TV News LIES

The White House threatened to withhold federal funding from the Smithsonian Institution if the prestigious museum system does not submit additional documentation for the Trump administration’s sweeping content review.

In a Thursday letter to Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch, Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley and White House budget director Russell Vought outlined the material they said still must be submitted, noting the Smithsonian’s earlier submission “fell far short of what was requested, and the overwhelming majority of requested items remain outstanding.”

The Trump administration, in August, launched a review of eight Smithsonian museums aimed at ensuring “alignment” with President Trump’s executive order “to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions.”

In the Thursday letter, White House officials said funding for the Smithsonian museums is conditioned on adherence to Trump’s executive order and on compliance with the review process.

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Representatives for victims of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein condemned the US Department of Justice on Friday for only partially releasing investigative documents while at least one survivor said she felt “redeemed” by the documents.

The documents were released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which mandated the disclosures by 19 December. The law allows for records to be withheld if they threaten current investigations, disrupt national security or identify Epstein’s victims.

The initial disclosure, however, did not appear to be in keeping with this law. Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, said the justice department would not release all its files on Friday, despite the deadline and the files published on Friday afternoon did not appear to be comprehensive. “I expect that we’re going to release more documents over the next couple of weeks,” Blanche said in an Fox News interview.

Top lawmakers responded by threatening legal action “in the face of this violation of federal law”.

Spencer Kuvin, an attorney representing Epstein survivors, said in a statement after the release that it was “no great surprise” the justice department was failing to meet the deadline.

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Republican US representative Elise Stefanik – a staunch ally of Donald Trump who calls herself “ultra-Maga” – is ending her campaign for New York governor and will not seek re-election to Congress.

Stefanik wrote on X: “It is not an effective use of our time or your generous resources to spend the first half of next year in an unnecessary and protracted Republican primary, especially in a challenging state like New York”.

Once considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for governor, Stefanik’s race became more complicated after Bruce Blakeman, the executive of Nassau county, entered the race. If she did manage to win the primary, she would have faced a tough battle to unseat New York’s Democratic governor Kathy Hochul, who has been polling far ahead in a state where Democrats far outnumber Republicans.

The state’s Republican chair, Ed Cox, said the party respected Stefanik’s decision and endorsed Blakeman. “Bruce Blakeman has my endorsement and I urge our state committee and party leaders to join me,” Cox said in a prepared statement. “Bruce is a fighter who has proven he knows how to win in difficult political terrain.”

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The latest tranche of files related to Jeffrey Epstein include more photos of the wealth adviser with rich and powerful people from all over the world.

The files released by the Department of Justice on Dec. 19 are in addition to previous releases from the House Oversight Committee, and a batch that USA TODAY received from the nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets.

Some of the records reviewed by USA TODAY are photos with no date, location, or other context. Other records are emails released in batches.

The names include a former president, famous entertainers, businessmen, and a former prime minister.

Former President Bill Clinton appears in multiple photos either with Epstein associates or with young women.

In one picture, a woman whose face is blacked out sits on the 42nd president's lap. Another photograph shows an unidentified person with their face blacked out along with Clinton in a hot tub. The former president is also seen in a picture swimming with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking and who women have accused of participating in their abuse.

Clinton rode on Epstein's private jet 26 times, according to a Business Insider analysis of flight logs.

Gates McGavick, a Justice Department spokesman, posted a Dec. 19 message on X that included the hot tub photo of Clinton in the hot tub with an unidentified person.

Clinton rode on Epstein's private jet 26 times, according to a Business Insider analysis of flight logs.

Gates McGavick, a Justice Department spokesman, posted a Dec. 19 message on X that included the hot tub photo of Clinton in the hot tub with an unidentified person.

"Beloved Democrat President," McGavick said in the post. "The black box is added to protect a victim."

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DoJ racing to redact documents ahead of deadline to release Epstein files - report

Congress has mandated that the Trump administration release a trove of Epstein-related files by tomorrow – and the Justice Department is racing to process thousands of pages of documents and images.

In an exclusive, CNN reports that the Justice Department is racing to redact thousands of pages in oder to protect victims, and address executive and legal privacy concerns. Per CNN, counterintelligence specialists “ were asked to drop nearly all of their other work”.

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FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Wednesday that he will resign from the bureau next month, ending a brief and tumultuous tenure in which he clashed with the Justice Department over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and was forced to reconcile the realities of his law enforcement job with provocative claims he made in his prior role as a popular podcast host.

The departure would be among the highest-profile resignations of the Trump administration, coming as the firing of career agents has contributed to upheaval at the FBI and as Director Kash Patel faces continued criticism over his use of a government plane for personal purposes and social media posts about active investigations.

Bongino announced his departure, which had been expected, in a post on X in which he said he was grateful for the “opportunity to serve with purpose.” He did not say precisely when in January he would leave or reveal his future plans, but President Donald Trump, in response to a question earlier in the day about Bongino’s fate, said: “Dan did a great job. I think he wants to go back to his show.”

Bongino was always an unconventional pick for the No. 2 job at the FBI, a position that historically has entailed oversight of the bureau’s day-to-day operations and has been typically held by a career agent. Though he had previously worked as a New York City police officer and Secret Service agent, neither he nor Patel had any experience at the FBI before being picked for their jobs. But both came in pledging overhauls to an FBI they insisted had been weaponized against Trum

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