Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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? Trump's cash bazooka

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Emily Elconin/Getty Images

President Trump wants to give Americans money — he's talked up tariff-funded rebate checks, a $1,776 Warrior Dividend, and billions for farmers. That's on top of record-breaking tax refunds expected next year. Why it matters: Giving cash is a crowd pleaser typically reserved for moments when the economy is in clear distress — except that's not quite where the U.S. is now, Axios' Emily Peck reports. ?️ The big picture: There are two main reasons lawmakers send cash, and each has complications. Extra dough boosts economic activity. Outside of recessions, however, that can fuel inflation. That's one of the big knocks against the Biden administration's $1,400 checks in 2021. People like getting money. Yet it's not clear that generosity is ultimately rewarded. Biden's checks did not assuage voters' anger over rising inflation. Keep reading.

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Trump announces lower drug price deals with 9 pharmaceutical companies

U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that nine drugmakers have agreed to lower the cost of their prescription drugs in the U.S.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-drug-medicine-medicaid-eliquis-most-favored-nation-pricing-0f5d50da2722371323a8fcb4ed99f37a?

Trump administration wants to ensure Mexican crews operating trains in the US can speak English

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A number of Mexican train crews who had just hauled trains over the border to American rail yards in Texas had trouble understanding important safety information in English during recent focused inspections the Trump administration ordered.

https://apnews.com/article/mexican-train-crews-english-up-cpkc-duffy-7a4bbbc9be2d5e65c62c9d46673c1183?

Coast Guard is pursuing another tanker helping Venezuela skirt sanctions, US official says

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard on Sunday was pursuing another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea as the Trump administration appeared to be intensifying its targeting of such vessels connected to the Venezuelan government.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-trump-blockade-ship-intercepted-coast-guard-00056eed8071c51ca681fc74528d66f1?

The “Warrior Dividend” Is Trump’s Latest PR Stunt to Act Like He Cares About the Troops

Last night, Donald Trump took the stage and announced in a bizarre, rambling speech what he framed as a gift to America’s troops: a one-time, $1,776 “warrior dividend,” a $1,776 payment pitched as gratitude for service members and veterans. Wrapped in Revolutionary War imagery and just in time for the holidays, the promise was sold as proof that Trump takes care of our warriors. But beneath the applause and bunting, the announcement amounted to another empty, Trump-branded PR exercise.

https://theintercept.com/2025/12/18/trump-military-warrior-dividend-1776-check/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The Intercept Newsletter

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⏱️ Internal "60 Minutes" fight erupts

Image used to promote forthcoming "60 Minutes" segment, "Inside CECOT." Photo: CBS News CBS News pulled the broadcast of a "60 Minutes" segment scheduled to air last night on the Trump administration's deportation of migrants to an El Salvador prison with little public notice, Axios' Rebecca Falconer and Sara Fischer write. Why it matters: The decision marks an early and consequential test of Bari Weiss' tenure as the network's editor-in-chief, a position she started in October. ? Zoom in: "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who filmed the segment, said in an internal email that she learned of Weiss' call to spike the story Saturday, after the network had promoted it on social media. In a news release last week, the network said Alfonsi interviewed several now-released deportees who "describe the brutal and torturous conditions they endured." Alfonsi said: "Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now — after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one. ... I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight." Reached by the N.Y. Times, Alfonsi said: "I refer all questions to Bari Weiss." Via X The network posted on X — three hours before airtime — that the segment would broadcast at a later date, and later said it "needed additional reporting." Weiss told the N.Y. Times: "My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren't ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it's ready." ?️ The big picture: The decision comes days after President Trump publicly complained the show has treated him even worse since Skydance acquired CBS parent Paramount earlier this year. The company is involved in a politically delicate effort to acquire CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery. Full text of Alfonsi email ...

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? Coast Guard hot pursuit

A U.S. military helicopter flies over the Panama-flagged Centuries, which was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard on Saturday. Photo: Department of Homeland Security via Reuters The U.S. Coast Guard pursued a third tanker as part of President Trump's military campaign against oil ships servicing Venezuela, two sources tell Axios' Marc Caputo. Why it matters: The planned seizure of the tanker, which is on the U.S. sanctions list for rogue oil vessels, was another sign Trump wants to squeeze the oil-rich nation's economy in an effort to force strongman Nicolás Maduro from power. The Panamanian-flagged Bella 1 was not filled with oil at the time it was pursued and was on its way to load up in Venezuela, according to one of the sources familiar with the action. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Bella 1 in 2024 for allegedly transporting cargo that enriched the terrorist group Hezbollah and Iran's elite Quds Force unit. ⚓ Zoom in: The Coast Guard came into contact with Bella 1 early yesterday but briefly decided not to continue interdicting the vessel, according to sources who had different accounts explaining why. Both sources agreed the Coast Guard then resumed pursuit at a certain point later in the day. The boat had not been boarded as of last night. "It doesn't matter anyway," one of the sources said. "It can't help Venezuela anymore. It's an empty vessel. And we can get it when we want." Between the lines: The pressure on Venezuela, seen by the U.S. as propping up Cuba's regime, coincides with Trump's new National Security Strategy to focus on dominating the Western Hemisphere. But it also has a second-order effect targeting Iran. Iran and Venezuela share a ghost armada that transports their crude and they cooperate on military drone technology.

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‘60 Minutes’ Staff Threaten to Quit Over Pro-Trump Censorship

Controversy has engulfed CBS amid mounting accusations of politicized management under the network’s new MAGA-curious chief.

Staff at 60 Minutes are threatening to quit after the network’s MAGA-curious chief allegedly shelved a chilling segment on the Trump administration’s nationwide deportation drive.

“Inside [60 Minutes], where journalistic independence is sacrosanct, ‘people are threatening to quit over this,” I’m told,” CNN’s chief media analyst Brian Stelter posted late Sunday night of the mounting firestorm.

CBS had announced earlier in the afternoon it would pull a 60 Minutes segment otherwise billed as an inside look at “brutal and torturous conditions” at CECOT, the feared El Salvadoran megaprison to which the MAGA administration has deported hundreds of migrants this year.

Bari Weiss, the network’s new editor-in-chief, allegedly made the decision just three hours before the show was due to air because it “needed additional reporting,” and suggested the program would benefit from an interview with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.

Miller is one of the chief architects of the Trump administration’s immigration raids, so it is partly at his direction that migrants were sent to the center in the first place.

He has repeatedly drawn fire for framing immigration as an “invasion” of criminal elements from abroad, and allegedly pushing deportation quotas that, in turn, have resulted in frequent violations of the Constitutionally mandated right to due process.

Weiss is the founder of the conservative-leaning The Free Press, and her appointment as editor-in-chief at CBS followed this year’s controversial merger between the network’s erstwhile parent company, Paramount, and media conglomerate Skydance.

The resulting entity, Paramount Skydance, is owned by the Ellison family, who are keen supporters of the Trump administration.

CBS has undertaken considerable layoffs and restructuring in the months since. Critics have particularly balked at the network’s creation of a new ombudsman role, filled by longtime conservative policy wonk Kenneth Weinstein, to evaluate allegations of bias leveled at the company, per conditions under which the Trump administration’s Federal Communications Commission approved the merger.

Widespread concern over the future editorial direction of CBS appeared to have been borne out earlier in November after the network was accused of buckling to pressure from Trump over what material to broadcast from a 60 Minutes sit-down with the president.

Compared against the extended 73-minute cut released online, the final 28-minute TV edit of that interview was found to have excluded the president losing his cool over questions about his controversial decision to pardon a crypto-billionaire who had been convicted of money laundering.

Also cut from the broadcast version were the president’s boasts about securing a multi-million dollar payout from Paramount over his claims the network had deceptively edited a separate interview with Kamala Harris to give the then-Democratic candidate a boost in last year’s polls.

Responding to the mounting firestorm over the pulled CECOT segment Sunday, Weiss told The New York Times that “holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom.”

“I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready,” she added.

But in a leaked memo to the 60 Minutes team, veteran reporter Sharyn Alfonsi blasted Weiss for allegedly making the decision out of deference to the MAGA administration, rather than a code of journalistic ethics.

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” she wrote. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now—after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”

Alfonsi added that due requests for comment on the piece had been sent to the Department of Homeland Security, the White House and the State Department. These allegedly went unanswered, with the lack of response received as “a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”

“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” she wrote. “I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to Paramount, CBS, and Weiss’s representatives for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cbss-60-minutes-staff-threaten-to-walk-after-baris-weiss-kills-major-donald-trump-story/?

ps:They should've, but that's probably exactly what trump wants!!!!!

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CBS Boss Censored ‘60 Minutes’ for Not Interviewing Stephen Miller

The Trump goon was suggested as a talking head for a report on a brutal prison.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was offered up as the MAGA-friendly solution to green-lighting a controversial 60 Minutes report that was pulled from the air at the last minute.

