Trump AG nominee’s fate lies in hands of 2 GOP senators president has clashed with
Source: BizPac Review · Bias: Far Right
Summary
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation depends on two Republican holdouts who could quash his chances of becoming the next attorney general. Republican Sens. John Cornyn of […]
Trump AG nominee’s fate lies in hands of 2 GOP senators president has clashed with
Far Right
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation depends on two Republican holdouts who could quash his chances of becoming the next attorney general. Republican Sens. John Cornyn of […]
Conservative podcaster Alex Jones called for President Donald Trump‘s impeachment over the war in Iran and looming threat of a draft for the war. “This is a war. They’re getting the draft ready,” Jones said in a clip of his live show posted to X. “If this isn’t a war, nothing’s a war. I mean, […]
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY: Good afternoon and happy Wednesday, readers! The annual Mubadala Citi DC Open is being held this week. Some of the top tennis players will be competing, including Jessica Pegula, Naomi Osaka, Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, and many more. 🎾🎾🎾 A few folks from the Washington Examiner, including Callie, are planning to stop […]
We speak to Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, about Israel’s continued impunity from international law. Despite an International Criminal Court warrant out for his arrest, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently visited the White House to meet with President Donald Trump. While the United States is not a member state to the ICC, “It doesn’t mean that they have to extend protection to a fugitive from international law,” says Albanese, who joins widespread international calls for Netanyahu’s arrest. “The United States is actively contributing to make the international criminal law architecture that it has been building, from the Nuremberg trials up until now, crumble on our head.”
Albanese also comments on settler- and soldier-led “pogroms” in the occupied West Bank and calls out the complicity of the governments of Greece, Italy and France, which, despite being party to the ICC, authorized Netanyahu’s travel through their airspaces. “It looks small in the context of a genocide, but every action matters, as every crime matters and will be accounted for,” she says.
President Donald Trump appeared to endorse a theory that Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett – whom he nominated in 2020 – is "clearly terrified of the left," sharing a prominent right-wing figure's post about her voting record on social media Wednesday.Conservative podcaster Tim Pool wrote that "Amy Coney Barrett is clearly terrified of the left" in response to a viral post on X highlighting her voting record and a supposed drop-off in her alignment with the bench's other conservative justices. Trump shared Pool’s post on his social media platform Truth Social without additional commentary.The apparent slight represents the latest example of Trump’s growing hostility toward the Supreme Court, including toward justices he nominated. While the Supreme Court has handed Trump an unprecedented amount of judicial victories, it's also handed down several notable defeats to his agenda, rejecting his bid to appeal a civil defamation case and ruling against most of his so-called reciprocal tariffs.The viral post Pool was responding to was authored by an anonymous right-wing account known as 'Roscoe Smith IV,' which claimed that Barrett’s rate of voting with the “conservative position” in “non-unanimous cases” fell from 81% “into the 50-60% range” following the court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson.The claim, however, was found inaccurate by X’s automatic fact-checking service known as “community notes,” which flagged publicly available data suggesting Barrett has voted alongside conservative justices at rates higher than the viral post suggested.
President Donald Trump's campaign to invalidate former President Joe Biden's pardons gave Anthony Fauci the ammunition to stonewall Senate Republicans at a Wednesday hearing, according to a pro-Trump former prosecutor.Bill Shipley, who represented dozens of Jan. 6 defendants, made the case on X.Fauci, 85, the former top government health official, had been forced by Republicans to appear before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which subpoenaed him over the pandemic response and COVID-19's origins, Politico reported.He repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right and did not answer a single question.As the hearing continued, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), the committee chairman, made his frustration clear."It's against the law to obstruct an investigation of Congress," Paul warned Fauci. "There will be repercussions for your refusal to testify."After Paul's threat, Fauci's attorney David Schertler tried to interject. But Paul had Capitol Police remove him from the hearing room, Politico noted.Schertler released a statement shortly after his removal."It was outrageous for Sen. Paul to exclude his counsel for counsel making a legitimate legal point," Schertler said. "It proves the baseless and vindictive nature of this proceeding and Rand Paul's personal vendetta against Dr. Fauci."Shipley argued that Trump's quest to void Biden's pardons had undermined the efforts of Senate Republicans."The threats to challenge his pardon — legally baseless IMO — give him cover to assert the Fifth since he can claim there is a potential that he might lose the benefit of the pardon and his testimony might then incriminate him," Shipley wrote on X.In December 2025, President Donald Trump declared on Truth Social that all documents signed by Biden's autopen — a machine that replicates a signature — were "null, void, and of no further force or effect," explicitly including pardons.In March 2025, Trump had already targeted pardon recipients directly. "Anyone receiving 'Pardons,' 'Commutations,' or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect," Trump wrote.Republicans have argued that the Biden pardon actually stripped Fauci of the right to remain silent — because a pardon eliminates the threat of prosecution that the Fifth Amendment is designed to guard against, Politico reported. Fauci could, however, be prosecuted for any crimes he was accused of after the pardon was issued.Shipley argued Congress could fix the problem by writing Fauci a formal grant of immunity — a legal guarantee that his testimony cannot be used against him — using the exact language of Biden's pardon. If Fauci then refused to testify, he would face contempt charges, Shipley said.Fauci said in his opening statement he was convinced that Paul's goal was to entrap him, citing Paul's "obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution," Politico reported.
