Tag: donald trump

Justice Department investigating whether Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll committed perjury, sources say

The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation into whether author E. Jean Carroll committed perjury in connection with her civil lawsuits against President Trump, sources familiar with the matter said.

The investigation is being led out of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, one of the sources added. 

Carroll sued Mr. Trump in two civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault and defamation. In 2023, a jury found Mr. Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation for comments he made in 2022. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages.

A second jury in 2024 found him liable for defamation in connection with comments he had made about Carroll in 2019, awarding her $83.3 million in damages. Both judgments were upheld on appeal.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who represented Mr. Trump on some of the litigation, is recused from the case, one source added.

The investigation was reported earlier by CNN. The theory of the case hinges on whether Carroll lied when she said in a 2022 deposition that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit, a source told CBS News.

It was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, helped pay for some of her legal expenses.

CBS News has reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois for comment on the investigation, as well as to Roberta Kaplan, the attorney who represented Carroll for the two lawsuits.

Carroll accused Mr. Trump of sexually assaulting her in a New York City department store dressing room during an encounter in the mid-1990s, an account which she published in a 2019 story for New York Magazine. In 2019, Carroll sued Mr. Trump for defamation, but the case stalled in court.

She then filed a second defamation lawsuit in 2022, adding a claim of rape under New York’s Adult Survivors Act.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied the sexual assault allegations.

Hoffman’s financial backing for Carroll’s lawsuit was first revealed in legal papers filed by Mr. Trump’s attorneys in April 2023, just ahead of the trial in the first defamation lawsuit, according to the New York Times.

When Mr. Trump’s attorneys brought the issue up on appeal, the appeals court found that Carroll had “plausibly represented” in her deposition “that she had forgotten about the limited outside funding counsel obtained.” 

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Zelensky sends letter to Trump, Congress pleading for Patriot interceptor missiles

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sent a letter to President Donald Trump and the United States Congress requesting more Patriot interceptor missiles.

In the multi-page letter sent on Tuesday, provided by CBS News, Zelensky said it had already been “proposed that Ukraine is ready to purchase the number of Patriot systems and interceptor missiles” needed.

The Ukrainian president recognized and expressed gratitude for U.S. support but emphasized the country’s reliance on the United States for ballistic missile defenses.

“And when it comes to defending against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the United States,” Zelensky said. “Patriot systems remain the most effective defense against every type of Russian ballistic missile.”

While asking for the product, he recognized the high demand for “Patriot antiballistic missiles” in many regions, including in the Middle East.

“For us–for a nation fighting for its survival–there is hardly anything more painful to see than Patriot batteries with no missiles loaded. I ask for your help in protecting Ukraine’s skies from Russian missiles,” the leader said.

He claimed that ballistic missiles remain Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “last major advantage on the battlefield.”

“The one challenge that remains extremely difficult for us–and the one that Europe cannot solve alone at this stage–is Russian ballistic missile threat,” he said.

“They can be intercepted. With Patriots. With your help. And you have the power to help,” Zelensky added.

Zelensky’s letter comes in the wake of one of the largest Russian attacks on Kyiv since the war broke out, involving nearly 700 air attack assets.

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Trump Files Motion to Restart WH Ballroom Project After Second Assassination Attempt in a Month

President Donald Trump is again pushing back after another violent incident near the White House, arguing that the courts are now standing in the way of critical security upgrades on the property.

In a Truth Social post on Monday morning, Trump shared a six-page legal filing signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche asking a federal court to lift an injunction blocking construction on the White House East Wing ballroom and security project.

The filing came after a shooting outside the White House on Saturday night in which the attacker was killed by Secret Service agents.

The incident came just weeks after another armed man attempted to rush into the White House Correspondents’ Dinner with apparent plans to kill Trump.

Those threats follow the two assassination attempts Trump survived during the 2024 campaign, including the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally where the president was shot in the ear and nearly killed.