Bari Weiss, the Trump-curious new editor-in-chief at CBS News, intervened over a contentious story on the Terrorism Confinement Center, the notorious El Salvador megaprison that houses deportees kicked out of the U.S. by President Donald Trump.

Despite being promoted by 60 Minutes, which had interviewed migrants who described the “brutal and torturous conditions” they endured before being released, the segment was removed from Sunday night’s show just three hours before it was due to air.

Weiss had requested multiple changes to the piece, and CBS issued a statement claiming the segment on the Terrorism Confinement Center—better known as CECOT—would be screened at a later date as it “needed additional reporting.”

The New York Times reported on Sunday that Weiss had suggested a 60 Minutes interview with Miller, who is also the Homeland Security Adviser, to balance out the piece on CECOT. She even forwarded Miller’s contact details to the reporting team.

Miller is a vehement proponent of the brutal immigration raids that have been a hallmark of the Trump administration, part of a huge crackdown on undocumented migrants.

Weiss responded to the Times report, saying her job is to ensure that all the stories on 60 Minutes are the best they can be.

“Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom,“ Weiss, 41, said.

“I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”

However, 60 Minutes veteran Sharyn Alfonsi claimed in an email that Weiss had “spiked” their story, and that when they asked her to discuss the decision, “she did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity.”

Alfonsi, 53, said the CECOT story had been screened “five times” and cleared by CBS attorneys.

“It is factually correct,” Alfonsi said in her explosive memo, which was shared in full on X by CNN Media Analyst Brian Stelter. “In my view, pulling it now—after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.“

Alfonsi also pointed out that they had already requested responses and/or interviews with the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and the State Department.

“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” Alfonsi said. “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”

Puck journalist Dylan Byers suggested the CECOT segment reflected “very negatively” on the Trump administration. “The admin had declined to comment,” Byers posted on X. “Bari Weiss saw segment on Friday and, I’m told, decided to hold it.”

Weiss took over her role at CBS News in October. One of her first initiatives was to launch a town hall series, which she christened with Erika Kirk, the widow of murdered right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

Trump has had a combative relationship with 60 Minutes and CBS. In July this year, Paramount Global paid $16 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle what was originally a $20 billion lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.

As part of the result, the two sides also agreed that “in the future, 60 Minutes will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after such interviews have aired, subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.”

Trump was interviewed by Norah O’Donnell for 60 Minutes in November. Only 28 minutes of the interview were aired on CBS, with a 73-minute extended version published online, as well as a full transcript.

Before Weiss’s intervention on Sunday, Trump had complained about 60 Minutes and CBS on Truth Social last week.

“For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that 60 Minutes has treated me far worse since the so-called ‘takeover,’ than they have ever treated me before,” he wrote. “If they are friends, I’d hate to see my enemies!”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House, CBS, Weiss, Paramount, and Alfonsi for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cbs-boss-said-stephen-miller-could-save-shelved-60-minutes-report/?

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‘60 Minutes’ Reporter’s Email Denouncing Pro-Trump Censorship Leaks

New reports claim the story was “spiked” as a political decision.

A politically influenced call by the MAGA-curious head of CBS News may have been behind the abrupt axing of an anti-Trump 60 Minutes segment on Sunday, according to an email sent by one of its correspondents.

CBS had promoted a report on 60 Minutes that covered the infamous El Salvador megaprison CECOT, which houses immigrants booted out of the U.S. by Donald Trump.

The network said the segment on the Terrorism Confinement Center—dubbed CECOT or Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo in Spanish—will now air at a later date, with CBS claiming it needed additional reporting.

However, reports on Sunday night suggest that Bari Weiss, 41, the new editor-in-chief at CBS, flexed her muscle to yank the segment off the air with just three hours’ notice.

60 Minutes journalist Sharyn Alfonsi, 53, sent an email on Sunday stating that Weiss “spiked our story” and that the decision was political, not an editorial call, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The email was posted in full on X by CNN Media Analyst Brian Stelter, with Alfonsi writing that the team had asked Weiss to discuss her eleventh-hour call to pull the segment, but “she did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity.”

Alfonsi, who has worked on 60 Minutes for 10 years, reportedly sent the email to fellow correspondents Lesley Stahl, Scott Pelley, and Anderson Cooper. “Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct,” she wrote, noting that if the standard for airing a story became the government agreeing to be interviewed, the network would lose its editorial control. “We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state,” Alfonsi wrote.

Puck journalist Dylan Byers suggested the CECOT segment reflected “very negatively” on the Trump administration. “The admin had declined to comment,” Byers posted on X. “Bari Weiss saw segment on Friday and, I’m told, decided to hold it.”

Byers also disputed the official statement CBS gave to him that the piece needed additional reporting, quoting a “very well-placed source” who said, “It did not need additional reporting. It went through every layer of fact-checking and was reviewed by all the lawyers.”

Semaphor’s Max Tani also claimed that Weiss “had concerns” about the piece, adding “the network decided to hold the segment pending, among other things, comment or an interview with White House officials next year.”

Weiss suggested the CECOT piece needed an interview with Stephen Miller, the White House’s deputy chief of staff for policy, who has been outspoken about increasing ICE raids and deportations, the New York Times claimed. Weiss reportedly gave Miller’s contact details to 60 Minutes staff.

Weiss told the Times: “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”

Alfonsi’s leaked email stated that 60 Minutes had approached the White House, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security for comment to include in their story.

“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” she wrote in the email obtained by Stelter. “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story. If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”

Her memo stated that the 60 Minutes team “have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless.”

She signed off, “We are trading 50 years of ‘Gold Standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight.”

A teaser for the segment has been deleted from 60 Minutes’ social media accounts, but is circulating online. The video shows chilling scenes from the Trump administration’s deportations earlier this year.

“It began as soon as the planes landed,” Alfonsi is heard saying. “The deportees thought they were headed from the U.S. back to Venezuela, but instead they were shackled, paraded in front of cameras and delivered to CECOT, the notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador, where they told 60 Minutes they endured four months of hell."

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House, Alfonsi, Paramount, and CBS for comment.

As part of her leaked memo, Alfonsi also referenced an infamous 60 Minutes segment that had been spiked.

In 1995, Jeffrey Wigand, a former employee at tobacco company Brown & Williamson, provided information to 60 Minutes involving claims his company had hidden the health risks of its cigarettes.

However, the network’s lawyers feared that if they covered the story, it might lead to a billion-dollar lawsuit from the cigarette company and potential brand damage ahead of a potential sale of CBS.

The Wall Street Journal went on to break the story, with 60 Minutes following behind. The scandal became the subject of the 1999 Al Pacino/Russell Crowe movie The Insider.

Alfonsi wrote, “CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that ‘low point.’ By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones.”

In July this year, Trump, 79, scored a major victory over the iconic current affairs show.

Paramount Global paid $16 million to Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle what was originally a $20 billion lawsuit over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris.

Trump was unhappy with the editing of Harris’s answer about Israel’s war in Gaza, claiming it amounted to distortion, although CBS said it had followed standard journalistic ethics when editing for timing reasons.

As part of the result, the two sides also agreed that “in the future, 60 Minutes will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after such interviews have aired, subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.”

After the lawsuit was resolved, Paramount completed its merger with David Ellison’s Skydance.

Sunday’s 60 Minutes interference comes as Paramount, which owns CBS, is involved in a billion-dollar battle to take over Warner Bros. Discovery.

Paramount made a hostile, all-cash approach for the entire Warner Bros. business of $108.4 billion, on Dec. 8, valuing the business at $30 per share. Netflix, meanwhile, had already agreed to take its Studios and HBO Max streaming platform for $72 billion, a deal that executives at Warner still believe is the better offer.

As of last week, the Warner board recommended that shareholders reject the Paramount bid, orchestrated by Chief Executive David Ellison and his father, Larry, a friend of President Donald Trump.

Warner execs told investors that Paramount had “consistently misled” them, called the deal “illusory,” and said it posed a potential danger to the business if it were to accept.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/60-minutes-reporter-sharyn-alfonsi-denounces-cbs-boss-for-pro-trump-censorship/?

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ICE Barbie’s Top Goon Blames Staff After Flunking Lie-Detector Test

It’s everybody’s fault but his own.

Kristi Noem’s acting security agency head reportedly failed a lie-detector test required to view sensitive spy materials—then blamed his subordinates and suspended them.

Madhu Gottumukkala, the acting head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, who got his start under the Homeland Security Secretary when she was South Dakota’s governor, failed a polygraph in July that was required to view “the most sensitive intelligence programs” shared by a spy agency, Politico first reported Sunday. He then reportedly placed at least six people involved in organizing and scheduling the polygraph on leave in retaliation.

