TV News LIES

Recent polling is painting a mixed picture for Democrats as they look to chart a path forward in the wake of their loss to President Trump in November.

Trump’s approval rating remains comfortably underwater as he reaches the six-month mark back in office on Sunday. But while Democrats have scored some notable victories in high-profile elections since then, they’ve been unable to pull away from the GOP as the party hopes to regroup for the midterms next year.

Data experts said Democrats’ position has improved since Trump started his second term, but they still have a lot of work to do to win back trust from the American people and be poised to take back control of the House.

“You can’t just be on the attack. You can’t beat something with nothing,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake. “We have to show and tell what we would do, but I think that we’re on the precipice of a big opportunity, and I hope we take advantage of it.”

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Twenty-five years ago, students across the country were encouraged to take out student loans in order to attend college, the cost of which had increased dramatically since the 1970s. It was played as an investment: You could safely borrow tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars because a college degree was a path to a good-paying job, so you’d have no trouble paying back the loans you took out for education.

But even college graduates with salaried jobs struggled to pay back loans. Wages stayed depressed and the cost of housing, food, and child care increased, forcing many college graduates with loans to stretch their budgets further than previous generations. Student debt, however, ballooned. At the end 2024, more than 43 million borrowers owed a combined $1.6 trillion.

There have been many suggestions on how to handle the student debt crisis — and it appears the Trump administration has settled on making it even harder to go at all.

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The Writers Guild of America is urging New York state prosecutors to open an investigation into CBS’s abrupt decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” shortly after its host criticized the network’s recent settlement with President Donald Trump.

Colbert on Tuesday called the $16 million settlement “a big fat bribe,” given that Trump oversees the Federal Communications Commission. The owners of CBS’s parent company, Paramount, need that agency to approve a merger that would reportedly personally benefit them.

CBS and Paramount agreed to settle with Trump earlier this month over a lawsuit he brought against the long-running news program “60 Minutes,” instead of demanding the case go to trial — even though Trump’s claim had little to stand on.

“Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that ‘The Late Show’s’ cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval,” the Writers Guild of America’s East and West branches said in a joint statement issued Friday. (HuffPost’s unionized staff are part of the Writers Guild of America East.)

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People across all 50 US states on Thursday are joining marches and rallies at more than 1,500 sites to protest against the Trump administration and honor the legacy of the late congressman John Lewis, an advocate for voting rights and civil disobedience.

The “Good Trouble Lives On” day of action coincides with the fifth anniversary of Lewis’s death. Lewis was a longtime congressman from Georgia who participated in iconic civil rights actions, including the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 when police attacked Lewis and other protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

People across all 50 US states on Thursday are joining marches and rallies at more than 1,500 sites to protest against the Trump administration and honor the legacy of the late congressman John Lewis, an advocate for voting rights and civil disobedience.

The “Good Trouble Lives On” day of action coincides with the fifth anniversary of Lewis’s death. Lewis was a longtime congressman from Georgia who participated in iconic civil rights actions, including the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 when police attacked Lewis and other protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Lewis implored people to participate in “good trouble, necessary trouble” to advance their causes, and this call serves as the underpinning for the 17 July actions. Dozens of advocacy and civil rights organizations signed on as partners for the event.

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The White House on Thursday confirmed that what appears to be a recurring bruise on Trump’s hand is indeed the result of a medical condition.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during her regular briefing that after a “thorough evaluation,” the president has been found to have “chronic venous insufficiency,” which she stressed was “a benign and common condition,” especially in people over the age of 70.

In addition to bruising, Leavitt said Trump also has experienced swelling in his lower legs.

She added that Trump, 79, shows no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease, and that an echocardiogram showed “no signs of heart failure.”

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The Wall Street Journal has published the contents of a lewd birthday message Trump allegedly sent Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 — enraging the president, who denies he had anything to do with the note.

The letter features the drawing of a naked woman and a peculiar message about secrets. Here’s how the Journal described it:

It contains several lines of typewritten text framed by the outline of a naked woman, which appears to be hand-drawn with a heavy marker. A pair of small arcs denotes the woman’s breasts, and the future president’s signature is a squiggly “Donald” below her waist, mimicking pubic hair.

The letter was solicited by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend and associate, the Journal reported, and was put in a leather-bound album with other messages for Epstein on his 50th birthday.

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Maurene Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, was fired Wednesday from her job as a prosecutor in the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, according to two people familiar with the matter who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The reason for her firing was not immediately clear. She did not immediately respond to phone calls and an email seeking comment

Comey, who had worked in the U.S. attorney’s office for nearly a decade, prosecuted both Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

In recent weeks, President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have faced a firestorm of criticism over their decision not to release additional files related to Epstein, the disgraced financier whom the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office charged with running a child prostitution ring. He died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired two top deputies at the Department of Health and Human Services, ABC News has learned.

Heather Flick Melanson, Kennedy's chief of staff, and Hannah Anderson, deputy chief of staff of policy, are departing, according to a department spokesperson and another person familiar with the decisions.

No reason was given for the ousters. The person familiar with the situation told ABC that Kennedy "has every right to make personnel decisions."

Neither Flick nor Anderson immediately responded to an ABC News request for comment.

"Secretary Kennedy has made a leadership change within the Immediate Office of the Secretary," according to a statement provided by an HHS spokesperson to ABC News. "Effective immediately, Matt Buckham will serve as Acting Chief of Staff."

"Mr. Buckham currently serves as Kennedy’s White House liaison at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he oversees the recruitment and onboarding of political appointees across the agency. He brings valuable experience in personnel strategy and organizational management to this new role," the statement continued.

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