Tag: donald trump

Trump’s Deputies Use Medicaid Data to Help ICE Find Migrants

President Donald Trump’s deputies have completed a data-sharing deal to let ICE agents use government Medicaid data while enforcing the nation’s popular immigration laws, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Under a new agreement, “ICE will use the CMS [Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] data to allow ICE to receive identity and location information on aliens identified by ICE,” the agreement says,” the AP reported Thursday, adding:

The department’s assistant secretary, Tricia McLaughlin, said in an emailed statement that the two agencies “are exploring an initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.”

Millions of illegal migrants have shared their identities and addresses to use the taxpayer-funded Medicaid system, often via emergency rooms and state-funded clinics.

The data is not being copied to ICE. Instead, ICE will be allowed to verify identities and addresses during regular work hours.

The information-sharing deal reflects the determination of Trump’s deputies to remove a myriad bureaucratic and regulatory barriers to the enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.

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Former MSNBC Host Touré Says Trump Was ‘Supposedly’ Shot in the Ear During CNN Segment

Former MSNBC host Touré caused an uproar on CNN this week when he said that Trump was ‘supposedly’ shot in the ear during a segment on the CNN News Night panel show.

He was immediately called out by Scott Jennings, the lone conservative voice on the network.

This moment is a reminder that there are people on the left who actually believe the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania last summer was staged. It’s utter insanity.

Mediaite has details:

A CNN panel exploded on Thursday after one guest claimed President Donald Trump “supposedly got shot,” leading to Scott Jennings demanding an immediate correction.

On CNN NewsNight, Abby Phillip had to wrangle control of her panel after podcaster Touré exclaimed that Trump “supposedly” was shot in July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. The comment came during a discussion about the president’s health…

Elrod also brought up the point that Trump appeared to forget that he appointed Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

“He supposedly got shot in the ear. We never heard from his doctors about that,” Touré added, immediately setting off Jennings, a senior CNN correspondent, and conservative pundit Ben Ferguson.

“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Did you say supposedly?” Jennings asked, then pointing to the podcaster next to him and saying, “Abby, Abby,” to the panel’s anchor.

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Capping Crypto Week: All You Need To Know About The Three Crypto Bills Passed By Congress

On Thursday, July 17, capping off what was dubbed “Crypto Week” by Congress, the US House just passed three digital assets related bills. Here is a breakdown of all that was passed:

The GENIUS Act:

The Senate’s stablecoin bill, by a vote of 308-122.  By bringing regulatory clarity to the asset class, the law is expected to stimulate the growth of the stablecoin industry. The GENIUS Act first passed the Senate on June 17 by a vote of 68-30, with 18 Democrats supporting the bill and 2 Republicans (Senators Hawley and Paul) voting against it. Two Senators were not present (Senators Cotton and Kelly). Broadly, the GENIUS Act creates a regime for the issuance and regulation of U.S. dollar-backed payment stablecoins. By bringing regulatory clarity to the asset class, the legislation, if passed into law, is expected to stimulate the growth of the stablecoin industry.

What the bill does

  • The bill sets forth standards for regulatory oversight, striking a balance between federal and state authorities.
  • The bill allows payment stablecoins to be issued by subsidiaries of banks and non-bank entities. Banks would be overseen by their primary federal regulator, while non-bank entities would be overseen at a federal level by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) or under qualifying state regimes.
  • Sets up reserve requirements, supervision and enforcement, ie at least 1 to 1 backing with U.S. dollars, short-term Treasuries (93 days or less), or similarly liquid assets.
  • Requires Bank Secrecy Act (BSA)/Anti-money Laundering (AML) compliance for issuers.
  • Mandates insolvency requirements with customer protections.

