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

[phkrause]

Groceries and Jobless Up in Double Whammy to Trump

Consumer prices hit their highest level since January.

Donald Trump is failing to meet his election promise to reduce cost of living pressures, with new figures showing Americans are spending more on groceries, shelter and utilities as inflation heats up.

The latest data from the Labor Department showed consumer prices rose 2.9 per cent in August compared to a year ago as companies continued to push the cost of tariffs onto consumers.

The figure marks the highest level since January when Trump returned to the White House.

And in a double whammy for the economy, new data also shows the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week rose 263,000, the worst level in four years, in a sign that the labor market is softening.

“The middle class squeeze on tariffs is here,” Heather Long, chief economist for Navy Federal Credit Union, wrote on X.

“It’s troubling that so many basic necessities are rising in price again: food, gas, clothing and shelter all had big cost jumps in August. And this is only the beginning.”The latest data comes days before the Federal Reserve’s much-anticipated September meeting next week.

Core inflation, which takes out food and energy and is viewed as a steadier gauge of underlying pressures, rose 3.1 percent from a year earlier.

But despite the uptick, Wall Street remains optimistic that the central bank will likely cut interest rates when it meets next week, amid months of ongoing pressure by the Trump administration.

The meeting will be highly scrutinized as it is expected to include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, who the president had tried to fire amid unproven claims of mortgage fraud.

But a court on Tuesday blocked the sacking, at least for now, allowing her to remain on the board while a lawsuit she filed against the president’s actions plays out.

The latest consumer price index data revealed that most grocery categories increased in August.

Grocery prices rose by 2.7 percent in August from a year earlier, up from 2.2 percent in July. Coffee surged by more than 21 percent; eggs rose by 10 percent and energy is up 13.8 percent.

The issue is sensitive for the president, who made the economy a central plank of his election campaign against Kamala Harris.

“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods,” he declared last August, in one of many promises to reduce the cost of living for Americans.

He significantly softened his language once he won the election, telling Time Magazine in November: “It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up.”

Thursday’s figures come off the back of Tuesday’s job numbers from the Bureau of Statistics, which showed there were 911,000 fewer jobs than expected for the year prior to March.

The revision, which took in part of Joe Biden’s presidency, was the largest on record.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/groceries-and-jobless-up-in-double-whammy-to-trump/?

[phkrause]

Murdoch Paper Rips Trump’s ‘Sidewalk Gawker’ Response to Putin’s Taunts

The WSJ scolded Trump’s posture on Poland drone incursions—another shot in a feud already blazing over the Epstein letter.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal mocked Donald Trump’s passive “sidewalk gawker” reaction to Vladimir Putin’s drones over Poland.

While Polish President Karol Nawrocki revealed on X that he had spoken with Trump about Tuesday’s incursion, the president’s only public reaction has been a single post on Truth Social, “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”

The WSJ opinion escalates a clash between the White House and the news giant.

The WSJ leader—headlined “Putin Taunts Trump and NATO,” and written by the paper’s editorial board—noted NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had described the foray as “absolutely reckless.” It lashed Trump, saying his post made him sound more like “a sidewalk gawker” than a president.

The incursion saw an estimated 19 Russian drones violating the country’s airspace.

Writing that “weakness invites aggression,” the op-ed suggested that Moscow “thinks he can get away with this provocation” because of Trump’s ongoing lax response to the war—and urged more sanctions, more weapons for Ukraine, and fewer limits on their use.

It is the latest example of Murdoch’s papers—and in particular the WSJ —criticizing his former friend.

In the past few months, WSJ’s opinion section—which is controlled by Paul Gigot and not by editor-in-chief Emma Tucker—has become one of the most persistent critics of Trump in the media mogul’s empire, a streak that has enraged the White House and MAGA allies.

Trump has also railed at Murdoch over the paper’s coverage and Tucker’s stewardship.

The editorial arrives amid open warfare over its exclusive revelation that Trump in 2003 allegedly sent a suggestive birthday note to late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump, who denied having sent any such letter, responded by filing a $10 billion lawsuit against the paper.

Congressional Democrats then released the supposed letter on Monday, which the White House again described as “fake.”

That legal brawl has spilled into other areas—this time on foreign policy.

After Trump axed the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, and installed Heritage economist E.J. Antoni, the paper’s board warned the pick would “have to take off his MAGA hat” to earn the public’s trust. The appointment appeared nakedly political and counterproductive to credible stats.

When Trump tried to strong-arm the Fed—posting a termination letter to Governor Lisa Cook—the Journal mocked his “afflatus.” It slammed the urge to personally run monetary policy, concluding he’s “all about short-term tactics and personal political advantage.”

And when Amazon reportedly explored showing shoppers the tariff share on prices, the WSJ called it a “brilliant idea” and accused Trump of bullying Jeff Bezos into scrapping it—reminding readers “tariffs are taxes” and even hinting they should be repealed.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to make clear the WSJ’s editorial leadership.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/murdoch-paper-wall-street-journal-rips-donald-trumps-sidewalk-gawker-response-to-vladimir-putins-taunts/?

[phkrause]

TACO Trump Gets Rejected by Workers Detained in Mass Immigration Raid

After rounding up hundreds of workers at a Hyundai plant, the president offered them the chance to stay. Only one person accepted.

Donald Trump offered to let hundreds of South Korean workers detained during an immigration raid stay in the U.S.—a deal that was overwhelmingly rejected by those affected.

The raid, carried out last week at the $4.3 billion Hyundai Motor battery plant under construction in Georgia, resulted in the arrest of around 300 South Koreans and more than 150 other foreign nationals.

Trump—who touts his hardline approach to immigration—privately offered the workers a chance to remain in the country to help train American staff, South Korean officials said Thursday, Reuters reports. The move delayed the departure of a flight chartered to take the workers home, the officials said.

Only one person chose to remain in the U.S., they added.

News of Trump’s offer comes after he has been dubbed “TACO”—a nickname meaning “Trump Always Chickens Out”—for his policy flip-flopping throughout his second administration.

TV footage aired in South Korea showed the dissenting group boarding buses at 2 a.m. Thursday to head for Atlanta’s airport. They were taken from a detention facility surrounded by barbed wire, though—unlike typical deportations—they were not shackled, following demands from Seoul.

Trump’s offer came after backlash in South Korea over the raid, which involved armored vehicles and heavily armed federal agents.

