‘True Justice: Eye For An Eye’ Hallmark Cast Guide: Who’s Who in This Legal Drama Sequel?

This Is What the Democrats’ Push to Impeach Chief Justice Roberts Is Really About

Trump administration eyes Cuba as possible military victory as Iran talks stall

The Trump administration has ratcheted up its pressure campaign on Cuba, the island only 90 miles from the southern tip of Florida, as talks with Iran have still not resulted in a breakthrough. President Donald Trump has tried to squeeze the communist government for months, dating back to the military’s capture of former Venezuelan dictator […]

Trump directs legal migrants to return to home country to apply for green cards

The Trump administration on Friday announced prospective immigrants would need to return to their home country to apply for green cards, a move that would stifle the most common pathway used for legal immigration. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) portrayed the new policy memo as “returning to the original intent of the law,” while…

Friendly fire hits Trump officials as 'drama' forces shutdown of Tulsi Gabbard group

A task force launched by U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard to "end weaponization" has fallen apart after "drama" triggered by a memo it circulated that spread false claims — made by a January 6 rioter — against a CIA employee and a former Capitol Police officer. The group's collapse was detailed in testimony submitted to a U.S. Senate committee.Written testimony submitted by James E. Erdman III, a CIA senior operations officer formerly assigned to the Director’s Initiatives Group, to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), contradicts a public statement made by Gabbard in February that the task force “was created as a temporary effort.”“The memo and the ensuing drama that unfolded as a result helped spark a pause in DIG’s work in December 2025, and its ultimate dissolution in January 2026,” Erdman said. “The dissolution of the DIG has halted critical transparency work that the American people voted for when re-electing President Donald Trump.”Olivia Coleman, Gabbard’s press secretary, declined to comment on the record in response to Erdman’s characterization of the wind-down of the Director’s Initiative Group, other than to repeat a statement issued to the media last November. “ODNI followed its obligation to report information received concerning the alleged activities of a member of the Intelligence Community to that person’s employing agency,” the statement said. But an ODNI official speaking on background told Raw Story that the agency has confirmed that the Intelligence Community Inspector General is aware of Erdman's allegations and is working alongside ODNI and interagency partners, to uncover the truth about potential wrongdoing.Erdman did not include his characterization of the circumstances surrounding the dissolution of the Director's Initiatives Group in his testimony before the Senate committee, which was headlned, "Whistleblower Testimony on the COVID Coverup." His statements about the episode are buried in the final two pages of his written testimony.Gabbard’s Director’s Initiatives Group was set up to carry out Trump’s Executive Order 14147 entitled “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government,” which directed her, as the director of national intelligence, to review the activities of the Intelligence Community during the previous administration. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi set up a parallel task force known as the Weaponization Working Group to similarly review the Department of Justice for purported “weaponization,” including actions by the Biden administration to “ruthlessly prosecute more than 1,500 individuals associated with January 6.”The efforts inside the administration to investigate “weaponization” under the Biden administration — or root out perceived political enemies from the federal government, as critics have charged — ballooned into an Interagency Weaponization Working Group, revealed by Reuters in October 2025 and said to have been meeting on a biweekly basis since April of that year. Reuters reported that the Director’s Initiative Group and Interagency Weaponization Working Group shared at least one member, Paul McNamara, a Gabbard aide at ODNI.Erdman’s written testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee sheds new light on how the involvement of Gabbard’s task force in circulating a smear against a federal employee wreaked havoc at the CIA and Department of Justice.Steve Baker, who was convicted of misdemeanor parading in the Capitol on Jan. 6 — and subsequently pardoned by Trump — contacted ODNI last October with information for a story for Blaze Media in which he falsely accused Shauni Kerkhoff, a former Capitol police officer who is now at the CIA, of planting pipe bombs at the headquarters of Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee on the eve of the attack.The story quickly unraveled, with Blaze Media ultimately retracting it and firing Baker.Erdman testified that prior to publication of the story, Director’s Initiatives Group members consulted with senior ODNI leadership about how to pass along Baker’s information to agencies that could appropriately investigate.“I remember several of my colleagues that were involved recalling that the DIG was directed to draft a memo with Baker’s information that could be circulated to other agencies,” Erdman wrote. Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas wound up sharing the memo with his counterpart at the CIA, Michael Ellis, Erdman wrote.On Nov. 4, 2025, Baker and a second Blaze Media reporter, Joseph Hanneman, published an article focused on Kerkhoff’s actions during the Jan. 6 riot.

The Trump Slush Fund Is an Abuse of Political Power, Not a Legal Wrong

Once again, Trump is doing what Democrats did, just far more ostentatiously.

