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- Trump Reportedly Viewed Noem’s Shooting of Family Dog as an ‘Asset’ in a D...
Evan Vucci/AP photo President Donald Trump reportedly viewed Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s story about shooting a family dog as an “asset” for a DHS chief. When The Guardian obtained a copy of Noem’s then-unreleased book were released in the run-up to the 2024 election, one story was quick to grab the public’s attention. Noem, who was serving as the governor of South Dakota at the time, claimed to have shot and killed her 14-month-old dog named Cricket, who she described as “less than worthless.” “I hated that dog,” Noem wrote, claiming to have shot the dog as well as a “nasty and mean” family goat. Shock and outrage sounded from almost every corner of the political spectrum, and Noem was grilled on the story repeatedly. Some predicted it would be the end of her career in politics. Even Trump was reportedly “disgusted” by the story, allegedly claiming her voluntary disclosure of the story demonstrated a poor grasp of “public relations,” and asking, “What is wrong with her?” But according to excerpts from NBC’s Julia Ainsley’s upcoming book, obtained by The Atlantic, the story was a boon for Noem’s future career as DHS secretary. In Undue Process: The Inside Story of Trump’s Mass Deportation Program, Ainsley claims that Noem’s dog-killing knocked her out of the running for vice president. However, Trump “saw this particular biographical detail as an asset in his homeland-security secretary.” “It was one of the reasons he chose her,” The Atlantic’s report claims. Noem, who’s high profile tenure at the department has seen multiple alleged missteps, defended the story in 2024. “What I learned from my years of public service, especially leading South Dakota through COVID, is people are looking for leaders who are authentic, willing to learn from the past, and don’t shy away from tough challenges,” she wrote at the time. “My hope is anyone reading this book will have an understanding that I always work to make the best decisions I can for the people in my life.”The post Trump Reportedly Viewed Noem’s Shooting of Family Dog as an ‘Asset’ in a DHS Secretary first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.4 hours ago - U.S. Military Reportedly Shoots Down DHS Drone in Texas: ‘Our Heads Are Explod...
AP Photo/Kevin Wolf The U.S. military shot down a Customs and Homeland Security drone on Thursday evening, which led to the abrupt closure of airspace over Fort Hancock, Texas, lawmakers said. At 6:30 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration closed the airspace, citing “special security reasons.” The FAA’s official notice of the closure currently says the closure will remain in effect until June 24. As it turns out, the “special security reasons” involved a friendly fire incident in which the U.S. military shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone using a laser-based anti-drone system. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), the top Democrat on the House Transportation Committee, and other Democratic lawmakers on the panel said they were informed of the incident through official channels. “Our heads are exploding over the news that DoD reportedly shot down a Customs and Border Protection drone using a high risk counter-unmanned aircraft system,” Larsen and the other Democrats said in a statement. “We said months ago that the White House’s decision to sidestep a bipartisan, tri-committee bill to appropriately train C-UAS operators and address the lack of coordination between the Pentagon, DHS and the FAA was a short-sighted idea. Now, we’re seeing the result of its incompetence.” The FAA noted that some airspace over Fort Hancock was already closed, and that the no-fly area was expanded after the military shot down the DHS drone. On Feb. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration cryptically and suddenly announced the immediate closure of airspace over El Paso for, again, “special security reasons.” An anonymous Trump administration official told NBC News that “Mexican cartel drones” had breached U.S. airspace. However, CBS News reported that the closure was due to “disagreements over drone-related tests.”The post U.S. Military Reportedly Shoots Down DHS Drone in Texas: ‘Our Heads Are Exploding’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.5 hours ago - Judge Rules IRS Broke the Law ‘Approximately 42,695’ Times By Sharing Confid...
AP Photo/Evan Vucci A federal judge found that the Internal Revenue Service broke the law “approximately 42,695” times by giving confidential information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s Thursday ruling sharply rebuked the IRS for disclosing confidential taxpayer addresses to ICE in situations “in situations where ICE’s request for that information was patently deficient.” The ruling found that DHS did not follow the federal law requiring the agency requesting taypayer address from the IRS to have specifically identified the individual in question. The requesting agency must provide the IRS with the name and address of the person whose information it seeks to obtain. IRS failed to verify that this information had been provided in the majority of the 47,300 DHS requests. “The IRS violated the [Internal Revenue Code] approximately 42,695 times by disclosing last known taxpayer addresses to ICE … without confirming that ICE’s request set forth the ‘address of the taxpayer with respect to whom the requested return information relate[d],’” said Kollar-Kotelly’s ruling. Kollar-Kotelly took it a step further, decrying the IRS’s verification process by claiming ICE could have submitted requests with addresses like “Don’t Care 12345” or “00000” without being denied the information the agency was seeking. The judge’s ruling was based on a declaration filed by IRS’s chief risk and control officer, Dottie Romo, which claimed that the IRS had improperly given information on thousands of the 1.28 million people that ICE had requested. In a prior statement to The Washington Post, DHS claimed that information sharing was “essential.” “Information sharing across agencies is essential to identify who is in our country, including violent criminals, determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, and identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense,” DHS said. The Treasury Department has not yet responded to requests for comment. The ongoing case over IRS and DHS data sharing is now set to be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. DHS is actively appealing Kollar-Kotelly’s November order blocking the IRS from sharing data with DHS, which was signed last year by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The then-acting commissioner of the IRS resigned after the deal was signed.The post Judge Rules IRS Broke the Law ‘Approximately 42,695’ Times By Sharing Confidential Data With ICE first… [TheTopNews] Read More.6 hours ago - Former DOJ Lawyer Dismantles Trump’s ‘Madcap’ Scheme To Take Over Election...