President Lee Jae-myung said Thursday the arrests had thrown Korean businesses in the U.S. into “serious confusion” and warned it could chill future investment. He had met with Trump at the White House just 10 days before the immigration sweep at the Georgia site.

“Our businesses that are investing in the United States will no doubt be very hesitant,” Lee said at a press conference marking his first 100 days in office.

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho-hyun confirmed that Washington and Seoul have agreed to discuss creating a new visa category to help companies legally send specialists to U.S. plants, amid long-standing complaints that existing work visa channels are too slow and restrictive.

Lawmakers in Seoul acknowledged that some workers may have overstayed the 90-day visa waiver program or entered on short-term B-1 business visas, but said previous U.S. administrations had allowed more flexibility to support high-tech investment projects.

China’s foreign ministry said a smaller number of Chinese nationals were also detained in the raid and urged Washington to “ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the involved Chinese citizens.”

The Guardian, meanwhile, cited leaked documents that reported that at least one of the workers who was collared by ICE was living and working in the country legally.

The Daily Beast contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/taco-trump-gets-rejected-by-workers-detained-in-mass-immigration-raid/?

[phkrause]

Trump Made Furious ‘Demand’ to Netanyahu in Tense Phone Call After Humiliating Attack

The president called the Israeli PM following the surprise attempted bombing of Hamas negotiators in Qatar.

A furious Donald Trump issued a stern “demand” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not launch another attack on Qatar following Israel’s shock targeting of Hamas leaders in Doha, according to reports.

Trump spoke with Netanyahu on Tuesday and expressed disbelief at the airstrikes, which the U.S. was not made aware of until the missiles were already in the air, according to Axios. The attack on Qatar—an American ally and a country with close ties to Trump—has left White House officials concerned that Israel has severely damaged any hopes for a peace deal in Gaza being agreed.

“It’s unacceptable. I demand that you do not repeat it,” Trump told Netanyahu, two sources told Axios.

Trump is said to be “increasingly frustrated” with Netanyahu over Israel’s constant aggression in the Middle East, a senior administration official told the Wall Street Journal, which also reported on the heated phone call.

Despite the dressing-down from Trump, Netanyahu warned Qatar that Israel would strike again if Hamas officials were found to be hiding there the following day.

“I say to Qatar and all nations that harbor terrorists, you either expel them or you bring them to justice. Because if you don’t, we will,” Netanyahu said.

White House officials have raised concerns that Israel’s bombing of Hamas’ negotiating team in Qatar—which was also met with international condemnation—could “potentially disembowel” any hopes of securing a ceasefire and the return of hostages, a source told The Atlantic.

Senior aides to the president also suggested to the magazine that this may have been Netanyahu’s “exact intent.”

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani echoed a similar sentiment while accusing Israel of carrying out a “barbaric” attack.

“We were thinking that we are dealing with civilized people,” he told CNN. “What Netanyahu did yesterday, he just killed any hope for those hostages.”

The Journal reported there was a second call between Trump and Netanyahu that was more “cordial.” During that exchange, Trump asked Netanyahu if the Doha attack had at least succeeded in killing Hamas officials.

Netanyahu said he did not know, though Hamas hours later claimed its leaders were unharmed while five lower-ranking officials were killed.

In the immediate aftermath of the bombing, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter told Fox News that if Israel failed to kill Hamas leaders in Qatar, then they would “get them the next time.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Netanyahu’s office for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-made-furious-demand-to-benjamin-netanyahu-in-tense-phone-call-after-humiliating-qatar-attack/?

[phkrause]

Leaked Emails Reveal Epstein Wanted Trump Deleted From Mysterious Power List

A 2006 exchange shows Jeffrey Epstein telling Ghislaine Maxwell to remove Trump from a 51-name roster.

Billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell to “remove” Donald Trump from a mysterious power list, according to a new cache of intriguing emails released Thursday.

The trove—more than 18,000 messages from Epstein’s Yahoo account published by Bloomberg—depicts Maxwell as closely involved in money movements, reputational pushback, and intimate logistics.”

One of the most startling Trump-related moments is disarmingly brief. On Sept. 14, 2006, Maxwell wrote, “Plse review list and add or remove peeps,” attaching a roster of 51 politicians, financiers, and power players.

The purpose of the list isn’t stated—Bloomberg could not determine it from the email itself, given that there was no subject line or context to indicate what it referred to—Epstein’s two-word reply was short but striking.

It said simply: “Remove trump.”

The removal of Trump’s name from whatever the list was came two months after Epstein was charged in Florida with solicitation of prostitution, and as federal scrutiny was snowballing.

A year later, Epstein would sign a secretive 2007 non-prosecution deal that spared him federal charges.

Some accounts suggest Epstein and Trump had fallen out in 2004, with some attributing that to a multi-million-dollar property deal dispute. Epstein was found dead in his cell in 2019, at the age of 66, while facing child sex trafficking charges.

However, Trump—under intense pressure to explain his friendship with Epstein—told reporters in late July that he cut ties after Epstein “stole” female employees who worked at his Mar-a-Lago private members club.

Yet a Daily Beast exclusive in early August reported that the billionaire financier had remained a member of the exclusive venue until October 2007, more than a year after he was indicted on one count of soliciting prostitution, and despite widespread media coverage that disclosed allegations of his sexual contact with minors.

The president has sought to play down his friendship with a man he described in 2002 as “a terrific guy,” as the 79-year-old fights the release of the files related to the late pedophile financier.

And this latest exchange between Epstein and his associate and co-conspirator Maxwell, 63—who is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking—perhaps indicates that the friendship between Epstein and Trump had truly ended.

The messages also add detail to a well-documented social overlap in the late ’90s and early 2000s, including the widely seen 2000 photo of Trump, wife Melania, Epstein, and Maxwell at Mar-a-Lago, and coverage of numerous events where the now-president crossed paths with Epstein and Maxwell.

This latest release of Maxwell’s emails is likely to do little to quell the storm of questions facing him about Epstein.

The emails also show Trump surfacing again on Aug. 23, 2007, as Epstein and Maxwell war-gamed the intense press and prosecutorial scrutiny around Epstein’s Florida case.

Maxwell wrote, “You have to assume they went to donald trump,” before ticking through potential reporting avenues and sources. It is not clear who “they” refers to.

The White House was forced this week to deny a claim by his ally Mike Johnson that Trump had been an FBI “informant” in the Epstein case. Johnson was then forced to walk back on that claim.

Beyond those mentions, Bloomberg reports Trump appears only “three minor” times in the entire cache.

