02b U.S. Politics – Progressive

Trump and Musk’s public attacks on each other add to questions about DOGE’s accomplishments, future– www.politifact.com

pgnewser June 6, 2025 0

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President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk celebrated their efforts to slash federal spending before Musk stepped away from his White House work. Musk wore a black DOGE hat over a bruised right eye that he blamed on his young son’s punch. That was May 30 in the Oval Office. Days later, the two billionaires were punching at each other on social media platforms they own.

Their fight began over federal tax and spending legislation, with Musk calling a Trump-backed bill “a disgusting abomination” and Trump saying he was “very disappointed” with Musk. Soon, Musk claimed credit for Trump and Republicans winning in 2024 and Trump threatened to cut off Musk companies’ federal contracts.

The public display of animosity called into question the fate of months of Department of Government Efficiency work. 

Under Musk’s oversight and with Trump’s approval, DOGE axed billions of dollars in grants for state health departments and scientific research. It gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers. It all but shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development, the decades-old department that provides food and health care to people in other countries.

Still, as Musk ended his work with DOGE, it was clear that the group’s cost cutting achievements fell short of Musk’s goals. A week before Trump won his second term, Musk said he expected to cut “at least $2 trillion,” without identifying a timeframe for doing it. He later lowered that to $1 trillion.

Capitol agenda: GOP leaders rush into Elon Musk damage control– www.politico.com

pgnewser June 6, 2025 0

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Hill GOP leaders are in full-on damage control as they scramble to save their megabill — and themselves — from the blast radius of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s breakup.

But Musk doesn’t seem interested in sparing any part of the GOP trifecta from his wrath on his way out of Washington. The president’s new enemy attacked both Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday over the cost of the party’s sweeping domestic policy package. Thune brushed it aside.

Johnson, however, is mounting a multi-front rebuttal as he aims to keep Musk from hurting the megabill’s prospects. He’s questioning the tech mogul’s motives for opposing the bill and challenging his claims about its impact on the deficit. Johnson already had to reassure hard-liners concerned about the bill’s spending in order to squeeze the bill through the House last month.

“I’m the same guy that’s always been a deficit hawk, and now I’m the speaker of the House, and I’m working on a multi-step plan to reverse the fiscal insanity that has haunted our country,” Johnson told reporters Thursday. “We have to get the big, beautiful bill done.”

‘Massive crack in the MAGA coalition’: The Trump-Musk feud threatens the GOP’s future– www.politico.com

pgnewser June 6, 2025 0

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Elon Musk just launched a war against the GOP. Now the party’s hopes of holding onto power are at stake.

Musk has gone from helping Republicans take total control of Washington — spending nearly $300 million to become the single biggest known donor last year — to attacking the highest-ranking leaders of the party and daring the rank and file to cross him.

“Trump has 3.5 years left as President, but I will be around for 40+ years,” Musk said on X.

The post was an unambiguous warning from the world’s richest man, who has the power to single-handedly reshape elections with his wealth. It was not long ago that Republicans hoped Musk could pour cash into their efforts to help maintain control of Washington. Instead, he’s becoming their public adversary.

Musk spent Thursday online attacking President Donald Trump over Republicans’ massive tax-and-spending bill, which Musk says does not cut enough government spending.

He’d already threatened to challenge Republicans who support the megabill; on Thursday, he blasted House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, took credit for Republicans winning trifecta control in November, and floated the idea of launching a third party.

“This is a massive crack in the MAGA coalition,” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and a former Trump administration appointee. “This town is historically built on Republican versus Democrat, and this seems to be crazy versus crazy. It is asymmetric and it seems, for the first time, President Trump seems to be out-crazied.” 

“Please noooooo”: Ye implores Trump, Musk to reconcile– www.salon.com

pgnewser June 6, 2025 0

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Ye is hoping to prevent the unraveling of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump’s relationship.

The controversial rapper formerly known as Kanye West waded into the white-hot feud between POTUS and the one-time head of DOGE, encouraging them to call a truce in a post to X.

“Broooos please noooooo,” he wrote. “We love you both so much.”

Musk and Trump’s tiff began last week, when the former Trump adviser told CBS News last week that he was “disappointed” with Trump’s “big, beautiful bill.” Musk continued to whale on this week, calling the bill a “disgusting abomination and encouraging voters to oust any Republicans who supported it.

The spat got worse on Thursday after Trump made his first public comments on Musk’s critiques, saying he was “very disappointed in Elon.” In a post to Truth Social, Trump speculated about the end of his relationship with the billionaire, saying that Musk “just went CRAZY!” The president then threatened to terminate Musk’s contracts with the federal government.

“The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts,” he wrote.

The White House Is Looking At Reviving Biden’s Investigations Into Elon Musk– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser June 6, 2025 0

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The Trump/Musk situation is being described as escalating, and White House aides are considering potentially reviving the investigations into Musk that the Biden administration initiated.

