Tag: donald trump

CBS News owner Paramount ready to settle Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit over ’60 Minutes’: report

CBS News owner Paramount Global is reportedly ready to settle President Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit over the “60 Minutes” interview last year with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.

Paramount’s board has drafted acceptable financial terms for a potential settlement with Trump, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing anonymous sources. However, the exact dollar amount is unclear.

Trump’s lawsuit alleges the TV news network deceptively edited a “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, who at the time of the interview was also the Democratic nominee in the presidential race.

In January, The Times reported that Paramount was having conversations with Trump to settle the lawsuit, which at the time was for $10 billion, before Trump increased it to $20 billion in February.

Last week, the executive producer for “60 Minutes” said he was stepping down from his role because he could no longer objectively oversee the show as it faces backlash over Trump’s lawsuit.

Earlier this month, Trump posted on Truth Social that he is “so honored to be suing 60 Minutes, CBS Fake News, and Paramount, over their fraudulent, beyond recognition, reporting,” adding that the network did everything possible to “illegally elect” Harris and that it “must be responsible for what they have done and are doing.”

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Trump Says Ukraine ‘Will Be Crushed Very Shortly’ Without Peace Deal

US President Donald Trump in a recent interview with conservative show host Glenn Beck expressed doubt whether the White House can actually achieve a comprehensive peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Trump has made Ukraine peace the top foreign policy priority of the early part of his administration, and on the campaign trail and within his first hundred days expressed continual confidence that the US can successfully mediate, but this confidence appears to be fading with each passing week.

In the interview he noted his belief – not for the first time – that Russian President Vladimir Putin is open to making a deal on Ukraine, and is actually easier to deal with than Zelensky.

“When Zelenskyy was in the Oval Office. I was talking about getting it done, and he starts screaming, ‘but we need security’, meaning security, after the fact, I said, ‘security’? I don’t even know if we can get this deal done,” Trump told Beck.

That’s when he expressed rare doubt, saying he’s not sure “if we can get this deal done.”

Referencing Zelensky, Trump continued: “He’s asking for more, just more and more and more. And he doesn’t have the cards. He doesn’t have the cards, so hopefully he’s going to get it done,” Trump said. 

And in reference to Putin, Trump explained, “I think he had the idea of going all the way through” if Trump were not in the Oval Office. “I think he’s [Putin] willing to make a deal. And I would say thus far, he’s been easier to deal with than Zelensky,” Trump added.

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House passes “Take it Down Act,” sending revenge porn bill backed by Melania Trump to president’s desk

The House passed a bipartisan bill Monday that makes it a federal crime to post real and fake sexually explicit imagery online of a person without their consent, sending the legislation that was backed by first lady Melania Trump to the president’s desk. 

The bill, known as the “Take It Down Act,” cleared the lower chamber in a 409-2 vote. The two “no” votes came from Republicans. The Senate unanimously passed the measure in February. 

The legislation requires social media companies and other websites to remove images and videos, including deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence, within 48 hours after a victim’s request. 

“If you’re a victim of revenge porn or AI-generated explicit imagery, your life changes forever,” Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, said at a March 3 roundtable promoting the bill. 

Cruz, who introduced the bill, recalled the experience of a teenage victim, Elliston Berry, whose classmate used an app to create explicit images of her and then sent them to her classmates. Berry’s mother had tried unsuccessfully to get Snapchat to remove the images for months before she contacted Cruz’s office for help. 

“It should not take a sitting senator or sitting member of Congress picking up the phone to get a picture down or video down,” Cruz said. 

The first lady, who rarely appears in public, attended the March discussion at the U.S. Capitol to advocate for the bill’s passage in the House. 

“It’s heartbreaking to witness young teens, especially girls, grappling with the overwhelming challenges posed by malicious online content like deep fakes,” she said. “This toxic environment can be severely damaging.” 

The first lady applauded Congress after its passage and said the bipartisan vote made a “powerful statement that we stand united in protecting the dignity, privacy, and safety of our children.” 

“I am thankful to the Members of Congress — both in the House and Senate — who voted to protect the well-being of our youth,” she said in a statement. 

According to the FBI, in recent years there have been an alarming number of cases where victims have been extorted that have ended in suicide. Lawmakers said they hope the bill will save lives by providing recourse for victims. 

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White House Drug Czar Could Endorse Marijuana Legalization Under New Bill To Repeal ‘Ludicrous’ Restriction

Democratic congressional lawmakers have announced the filing of a bill that would remove a restriction that’s prevented the White House drug czar from advocating for the legalization of marijuana or other Schedule I drugs under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).

At a Last Prisoner Project (LPP) event outside the Capitol on Tuesday, Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN)—co-chairs of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus—talked about the group’s legislative priorities for marijuana reform. Beyond the new bill, that will also include bipartisan legislation to end federal prohibition in legal states and free up the industry to access banking services.

The lawmakers’ “Evidence-Based Drug Policy Act” would take aim at a federal statute prohibiting the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) from promoting reform around Schedule I drugs.

