TV News LIES

That’s the tactic they use,” said Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island senator, pondering whether Donald Trump might attach his name to the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. “You float stuff and you float stuff and you float stuff until people get inured to what a stupid or outrageous thing it is that has been floated and then you pull the trigger.”

Whitehouse was sitting in his Senate office and speaking to the Guardian at 11am on Thursday 18 December. Two hours later, his word

In November Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate environment and public works (EPW) committee, launched a formal investigation into allegations of widespread cronyism, financial mismanagement and corruption at what he describes as a “secular temple to the arts”.

Democrats on the committee said they obtained documents that suggest the national cultural centre is being operated as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies”, resulting in millions of dollars in losses and a significant deviation from its statutory mission.

s proved prophetic. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, announced on X that the Kennedy Center board had “voted unanimously” to rename it the Trump-Kennedy Center.

By Friday workmen on scissor lifts were adding metal lettering to the building’s facade, before dropping a blue tarpaulin to reveal a sign saying “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For the Performing Arts”. Family members of Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, conhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/01/trump-kennedy-center-canceled-programsdemned the move as “beyond wild” and pointed out that an act of Congress is needed to alter its name.

The takeover of the national cultural centre began in February when, in what many critics regard as a case study in institutional capture, Trump ousted members of the Kennedy Center board appointed by former president Joe Biden, took over as chairman and installed Richard Grenell, a longtime ally and former ambassador to Germany, as its president.

In November Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate environment and public works (EPW) committee, launched a formal investigation into allegations of widespread cronyism, financial mismanagement and corruption at what he describes as a “secular temple to the arts”.

Democrats on the committee said they obtained documents that suggest the national cultural centre is being operated as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies”, resulting in millions of dollars in losses and a significant deviation from its statutory mission.

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Donald Trump has denied falling asleep while attending public meetings and robustly defended his health after the first year of his second term in office raised growing questions.

Trump, who at 79 is the oldest person to assume the US presidency, told the Wall Street Journal “my health is perfect” and expressed frustration with scrutiny of his wellbeing.

In the interview, the president denied he had fallen asleep during White House meetings – when cameras have caught him with his eyes closed – instead insisting he was resting his eyes or blinking.

“I’ll just close. It’s very relaxing to me,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”

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Speculation over former President Donald Trump’s health surged over the weekend after a viral video from his latest golf outing appeared to show him struggling with mobility. The footage, which quickly gained traction on social media, has prompted a wave of theories and discussions about the 78-year-old’s physical condition, with particular attention paid to his right leg.

The video in question was originally shared by Aleman’s Brothers LLC, a groundskeeping company that appears to service Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. It captures Trump engaging in one of his frequent pastimes, hitting the golf course on a sunny Sunday afternoon. However, it was not his swing that caught the internet’s attention, but rather his gait.

Numerous users on X (formerly Twitter) voiced their concerns, with many questioning whether the former president might be experiencing a significant health issue.

One user bluntly asked, “Is something wrong with Trump’s legs?” Others speculated that he was exhibiting signs of a neurological condition or musculoskeletal disorder.

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s four-year term leading the nation’s largest city began Thursday with a seven-block long street party and guest appearances at his inaugural ceremony from the leading lights of the left.

On a freezing New Year’s Day, the 34-year-old democratic socialist was sworn on the steps of City Hall by Sen. Bernie Sanders after an introduction by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

"Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously," Mamdani said. "We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try to those who insist that the era of big government is over."

"I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist," he said.

Mamdani is the 112th person, but the first Muslim and the first person of South Asian descent, to lead the nation's largest city.

In 2025, Mamdani stunned political establishment by defeating former Gov. Andrew Cuomo first in the Democratic primary and again in the November general election. He ran on a progressive platform to address affordability, reshaping a mayor’s race that resonated even in the White House with Republican President Donald Trump.

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Former special counsel Jack Smith was still contemplating whether to charge President Trump’s co-conspirators in the Jan. 6, 2021, case when the president won the election, he revealed to the House in a closed-door deposition released Wednesday.

Smith also told investigators he was preparing to rely on a number of Trump allies who agreed to testify against the president that “what they were trying to do was an attempt to overthrow the government and illegal.” He also said the violence of Jan. 6 was “foreseeable” to Trump.More...

“Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party,” Smith told the panel’s team over the course of a more than seven-hour interview on Dec. 17.

The Justice Department prohibited Smith from talking about not-yet-public information related to his investigation into Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. He was also more broadly prohibited from speaking about aspects of either case against Trump still covered by grand jury secrecy rules.

But the 255-page transcript offers new insights into Smith’s approach to the case, a rare window into the mind of a prosecutor prohibited from making bombshell statements about the case and who has been little heard from since a brief press conference in 2022 announcing he would oversee the investigations.

Smith told investigators that he met with many of Trump’s allies in the case — saying he found a level of cooperation with some of the six co-conspirators they accused of working alongside the president to block the peaceful transfer of power.

“Some of the co-conspirators met with us in proffers and did interviews with us,” Smith said.

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President Donald Trump said in a social media post on Wednesday, Dec. 31, he is clawing back National Guard troops he deployed to Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland.

"We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact," Trump wrote in the post.

The president added that federal forces will "come back" if crime rates go up.

The move comes a week after the Supreme Court weighed in on the president's controversial use of militder the control of governors, can be called into federal service by the president only under certain circumstances.ary troops to enforce immigration laws and fight crime in cities led by Democrats. The Dec. 23 decision blocked deployments from moving forward in Chicago.

The National Guard, which typically operates under the control of governors, can be called into federal service by the president only under certain circumstances.

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