop about a bawdy letter Trump allegedly wrote for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday card."
The president sued WSJ over that reporting, alleging that the birthday letter was not authentic. This month, a federal judge tossed out that suit.
‘Massive cover up’ fears raised as House panel splits on clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell's condition to testify under oath — but only under the condition of clemency — has split House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members over whether President Donald Trump should grant her that pardon, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) told Politico on Wednesday.
Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator, was deposed by the committee and invoked her Fifth Amendment right to decline to answer the group's questions. Trump is the only one with the power to pardon her, something he has not yet ruled out.
Comer told Politico that he did not favor a pardon for Maxwell, a former confidant to the late financier and convicted child sex offender. When asked whether striking a deal with Maxwell could provide useful testimony, Comer did not share who on the panel supported granting her clemency.
"A lot of people do," Comer said.
"My committee’s split on that," Comer said. "I don’t speak for my committee."
"I think it looks bad," he added. "Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said that Democrats on the committee collectively oppose a pardon for Maxwell.
"That would be a huge step backwards, and, quite frankly, so disrespectful to the survivors," he said in an interview. "She is a known abuser. She is a known liar."
"If the DOJ or Oversight Republicans are out there trying to negotiate some sort of pardon that is... not only a huge slap in the face to this investigation, to anyone, to the American public," Garcia said. "It’s a part of a massive cover up."
‘Wah, wah, wah:’ AOC scoffs at GOP whining over gerrymandering
WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, had strong words for Republicans complaining about the gerrymandering in Virginia that voters approved on Tuesday, with strong support from her party.
"Wah, wah, wah," Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story on Wednesday, mimicking a whining baby and laughing in response to a question from reporter Matt Laslo. "Democrats have attempted and asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering, and for 10 years, Republicans have said, 'no.'"
Laslo was asking Ocasio-Cortez to respond to complaints from the GOP that it would be unconstitutional for Democrats to have a 10-1 congressional majority in Virginia, which the gerrymandering ballot measure would make possible. A Virginia circuit court judge blocked the vote-approved redistricting on Wednesday, however.
Still, Ocasio-Cortez saw no problem with Democrats supporting gerrymandering after years of opposing it when done on the Republican side. For AOC, the GOP "wanted to start this," and the Democrats are just fighting back.
"What they're mad at is they're accustomed to a Democrat Party that rolls over, doesn't fight and takes everything sitting down," Ocasio-Cortez said. "What they're mad at right now is that we are here in a new day."
She mentioned Republican gerrymandering in North Carolina and Texas, where Democrats lost seats. Trump's call for Texas Republicans to gerrymander arguably kicked off what's now seen as a redistricting arms race.
"We have been asking the Democratic Party to stand up and fight, and now they did," AOC continued. "Now the Republican Party doesn't like the fact that they are fighting against someone who actually will stand up for the American people."
Ocasio-Cortez said she would "welcome" working with the Republicans to pass a ban on partisan gerrymandering.
"We have the bill right here to end this all today," she said, smiling. "But they don't want to because they like pursuing and continuing to enact an unfair electoral landscape."
Supreme Court strips federal agencies of decades-old power in new ruling
The Supreme Court ruled Friday on two pivotal cases that strip federal agencies of substantial power to interpret the law.
Supreme Court Justices issued rulings in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce — both challenges to a decades-old precedent that says courts must defer to government agencies’s interpretation of statutes.
The vote was 6-3 in the former and 6-2 in the latter, from which Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was recused, to overrule the court's 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.
Chief Justice John Roberts authored the opinion and Justice Elena Kagan the dissent.
"Rather than safeguarding reliance interests, Chevron affirmatively destroys them," Roberts wrote, "Under Chevron, a statutory ambiguity, no matter why it is there, becomes a license authorizing an agency to change positions as much as it likes."
Kagan condemned the decision in no uncertain terms as blatant power-grab.
ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene buys condo in 'crime ridden hell hole'
"In one fell swoop, the majority today gives itself exclusive power over every open issue—no matter how expertise-driven or policy-laden—involving the meaning of regulatory law," she writes.
"As if it did not have enough on its plate, the majority turns itself into the country’s administrative czar. It defends that move as one (suddenly) required by the (nearly 80-year-old) Administrative Procedure Act. But the Act makes no such demand. Today’s decision is not one Congress directed. It is entirely the majority’s choice."