The current law states that no funds provided to ONDCP can be used for “any study or contract relating to the legalization (for a medical use or any other use) of a substance listed in schedule I,” further requiring the office’s director to “take such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use of a substance (in any form)” that is in Schedule I and has not been approved for use for medical purposes by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Under the two-page bill, that statutory language included in section 704(b)(12) of the ONDCP Reauthorization Act would be repealed.

Titus said on Tuesday that the legislation would “remove outdated restrictions, which are just ludicrous.”

“They’re not allowed to sponsor any research on Schedule I drugs. They can’t even talk about it, to show you how ridiculous is,” she said. “And by law, they have to actively oppose the legalization of any substance that is Schedule I and not approved by the FDA. We’re trying to remove that prohibition.”

Marijuana legalization “is not some out-of-nowhere kind of issue. This is something that is truly mainstream,” Titus said. “So if we can get rid of that policy, we can begin to do research on some of the advantages, or how marijuana can be used and what are the medical implications so when they say, ‘Oh, we don’t know—we don’t know what it’ll do, it might be dangerous’—you can counter that with good research.”

Whether the Trump administration’s recently appointed drug czar would exercise the authority to advocate for reform under the bill if enacted is uncertain. However, ONDCP Director Sara Carter has previously called medical marijuana a “fantastic” treatment option for seriously ill patients and said she doesn’t have a “problem” with legalization, even if she might not personally agree with the policy.

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Supreme Court Gives Trump Administration More Time To Consider Challenging Marijuana And Gun Ownership Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court has approved a request from the government’s top lawyer that sought more time to consider a challenge to a February appeals court ruling around the federal prohibition on gun ownership by people who consume marijuana.

An order by Justice Brett Kavanaugh last week granted government lawyers an extension until June 5 to decide whether to appeal a February ruling from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer had previously requested the extension, telling the high court that the government needed more time to consider the case.

“The Solicitor General has not yet determined whether to file a petition for a writ of certiorari in this case,” said Sauer’s three-page filing. “The additional time sought in this application is needed to continue consultation within the government and to assess the legal and practical impact of the court of appeals’ ruling.”

The case concerns a defendant, Keshon Daveon Baxter, who was found in possession of both a firearm and a bag of marijuana. The government charged him under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), which prohibits gun ownership by “unlawful” users of controlled substances.

Baxter argued in district court that the prohibition was itself illegal, contending both that “unlawful” use was too vague in the statute to be enforceable and also that the government’s ban on drug users’ possession of firearms was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

The lower court rejected both arguments—a ruling Baxter appealed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

It a February opinion, an Eighth Circuit panel upheld the portion of the district court’s decision denying Baxter’s vagueness claim but reversed the lower court’s ruling on the constitutionality of the firearms ban. However, judges wrote that there were insufficient factual findings in the record “for this Court to review Baxter’s as-applied Second Amendment challenge.”

Nevertheless, the Eighth Circuit wrote, “We reverse the district court’s ruling on Baxter’s as-applied Second Amendment challenge and remand to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Had the Supreme Court not granted the government’s extension, in the case, U.S. v. Baxter, a decision whether to appeal the Eighth Circuit ruling would have been due May 6.

Sauer, an appointee of President Donald Trump, formally assumed his role as solicitor general earlier this month. He previously helped represented Trump in his landmark case on presidential immunity.

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Trump Goes SCORCHED EARTH on NYT, ABC/WaPo, Fox News Over Fake Polls — Demands Investigations Into Corrupt Media Outlets

President Donald Trump came out swinging Monday on Truth Social, torching the “fake polls” released by The New York Times, ABC/Washington Post, and Fox News and exposing the establishment media’s relentless campaign to demoralize him and his America First agenda, and suggested they should be investigated for “ELECTION FRAUD.”

Calling out the “FAKE POLLS FROM FAKE NEWS ORGANIZATIONS,” President Trump pointed to polling numbers that dramatically understate his real support among voters.

“The Polls from the Fake News are, like the News itself, FAKE! We are doing GREAT, better than ever before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump’s tirade was prompted by a string of recent polls from these same fake news outlets that painted a dire and false picture of his standing.

The New York Times/Siena poll, for example, pegged his approval rating at around 42%, and an ABC News/Washington Post survey went even lower at 39% – allegedly the lowest 100-day approval of any president since World War II.

The Fox News survey also noted 44% approval, down from previous months.

Trump pointed to renowned pollster John McLaughlin — “one of the most highly respected in the industry,” according to Trump — who flagged serious red flags in the media polls’ methodology.

“When President Trump received 50 percent of the popular vote, but The New York Times includes only 37 percent of his voters in their poll and ABC/Washington Post has only 34 percent Trump supporters, it seems that they deliberately biased their polls against President Trump,” McLaughlin told Newsweek.