“Instead of taking ownership and saying, ‘Hey, I screwed up,’ he gets other people blamed and potentially ruins their careers,” a current official told Politico, adding that Gottumukkala’s tenure at CISA has been “a nightmare” for the $3 billion agency.

The former South Dakota government IT official repeatedly requested a polygraph test, even though his role did not require him to view highly classified materials or serve as the Senate-confirmed leader of the agency, which is the nation’s primary defense against cyber threats. President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, Sean Plankey, is currently awaiting Senate confirmation.

But Gottumukkala insisted, and ultimately took the test, which is typically used to determine whether an individual has foreign connections or personal liabilities that could put the government’s most sensitive information at risk.

Then, he failed. And the finger-pointing began.

On Aug. 1, at least six people involved in scheduling and approving the polygraph received a letter informing them that their access to classified national security information was being suspended for allegedly misleading Gottumukkala into taking the test in the first place, five current officials and one former official told Politico.“This action is being taken due to information received by this office that you may have participated in providing false information to the acting head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) regarding the existence of a requirement for a polygraph examination before accessing certain programs,” the letter reportedly reads.

Three days later, they were informed they were being placed on administrative leave pending investigation—sending shockwaves through the agency over what officials described as Gottumukkala’s childish retaliation.

“We’re a sinking ship. We’re like the Titanic,” one current official said of the agency, which has lost nearly one third of its staff since Trump returned to the White House.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told the Daily Beast that Gottumukkala “did not fail a sanctioned polygraph test.”

“An unsanctioned polygraph test was coordinated by staff, misleading incoming CISA leadership,” she wrote in an email. “The employees in question were placed on administrative leave, pending conclusion of an investigation. We expect and require the highest standards of performance from our employees and hold them directly accountable to uphold all policies and procedures. Acting Director Gottumukkala has the complete and full support of the Secretary and is laser focused on returning the agency to its statutory mission.”

Politico asked for further clarification on what constitutes an “unsanctioned” polygraph, to which McLaughlin replied: “Random bureaucrats can’t just order a polygraph. Polygraph orders have to come from leadership who have the authority to order them.”

Meanwhile, current and former officials said it was “comical” for the Department of Homeland Security to argue the polygraph was unsanctioned, since officials are required to sign off on their own polygraph requests at the agency.

“He ultimately chose to sit for this polygraph,” another current official told the outlet. “There is only one person to blame for that.”

Another raised concerns that Noem’s agency appeared more focused on covering its tracks than addressing a far more serious issue.

“How is failing a polygraph not a concern,” the official asked, when he’s “supposed to be leading a national security agency?”

Noem has publicly lavished Gottumukkala, an apparent “motorcycle enthusiast and old Western movie lover,” with praise, calling him “the right person” to carry forward “tremendous” investments in South Dakota when she announced his appointment as the state’s Commissioner of the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications in September 2024.

“He will focus on putting our citizens first, protecting their data, and helping all of state government serve the people of South Dakota,” she said at the time.

Before his appointment under Noem, Gottumukkala was a senior director of IT for business solutions at Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the United States.

“I’m deeply grateful to Governor Noem for the trust placed in me and eager to make a meaningful impact by driving innovative and secure technology solutions across our state,” Gottumukkala said at the time.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Gottumukkala for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-barbies-top-goon-blames-staff-after-flunking-lie-detector-test/?

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Rubio’s Rift With Rival Trump Goon Spirals After Repeat Humiliations

Steve Witkoff is said to be sidestepping the secretary of state so he cannot take part in key talks.

Marco Rubio has been repeatedly humiliated after Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, went behind the secretary of state’s back to conduct crucial foreign-policy negotiations, according to a damning report.

State Department officials are growing increasingly irate at Witkoff for giving Rubio the runaround and failing to disclose his travel plans—including last-minute trips for high-stakes talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine—sources told NBC News.

Last month, Witkoff, a former real estate mogul and Trump golf buddy with no prior diplomatic experience before landing the envoy role, rushed to attend peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Geneva, Switzerland, in what was seen as a bid to arrive before Rubio, who had been scheduled to participate.

Witkoff did not inform Rubio or other senior State Department officials of his plans, leaving the secretary of state to deal with Witkoff’s sneakiness while attending a wedding in North Carolina. Rubio ultimately made it to Geneva and attended the meeting alongside Witkoff, according to NBC News.

The Geneva episode was not the only instance in which Witkoff appeared to sideline Rubio. In April, Rubio was scheduled to travel to Paris for Ukraine talks, only for his team to discover that Witkoff had arranged a one-on-one meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron without inviting the secretary of state.

Rubio requested to join the meeting, but the French foreign ministry said the decision required Witkoff’s approval. Rubio’s aides then struggled to reach Witkoff “for some time,” NBC News reported, before Rubio eventually tracked him down. Witkoff then reluctantly agreed to allow Rubio to attend the meeting with Macron, according to U.S. and senior administration officials.

State Department spokesperson Steve Pigott dismissed claims that Witkoff was blocking Rubio from meetings in Paris as “absurd.”

“The Secretary’s multiple meetings in Paris, both with and without the Special Envoy, and their close cooperation before, during, and since then, speak for themselves,” Pigott said.

In late November, Witkoff arranged another meeting with Ukrainian officials in Rubio’s home state of Florida without notifying the secretary of state. Rubio reportedly only learned of the talks after Ukrainian officials contacted his team with questions.

“It is so clear that Rubio has been cut out of this. He should be the one leading all of this,” a senior administration official told NBC News.

The issue with Witkoff not being open about his Ukrainian plans, is that he seems to want a different path to peace than Rubio.

Witkoff has pushed a 28-point peace plan that would require Ukraine to cede territory to Russia and abandon its hopes of joining NATO—proposals critics argue heavily favor Moscow. An explosive Bloomberg report last month alleged that Witkoff even coached the Kremlin on how to flatter Trump and steer him toward Russia’s position during negotiations.

Rubio, along with much of Europe, favors ramping up economic and military pressure on Russia to force President Vladimir Putin to make meaningful concessions and ensure Ukraine’s long-term security.

“They seem to be singing off a different sheet of music,” Alexander Vershbow, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, told NBC News. “And if you don’t have a common understanding of the problem and of your adversary in a negotiation, it can’t be good.”

“There is no rift between the two and there never has been,” Pigott said. “Secretary Rubio and Special Envoy Witkoff have a close working relationship and are personal friends. They are both fully aligned on the president’s goals and are carrying out President Trump’s vision to end the war in complete cooperation.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the State Department for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/marco-rubios-rift-with-rival-donald-trump-goon-steve-witkoff-spirals-after-repeat-humiliations/?

ps:That didn't take long!!

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Pence Eyes Comeback as the ‘Project 2025’ War Room Implodes

MAGA figures, including the president’s eldest son, have already resorted to insulting their own party members.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is poaching top names from the Heritage Foundation, of Project 2025 infamy, as he scales up another political comeback.

Pence, 66, is building up his own think tank, Advancing American Freedom, which will oppose tariffs, isolationism, and “big-government populism,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

The friend-turned-foe of President Donald Trump said his group will stop propping up MAGA figures like Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who lacks a medical background, and will push to strengthen support of Ukraine.

Pence said the Heritage Foundation, an influence behind much of Trump’s policy this year, has been “abandoning its principles” and has “fallen” for altering its stance on the above issues.

“Why these people are coming our way is that Heritage and some other voices and commentators have embraced big-government populism and have been willing to tolerate antisemitism,” Pence told the Journal.

The Washington-based Advancing American Freedom is reportedly hiring 15 people from the Heritage Foundation, including John Malcolm, head of the foundation’s legal and judicial studies center; Kevin Dayaratna, head of its data analysis center; and Richard Stern, director of its economic policy studies institute.

The Journal reports that seven of the other staffers jumping ship are from Malcom’s team.

Those departures have not sat well with the Heritage Foundation, which accused its fellow Republicans of disloyalty. Heritage’s chief advancement officer, Andy Olivastro, further alleged that some of those departing were fired first.

Malcolm and another staffer were “terminated for conduct inconsistent with Heritage’s mission and standards” last week, Olivastro said. He did not elaborate on exactly what the staffers did to get canned.

“Our mission is unchanged, and our leadership is strong and decisive,” Heritage said in a statement. “Heritage has always welcomed debate, but alignment on mission and loyalty to the institution are non-negotiable. A handful of staff chose a different path—some through disruption, others through disloyalty.”

Other MAGA figures, including Donald Trump Jr., also weighed in on the intra-party civil war.

“Personally, I think it’s great news for Heritage that a bunch of Trump-hating RINOs are leaving,” the president’s eldest child posted to X. “Anyone who would want to go work for Mike Pence’s globalist never-Trump organization isn’t MAGA and definitely doesn’t put America First!”

The right-wing political consultant Alex Bruesewitz agreed.