Maxwell told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a July interview that she “never saw Trump act inappropriately with Epstein.”

The emails do, however, highlight Maxwell’s role in curating Epstein’s social universe—right down to who belonged on a “power list,” whatever its purpose.

The White House, asked by Bloomberg about Trump’s name in the emails, dismissed the whole thing. “This is just more stupid, fake news playing into the hands of the Democrat Hoax trying to link President Trump and Epstein,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.

However, Bloomberg says it vetted the inbox through cryptographic checks, metadata work, and cross-referencing with public records and other materials.

The outlet stressed that the account was one of several Epstein used and that deletions likely occurred—meaning the tranche of emails is incomplete.

Despite that, it offers a rare, first-person look at the way Epstein leveraged wealth, gifts, and access to build and defend his network.

According to Bloomberg, Maxwell even coordinated a “shared” fertility treatment with Epstein. In late 2005, she sent Epstein step-by-step directions for a semen sample tied to her procedure—“within 90 mins of my procedure” and “all the ejaculate must be collected.”

In September 2007, she wrote, “Your cup + instructions are in the oval room… The sample has to be dropped off at 10 + you HAVE to fill out the forms.”

The email strongly suggests IVF using Epstein’s sample—though there’s no confirmation in the cache that it went ahead or what the outcome was.

The Epstein saga facing Trump continues to develop. House Democrats on Monday released an alleged 2003 birthday note said to be from Trump to Epstein—something Trump has tried to swat away as a “dead issue,” and the White House says is “fake.”

When contacted by the Daily Beast, the White House repeated its statement to Bloomberg.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/leaked-emails-reveal-jeffrey-epstein-wanted-donald-trump-deleted-from-mysterious-power-list/?

[phkrause]

Misery for Trump as Jobless Claims Surges to 4-Year High

The president is seeing more and more worrying jobs reports.

President Donald Trump has been hit with another economic blow as figures reveal that the number of U.S. unemployment benefits has risen to a four-year high. Data from the Labor Department showed that there were 263,000 people seeking unemployment benefits the week ending Sept. 6, an increase of 27,000 from the previous week. Not only is this the highest level since Oct. 23, 2021, it is also way above the 235,000 applications forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey. The findings could heap more misery on the president, after a separate monthly jobs data published on Sept. 5 found that the U.S. added only 22,000 jobs in August, a number that was well below expectations. There were also annual revisions from the Bureau of Statistics, revealing this week that there were 911,000 fewer jobs created for the year to March than previously thought. These troubling figures arrived weeks after Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, claiming, without providing evidence, that August’s underwhelming job numbers were “rigged.” As noted by Bloomberg, uncertainty surrounding Trump’s economic policies, including his sweeping tariff plans, have made employers think twice about hiring more people in 2025.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/misery-for-donald-trump-as-jobless-claims-surges-to-4-year-high/?

[Gustave]

In my view this (what Trump did) was classy compared to Harris swooning over CardiB. If I wouldn't get into trouble I'd post CardiB's Democrat hit "W.A.P." for anyone interested go to youtube and watch the WAP uncensored video then pull up the videos of gloating Democrats cheering CardiB being on their team not unlike Goliath's fans gloated about Goliath. 

 

[bonnie1962]

Come on now all you liberals. When most of these same issue came up while Biden was president we got a bunch of liberal talking points why it wasn"t Bidens fault. Your bias and hatred of all things Trump is showing. Liberals would complain if Trump were perfect with a perfect personal record as well

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Judge temporarily blocks US effort to remove dozens of immigrant Guatemalan and Honduran children

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A federal judge in Arizona temporarily blocked the Trump administration from removing dozens of Guatemalan and Honduran children living in shelters or foster care after coming to the U.S. alone, according to a decision Thursday.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-children-trump-removal-guatemala-honduras-f9660cf78ce195c4a1d3d36f1f28bdc3?

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???? Trump's peace slump

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images

President Trump loves to boast about his singular ability to control global events and leaders. But there are two notable exceptions: his ally Benjamin Netanyahu and on-and-off adversary Vladimir Putin, Axios' Dave Lawler and Barak Ravid write. Why it matters: The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have been the two dominant global crises of Trump's second term. But despite his promises to end both wars, he's seemed doubtful lately about his ability to influence the men prolonging them. ? Behind the scenes: Trump has conceded to confidants that he misjudged Putin's desire for peace, but he rejects the notion he's being manipulated by Netanyahu, a source with direct knowledge told Axios. A senior White House official admitted similarities in the frustration Trump and his team feel about their inability to end the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza. Via Truth Social Zoom in: Trump reacted in almost identical terms Sunday when Russia launched the largest aerial attack of the war on Ukrainian cities, and on Monday when Israel bombed Qatar, a U.S. ally. "I'm not happy with the whole situation," Trump said of the Russian strikes, claiming once again that he's prepared to impose sanctions. "I'm not thrilled about the whole situation," Trump said of Israel's stunning attack, which he didn't learn about until missiles were in the air, according to U.S. officials. He privately told Netanyahu not to do it again, but stopped short of a public condemnation. Keep reading.

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Vessel struck by US military off Venezuela was heading back to shore, AP sources say  The strike on what the Trump administration says was a drug-carrying speedboat from Venezuela came after the vessel had turned around and was heading back to shore, raising fresh questions as members of Congress are demanding more information about the provocative attack. Read more.

Why this matters: National security officials acknowledged during a closed briefing this week that the boat carrying 11 people, described by the Trump administration as Tren de Aragua gang members, was fired on multiple times by the U.S. military after it had changed course, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity.   It was unclear if the national security officials provided information on the boat’s destination and if it was, in fact, carrying drugs. They did indicate the Pentagon has the ability to conduct additional military strikes in the region, the people familiar with the matter said.   In Venezuela, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on Thursday accused the U.S. government of murder, characterized its version of events as “a tremendous lie” and questioned how the people on board the targeted vessel were linked to the gang. Cabello also rejected the U.S. government’s assertion that the targeted vessel was carrying 11 people and drugs, explaining that the video released by the White House appeared to show a type of small fishing boat known as a “peñero” in Venezuela.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ US homeland security chief to meet Belgian prime minister to tackle drug smuggling   WATCH: Venezuela mothers ask US first lady for help securing return of children separated by deportation

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Trump says he’ll send National Guard to Memphis, escalating his use of troops in US cities

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday he’ll send the National Guard to address crime concerns in Memphis, Tennessee, his latest test of the limits of presidential power by using military force in American cities.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-memphis-national-guard-federal-intervention-73a7747f02bdf111574cbe9cc59201dd?

