pgnewser

Trump ‘Stands Strongly Behind Pete Hegseth’ Amid Latest SignalGate Controversy › American Greatness– amgreatness.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

President Trump is standing firmly behind Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in the wake of newly leaked revelations that he shared sensitive information about upcoming military strikes in a second Signal group chat with family members.

The group chat included Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer, a former producer for Fox News;  his brother Phil; and his personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, the New York Times reported. Both Phil Hegseth and Tim Parlatore work for the Pentagon, but, according to the Times,  it was not clear why they were included in discussions on upcoming Middle East strikes.

The “SignalGate” controversy erupted last month after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was included in a Signal group chat discussing plans about the attack on Houthis in Yemen. Goldberg publicized the chat in the Atlantic, withholding details purportedly over national security concerns.

The Atlantic later published the entire group chat, showing that Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth had posted the “exact times American aircraft were taking off for Yemen” 31 minutes before the first warplanes launched.

Bacon questions Hegseth’s fitness to lead Pentagon: ‘I wouldn’t tolerate it’– thehill.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

 

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) on Monday stopped just short of calling on Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to be removed following a new report that alleges the secretary shared detailed military plans in a group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.

“If it’s true that he had another [Signal] chat with his family, about the missions against the Houthis, it’s totally unacceptable,” Bacon told Politico, adding, “I’m not in the White House, and I’m not going to tell the White House how to manage this … but I find it unacceptable, and I wouldn’t tolerate it if I was in charge.”

Bacon’s remarks come after The New York Times reported on a previously undisclosed Signal group chat, in which Hegseth allegedly shared detailed information about forthcoming military strikes in Yemen on March 15.

Four More Dems Continue Down the Train Wreck Path, Now in El Salvador – RedState– redstate.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

How committed are Democrats to going off the tracks, aligning themselves with illegal alien and alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia?

Apparently so committed on the train wreck path that they went to El Salvador anyway, even though they were denied Congressional money and American taxpayer dollars to support their trip by House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer in a very blunt statement.

Justice Alito Voices Dissent on Supreme Court’s ‘Legally Questionable’ Late Night Order › American Greatness– amgreatness.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

The U.S. Supreme Court’s order early Saturday morning to block further deportations of illegal aliens by the Trump administration has drawn sharp dissent from Justice Samuel Alito who described the Court’s actions as “legally questionable.”

The order, which seeks to temporarily block the administration from deporting any more accused Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, directs that detainees held in the Bluebonnet Detention Center in northern Texas not be removed, “until further order of this court.”

Alito was joined by fellow Justice Clarence Thomas in his dissent, which stated that there was “dubious factual support” for the court to grant the request due to an emergency appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Alito specifically took the majority to task for allowing the ACLU to leapfrog lower courts to get a Supreme Court injunction, failing to allow a district court to certify a class prior to the order, issuing “legally questionable” relief without hearing from the opposing party and issuing the order “literally in the middle of the night.”

 

‘Fake News’ That They’re on the Hunt for Pete Hegseth’s Replacement– townhall.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

On Monday, the very same day that President Donald Trump defended Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth while speaking to the press at the White House East Egg roll, NPR claimed in a report that the White House was seeking Hegseth’s replacement. It’s a claim that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is making clear is “fake news.”

 

News of the report spread over X, with Laura Rozen repeating the claim over X. She could not cite a link, though a report was indeed published at 1:22pm by Tom Bowman to the NPR website, as Leavitt’s post mentioned.

Pete Hegseth, White House SLAM legacy media for ‘peddling lies’ after reports on second Signal chat | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

“The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth, who is doing a phenomenal job leading the Pentagon.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth hit back at reporting released on Sunday that claimed he discussed detailed information about forthcoming strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in a second Signal chat. The report from the New York Times cited four anonymous people with knowledge of the chat.

“What a big surprise that a bunch of, a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out from the same media that peddled the Russia hoax,” Hegseth told reporters when asked to respond to the “Signal chat controversy” while attending the White House Easter Egg Roll. “They got Pulitzers for a bunch of lies.”

