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

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Scoop: Israel's top spy in U.S. for Iran talks

The director of Israel's Mossad spy agency, David Barnea, arrived in the U.S. this morning for talks on the situation in Iran, an Israeli source and another source with knowledge of the meeting tell Axios' Barak Ravid.

• Why it matters: Barnea's visit is part of the consultations between the U.S. and Israel over the protests in Iran and possible U.S. military action in response to the regime's crackdown.

?? Barnea is expected to meet in Miami with White House envoy Steve Witkoff, who is managing the direct channel with Iran.

• Keep reading.

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Delusional Trump, 79, Floats Unhinged Reason to Skip Midterms

The president has little hope that the GOP will perform well in November.

Donald Trump has made a desperate plea to bypass upcoming midterm elections using an unsettling rationale.

The president—who has previously floated the idea of canceling November’s nationwide elections—appeared to acknowledge that Republicans are likely to suffer heavy losses, while offering a desperate workaround during an interview with Reuters.

“It’s some deep psychological thing, but when you win the presidency, you don’t win the midterms,” Trump said. The 79-year-old then suggested that he had accomplished so much as president that “when you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.”

Historically, the party in power almost always suffers losses in midterm elections. With the GOP holding a razor-thin majority in the House, Republicans already face an uphill battle to retain control of the chamber.

Trump’s weak approval ratings, combined with backlash over issues such as the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and ongoing economic concerns, further signal that Republicans nationwide could be headed for a grim November.

Earlier this month, Trump told a room full of House Republicans at the now MAGA-fied Kennedy Center that “they should cancel” the midterms, while warning of the consequences if the GOP loses.

“You gotta win the midterms,” Trump said. “Because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just going to be—I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached.”

The president has appeared increasingly resigned to the possibility that Republicans could lose their governing trifecta during the final two years of his term.

“If you go back a long way, the sitting president—whether it’s Democrat or Republican—always loses the midterm, even if they’ve done well. Almost always,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity last week.

“And, you know, you’d think it’d be like a 50/50 deal, even if the president’s done a great job. I think we’ve done a great job. We’ve done maybe the best job ever in the first year, but they always seem to lose the midterm,” he added.

Elsewhere in his Reuters interview, Trump once again dismissed concerns from millions of Americans grappling with a cost-of-living crisis, insisting instead that the economy is the strongest “in history.”

According to Reuters, during the 30-minute Oval Office interview, Trump held up a thick binder of papers that he claimed documented his achievements since returning to office. When asked about rising grocery prices, the president gestured to the binder and said he simply needed to do a better job of promoting his accomplishments.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/delusional-trump-79-gives-unhinged-reason-for-why-midterms-shouldnt-happen/?

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ICE Barbie’s Plot to Tear Down Historic Buildings Hit With Reality Check

The Department of Homeland Security had claimed the buildings couldn’t be safely accessed or cleared by law enforcement.

Most of the historic buildings that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wants to demolish under the guise of “emergency conditions” are actually structurally sound and could be renovated and reused.

A team of engineers found in August that nine of the 13 buildings slated for emergency demolition have just minor or moderate defects, The Washington Post reported.

“What looks alarming in photos represents localized repairable conditions rather than systemic structural failure,” according to a report by the infrastructure company AECOM that was obtained by the Post. “The core buildings remain viable for stabilization and future adaptive reuse.”

The buildings are part of a fortified 176-acre complex that formerly housed a hospital created by Congress in 1855 to provide mental health care for the Army, Navy, and District of Columbia.

Over the past 15 years, the Department of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration have been transforming the site, a National Historic Landmark called St. Elizabeths Campus West, into the DHS headquarters.

Two days before Christmas, the GSA suddenly notified the city of Washington, D.C., that it was planning an emergency demolition of 17 historic buildings because they “constitute a present risk to life and property.”

The National Capital Planning Commission and Commission of Fine Arts has already signed off on demolishing four of the buildings, but 13 haven’t been properly reviewed yet.

The demolition notice was accompanied by a safety assessment report from DHS that envisioned a “malicious insider” such a disgruntled employee using the vacant buildings as a place to store weapons or stage an attack on DHS leadership.

“Several vacant structures within the campus perimeter are in such deteriorated condition that they cannot be safely accessed or cleared by law enforcement or emergency responders,” the memo said.

The buildings, however, are “generally in stable condition,” according to the report cited by the Post. Just one was listed as “critical,” meaning it’s in imminent danger of collapse, while three have “significant structural issues or safety hazards” that need to be repaired.

GSA spokesperson Marianne Copenhaver told the Post in a statement that AECOM’s report had failed to “capture the security-driven rationale for demolition.”

The Department of Homeland Security defended its emergency determination in a statement to the Daily Beast.

“The emergency determination is based on current safety and security conditions and is supported by DHS law enforcement and security professionals,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “The Department’s priority is protecting personnel, leadership, and mission operations.”

Preservationists have accused the administration of inventing an emergency that doesn’t exist to avoid going through the proper review process, especially since St. Elizabeths Campus West already has the highest security level for a government facility.

The buildings have been vacant for many years, and the government has never flagged them as a security risk until now.

“The precedent could be devastating for sites across the country. If an agency can declare an emergency to tear down buildings, then it could happen anywhere,” Rebecca Miller, executive director of the D.C. Preservation League, told the Post.

By law, preservationists can respond to emergency notifications about the site. The National Trust for Historic Preservation and the D.C. Preservation League have asked to participate in a detailed on-site assessment of the structures, but as of Wednesday they hadn’t received a response, according to the Post.

The planned demolition comes on the heels of President Donald Trump tearing down the East Wing of White House to make room for a massive new ballroom that will dwarf the executive residence where presidents and their families traditionally live.The National Trust has sued the White House to try to block the construction.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/kristi-noems-plot-to-tear-down-historic-buildings-hit-with-reality-check/?

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Trump Goons Boast They Ran ‘1,000 Simulations’ to Recommend Tragic $3 Meal

They’ve got the affordability crisis all figured out—and it involves a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, and a tortilla.

President Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary has been mocked after boasting that the government devised a new way for Americans to eat for just $3 a meal amid a nationwide affordability crisis.

Brooke Rollins claimed in a TV interview that her team had “run over 1,000 simulations” to find the most optimal nutritious dinner on a shoestring.

All of that work, she told NewsNation, led to a major finding: “It can cost around $3 a meal for a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, corn tortilla, and one other thing.”

Appearing on the network to promote the administration’s new “Make America Healthy Again” push, which urges people to eat less sugar and ultra-processed food, Rollins argued her approach would “save the average American consumer money,” even as she conceded that beef remains pricey.

Within hours, her meager menu was being ridiculed across social media as completely out of touch. “Even a dystopia would say ‘damn, that’s dystopian,’” wrote one X user.

Another posted, “I’m glad they ran a thousand simulations to figure out one chicken one broccoli one tortilla and the other thing,” with a third saying Rollins’ brag of 1,000 simulations to land on such a miserly plate was the “most insulting part,” and a fourth adding, “You can do this in Excel using solver in like 45 minutes.”

Several X users—including the Ways and Means Committee Democrats and Rep. Ted Lieu—used AI to create tragic-looking empty plates featuring Rollins’ suggested ingredients.

