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Blistering new ruling finds Trump's agencies 'knowingly trampled' on a sacred right

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A federal judge on Monday struck down the Trump administration's revamped voter-citizenship database, ruling that federal agencies broke the law by building a centralized system that swept up the private data of millions of Americans and wrongly flagged U.S. citizens as non-citizens.In a sharply worded opinion, U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan vacated the 2025 overhaul of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, system, along with two related privacy notices issued by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration. She found the changes violated the Social Security Act, the Privacy Act, and the Administrative Procedure Act."[T]he federal government has knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a manner that threatens the sacred right to vote," Sooknanan wrote. "This Court cannot stand idly by while that happens."The overhaul followed President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order on elections that expanded SAVE to include records of natural-born citizens, tap Social Security data including SSNs, as well as let states run their entire voter rolls through the system in bulk.The judge, an appointee of President Joe Biden, noted internal records showed the agencies knew the database was "not in compliance" with the Privacy Act and that accuracy shortfalls "could cause incomplete or false results." Naturalized citizens with outdated Social Security files were among those wrongly flagged as non-citizens, with some forced to prove citizenship within 30 days or lose their registrations. An investigation in one Texas county found a quarter of the system's "non-citizen matches" were people who had already proven citizenship, the court filing detailed.The case, brought by the League of Women Voters and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, follows months of warnings about the error-prone system, which even several red states refused to feed their voter data.

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John Oliver warns Trump's crude swipe at Obama is about to backfire spectacularly

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37 minutes ago

John Oliver warns Trump's crude swipe at Obama is about to backfire spectacularly

Comedian John Oliver warned Sunday that President Donald Trump's profane attack on Barack Obama is going to come back to haunt him.On "Last Week Tonight," the HBO host zeroed in on Trump's G7 appearance in France, where the president, seated beside Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, mocked Obama's 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump tore up in his first term, and claimed Iran once "laughed at Obama" and called him "a stupid son of a b----" over a $1.7 billion payment.Oliver pointed out that Trump's own memorandum of understanding commits Iran to receiving at least $300 billion in reconstruction aid. “If Iran called Obama a stupid son of a b---- for letting them get $1.7 billion, I think we’re about to find out what the Persian word is for someone 300 times dumber than that,” Oliver quipped.The host argued the agreement is "less a comprehensive peace deal and more a plan to eventually have one, with some pretty big holes in it," noting it "doesn’t even address Iran’s nuclear program—supposedly the whole point of this war in the first place.” He also flagged that the deal has been criticized within Trump's own party.Even as Trump keeps boasting that his deal beats the one Obama struck in 2015, the former president gave his own verdict in an NBC interview that aired Friday.“We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military, a lot of people have died, and it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war,” Obama said. “Except maybe a little bit worse.”

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Ex-Trump lawyer to sit down with House Epstein investigators to 'set the record straight'

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54 minutes ago

Ex-Trump lawyer to sit down with House Epstein investigators to 'set the record straight'

Alan Dershowitz is scheduled to sit down with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on July 20 as part of its sprawling investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and the government's handling of his case, according to Politico."I asked to be allowed to set the record straight and correct various misconceptions," Dershowitz said in a text message. "I look forward to doing so."The prominent defense attorney, whose past clients include O.J. Simpson and President Donald Trump, was part of the legal team that negotiated Epstein's controversial 2008 plea deal, which let the financier plead guilty to Florida state charges, including soliciting prostitution from a minor, and avoid federal sex-trafficking charges. Critics have long argued the lenient deal allowed Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019, to keep abusing girls for years before his later arrest.Dershowitz, who has said he wants to testify publicly and "about everything," has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing connected to Epstein's crimes. He has also proclaimed his innocence over an accusation by Virginia Giuffre, who alleged Epstein trafficked her to him. Giuffre withdrew the claim in 2022, saying she "may have made a mistake." She died last year.Dershowitz's appearance would add to a roster of high-profile figures the committee has questioned, including Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Bill Gates and Ghislaine Maxwell, as Epstein's survivors continue demanding answers. The panel is also expected to interview investor Leon Black, whose Epstein ties have faced scrutiny for years.

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Trump warns of 10-year jail time for attack on his $16 million Reflecting Pool renovation

US Politics: Latest News, Comments and Breaking Stories | Mail Online

56 minutes ago

Trump warns of 10-year jail time for attack on his $16 million Reflecting Pool renovation

The President is threatening jail time for the alleged vandals he's blaming for damaging the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington.

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Federal judge quashes Trump DOJ subpoenas aimed at Minnesota’s Walz, Frey

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1 hour ago

Federal judge quashes Trump DOJ subpoenas aimed at Minnesota’s Walz, Frey

A federal judge in Minnesota has tossed out multiple Department of Justice (DOJ) grand jury subpoenas aimed at Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and other officials in the state. U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz wrote there was “no doubt” the DOJ issued the subpoenas to “harass” political opponents of President…

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Todd Blanche plot upended by judge to 'harass and retaliate' against Trump foes

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Todd Blanche plot upended by judge to 'harass and retaliate' against Trump foes