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Lutnick Moves the Goalposts After Bad News for Trump Economy

The Commerce Secretary swears blind that things will turn around—eventually.

Howard Lutnick tried to defend President Trump’s economic plan after damning data revealed a rise in inflation and jobless claims.

The Commerce Secretary expressed confidence that the economy will start booming in 2026 and reach “full fire” in 2027 after the Labor Department reported Thursday that consumer prices rose for the fourth month in a row to 2.9 percent, and the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits hit 263,000 last week, the highest in almost four years.

Lutnick told CNBC’s Squawk on the Street that a “huge amount of construction jobs” will be generated by a push to bring factories onshore to escape the Trump administration’s sky-high tariffs.

“So I would say the first quarter of next year will be the best quarter of construction jobs this country’s ever seen,” he said. “And that’s going to roll all the way through ’26, so I think you’re going to see GDP growth next year over 4 percent.”

Lutnick predicted that Americans who were “sitting on the sidelines because they just don’t want to be in the marketing department of this or that company” are going to rejoin the workforce to fill some 5 million openings for roles that require technical training.

“These people are going to be the arms and legs of the 5 million construction workers and the 5 million factory workers that are coming to America,” he said. “You’re going to see it start in ’26 and it’s going to be full fire in ’27.”

The Commerce Secretary also waved off concerns that the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies could lead to a shortage of workers, arguing that vocational schools could help fill that gap.

“If Harvard settles with Donald Trump, you know what he’s going to do with the $500 million? He’s going to have Harvard build vocational schools, the Harvard vocational school, because that’s what America needs. We need to train people for the jobs that are coming. Fixing robots, right? HVAC systems,” he said.

It’s not the first time that Lutnick has issued a fearless forecast for when the economy will boom.

In March, Lutnick told Fox Business that Trump’s leadership would soon be reflected in the economy.

“You’re worried about someone pre-announcing? What they should announce is in the fourth quarter of 2025, this economy is going to be humming,” he said.

That same month, he told the network that “shovels in the ground” to build factories and bring production back to America would “start really strong in the third quarter.”

In July, after the Commerce Department reported that the GDP grew 3 percent, Lutnick announced in an X post that “the Trump Economy has officially arrived.”

Lutnick also told CBS News that month that the “next two weeks are going to be weeks for the record books.”

The administration quietly changed its tune in September, when President Donald Trump said ahead of the release of the latest jobs report that “the real numbers” will come out “in a year from now.”

Trump made the comment during a private dinner with high-flying tech executives, including Tim Cook of Apple, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta, and Sam Altman of OpenAI.

“When these monstrous, huge, beautiful places—they’re palaces of genius—when they start opening up, I think you’ll see job numbers that are going to be absolutely incredible,” he said. “Right now, it’s a lot of construction numbers, but you’re going to see job numbers like our country has never seen before.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/lutnick-moves-goalpost-after-poor-inflation-jobless-claims-reports/?

[phkrause]

Ex-FBI Chief Floored by Keystone Kash’s Charlie Kirk Blunders

Andrew McCabe told CNN that Patel’s visit is likely to hinder the investigation into the murder of the MAGA figurehead.

The FBI’s deputy director in the first Trump administration, Andrew McCabe said he was left dumbfounded by the decision of the bureau’s current leader, Kash Patel, to visit Utah as authorities hunt for the killer of Charlie Kirk.

“There are many good reasons why you wouldn’t go, if you’re the director, out to the scene of an ongoing post-crisis investigation,” McCabe told CNN Newsnight host Abby Phillip.

“One of the reasons not to do that is because the presence of the director imposes a huge burden on the field office. There’s all kinds of arrangements that have to be made, there’s all kinds of security concerns that arise,” McCabe said.

“Transportation becomes very complicated, and that’s the last thing you want to do to the field office while they’re in the middle of investigating a critical incident,” McCabe added.

“So again, it’s strange to go out there under those circumstances.”

McCabe was fired as FBI deputy director in March 2018, just two days before he was due to retire, by Trump’s attorney general Jeff Sessions. McCabe had ordered a probe into Trump’s possible obstruction of justice when FBI director James Comey was fired.

Patel visited Utah on Thursday and attended a press conference where law enforcement gave an update on the investigation into the killing of Kirk, who was shot while speaking at an event at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.

The FBI director, a former prosecutor who helped Republican congressman Devin Nunes undermine the Trump-Russia probe, did not speak at the press conference. He has already received criticism for his handling of the investigation into the shooting of the Turning Point USA founder.

This includes posting misleading updates on social media by telling his 1.8 million X followers that officials had apprehended “the subject of the shooting,” before later declaring that the individual had nothing to do with the attack.

There is widespread frustration that the FBI has so far been unable to apprehend a meaningful suspect in Kirk’s shooting. No motive for the killing has yet been established, and no details about the gunman’s identity have been made public, except for a selection of photos of a male in dark clothing.

McCabe also questioned why Patel did not speak at Thursday’s press conference.

“I’m a bit at a loss to understand what was the purpose of going out there,” McCabe told CNN. “If you’re there, you probably want to make at least very perfunctory comments about appreciating the hard work of the men and women that are doing the investigation, and of course thanking your partners for the sort of access and the relationship that you have.

“I don’t even know how to kind of guess at that at this point.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-ex-fbi-chief-floored-by-kash-patels-charlie-kirk-investigation-visit-last-thing-you-want-to-do/?

[phkrause]

NATO Ally Blows Up Trump’s Excuse for Putin’s Shock Escalation

Trump said drones over Poland “might have been a mistake.”

President Trump attempted to give Vladimir Putin another pass after Russia sent drones deep into Polish territory.

The incident comes a week after Donald Trump met with Polish President Karol Nawrocki at the White House.

“It might have been a mistake,” he told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “It could have been a mistake, but also I’m not happy with anything regarding that situation.” NATO and Polish officials were not buying that excuse, however.

Trump has said a peace deal in Ukraine was one of his day one priorities to fix, but so far, the conflict rages with no public signs of progress.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded to Trump’s comments on X, saying that he “wishes” the attack was accidental. “We would also wish that the drone attack on Poland was a mistake. But it wasn’t. And we know it,” he said.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski was more direct. “No, that wasn’t a mistake,” he said, also writing on X.