He wrote, “Word on the street is that some of the staffers leaving the Heritage Foundation are heading to Mike Pence’s organization. Congrats to @Heritage! The clowns are leaving their organization. These departures will also open jobs up for patriots who believe in America First!”

Trump, 79, has held an iron grip on the Republican Party since 2016. That has meant Republicans adjust their priorities based on the president’s ever-changing beliefs, including his backtracking on multiple issues, such as the declassification of the Epstein files and the nationwide TikTok ban.

There has been a notable shift in recent months, however, as Trump has his party’s approval rating plummeting, thanks in part to controversial immigration policies and an affordability crisis he maintains is a “hoax.”

There have also been significant attention on the president’s growing frailty, which the Daily Beast has cataloged for months, and top allies like Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have abandoned the president’s coalition.

Prominent GOP officials, like Pence, are now jockeying for power in the party. Trump’s time in office is up in January 2029. Pence ran for president in 2024 but, like most Republican challengers to Trump, failed to win a single primary before dropping out.

Helping push staffers to his own think tank was a video by the Heritage Foundation’s leader, Kevin Roberts, who defended Tucker Carlson’s bizarre interview with Nick Fuentes, well known for his White Nationalist stances and antisemitism.

Roberts was “widely criticized” at a staff meeting after posting video, the Journal reported. Three board members have since resigned.

Roberts, 51, of Louisiana, later apologized for his defense of Carlson, but has refused to delete the clip from his social media accounts. The Journal reports that Roberts has said privately that he will not delete the video.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/pence-eyes-comeback-as-the-project-2025-war-room-implodes/?

ps:What a wonderful group of people!!

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Blowin' against the wind

Photo illustration: Maura Losch/Axios. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images The Trump administration's pause on leases for offshore wind projects marks a fresh broadside in the president's war on wind power, Axios' Ben Geman reports. The Interior Department says that offshore wind farms' giant turbines can create radar interference called "clutter," potentially jeopardizing national security. ⏸️ "This pause will give the [Interior] Department, along with the Department of War and other relevant government agencies, time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects." Today's move comes after a federal judge threw out President Trump's previous order against wind projects. ? Five Atlantic Coast efforts are affected: Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts; Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut; Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind; and Sunrise Wind and Empire Wind off New York. ? If completed, the projects could help power millions of homes on the eastern seaboard. Offshore wind opponents are welcoming the move. ? Robin Shaffer, president of Protect Our Coast New Jersey: "This is an incredible Christmas gift for our thousands of supporters — hard-working fishermen, small business owners, and families who value reliable, affordable energy over climate virtue signaling." Backers say that the Trump administration is finding reasons to thwart projects approved in the Biden era, fueled by President Trump's distaste for offshore wind. National Ocean Industries Association President Erik Milito: "Every project under construction has already undergone review by the Department of Defense with no objections." ?️Windmills are "so pathetic and so bad," Trump told the UN in September, saying they ruin oceanside views. (Video) ?‍⚖️ What's next: Court battles, almost definitely. Go deeper.

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An American Dream at risk: What happens to a small Nebraska town when 3,200 workers lose their jobs

Tyson Foods is closing its beef plant in Lexington, Nebraska, laying off 3,200 workers next month in a town of just 11,000. Nearly a third of the town’s population will be out of work, causing spinoff layoffs in local businesses and threatening to unravel the small town. After the plant opened in 1990, many came from Los Angeles, then stricken by recession, including Lizeth Yanes, who initially hated what she called “a little ghost town." But soon Lexington flourished, with suburbs sprouting among bur oak and American elm trees. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Cloudy future for bourbon has Jim Beam closing Kentucky distillery for a year Trump administration suspends 5 wind projects off the East Coast, cites national security concerns The Trump administration is suing the District of Columbia over its gun laws College student deported during Thanksgiving travel describes ICE officer’s intimidation Trump’s appointment of envoy to Greenland sparks new tension with Denmark   Wind energy In a major blow to the offshore wind industry, President Donald Trump’s administration suspended federal leases for all large projects currently under construction. The move threatens thousands of jobs and efforts to rein in skyrocketing energy costs.

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Reasonable Doubt (Mandel NGAN / AFP / Getty)

View in browser This past Friday was the legal deadline for releasing files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the Justice Department blew right through it. In an interview Friday morning, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged that not everything would be ready by the deadline. Even the partial release was flawed. As my colleague Charlie Warzel reported, the first tranche is full of extensive redactions. Although Congress required by law that the documents be released in a searchable form online, the function wasn’t working right. The materials released on Friday included many references to and photos of former President Bill Clinton but conspicuously few inclusions of President Donald Trump, who was once a close friend of Epstein’s. Then, on Saturday, at least 16 documents initially included in the dump were suddenly removed. (At least one, including a photo with Trump in it, has been reinstated.) Good explanations might exist for all of these things. Processing such a huge number of documents—hundreds of thousands, according to the DOJ—is a huge challenge under any circumstances, and these files are especially sensitive because they likely contain information about underage victims of sex crimes. Congress also granted the DOJ discretion to withhold documents related to ongoing investigations. Blanche said yesterday that the DOJ would not redact any information relating to Trump. But the Justice Department is unlikely to receive much benefit of the doubt in this case. Representatives Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, who spearheaded the effort to force the files’ release indicated yesterday that they might seek to hold Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress for not releasing all of the documents. Epstein victims have also blasted the administration, my colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick reported. “I feel really disappointed,” Sharlene Rochard told her. “America is getting a look tonight into how we have all felt for years.” A series of compounding failures led the DOJ to this moment. For years, the federal government failed to act effectively to stop Epstein’s crimes. One of the documents included in the Friday release was a 1996 complaint to the FBI alleging that Epstein possessed and distributed child pornography. The DOJ finally got around to investigating Epstein a decade later, only to let him strike a sweetheart plea deal. The government seemed to finally be pushing harder in 2019, but then Epstein died, in what was ruled a suicide, in a federal facility. The Trump Justice Department has done more damage just in the past few months. Blanche took the highly unusual step of interviewing Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s convicted accomplice, earlier this year; she was soon moved to a cushy prison for reasons that have still not been satisfactorily explained. Last month, under pressure because of his own ties to Epstein, the president ordered investigations into relationships between Democrats and Epstein. Such probes are welcome—no one should be above the law—but also obviously political. The Trump administration’s central goal for the Justice Department, in fact, has been to politicize it. This hasn’t been a secret. In Project 2025, which has served as a blueprint for Trump, the former DOJ official Gene Hamilton argued for political appointees to be flooded into “every office and component across the department” and for all decisions to “to be made consistent with the President’s agenda.” Hamilton has gotten his wish. Trump has fired even the lowest-level prosecutors, forced out career officials, appointed his personal attorneys to key positions, and pursued investigations and indictments against political enemies. The DOJ has never been wholly apolitical; John F. Kennedy appointed his own brother to lead it. But both presidents and attorneys general have understood the value of appearing to be at least somewhat insulated from politics, especially since Watergate. That’s why DOJ leaders have at times clashed with the White House over decisions. Attorneys general appointed special counsels, from Lawrence Walsh to Robert Fiske to Robert Mueller to Jack Smith, in order to show and maintain their distance from highly political cases. Alberto Gonzales, an attorney general under George W. Bush, resigned after the revelation of political pressure on U.S. attorneys. That scandal seems almost quaint today; now the president attempts to appoint underqualified aides to conduct prosecutions that he orders on his Truth Social account, and Bondi leaps to enable him. Turning the Justice Department into an arm of the MAGA agenda is producing lots of unwanted side effects, though. Government lawyers are finding that federal courts no longer grant them the presumption of trust. Attempts to indict former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James have come a cropper; judges and grand juries both have so far been skeptical. Now the DOJ’s fumbling of the Epstein files won’t receive much forbearance from politicians or the public. Trump and those around him grasped that the DOJ could be a powerful political tool for a president. What they didn’t understand was that keeping the Justice Department’s hands clean of politics is a way of protecting a president too. Related: How to read the Epstein files like an expert What is actually in the Epstein files?

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⚓️ "Trump-class" battleships

President Trump announced plans to build "Trump-class" military vessels that he described as new-age battleships — part of his goal to construct a "Golden Fleet" for the Navy, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes.

• Why it matters: Seapower and shipbuilding have become central to Trump's second-term vision for military dominance.

Trump unveiled the plans at Mar-a-Lago flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Navy Secretary John Phelan.

• "They'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built," Trump said.

Concept art depicting the "Trump-class" battleship. Rendering: U.S. Navy

? Concept art depicts something more reminiscent of a cruiser than a traditional battleship. It has at least one laser weapon aboard and missile-launch capability.

• Trump has frequently complained about the rusty appearance of ships and has kick-started a shipbuilding office with a promise to make vessels "very fast, very soon."

Keep reading.

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US strikes another alleged drug-smuggling boat in eastern Pacific The U.S. military said Monday that it had conducted another strike against a boat it said was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person. Read more.