Others contrasted the meager plates with lavish seafood spreads at Trump donor events, and one viral edit simply scribbled “One Other Thing” on an empty section of the dish.

After widespread mockery over Rollins’ suggested meal, a Department of Agriculture spokesperson sent out a list of other recommended foods they said could be used to make a meal costing around $3, including frozen vegetables and fruit, eggs, canned tuna, and whole grains, among other things. “Simulations” found that those items, along with others, provide “hundreds of thousands of meal options” in the same price range, the USDA said in a statement to the Daily Beast.

The beleaguered president has tried to wave away the cost-of-living squeeze, regularly dismissing affordability as a “hoax,” even while defending the very tariffs economists say are helping to keep prices high.

Repeated polling now shows his approval on the economy at its lowest point across both presidencies, with barely a third of Americans giving him passing marks and roughly half blaming him for a cost-of-living crisis they say is the worst they have seen.

Food is at the sharp end of that pain. Federal data show grocery inflation has outpaced overall price rises in the past year, with key staples like meat and dairy up sharply.

A report released last month found the share of households experiencing food insecurity had climbed to its highest level in more than a decade, with children in low-income homes hit hardest.

With the Rollins backlash tapping straight into Trump’s worsening political problem on affordability, some noted it appeared to be part of a wider plan by the administration to lower people’s standard of living.

Ahead of the Christmas season, the president urged parents to buy their children fewer toys.

Worse still for American consumers is the news that Trump’s aggressive tariff wall—now covering almost all imports and pushing average U.S. duties to levels not seen since the 1930s—has retailers warning of more price hikes on the way.

The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Agriculture for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-goons-boast-they-ran-1000-simulations-to-create-tragic-3-meal/?

ps:What a mockery this administration is making of this country!!

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Trump Threatens Martial Law in Blue State in Wild Morning Rage Post

The president claims “professional agitators and insurrectionists” are hampering ICE agents.

President Trump threatened to impose martial law on Minnesota just hours after ICE agents shot a man during an enforcement operation.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump declared on Truth Social on Thursday morning.

His threat comes after a man was shot in north Minneapolis on Wednesday evening by a federal agent, sparking lively protests that saw ICE henchmen pepper-spray protesters. The city is still on edge a week after the killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, who was shot dead by agent Jonathan Ross.

The incident on Wednesday came as officers “were conducting a targeted traffic stop in Minneapolis of an illegal alien from Venezuela,” the Department of Homeland Security said on X.

The agency accused the man of resisting and attacking officers, and said two other individuals “came out of a nearby apartment and also attacked” the arresting officer, who “fired a defensive shot to defend his life.” Minneapolis authorities said federal agents had “made entry” into the home the man had entered.

He was “transferred to a local hospital with apparent non-life-threatening injuries,” the city said in a statement.

Leaders in the state have spoken out against the presence of ICE in their cities and demanded an end to what they described as an “occupation.”

Tim Walz, the governor and a frequent target of the president’s attacks, issued a call to action to Minnesotans in an address earlier on Wednesday. He urged citizens to record the “atrocities” committed by ICE agents, to bank evidence for future prosecution."

“Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door-to-door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live,” he said. “It’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.”

Walz called on Minnesotans to “carry your phone with you at all times” to “help us establish a record of exactly what’s happening in our communities.” He also told residents: “Accountability is coming, in the voting booth and in court.”

The Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, put the blame for the chaos in his city on Wednesday squarely at the feet of Trump.

“I’ve seen conduct from ICE that is disgusting and intolerable,” he said, urging protesters to go home. “We cannot counter Donald Trump’s chaos with more chaos … Anyone who is taking the bait tonight, stop,” he said. “You are not helping the undocumented immigrants in our city.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-threatens-martial-law-in-blue-state-in-wild-morning-rage-post/?

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U.S. Loses Out on Global Travel Boom Under Trump

Global tourism spending was up, but travel to the U.S. was down.

The U.S. lost out on a worldwide spike in tourism spending in 2025, thanks in part to President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies. Global spending on travel rose by 6.7 percent overall last year compared to the previous year, but the U.S. registered a 6 percent drop in foreign visitors and a 7 percent decrease in spending from foreign travelers, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. Concern about U.S. immigration policy led many tourists to choose European countries such as Spain and France, or Asian countries such as Japan. U.S. Arrivals from Canada, Mexico, and Europe all fell, according to the WTTC. France was the world’s most-visited country in 2025, with 105 million visitors. Spain was next with 96.5 million visitors, followed by the U.S. with a far more modest 68 million visitors. Last year, tourism contributed the equivalent of 10.3 percent of global gross domestic product, and tourism spending grew at double the pace of global economic growth. When reached for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump has “done more for American tourism than anyone, including by making our cities safe and beautiful again for all to enjoy and bringing major events like the Los Angeles Olympics and FIFA World Cup to the United States.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/us-loses-out-on-global-travel-boom-under-trump/?

ps:Losing even more money coming into this country!!

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Inside a year of firings that have shaken the Trump Justice Department: ‘A great deal of fear’ As Attorney General Pam Bondi prepares to mark a year on the job, terminations and a larger voluntary exodus of Justice Department lawyers have erased centuries of combined experience. The departures have left the department with fewer career employees to act as a bulwark for the rule of law at a time when President Donald Trump is testing the limits of executive power by demanding prosecutions of his political enemies. Read more.

What to know: “To lose people at that career level, people who otherwise intended to stay and now are either being discharged or themselves are walking away, is immensely damaging to the public interest,” said Stuart Gerson, a senior official in the George H.W. Bush administration and acting attorney general early in the Clinton administration.   Justice Connection, a network of department alumni, estimates that more than 230 lawyers, agents and other employees from across the department were fired last year — apparently because of their work on cases they were assigned, past criticism of Trump or seemingly no reason. More than 6,400 employees are estimated to have left a department that at the end of 2025 had roughly 108,000, the group says. The Justice Department, for its part, says it has hired thousands of career attorneys over the last year. The Trump administration has characterized some of the fired and departed workers as out of step with its agenda.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Criminal investigation raises key question: Whether Chair Powell leaves Fed in May   The health care debate is back in Washington. It never really went away   Venezuela’s Machado says she presented her Nobel Peace Prize to Trump during their meeting   US warns Iran that ‘all options are on the table’ in emergency UN meeting   Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan faces great uncertainty as it moves into a new phase   Trump isn’t waiting for future generations to name things after him. It’s happening now   US and Taiwan sign $250B trade deal, cutting tariffs on Taiwanese goods   Confusion erupts in mental health and substance abuse programs as HHS cuts, then reinstates grants   Senators launch a cross-party effort to end stock trading by lawmakers   Democrats hope a blue wave washes over Wisconsin and gives them total control of battleground state   Ex-Sen. Kyrsten Sinema sued for allegedly breaking up bodyguard’s marriage   Inside the botched launch of ex-NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ new crypto token   Defense Department says military newspaper Stars and Stripes must eliminate ‘woke distractions’

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What’s next for Trump’s Greenland goals after difficult meeting with Europeans U.S., Danish and Greenlandic officials have met face to face to discuss President Donald Trump’s ambitions to take control of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. At the same time, Denmark and several European allies are sending troops to Greenland. Read more.