Other Key Provisions of the bill

  • Bank Permissibility:
    • Banks can issue stablecoins and act “as a principal or agent with respect to any payment stablecoin and payment of fees to facilitate customer transactions.”
    • Preserves current custody practices, allowing banks to hold stablecoin reserves under existing rules.
    • Carves out tokenized deposits from the legislation.
  • Federal licensing preemption: Federal licensing supersedes and preempts any state licensing requirement for any federally chartered payment stablecoin issuer.
  • Bank Secrecy Act / Anti-Money Laundering Requirements: Issuers shall be treated as a financial institution for the purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act; Issuers (domestic and foreign) must demonstrate the ability to freeze or burn tokens.
  • “SAB 121” prevention clause: Prevents federal regulators from requiring custodied digital assets to be held on balance sheet.
  • Capital treatment: A non-permitted stablecoin can NOT be treated as a cash or cash equivalent for accounting purposes. 
  • Fed Master Accounts: The bill stays neutral on Fed account access and does not alter who is currently legally eligible for Federal Reserve services or deposit access.
  • Interest Payments: Prohibits domestic and foreign issuers from offering interest to holders, although it does not address 3rd parties or affiliates.
  • Licensing: Provides both a state and federal (OCC) licensing path for non-bank issuers, although state issuers must get federal license once over $10B in assets.
  • Reserve Authentication: Monthly public disclosures of reserve composition; Annual financial audits for issuers with market capitalizations exceeding $50 billion.
  • Activity Limits: Creates limits on the types of activities a non-bank stablecoin issuer can conduct (ie issue & redeem stablecoins; manage reserves; and custody stablecoins).
  • Non-Security clarification: Payment stablecoins are explicitly excluded from being classified as securities.
  • Marketing restrictions: Prohibits the use of “USG”, “United State Government” or “legal tender” as part of materials and naming conventions; allows the use of “USD”.
  • International Stablecoins: Non-compliant foreign issuers may be barred from U.S. markets unless they comply with U.S. regulations and/or are licensed by an approved similar regime.
  • Conflict of Interest: Clarified that financial conflict of interest standards apply uniformly to both regular and special government employees, although the referenced statute in the bill carves out the President and Vice President. 
  • Big Tech company issuance: Restricts issuance by large U.S. public or foreign companies not primarily engaged in financial services, unless they meet certain standards (TBD by the Stablecoin Certification Review Committee (SCRC), which is made up of the Treasury Secretary, FDIC Chair, and Fed Chair or Vice Chair) and are unanimously approved by the SCRC.

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Trump Flirts with NATO’s Hardliners

Multiple reports in Western news media highlight President Donald Trump’s growing dissatisfaction with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Financial Times reported that Trump had encouraged Kiev to punish Putin by striking deep inside Russian territory—perhaps even hitting Moscow—if the U.S. provided it with more long-range weapons. (Trump has denied he supports such strikes.)

In marked contrast to the initial weeks of his second term, Trump has now effectively signed on to NATO’s uncompromising strategy of insisting on Russia’s capitulation with respect to the terms of a peace accord between Russia and Ukraine. The Western demands include Russia’s complete withdrawal from conquered Ukrainian territory (including Crimea) and its acquiescence to Kiev’s possibly joining NATO. 

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Admiral James Stavridis expresses the prevailing mentality of hardliners when he contends that sending Ukraine openly offensive weapons might be the most effective way to force Moscow back to the negotiating table.

The ongoing transformation of Trump’s overall approach to the war between Russia and Ukraine has been breathtaking. During the 2024 presidential election campaign, Trump portrayed the Biden administration’s participation in NATO’s policy of using Ukraine in a proxy war against Russia as an expensive, potentially dangerous blunder. Trump led his political followers to believe that he would terminate the Ukraine entanglement as soon as possible, since it was inconsistent with his overall concept of an “America First” foreign policy. On one occasion, he even boasted that he could bring an end to the Russia–Ukraine conflict in 24 hours. Instead, he has now decided to help rearm Ukraine and even escalate Washington’s support by accelerating shipments of Patriot air defense missiles and other munitions to Kiev.