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Trump-Appointed U.S. Attorney Says His ‘Instinct’ Is Medical Marijuana Dispensary Shouldn’t Be ‘In The Community’ As He Warns Of Federal Prosecution

While shutting down licensed marijuana dispensaries doesn’t “rise to the top” of his priorities, a U.S. attorney who recently warned a Washington, D.C. cannabis shop about potential federal law violations says his “instinct is that it shouldn’t be in the community.”

In an interview with NBC4 that was released on Friday, Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin—who is currently going through a Senate confirmation process for the job—talked about his decision to send a letter to the owners of a dispensary that suggested they could face prosecution by the Trump administration’s Justice Department.

“Your dispensary appears to be operating in violation of federal law, and the Department of Justice has the authority to enforce federal law even when such activities may be permitted under state or local law,” the letter from Martin to Green Theory said.

“Persons and entities owning, operating, or facilitating such dispensaries (as well as premises grow centers),” it added, “may be subject to criminal prosecution and civil enforcement actions under federal law.”

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President Trump Now Demands ActBlue and Adam Schiff Be Thrown in Jail — ‘Crooked’ Adam Schiff Responds in Full Panic

President Donald Trump signed a powerful memorandum last week ordering a full federal crackdown on illegal campaign donation practices — specifically targeting the embattled Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue and calling for “crooked” Adam Schiff to be thrown behind bars.

The directive comes amid mounting investigations led by Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) and 19 state Attorneys General — including officials from Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Missouri — exposing explosive evidence that ActBlue was complicit in laundering illegal donations, including potentially illicit foreign money, into Democrat campaigns across the country.

The memorandum, as highlighted by The Gateway Pundit, states:

“Federal law (52 U.S.C. 30121 and 30122) strictly prohibits making political contributions in the name of another person, as well as contributions by foreign nationals… Press reports and congressional investigations have uncovered deeply troubling evidence that online fundraising platforms have enabled schemes to launder excessive and prohibited contributions.”

[…]

“These activities undermine the integrity of our electoral process… I direct the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, to use all lawful authority to investigate these allegations and take appropriate actions to enforce the law.”

Investigations have revealed staggering levels of fraud: ActBlue allegedly detected at least 22 significant fraud campaigns, many with a foreign nexus.

A House investigation uncovered 237 donations made using foreign IP addresses and prepaid gift cards during a single 30-day window in 2024 alone.

As The Gateway Pundit first reported, a team led by Peter Bernegger, Chris Gleason, Draza Smith, and supported by James O’Keefe, uncovered “voter mule” operations — with individuals often listed as making hundreds or even thousands of small-dollar donations, sometimes totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, to Democrat campaigns through ActBlue.

The funds fueled the campaigns of radical leftist candidates like Mark Kelly, Raphael Warnock, and Tammy Baldwin, among many others.

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Trump to sign order requiring list of sanctuary cities, states, official says

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order on Monday directing the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security to identify within a month the cities and states that are not complying with federal immigration laws, a White House official said Monday.

Last week, a federal judge blocked Trump’s administration from withholding federal funding from more than a dozen so-called sanctuary jurisdictions that have declined to cooperate with Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown.

“President Trump plans to sign an executive order on Monday escalating his battle against Democratic-led states and cities that don’t fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities,” a White House official said.

The order was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Trump’s schedule calls for him to sign executive orders at 5 p.m. EST.

In his first hundred days in office, Trump has moved swiftly to strip legal immigration status from hundreds of thousands of people, increasing the pool of those who can potentially be deported as he tries to ramp up removals to historic levels.

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US Universities Don’t Like Unmasking Their Foreign Donors. A New Trump Order Aims To Make Them.

For decades, federal law has required U.S. universities to disclose the sources of large foreign donations to the federal government. But the Biden administration sparsely enforced the law, allowing foreign nationals from adversarial countries to funnel cash to top American schools and stay anonymous.

In some cases, it’s unclear whether the schools themselves are keeping close track of the foreign money they accept. In early February, the Washington Free Beacon filed state records requests with 11 public universities for the identities of foreign donors that gave the schools more than $20,000 in the past two years. Some, like the University of California, Los Angeles and University of Michigan, said it would take months of searching or more than $1,500 in fees to provide an answer.

That won’t fly with President Donald Trump, who last week signed an executive order outlining more robust enforcement of the Higher Education Act of 1965’s foreign donor disclosure requirements. In some cases, it already appears to be spurring action. Another recipient of the Free Beacon‘s records requests, the University of California, Berkeley, for weeks did not respond. On Friday, shortly after Trump signed the order and launched a foreign funding investigation into the school, it sent a list of major foreign donors from 2023 and 2024.

Trump’s order calls on Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to “take appropriate steps to reverse or rescind any actions by the prior administration that permit higher education institutions to maintain improper secrecy regarding their foreign funding,” a reference to the Biden administration’s unusual policies that shielded foreign donors. Historically, the Department of Education disclosed foreign donor names in a public database. During the Biden administration, it stopped publishing names, instead only releasing the countries where each donation came from.

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