Searchable News & Info From Reliable Online Sources.
- JUST IN: Senate Judiciary Committee Postpones Vote on Todd Blanche’s AG Nomina...
Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images The Senate Judiciary Committee will postpone the vote on Todd Blanche’s Attorney General nomination, originally scheduled for Thursday, after objections from several GOP senators on the committee remained unsatisfied. Blanche previously served as Deputy Attorney General during Pam Bondi’s tenure, and President Donald Trump appointed him to acting Attorney General after her ouster. Keeping the gig on a permanent basis, however, requires Senate confirmation, and Blanche has drawn notably vocal criticism, if not outright hostility, from thousands of former DOJ employees, former judges, attorneys, bar associations, and other legal advocacy groups — plus even some pointed public commentary from the Republican Senators who will decide his fate. Blanche’s role in the purported “settlement” of a complaint Trump and his family filed against the IRS is one of the main stumbling blocks for Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), both of whom are leaving the Senate in January after losing a primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger and deciding to retire after clashing with the president and facing similar threats he would back a primary opponent, respectively. The settlement agreement shielded the Trumps from any liability for tax violations and created a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that was swiftly denounced as a “slush fund.” The Democrats on the committee are all voting against Blanche so he can only afford to lose one Republican senator to survive the committee vote and get a chance for a full Senate vote, giving both Cornyn and Tillis an individual veto power to block the nomination. On Wednesday, Cornyn told reporters he would only support Blanche’s nomination if the DOJ revised the settlement agreement in writing to make it clear the “anti-weaponization fund” was dead and to clarify that it was “not designed to provide prospective immunity from tax audits.” Later in the day, Cornyn cancelled a meeting he had with Blanche as his conditions about revising the IRS settlement had not been met. Also on Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) met with Cornyn and Tillis in the Texas Senator’s office to discuss Blanche’s nomination. CHUCK GRASSLEY and THOM TILLIS just arrived to Sen. Cornyn’s office to meet with him on the Blanche nom. Neither answered substantive questions about whether tomorrow’s Judiciary markup will be postponed. “Not if we have an agreement,” said Tillis. pic.twitter.com/QlLgQzdApb — Benjamin S. Weiss (@BenjaminSWeiss) July 29, 2026 It does… [TheTopNews] Read More.43 mins ago - Ron Johnson Wildly Claims COVID Vax Is ‘Greatest Government Scandal of My Life...
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Fox News on Wednesday that the COVID-19 vaccine was the “greatest government scandal of my lifetime,” adding, “These injections cause death.” His comments come just hours after Dr. Anthony Fauci was grilled by the Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee following the publication of his Covid-era diary, which chronicled his close ties to media personalities during the pandemic and his growing comfort with his celebrity status. “On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution,” Fauci said on Wednesday almost 100 times — as noted by The New York Times. Speaking with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, who also attended the hearing and stood in the audience after Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) asked those who faced backlash due to their beliefs on COVID to identify themselves, Johnson said, “Not one news outlet has covered this as news. I’ve been interviewed on shows like this,” here referencing Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle, “but not a newspaper or a major broadcast station’s covered our bombshell report.” Johnson’s “Unmasked: How Biden Health Officials Purposely Turned a Blind Eye Toward COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Signals” was released in April. Calling his allegations “the greatest government scandal of my lifetime,” Johnson continued, “These injections cause death; they cause injury.” He went on to call for “our federal health agencies to admit that the vaccine or the injection injuries are real so that they can be treated.” Johnson is no stranger to making unfounded claims about vaccinations. In December, ProPublica reported that the senator planned to endorse an upcoming book that promotes chlorine dioxide — a chemical commonly used for disinfecting and bleaching — as a treatment for autism and a range of other serious illnesses, calling it “a gripping tale of corruption and courage that will open eyes and prompt serious questions.”The post Ron Johnson Wildly Claims COVID Vax Is ‘Greatest Government Scandal of My Lifetime’: ‘These Injections Cause Death’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.1 hour ago - Trump Fumed About Supreme Court’s Birthright Citizenship Ruling, But He Appear...