Trump’s attitude toward Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has undergone a similarly radical transformation. In the initial weeks of his second term, Trump seemed to grasp that improving Washington’s relations with Moscow needed to be a high priority, and that the Ukraine conflict was the principal obstacle to achieving that objective. His rhetoric toward Putin was conciliatory, in marked contrast to the openly hostile and contemptuous attitude of Biden administration officials. At the same time, Trump seemed to regard Zelensky as an arrogant, ungrateful U.S. and NATO client determined to continue pursuing a “wag the dog strategy” toward his Western patrons.

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Top Iranian Cleric Demands Trump’s Execution

Leading Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami called for the execution of President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a sermon in Tehran on Friday.

Khatami accused Trump and Netanyahu of “murdering” tens of thousands of people in Gaza, as well as Iran’s top terrorism coordinator Qasem Soleimani, who was liquidated in Baghdad by a 2020 airstrike ordered by President Trump.

The Iranian regime has commanded its subjects to regard Soleimani as a religious “martyr,” but many Iranians refuse to show the mandatory respect to the slain Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general.

The crowd at Khatami’s sermon, however, seemed to be on the same page as the fire-breathing cleric, chanting “Death to America,” “Death to England,” and “Death to Israel” as he called for Trump and Netanyahu to be executed. “Death to England” is a hardy perennial in Iranian murder chants.

“You are murderers, you need to be punished,” Khatami railed, aiming his diatribe at the American and Israeli leaders and pronouncing them both guilty of capital offenses under Islamic law, including “sowing corruption in the land” and “fighting Allah and his messenger.”

“The ruling regarding Trump and Netanyahu, according to sharia, is that the pair of them should be executed,” he declared.

Last week, a group of senior Shiite clerics in Iran issued fatwas, or religious edicts, condemning both Trump and Netanyahu. The fatwas damned them as moharebs, or warlords who fight against Allah, the same charge Khatami leveled in his sermon calling for their execution. The earlier religious orders said it was a crime for Trump and Netanyahu to discuss targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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HUGE: Trump Orders Release of Sealed Epstein Grand Jury Testimony

In a stunning move Thursday, President Donald Trump ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to release sealed grand jury testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein—a move that completely blows up the narrative that Democrats have been pushing for weeks now.

The directive comes amid growing bipartisan pressure over the administration’s handling of the Epstein investigation, with critics demanding transparency and accountability—something that was in short supply under the Biden administration.

Trump is making good on his promise to peel back the curtain on what he’s repeatedly called a massive cover-up to protect the powerful. 

“Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “This SCAM, perpetuated by the Democrats, should end, right now!”

The release of grand jury records could mark a turning point in the long-stalled Epstein saga—and deliver a political earthquake that many in the establishment hoped would never come.

Many Trump supporters have demanded full transparency after the FBI and Justice Department released what they claimed was the final word on Jeffrey Epstein—insisting that there’s no client list and that Epstein’s 2019 jailhouse death was a simple suicide. Unsurprisingly, the so-called “final statement” only fueled more skepticism, especially among conservatives who have long suspected a cover-up to protect politically connected elites—many of them Democrats—and Democrats pounced on the GOP infighting.

Epstein moved in powerful circles that included Trump, Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, and a host of other celebrities and billionaires. But while the media fixates on Trump, they continue to downplay or outright ignore Epstein’s well-documented ties to Clinton and other high-profile Democrats. Meanwhile, Ghislaine Maxwell sits in prison, convicted of trafficking minors to—well, no one, according to the official narrative.

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Karoline Leavitt Says President Trump “Would Not Recommend a Special Prosecutor in the Epstein Case”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday denied reports that President Trump was considering appointing a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. 

This follows a report by John Solomon that President Trump was “on board” with a Special Prosecutor for the Epstein Case after Pam Bondi’s back-and-forth, claiming that she has the files to release, and then not releasing them.

President Trump, however, has defended Bondi repeatedly, even calling Republicans “stupid” and “foolish” for wanting the Epstein files so badly.

