TV News LIES

A federal judge granted an injunction blocking the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing databases at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

The decision from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, an appointee of former President Clinton, found DOGE was unlawfully given access to sweeping databases that cover current and former federal employees and also contain information on prospective hires.

“Following President Trump’s inauguration, OPM granted broad access to many of those systems to a group of individuals associated with the Department of Government Efficiency (‘DOGE’), even though no credible need for this access had been demonstrated. In doing so, OPM violated the law and bypassed its established cybersecurity practices,” Cote wrote.

More...

 

Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that struck down as unconstitutional several laws restricting abortion access, including a ban beyond 20 weeks of gestation.

The measures approved by Republican lawmakers in 2021 had been blocked since a judge issued a preliminary injunction against them that year. While the case was pending, voters passed an initiative that enshrined the right to abortions in the Montana Constitution.

Justices said in Monday’s ruling that the state constitution included a “right to be left alone” and have access to abortions. They said that right was not affected by a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended a half-century of nationwide abortion rights.

More...

 

 

Days before Pete Hegseth fired three top aides last month over a Pentagon leak investigation into the disclosure of classified materials, according to four people familiar with the episode, a recently hired senior adviser said he could help with the inquiry.

The adviser, Justin Fulcher, suggested to Hegseth’s then chief of staff, Joe Kasper, and Hegseth’s personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, that he knew of warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) that had identified the leakers.

Fulcher offered to share the supposed evidence as long as he could help run the investigation, three of the people said. But when he eventually sat down with officials, it became clear he had no evidence of a wiretap, and the Pentagon had been duped.

More...

President Trump on Monday said he would support arresting California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) after Newsom dared the White House’s border czar to do so amid a clash over protests in Los Angeles that center on immigration.

Upon returning from Camp David to the White House on Monday, Trump was asked if his border czar Tom Homan should arrest Newsom in the wake of suggestions to do so over the weekend as protests erupted over immigration raids.

“I would do it if I were Tom,” Trump responded.

“I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing,” Trump said. “Look, I like Gavin Newsom. He’s a nice guy. But he’s grossly incompetent.”

More...

The Defense Department’s relationship with reporters has gone from bad to worse following a string of missives from Secretary Pete Hegseth and his office aimed at controlling the Pentagon press corps.

Hegseth’s war on the media includes taking desks away from legacy outlets, locking the doors to one of the few places reporters have access to the internet in the Pentagon, and restricting their movement within the building.

Compounding the breakdown in media relations is a staffing shortage in the Pentagon’s public affairs shop, with at least 12 officials in the office reportedly leaving in recent weeks. The office officially held 32 people at the start of the year.

That has left one of the government’s largest agencies often unresponsive amid a steady stream of scandals and public relations snafus, though it maintains an active “DOD Rapid Response” account on the social platform X, which posted on Saturday, “we will always deliver on our promise of transparency.”

More...

The Supreme Court on June 6 rejected a Republican challenge to a Pennsylvania court’s ruling on provisional ballots, a case that could have restricted how much leeway state courts have to interpret federal election rules.

During the 2024 election, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said voters should be able to cast provisional ballots if they failed to encase an absentee ballot in the required secrecy sleeve.

State and national Republicans argued that would give voters an “unauthorized do-over” for “naked ballots” or for other mistakes on mail-in votes.

And they said the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision usurped the power the Constitution gives state legislatures to set federal election rules.

In November, the U.S. Supreme Court declined the GOP’s emergency request to intervene as ballots were being cast.

More....

 

 

The top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that he could be “on the hook” for hundreds of millions of dollars for having accepted a luxury jet from the Qatari government.

In a letter sent Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) argued that Hegseth’s formal acceptance of the Boeing 747 jetliner last month — a move made so the Air Force can upgrade its security measures so it may eventually be used as Air Force One — violates the Constitution Emoluments Clause. The rule bars federal officials from accepting financial benefits from foreign governments without congressional approval.

“I write now to urge and advise you to promptly mitigate these violations—and your own personal legal exposure—by either returning the plane to the Qatari government or promptly seeking Congress’s consent to accept it,” Raskin wrote.

The Pentagon announced on May 21 it officially accepted the 13-year-old luxury jet previously used by the Qatari royal family, a supposed “free,” gift that could be used to supplement the aging Air Force One fleet, according to President Trump.

More...