Trump’s legal team argued that the latest shooting proves exactly why the White House project is necessary.

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Residents of Polluted Areas Say Trump’s Regulatory Rollbacks Are “Getting Really Scary”

ita Robles’s life is ruled by allergies, the worst effects from which can last for months at a time. She uses rescue inhalers, a nebulizer, and a maintenance inhaler — on top of a slew of other medications. Even then, it’s often not enough.

“There are times when I’m outside just walking to the driveway and it’ll feel like something catches in my throat, and it causes me to go into a choking fit,” Robles told Truthout. “It’s miserable.”

Robles lives in a Houston, Texas, neighborhood suffocated by heavy industry — Denver Harbor, the largest petrochemical hub of the U.S. Robles, 56, calls the neighborhood a “disaster.”

She’s just one of millions of Americans, however, living in communities where people’s quality of life is secondary to the hum of big business — communities at the front line of the government’s regulatory rollbacks and budget cuts.

Since Donald Trump came back into office in January 2025, the federal government has either succeeded in, or is attempting to, weaken and roll back many of the country’s key environmental regulations and other broader programs. Things could get worse if the proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget is approved, with its 52 percent cut in funding under the latest agency head, former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin.

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Israel Says It Will Not Let Trump Sign A Bad Peace Deal

Israeli ministers Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich gave comments to reporters today on the wars.

Israeli National Security Minister Ben-Gvir:

“We need to cut the electricity in Lebanon.

“If the Lebanese government does not control Hezbollah, then the territory south of the Litani — and even south of the Zahrani — must become a ‘security zone’ for the State of Israel. 

“We need to cut the electricity, destroy the infrastructure, and make clear to them: if there is terrorism, you will suffer.

“In light of the reactions around the world, you can understand one thing: Israel has stopped being the punching bag of the Middle East — and I’m proud of that.

“The policy I lead is not a policy of giving them sandwiches and flowers. That doesn’t help. It doesn’t help. They come again and again and again. They mock us. They call us suckers when we behave the way they expect us to.

“You saw that even the Europeans apparently learned something — surprisingly, it works. The message gets through.

“The Israeli government will not let Trump sign a “bad deal” with Iran.

“I call on Prime Minister Netanyahu: call Trump, go to him, bang on the table in front of him, and make clear that the State of Israel is not willing — not willing to accept this, not willing to tolerate this.”


Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:

“The most effective way to stop Hezbollah is simply to announce that for every drone, 10 buildings in Beirut will be destroyed.

“If there were seven drones, then 70 buildings. If there were 15, then 150.

“And if the buildings in Beirut run out, then we move on to Tyre, Sidon, and the Beqaa Valley.

“We are changing the Middle East. Iran is far weaker today, even if it has not yet collapsed — and that too is a goal we will achieve, with God’s help.

“Look at what Gaza looks like. Look at what Lebanon looks like.

“We are completely changing the equations.

“We are striking our enemies hard — not with one blow, but with 100 blows.

“Have we finished? Not yet.

“The war must end with there being no Hamas in Gaza. Period.

“We are in 60% of the Gaza Strip, and there will be no reconstruction without demilitarization and without completing the mission — the destruction of Hamas.

“I’m convinced Netanyahu — and I take my hat off to him and give him full credit for this — knew how to bring Trump and the United States to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel against the Iranian threat.

“We have the most supportive administration that has ever been in the White House.  There has never been anything like it.”

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Trump Declares War On UFO Secrecy & the Deep State… A New Executive Order May Be Only Days Away! 

The fight for transparency over UFO and UAP disclosures may be entering a whole new phase. Today on Stinchfield, author Kent Heckenlively joins us with explosive claims about what could be coming next from President Trump.

Heckenlively, co-author of the new book Catastrophic Disclosure, revealed sources close to President Trump are telling him a major executive order is now being prepared that will blow the lid off decades of secrecy surrounding UFO and UAP programs.

