TV News LIES

A federal judge on Wednesday said she would block Donald Trump’s administration from laying off hundreds of federal employees, the latest legal setback for the president’s efforts to downsize the US government workforce.

US district judge Susan Illston during a hearing in San Francisco said hundreds of layoffs at four agencies were likely not allowed under a law Congress passed last month to end a 43-day government shutdown.

“The chaotic nature of these has been continuing and has affected employees of the government in many ways, including loss of potential alternative jobs and loss of healthcare coverage,” Illston said.

Illston, an appointee of Democratic former president Bill Clinton, said she would block the US state department and education department from laying off about 250 and 150 employees respectively, pending the outcome of a lawsuit by unions.

She also said she intended to order state, the defense department, the General Services Administration, and the Small Business Administration to reinstate roughly 300 people who lost their jobs during the shutdown.

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The US government admitted Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration and the army played a role in causing the collision in January between an airliner and a Black Hawk helicopter near the nation’s capital, killing 67 people in the deadliest crash on American soil in more than two decades.

The official response to the first lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ families said that the government is liable in the crash partly because the air traffic controller violated procedures about when to rely on pilots to maintain visual separation that night. Plus, the filing said, the army helicopter pilots’ “failure to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid” the airline jet makes the government liable.

But the filing suggested that others, including the pilots of the jet and the airlines, may also have played a role. The lawsuit also blamed American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, for roles in the crash, but those airlines have filed motions to dismiss.

At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet while it was landing at Ronald Reagan airport in northern Virginia, just across the river from Washington, DC, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

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The Navy quietly disciplined 18 Navy SEALs earlier this year after military investigators found a private group chat that contained racist memes targeting a Black SEAL who was also in the chat, according to documents and a Naval Special Warfare spokesperson. 

Using the Freedom of Information Act, CBS News obtained the Navy's investigation into members of SEAL Team Four, along with years of the unit's internal surveys, which give naval officers insight into the culture, morale and effectiveness. The investigation and other records show racial harassment towards one of the team's own members inside a force that prides itself on unit cohesion and honor—prompting action from the top commander. 

One racist meme sent to the SEAL in 2022 was described in the investigation as "Slave in Chains." Another meme sent in 2022 was titled "Monkey Face" and depicted the SEAL in uniform with his face distorted to look relike a monkey. A meme sent in 2023 compared him to the movie character Radio, a mentally disabled man played by Cuba Gooding Jr.

One racist meme sent to the SEAL in 2022 was described in the investigation as "Slave in Chains." Another meme sent in 2022 was titled "Monkey Face" and depicted the SEAL in uniform with his face distorted to look like a monkey. A meme sent in 2023 compared him to the movie character Radio, a mentally disabled man played by Cuba Gooding Jr.

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Navy Adm. Frank Bradley told lawmakers Wednesday he was open to the broader release of the video of the U.S. military’s early September lethal strikes against an alleged drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean, apparently bucking Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who said a day earlier that the Pentagon would not release the full video of the mission to protect classified information.

Bradley, who was in charge of the Trump administration’s opening boat strike salvo on Sept. 2 and is now the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) commander, briefed members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees Wednesday in the Capitol on the controversial operation, in which 11 “narco-terrorists” were killed, including two individuals who survived an initial strike and were clinging to the wreckage.

Unlike Hegseth, who authorized the operation, Bradley expressed openness to having the video of the Sept. 2 strikes distributed more broadly, according to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who attended the briefing.

“Adm. Bradley supported releasing the video and said that there is no reason why it can’t be released. Obviously, it has to be edited to make sure that there are no sources or methods disclosed, just as every other video that’s been released has been edited,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who sits on the House Armed Services panel, told reporters after the classified briefing.

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FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Wednesday that he will resign from the bureau next month, ending a brief and tumultuous tenure in which he clashed with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and was forced to reconcile the realities of his law enforcement job with provocative claims he made in his prior role as a popular podcast host.

The departure would be among the highest-profile resignations of the Trump administration, coming as the firing of career agents has contributed to upheaval at the FBI and as Director Kash Patel faces continued criticism over his use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts about active investigations.

Bongino announced his departure, which had been expected, in a post on X in which he said he was grateful for the “opportunity to serve with purpose.” He did not say precisely when in January he would leave or reveal his future plans, but President Donald Trump, in response to a question earlier in the day about Bongino’s fate, said: “Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show.”

Bongino was always an unconventional pick for the No. 2 job at the FBI, a position that historically has entailed oversight of the bureau’s day-to-day operations and has been typically held by a career agent. Though he had previously worked as a New York City police officer and Secret Service agent, neither he nor Patel had any experience at the FBI before being picked for their jobs. But both came in pledging overhauls to an FBI they insisted had been weaponized against Trum

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Jack Smith, the former DOJ special counsel, claimed in closed-door congressional testimony on Wednesday that investigators had proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” that President Donald Trump “criminally” conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Smith made the remarks in his opening statement to lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

“I made my decisions in the investigation without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 election,” Smith said in his opening statement, which was obtained in advance by the Associated Press. “We took actions based on what the facts and the law required — the very lesson I learned early in my career as a prosecutor.

Rob and Michele Reiner's children are breaking their silence following the couple's killing.

The acclaimed "Princess Bride" director and his producer wife were found dead in their Southern California home on Sunday, Dec. 14. On Tuesday, prosecutors filed criminal charges against their son, Nick Reiner, who is accused of "fatally stabbing" his parents.

"Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day," Jake and Romy Reiner said in a statement to TMZ and People released Wednesday. "The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren't just our parents; they were our best friends."

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Rob, Michele, Romy and Jake Reiner for comment.

Nick Reiner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced during a Tuesday press conference. The 32-year-old screenwriter also faces a special allegation that he used a dangerous and deadly weapon, namely a knife, in the killing of his parents.

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