Supreme Court delivers win to MAGA rioters charged with obstructing an official proceeding
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday issued a ruling that could upend hundreds of January 6th-related cases.
In the ruling, the court ordered that prosecutors who charged rioters with obstructing or impeding an official proceeding must show that they tampered with physical evidence in order to meet the criteria met by the statute.
The vote was 6-3, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett dissenting, joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
In the explainer, SCOTUS Blog wrote, "The court holds that to prove a violation of the law, the government must show that the defendant impaired the availability or integrity for use in an official proceeding of records, documents, objects, or other things used in an official proceeding, or attempted to do so."
About 27 individuals are still in prison today and they could be released today because they haven't served their full charge.
ALSO READ: Rep. Byron Donalds, his gigantic Jim Crow myth and a forgotten fact about Black voters
The case the court was deciding involved Joseph Fischer, an off-duty Pennsylvania police officer who entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and was charged with obstruction of an official proceeding. It's the same crime many other Jan .6 defendants have been charged.
Fischer, Edward Lang, and Garret Miller were indicted for their role in the riot. They were charged with "assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct," the indictment read. All of the charges were involved in the broader attempt to obstruct a congressional proceeding.
But Fischer's lawyers argued before that Supreme Court that the obstruction of a congressional proceedings charge should be thrown out because the law that he was charged with violating was only intended to apply to evidence tampering.
The decision will have major impact on Jack Smith's election interference case against Donald Trump, who is charged with the same crime.
ALSO READ: ‘They could have killed me’: Spycraft, ballots and a Trumped-up plot gone haywire
A lower court agreed with him, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. reversed it and it was ultimately sent to the Supreme Court.
"Some justices expressed concerns that the government’s interpretation of the law could sweep in too much conduct, while others appeared to agree with the government that the law was intended as a 'catchall' provision to cover all kinds of conduct," SCOTUSBlog said.
"And still others appeared to propose a narrower reading of the statute that would still allow the charge against Fischer to stand."
About 300 cases for Jan. 6 attackers will be impacted by the decision.
‘Couldn’t get hired as a Walmart greeter’: MAGA meets Biden debate performance with glee
Trump’s supporters took an early victory lap Thursday as President Joe Biden stumbled through a debate performance that had onlookers shocked.
“Biden couldn’t get hired as a Walmart greeter and he has the nuclear codes,” wrote Marjorie Taylor Greene on X.
“Can Joe Biden even live another 4 years, let alone be president?”
Even some Democrats expressed shock as Biden appeared old and confused during the CNN debate, frequently losing his train of thought and speaking with a raspy and weak voice.
“Heads are going to roll,’ wrote The Independent’s White House correspondent Andrew Feinberg.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a staunch Trump supporter, wrote on X, “Dems are going to dump Biden. Get ready for Michelle Obama as their nominee.”
ALSO READ: Rep. Byron Donalds, his gigantic Jim Crow myth and a forgotten fact about Black voters
“What is Joe looking at?” wrote Lauren Boebert (R-CO). “He’s literally staring off into space, lost.”
She added, “President Trump is eviscerating Jacked up Joe on his network, with his moderators, and under his rules."
“The choice couldn’t be clearer in November.”
J.D. Vance (R-OH), a favorite for Trump’s vice president pick, wrote, “Trump has so much more energy and clarity than Biden, it’s just an insane contrast."
“One guy can do the job and the other can’t," he then added.
‘Mop up operation’: Biden campaign has a simple explanation for flawed debate performance
Before the debate even ended on Thursday night, President Joe Biden's team seemed to be in damage control.
Kelly O'Donnell, senior White House correspondent for NBCNews, tweeted that two sources familiar with the "situation" offered a possible explanation: “President Biden has a cold.”
O'Donnell reported, citing multiple sources, that the president tested negative for COVID-19.
The explanation predictably didn't appear to land with social media users watching the debate, which could send Democrats into full-blown panic mode.
ALSO READ: Marjorie Taylor Greene buys condo in 'crime ridden hell hole'
"Mop up operation," wrote @Cernovich.