Why this matters: The deployment “serves both to send a political signal and military signal to America, but also indeed to recognize that Arctic security should be reinforced more,” said Maria Martisiute, an analyst at the European Policy Center in Brussels. “And first and foremost, this should be done through allied effort, not by the U.S. coming and wanting to take it over. So it complicates the situation for the U.S.”   Trump has argued repeatedly that the U.S. needs control of Greenland for its national security. He has sought to justify his calls for a U.S. takeover by repeatedly claiming that China and Russia have their own designs on Greenland, which holds vast untapped reserves of critical minerals.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ In their words: Greenlanders talk about Trump’s desire to own their Arctic island   International media flock to Greenland as Trump turns the Arctic island into a geopolitical hot spot   WATCH: Trump’s Greenland push stirs concern in America’s Little Denmark

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Nobel Winner Admits Bonkers Reason She Handed Prize to Trump

María Corina Machado told Fox News there was a clear reason why she gave up the award.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has revealed her reasoning for giving the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded in October to President Donald Trump, telling Fox News that the president “deserves” it.

In an interview with Rachel Campos-Duffy that will air on Fox & Friends on Friday morning, Machado was asked why she handed over the prize during a visit to the White House on Thursday. Campos-Duffy specifically noted that the Norwegian Nobel Institute had previously clarified that transferring the prize was impossible.

“Because he deserves it,” Machado replied when quizzed about why she went ahead with the gesture.

She added: “It was a very emotional moment. I decided to present the Nobel Peace Prize medal on behalf of the people of Venezuela.”

Machado presented Trump with the medal set in a gold frame during their Thursday meeting at the White House. Text accompanying the medal read, “To President Donald J. Trump. In gratitude for your extraordinary leadership in promoting peace through strength, advancing diplomacy, and defending liberty and prosperity.”

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Machado compared giving her prize to Trump to the Marquis de Lafayette sending a gold medal bearing George Washington’s likeness to South American liberator Simón Bolívar in 1825. Machado described the gift as “a sign of the brotherhood between the people of the U.S. and the people of Venezuela in their fight for freedom against tyranny”.

In a post Trump made to Truth Social after their meeting, the president thanked Machado, writing, “It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you María!”

Machado’s claim that Trump “deserves” the prize that she was given echoes the president’s own repeated assertions made in the months leading up to the ceremony.

In an August meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said, “They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me.” Netanyahu had previously surprised Trump by nominating him for the honor in July.

Trump has maintained that he deserves the prize because of his work “stopping wars” across the globe, including between India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia. The president spent much of the first year of his second-term attempting to broker peace deals between various countries in what many viewed as an attempt to nab himself the Nobel Prize.

The president even took to cold-calling Norwegian diplomats to discuss the prize. The Nobel Peace Prize is selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told the Daily Beast that the president was “more than deserving” of the prize for his first-term achievements.

“Like the historic Abraham Accords in the Middle East, and now in his second term, where he has already prevented a nuclear conflict by negotiating peace between India and Pakistan,” she said last June.

Trump’s thirst for Machado’s prize prompted the Norwegian Nobel Committee to issue a statement reminding the public that Nobel Prize ownership cannot be transferred.

“Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others. The decision is final and stands for all time,” the Jan. 9 statement read.

Prior to receiving Machado’s medal, Trump was awarded the FIFA Peace Prize by FIFA President Gianni Infantino at a December ceremony. Trump was the inaugural recipient of the award, which was created by FIFA in an attempt to appease Trump ahead of the 2026 World Cup, set to take place in North America this summer.

Machado first offered Trump her award earlier this month after he declined to install her as leader of Venezuela after the U.S. invaded the country and abducted President Nicolás Maduro.

Sources told the Washington Post that Trump had ruled out the possibility of Machado replacing Maduro because she had committed the “ultimate sin” of accepting the prize she was offered, instead of turning it down and recommending it be given to Trump instead.

Speaking to Fox News’ Sean Hannity at the time, Machado confirmed that she had not spoken to Trump since the day the prize was announced, and had not yet had a chance to give him the prize.

“It has not happened yet,” she said, adding, “I would love to be able to personally tell him—certainly [the] Venezuelan people want to give it to him. What he has done in his work, it is a huge step towards a democratic country.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nobel-winner-admits-bonkers-reason-she-handed-prize-to-trump/?

ps:"He deserves it" Why? He invaded her country and left the same people in charge!! I was under the impression we invaded with the intention of charging Maduro with drug trafficking and changing the people in charge, but obviously not!!! Looks more like we were more interested in hijacking the oil????? or stealing the oil?????

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ICE Karen Whines ICE Goons Could Be Killed by Ice

DHS spin chief claims protesters are freezing roads to hinder ICE agents.

The top spokesperson at the Department of Homeland Security claims protesters are using the freezing conditions of Minneapolis to create icy conditions to hinder ICE agents during immigration raids—and says the tactic could be lethal.

Since DHS flooded the Minnesota city with thousands of federal agents, and with President Donald Trump threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act against protesters, social media is awash with videos of angry masked men going head over heels.

On Thursday, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin—the main mouthpiece of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem—claimed that protesters were dropping water to deliberately obstruct agents while out on their operations

When Fox News host Sean Hannity asked about the “acts of violence” being committed against them, McLauglin said: “Your viewers can see, uh, that that car was driving, uh, pouring ho- cold water on the ground so that it would freeze, uh, the ground in front of our federal law enforcement vehicles so that they would potentially slide, crash and potentially kill them.”

Skating over the fact that the only person who has been killed in the city since the operation started was unarmed mom Renee Nicole Good, 37—shot dead by an ICE agent as she drove away from a Jan 7. protest—McLaughlin added: “That is a federal crime that your viewers are seeing there.”McLaughlin appeared to be referencing a video doing the rounds on social media that appears to show a blue SUV deliberately dripping water onto the road near an ICE facility in Minneapolis.The weather in Minneapolis is around the freezing mark—about 32 F (0 C)—with flurries and snow, and temperatures often dip into the low 20s (minus 6 C). That has turned streets and sidewalks into slick sheets of ice, particularly in South Minneapolis neighborhoods where ICE teams have been conducting traffic stops and raids.

McLaughlin made her comments as videos show ICE agents going head over heels on those same frozen streets—slipping on driveways, losing their footing while dragging protesters away, and skidding on iced-over roadways—have been widely mocked across social media, including by Minnesotans who say federal officers are out of their depth in the winter conditions.

Her allegations come against an increasingly explosive backdrop on the ground in Minnesota after the killing of Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, 43, which the Trump administration blamed on Good, and has triggered nightly marches and street blockades outside ICE’s regional headquarters.

A second ICE-involved shooting in north Minneapolis on Wednesday, in which a Venezuelan man was wounded during a “targeted traffic stop,” has kept tensions sky-high and drawn in local, state, and federal investigators.

Trump, 79, responded on Thursday by threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act—a rarely used law that would allow him to deploy active-duty troops on Minnesota soil—if “corrupt politicians” in the state did not stop “professional agitators and insurrectionists” from “attacking the Patriots of I.C.E.”