Was That ‘Maryland Father’ the Unluckiest Man Ever? Or Just a Member of MS-13?– townhall.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

We had quite a lot to say earlier about Politico’s obsequious coverage of Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who has been milking the ‘Maryland Father’ storyline for as much attention and publicity as he can get.  The trouble he’s had, though, is in facing even the slightest bit of pushback on his preferred narrative, in which his favored poster child’s actual record is an irrelevant ‘distraction.’  When unhappy facts are presented to him, he treats them as irrelevant deflections, while himself…deflecting to yet another attack on the Trump administration.  I tacked this clip from CNN onto the earlier post, but it’s important to watch.  The Senator doesn’t want to grapple with the question of whether his “constituent” — on whom he’s lavished great attention and effort — is in fact a criminal gang member, in addition to being an illegal immigrant.  Neither, it seems, does the gaggle of additional Congressional Democrats who’ve made the same pilgrimage to El Salvador.

 

Pope Francis died of stroke and heart failure: Vatican doctor | News– www.aljazeera.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Pope Francis died of a cerebral stroke and irreversible heart failure, Vatican doctor Andrea Arcangeli has said in a death certificate.

The certificate released on Monday for the 88-year-old pontiff said the pope had fallen into a coma before his death earlier in the day.

Pope Francis had suffered various ailments during his 12-year papacy, with severe complications in recent weeks following a bout of double pneumonia for which he spent 38 days at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.

The Vatican also released Pope Francis’s spiritual testament – a written statement of faith – in which he said he wished to be buried in Rome’s Basilica of Saint Mary Major and not at St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, unlike many of his predecessors.

Alito Rebukes Supreme Court’s Midnight Deportation Interference– thefederalist.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Justice Samuel Alito has choice words for his high bench colleagues who released a blanket opinion “literally in the middle of the night” on Saturday, ordering the Trump administration to halt the deportation of Venezuelans suspected of being Tren De Aragua gang members from custody in the Northern District of Texas.

In his dissent joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, Alito argued the court “hastily and prematurely granted unprecedented emergency relief” to an expanded number of suspected criminal aliens in a “legally questionable” manner — especially because “it is not clear that the Court had jurisdiction.”

Contrary to his fellow justices’ assumption of authority, Alito noted even the Fifth Circuit “held that it lacked jurisdiction” because it was unsure whether a District Court’s failure to rule on the alleged gang members’ request for a temporary restraining order “before the expiration of a truncated counsel-imposed deadline” counted as a denial. Alito clarified later in the dissent that the counsel for the Venezuelans “insisted on a ruling within 45 minutes on Good Friday afternoon” and proceeded with an appeal when that demand was not met.

30 Kiiled, Dozens Wounded In Paramillitary Shelling In Sudan: Report– www.ndtv.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Paramilitary shelling on Sudan’s besieged city of El-Fasher, in the western region of Darfur, killed more than 30 civilians and wounded dozens more, activists said on Monday.

The attack, which took place on Sunday, involved “heavy artillery shelling” and targeted the city’s residential neighbourhoods, said the local resistance committee, one of hundreds of volunteer groups coordinating aid across Sudan.

Since April 2023, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a brutal war.

El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, remains the last major city in the vast Darfur region that the paramilitary group has not conquered.

Last week, the RSF launched a renewed offensive on the city and two nearby displacement camps — Zamzam and Abu Shouk — killing over 400 and displacing some 400,000 people, according to the United Nations.

JD Vance ‘snubbed’ by Pope amid row over ‘disgraceful’ migration plans | World | News– www.express.co.uk

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

JD Vance had a “brief” meeting with the Pope amid tensions between the pontiff and the White House on migration policy and welfare cuts. The US Vice President, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, is understood to have been keen to meet his Holiness whilst in Rome with his family.

The leader of the Catholic church had been reticent to grant an official meeting, but a “brief” audience was held on Sunday morning in Casa Santa Marta where the 88-year-old lives. The meeting is understood to have “lasted a few minutes” according to the Vatican, allowing the two to exchange Easter greetings. The Pope has previously been critical of the US administration, condemning their policy on migration and pledge of mass deportations as “a disgrace”.

