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5/25: CBS Evening News

President Trump says Iran deal will be a "great and meaningful" pact or there will be no deal; Memorial Day honors fallen U.S. service members

Fox News analyst chastises Supreme Court for 'destructive blow'

The Supreme Court, mired in accusations of "corruption" and "bias," has dealt what one Fox News analyst writing for The Hill called the "most destructive blow against Black political power in my lifetime."Juan Williams is a political analyst for Fox News who is regularly one of the conservative network's most vocal critics of President Donald Trump and the GOP's acquiescence to his political machinations. In a piece published on Memorial Day, he called out the Supreme Court's continued trend of ruling in ways that run afoul of legal principles in order to benefit Trump, while reserving particular scorn for its gutting of the Voting Rights Act."Here’s the biggest mystery in Washington," Williams wrote. "Was it a six-sided conspiracy? Or are there only one or two Supreme Court justices behind the chaos caused by the recent ruling allowing new congressional districts to be drawn even after midterm primary voting has started?"He added: "Among Democrats, there is no mystery. There is talk of outright corruption. The only question is the extent of the corruption among Supreme Court justices. How many have abandoned judicial impartiality to help President Trump hold his Republican majority in the House?"Williams further highlighted Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson's recent comments during a meeting of the American Law Institute, where she chastised her conservative colleagues on the court for straying from their duty to be "neutral" and "nonpartisan," arguing that, instead, they are now getting "into the [political] fray," with their rulings. This was particularly true of the 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which effectively gutted key provisions of the Voting Rights Act and spurred a whirlwind of red-state gerrymandering in order to create new districts that disperse the influence of black voters.Justice Samuel Alito, one of the most conservative members of the court with a history of antipathy towards the VRA, dismissed Jackson's claims as "groundless and utterly irresponsible," but in his piece for The Hill, Williams noted that, "it is hard to ignore the political fact that Republicans in Louisiana as well as Alabama halted primary elections to draw new maps that are more favorable to Republican congressional candidates.""In Tennessee, the congressional map is similarly being redrawn before Election Day," Williams added. "And in South Carolina, the Republican governor asked for a special legislative session to review redistricting and possibly squeeze out the one Black-majority district. It is the only congressional district that favors Democrats. By some estimates, the wave of districting now spreading through the South, with approval of the Supreme Court, will reward Republicans with about seven to 10 more seats."This, he noted, follows on from prior efforts by red states to use redistricting to pad the GOP's House margins, hopefully helping them to keep their thin majority in the chamber after the coming midterms. In exchange for this potential advantage politically, Williams warned that the court has created the possibility of "real racial division and pain," that could undo the vital gains of the Civil Rights Movement."With recent rulings, the Supreme Court has cleared the way for 21st-century white, southern politicians to silence the voices of Black voters while raising the volume of voices belonging to white voters with a history of voting for Republicans," Williams continued. "The high court’s recent ruling amounts to the most destructive blow against Black political power in my lifetime."

Furious Trump names and shames three GOP lawmakers in sprawling early-morning rant

Donald Trump launched a sprawling early-morning attack on Republican critics of his Iran deal Sunday, singling out three GOP lawmakers by name and calling them losers, fools, and sleazebags in a 6am Truth Social post that underscored the growing tension between the president and members of his own party.Trump took aim at Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who he declared would soon be "out of office." He went after Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who last week lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger. And he saved his sharpest words for Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, whom he called "a major sleazebag who lost in a landslide" after Massie was defeated in his own primary following a series of breaks with the president."I laugh at all of the Dumocrats, RINOs, and Fools who know nothing about the potential deal I am making with Iran," Trump wrote, before rattling off the names.The post came amid fierce criticism from both parties over Trump's Iran negotiations, with hawks accusing him of repeating the mistakes of the Obama-era nuclear deal and his own base demanding military action rather than diplomacy. Trump has spent the past several days fielding attacks from former allies including retired General Mike Flynn and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, both of whom publicly urged him to walk away from any agreement with Tehran.Trump dismissed all of his critics as "weak and ineffective people" who "do nothing but create division and loss.""These people should go home and rest," he wrote. "In other words, they are losers."He closed with a warning about the deal itself: it will either be "great and meaningful" or there will be no deal at all — and it will be "the exact opposite of the JCPOA disaster," he claimed.

Morning news brief

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Trump news at a glance: President defends himself from Republicans over moves towards Iran deal

President insists ‘I don’t make bad deals!’ as hawks from his own party call proposed agreement a disaster – key US politics stories from Sunday 24 May at a glanceDonald Trump defended himself against criticism from fellow Republicans on Sunday as he appeared on the verge of agreeing a deal with Iran to end the war.As hawks in his party called the proposed agreement a disaster and questioned why the US president had launched the conflict in the first place, Trump claimed on social media that his deal would be “THE EXACT OPPOSITE” of the one agreed by Barack Obama, which Trump pulled out of in 2018. Continue reading...

Trump news at a glance: Iran says ‘contradictory statements’ from US hindering deal negotiations

Donald Trump says deal will be ‘great and meaningful, or there will be no deal at all’ in online post – key US politics stories from Monday 25 May at a glanceIran has poured cold water on suggestions that a deal with the US is imminent, pointing to the confusion in US positions and Israeli interference as reasons why an agreement is proving difficult to secure.Speaking at the weekly foreign ministry press briefing, Esmail Baghaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s negotiating team, also said future management of the strait of Hormuz was a matter for Oman and Iran to agree on, and that it was not tolls that were being proposed but “fees for navigational services”. Continue reading...