TV News LIES

President Donald Trump said Republicans should "nationalize" the voting process as he continues to level unfounded claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, more than five years after losing to Joe Biden.

Trump called for Republicans at the federal level to seize control of elections from states during an appearance on the podcast of Dan Bongino, who returned to his show on Feb. 2 after resigning in January as FBI deputy director in the Trump administration.

"The Republicans should say, 'We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least ‒ many, 15 places.'" Trump said. "The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked."

The Constitution gives authority to states ‒ not the federal government ‒ to set "the times, places and manner" of holding federal elections, but it empowers Congress to "make or alter" rules.

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Immediately after a US border patrol agent shot two people in Oregon last month, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the targets were “vicious” gang members connected to a prior shooting and alleged they had “attempted to run over” officers with their vehicle.

In the weeks since, key parts of the federal government’s narrative have fallen apart.

The events took place on the afternoon of 8 January, one day after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.

According to a DHS press release and social media posts issued the following day, border patrol agents were conducting a “targeted” stop of a vehicle in Portland occupied by two members of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang. Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras, a woman in the passenger seat, had been “involved” in a Portland shooting last year, the agency wrote.

During the border patrol stop, the driver, Luis Niño-Moncada, “weaponized their vehicle against” officers, DHS said, prompting an agent “to defend himself and others” by shooting the occupants. Zambrano-Contreras was hit in the chest, Niño-Moncada was hit in the arm and both were hospitalized, then taken into federal custody, DHS noted. The agents were uninjured.

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Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said President Trump’s Make American Great Again slogan was a “lie,” saying his first year back in office was focused on obliging wealthy supporters.

“I think people are realizing it was all a lie. It was a big lie for the people. What MAGA is really serving in this administration, who they’re serving, is their big donors,” Greene said in a Wednesday interview with radio personality Kim Iversen.

“The big, big donors that donated all the money and continue to donate to the president’s PACs and donate to the 250th anniversary and are donating to the big ballroom,” she added.

The former Georgia representative recently resigned from Congress, after airing concerns over the future of health care premiums and the war in Gaza, citing fractures within the GOP and falling out with Trump and MAGA, despite years of loyal support for the president.

On Wednesday, she said the people who truly benefit from backing Trump are financial benefactors, telling Iversen: “Those are the people that get the special favors. They get the government contracts, they get the pardons, or somebody they love or one of their friends gets a pardon.”

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Bad Bunny has become the first Latin artist to win album of the year in the 68-year history of the Grammy Awards, at a ceremony where dozens of stars railed against the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

The shape-shifting musician beat Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar to win the night's top prize for his sixth album, Debí Tirar Mas Fotos, a personal and powerful exploration of Puerto Rico's musical history.

The 31-year-old, who will headline next week's Super Bowl half-time show, dedicated the award to immigrants who "leave their home, land, their country, to follow their dreams".

British singer Olivia Dean, who was named best new artist, also used her speech to defend immigrants.

"I'm up here as the granddaughter of an immigrant," said the singer, whose grandmother Carmen was part of the Windrush generation.

"I'm a product of bravery and I think those people deserve to be celebrated. We're nothing without each other."

Stars including Kehlani, Gloria Estefan and Billie Eilish also spoke in support of immigrants, while many musicians wore badges reading "ICE out" on the red carpet.

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A federal judge declined to compel federal officials to preserve all evidence in the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, voicing confidence Monday that court intervention isn’t needed.

“Plaintiffs identify reasonable concerns regarding Defendants’ ability and willingness to preserve and maintain the integrity of the evidence in their possession related to Mr. Pretti’s shooting,” wrote U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud, “but in my judgment, the record as it stands today largely addresses these concerns and does not justify a continuing preservation order.”

Minnesota and Hennepin County went to court after federal officials turned local and state personnel away and refused to share evidence in the Pretti investigation.

Tostrud has yet to decide whether the evidence must ultimately be turned over, but his new ruling means he won’t immediately intervene as the lawsuit moves forward. Tostrud is an appointee of President Trump.

A Customs and Border Protection agent shot and killed Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse, in Minneapolis last month. He became the second U.S. citizen to die at the hands of federal agents during Operation Metro Surge in the Twin Cities, fueling outrage and demands from Democrats to change immigration enforcement.

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Lawmakers are back in court after an earlier legal victory, challenging the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after its secretary, Kristi Noem, issued a second order seeking to limit their ability to make unannounced visits to immigration detention facilities.

Members of Congress last month won their lawsuit after challenging a June DHS policy seeking to require them to give seven days notice of any intended visit.

The lawmaker’s latest filing accuses DHS of having “secretly reimposed” the policy in an order signed by Noem last Thursday.

“On Saturday, January 9—three days after U.S. citizen Renee Good was shot dead by an ICE agent in Minneapolis—three members of Congress from the Minnesota delegation, with this Court’s order in hand, attempted to conduct an oversight visit of an ICE facility near Minneapolis,” the filing states, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Only upon showing up at the facility were they informed Noem had again tried to impose the policy, they stated.

Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) is the lead plaintiff on the lawsuit, which is joined by 11 other Democrats, including the ranking members on the House oversight, judiciary and homeland security committees.

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The John F Kennedy Center, a world-class venue for the performing arts in Washington DC, will halt entertainment events for two years starting on 4 July during renovations, Donald Trump posted on Sunday on Truth Social.

The Kennedy Center, which has seen a wave of performers cancel events in recent months as well as the lowest ticket sales in years, has been in turmoil since the president orchestrated a leadership overhaul in the beginning of his term.

In his Truth Social post, Trump claimed he had been reviewing the venue for one year to decide between a full closure and reopening or partial closure during its reconstruction.

“Based on these findings, and totally subject to Board approval, I have determined that the fastest way to bring The Trump Kennedy Center to the highest level of Success, Beauty, and Grandeur, is to cease Entertainment Operations for an approximately two year period of time, with a scheduled Grand Reopening that will rival and surpass anything that has taken place with respect to such a Facility before,” Trump wrote on the social media platform Truth Social.

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The mayor of Portland, Oregon, demanded US Immigration and Customs Enforcement leave his city after federal agents launched teargas at a crowd of demonstrators – including young children – outside an ICE facility during a weekend protest that he and others characterized as peaceful.

Witnesses said agents deployed teargas, pepper balls and rubber bullets as thousands of marchers arrived at the South Waterfront facility on Saturday. Erin Hoover Barnett, a former OregonLive reporter who joined the protest, said she was about 100 yards (91 metres) from the building when “what looked like two guys with rocket launchers” started dousing the crowd with ga

“To be among parents frantically trying to tend to little children in strollers, people using motorized carts trying to navigate as the rest of us staggered in retreat, unsure of how to get to safety, was terrifying,” Barnett wrote in an email to OregonLive.

Portland mayor Keith Wilson said the daytime demonstration was peaceful, “where the vast majority of those present violated no laws, made no threat and posed no danger” to federal agents.

“To those who continue to work for ICE: resign. To those who control this facility: leave,” Wilson wrote in a statement on Saturday night. “Through your use of violence and the trampling of the Constitution, you have lost all legitimacy and replaced it with shame.”

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