"Biden has dementia, not a cold," tweeted @pepesgrandma.
"Are you sure he doesn’t have a coma?" chortled @BurtMaclin_FBI.
"Longest cold I’ve ever seen," wrote @GoPackGo541.
Within the first hour, Intelligencer political columnist Jonathan Chait asked what many Democrats across the country were thinking: "Time to panic?"
"Joe Biden has started this debate looking wan," he wrote. "His voice is soft, he has looked down, and he lost his train of thought during one answer, ending on the garbled note 'we beat Medicare.' He meant they beat Pharma by winning a provision to allow Medicare to negotiation prescription drugs, but it did not track in real time."
If Biden does not turn around his performance over the course of this, I think Democrats will reach full-blown panic."
‘Wrong and gross’: Internet recoils after Trump uses ‘Palestinian’ as a slur for Biden
During a portion of the CNN debate on the Middle East and the Israel/Hamas War, former President Donald Trump took a bizarre turn by using "Palestinian" as a slur when addressing President Joe Biden.
Biden has "become like a Palestinian" Trump said — except he's a "weak one."
Commenters on social media barely knew how to process this remark.
ALSO READ: Rep. Byron Donalds, his gigantic Jim Crow myth and a forgotten fact about Black voters
"Trump just throwing around 'Palestinian' as a pejorative. Brazen anti-Palestinian racism has been normalized in America," wrote former MSNBC commentator Mehdi Hasan Thursday night.
"I’m sorry but did Donald Trump just say that Joe Biden is a bad Palestinian?!?" wrote the account @ArmandDoma, a San Francisco-based anti-Trump activist.
"Did Trump just call Biden a 'weak Palestinian'?! this is really bad….." wrote the account @D_Radiance.
"Trump just called Biden a Palestinian... 'a bad one.' So many things are wrong and gross and despicable about this statement..." wrote CUNY presidential professor Marc Lamont Hill.
‘Headed toward doom’: Analyst sees GOP terrified Trump will lose everything at debate
The Republican Party may not survive former President Donald Trump losing his debate against President Joe Biden Thursday night and they know it, a new political analysis finds.
Salon columnist Brian Karem made this case just hours before history is made on a CNN soundstage in Atlanta where a standing U.S. president will debate a convicted felon who has not yet been officially nominated by his own party.
"The fear the [Republican] party could lose control of the Senate and House in the fall elections is palpable," Karem writes.
"If Trump suddenly appears vulnerable in November, the RNC could resemble a roadhouse bar in Mid-Missouri on a hot Saturday night after the beer taps run dry. The Trump faithful will be battling the non-believers for control of a party headed toward doom."
The odds of Trump winning the debate are stacked against him, Karem argues.
ALSO READ: Rep. Byron Donalds, his gigantic Jim Crow myth and a forgotten fact about Black voters
Trump won't be able to play off an audience or dominate the debate by interrupting (moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will have the ability to cut his mic), and Republicans have unwittingly helped Biden by lowering the bar he must clear, according to Karem.
And Biden's position is strong, he adds.
"Biden has several advantages over Trump," writes Karem. "First, he’s not a convicted felon. He’s actually accomplished something as president. He’s less apt to ramble on about shark bites and electrocutions at sea."
But ultimately Karem predicts the debate will be "Trump's last act" not because of his opponent, but because of his own backers: the Republican party.
"The GOP is a party addicted to winning," he writes. "If, in fact, winning were heroin, there’d be a lot of trainspotting going on in Milwaukee in mid-July. And that’s where it gets dicey for Trump."
Up until now, the party of "Law and Order" has ignored Trump's 34 criminal convictions and civil court rulings that found him liable for fraud, sex abuse and defamation.
But that could change.
"We could also be looking at a chaotic situation in both conventions where one or both parties choose a different candidate after the consumption of copious amounts of pizza, alcohol and cigarettes and the rending of hair, gnashing of teeth and blood-curdling screams of despair and doom," Karem concludes.
That's why he wants Americans to tune into the debate tonight.
"If you aren’t sitting at the table, then chances are you’re on the menu," he writes. "Sit at the table."
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Trump’s ‘revenge’ meltdown plans leak for White House Correspondents’ Dinner: report
President Donald Trump is preparing to throw a scripted tantrum at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year, reported The Daily Beast on Wednesday.