According to Heckenlively, the order would reportedly nullify government NDAs tied to UFO and UAP research, allowing scientists, military contractors, and insiders to finally come forward without fear of prosecution. It would also reportedly create a pathway to immunity for individuals who may have violated laws while participating in secret programs tied to recovered craft, advanced technology, or hidden government operations.

Heckenlively’s book is a deeply investigative look at what many believe is the Deep State’s role in hiding these programs for decades, while also examining whether the American people have been subjected to a long-running government psy-op surrounding UFOs and UAPs.

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Trump Scores SCOTUS Win In Battle Over Immigration Judges’ ‘Work-Related Speech’

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously sided with the Trump administration on Tuesday in a dispute involving its policy regulating immigration judges’ “work-related speech.”

In its per curiam opinion, the high court vacated and remanded a decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals that centered around the government’s rules governing the executive’s immigration courts. The specific policy in question — which was enacted in October 2021 under the Biden administration — required immigration judges “to obtain supervisory approval for public speeches relating to their official duties” and was designed “to ensure that employee speech which may be seen as bearing the ‘imprimatur’ of the Office is consistent with its official positions,” according to SCOTUS.

The National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) challenged the rule in federal court, arguing that it violated its members’ First and Fifth Amendment rights. As noted by the Supreme Court, however, under the 1978 Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA), Congress “intended” for federal employees to bring “most work-related grievances” to the executive’s Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and the Special Counsel — “not to federal district court.”

According to SCOTUS, the district court overseeing the case dismissed the NAIJ’s argument that its members’ constitutional claims “were not the kind of work-related claims that Congress intended to steer out of district court.” It held that it lacked jurisdiction over the matter, and that the CSRA “covered” respondent’s claims.

While agreeing with the district court’s conclusions that the NAIJ’s claims were covered by the CSRA and that Congress precluded district courts from overseeing such matters, the 4th Circuit panel nevertheless vacated the lower court’s ruling based on “factual circumstances” that it said “called into question” whether the CSRA was “functioning as Congress intended.” The appellate court further remanded the case back to the district court “for factfinding into the current operation of the MSPB,” as summarized by SCOTUS.

In vacating and remanding that decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the 4th Circuit’s actions were “based on an issue the parties had not raised” throughout litigation. By all accounts, the high court reasoned, the 4th Circuit’s decision “violated the party presentation principle when it decided ‘a case different from the one [respondent] advanced.’”

“Federal courts are not ‘roving commissions’ … licensed to ‘”sally forth each day looking for wrongs to right.”‘ … The Court of Appeals lost sight of those principles here,” the justices ruled.

While concurring with the court’s judgement, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas authored a separate opinion in the matter. Joined by Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the Bush 41 appointee explained why he believed the 4th Circuit’s ruling “was also wrong on the merits.”

“The Fourth Circuit’s analysis bears little resemblance to legal interpretation. Neither the President’s view that he can remove federal executive officials … nor his having done so, change the meaning of the statute or the binding nature of this Court’s interpretation of it,” Thomas wrote.

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Netanyahu gifted Trump a golden pager at White House meeting, PM’s office confirms

The Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday confirmed reports that Benjamin Netanyahu gave a golden pager as a gift to US President Donald Trump during their meeting at the White House on Tuesday, a reference to the clandestine operation that decimated the Hezbollah terror group.

The gift “symbolizes the Prime Minister’s decision that led to a turning point in the war and the starting point for breaking the will of the terrorist organization Hezbollah,” Netanyahu’s office said.

The operation “expresses the power, technological superiority and cunning of Israel against its enemies,” according to the PMO.

The golden pager displayed text that read: “Press with both hands,” and was given to Trump on a trophy-style display with a placard saying: “To President Donald J. Trump, our greatest friend and greatest ally. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

“That was a great operation,” Trump responded, according to Channel 12 news.