The attack came in the early hours of Wednesday. Three Russian drones were shot down as others crashed to the ground and were later found across the east of the country, a NATO member.

The alliance’s general secretary, Mark Rutte, sent a warning to Putin on Wednesday, hours after the drones breached NATO airspace.

“Our air defenses are continually at the ready,” Rutte told reporters in Brussels. “My message is clear: stop the war in Ukraine... stop violating allied airspace, and know that we stand ready, that we are vigilant and that we will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

The transatlantic alliance has since agreed to send troops, artillery, and air defence systems to secure Poland’s eastern flank.

Trump, too, addressed the attack on Wednesday, in his own style. “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones?” he asked in a short post on Truth Social. “Here we go!”

On Wednesday, Nawrocki confirmed on X that he had spoken to Trump about the matter. “Today’s talks confirmed allied unity,” he said.

Trump has a fractious and at times pally relationship with Vladimir Putin. In August, the Kremlin leader met Trump in Alaska.

The back-slapping summit seemed to suggest a united front and, perhaps, the beginning of the end of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

However, the bombs continued to fall. Russia pounded Ukraine with its biggest bombardment in weeks, wrecking energy infrastructure after Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Putin further sidelined Trump when he met with North Korean despot Kim Jong un and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month for a celebration of the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II.

“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America,” Trump snapped at Xi on Truth Social, sounding like a jilted pal.

The White House and representatives for Tusk have been contacted for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nato-ally-blows-up-trumps-excuse-for-putins-shock-escalation/?

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Programs for Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Harmed by Trump’s Anti-Diversity Push

The U.S. Department of Education has pulled funding for programs in eight states aimed at supporting students who have both hearing and vision loss, a move that could affect some of the country’s most vulnerable students.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-dei-students-education-deaf-blind-grant-funding?

Nothing Will Stop Trump From Weaponizing Charlie Kirk’s Killing to Attack the Left

This is not a moment for dishonesty. Contrary to the hurried efforts of some Democratic leaders to eulogize Charlie Kirk, we don’t need to pretend the far-right activist engaged in earnest politics “across ideology, through spirited debate” as California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post on X paying tribute to Kirk. 

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/11/charlie-kirk-killing-trump-left-political-violence/?

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? White House to slash AI red tape

Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images

The Trump administration wants AI to accelerate quickly in the U.S., and is about to take the first steps to remove as much red tape as possible, Office of Science and Technology Policy director Michael Kratsios told Axios' Ashley Gold and Maria Curi in an exclusive interview. Why it matters: Kratsios is at the center of AI policy in the Trump administration, and the White House is laser-focused on reshaping the rules around the technology. ? What we're watching: OSTP later this month will ask the public and businesses to weigh in on the federal regulations that they think hold back the development and deployment of AI, Kratsios told Axios. For example, in health care, there could be regulations that hinder the development of particular medical devices, Kratsios said. In finance, there could be regs around consumer protection holding AI back. Keep reading ...

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Venezuela says US navy raided a tuna boat in the Caribbean as tensions rise

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Personnel from a U.S. warship boarded a Venezuelan tuna boat with nine fishermen while it was sailing in Venezuelan waters, Venezuela’s foreign minister said on Saturday, underlining strained relations with the United States.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-united-states-warship-fishermen-e08c3abde034df0f50c1ea66dff7718b?

ps:I don't buy that for a minute, but also don't believe half of what comes from trump and his minions!!!!!

Trump calls on all NATO countries to stop buying Russian oil, threatens 50% to 100% tariffs on China

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he believes the Russia-Ukraine war would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50% to 100% for its purchases of Russian petroleum.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-ukraine-oil-tariffs-nato-f8ca988188dceacb509ca40661ec3eb0?

A framework deal on TikTok has been reached between the US and China

MADRID (AP) — A framework deal has been reached between China and the U.S. for the ownership of popular social video platform TikTok, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after weekend trade talks in Spain.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tiktok-china-b2621f7554d4a45eef83d05b4b958034?

Fired federal prosecutor Maurene Comey sues Trump administration to get her job back

NEW YORK (AP) — Former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey sued the U.S. government Monday to get her job back, saying her firing was for political reasons and was unconstitutional.

https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-maurene-comey-trump-23fb32ac0e4402873862d3ca6d31d18e?

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? Trump: Foreign experts welcome

Via Truth Social

President Trump said yesterday that the U.S. welcomes foreign experts to train Americans how to build high-tech goods — days after hundreds of arrested South Korean workers left the country, Axios managing editor for business Ben Berkowitz writes. Why it matters: The tension between the administration's economic and immigration policies appears to be working itself out in favor of the economic goals.

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Keystone Kash on Thin Ice as Insiders Plot His Swift Exit

Andrew Bailey, the incoming co-deputy director of the FBI, is being touted as Kash Patel’s imminent replacement.

A new leading figure at the FBI could spell trouble for under-fire Director Kash Patel following his bungled response to the shooting of Charlie Kirk.

Former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, once President Donald Trump’s original choice to lead the FBI, will be sworn in Monday as co-deputy director of the bureau, sharing duties with fellow MAGA loyalist Dan Bongino.

There is speculation that the unprecedented creation of a co-deputy director role for Bailey is part of a broader plan to have him eventually replace Patel, multiple unnamed sources told Fox News.

The White House is said to be unhappy with Patel’s performance, especially in the wake of the investigation into Kirk’s shooting in Utah on September 10.

One person familiar with the matter told the pro-Trump network that the White House, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and her deputy, Todd Blanche, have “no confidence” in Patel’s ability to lead the FBI. “Pam, in particular, cannot stand him. Blanche, either,” the source said.

As noted by Fox News, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 means that Bailey, who starts at the FBI on Monday, will be able to take over as the bureau’s director should the opportunity arise, once he has worked there for at least 90 days.

Patel has come under intense scrutiny over his handling of the investigation into Kirk’s killing, with the suspect only detained after two days when a family member turned him in.

He was also criticized for visiting the scene of the crime in Utah, an almost unheard-of move for an FBI director, for not speaking at a press conference the day after the attack, and for posting on social media that officials had apprehended “the subject of the shooting,” only to walk it back hours later and declare that the individual had nothing to do with the attack.

“Total amateur hour,” one federal official told Fox News about Patel’s misleading X posts.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo was among those suggesting Patel is not the right man for the job shortly after the search for 22-year-old suspect Tyler Robinson ended.