"Donald Trump will launch a 'revenge' attack on the White House media when he confronts them in person at a Washington dinner on Saturday night — then flee before there can be revenge," said the report. "He is expected to target publications that he has accused of writing negatively about his administration and his war with Iran, in particular, according to sources."
This would track with his recent rants on Truth Social, where he has accused of the media of rigging reports about the Iran war to make it look like it's going worse than it actually is.
After he is done with his speech, said the report, he is skipping on the rest of the ceremony — in large part because he doesn't want to stick around for an award being given to a story that revealed his closeness to deceased financier and accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
"Trump will leave the White House Correspondents’ Association event after making his speech, so he will miss the presentation of press awards — one of which would be certain to embarrass him," said the report. "He has told aides he has no intention of still being in the International Ballroom at the Washington Hilton when the Wall Street Journal is honored with the Katherine Graham award for its scoop about a bawdy letter Trump allegedly wrote for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday card."
The president sued WSJ over that reporting, alleging that the birthday letter was not authentic. This month, a federal judge tossed out that suit.
‘Massive cover up’ fears raised as House panel splits on clemency for Ghislaine Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell's condition to testify under oath — but only under the condition of clemency — has split House Oversight and Government Reform Committee members over whether President Donald Trump should grant her that pardon, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) told Politico on Wednesday.
Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirator, was deposed by the committee and invoked her Fifth Amendment right to decline to answer the group's questions. Trump is the only one with the power to pardon her, something he has not yet ruled out.
Comer told Politico that he did not favor a pardon for Maxwell, a former confidant to the late financier and convicted child sex offender. When asked whether striking a deal with Maxwell could provide useful testimony, Comer did not share who on the panel supported granting her clemency.
"A lot of people do," Comer said.
"My committee’s split on that," Comer said. "I don’t speak for my committee."
"I think it looks bad," he added. "Honestly, other than Epstein, the worst person in this whole investigation is Maxwell."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said that Democrats on the committee collectively oppose a pardon for Maxwell.
"That would be a huge step backwards, and, quite frankly, so disrespectful to the survivors," he said in an interview. "She is a known abuser. She is a known liar."
"If the DOJ or Oversight Republicans are out there trying to negotiate some sort of pardon that is... not only a huge slap in the face to this investigation, to anyone, to the American public," Garcia said. "It’s a part of a massive cover up."
‘Wah, wah, wah:’ AOC scoffs at GOP whining over gerrymandering
WASHINGTON — Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, had strong words for Republicans complaining about the gerrymandering in Virginia that voters approved on Tuesday, with strong support from her party.
"Wah, wah, wah," Ocasio-Cortez told Raw Story on Wednesday, mimicking a whining baby and laughing in response to a question from reporter Matt Laslo. "Democrats have attempted and asked Republicans for 10 years to ban partisan gerrymandering, and for 10 years, Republicans have said, 'no.'"
Laslo was asking Ocasio-Cortez to respond to complaints from the GOP that it would be unconstitutional for Democrats to have a 10-1 congressional majority in Virginia, which the gerrymandering ballot measure would make possible. A Virginia circuit court judge blocked the vote-approved redistricting on Wednesday, however.
Still, Ocasio-Cortez saw no problem with Democrats supporting gerrymandering after years of opposing it when done on the Republican side. For AOC, the GOP "wanted to start this," and the Democrats are just fighting back.
"What they're mad at is they're accustomed to a Democrat Party that rolls over, doesn't fight and takes everything sitting down," Ocasio-Cortez said. "What they're mad at right now is that we are here in a new day."
She mentioned Republican gerrymandering in North Carolina and Texas, where Democrats lost seats. Trump's call for Texas Republicans to gerrymander arguably kicked off what's now seen as a redistricting arms race.
"We have been asking the Democratic Party to stand up and fight, and now they did," AOC continued. "Now the Republican Party doesn't like the fact that they are fighting against someone who actually will stand up for the American people."
Ocasio-Cortez said she would "welcome" working with the Republicans to pass a ban on partisan gerrymandering.
"We have the bill right here to end this all today," she said, smiling. "But they don't want to because they like pursuing and continuing to enact an unfair electoral landscape."