In return, Trump reportedly gave Netanyahu a photo of the two of them from the visit, with the dedication “To Bibi, a great leader.”

On September 17, 2024, thousands of pagers used by Hezbollah across Lebanon suddenly exploded, killing dozens of operatives and maiming thousands, marking the beginning of Israel’s escalation against the terror group, after almost a year of persistent Hezbollah rocket fire that displaced some 60,000 residents of the north.

The pagers, laced with explosives, were detonated via an encrypted message that required users to hold the devices with both hands, maximizing the likelihood of the subsequent blast causing debilitating injuries.

A day later, hundreds of walkie-talkies also blew up, killing and injuring scores more.

The attacks came as Israel began to step up a counter-offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which began striking Israel almost immediately after the allied Palestinian terror group Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack. The pager operation was immediately linked to Israel, which claimed responsibility in November 2024.

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The Republican Party Is Nothing More Than a Cult of Trump

The Republican Party is dead. Long live the party of Trump, which wears the GOP like a skin suit.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump took down libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (R–Ky.), to whom he’d taken such a profound dislike that he backed a primary challenger in the form of MAGA stalwart Ed Gallrein. Massie was highly ranked for his voting record by conservative organizations, but so were other candidates Trump pushed out of office—and out of the party. In truth, it’s been years since the Republican Party was a conservative organization; these days it’s a cult of personality around the president.

“Tom Massie of Kentucky, the worst and most unreliable Republican Congressman in the history of our Country, is an even bigger insult to our Nation than Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana,” President Trump snarked on May 17. That was the day Cassidy lost his state’s Republican Senate primary to Trump-backed challenger Rep. Julia Letlow and State Treasurer John Fleming, who now head to a runoff.

By that point, Trump-backed primary challengers had already turned out five Republican Indiana state senators who resisted the president’s drive to gerrymander congressional districts to gain advantage in this year’s midterm congressional elections.

“Good luck to those Great Indiana Senate Candidates who are running against people who couldn’t care less about our Country, or about keeping the Majority in Congress,” the president posted on Truth Social prior to release of the Indiana results. “There are eight Great Patriots running against long seated RINOS — Let’s see how those RINOS do tonight!”

Massie in turn lost this week to Gallrein, who was backed 54.8 percent to 45.2 percent by Republican primary voters responding to the president’s call. Massie had won 99.6 percent of the general election vote in his district in 2024, 65 percent in 2022, and 67 percent in 2020, according to BallotPedia. He was popular until dismissed by Trump, who won 64.5 percent of Kentucky votes in 2024.

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Trump’s Justice Department scrubs its website of news releases about Jan. 6 defendants

The Department of Justice is acknowledging it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, calling the information about the prosecutions “partisan propaganda.”

The purge of news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions and sentencings is the latest step by the Trump administration to dramatically rewrite the history of the assault on the Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to halt the congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, on his first day back in office in January 2025, pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of all of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes during the Capitol assault, including those convicted of attacking officers with makeshift weapons such as flagpoles, a hockey stick and crutch.

On Monday, the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate Trump allies who feel they were unjustly investigated and prosecuted. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has not ruled out that rioters convicted of violence will be eligible for payouts, prompting bipartisan anger in Congress.

After a journalist on Friday observed on the social media platform X that the Justice Department was “quietly” removing news releases on its website that were related to the Jan. 6 attack, including about a Texas man who pleaded guilty to assault and also faced separate state charges of soliciting a minor, the department responded through its “rapid response” account that there was “nothing ‘quiet’ about it.”

“We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes,” the post said. “This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.”

Among the releases removed from the site were those concerning seditious conspiracy cases against members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, far-right extremist groups. The Justice Department, in an unopposed motion last month, asked a federal appeals court to vacate those seditious conspiracy convictions, a request that was granted Thursday. The department on Friday moved to dismiss the cases against the group members.

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