Preservationists are moving to block President Donald Trump's plan to test a controversial paint on the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, warning the project could cause irreparable damage to the historic landmark, according to a new report.In an emergency injunction request set to be filed Thursday, the law firm Cultural Heritage Partners argues that the administration's plan to paint four small test panels on the building's Gilded Age façade is being carried out without proper expert oversight, reported CNN."The testing concerns us because no one outside the White House knows who is conducting the testing or what protocols they're following, and qualified preservation experts have had no chance to weigh in," said Greg Werkheiser, the firm's founding partner.Trump has long criticized the EEOB's gray granite exterior, calling it "ugly" and a "really bad color," and has pushed to coat the building — either fully or partially — in white to better match the White House.His preferred solution is a mineral silicate paint he has privately refers to as "magic paint," which the administration claims will strengthen the stone and prevent water intrusion – but those claims are disputed by experts.In March, the plaintiffs presented findings from 25 unnamed specialists in historic restoration and silicate paint, who concluded the material doesn't chemically bond with granite, would cause permanent damage during the priming process, and would not actually strengthen or protect the stone as claimed. Preservationists also warn the paint could trap moisture inside the granite, accelerating deterioration rather than preventing it.Adding to the controversy, the administration has shifted oversight of the project away from the General Services Administration — which normally holds statutory authority over the 1888 building — to the White House's own Office of the Administration. Critics say this move could allow the project to sidestep the review process Congress mandated to protect historic federal properties.The administration maintains the panel testing doesn't commit it to full-scale painting and says it's still working through required environmental and historical reviews with two other federal bodies, the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission — both of which have been staffed with Trump allies and would need to approve any final plan.Beyond the paint test, the administration also plans a broader facade assessment, including extracting up to ten two-inch stone samples from deteriorating sections of the building for lab analysis. It remains unclear how quickly U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, a Trump appointee overseeing the case, will rule on the injunction request once filed.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche ran into "trouble" Wednesday when a Republican senator, key to his confirmation, suddenly scrapped a meeting just before a federal judge's deadline for unredacted Epstein files, according to new reports.Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee hold only an 11-to-10 majority, a margin thinned by the death of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — holdouts are Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who just abruptly canceled the meeting. "Blanche nomination in trouble with committee vote slated for tomorrow," Politico's Sarah Ferris reported.The confirmation crisis lands one day before Blanche has been ordered to turn over unredacted Epstein files to a federal judge.Reporter Jim Acosta tied Cornyn's cancellation directly to efforts from Epstein survivors to prevent Blanche's confirmation."After a disastrous confirmation hearing, Blanche met with Epstein survivors at the behest of Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), hoping to secure their votes, "wrote Acosta. "That meeting was also a disaster, and the survivors began lobbying even harder against Blanche’s confirmation."According to survivor Dani Bensky, at one point Blanche snapped, "Get to the point!"Now Blanche faces mounting pressure on the matter as a deadline looms. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan has ordered Blanche to hand the files — documents the Justice Department redacted and claimed covered victims' names and the names of law enforcement personnel — by 3 p.m. Thursday, the same day Republicans want to hold the confirmation vote, according to a court order."The judge isn't accepting what the government has represented to it as truthful, and is requiring documentation to support its claims," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance wrote.On Wednesday, Cornyn explained why he was threatening to hold up the vote."They know what they need to do, but they simply refuse to do it," Cornyn said, as Punchbowl News' Laura Weiss reported.Both Cornyn and Tillis want confirmation that the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund — created as part of Trump's settlement with the IRS — is permanently dead, and that the Trump family's immunity from future tax audits is narrowly limited. New York Times correspondent Glenn Thrush reported that the DOJ refused to provide a written declaration confirming that Trump's tax-immunity deal was dead, prompting Cornyn to cancel his morning meeting with Blanche. Tillis had previously made Blanche's meeting with Epstein survivors a condition of his support.