Democratic leaders in the state have fired back. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz used a televised address to urge residents to film “atrocities” committed by ICE officers and “carry your phone with you at all times” so that prosecutors will have evidence.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has condemned what he called “disgusting and intolerable” conduct by ICE, while simultaneously pleading with protesters not to take Trump’s “bait” by escalating confrontations on city streets.

McLaughlin has emerged as one of the key defenders of the crackdown. She previously argued that ICE remains in step with public opinion, pointing to polls that the department says show strong support for deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, reckons that the agency’s core problem is optics, not tactics: “I think we need to get better at messaging what we’re doing,” he said, blaming “lies” from other media outlets for the agency’s collapsing favorability amid images of tear gas, pepper balls, and gunfire on the streets of Minneapolis.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/dhs-department-of-homeland-security-ice-karen-whines-ice-goons-could-be-killed-by-ice/?

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CNN’s MAGA Star Caught Making Rude Gesture to Defend Trump

The conservative was not happy with criticism of the president.

Conservative CNN pundit Scott Jennings performed an Olympic-level eye roll during a heated discussion over the impact of ICE raids.

Jennings joined a fiery panel on Thursday’s NewsNight which spent much of the episode talking over each other while detailing the polarizing reaction to ICE officers on the streets of Minneapolis.

Host Abby Phillip played the panelists a video of a Minneapolis woman being grilled by an ICE officer who wanted to see her identification, despite telling the agent she was a U.S. citizen.

“Where were you born?” the officer repeats, as she replies, “Minneapolis is my home.”

Ukraine-born businessman Lev Parnas, a former associate of Rudy Giuliani, was on the panel and said watching the footage gave him PTSD.

“I remember growing up in the Soviet Union back in ’89, ’90... you couldn’t walk the streets without being pulled over by the police asking you for your documentation,” he said. “And now we’re seeing the same thing play out here.”

Parnas added of Trump, “I mean, he’s getting his great rules and learning from the best—Putin—and he’s following in his footsteps.”That triggered Jennings, who recently released a book on the 79-year-old president, to pull off an epic eye roll.

Parnas noticed the gesture and said, “Scott doesn’t like it, but he’s auditioning for Karoline Leavitt’s job. You know, when she leaves, he’s going to be the next press secretary.”

Last month, Leavitt, 28, announced she and her 60-year-old husband were having their second child.

Jennings also clashed with Phillip over whether ICE has a valid role in Minneapolis. The MAGA ally said the main problem in the city is that there is “no co-operation” between the 300 imported ICE agents and the local police.

On Wednesday, tensions flared again after ICE agents shot a man in Minneapolis, with police using tear gas to try to disperse protestors after the incident. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey asked citizens to “not counter Donald Trump’s chaos with our own brand of chaos.”

Frey said the fact there were 300 ICE agents in the city, swamping 600 local police officers, was “not sustainable.”

“This is an impossible situation that our city is presently being put in,” Frey said.

“We’re in a position right now where we have residents that are asking the very limited number of police officers that we have to fight ICE agents on the street, to stand by their neighbors. We cannot be at a place right now in America where we have two governmental entities that are literally fighting one another.”

Jennings blamed Minneapolis for the way they were dealing with the immigration raids, saying, “This would not be happening if they were doing it like everybody else.”

Phillip said, “You keep saying that. It doesn’t make it true just because you say it is.”

The conservative said he and Phillip had “a fundamental” disagreement.

“I think illegal immigration law should be enforced,” Jennings said. “And you don‘t.”

Phillip clarified, “We don’t have a fundamental disagreement on that. We actually have a fundamental disagreement on whether or not laws and constitutional rights should be followed by everybody—by immigrants and law enforcement.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cnns-maga-star-caught-making-rude-gesture-to-defend-trump/?

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Karoline Leavitt Ripped for Her Staggering Hypocrisy on Middle-Finger Protest

Leavitt was outraged at protestors giving ICE the bird, but stood by her boss for doing the same just two days ago.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is being called out for her hypocrisy and outrage over protesters giving the middle finger just days after her boss made the same gesture.

Leavitt drew fresh scrutiny after she complained during a White House press briefing on Thursday that some protestors against ICE in Minneapolis had flipped off the federal agents.

“Look at this vehicle, it says ‘F ICE,’ you have these individuals who are putting their middle finger proudly so at the camera,” Leavitt lamented.

“Another ICE vehicle that was vandalized by these left-wing agitators,” she said as she held up pictures of the protests. “People don’t do this without encouragement from people in power, who make them feel like it’s okay.”

“This is despicable rhetoric that we’re seeing,” she continued.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom swiftly called her out, writing on X: “Wait until she learns about the 1st Amendment …”

Leavitt’s pearl-clutching over the protesters’ language comes as President Donald Trump just this week flipped off an auto-worker at a Ford plant in Michigan and yelled “f--- you!” to the man.

Newsom also responded to Leavitt’s outrage with a video of Trump flipping off the autoworker.

New Jersey Congresswoman Nellie Pou responded with a picture of Trump flipping the bird and said, “Like this?”

“Save us the outrage, sweetie,” The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican group, posted to Leavitt, with a video of Trump flipping off the worker attached.

Other users on social media were quick to point out her hypocrisy on the matter.

“The president literally gave an auto worker the finger like a days ago,” one user wrote.

“The President of the United States pointed his middle finger and said “F--- you” to a Ford factory worker for expressing his opinion that trump is a pedophile protector. But you draw the line at protesters flicking off ICE, the double standard makes me sick,” another user said.

In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson wrote, “Only the interns at the Daily Beast would try and downplay violent rioters who have defaced property and called for the murder of ICE agents.”

The autoworker, TJ Sabula, 40, who has since been suspended from his job, yelled at Trump “pedophile protector,” as the president toured the factory.

Trump, in response, yelled “F--- you!” to Sabula twice, and then flipped him off.

The White House has stood by Trump’s actions, with Communications Director Steven Cheung saying in a statement that Trump “gave an appropriate and unambiguous response.”

Leavitt is hardly the first conservative media figure to express outrage over profanity when those on the other side of the political aisle use it.

Several hosts on Fox News, including Dana Perino, Jesse Waters, and Harris Faulkner, were blasting Democrats for using explicit language at the beginning of Trump’s second presidency.

“I don’t understand the Democrats’ cursing. I find it unpersuasive and undignified,” Perino declared in March.

These figures, however, largely fail to acknowledge when their own side partakes in using explicit language, as some even encourage it.

A large swath of MAGA supporters, notably Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., frequently use the phrase “F--- Your Feelings” aimed at liberals and progressives.

During Joe Biden’s presidency, Trump supporters widely embraced the meme “Let’s Go Brandon,” a euphemism for the phrase “F--- Joe Biden,” with the phrase being printed on bumper stickers, flags, hats and T-shirts.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/karoline-leavitt-ripped-for-her-staggering-hypocrisy-on-middle-finger-protest/?

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Why Trump’s Big Gamble on Iran Could End Worse for Him Than Jimmy Carter

The outcome of any U.S. action (or inaction) in Tehran could change the course of history in the Middle East—and beyond. It’s happened before.