What to know: In a social media post, U.S. Southern Command said, “Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” Southern Command provided no evidence that the vessel was engaged in drug smuggling.   At least 105 people have been killed in 29 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and say the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.   The Trump administration has said the strikes are meant to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. and increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump warns Maduro against playing ‘tough’ as US escalates pressure campaign on Venezuela   WATCH: Pentagon releases video of strike in the eastern Pacific   Judge allows Kilmar Abrego Garcia to remain free while she considers immigration issues   White House rebuffs Catholic bishops’ appeal for a Christmas pause in immigration enforcement   Judge chides Ghislaine Maxwell for mentioning Epstein victim names in papers seeking to overturn conviction   Ex-CIA director John Brennan wants ‘favored’ Trump judge kept away from Justice Department inquiry   Addiction-stricken community struggles to keep a syringe program going after Trump’s order   NSA employee sues Trump administration over order on transgender rights and two ‘immutable’ genders   US drops plan to deport Chinese national who exposed Xinjiang abuses, rights activists say   FCC bans new Chinese-made drones, citing security risks   WATCH: Trump announces plans for new Navy ‘battleship’ as part of a ‘Golden Fleet’

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Trump and Epstein’s Flight With 20-Year-Old Woman Revealed in New Files

The president’s name appears in the fresh tranche of files concerning the disgraced financier.

Details of President Donald Trump’s flights on board Jeffrey Epstein’s plane were included in newly released files on Tuesday, including one trip with an unnamed 20-year-old woman.

The Justice Department released thousands more documents relating to Epstein on Monday before taking them down. The files were then made available again as of Tuesday, with documents including details of the president’s relationship with the late financier and pedophile.

One 2020 email from the Southern District of New York included in the dump, with the recipient’s name redacted, said, “Donald Trump traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case.”

The records appear to indicate that on one flight, “the only three passengers” were Epstein, Trump, and an unnamed 20-year-old woman, and that on two others, two of the passengers “were women who would be possible witnesses in a Maxwell case.”

Trump is “listed as a passenger on at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996,” according to the records, with the former socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s co-conspirator, also present on four of them. On other occasions, he was accompanied by his then-wife Marla Maples, his daughter Tiffany, and son Eric.

The documents also include a 2021 federal subpoena sent to Mar-a-Lago amid the government’s investigation and subsequent prosecution of Maxwell, who’s now serving a 20-year sentence on sex trafficking charges.The Washington Post further reports that the new documents include “several tips that were collected by the FBI about Trump’s involvement with Epstein and parties at their properties in the early 2000s.” It is unclear at this stage whether those tips were corroborated or subject to further investigation. Epstein died in 2019 while in police custody awaiting trial.

Trump, who maintained a friendship with Epstein until the mid-2000s, has repeatedly fueled conspiracy theories, popular among the MAGA base, that Epstein and Maxwell were members of an international cabal of pedophiles.

Campaign promises of full transparency on the financier’s crimes backfired in July when the Justice Department quietly announced that, contrary to far-right speculation, Epstein’s death was a suicide and he kept no “client list” of uber-wealthy accomplices.

That determination ignited a firestorm at the heart of the MAGA administration, with Trump facing intense scrutiny in the months since over the extent of his relationship with Epstein, and what he may have known of the financier’s sex trafficking operations.

Following a concerted, bipartisan push through the House and Senate, the president signed a law in November mandating the release by Dec. 19 of all remaining documents on the case, subject to redactions solely for the purpose of protecting the identities of Epstein’s victims.

That deadline passed Friday. As of Tuesday, the DOJ has released only a tiny fraction of the estimated hundreds of thousands of files held on the investigation and prosecution of Epstein and Maxwell, prompting fears the department may be buying time to redact embarrassing or potentially incriminating details of their friendship with Trump.

Trump, for one, appears genuinely perplexed at continued public interest in the Epstein scandal. “They’re asking me questions about Epstein,” he lashed out at reporters Monday. “I thought that was finished.”

Over the past several months, the president has repeatedly deflected scrutiny of his ties to Epstein by drawing attention to the disgraced financier’s relationship with other high-profile figures. Among them is President Bill Clinton who, Trump has claimed without evidence, traveled no fewer than “28 times” aboard Epstein’s private jet.

While Clinton has indeed featured prominently in the files released by the Justice Department thus far, those documents have since done little to dampen the intense public focus on Trump, who now appears to have undergone a wholesale reversal of his previously aggressive stance toward his Democratic predecessor.

“I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown. I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown. I think it’s a terrible thing,” he told reporters Monday. “Bill Clinton’s a big boy. He can handle it, but you probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago. Many years ago. And they’re, you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-epsteins-flight-with-20-year-old-woman-revealed-in-new-files/?

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Trump Melts Down Over Epstein File Dump: ‘It’s Terrible’

The president ranted about reputations being ruined by the Epstein files—documents he (reluctantly) compelled be released.

President Donald Trump gave a long-winded rant when asked about the Justice Department’s release of some of the Epstein files.

He warned that the release of photos in the files could ruin reputations, but did not address the push for justice for the late sex offender’s survivors.

On Monday, while taking reporters’ questions, the president was asked directly for the first time about the latest batch of Epstein documents released last week.

The president began by addressing the files, but then went on a lengthy diatribe about a series of topics ranging from Epstein to drug prices.

While answering questions at Mar-a-Lago, where he is staying for the holidays, a reporter asked Trump, 79, if he was surprised by the number of photos of former President Bill Clinton in the files that were released on Friday and if he could commit to the files being fully released by the end of the year.

“I know there are a lot of people that are angry about all of the pictures of other people,” Trump began. “I think it’s terrible.”

The president said he has always liked Clinton and they’ve always gotten along, despite him previously calling for the Justice Department to investigate the former president’s relationship with Epstein as he tried to deflect the focus away from his own relationship with the convicted sex offender.

“I hate to see photos come out of him,” Trump said on Monday.

The president did not mention the survivors of Epstein’s abuse as he continued to speak, but slammed Democrats and “a couple of bad Republicans” for pushing for the release.

“They give you photos of me, too,” the president continued. “Everybody was friendly with this guy. He was around. He was all over Palm Beach and other places.”

Trump repeated his claim that he threw Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago, though the timeline and reason for their falling out have raised questions.

“As a person that was in Mar-a-Lago, I threw him out. This is Mar-a-Lago. It’s the hottest place in, I think, it’s the hottest place in the world,” Trump rambled. “But it’s the hottest place in Florida, and everybody would come here. He’d come here. We actually threw him out.”

The president then went on to lament some of the images of Epstein associates going public.

“But no, I don’t like the pictures of Bill Clinton being shown. I don’t like the pictures of other people being shown. I think it’s a terrible thing,” Trump said.

The Justice Department is under fire for failing to comply with the law and meet the Friday deadline to release all the documents.

DOJ officials said more files would be released over the coming weeks as the department can go through and make sure to remove information to ensure victims’ identities are protected.

But critics have blasted the administration for making sweeping redactions and not following the letter of the law, while also releasing only some of the files by the deadline.

“You probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago, many years ago, and they’re, you know, highly respected bankers and lawyers and others,” Trump said.

The president then went on to slam GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, who helped lead the bipartisan effort to pass the law to release the files, calling him a “low life.”

Trump claimed the entire focus on Epstein was “a way of trying to deflect from the tremendous success that the Republican Party has.”

Some of Epstein’s victims have voiced their displeasure with the Justice Department’s failure to deliver the full files on Friday as required by law.

A group of 19 women abused by Epstein took aim at Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday with a statement.

“There has been no communication with survivors or our representatives as to what was withheld from release or why hundreds of thousands of documents have not been disclosed by the legal deadline, or how the DOJ will ensure that no more victims are wrongly disclosed,” the statement read.

“While clearer communication would not change the fact that a law was broken, its absence suggests an ongoing intent to keep survivors and the public in the dark as much as possible and as long as possible.”

Trump complained on Monday that he was still facing questions about Epstein as his administration has struggled to get out in front of the fallout after backtracking on releasing the files months ago, despite Trump himself promising to release them on the campaign trail.

“I thought that was finished. I believe they gave over 100,000 pages of documents,” Trump complained on Monday.

He claimed that there is “tremendous backlash” over the release of documents.

“A lot of people are very angry that the pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein, but they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruin a reputation of somebody,” Trump said.

While Trump bashed photos being released, his own White House communications team has been promoting photos of Clinton on social media that were included in the files dump.

A spokesperson for Clinton released a statement earlier on Monday saying that Clinton needs no protection. It called for Bondi to release any further material mentioning Clinton or photos of him and claimed refusal to do so would confirm speculation that the Justice Department’s actions are not about transparency but insinuation.

