TV News LIES

Politicians must be held accountable if their lies damage democracy, according to a former US federal prosecutor and FBI general counsel who was pursued by Donald Trump.

The US must be “as creative as possible” and introduce sweeping structural reforms if it escapes its current “mess”, said Andrew Weissmann, laying out a proposal for a legislative crackdown on election deceit.

“Lying can be held to account,” argued Weissmann, a senior figure in former FBI director Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, and Trump’s links to Moscow.

The former federal prosecutor remains a prominent voice against Trump and his assault on US institutions and justice, as a professor and analyst for liberal cable network MS Now.

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The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has sent subpoenas to leftist Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin over their March trip to Cuba, according to Fox News.

“the american govt would rather try to criminalize delivering aid to a country we’ve starved, than punish the epstein class,” Piker wrote Saturday on X in response to the report.

Piker said Sunday on his Instagram story that he hasn’t received a subpoena and on his live Twitch stream Sunday, he said before his trip to Cuba, he cleared it with the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the office that Fox News reported issued the subpoenas. Piker called the alleged subpoenas an “intimidation tactic” from the American government.

Benjamin also said in a statement to HuffPost that she hasn’t been served a subpoena, though “perhaps” one is on its way. The co-founder of the feminist anti-war organization said she traveled to Cuba under the authorized category of providing aid to Cubans and she stayed in a hotel allowed under U.S. regulations.

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A former Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist who was fired in September over sharing a post from another account that referenced slain conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk was awarded a $485,000 settlement from the state on Thursday.

“All I wanted was my job back. I see no leaders amongst FWC ‘leadership,’ but that’s to be expected when a state agency becomes the governor’s personal puppet show,” biologist Brittney Brown wrote in a statement shared by the ACLU of Florida.

Brown was fired over sharing a post that originally came from a comedic whale-themed account, which she shared on her private Instagram account on Sept. 10, 2026, according to a lawsuit filed by the ACLU’s Florida affiliate.

“The whales are deeply saddened to learn of the shooting of charlie kirk, haha just kidding, they care exactly as much as charlie kirk cared about children being shot in their classrooms, which is to say, not at all,” the post read.

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The FBI and U.S. Secret Service are responding to reports of gunfire near the White House on the evening of Saturday, May 23, according to a statement posted to social media.

FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X that the FBI was assisting in the response and will provide further updates.

"FBI is on the scene and supporting Secret Service responding to shots fired near White House grounds - we will update the public as we’re able," according to the post.

CNN reporters on the scene said they heard what appeared to be dozens of gunshots near the White House complex. CBS News reported approximately 20 shots were heard just after 6 p.m. EDT, with reporters saying the sounds appeared to come from the side of the White House complex containing the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from her position next month, citing a family emergency.

“Unfortunately, I must submit my resignation, effective June 30, 2026,” Gabbard wrote to President Donald Trump in a letter shared to social media. “My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer.”

“At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle,” she wrote, calling her husband her “rock.”

The letter was first reported by Fox News. Trump confirmed Gabbard’s resignation Friday afternoon in a Truth Social post, writing that she had done “a great job” and wished to spend more time with “her wonderful husband ... bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together.”

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Early this month, a single pen stroke effectively ended representative Steve Cohen’s career in Congress. The man who has represented Memphis for 19 years will turn 77 later this month, but he wasn’t planning on retiring. He hadn’t lost any primary. The reason was that his district had been erased around him.

A new electoral map, passed by the Republican-led state legislature and signed by Bill Lee, the governor, divides the ninth district three ways. “Last week Tennessee Republicans silenced the Black vote here in Memphis to make Republican victories likely,” Cohen said in his statement. That’s succinct and accurate.

The new map folds a significant portion of Cohen’s Black constituents into Williamson county, which sits south of Nashville and was, until recently, the subject of a different fight.

To this day, the Williamson county seal depicts a Confederate battle flag draped over a cannon. It was adopted in 1968, at the height of the civil rights movement. A Tennessee court ruled in 2024 that the county could remove it. The state legislature responded the following year by passing a new law specifically designed to keep the flag on the seal. The vote was 70-24 in the House and 27-6 in the Senate, with no Democrats voting in favor. Lee, who is from Williamson county, signed it.

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