Legal expert exposes the 'shameful spin' behind Trump’s IRS leak claims

Few actions on the part of the Trump administration have drawn as much bipartisan scorn as the DOJ-IRS settlement that aims to create a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which critics say amounts to a “slush fund” for January 6 rioters. Now a legal expert has laid bare the “shameful spin” underlying the supposed justification of the fund. At the core of the administration’s case is the assertion that the IRS leaked President Donald Trump’s tax returns during his first term, allegedly with the intention of smearing his reputation. As Southern District of New York US Attorney Jay Claton framed it on Thursday, the IRS “intentionally” released Trump’s returns to “embarrass” him while he was a “private citizen”— "they leaked his tax returns, they tried to destroy him.”But as MSNOW legal analyst and former Southern District of New York Division Deputy Chief Kristy Greenberg pointed out, absolutely none of that was true.‘'They' didn’t leak Trump’s tax returns,” Greenberg posted to X. “An IRS contractor did — along with thousands of other tax returns — during Trump’s first term. [Former President Joe] Biden’s DOJ prosecuted the contractor, who got the max: 5 years in prison. This is shameful spin from SDNY U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.”As Greenberg suggested, Clayton and many other Trump allies are either misrepresenting the facts or outright lying. Trump wasn’t a “private citizen” when the leak occurred, but the president of the country. The IRS had nothing to do with the leak, and therefore the assertion that the agency was attempting to “embarrass” Trump is nonsensical. Trump wasn’t “intentionally” targeted by the actual leaker even, who released thousands of tax returns at the same time. What’s more, the leaker was already punished by the Biden administration. Justice has been served for what crime was committed.Greenberg isn’t alone in recognizing the contradictions and incoherence of the Trump administration’s case. Speaking to PBS, former IRS commissioner John Koskinen explained, “Normally, what you would do in the Justice Department and prior cases had maintained was the suit should be against, if you have a claim, for damages against… the contractor who stole the information. The Justice Department, up until this settlement, had taken the position that the IRS was not an appropriate defendant.”What’s more, Koskinen noted another unusual aspect of the story: language in the settlement that bars the IRS from investigating the past and future taxes of Trump, his family, or organization “forever.” According to Koskinen, he has “never heard” of such a settlement deal.“You do have to wonder what's in those returns that makes it so important for them not to be audited,” he noted.

'Complete disaster' as Senate Republicans fear party 'melting down before our eyes'

On Thursday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with congressional Republicans in an attempt to woo their support for President Donald Trump’s much-criticized $1.8 billion “slush fund.” According to the latest reports, he failed, and now Republicans are heading home for the Memorial Day recess with no agreement. Per Punchbowl News senior congressional reporter Andrew Desiderio, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) “told Senate Republicans at lunch that they’ll be sent home amid impasse over how to restrict ‘weaponization’ fund in reconciliation bill.” As Desiderio noted, this is “just a complete disaster for Republicans.”He’s referring to a proposal that cash for the fund could be worked into a budget reconciliation bill Republicans hoped to have on Trump’s desk by Friday. While the budget is primarily for immigration and border enforcement, it does include $1.457 billion for the Department of Justice — the agency that would be responsible for disbursing the controversial fund — so the addition of the fund would more than double the amount allocated to the DOJ. But that isn’t going to happen, at least not before Congress breaks until June 1. None of this bodes well for Republicans, who have erupted with infighting over several of Trump’s latest actions while facing major headwinds going into the November midterms.According to a text message sent to Desiderio by a Republican Senator moments after the Blanche meeting broke, “Our majority is melting down before our eyes.”“Many [Republicans] believe Trump has brought this upon himself,” noted Desiderio. “Creating more ‘free agents’ out of a selfish desire to purge [Republicans] not seen as loyal enough.” Shortly after that, a senior Senate Republican aide told him, “The problem that led to today’s breakdown is one of the administration’s own making, and it’s one they need to fix. Until then, there simply aren’t the votes to proceed.”As Desiderio explained, “This was a reconciliation bill on a subject that unites Republicans — ICE and Border Patrol funding.” But Trump has shaken that unity. “There’s a lot of frustration among Senate [Republicans] with [the administration] over the fund — and the decision to settle [and] announce this week right in the middle of the reconciliation push,” posted congressional reporter Laura Wiess shortly after talks broke down. “[Republicans] still need a lot of questions answered from DOJ, per a Senate GOP aide.”According to Wiess, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) complained, “The White House dropped a bomb in the middle of a pretty well planned out reconciliation to deliver on President Trump’s priorities.” Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) seconded this assessment, saying that the administration had “put itself in this spot.” Reportedly, he told his fellow Republicans, “I’m not sure the fund should exist.”

Justices Decline to Rule in Death Penalty Case Over Intellectual Disabilities

An Alabama man challenged his death sentence after a murder conviction because of his varying results in a series of I.Q. tests.