TV News LIES

The Justice Department on Thursday failed to secure an indictment against New York Attorney General Letitia James, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The presentation to the grand jury came less than two weeks after the original criminal case against her was dismissed.

James, a frequent political target of President Donald Trump’s who had successfully brought a fraud lawsuit against him, had previously been indicted by a grand jury on one charge of bank fraud and another of making false statements to a financial institution.

James has denied any wrongdoing.

Lindsey Halligan, the acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and a former personal attorney to Trump with no prior prosecutorial experience, presented the case to a grand jury on her own in the first go-round — and that case was declared void on Nov. 24 when a judge found Halligan’s appointment was unlawful.

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Navy Adm. Frank Bradley, the commander who oversaw the Sept. 2 strikes on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, denied that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered his subordinates to “kill everybody” aboard the vessel during briefings to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The denial follows a report from The Washington Post last week that the Pentagon chief gave a spoken directive to “kill everybody” ahead of the U.S. military’s Sept. 2 attack against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean, an operation where 11 “narco-terrorists” were killed.

Both Hegseth and the White House have denied that he gave such an order to Bradley, the commander of Joint Special Operations Command.

“Admiral Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, not to give no quarter or to kill them all. He was given an order that, of course, was written down in great detail, as our military always does,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, told reporters after the Thursday closed-door, classified briefing with Bradley and the Joint Chiefs of Staff chair, Gen. Dan Caine.

“The admiral confirmed that there had not been a ‘kill them all’ order, and that there was not an order to ‘grant no quarter,’” Himes said on Thursday.

Still, Himes said that he was “deeply” troubled by the Defense Department’s attack on Sept. 2, in which the U.S. military conducted four strikes, killing 11 and sinking the boat.

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After a nearly five-year investigation, a suspect has been arrested for allegedly planting pipe bombs in Washington ahead of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, federal authorities announced.

Attorney General Pam Bondi identified the suspect as Brian Cole Jr., 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia. She said he was charged with use of an explosive device and that more search warrants were still being executed on Dec. 4.

“There could be more charges to come,” Bondi told reporters. "There was no new tip. There was no new witness, just good diligent police work and prosecutorial work."

Officials noted the alleged pipe bomber was from Woodbridge, Virginia, a city roughly 25 miles from Washington. Bondi did not disclose Cole’s alleged motive, saying the investigation is ongoing.

On Don Trump Jr.’s podcast, Triggered, Patel repeatedly criticized the Biden administration's handling of the case.

Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said authorities focused on evidence they already had, rather than receiving new tips.

“You're not going to walk into our Capital city, put down two explosive devices and walk off in the sunset,” Bongino said. “Not going to happen. We were going to track this person to the end of the earth. There was no way he was getting away.”

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Zohran Mamdani and Donald Trump talked again, this time without the fanfare of their first meeting.

Mamdani, New York’s incoming democratic socialist mayor, spoke briefly over the phone with the Republican president before the end of November. Their call, first disclosed by Mamdani on Spectrum News NY1 on Dec. 2, occurred less than two weeks after their surprisingly chummy Nov. 21 Oval Office meeting.

“I’ve always kept it a conversation that’s focused on the welfare of New Yorkers,” Mamdani said on NY1's "Inside City Hall." “And the fact that New Yorkers are still struggling under a cost of living crisis.”

Mamdani, who takes office Jan. 1, didn't specify when the call took place, though he said they spoke prior to a clash between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on Nov. 29 in lower Manhattan. A spokesperson for Mamdani said they talked before Thanksgiving.

Mamdani said he gave condolences to Trump about the two National Guard members shot in Washington, DC, on Nov. 26, including one soldier who died.

In addition, Mamdani said they discussed building housing and the importance of helping New Yorkers being pricing out of the city.

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During the over two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, there has also been violence in the other Palestinian Territory— the West Bank, which has been under Israeli occupation for decades.

There have been waves of attacks by Israeli settlers, some of which have been deadly. And arrests of residents, which Israel says is for its own security.

Israel has also been quietly redistricting the land. It’s the same land Palestinians want for a future state and they fear it is being annexed by Israel. We go there to see what it means on the ground.

TVNL Comment: Listen to the NPR report here.

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Israel said it launched an airstrike on a Hamas militant in southern Gaza late Wednesday in retaliation for an attack earlier in the day that wounded five Israeli soldiers.

The strike was the latest test for a fragile ceasefire that has mostly held up since early October, despite claims of violations by both Israel and Hamas. Hamas put out a statement condemning the Israeli strike in Khan Younis.

Earlier Wednesday, Israel received remains of what could be one of the last hostages in Gaza and said it would begin allowing Palestinians to leave the territory through a border crossing with Egypt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas violated the ceasefire Wednesday when, according to the army, militants emerged from a tunnel and attacked Israeli soldiers in an area under their control.

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The Department of Homeland Security is further clamping down on processing immigration applications after two National Guard members were shot by an Afghan national.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, in a memo on Tuesday said it would pause reviewing all pending applications for green cards, citizenship, or asylum from immigrants from 19 countries listed in a previous travel ban.

President Trump in June announced the travel ban against 12 countries, and partial restrictions against seven others, after a firebombing attack in Colorado.

The citizenship and immigration agency also plans to re-review and re-interview immigrants from these countries, potentially going as far back as 2021, amid sharper scrutiny of those who have followed the legal steps to seek permanent status in the U.S.

"The Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right," a DHS spokesperson told NPR in a statement. "We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake. The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern."

The travel ban applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and added restricted access applied to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Migrants from all 19 countries are impacted by the pauses of pending applications and review of previously approved ones.

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants to add a requirement that people videotape their requests for physician-assisted deaths, one of several conditions she’s put forward to sign the hotly debated Medical Aid in Dying Act.

The Democratic governor proposed the amendments to the Legislature late last month, according to two people briefed on the negotiations but not authorized to speak publicly about them. Talks are ongoing, the people said.

The amendments are Hochul’s first foray into the wrenching debate over the topic, which has prompted lawmakers to share personal stories that touch on religious faith, individual liberty and their own experience caring for dying loved ones.

“I hear from a lot of people on that issue,” Hochul told reporters recently. “There are strong views on both sides of the spectrum — intense views on this. And I’m conscious of that, and it’s going to be a very weighty decision on me.”

Hochul is also pushing to create a seven-day waiting period for terminally ill patients who seek life-ending drugs from physicians. Another proposed provision would require all patients who ask doctors to help end their lives to undergo a mental health evaluation by a psychiatrist.

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