Rolling Stone reported:

This week, two Trump administration officials tell Rolling Stone that the government may not be above revamping investigations into Musk’s business empires — probes that carried over from the Biden era and ones that Musk was extremely adamant he wanted to see a second Trump administration crush, if the Tesla billionaire helped elect Trump.

“THIS ADMINISTRATION COULD ALWAYS START THE INVESTIGATIONS AGAIN,” one senior Trump appointee messaged in all-caps.

A source with knowledge of the matter says that Trump White House staff have already begun the process of making phone calls and sending messages to prominent allies of both Trump and Musk, saying they need to pick sides and that, basically, it’s the easiest choice they’ll ever make in their lives.

Musk basically annoyed and ticked off a lot of people around Trump in the White House, and now that the split has come, those people are looking for revenge on Elon Musk.

White House allies ‘disappointed’ at Musk’s opposition to megabill– www.politico.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

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Republican allies close to the White House are privately arguing that the former special government employee — who spent Tuesday afternoon blasting the spending bill and threatening to retaliate against its supporters — is opposing the bill because it harms the tech billionaire’s business interests.

The House-passed megabill represents the president’s chief — and potentially only — major legislative priority this Congress. But Elon Musk’s opposition suggests that the coalition that vaulted Trump to the White House is still facing internal disagreement over it as it makes its way through the Senate. It marks another dust-up between the MAGA and Tech Right. And it raises the possibility some members face pressure from Musk if they ultimately support it. 

“The West Wing is perplexed, unenthused, and disappointed” with Musk, who left the White House to attend to his ailing business empire, according to one White House official, who like others interviewed for this story were granted anonymity to be candid about an ally who spent hundreds of millions to ensconce them in the White House.

‘The View’ Host: Elon Musk Killed 300,000 People with DOGE Cuts – ‘Mostly Children’– slaynews.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

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ABC News propaganda show “The View” has pushed wild claims about Elon Musk’s service to the U.S. federal government.

On Wednesday’s episode of “The View,” co-host Sunny Hostin launched an eyebrow-raising attack on Musk.

Hostin blamed Musk, without citing any specific evidence, for the loss of “300,000 lives, mostly children.”

She attributed this alleged death toll to Musk’s involvement in President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The initiative is focused on streamlining the federal government.

As part of the endeavor, DOGE proposed cuts in personnel, contracts, and foreign aid.

“But the damage that he did was just really incredible,” Hostin said.

Trump and Musk relationship implodes– thehill.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

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The relationship between President Trump and Elon Musk rapidly disintegrated on Thursday, fulfilling predictions of a messy breakup that the world’s most powerful man and its richest man had defied for months.

Trump told reporters in an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that he was “very surprised” and “very disappointed” in Musk, who spent millions of dollars to help Trump get elected, served in his administration for four months but has since mounted a campaign against the president’s signature policy bill.

Musk responded on social media, claiming credit for Trump’s electoral victory last November.

It was a dramatic turnaround for the two men, who just days ago were together in the Oval Office as Trump presented Musk a ceremonial key to the White House.

Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Could Be On The Verge Of Collapse– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

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Senate Majority John Thune said that the SALT tax portion of the bill will need to be changed by the Senate, but SALT House Republicans said that any changes would make them no votes on final passage.

Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News posted on X:

JOHNSON said he spoke with the SALT Caucus on the House floor just now. The speaker said that he plans to speak to Senate leadership to tell them it’s a “very delicate thing.” Thune says the House salt deal needs to be changed.

Laura Weiss of Punchbowl said that the House Republicans who negotiated the SALT credit agreement said that if the deal is changed, they will vote against the bill:

SALT Caucus Republicans are up in arms over Thune’s comments that SALT deal will likely change in Senate. (Rep.) LALOTA says changing $40K cap “would be like digging up safely buried radioactive waste — reckless, destabilizing and sure to contaminate everything around it”

Maximum cash for Trump’s pals—and maximum pain for everyone else– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

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As the Trump administration indiscriminately fires tens of thousands of talented civil servants, it also wants to shell out big salaries to the hackiest of partisan hacks.

On April 10, Charles Ezell, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, sent a letter to all agency heads, saying his office “reaffirms flexibilities” in setting the terms of employment for Schedule C employees. Schedule C employees are political appointees, and according to OPM, they typically serve in policy or confidential roles, often as confidential assistants, special counsels, and policy experts. They don’t require Senate confirmation but must be requested and approved by OPM.

Per Ezell, the flexibility to pay an initial salary of up to $195,200 to appointees is necessary to attract the people who will help “drive the unusually expansive and transformative agenda the American people elected President Trump to accomplish.”

Usually, these positions are filled by people with specific policy expertise or a background in providing assistance in confidential settings. An analysis of former President Joe Biden’s Schedule C employees, conducted by the nonpartisan group Leadership Connect, found that the bulk of the hires were from top colleges, more than 75% had at least five years’ experience post-college, and had most recently worked in nonprofits, on Capitol Hill, elsewhere in the federal government, or on a campaign.