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told Cornyn he needs an answer by 4 p.m. Wednesday on whether the vote can proceed, Weiss reported."I'm not prepared to vote yes," CNN's Manu Raju reported Cornyn saying.Tillis is firmly in Cornyn's corner. There is "no daylight" between them, he said."I just want the agreement so we don't have to [delay the vote]," Politico's Burgess Everett reported Tillis saying.Grassley pointed to the two Republican holdouts when he was asked Wednesday whether he would need to reschedule the hearing. "You'll have to ask Tillis and Cornyn about that," Grassley said, Ferris reported.A delay could push Blanche's confirmation past the August recess and into the fall, Raju reported.
A new court filing from ex-CNN host Don Lemon was filed Wednesday, alleging that a Department of Homeland Security officer lied under oath in a statement to the judge in his case. Lemon is included with several other journalists charged by the Department of Justice, which claims that Lemon and other reporters were protesting when they were filming at a Minnesota church where one of the pastors was coordinating with immigration agents. National security expert Marcy Wheeler noted that this is the second time the Justice Department has asked Judge Douglas Minko to accept a complaint from an ICE agent who watched the video of the church broadcast and testified to what was in it. According to Lemon's filing, the agent made false claims about the journalists joining in the chanting from protesters. "That sworn allegation about Mr. Lemon was false," the filing states. "The government did not produce the draft complaint affidavit until July 17, 2026. At the July 24 hearing, the government explained that it submitted the affidavit to the Court in late January, but the Court did not sign it. The government then 'took Chief Judge Schiltz's advice' and obtained a grand jury indictment on January 29, 2026. Thus, only two days before securing the indictment, the government submitted a complaint affidavit falsely alleging that Mr. Lemon and the other journalists joined in the chanting. The timing strongly suggests that the government presented the same false account of the journalists' conduct to the grand jury."On Friday, in a rare move, Judge Minko ordered that the Justice Department turn over all testimony and evidence presented to the grand jury at the time. Their specific request is to find whether this sworn statement and any others were used to secure a grand jury indictment.The proceedings for a grand jury are typically kept secret, but in recent events, judges have allowed that information to be released to the defense in trial courts. In a recent Chicago case, the Justice Department was found to have misled the grand jurors and even dismissed jurors that they felt wouldn't give them the indictment they sought. That case involved six political leaders and activists protesting outside of an ICE facility in Broadview, Illinois. The charges have been dropped and the accused have asked for a special counsel to investigate the incident. Judge Minko said that he wanted to examine the information himself first. However, Matthew Ebert, who represents freelance journalist Georga Fort, said that the government has made false claims about his client already, including in sworn affidavits, Minneapolis Public Radio reported last week. “The presumption of regularity has collapsed,” Ebert said.Justice Department prosecutor Neville Hedley told the judge that no false information in earlier documents made it into the indictment. That doesn't indicate whether the information was revealed to the grand jury to obtain the indictment, however. “These were not material falsehoods," Hedley said. “This was a mistake, this was a miscommunication.”The affidavit signed by DHS-ICE Special Agent Timothy Gerber reads, "Broadcast video obtained from Cities church also shows ARMSTRONG, ALLEN, LEMON, RICHARDSON, KELLY, FORT, LUNDY, CREWS chanting with agitators and obstructing parishioners' path of travel."Hedley didn't indicate what was "miscommunicated" in the claim. Lemon and his attorneys have alleged that the case against him and the journalists is "weak."