“He performed terribly in the last few days, and it’s not clear whether he has the operational expertise to investigate, infiltrate, and disrupt the violent movements—of whatever ideology—that threaten the peace in the United States,” Rufo posted.

An unnamed source told Fox News that rather than face the humiliation of being fired, Patel could instead be shifted into another role within the Trump administration.

“He’ll get Billy Long-ed,” the source said, referencing how the former Internal Revenue Service commissioner was nominated to become the U.S. ambassador to Iceland after less than two months in his previous role.

In a statement to Fox News, Bailey dismissed the suggestion that he is being brought into the FBI to replace Patel as “simply false.”

Bondi and Blanche issued a joint statement saying they “fully support” Patel’s leadership. “Any suggestion to the contrary does not reflect the reality of our strong working relationship and shared commitment to protecting the American people,” they added.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung also defended Patel, saying, “Anyone who doubts his resolve and dedication—especially when Charlie was such a close friend to him—is simply using this extremely sad moment in a disgusting act of political gamesmanship.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the FBI for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/keystone-kash-on-thin-ice-as-insiders-plot-his-swift-exit/?

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Trump Snubs Kennedy Center’s Charlie Kirk Vigil After Weekend at Golf Club

The president was nowhere to be seen at Sunday night’s prayer vigil.

Donald Trump was a no-show at Sunday’s religious vigil for slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

The president spent the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, according to his White House press schedule. He was seen speaking about Kirk’s death on Saturday night during a “Hope Through Education” gala held at the residence, where he discussed the suspect in Kirk’s murder, Tyler Robinson, becoming “radicalized.”

Trump’s schedule for Sunday included no public events. He returned to the White House at 6:30 p.m. after huge queues had formed outside the Kennedy Centre in Washington, D.C., to commemorate the slain influencer.

The vigil started at 6 p.m. and was attended by 85 members of Congress as well as key MAGA figures, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

While Trump was not present, his presence was felt.

During her impassioned speech, Leavitt covered for her boss, stating, “I speak on behalf of the president when I say President Trump loved you, Charlie, so much.”

Other speakers at the event included Sen. Jake Hoffman of Arizona, a friend of Kirk, who told the guests, “We know there are two special individuals in that big, beautiful White House that care about Charlie Kirk, don’t we?”

“President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance love Charlie Kirk just like you love Charlie Kirk.”

His statement was greeted by huge applause.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on Trump’s absence.

While not present for the prayer vigil, the president reiterated Sunday that he would attend Kirk’s funeral next weekend in Arizona, following his state visit to the U.K. this week.

“It’s a very sad weekend in the sense that we lost a great person,” Trump said. “We’re going to Arizona, taking some people with us on Air Force One.”

When asked if his wife, Melania, who is also going to the U.K., would accompany him to Kirk’s funeral, Trump said, “I didn’t ask her that, but a lot of people are. We’re going to Europe, so we’re going to be doing that. I haven’t even thought of it. I’ve been thinking about other things.”

Picking up from his comments at Bedminster on Saturday night, Trump once again lashed out Sunday at what he has called the “radical left.”

The president also confirmed his administration was already investigating foreigners living in America who had celebrated Kirk’s death online.

“The problem we have is on the left,” Trump said. “And when you look at the agitators, you look at the scum that speak so badly of our country, the American flag burnings all over the place, that’s the left. That’s not the right.”

He added, “We wouldn’t celebrate if something happened on their side. And we don’t. These are sick people. These are really deranged people.”

Trump’s absence at the prayer vigil was filled by numerous other key allies. Speaker Johnson talked about a mixture of “unspeakable sadness and grief and anger and even fear” after Kirk’s assassination last week.

“It’s as if a dark shadow was cast over our country and certainly here, even on Capitol Hill. The leaders of the nation have been shaken, as have university students and college students and young people all across the country. It’s as if the ground was shifted beneath us.”

Johnson said Kirk “recruited and trained and educated a generation of happy warriors.”

Leavitt said she owed her job to the “heroic work” of Kirk in “turning the political tide” for American youth to vote for Trump and that he was the first person to call her to congratulate her on landing the press secretary role.

RFK Jr. was welcomed to the stage with a rousing chant of “USA! USA!”

The 71-year-old said of Kirk, “We were soulmates, we were spiritual brothers.”

He added, “He ended up being the primary architect of my unification with President Trump.”

An emotional Kennedy said he had spoken to Kirk about “the danger” they both faced from “challenging entrenched interests.”

“He asked me if I was scared to die. And I said to him, ‘There’s a lot worse things than dying.’ And one of those, and chief among us, is losing our constitutional rights and having our children raised in slavery.”

He added, “Charlie gave his life so that the rest of us would not have to suffer those fates worse than death.,

After a long manhunt, the FBI announced on Friday that 22-year-old Tyler Robinson had been identified as the suspect in Kirk’s murder last Wednesday at Utah Valley University. Robinson is expected to be charged on Tuesday.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-snubs-charlie-kirk-kennedy-center-vigil-after-weekend-at-golf-club/?

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Trump officials axed an online portal for its key climate report. Read it in full here

The future of the US government’s premier climate crisis report is perilously uncertain after the Trump administration deleted the website that housed the periodic, legally mandated assessments that have been produced by scientists over the past two decades.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/10/national-climate-assessment-published?

Trump’s ‘climate’ purge deleted a new extreme weather risk tool. We recreated it

When Donald Trump won November’s election, a small team working on a key new US government tool charting impacts of the climate crisis scrambled into action. They hastily renamed the resource to remove the word “climate” and quietly released it without fanfare in December, before Trump’s return to the White House.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2025/mar/26/extreme-weather-risk-tool-fema-trump?

This land is their land: Trump is selling out the US’s beloved wilderness

During the McCarthy era’s darkest days, public lands came under attack. History now repeats itself – and this may be the last chance to defend what’s ours

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/may/18/trump-public-lands-conservation-workers?

Scientists brace ‘for the worst’ as Trump purges climate mentions from websites

Trump administration pulling references online ‘won’t make crisis’ stop affecting Americans’ lives, say experts

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/04/trump-climate-change-federal-websites?

To resist the climate crisis, we must resist the billionaire class

To solve the climate crisis, power must flow away from the billionaire class

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/10/climate-crisis-billionaire-class?

Trump tariffs to hit small farms in Maga heartlands hardest, analysis predicts

The winners and losers of Trump’s first tariff war strongly suggest that bankruptcies and farm consolidation could surge during his second term, with major corporations best placed to benefit from his polices at the expense of independent farmers.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/08/small-farms-trump-tariffs?