A former Department of Defense lawyer blasted the idea that President Donald Trump could legally federalize elections. Trump has long maintained that the 2020 election was rigged against him, and in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, the president said Democrats cannot win elections legitimately. “They wanna cheat,” Trump said in his address to a joint session of Congress. “They have cheated. And their policy is so bad that the only way they can get elected is to cheat. And we’re gonna stop it.” Earlier this month, the president stated, “The Republicans oughta nationalize the voting.” Although Congress may pass laws regarding voting, elections are constitutionally a state matter. On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that a group of pro-Trump activists said they are working with the Trump administration to claim that China interfered in the 2020 election. The idea is to use the baseless claim so Trump could issue an executive order declaring a “national emergency” and federalizing elections. Ryan Goodman, who served as special counsel in the Department of Defense, appeared on Thursday’s OutFront on CNN. “Can Trump do this?” host Erin Burnett asked. Goodman replied: He can’t legally do it, so, I don’t think this survives first contact with the courts. If he passes this kind of executive order, I imagine within hours there will be people who have already developed their litigation strategy to counter it, because it’s being broadcast by him and his team, or at least by this group [in] The Washington Post. And they will make arguments like, “This is not a place that there’s presidential power. This is something that’s run by the state and local election officials.” “We’re a federalist country,” Burnett responded. “So, it should be run by the states.” “That’s right,” Goodman said. He later added, “It’s madcap in a certain sense of how extraordinary the idea is. And that’s why it’s on steroids in a certain sense. And I think people that are involved in this machination might need to worry about their own criminal exposure just to put it out there. There is a criminal statute that says that people should not engage in a conspiracy to deprive people of their rights. That’s 18 U.S.C. § 241. And it specifically says a conspiracy with respect to the right to exercise one’s vote. That’s what it’s about.” Watch above via CNN.The post Former DOJ Lawyer Dismantles Trump’s… [TheTopNews] Read More.7 hours ago - Hillary Clinton Says She Was Asked About Pizzagate and UFOs During Epstein Depos...Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said her deposition about Jeffrey Epstein became “quite unusual” after she was asked questions about conspiracy theories, including the right-wing conspiracy dubbed “Pizzagate.” Clinton testified before the House Oversight Committee over her alleged ties to Epstein. In her blistering opening statement, she claimed she did not recall “ever encountering” the late sex offender, blasting Republicans on the committee for mishandling the case. Speaking to press after the closed-door hearing, Clinton reiterated that she had no connection to Epstein. “I answered every one of their questions as fully as I could, based on what I knew. And what I knew is what I said in my statement this morning. I never met Jeffrey Epstein, never had any connection or communication with him,” she said. In her remarks, Clinton expressed her disappointment that the hearing was not held publicly. The former first lady repeatedly pushed for journalists to be allowed into the hearing, including during the hearing itself, after Rep. Lauren Boebert shared a photo from the proceedings with MAGA influencer Benny Johnson. Clinton mentioned this upset during her remarks, calling it “very upsetting.” “It was disappointing that they refused to hold a public hearing, so I wouldn’t have to be out here characterizing it for you,” she said. “You could have seen it for yourself. […] We had a bit of a challenge in the beginning, because we had agreed upon rules based on the fact it was going to be a closed hearing at their demand, and one of the members violated that rule, which was very upsetting because it suggested that they might violate other of our agreements.” Clinton then claimed that the hearing took an odd turn. After being asked repeatedly about Epstein, she was then questioned about conspiracy theories, including Pizzagate, which she claimed was “the basis” for a committe memebers questions. “It then got, at the end, quite unusual because I started being asked about UFOs and a series of questions about Pizzagate, one of the most vile bogus conspiracy theories that was propagated on the internet that was serving as the basis of a member’s questions to me,” she said. Watch above via MS NOW.The post Hillary Clinton Says She Was Asked About Pizzagate and UFOs During Epstein Deposition first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.7 hours ago
- ‘Breaking News… That Affects Everybody I’m Looking At in the Studio’: Ja...Jake Tapper broke some unique news to viewers on Thursday’s edition of The Lead, telling them that Paramount Skydance is poised to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, and potentially CNN. On Thursday, Netflix said it would not match Paramount’s bid of $111 billion for WBD. Netflix reached a tentative deal to acquire much of WBD – including HBO and the Warner Bros movie studio, though not CNN – but Paramount countered and Netflix declined to offer more. The acquisition will require regulatory approval in the U.S. and Europe. However, Paramount CEO David Ellison reportedly told the Trump administration that he would “make sweeping changes to CNN” were his company to acquire it. President Donald Trump publicly weighed in on the media industry drama, saying it is “imperative that CNN be sold.” Trump has long complained about the network, which he maintains is unfair to him. Shortly after the news broke, Tapper came back from commercial and told viewers that Netflix had dropped its bid and that Paramount was the leading bidder for Warner Bros. and HBO. He noted Paramount’s intent to acquire CNN as well: So we have some breaking news in our national lead that affects everybody I’m looking at right now in the studio. Moments ago, Netflix said it is declining to raise its offer for the purchase of Warner Bros. Studios and HBO, following the Warner Bros. Discovery board’s determination that Paramount, which is not just going for Warner Bros. Studios and HBO, but also the whole enchilada, including us here at CNN, Paramount has submitted a superior offer according to Warner Bros. Discovery’s board. As I’ve noted, Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN. Last year, Ellison’s Skydance acquired Paramount and its subsidiary CBS. After the move, Ellison reached an agreement with Bari Weiss, who founded the anti-woke Free Press, in which Weiss received $150 million for the website and was named editor-in-chief of CBS News. Watch above via CNN.The post ‘Breaking News… That Affects Everybody I’m Looking At in the Studio’: Jake Tapper Tells Viewers CNN May Be on Verge of Takeover by David Ellison first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.8 hours ago
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