Mr Vance has at times attempted to clumsily use Catholic teachings to justify the White House’s approach to migration but has been slapped down by the Pope in open letters to Catholic Bishops in the US.

He was also outspoken on President Donald Trump, hours before his inauguration, telling Italian TV: “This won’t do! This is not the way to solve things. That’s not how things are resolved.”

‘Hopefully they will do it this week’: Donald Trump’s big hint on Russia-Ukraine ‘deal’– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

US President Donald Trump on Sunday said Russia and Ukraine could reach an agreement “this week,” possibly to end their war of more than three years. He also said the two rivals could then do “big business” with the United States and “make a fortune.”

“Hopefully Russia amd (sic) Ukraine will make a deal this week. Both will then start to do big business with the United States of America, which is thriving, and make a big fortune!” Trump posted to his Truth Social network.

However, he did not share details of any progress in peace talks Washington has sought to push forward between Moscow and Kyiv, since he took over from Joe Biden in January.
The US president’s Truth Social post comes just days after his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, warned that Washington could “move on” from its push to broker an agreement to end the conflict, which began in February 2022.
“We need to figure out here now within a matter of days whether this is doable in the short term, because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio said on Friday in Paris, after high-level discussions with European and Ukrainian leaders.

Joe Biden should stay out of politics for the good of his party, says former aide to Jill– www.independent.co.uk

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Michael LaRosa, who served as Jill Biden’s communications director, was critical of the former president’s decision to return to the public eye after he made a speech tearing into the Trump administration last week.

“If they had advisers who had their hand on the pulse of the Democratic Party or national politics, they would have understood the intense level of anger or indifference to them that remains inside our party and isn’t going away anytime soon,” LaRosa said in a recent interview withThe Hill.

“I love both Bidens dearly, but staff loyalty means there is a responsibility to provide them with an honest situational awareness, especially when it comes to their public image, no matter how hurtful it is to hear,” LaRosa added.

China warns against side deals with US, vows retaliation if interests are compromised– www.arabianbusiness.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

China on Monday issued a direct warning to countries considering trade deals with the US that could disadvantage Beijing.

The warning came in the aftermath of reports that the Trump administration in the US may offer tariff exemptions to other nations in return for limiting their trade with China.
President Trump this month paused major tariff increases on other countries for 90 days, while hiking duties further on goods from China to 145 percent.

“China firmly opposes any party reaching a deal at the expense of China’s interests. If this happens, China will not accept it and will resolutely take reciprocal countermeasures,” the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said, CNBC reported.

Judge reduces bond of Nashville man charged with kidnapping, raping two teen girls at gunpoint | The Post Millennial– thepostmillennial.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Dejuan Moore had been held on an $810,000 bond, but Judge Khadija Babb lowered it to $304,000.

A Nashville man charged with raping two teenage girls at gunpoint had his bond significantly reduced by a Davidson County, Tennessee judge, prompting backlash from sexual assault victim advocates.

Dejuan Moore was being held on an $810,000 bond, but Judge Khadija Babb lowered it to $304,000. Moore faces a series of serious charges, including two counts of aggravated rape, three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, three counts of especially aggravated kidnapping, as well as resisting arrest, evading arrest, and evading arrest by a motor vehicle.

Moore’s defense attorney, Jennifer Thompson, argued the original bond was excessive, pointing to Moore’s lack of criminal history and what she called “strong ties to the Nashville community.” She said Moore wants to be released to support his girlfriend and her children.

“He was supportive of him and his girlfriend and their household,” Thompson claimed. However, victim advocates expressed outrage over the judge’s decision.

“It makes it seem like his life is more important than the victims he sexually assaulted,” said Lorraine McGuire, Vice President of Community Relations at the Sexual Assault Center, according to Fox 17 News.

Activist group releases bizarre ‘POV’ video of alleged Austin Metcalf killer Karmelo Anthony– nypost.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

 

An activist group supporting Karmelo Anthony, who is accused of murdering fellow teenager Austin Metcalf at a Texas track meet, posted a bizarre POV-style video on social media showing their security team escorting the alleged killer from jail after he made bond.

