TV News LIES

Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Friday authorizing the US Department of Defense to rebrand itself as the “department of war”, the White House said, as part of an attempt to formalize the name change without an act of Congress.

The order will designate “department of war” as a “secondary title”, an administration official said, as a way to get around the need for congressional approval to formally rename a federal agency.

But the order will instruct the rest of the executive branch to use the “department of war” name in internal and external communications, and allows the defense secretary Pete Hegseth and other officials to use “secretary of war” as official titles.

The order – seemingly in recognition of the limitation of the executive action alone – also directs Hegseth to recommend potential legislative moves the administration could take to permanently rename the defense department.

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A federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in California based on “an ongoing risk” that the president will act unlawfully.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco wrote Sept. 2 that Congress was clear in the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act that lawmakers prohibited using the U.S. military for domestic law enforcement.

But he ruled there was no rebellion when Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles in June, ostensibly to quell a rebellion and ensure that immigration law was enforced. Breyer cited plans by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to expand the guard deployment to Oakland and San Francisco, and in other states across the country.

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The Trump administration has fired the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kruse, in the latest in a series of moves to purge the U.S. intelligence community and install Trump loyalists in top positions, lawmakers said Aug. 22.

Kruse’s departure was first reported by The Washington Post, citing unnamed sources who didn’t immediately specify a reason for the dismissal other than “loss of confidence.” The Post later reported that two other military leaders were pushed out after Kruse: Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore, the chief of the Navy Reserve, and Rear Adm. Milton Sands, a Navy SEAL officer who oversaw the Naval Special Warfare Command.

Kruse’s firing follows a preliminary assessment from the DIA in June that concluded that U.S. military strikes against three of Iran’s main nuclear sites did not demolish them as President Trump had claimed, but only resulted in setting the Iranian nuclear program back by several months. That prompted a strong pushback from the Trump Administration and subsequent intelligence findings by the Defense Department and CIA that the damage was more significant.

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Several Republican-led states are deploying more National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to address what President Trump has called a "crime emergency" in the nation's capital. Several lawmakers and military officials, including former top official of the National Guard Major Gen. Randy E. Manner, have expressed concern that the guard is being politicized.

"Military vehicles in front of public buildings and the idea of them constantly there with weapons, that is absolutely called intimidation," Manner, who served as acting vice chief of the National Guard Bureau, told Morning Edition. "I'm very concerned about the impact on both our recruiting, as well as, the perception of many of the people of color as they see the National Guardsmen from other states coming in to occupy Washington, D.C."

Despite protests and legal challenges, Trump has repeatedly touted extending federal control over the nation's capital, even though data shared by the Justice Department shows violent crime in the city hit a 30-year low last year.

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The US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is experiencing “severe” staff shortages at all its hospitals, with the number of shortages increasing by 50% this fiscal year, according to a new report from the agency’s independent watchdog.

The report, released on Tuesday, came a day after the Guardian revealed the department had lost thousands of healthcare professionals deemed “core” to the system under Donald Trump, without which, the agency said, “mission-critical work cannot be completed”.

The inspector general found 94% of VA facilities faced a “severe” shortage of doctors, while 79% faced a severe shortage of nurses. Psychology was “the most frequently reported clinical occupational staffing shortage”. A majority of VA facilities also reported severe shortages of police officers, who keep veteran patients and staff safe.

The VA operates the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States, serving 9 million veterans annually. The report is required under two laws, one signed by Trump in 2017, which require the agency’s inspector general annually to determine the extent of staffing shortages within each medical center.

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The DC national guard will begin deploying on the city’s streets Tuesday night, the White House confirmed to the Guardian, a day after Donald Trump ordered their arrival and took control of the city’s police force, calling Washington DC a “lawless” city, despite official crime statistics saying otherwise. A White House official told the Washington Post that the national guard is expected to “begin being on the streets starting tonight”. Defense officials said a small number of the roughly 800 guard members planned for the mission had already been mobilized by Tuesday afternoon, with more expected to arrive in the coming days.
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About 850 officers and agents took part in a “massive law enforcement surge” across Washington DC on Monday night and made nearly two dozen arrests, the White House has said. The show of force came after Donald Trump announced he was sending the national guard into the capital and putting city police under federal control, even though the violent crime rate is at a 30-year low. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday: “As part of the president’s massive law enforcement surge, last night approximately 850 officers and agents were surged across the city. They made a total of 23 arrests, including multiple other contacts.”

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