How Trump is targeting wind and solar energy – and delighting big oil

For several years, Republicans accused Joe Biden of waging a “war on energy” even as the Untied States drilled more oil and gas than at any time in its history. Now, a more tangible assault is gathering pace under Donald Trump – aimed squarely at wind, solar and other cleaner forms of power.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/03/trump-war-on-clean-energy-big-oil?

‘A ruthless agenda’: charting 100 days of Trump’s onslaught on the environment

Guardian reporters map out how Trump is eviscerating efforts to protect the natural world – from ‘drill, baby, drill’ to mass firings

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/01/trump-100-days-climate-environment?

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Keystone Kash Cornered on His Charlie Kirk Assassination Mess

Trump’s FBI director admitted he messed up his initial social media announcements on Kirk but insisted he’ll keep posting through it.

FBI Director Kash Patel took a combative approach on Monday when grilled about the firestorm of criticism he’s faced over his social media activity in the wake of the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Hours after Kirk, 31, was fatally shot at Utah Valley University on Wednesday, Patel wrote on X that the “subject for the horrific shooting… is now in custody,” before posting again less than two hours later to say the “subject in custody has been released after an interrogation by law enforcement.” The suspected gunman, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was not arrested until Thursday evening.

“Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment? Sure,” Patel said during an appearance on Fox & Friends on Monday morning. “But do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not.” “I was telling the world what the FBI was doing as we were doing [it],” Patel added. “And I’m continuing to do that, and I challenge anyone out there to find a director that has been more transparent and more willing to work the media on high-profile cases, or any case the FBI is handling than we have been under my leadership.”

Patel, a former podcaster, cigar entrepreneur, and T-shirt hawker, has faced intense scrutiny for his handling of the Kirk case. He also asked about reports concerning tensions between him and others involved in the investigation. The New York Times reported that Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, held a fraught online meeting with 200 agents the morning after Kirk’s killing in which they made clear they were facing “intense pressure” to catch the shooter.

The report also said Patel went on a profane rant as he called out subordinates who he claimed had “failed to give him timely information” and that he was “incensed that agents in Salt Lake City waited nearly 12 hours to show him a photo of the suspected killer.” It added that Patel said he would not tolerate any more “Mickey Mouse operations.”

“The local authorities have been fantastic,” Patel said Monday on Fox News, adding that the local sheriff and state police have been “wonderful.”

“To get the information up to me was of the utmost priority,” Patel said. “So I worked with my team to say, ‘Hey, there’s not going to be any delays, we’re not going to do it the way we normally do things.’ So the only thing that people were doing at the FBI was how they knew how to do things—I had to expedite that process, that’s my job.”

Patel claimed he had not been “critical of anyone in particular, I just said: ‘We gotta move faster.’”

“That was my call to make, and if there’s any criticism there, you can put it right here, not the men and women of the FBI.”

Patel added that no one had denied his order for information per se, the photos were just not produced to him “in a timely fashion” that he felt “was appropriate for an investigation of this magnitude.”

“So I came in and I accelerated that process,” Patel said.

At the start of the interview, Patel also spoke about DNA evidence collected from a towel wrapped around a rifle that authorities found discarded in a wooded area that investigators believe was used in the shooting. Patel said that DNA sample, as well as DNA collected from a screwdriver found on the campus rooftop from where the shooter fired, “are positively processed for the suspect in custody.”

He said that the firearm itself is being “processed by ATF laboratories in Maryland” and that he expects the agency to give an update once its processing is complete.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Robinson will be charged Tuesday. Authorities have not yet released a suspected motive for the attack.

Trump’s one-time pick to lead the FBI, former Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, will be sworn into a new power-sharing role with Bongino on Monday. Fox News Digital reported on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s allies “have begun to circulate word that contingency plans for Patel’s ouster are forming” and that Bailey has made clear that he would not leave his role as Missouri’s attorney general or drop his hopes of running for state governor to serve as “Patel’s number two.”

“The White House, Bondi, Blanche have no confidence in Kash,” one source told the outlet. “Pam in particular cannot stand him. Blanche either,” the source added, referring to Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy, former Trump lawyer Todd Blanche.

White House officials denied any plan to remove Patel from his role, while Trump—who was reportedly unimpressed with Patel’s clash with Bondi over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case—told Fox News Digital over the weekend that he is “very proud of the FBI,” adding: “Kash —and everyone else—they have done a great job.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/keystone-kash-patel-cornered-on-his-charlie-kirk-assassination-post/?

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ICE Barbie’s Goons Smeared Grieving Mom as ‘Wanted Killer’

When a mother spoke out about losing a baby in ICE custody, DHS falsely claimed she had an active homicide warrant against her.

Kristi Noem’s Department of Homeland Security falsely accused a mom who lost her baby while locked up by ICE of being a wanted killer.

The DHS smeared Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus after she went public with the harrowing story of how she was forced to spend three days in custody carrying the fetus of her dead son when she miscarried at 20 weeks.

Days later, in early May, she was deported to Guatemala as part of a wave of ICE arrests and deportations ordered by President Trump and overseen by Noem, nicknamed ICE Barbie for her elaborate photo-ops.

Monterroso-Lemus alleged she received no prenatal care and minimal medical attention, despite warning guards she was in severe pain before her miscarriage and subsequent stillbirth.

The mother of six, 38, gave an interview about her experience to the Nashville Banner on May 27. She described having to sleep “starving” on the floor of the notorious cockroach-infested Richwood Correctional Center, in Louisiana. She said she was forced to deliver her stillborn child while a prison guard watched over her.

A month after Monterroso-Lemus’s story was published, Noem’s Department for Homeland Security (DHS) issued a furious rebuttal to “set the record straight.”

Point by point in a June 26 “fact check,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described the grieving mother’s allegations as “absolutely FALSE,” insisting the department “had documentation to show” she had been provided proper medical care—before stating Monterroso-Lemus was facing an active warrant for homicide in her native Guatemala.

But the Daily Beast can reveal that the incendiary claim was false.

Court documents show that a judge threw out the 14-year-old warrant and freed Monterroso-Lemus on May 13, four days after she arrived in Guatemala.

A letter from Judge Edgar Anibal Arteaga Lopez to the Juzgado de Paz, which handles criminal and civil cases, dated May 13, shows that an order had been issued revoking the arrest warrant, granting immediate release, and directing that her name be removed from any outstanding warrant databases. The judge also notified the director-general of the National Civil Police in Guatemala City that the arrest warrant had been rendered void. It is not known when she was cleared of involvement in the alleged crime.