Trump did not address whether he would commit to all the files being released by the end of the year.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-melts-down-over-epstein-file-dump-its-terrible/?

ps:Reputations being ruined? They all did that to themselves!!

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Trump, 79, Declares Absurd National Security Threat in Late-Night Meltdown

It is unclear what prompted the president’s latest deranged rant.

Donald Trump has accused The New York Times of being a national security threat in an unhinged Truth Social post.

“The Failing New York Times, and their lies and purposeful misrepresentations, is a serious threat to the National Security of our Nation,” Trump wrote in a late-night social media meltdown.

“Their Radical Left, Unhinged Behavior, writing FAKE Articles and Opinions in a never-ending way, must be dealt with and stopped. THEY ARE A TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. PRESIDENT DJT.”

It is unclear what prompted Trump’s latest attack on the newspaper he has long derided as part of the “fake news” media.

However, the president and the White House were triggered for days over a November report in the Times revealing that the 79-year-old president has drastically reduced his public appearances compared to his first term.

Trump, who is on track to become the oldest sitting U.S. president to date, is also starting his days later on average and working shorter hours than he did during his first stint in the White House, the Times reported.

Last week, the paper also published a detailed report examining Trump’s friendship with the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, describing how the two “pursued women in a game of ego and dominance” in which “female bodies were currency.”In one particularly damaging section, a mother who accompanied her 14-year-old daughter to a party at Mar-a-Lago with other young models claimed she was warned by Trump’s then-wife, Marla Maples: “Whatever you do, do not let her around any of these men, and especially my husband.” Maples denied making the remark to the Times.

Trump also took aim at the Times during a Monday press conference, accusing the paper of insufficiently covering his plan to lower prescription drug prices.

The president ranted about the outlet while continuing to push a dubious claim that he had lowered the cost of prescription drugs by the mathematically impossible amount of up to “3,000 percent.”

“A drug that sells for $10 in London is costing $130 in New York. We’re bringing it down to $20,” Trump said. “So we’re going down—you can do your own math, but it’s 2,000 percent, 3,000 percent. It’s pretty amazing. And, you know, the New York Times had a story about it, a small story, way in the back of the paper. It’s the single biggest thing to happen with respect to drugs probably in 50 years.

“It’s the biggest thing ever to happen, and it’s barely covered in the New York Times because it’s a fake newspaper,” Trump added.

In response to the Truth Social attack, a spokesperson for the Times told the Daily Beast: “Our job is to report fully and fairly on the government, no matter which party is in power. That includes reporting things that officials would prefer to hide from the American people. We won’t be deterred from this responsibility by threats and bluster, from the president or anyone else.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-declares-absurd-national-security-threat-in-late-night-meltdown/?

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How ‘60 Minutes’ Turned Into 30 Years of Déjà Vu

“I trusted ’60 Minutes’ and CBS and that trust was really challenged,” tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand told the Daily Beast’s Michael Daly.

On learning of the last-minute decision to spike a 60 Minutes exposé on the horrors of an El Salvador prison, the biochemist Jeffrey Wigand was sent back three decades to when he acted on his conscience, only to discover that he had misplaced his trust in what was the most trusted entity in TV news. “Their image was sterling when I went there,” 83-year-old Wigand told the Daily Beast on Monday.

Back then, Wigand had been tasked by Brown & Williamson to develop a safer cigarette. He claimed that the company, in fact, prized sales over lives and used a dangerous additive in its Sir Walter Raleigh aromatic pipe tobacco to make its deadly product more appealing.

“Profit,” Wigand said. “Revenue becomes tantamount to amoral behavior.”

When he was finally driven by a Bronx boy’s sense of right and wrong to make the facts known, he contacted 60 Minutes as the one place he figured he could count upon to get the word out. He spoke to the correspondent viewed as the most trustworthy on the most trusted show.

“I had a lot of respect for Mike Wallace,” Wigand said.

In the summer of 1995, Wigand flew to New York from Louisville, Kentucky, and met with Wallace for several days. Wigand was guaranteed that before anything aired, he needed time to prepare for the consequences.

“My finances, where I was living,” he recalled.

There was also personal safety. CBS assigned him two armed former Secret Service agents who started his car in the morning and followed him and his wife and young daughters everywhere, even when the girls were biking.

“I had my family protected,” Wigand said. “Then [60 Minutes] could release it.”

By October, everything was set.

But then, Wallace called. He said the segment was being put off until after the start of the New Year.

Wigand later learned that CBS was in the midst of being acquired by Westinghouse and did not want the deal disrupted by a lawsuit from Wigand’s truly explosive revelations. He understood that the determining factor was the same one that prompted the tobacco company to add coumarin to improve the taste, even though it was known to cause liver damage.

“The balance sheet,” Wigand said.

B&W told 60 Minutes at the time that they removed coumarin from their Sir Walter Raleigh aromatic pipe tobacco, but insisted it did not pose a health risk.

The question of when 60 Minutes would actually run the report became moot when The Wall Street Journal got wind of it and broke the story. CBS at least continued to provide Wigand with the two former Secret Service agents. Wigand believes Wallace regretted caving in.

“He could have used his power, his image to do something, and he didn’t do it,” Wigand said. “He recognized that.”

The program was renowned for speaking truth to power. It was now party through CBS’s owners to speaking power to truth. Power being money.

“I trusted 60 Minutes and CBS, and that trust was really challenged,” Wigand said.

The show nonetheless largely retained a certain trust among its still massive audience.

But, as Bronx Bomber Yogi Berra might say, it was déjà vu all over again when Wigand learned that CBS News’ new editor-in-chief Bari Weiss had decided to yank the El Salvador prison segment at the last moment on Sunday.

Weiss, who left The New York Times in 2020 decrying “self-censorship,” said that the El Salvador piece simply was not ready for prime time. Wigand suspected a 60 Minutes piece had again been spiked due to corporate machinations.

Billionaire Larry Ellison and his son, David, have been vying with Netflix to buy Warner Bros.

The Warner Bros. stockholders rejected the Ellisons’ offer.

But on Monday, the father sweetened the offer with a $40.4 billion personal guarantee.

David Ellison has already acquired Paramount, which has become the parent company of CBS.

Paramount facilitated approval of that deal by paying Trump $16 million to settle an iffy suit against CBS over the editing of a 60 Minutes piece on Kamala Harris, which he felt gave her an undeserved electoral boost.

In the meantime, Trump had voiced displeasure with 60 Minutes, telling a North Carolina rally crowd just two days before the segment was cut that the show “has treated me worse under the new ownership.”

Other than the ever-present threat of another Trump hissy fit, the driving factor in the latest 60 Minutes mess is likely still money. CBS recently acquired new owners, but they were again speaking power to truth. Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent for the El Salvador piece, recalled the Wigand betrayal in a memo to her colleagues on Monday.

“CBS spiked the Jeffrey Wigand interview due to legal concerns, nearly destroying the credibility of this broadcast. It took years to recover from that ‘low point’,” she wrote. “By pulling this story to shield an administration, we are repeating that history, but for political optics rather than legal ones.”

In both cases, the determining factor was likely the one Wigand recognized three decades ago.

“Greed,” he said on Monday.

The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-60-minutes-turned-into-30-years-of-deja-vu/?

ps:I wouldn't hold my breath for a call back!!

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CBS Frantically Tries to Stop People From Seeing Censored ‘60 Minutes’

The network began a game of whack-a-mole with a segment that newly hired Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss didn’t want to air.

The 60 Minutes story that CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss abruptly pulled from the air on Sunday has been leaked—and the network is responding with copyright takedowns.

Canadian broadcaster Global TV aired the segment, which deals with Venezuelan migrants to the U.S. whom the Trump administration deported to CECOT, the notorious prison in El Salvador. Videos of the segment—in some instances, people recording their television screens—began circulating on Monday. But many didn’t last.

Paramount Skydance, CBS News’ parent company, began issuing a flurry of copyright notices on X, YouTube, and other platforms.

But the video was ultimately saved in the Internet Archive, among other places.

In it, a Venezuelan college student who sought asylum in the U.S.—and says he has no criminal record—describes what happened to him at CECOT.

“There was blood everywhere, screams, people crying, people who couldn’t take it and were urinating and vomiting on themselves,” Luis Munoz Pinto said. “Four guards grabbed me, and they beat me until I bled until the point of agony. They knocked our faces against the wall. That was when they broke one of my teeth.”

A CBS News representative told CNN that the Canadian stream happened “mistakenly.” A revised 60 Minutes episode without the CECOT report aired on Global TV Sunday night, but the original version was then posted to the network’s app.

“While Global TV has removed the episode from their app, this segment has since been posted on social and digital media,” a CBS News representative told the outlet. “Paramount’s content protection team is in the process of routine take down orders for the unaired and unauthorized segment.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS News for comment on the 60 Minutes segment.