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana President Donald Trump fumed about a recent Supreme Court ruling in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, but it looks like he let the deadline expire before filing an appeal. The legal issue was one of Trump’s executive orders from the first day of his second term that purported to end birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants or those who were in the country temporarily. Like many of his executive orders, this one was met with lawsuits, and in June, in the case of Trump v. Barbara, the Supreme Court held that the executive order violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s language, which did grant citizenship to those “born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” On Wednesday, the president complained about the Trump v. Barbara ruling and an earlier Supreme Court opinion knocking down his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs. “Does anybody have any idea how much Money and Prestige the United States Supreme Court has cost our Nation with their negative Rulings on Birthright Citizenship and TARIFFS?” the president asked in a Truth Social post shortly after 6 p.m. ET. “The answer, TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS!” Trump’s declarations that the court rulings cost the U.S. “prestige” and “trillions” of dollars are, like many of his claims, unverified, but also implausible. It’s tough to argue the U.S. loses prestige for continuing to do something (grant birthright citizenship) it has done for over a century-and-a-half — and many other countries do as well. The president has falsely claimed that the United States is the only country to grant birthright citizenship. CNN fact checker Daniel Dale has debunked this repeatedly, noting “[a]bout three dozen countries provide automatic citizenship to people born on their soil, including Canada, Mexico, and the majority of South American countries.” And even illegal immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes every year at the federal, state, and local levels; Americans who are citizens since birth will pay a large variety of taxes over the course of their lifetimes. The veracity of Trump’s social media rants aside, if the president is angry that the Supreme Court has ruled against him, he had the option to file a request for the nation’s highest court to reconsider its decision. Except, as Politico senior legal affairs reporter Josh Gerstein pointed out, the deadline to do so expired on Monday. SOUND OF… [TheTopNews] Read More.1 hour ago - Trump considering AI controls after OpenAI hacking incidents
It marks a change of tone for his administration, which has taken a more hands-off approach to the technology. [TheTopNews] Read More.2 hours ago - Trump ‘Exasperated’ as His Top Officials at Odds Over Iran War Strategy: Rep...
Saul Loeb/AP photo President Donald Trump has grown increasingly “exasperated” as the war in Iran stretches into its sixth month, with NBC News reporting exclusively on Wednesday that the president recently erupted at top national security officials amid deep divisions inside his administration over how to proceed. The report, citing a U.S. official and people familiar with the discussions, paints a picture of a divided White House. As one U.S. official put it, “After all this time, there is no unity.” Trump exploded during a meeting with top national security officials last week over a lack of progress in Iran, yelling expletives, according to NBC News. The report says administration officials remain divided over whether the priority should be stopping Iran’s nuclear program, protecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, or degrading Tehran’s missile and drone arsenal. The same official warned the administration has “had a series of tactical victories,” but is “facing a strategic defeat without clear policy guidance or a decision about where this is going.” Another person close to Trump told NBC News that the president has become increasingly discouraged by Iran’s refusal to strike a deal. “The president is exasperated,” the ally said. “I don’t think he believed it was going to be this difficult to get the Iranians to agree to a deal. … There was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint.” “He did not intend this to be a long, drawn-out war,” the ally added. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt disputed the report’s account that Trump lost his temper, telling NBC News, “This is false. The president has a great team whom he trusts, and everyone on the team knows he’s the final decision-maker.” She added, “He is not going to stand by as they break the MOU, kill our soldiers and fire at our ships in the strait. So until that behavior changes, his behavior will not change… He’s locked and loaded to keep punishing Iran.”The post Trump ‘Exasperated’ as His Top Officials at Odds Over Iran War Strategy: Report first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.2 hours ago - Cornyn Torches Trump Over Claim Endorsement Snub Drove Him to Oppose Blanche: â€...Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) fired back at President Donald Trump on Wednesday after the president suggested Cornyn might oppose Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination because Trump declined to endorse his reelection bid, calling the claim “a convenient excuse.” Blanche’s confirmation vote, scheduled for Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, was thrown into doubt after Cornyn canceled a second meeting with the acting attorney general Wednesday, as he and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) continued to push back over provisions in a settlement resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, resulting in the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” The Texas senator told reporters earlier on Wednesday he is “not prepared to vote yes” on Blanche, previously saying he will only support advancing the nomination if the Justice Department rewrites the settlement to permanently kill the slush fund. Blanche told senators earlier this month that the fund had been abandoned, but later acknowledged under questioning that nothing in the settlement prevents a future Justice Department from bringing it back. On Wednesday in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, “Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him.” He went on to call Blanche “outstanding.” Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Cornyn earlier this year in the state’s Republican Senate primary, with Paxton emerging victorious. “I think that’s a convenient excuse for not cooperating with the judiciary committee’s appropriate role in the confirmation,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday. Also on Wednesday in the Oval, Trump remarked that he hasn’t heard “anything” about a “problem” in Blanche’s confirmation process, adding, “I’ve heard he’s going through quite nicely.” Cornyn’s vote is crucial, because with all Democrats expected to oppose Blanche, opposition from either Cornyn or Tillis would be enough to block his nomination from advancing out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Watch the clip above via CNN.The post Cornyn Torches Trump Over Claim Endorsement Snub Drove Him to Oppose Blanche: ‘A Convenient Excuse’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.2 hours ago
The Searchable USWebDaily.com and TheTopNews NewsBank Helps You Be Better Informed, Faster! Spread The Word.