The court documents were issued six weeks before DHS claimed that she was wanted for “homicide.”

The DHS finally came clean after facing repeated questions from the Beast, admitting that it had failed to verify the current legal status of Monterroso-Lemus before releasing its “fact check” to the public.

McLaughlin said the warrant had been active when she was deported, without addressing why no attempt had been made to check it was still true with Guatemalan authorities ahead of the public statement. She said, “Department of Homeland Security’s intelligence gathering ended the second this criminal was off American streets.”

Monterroso-Lemus is now living as a free woman in her family’s remote village in Guatemala, but is unable to return to Lenoir City, near Knoxville, Tennessee, to be with her devastated fiancé, Gary Bivens, 45.

Bivens told the Beast that a warrant for his partner’s arrest had been issued in April 2011 after a former boyfriend of Monterroso-Lemus shot his own father. Monterroso-Lemus had actually tried to help save the man’s life, Bivens said.

Bivens—who now keeps his son’s ashes in a box by his bed as a reminder of what he and his fiancée have lost—described the other “fact check” claims made by the DHS as “a bunch of BS.”

An official hospital document dated April 29 stated Monterroso-Lemus had been admitted “with pregnancy complicated by no PNC” (meaning pre-natal care)—which Bivens noted was in direct contradiction to what DHS claimed in its “fact check.”

Bivens accused the DHS of issuing the “fact check” as part of a “smear campaign” to “bury the original story, which is [that] they made this woman sit there with a dead baby—my son—in her stomach for three days.”

With Bivens’ consent, the Daily Beast made three requests to DHS to make public the documentation it claims to have proving Monterroso-Lemus received proper care. The DHS spokesperson, McLaughlin, refused, repeating a claim that ICE provided ”prenatal care, an ultrasound, an OB-GYN visit, dental care, and medication,” and that “she was admitted to a hospital and saw multiple nurses.”

Bivens said he suspected that documentation proving proper medical care does not exist and has retained attorneys. The steelworker is also scheduled to testify before Congress in mid-October about the traumatic episode.

Another of DHS’s claims in its “fact check” about Monterroso-Lemus was also misleading. The department stated that she had been “arrested twice for child abuse/neglect with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.”

But Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office told the Daily Beast that Monterroso-Lemus had been arrested once in May 2022 after one of her young children got out of the house and was found in the street. The second arrest was for failing to attend court on that charge.

Bivens rejected the police’s allegation that Monterroso-Lemus had been at home, intoxicated and asleep, when one of her kids walked out of the house. He said it was “not true whatsoever,” stating that 20 minutes earlier, he had been with Monterroso-Lemus, who made a living by gardening and cleaning.

Bivens said she had not been drunk and had actually been cooking dinner for her kids when her youngest wandered out of the back gate while looking for her older brothers.

It is not known what ultimately came of the charge, and the city court did not respond to a request for comment.

In a statement released on Thursday, McLaughlin persisted with the claim that the grieving mom was a child abuser. “It’s disgusting the Daily Beast would choose to peddle a sob story of a child abuser. These types of smears are leading to our brave law enforcement facing a 1,000% increase in assaults against them.” The 1,000 percent figure has been used repeatedly but is not backed by actual numbers.

Bivens has launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover his fiancée’s medical bills, basic living expenses, and food costs. He now plans to sell his house to move to Guatemala to be with Monterroso-Lemus, saying he feels “ashamed to be an American.”

“It’s disgusting,” he said. “We are not a third-world country, and I don’t care what race or nationality you are—nobody deserves to have that kind of treatment, especially in a federal facility.”

The couple is just one of many thousands of families separated by the Trump administration’s deportation drive, spearheaded by Noem.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-barbies-goons-smeared-grieving-mom-as-wanted-killer/?

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Trump Blames Zelensky and Putin for His Humiliating Failure

President Trump says the warring leaders “hate each other so much, they can’t breathe.”

Donald Trump can’t seem to understand why Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky hate each other, as his efforts to negotiate a peace deal flail.

Both parties are refusing each other’s terms of agreement for a bipartisan meeting, which has been the cornerstone of Trump’s plan.

Trump had boasted on the campaign trail that he would secure peace on his first day back in office, but eight months later, there is no sign of a breakthrough.

Russia has spent much of the last decade pushing its military into Ukraine, first annexing Crimea and then, in 2022, starting the war that is now raging.

“The hatred between Zelensky and Putin is unfathomable,” the president told reporters before boarding Air Force One. “They hate each other so much, they can’t breathe.”

When asked if he still believes a trilateral meeting between himself, Putin, and Zelensky is on the cards, Trump said, “I don’t know, I think I’m going to have to do all the talking. They hate each other.”

Yet despite the setback, the president insisted that talks between the leaders would still take place “relatively soon.”

Trump bragged about his ability to end the war in Ukraine on “Day One” of his presidency on the campaign trail last year, and was quick to claim a peace deal was “done” following his summit with Putin in Alaska last month.

However, his hopes quickly unraveled when Putin stated that he would only agree to a meeting with Zelensky if it were held in Moscow, a condition Kyiv deemed unacceptable. He also undermined NATO’s plan to send an international peacekeeping force to the frontlines to enforce a ceasefire by insisting Russia would treat any foreign troops in Ukraine as “legitimate targets.”

In a rare moment of humility, Trump acknowledged the scale of the task ahead of him on Sunday. “I stopped seven wars. I thought this was going to be an easy one for me. But this turned out to be a tough one. The hatred between Zelensky and Putin is unfathomable,” he said.

Elsewhere during the interview, Trump referred to Russia as the “aggressor” in the war, a change in rhetoric after previously refusing to condemn Moscow for invading Ukraine.

Referring to a large number of troop casualties over the weekend, Trump said, “I want to stop the killing. It just came out that 8,000 soldiers have died this week, from both countries. Some more from Russia, but when you’re the aggressor, you lose more.

“They are Russians, they are not American soldiers — but they’re still human beings. They’re souls. And I want to stop it.”

On Friday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Politico that the United States wants to “displace all Russian gas” by placing further sanctions on Moscow, thereby forcing them to the negotiation table. “The more we can strangle Russia’s ability to fund this murderous war, the better for all of us,” he said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-blames-zelensky-and-putins-hatred-for-his-humiliating-failure/?