In the clip posted by the Next Generation Action Network [NGAN], a member of the organization’s security team shakes the teen’s hand and tells him to “get behind us” and “just stay close” as they walk past the media while leaving the Collin County Jail.

One female reporter shoves a microphone in Anthony’s face and asks if he has anything he’d like to say to the Metcalf family and why he was armed that day, calling him “sweatheart.”

Accused teen killer Karmelo Anthony seen in a newly released video captured by a pair of Ray-Ban glasses. @niquealex/Instagram

Anthony stays mum as they continue to the vehicle, where the security team ushers him into the backseat, the video shows.

Van Hollen’s big moment: Defending a constituent and defying Trump– www.politico.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

 

Chris Van Hollen has spent nearly a decade as an under-the-radar lawmaker. But the Maryland Democrat, who gave up a leadership trajectory in the House to serve in the Senate, may now finally be meeting his moment.

Van Hollen has grabbed the national spotlight amid a two-day trip to El Salvador to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration on erroneous charges of gang membership. After being initially blocked from entering a maximum-security prison by the Salvadoran government, Van Hollen ultimately succeeded in sitting down Thursday with his constituent, who had since been transferred to another detention facility.

“If you deny the constitutional rights of one man, you threaten the constitutional rights and due process for everyone else in America,” Van Hollen said Friday at a press conference at Dulles International Airport, shortly after returning from El Salvador.

He was flanked by advocates holding signs emblazoned with the words, “Thank you Senator Van Hollen.”

Kilmar Abrego Garcia was “traumatized” at CECOT, Sen. Van Hollen says after meeting in El Salvador– www.cbsnews.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen returned from his trip to El Salvador Friday after meeting with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who was deported due to an administrative error.

Van Hollen traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday, April 16, to check on Abrego Garcia’s health and well-being, a month after he was deported to a Salvadoran supermax prison known as CECOT.

“His conversation with me was the first communication that he had with anybody outside of prison since he was abducted. He said he felt very sad about being in a prison because he had not committed any crimes,” Van Hollen said.

However, he said, Abrego Garcia has since been moved to another prison where he says the conditions are better.

“He told me, and this was yesterday, eight days ago, so nine days ago from today, he was moved to another detention center in Santa Ana, where the conditions are better. But he said, despite the better conditions, he still has no access to any news from the outside world and no ability to communicate with anybody in the outside world,” Van Hollen said.

Trump highlights photo of Abrego Garcia’s knuckles with apparent MS-13 tattoos– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

President Donald Trump argued Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s tattoos prove he is a MS-13 gang member who should not be allowed back into the United States.

On Friday evening, Trump highlighted a photo of Abrego Garcia’s hand that appeared to contain “MS-13” tattooed on his knuckles. MS-13 is a Salvadoran-native gang that the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.

“This is the hand of the man that the Democrats feel should be brought back to the United States, because he is such ‘a fine and innocent person.’ They said he is not a member of MS-13, even though he’s got MS-13 tattooed onto his knuckles, and two Highly Respected Courts found that he was a member of MS-13, beat up his wife, etc,” the president wrote in a post to Truth Social.

The photo Trump showed included labels claiming to identify what the tattoos, each on one knuckle, represented. “M” was supposedly represented by a marijuana leaf, “S” was represented by a smiley face, “1” was represented by a cross, and “3” was a skull, according to the legend, with the latter two images possibly being to cover up the two numbers.

 

Wrongful deportation highlights Democratic split on how to fight Trump– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser April 21, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

The Democratic Party faces a growing rift over how to take on President Donald Trump. On one side, younger, more defiant members are pushing for generational change and a harder line. On the other? Moderates and institutionalists who seem pretty comfortable clinging to the status quo.

The split has been on full display in the party’s response to the wrongful deportation of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to a notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador without due process.

Democrats like Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen have been on the front lines, demanding accountability and treating the case like the crisis it is. Others, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are dismissing the party’s focus on Garcia as a “distraction,” urging Democrats to hit Trump on tariffs and trade instead.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, right, speaks with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whom the Trump administration wrongly deported El Salvador, in a hotel restaurant in San Salvador, El Salvador, on April 17.