Current protests in Iran are reminiscent of the uprising in 1979 that forced the exodus of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and put the mullahs in charge. I was a reporter for Newsweek at the time, covering the White House. I remember learning from President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, that the administration was pleading with the Shah to crack down on protestors infused with religious fervor over his efforts to modernize the country. He refused to use force against his own people.

Instead, suffering from cancer, Pahlavi fled and found refuge in the U.S.—former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and banker David Rockefeller having pressured Carter to let him into the country receive medical treatment. We all know how the saga unfolded from there: Iranian students taking over the U.S. embassy in Tehran and a humiliating hostage standoff that ended some 444 days later with Carter’s defeat.

Several decades and presidents later, the Trump White House is scrambling to deal with a similar set of circumstances: an unpopular regime, propped up by the military, facing widespread unrest. The outcome could change the course of history in the Middle East—and beyond.

Trump is mulling military action to fulfill bold promises to the Iranian people that help is on the way. Carter never considered a military response. It was a different world then, with the United States and the Soviet Union filtering geopolitical strategy near-solely through the lens of their superpower competition. When the Iranian revolution got underway, Carter’s priority was preventing Iran from becoming a Soviet client state—like next door Afghanistan would later the same year. Brzezinski told the president that Afghanistan would be Russia’s Vietnam. He was right about that, but he was wrong about Iran.

We were all wrong about Iran, recalled Gary Sick, who served on Carter’s National Security Council. Sick told the Daily Beast that the Carter team was relying on the fact that the Shah, who had been in power for 37 years, was “quite capable of dealing with his own country, and he had everything he needed to proceed,” including U.S.-supplied weapons.

While Carter stood on the sidelines, to his detriment, Trump has done the opposite, Sick continued. “He put himself into the center from the beginning, and now Iran is calling his bluff.”

Trump is using social media to push the Iranian people to “take over” government buildings and other institutions of power, surely risking their lives in doing so. In the short term, “the most likely impact of all this is nothing,” Sick said, explaining that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps remains “the strongest stable institution in the country and they are likely to prevail.”(“The Iranian people who are real fighters will eventually win,” Sick added. “It could be 15 years from now, or two years.”)

After the daring capture of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro and last year’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear structure, Trump is enamored with the might of the U.S. military. If past is prologue, he will find a way to inject American troops into Iran—over the reported objections of advisors. As the death toll mounted in Iran, these advisors and experts calculated the risks (and benefits) of taking action. They couldn’t guarantee anything.

So, what does Trump do next? He wants to have an impact. And he wants credit for starting or stopping something.

“He says I’ll hit you very hard—when and how?” Sick said. “We can hit them, yes, but what are we striking? Military action is a very bad idea. Almost anything you do will make things worse.”

“Authoritarian governments don’t fall if there aren’t cracks in the regime. I’ve been watching for the cracks to develop, and I don’t see evidence of that yet,” added Bill Galston, a senior fellow with think-tank the Brookings Institution.

Trump drew a red line when he said he would intervene if the Iranian government began killing protestors. There are reports that more than two thousand protestors have died. “I think he’s trapped himself into doing something just to redeem that promissory note,” Galston told the Daily Beast.

“The reality is he’s already incurred a moral responsibility,” argued Andrew Miller, a Middle East specialist with the Center for American Progress. “There’s evidence some people turned out because of the president’s bold promises. They’re renaming streets for him… If he takes no action, it will be seen as a betrayal.”

Trump is, then, likely backed into a corner. He’s damned if he does, because military action won’t be effective. And he’s damned if he doesn’t, because he’ll have reneged on a strongman promise. He’ll look weak.

Regime change is what he’s courting, but a hardline military regime could turn any U.S. military intervention into as big a foreign policy fiasco for Trump as non-intervention was for Carter.

So as we wait to see what Trump does to exert his power over another country whose leader calls protestors “terrorists,” it’s best to remind our leaders that definitions are in the eyes of the beholder, and military might is best used judiciously if at all.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-trumps-big-gamble-on-iran-could-end-worse-for-him-than-jimmy-carter/?

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What to know about the Muslim Brotherhood after the US terrorist designation

BEIRUT (AP) — The Trump administration waded into a regional debate over the Muslim Brotherhood on Tuesday, designating the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the transnational Sunni Islamist group as terrorist organizations.

https://apnews.com/article/muslim-brotherhood-political-islam-lebanon-jordan-egypt-9003258fa8f3c8713ad8804f2783324c?

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Trump Aides Panic After Finding Out How Much Americans Hate ICE Carnage

One senior adviser admits that “it looks bad.”

Donald Trump’s advisers have been jolted by internal polling that showed his ICE crackdown is turning off voters as Minnesota’s violent immigration raids and protests dominate the airwaves.

The 79-year-old president and his inner circle pored over private Republican polling at the end of December that showed support for his deportation agenda sliding even before an ICE agent fatally shot mom Renee Nicole Good, 37, in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, according to Axios.

In that private polling, 60 percent of independents and 58 percent of undecided voters said the president was “too focused” on deporting undocumented immigrants, while a third of respondents thought he was targeting mainly law-abiding people rather than criminals, the outlet reported.

Those numbers have set off an alarm in Trump’s inner circle. Some aides are now talking about “recalibrating” ICE tactics, Axios said, fearing a collapse among moderate, independent, and minority voters who helped deliver Trump’s 2024 victory and will decide whether Republicans keep their tiny House majority in November’s midterms.

One senior adviser was quoted as saying of Trump, “He wants deportations. He wants mass deportations. What he doesn’t want is what people are seeing. He doesn’t like the way it looks. It looks bad, so he’s expressed some discomfort at that.”

Public surveys suggest the damage may already have been done. A CNN poll this week found 51 percent of Americans saying ICE operations are making U.S. cities less safe, compared to 31 percent who think they are making them safer.

A separate YouGov survey conducted after Good’s killing found that a majority want sweeping new limits on the agency and that nearly half of respondents now favor abolishing ICE outright.

And an AP-NORC poll conducted Jan. 8–11, also in the days after Good’s killing, showed approval of Trump’s handling of immigration down to 38 percent, from 49 percent in March 2025.

The political backlash has been fueled by scenes from Minnesota, where Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, 54, has deployed around 3,000 federal agents for what officials billed as the biggest immigration enforcement surge in history.

Good, a Minneapolis writer and mother, was shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross, 43, as she attempted to drive away from a Jan. 7 immigration protest. A Venezuelan man was wounded by a federal agent in a separate north Minneapolis confrontation a week later, prompting nightly protests.

Even some of Trump’s loudest allies are recoiling. Podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, complained about “militarized groups of people roaming the streets, just showing up with masks on, snatching people up,” and asked, “Are we really going to be the Gestapo? ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?”

Yet the private hand-wringing inside Trump’s circle is in stark contrast to the president’s public posture. On Thursday, Trump threatened on Truth Social to “institute the INSURRECTION ACT” in Minnesota if “corrupt politicians” did not stop what he called “agitators and insurrectionists” attacking ICE “patriots,” effectively dangling martial law over a blue state.

And despite the ugly polling, the White House’s response so far has been to escalate, sending still more federal agents into Minneapolis.

Trump’s administration has tried to frame the chaos as confined to Democratic-run “sanctuary” jurisdictions, arguing that Americans are “only seeing” disruptive raids where local officials refuse to work with ICE.

Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller remain the key architects of the crackdown, and some Trump allies see Noem positioning herself for a 2028 presidential run while standing as an immigration hardliner, Axios reported.

At least for now, Trump’s team insists the president’s hard line is still a political asset. “President Trump continues to be viewed as a strong leader who keeps the American people safe,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Axios, adding that his immigration and border agenda “remains among his best polling issues with voters.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast that Trump had campaigned on and won an election “based on his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation operation in history,” adding that he is ”keeping his promise and the American people are appreciative.“

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: “President Trump and Secretary Noem are delivering on the American people’s mandate to deport illegal aliens, and the latest polls show that support for the America First agenda has not wavered.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-aides-panic-after-finding-out-how-much-americans-hate-ice-carnage/?

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Trump Hit by Humiliating Poll Showing Just How Much He’s Failing

There is not an ounce of good news for the 79-year-old in the CNN survey.

Donald Trump is losing the support of Americans on every major hot-button issue, and a majority now say the president’s second term has been a disaster in a damning new poll.

The CNN/SSRS poll found Trump’s approval rating underwater across the board, with 58 percent of adult respondents saying they view his return to office as a “failure.”

The poll also showed that Americans do not believe Trump is addressing their top concern of the economy and the cost-of-living crisis, and instead think his policies are making their financial hardships worse.

Backlash to Trump’s erratic second term—whose overall approval rating in the poll stands at a dire 39 percent—could spell broader trouble for Republicans heading into November’s midterm elections, where the GOP already faces an uphill battle to retain control of the House and potentially the Senate.

The CNN/SSRS poll of 1,209 adults found that a majority disapprove of Trump’s handling of every major issue facing voters, including those traditionally seen as his strengths. These include healthcare policy (63 percent disapprove), immigration (58 percent), and foreign affairs (60 percent).

On the economy—the most important issue for voters in virtually every election—only 39 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling.

More than half of Americans (55 percent) also believe Trump’s policies have “worsened” economic conditions in the country, while 62 percent disapprove of the president’s flagship tariffs.

Elsewhere, the poll found that 65 percent of Americans do not believe Trump is a president they can be “proud” of. More than two-thirds (68 percent) said the billionaire president is out of touch with the problems facing ordinary people.

“Even if he is doing some good in areas, he comes across very self-seeking and [shows] a lack of caring about the common good of our citizens,” wrote one independent respondent from Oklahoma.

More Americans also believe Trump has failed to follow through on many of the pledges he made at his January 2025 inauguration—and has instead actively made things worse.

That includes his promises to “restore safety to the U.S.” (39 percent say he made things worse), bring law and order back to American cities (42 percent), be a peacemaker and unifier (47 percent), and stop the “weaponization” of the Department of Justice (41 percent).

A majority of Americans (58 percent) also say Trump has gone too far in using the power of the presidency and the executive branch, as well as in reshaping cultural institutions such as the now MAGA-fied Kennedy Center (62 percent) and gutting federal programs (57 percent).

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-hit-by-humiliating-poll-showing-just-how-much-hes-failing/?

ps:All he's doing is protecting his criminal empire!!!!!

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Trump to pardon ex-Puerto Rico governor Vázquez in campaign finance case, official says

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to pardon former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez, a White House official said Friday.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-pardon-puerto-rico-governor-vazquez-4a94c15e82cabb5f8272f2d6ad19234d?

Are Trump’s supporters getting what they want from his second term? Here’s what a new poll shows

Nearly a year into his second term, President Donald Trump’s work on the economy hasn’t lived up to the expectations of many people in his own party, according to a new AP-NORC survey. Just 16% of Republicans say Trump has helped “a lot” in addressing the cost of living, down from 49% in April 2024, when an AP-NORC poll asked Americans the same question about his first term. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Insurrection Act: How it’s been used and what Trump wants to do with it Trump plans to pardon ex-Puerto Rico Gov. Vázquez in campaign finance violation case, official says ICE says a Cuban man died during a suicide attempt. A witness says a guard pinned and choked him Virginia lawmakers back redrawing congressional maps, paving the way for a voter referendum The Education Department is opening fewer sexual violence investigations as Trump dismantles it Senators worry that US Postal Service changes could disenfranchise voters who cast ballots by mail Oglala Sioux president walks back claims of DHS pressure, member arrests FACT FOCUS: Former Proud Boys leader falsely identified as an ICE officer

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Trump says he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the US controlling Greenland

U.S. President Donald Trump suggested Friday that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don’t back the U.S. controlling Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan Congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Live updates: Trump thanks Iran for halting executions as allies discourage US from striking CIA director meets Venezuela’s acting president in Caracas Moscow agrees with Trump that Ukraine is holding up a peace deal, the Kremlin says Mexican president highlights ‘compelling results’ in crackdown of cartels in face of Trump threats Survey says slowing economy is the No. 1 worry for US businesses in China, not trade friction   ? President Trump suggested that he may punish countries with tariffs if they don't back his efforts to control Greenland, which he says he wants for "national security" reasons. Go deeper. ⚡️ The Trump administration and several governors are pushing tech companies to pay for rising electricity costs fueled by power-hungry AI data centers. Go deeper.

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Trump’s health care plan

Seeking to show Americans that he’s concerned about affordability, President Donald Trump released his long-awaited plan to tackle the high cost of health care. It outlines his priorities but is light on details. Trump appoints Blair, Kushner and Rubio to Gaza ‘board of peace’ Donald Trump has appointed the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and former British prime minister Tony Blair to a newly created Gaza “board of peace”, a body he claims will steer the next phase of reconstruction and governance in the war-ravaged territory. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/16/trump-gaza-board-rubio-blair?

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? MAGA's AI chips war

Top MAGA influencers are picking a public fight with House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) over who should regulate the sale of AI chips to China.

Why it matters: The legislation isn't even out of committee. But the accusations are flying fast.

• "The AI Overwatch Act (HR 6875) may sound like a good idea, but when you examine it closely, it's pro-China sabotage disguised as oversight," Laura Loomer said on X.
• "Kill the bill," she said.

Driving the news: David Sacks, the president's top adviser on crypto and artificial intelligence, opened hostilities last night by retweeting a post that suggested Mast's bill — the AI Overwatch Act — would undermine the president.

• "Correct," Sacks posted on X.
• Mast fired back: "My job is not to be a yes-man to David Sacks or for [Nvidia CEO] Jensen Huang," Mast told us.
• "I will give the president the most sound advice that I can."

The intrigue: The fight appears to be expanding beyond X.

• "Brian Mast appears to be positioning himself as Huawei's Employee of the Month," a close White House ally told us, referencing the Chinese multinational that competes with Nvidia.
• "Does he really think it's a good idea to strip President Trump of his ability to conduct foreign policy and put it in the hands of whichever party is in control of Congress?" the ally asked.
• Mast made clear he's no fan of Huawei, telling us the chips are inferior. He said he's the one standing up to China.

What they're saying: "The administration's critics are unintentionally promoting the interests of foreign competitors on U.S. entity lists — America should always want its industry to compete for vetted and approved commercial business, supporting real jobs for real Americans," Nvidia spokesperson John Rizzo told Axios.