Weiss, 41, claimed the story “needed additional reporting” before it could air, telling The New York Times: “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”

But Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent on the story, said “political” motives were at play.

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi, 53, wrote to her CBS colleagues, per The New York Times. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision; it is a political one.”

President Donald Trump on Friday complained about his treatment on 60 Minutes. Paramount Skydance chief David Ellison is seeking to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery—a move that would require the approval of the Federal Communications Commission.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cbs-frantically-tries-to-stop-people-from-seeing-censored-60-minutes/?

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‘60 Minutes’ Civil War Breaks Out at Leaked Meeting

“60 Minutes” staff aired their frustrations with Bari Weiss during a Monday meeting.

A newsroom firestorm has erupted at CBS News after editor-in-chief Bari Weiss made the eleventh‑hour call on Sunday to shelve a 60 Minutes report that was critical of President Donald Trump.

60 Minutes staff aired their grievances at a staff meeting on Monday, voicing frustration with Weiss’s leadership and her handling of the segment, which detailed the grisly conditions at an El Salvador megaprison where Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration were held.

“It’s not a part-time job,” longtime correspondent Scott Pelley said, blasting Weiss for missing screenings of the segment, according to The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum.

Weiss, 41, screened the segment for the first time last Thursday and initially approved it, sources told CNN. In total, the story was reportedly screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and the Standards and Practices department.

But on Saturday, the day before the segment was set to air, Weiss reportedly messaged 60 Minutes executive producer Tanya Simon with a list of concerns.

Simon told colleagues on Monday that she had “defended” the segment but was ultimately forced to “comply” with Weiss’s demands for additional reporting, including an interview with a member of the Trump administration.

“In the end, our editor-in-chief had a different vision for how the piece should be, and it came late in the process, and we were not in a position to address the notes,” Simon said, according to The Washington Post, which obtained a partial transcript of the meeting.The longtime 60 Minutes producer added: “We pushed back, we defended our story, but she wanted changes, and I ultimately had to comply.”

Simon reportedly said she stands “100 percent” behind the segment and Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran 60 Minutes correspondent who reported the story.

Alfonsi, 53, called Weiss’s shelving of the story a “political” decision in a leaked memo to 60 Minutes staff.

At a Monday morning editorial call, Weiss called on the newsroom to handle “contentious disagreements” with “respect,” in an apparent rebuke of Alfonsi’s memo.

Alfonsi hit back during the 60 Minutes staff meeting, noting Weiss never contacted her directly about the segment and saying, “Disagreement requires discussion,” according to Grynbaum.

In her memo, Alfonsi said that she had asked Weiss for a call to discuss her decision to “spike” the story, but that Weiss “did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity.”

She noted that requests for comment on the piece had been sent to the Department of Homeland Security, the White House, and the State Department.

“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” Alfonsi wrote.

Weiss, the founder of the conservative The Free Press, said in the editorial call that she “held that story because it wasn’t ready” and “did not advance the ball,” according to CNN media analyst Brian Stelter.

“And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera‚” said Weiss, whom Trump-friendly Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison appointed as CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October.

But sources inside CBS News say Weiss’s decision was driven by mounting pressure tied to Trump himself.

Weiss raised her concerns with the report just hours after Trump, 79, attacked CBS and 60 Minutes during a rally in North Carolina on Friday.

”I love the new owners of CBS,” Trump said, referring to Ellison, who rose to power after the FCC greenlit the $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance Media in July. “Something happens to them, though. 60 Minutes has treated me worse under the new ownership… they just keep hitting me, it’s crazy.”

Weiss told The New York Times in a statement on Sunday, “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to CBS for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/60-minutes-civil-war-breaks-out-at-leaked-meeting/?

ps:So once again don't hold your breath!!

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Trump’s Tacky Kennedy Center Rebrand Immediately Runs Into Legal Trouble

Rep. Joyce Beatty says Trump and his handpicked board broke federal law by slapping his name on the venue.

A member of the Kennedy Center board has sued President Donald Trump to force the removal of his name from the performing arts venue’s facade.

Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty, 75, an ex officio trustee, filed the complaint on Monday in federal court against Trump, 79, and a slate of devotees he installed after reshaping the institution’s board earlier this year.

The suit argues that the board’s Dec. 18 vote to rebrand the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was void because only Congress, not the trustees, can change the building’s name in statute.

In a statement from the Washington Litigation Group announcing the filing, Beatty said: “This entire process has been a complete disgrace to this cherished institution and the people it serves. These unlawful actions must be blocked before any further damage is done.”

Beatty is represented by Norman Eisen, 65, who said the name change “violates the Constitution and the rule of law because Congress said this is the name. [Trump] doesn’t have a right to change the name.”

The filing paints the Dec. 18 meeting as a choreographed exercise designed to manufacture a foregone outcome. Beatty says trustees met at the home of Andrea Wynn, a Trump-aligned donor installed on the board, and that the agenda gave no warning that a renaming would be raised.

When the moment arrived, Beatty says she began to speak, identified herself, and flagged concerns—then was muted and repeatedly prevented from unmuting, including through written notices stating she would not be allowed back into the discussion. The suit claims trustees then declared the vote “unanimous.” The speed of the rebrand is also questioned in the court filing. The day after the meeting, on Dec. 19, workers installed a prominent new inscription on the front portico reading “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” while the website and emails switched to “The Trump Kennedy Center.”

“This is just another attempt to evade the law and not let the people have a say,” Beatty said last Friday.

Aside from Trump, the suit’s named defendants include the Trump-appointed Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Education Secretary Linda McMahon, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, her deputy Dan Scavino, Speaker Mike Johnson, Second Lady Usha Vance, and around two dozen other people, including Fox News host Laura Ingraham.

Beatty’s case is structured as a trustee fight and argues the board is bound by “the usual powers and obligations of a trustee,” and that renaming the building violates the trust’s governing terms because Congress designated the Center as a living memorial and—by statute—the “sole national memorial” to JFK within Washington and its environs.

The complaint also cites federal limits on adding new memorials or plaques in public areas after 1983, plus a separate restriction on acknowledging private donors on the exterior of a 2012 project—language the lawsuit uses to frame the Trump signage as expressly out of bounds.

It asks the court to declare the renaming unlawful, order the removal of Trump branding from the building and from official channels, and—at a minimum—require a meeting at which Beatty is allowed to participate.

The suit comes amid a broader political fight over Trump’s takeover of the venue’s leadership. Trump named Grenell interim executive director in February after purging trustees and installing allies.

The fallout from Trump’s decision to rename the venue has seen the Kennedy family object, and Kennedy’s niece vow to yank the letters off. One artist pulled a show in protest.

Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi disputed Rep. Beatty’s comments on the board meeting in a statement to the Daily Beast, claiming: “The entire board was invited to attend in person and the privilege of listening in on the meeting was granted to all members, even those without a vote, such as ex-officio member Joyce Beatty.”

White House spokesperson Liz Huston told the Beast in a statement, “After years of neglect by Democrats, President Trump stepped up and saved the old Kennedy Center by strengthening its finances, modernizing the building, and ending divisive woke programming. As a result, the Board of the Kennedy Center voted unanimously to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center — a historic move that marks a new era of success, prestige, and restored grandeur for one of America’s most iconic cultural institutions.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-tacky-kennedy-center-rebrand-immediately-runs-into-legal-trouble/?

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The Pentagon is hoarding critical minerals that could power the clean energy transition

Pete Hegseth, who has taken to calling himself the Secretary of War, says the Defense Department “does not do climate change crap.” Just last week, he asserted that the agency  “will not be distracted” by climate change or “woke moralizing.”

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/12/23/repub/the-pentagon-is-hoarding-critical-minerals-that-could-power-the-clean-energy-transition/?

Did Venezuela 'illegally' steal U.S. oil, as Trump claimed? What to know

Under international law, Venezuela has control over its own oil — but its efforts to nationalize its oil industry in 2007 did result in arbitration.

Claim:

As of December 2025, Venezuela has illegally stolen U.S. oil.

Rating:  Mostly False

What's True

As part of an effort to nationalize its oil industry, Venezuela seized assets and land from U.S.-owned oil companies.

What's False

Venezuela's oil reserves are owned by Venezuela, per its own constitution and international law, and thus Venezuela's seizure of its own natural resources was legal.

What's Undetermined

Experts disagreed on whether the seizure of land and assets, on the other hand, was legal, as an international tribunal determined Venezuela had not paid proper compensation to at least one affected company. However, the legal battles are not in relation to the oil itself, but to the other assets once owned by U.S. oil companies.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-venezuela-us-oil/?

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FBI Says Epstein Letter to Fellow Sex Creep Is a Fake

A letter mentioning Trump, which formed part of a fresh trove of explosive Epstein documents, has been deemed a fake.

Notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein purportedly wrote a letter to a fellow child sex offender claiming that President Donald Trump shared their love of “young, nubile girls.”