A federal judge has upended Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's campaign to "retaliate" against Minnesota Democrats who refused to help enforce President Donald Trump's immigration agenda.Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota quashed all six grand-jury subpoenas Monday targeting Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her — all Democrats — as well as county officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties.The subpoenas, served on Jan. 20, sought sweeping records related to immigration enforcement dating back to Jan. 1, 2025 — the opening salvo of a Justice Department investigation into whether Minnesota officials had obstructed federal immigration agents during "Operation Metro Surge."The judge shot down the DOJ's arguments in his Monday order."The evidence that the challenged subpoenas were issued for unlawful reasons is overwhelming," he wrote. "The Department has struggled — without success — to identify a single plausible investigatory justification for the subpoenas."The Justice Department couldn't point to an instance of a Minnesota official actually obstructing a law enforcement officer. It withdrew one of its five stated justifications after admitting it had no verifiable source.On Jan. 13, Trump posted on Truth Social, threatening "RETRIBUTION" against Minnesota's political leaders. Three days later, the subpoenas leaked to multiple outlets — with at least one citing "U.S. officials" as its source.On Jan. 14, he posted on X accusing Walz and Frey of "encouraging violence against law enforcement" and vowing to stop their "terrorism by whatever means necessary."Four months later, Blanche went on Fox News and named Walz again — this time in the context of a fraud investigation, saying the governor had "done nothing but sue us."Schiltz found the subpoenas "were not issued to investigate, but to harass, coerce, and retaliate.""The dominant purpose of the challenged subpoenas," he wrote, "is to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so."

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Judge's scathing rebuke of Trump admin startles CNN: 'Quite a shock to see it on paper'

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1 hour ago

Judge's scathing rebuke of Trump admin startles CNN: 'Quite a shock to see it on paper'

CNN anchor Brianna Keilar was stunned after a federal judge scolded the Trump administration in a scorching new ruling on Monday.Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota blocked the Justice Department's efforts to subpoena Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz and other Democratic officials in an immigration enforcement probe, CNN reported. Walz, who has publicly criticized President Donald Trump, was targeted by the DOJ along with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her. County officials in Ramsey and Hennepin counties were also issued subpoenas."That is quite a lashing," Keilar said, responding to the judge's ruling.CNN correspondent Katelyn Polantz described the opinion — and what made it stand out."I don't know if I've seen an opinion take on the Justice Department in this way before from a federal judge saying just explicitly that they believe that the Justice Department was using its authority for political means in exactly the wrong, unlawful way," Polantz said.The subpoenas from former Attorney General Pam Bondi came following weeks of unrest and protest in Minnesota after two people — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were killed amid aggressive ICE raids in Minneapolis. In the letters, Bondi told local officials that they needed to support ICE, Polantz said."It was a retribution and a reckoning day that was coming for people in Minnesota that didn't support the federal government," Polantz explained. "What the Justice Department said at that time was that people like Walz, Frey, they were going to be investigated for impeding federal law enforcement. But this federal judge, Patrick Schiltz, in Minnesota, he finds that that is totally not what the Justice Department was doing." "He says that the way they brought forth this criminal investigation into Walz's office, the mayor's offices, the attorney general's office in Minnesota," she added. "It was blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand jury process. He says that there was no doubt that these were grand jury subpoenas for documents that were meant to harass and coerce these local officials, and that there was no plausible investigative justification. The unlawful reasons here were overwhelming, quite a shock to see it on paper from a judge in this federal case saying, 'these guys, these grand jury subpoenas, they're not going to survive.'"

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CNN reporter surprises himself with development in Trump's algae-filled Reflecting Pool

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1 hour ago

CNN reporter surprises himself with development in Trump's algae-filled Reflecting Pool

CNN's Tom Foreman sounded surprised at his own reporting as he provided an update on the ongoing Reflecting Pool saga.President Donald Trump has blamed vandals for the problems that have plagued his $14 million renovation of the pool, which turned green with an algae bloom once it was refilled following a paint job that is already deteriorating. At least five people have been arrested for taking chunks of the damaged materials from the water."The only name we really know is a former Olympian, David Hearn, a local guy here, and he said he went by and all he did was reach in there," Foreman told "The Situation Room." "He is competing in the slalom canoe for the United States of America. He said he's a material scientist; he studied material science. He reached into the water just to touch this, to see what it was like, to see what this material was like, where it was already loose, and then they came along and they arrested him for this.""Part of the question here is," Foreman added, "if they're arresting him for that being damage, just because he touched it, as he said, the question is, what about the dozens and dozens of workers who have been in there day after day, walking all over it, pushing these little vacuum things all over it, potentially, that causes damage to."Foreman then described the ongoing efforts to undo the damage in time for the July 4 celebrations, which are less than two weeks away, and he seemed caught off guard by the latest developments."In any event, the algae is not under control," he said. "It's still there as of this morning, even though they're trying to get it cleared up, and now they're talking about maybe having to drain the whole thing and start over, literally putting tax money, well, figuratively, I guess, down the drain."Foreman then explained why Trump seemed so focused on fixing the damage his update had caused."He ridiculed all former presidents, saying all their efforts were just foolish, a waste of money, and I can do it for less than $2 million," Foreman said. "It ended up costing seven times that much, and so far shows no signs of working any better than anything that was tried before." - YouTube youtu.be

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NEW: Trump says Vandals Who Left “300 Foot Long Gash” and Dumped Chemicals in Reflecting Pool will Face 10 YEARS in Prison

The Gateway Pundit

2 hours ago

NEW: Trump says Vandals Who Left “300 Foot Long Gash” and Dumped Chemicals in Reflecting Pool will Face 10 YEARS in Prison

President Trump on Monday said that a 10-year prison sentence for the destruction of the newly renovated reflecting pool and grass on the National Mall will be "fully enforced," threatening the left-wing vandals defacing the national monuments in DC. President Trump undertook the project to restore the filthy green water basin, built in the 1920s, which has been marred by issues, including sinking and leaking into the swamp beneath. The post NEW: Trump says Vandals Who Left “300 Foot Long Gash” and Dumped Chemicals in Reflecting Pool will Face 10 YEARS in Prison appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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