“I was surprised, but they got duped,” he said of Republicans who aren’t satisfied with Bondi’s nothingburger of a release and claims that Epstein killed himself.

Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are introducing legislation to release all of the files.

Karoline Leavitt was further asked about President Trump’s reaction to House Speaker Mike Johnson calling for additional Epstein files to be released, but she declined to comment.

“I won’t discuss the President’s private conversations with the Speaker of the House,” Leavitt said.

“the President has said, if the attorney general and the Department of Justice and the FBI have any more credible evidence in regards to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, they should put that forward.”

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CBS News Hack Claims PTSD, Says Trump Supporters Were About To “Kill” Media After Assassination Attempt

A CBS News reporter has claimed that he has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from the attempt to assassinate President Trump in Butler, Pa. Last year.

Scott MacFarlane says he received a diagnosis in the immediate aftermath of the July 13, 2024 shooting, not because of the act of violence against Trump, but because he believes Trump supporters were about to violently pounce on all the reporters covering the event and murder them.

Yes, he is seriously claiming this.

Speaking to Chuck Todd, another former legacy media propagandist who now “Toddcasts” from his living room, MacFarlane said that had Trump not got to his feet and punched the air, the crowd would have gone feral and started to murder journalists.

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Trump Believes Russia Will Win In Ukraine, It’s Just A Matter Of How Long

“The president’s view is Russia is going to win, it’s a matter of how long it takes,” said a senior, unnamed White House official to Politico this week, reflecting on President Trump’s view on where the war stands.

“Russia has the bigger economy, has the bigger military, has more than enough bodies to throw into the meat grinder, and just doesn’t care. And although they are making slow progress, they are still making progress,” the official added. “The president just wants to stop the killing.”

Indeed the last several weeks have seen clear Russian gains on the ground in Eastern Ukraine, with a steady flow of reports of towns, settlements, and villages being newly captured in Donetsk and elsewhere.

There’s been some confusion over Trump’s policy in arming Kiev. He has gone further than he ever has before in approving new anti-air defense systems, but still appears to be ruling out long-range offensive weapons, amid conflicting reports.

Has realism finally set in concerning Washington policy? It should have been evident from the start of this horrific ‘war of attrition’ that Ukraine was never going to win.

Still, Zelensky has resisted doing the one thing which could end the war – make territorial concessions. He hasn’t so much as offered to give up Crimea.

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Trump signs bill cracking down on fentanyl, strengthening drug penalties

President Donald Trump has signed legislation designed to strengthen penalties for offenses involving fentanyl and its related analogs.

At a White House ceremony, Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act alongside politicians and families whose loved ones have since perished as a result of fentanyl.

Trump described the bill signing as a “historic step toward justice for every family touched by the fentanyl scourge as we signed the HALT Fentanyl Act into law.”

“We’ll be getting the drug dealers, pushers, and peddlers off our street, and we will not rest until we have ended the drug overdose epidemic,” Trump said. “And it’s been getting a little bit better, but it’s horrible.”

The Act targets unauthorized fentanyl analogs, not the FDA-approved fentanyl used in hospitals for anesthesia and pain management. That medical-grade fentanyl remains classified as Schedule II, meaning it’s highly regulated but still legal for medical use. The reclassification simply closes loopholes that previously allowed underground chemists to tweak fentanyl’s molecular structure and evade federal law.

“The bill also makes several other changes to registration requirements for conducting research with controlled substances, including:

  • Permitting a single registration for related research sites in certain circumstances,
  • Waiving the requirement for a new inspection in certain situations, and
  • Allowing a registered researcher to perform certain manufacturing activities with small quantities of a substance without obtaining a manufacturing registration,” the legislation’s webpage states.

The legislation, which received bipartisan support in both the House and Senate, permanently places all fentanyl-related substances, including synthetic variants of the opioid, on Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. The bill also offers law enforcement more ability to combat the spread of the substance and imposes harsher punishments for anybody convicted of possessing or distributing it.

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