But hours after the Justice Department released the letter containing the explosive claim, the department issued a statement saying it was fake.

The letter formed part of a fresh trove of documents published by the department on Tuesday morning. It appeared to show Epstein writing from jail to Larry Nassar, the USA Gymnastics team doctor who was convicted of sexually abusing young gymnasts.

“Dear L.N. as you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home. Good Luck! We share one thing … our love & caring for young ladies at the hope they’d reach their full potential,” the letter says.

“Our president also shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch,’ whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair. Yours, J. Epstein.”

The letter is postmarked August 13, 2019—three days after Epstein was found dead in his cell in an apparent suicide while awaiting trial for his heinous crimes.

Trump was president at the time, having come to office in 2016 amid a slew of controversies—including an infamous hot mic moment where he bragged about “grabbing” women by their genitals.

While the president had previously been a longtime associate of Epstein, he has repeatedly denied knowing about the sex offender’s crimes and has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The letter comes with the words “J. Epstein, Manhattan Correctional NYC,” and is addressed to Nassar at a correctional facility in Arizona. It was reportedly found by investigators in the jail mailroom weeks later, after it was returned and marked “no longer at this address.”

But the Department of Justice posted on X on Tuesday afternoon that it was looking into the validity of the letter “and we will follow up as soon as possible.”

A few hours later, it issued another statement, saying that the FBI had determined the letter was fake, based on the fact that the writing “does not appear to match Jeffrey Epstein’s”; ”the letter was postmarked three days after Epstein’s death out of Northern Virginia, when he was jailed in New York"; and “the return address did not list the jail where Epstein was held and did not include his inmate number, which is required for outgoing mail.”

“This fake letter serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims within the document factual. Nevertheless, the DOJ will continue to release all material required by law,” the statement said.

The department has been forced to release the Epstein files this month after Congress passed new laws mandating full transparency.

Also contained in the latest document dump was an email from the Southern District of New York revealing Trump flew on Epstein’s plane more than previously known, including with two potential witnesses in the case of Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

There was also a subpoena to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club, where Maxwell recruited former spa worker Virginia Giuffre to be one of Epstein’s victims.

The subpoena is dated October 5, 2021, and demands “any and all employment records relating to” a person whose name is redacted.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.

Earlier, the Justice Department posted a preemptive statement on X, warning that some of the information released “contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.”

“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already.”

But the letter will nonetheless reignite the firestorm surrounding the Epstein files, which Trump has repeatedly described as a “hoax” and the administration has spent months trying to keep hidden.

The files released so far also contained documents related to an earlier court case against Maxwell, in which a victim named Jane Doe testified that she was 14 when Epstein took her to Mar-a-Lago, where she met Trump.

“Epstein elbowed Trump playfully asking him, referring to [Jane] Doe, ‘This is a good one, right?’ Trump smiled and nodded in agreement,” the document says.

Another file has a transcript from a deposition Epstein took in 2010, in which the sex predator is asked if he ever “socialized” with Trump “in the presence of females under the age of 18.”

Epstein replies: “Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth 14th Amendment Right, sir.”

On Monday night, Trump seemed dismayed that the files could harm the reputations of “innocent people” such as “highly respected bankers, lawyers and others” tied to the disgraced financier.

Asked about newly released photos involving former president Bill Clinton, Trump replied: “I know there are a lot of people that are angry about all of the pictures of other people,” Trump said. “I think it’s terrible.”

“I hate to see photos come out of him… They give you photos of me, too,” the president continued.

“Everybody was friendly with this guy. He was around. He was all over Palm Beach and other places.”

The comment was unusual, largely because Trump last month ordered the DOJ to investigate Clinton’s ties to Epstein, along with other Democrats.

But Clinton hit back on Monday, accusing Trump of trying to smear him with “insinuation” while protecting others. He also called for the department to release anything it had on him.

“What the Department of Justice has released so far, and the manner in which it did so, makes one thing clear: someone or something is being protected,” Clinton’s spokesperson Angel Urena said on Monday on behalf of the former president.

“We do not know whom, what, or why. But we do know this: we need no such protection.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-named-in-bombshell-epstein-jailhouse-letter-to-fellow-sex-creep/?

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Trump Aides’ Shocking Demands Exposed in Leaked ICE Messages

Public affairs teams were urged to deceptively edit videos and apparently abandon accuracy altogether in a push to go viral.

Leaked internal chats show President Donald Trump’s team ordering ICE officials to “flood the airwaves” with “propaganda” videos of migrants being chased, shackled, and mocked—regardless of their veracity.

An investigation published Tuesday by The Washington Post details how the agency’s communications unit has morphed into an “influencer-style” propaganda shop during Trump’s second term. This involves churning out dramatic “Reddit”-esque raid videos en masse to appease White House aides, even when the visuals don’t match what was actually happening on the ground, according to the Post.

In one Los Angeles blitz, the paper found, the agency’s X feed jumped from three posts earlier in the day to 38 in 11 hours, pushing out mug shots and clips of “illegal aliens” being grabbed and hauled away.

The “overworked” public affairs team prioritized spectacle over accuracy at the behest of political appointees, according to the messages published by the Post. They show some officials were horrified by the new approach, while others appeared to revel in it.

Staff were reportedly told to brand arrestees as the “Worst of the Worst” even when they had no criminal record, hunting instead for something “newsworthy” like an “egregious immigration history.”

At the White House’s request, ICE’s assistant director for public affairs, Emily Covington, asked if a deportation-flight video from Texas could be recut so that it wouldn’t “feature tons of females.” A producer replied that they would re-edit the B-roll to remove the women.

One official admitted that footage was dropped if “the truth of the operation” did not fit the slogan.

In a statement to the Daily Beast, Covington said, “Under the prior administration, this team was told that they couldn’t say or post anything, likely because millions of illegal aliens were streaming into this country.”

She added, “Under President Trump, ICE is finally allowed to do its job. Of course we are going to be transparent and show the American public what the men and women of this agency do each day, including by providing details on the criminal illegal aliens they are removing.”

The Post also found that ICE and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), repeatedly used copyrighted music and imagery without permission.

When one employee warned about violations, others waved the worries away—including, according to a senior DHS official, White House lawyers.

At least five government videos have been taken down from X after complaints from representatives for comedian Theo Von, the band MGMT, rappers Jay-Z, Joey Valence, and Chamillionaire, and rights holders for a Pokémon-style cartoon that riffed on the “Gotta Catch ’Em All” slogan.

Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin told the Post that the White House had given ICE and DHS “autonomy to create content that is effectively reaching the American public,” insisting that lawyers had pre-cleared posts leaning on copyrighted material.

The approach tracks previous reporting on the controversial public social-media operation overseen by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, 54, under Trump, 79.

The new leaks also reveal the drastic lengths members of ICE’s visual communications unit went to in order to appease Trump officials. When professional producers were unavailable, public-affairs officers were dispatched with phones to act as what one DHS official called a “footage force multiplier,” shooting raids and courthouse arrests themselves.

One public-affairs specialist ended up in the emergency room with a bloodied hand after being hit by a rock outside a California marijuana farm. Another complained of being sent to volatile scenes in a T-shirt while agents around him wore body armor. ICE told the Post it now equips communications staff with protective gear, including vests and first-aid supplies.

As output ramped up, some staff became uncomfortable with the tone of the messaging. ICE’s X account posted a clip of a bound protester in Portland being wheeled face down on a cart, set to the lyric “they see me rollin’.” DHS’s main account called Illinois demonstrators “imbecilic morons,” and shared a Halloween montage of mug shots, warning there would be “no sanctuary for creatures & criminals of the night.”

A former DHS producer told The Post, “They just went nuts. It was no limit. It was like if someone from Reddit took over.”

Some federal prosecutors told colleagues they worried the brash posts could taint jury pools or raise allegations of bias, the Post reported. McLaughlin said she was unaware of such concerns and argued that if lawyers were worried, they should raise them with her rather than talking to journalists.

But other officials appeared to enjoy Trump’s hard-nosed approach to immigration enforcement, per the messages. One shared a “Hide Yo Wife. Hide Yo Kids” meme four days into the president’s term and mocked a migrant’s mug shot as an “MS13 heart throb.”

One staffer even joked in a chat about checking immigration paperwork for Los Angeles Dodgers’ Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, after the team restricted ICE access to its parking lots.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson blamed Trump’s predecessor for criticism of DHS featured in the Post report, claiming in a comment to the Daily Beast that “career DHS bureaucrats are complaining to the media about finally having to do their jobs.”

She said Trump and his team were “working at breakneck speed” to “keep our promises, deport criminal illegal aliens, and get information out to the public...no matter what the Washington Post or disgruntled employees try to say.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-white-house-demands-exposed-leaked-ice-kristi-noem-dhs-department-of-homeland-security-messages/?