The big picture: Rules and regulations governing AI have divided the Republican Party during Trump's second term.

• Last year, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) pushed for a moratorium on state-level AI regulations, aiming to create a federal "sandbox" that would allow AI companies to seek temporarily relaxed rules.
• But the amendment faced opposition from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and was stripped from the budget bill by a 99–1 vote.
• Last month, Trump signed an executive order to override state AI laws, but many states have threatened to sue to block it from taking effect.

The bottom line: Mast is bracing for a long fight.

• "The industry is going to do their best to intimidate," Mast told us. "They don't want anything to prevent them from selling chips to China."

— Hans Nichols, Alex Isenstadt and Marc Caputo

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Trump’s Campaign Manager Ditches Lawsuit Against Daily Beast

Chris LaCivita wanted “triple damages” and got no money or apology.

Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign manager has abandoned a lawsuit against the Daily Beast.

Chris LaCivita, who co-managed Trump’s election victory with Susie Wiles, halted his legal action on the Friday night before Monday’s MLK Day federal holiday, despite having initially posted on X: “F--- Around Find Out,” and boasting, “I’m really looking forward to making my case in front of a jury.”

The Beast did not retract the story, made no apology, and gave no cash payment, all of which are common in settlements.

LaCivita brought his suit over a Beast report from October 2024, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Michael Isikoff, about the millions that flowed into his company, Advancing Strategies LLC, while he was managing Trump’s campaign. He also sued over four other reports that followed it.

The reports, based on public Federal Election Commission records, said that LaCivita’s LLC was paid $22 million over two years leading up to the election, a figure that was reduced in later reporting to $19.2 million. The Beast also noted that the funds could have passed through the LLC to other vendors.

The Atlantic had reported in November 2024 that a furious Trump had interrogated LaCivita about the figure in a tense session on his campaign plane, then told LaCivita, “You should sue those b----rds.” Trump later teased LaCivita, The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta reported.

LaCivita’s high-profile attorney, Mark Geragos, had filed two counts of defamation and one of conspiracy to injure another in trade, business, or profession, in federal court in Richmond, Virginia. He claimed the money was passed through the LLC and was “not the money which Mr. LaCivita personally received.” Geragos—who also represents the Menendez Brothers—had not specified the damages he was seeking if victorious. The suit demanded triple damages and said, “It is estimated that it would cost millions of dollars to repair Mr. LaCivita’s reputation.”The Beast had vowed to defend the suit, calling it “meritless.” The news site was represented by Kate Bolger of Davis Wright Tremaine, the leading New York First Amendment law firm, and by John McGavin of McGavin, Boyce, Bardot, Thorsen & Katz, PC, of Fairfax, Virginia.

In a statement last March, the Beast said, “The Daily Beast stands by its reporting on Chris LaCivita. His lawsuit is meritless and a transparent attempt to intimidate the Beast and silence the independent press. The Beast will defend itself vigorously and looks forward to following the money to confirm where every penny flowed in LaCivita’s LLC.”

The Beast went to court in November last year to ask a federal judge to dismiss the case out of hand. It also issued subpoenas to dozens of third parties, which will now be withdrawn. District Judge Henry E. Hudson had still to rule on the motion to dismiss when LaCivita agreed to settle. He received no apology or payment.

LaCivita’s decision ends one of the many lawsuits brought by Trump and his acolytes against media companies since the election. The Wall Street Journal is continuing to fight a $10 billion suit over its report that he wrote a birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein with an apparent line drawing of a naked girl, his signature representing pubic hair, and the ending, “may every day be another wonderful secret.” Other media organizations, however, have paid Trump large sums to end lawsuits, including ABC, which paid $15 million, and CBS, which paid $16 million.

When the campaign ended, LaCivita did not enter government service, like Wiles. He has instead secured jobs as a “Trump whisperer” and been paid by campaigns at home and abroad.

Most recently, Semafor revealed that he is advising Warner Brothers Discovery, the owners of CNN, HBO, and the historic movie studios, on its mooted takeover by Netflix, a deal that Trump himself has said he will weigh in on.

In November, The New York Times disclosed that his firm had been paid $1.6 million by the Albanian opposition for advice on its campaign to re-elect the country’s former president Sali Berisha. LaCivita worked with pardoned felon Paul Manafort, himself a former Trump campaign manager, to position Berisha as a Trump-like figure, even saying he would “Make Albania Great Again.” The candidate was resoundingly defeated and still faces corruption charges.

In the U.S., LaCivita was appointed to crypto giant Coinbase’s “advisory council” in January 2025, a month before the Securities Exchange Commission dropped a lawsuit against the crypto firm; is senior adviser to Building America’s Future, the Elon Musk-funded Republican PAC; advises America250, the non-partisan body which is managing celebrations of the nation’s semiquincentennial, thanks to an appointment by Trump; in another Trump move, was made a commissioner for the American Battle Monuments Commission; and works as a consultant with Republican public affairs firm Michael Best strategies.He has picked up multiple campaign roles including at least four Republican Senate campaigns. He was appointed to advise Texas Senator John Cornyn on his heavily contested re-election campaign; is a senior adviser to South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham who is also facing a contested primary; is aiding former Congressman Mike Rogers in Michigan; and is advising Ashley Moody, the Florida senator who filled Marco Rubio’s seat and who wants to secure it permanently in November. In Florida he is also advising Byron Donalds, the MAGA-aligned congressman running for governor in November who has already been endorsed by Trump.

And the enlisted Marine veteran and Virginia Commonwealth University graduate was a prestigious Pritzker Visiting Fellow at the University of Chicago last year.

It is not just LaCivita personally who has prospered since the Trump re-election. So has his family.

His daughter Victoria is now the White House’s regional communications director. His son, Chris LaCivita Jr., who graduated from Virginia Tech in 2022 and worked as a digital marketing specialist for a hunting company, is now registered to lobby for dozens of clients through a Republican lobbying firm called Checkmate. He is personally an adviser to the American Conservation Coalition and Nature is Non-Partisan.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-campaign-manager-ditches-lawsuit-against-daily-beast/?

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Trump Handed Fresh Humiliation After Stealing Nobel Prize

The prize is “inseparably linked” to the recipient, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has made clear that the prestigious peace prize that President Donald Trump has acquired—without winning—will never be his.

Trump lost out on the coveted honor to Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who on Thursday presented him with the medal “as a personal symbol of gratitude” on behalf of Venezuelans and in recognition of Trump’s “principled and decisive action to secure a free Venezuela.”

Trump, 79, grinned as he clutched his latest golden item. But the president’s mere possession of the shiny medal—and apparently not the diploma, which doesn’t seem to interest him—is nothing more than an ego-booster, according to the committee that selects the winner. “The medal and the diploma are the physical symbols confirming that an individual or organisation has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” the committee said in a statement on Friday. “The prize itself – the honour and recognition – remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation designated as the laureate by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.”

Although recipients are allowed to sell, lend, or give away the medal, diploma, and prize money—and a handful have done so—their decision does not change the historical record.

“Even if the medal or diploma later comes into someone else’s possession, this does not alter who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” the committee added.

Finally, the committee clarified that it cannot revoke the prize.

“The decision is final and applies for all time,” it said.

This is not the first time that the institution has issued a statement regarding the transfer of the prize. On Jan. 9, a Nobel spokesperson told the Daily Beast, in part, “A Nobel Prize can neither be revoked nor transferred to others.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Nobel Committee’s statement.

In giving the award to Machado, the committee cited her “long-standing struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy” in Venezuela.

Machado, 58, explained her rationale for handing over her prize to Trump: “Because he deserves it,” she told Fox News on Thursday. But there may be more factors at play.

Trump, sources told The Washington Post, withheld endorsing Machado to replace President Nicolás Maduro after U.S. forces abducted him because she had committed the “ultimate sin” of not turning it down last October and recommending that Trump receive it instead.

The opposition leader did leave the White House with something in exchange for the prize. Machado was photographed leaving with a red gift bag featuring the president’s signature in gold print. The contents of the bag have not been revealed.

Trump repeatedly claimed he should win the prize because he claimed to have ended eight wars. He cold-called Norwegian diplomats to plead his case, but to no avail.

Instead, Trump was presented with the hastily created “FIFA Peace Prize” from FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who is now the subject of an ethics complaint regarding his Trump flattery.

Machado joins a list of at least seven other recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize who parted with their medals, according to the committee. Among them was Norwegian author Knut Hamsun, who gave his medal to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels “as a gesture of thanks” for a meeting they had during World War II. The medal’s current location and condition are unknown.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-handed-fresh-humiliation-after-stealing-nobel-prize/?

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Trump Goons Order Up Revenge Probe on Minnesota Enemies

Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey are reportedly being investigated for possible obstruction of federal law enforcement.

After more than a week of tensions and protests in Minneapolis, the Department of Justice is reportedly investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for possible obstruction of law enforcement.

Sources who spoke to CNN said that a grand jury has issued subpoenas for both men, but as of Friday evening, Walz’s office had not received notice of any such subpoena. The Daily Beast has contacted both Walz and Frey for comment.

When asked for comment, the White House directed the Daily Beast to the Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond.

Walz and Frey, both Democrats, have been quick to criticize the actions of federal law enforcement officers in Minneapolis, particularly those that led to the shooting death of 37-year-old mother Renee Nicole Good on Jan. 7 at the hands of ICE officer Jonathan Ross.

At a press conference held shortly after the shooting, Frey told ICE to “get the f--- out” of his city.

“I do have a message for our community, our city, and I have a message for ICE to ICE: get the f--- out of Minneapolis,” Frey said.

“We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite,” he continued. “People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. Long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy are being terrorized, and now somebody is dead, that’s on you, and it’s also on you to leave.”Anti-ICE protests have been taking place around the country since Good’s killing, particularly in Minneapolis, which saw further violence on Wednesday after a federal law enforcement officer shot a Venezuelan immigrant in the leg.

Walz, for his part, encouraged citizens to record “atrocities” committed by ICE agents to accumulate evidence for future prosecutions, suggesting residents carry their phones at all times in order to do so.

“Armed, masked, undertrained ICE agents are going door-to-door, ordering people to point out where their neighbors of color live,” he said. “It’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government.”

“Accountability is coming, in the voting booth and in court.”

In response, President Donald Trump threatened to impose martial law on the city.

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday morning.

Walz did not confirm the investigation when contacted by CNN, but did accuse the Trump administration of “weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents,” which he d described as a “dangerous, authoritarian tactic.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi’s second-in-command, Todd Blanche, described the protests in Minnesota as an “insurrection,” blaming Walz and Frey for “encouraging violence against law enforcement” in an X post on Wednesday.

“Minnesota insurrection is a direct result of a FAILED governor and a TERRIBLE mayor encouraging violence against law enforcement. It’s disgusting,” Blanche wrote.

“Walz and Frey—I’m focused on stopping YOU from your terrorism by whatever means necessary. This is not a threat. It’s a promise.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-goons-order-up-revenge-probe-on-minnesota-enemies/?

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Fraudster Trump’s Bonkers Pardon Spree Includes Repeat Scammer

The president also pardoned a governor who pleaded guilty to bribery charges.

President Donald Trump’s pardon machine is running at full speed.

The White House’s pardon czar, Alice Marie Johnson, who herself was pardoned by Trump in 2020, announced Friday that the president had pardoned dozens of people, including a governor convicted on corruption charges and a repeat offender.

Adriana Camberos, 54, received a second pardon from Trump for a 2024 fraud conviction, the New York Times reports. She was also convicted in 2017 for selling millions of counterfeit 5-Hour Energy bottles to grocers. Her sentence for that crime was commuted by Trump in 2021, in the waning days of his first term. Camberos’s most recent pardon also included one for her brother, Andres, 45, for the pair’s multimillion-dollar grocery scam. Trump also pardoned former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez, 65, who pleaded guilty last year to criminal bribery charges connected to a scheme to finance her campaign for governor. Trump also pardoned her two co-defendants.

As it pertains to Vázquez, her 2020 federal indictment alleged that Julio Herrera Velutini, owner of Britannia Financial Group, the international bank that operated in San Juan and also participated in the scheme, and his consultant, Mark Rossini, a former FBI agent.

Both of these co-defendants provided funding for Vázquez’s political campaign in exchange for her replacing the territory’s top bank regulator, according to CNN.

Vázquez, Herrera, and Rossini pleaded guilty to lesser misdemeanor charges in August after reaching an agreement with Trump’s own Justice Department as the case was nearing pretrial.In the meantime, Herrera’s daughter, Isabel Herrera, became a big-time MAGA donor, having donated $2.5 million in 2024 and $1 million last year to the pro-Trump political action committee MAGA Inc., campaign finance records show.

Even though the indictment was brought against Vázquez in 2020 during Trump’s first term, and the plea agreement was reached under Trump’s second term, the White House has claimed without evidence that Vázquez’s case was “weaponized” under former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department.

Her lawyers have maintained she was originally indicted in 2020 because she had endorsed Trump for re-election ten days prior.

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

In a statement, Rep. Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner and a non-voting member for the territory in the House, criticized Trump’s pardon.

“Impunity protects and fosters corruption,” he said. “The pardon granted to former Governor Wanda Vázquez undermines public integrity, shatters faith in justice, and offends those of us who believe in honest governance.”

Vázquez joins the list of several criminal politicians that Trump has pardoned in his second term, including Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar, former President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández, and many state lawmakers. Trump additionally commuted the prison sentence for former New York Congressman George Santos.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/fraudster-trumps-bonkers-pardon-spree-includes-repeat-scammer/?

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Three seconds on a Michigan factory floor told the truth too many in power won’t say out loud

For three seconds on the floor of a Ford Motor Co. plant in Dearborn, a solitary autoworker did what the political establishment has largely failed to do for three months: remind the country exactly who its president is.

https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/three-seconds-michigan-factory-floor-told-truth-too-many-power-wont-say-out-loud?

Trump says 8 European countries will face 10% tariff for opposing US control of Greenland

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would charge a 10% import tax starting in February on goods from eight European nations because of their opposition to American control of Greenland, setting up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe.

https://apnews.com/article/denmark-greenland-us-trump-4ad99ea3975a8b62d37bd04961feda55?