‘Where’s the budget?’: GOP lawmakers implore Vought to send a full request– www.politico.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

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Lawmakers in charge of funding the government grilled President Donald Trump’s budget director on Wednesday about why he hasn’t yet sent a full request to Congress.

With less than four months left in the fiscal year — and until the next government shutdown deadline — White House budget director Russ Vought has yet to deliver key pieces of Trump’s budget request to guide Congress’ future funding decisions. And even Republicans on Capitol Hill are publicly complaining.

“Where’s the budget?” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) pressed Vought during the budget director’s testimony before House appropriators.

Vought reiterated that he plans to send the full budget request once Republicans clear the party-line tax and spending package they are trying to enact this summer. But he told appropriators that they have “all of the information that is needed to be able to write those bills” to fund the government for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

Republicans Are At Each Other’s Throats As Elon Musk And Mike Johnson Go To War Over Big Beautiful Bill– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

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There is only one question that needs to be answered when assessing Elon Musk’s criticism of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. Does Musk have the political juice with Republicans to derail the legislation?

This all started when Musk posted to X:

I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.

Musk went on to criticize the bill for adding to the deficit.

The post rocked Republicans in Congress just as the Senate is starting work on changes to the legislation.

Speaker Mike Johnson responded to Musk by starting out with political niceties, but his remarks to reporters transitioned into:

 I know that the, the EV mandate is very important to him. That is going away because the government should not be subsidizing these things as part of the Green New Deal. And I, I know that has an effect on his business.

And I lament that we, we talked about the ramp down period on that and, and how that should be duly considered by Congress, but for him to come out and hand the whole bill, is to me just very disappointing, very surprising in light of the conversation I had with him yesterday.

Johnson was asked if Musk’s concern for Tesla is driving this and he answered:

I’m gonna let others draw their own conclusions about that, but this is not personal between any of us. I just, I, I just deeply regret that he is made this, this mistake. I would tell you, listen, I’m gonna remind everybody again. Every hardworking American ought to be in favor of this bill…

And that is a dangerous thing for Elon or anyone who has, um, who cares about the US economy to, to be meddling with. And I think the risk is very great. We have to pass this legislation. The Senate is doing some good, thoughtful, deliberate work right now. We’re looking forward to moving it through the process and this, and the president is very much looking forward to signing that into law by Independence Day.

Cornyn trailing Paxton by 22 points in Texas GOP Senate primary: Poll– thehill.com

pgnewser June 3, 2025 0

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Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) trails Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) by 22 points in the state’s Republican Senate primary, according to a new poll released on Tuesday.

The survey, which was conducted by pollster Robert Blizzard on behalf of the Educational Freedom Institute and first obtained by Punchbowl News, showed Paxton leading Cornyn 50 percent to 28 percent among Republican primary voters.

Paxton expanded his lead among voters described as “very conservative GOP primary voters,” leading Cornyn 60 percent to 22 percent. Among voters described as “high propensity 3/3 GOP primary voters,” Paxton leads Cornyn by 30 points. The poll also showed Paxton leading Cornyn by 35 points among “MAGA voters” and by 12 points among senior voters.

The poll is the latest in a string of data points showing the incumbent senator trailing the conservative primary challenger. Last week, a poll from the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center at Texas Southern University showed Paxton leading in a hypothetical two-way contest with 43 percent to Cornyn’s 34 percent, and 23 percent unsure.

BREAKING: Democrat Mayor and Wife Arrested for Child Molestation– conservativeroof.com

pgnewser June 3, 2025 0

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A Democratic mayor in Georgia was arrested on child molestation charges, and his wife was also charged with cruelty to children.

Joseph Kelly, 38, mayor of the City of Climax and an employee of the Decatur County School District, was charged with two counts of child molestation. His wife, Natalie Kelly, 44, faces two counts of cruelty to children in the second degree.

According to the school district’s website, he is a math teacher at Bainbridge High School. It’s unclear whether he is still employed there.

The alleged acts involve multiple children.

Both were taken into custody on Saturday.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a statement:

On Saturday, May 31, 2025, the Decatur County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to investigate allegations that Joseph Kelly had sexual contact with multiple minors.

Both Joseph and Natalie Kelly were arrested later that same day by GBI agents and Decatur County Sheriff’s Office investigators. They were booked into the Decatur County Jail.

Dems Look To Create New Think Tank To ‘Get Away From Woke, Identity Politics’– dailycaller.com

pgnewser June 3, 2025 0

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Some Democrats are looking to create a new think tank in an effort to urge the Democratic Party to promote more popular political positions, Politico first reported on Tuesday.

During a private meeting with several Democratic donors and leaders in April, Adam Jentleson — who had previously served as chief of staff to Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and a top aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — pitched an idea to establish a new think tank called Searchlight, according to Politico. The think tank’s goal would be to encourage the Democratic Party to refocus on positions that are viewed as more widely popular among Americans ahead of the 2028 presidential election, five anonymous sources told Politico.

Seth London, who serves as an adviser to major Democratic donors, is working on the effort alongside Jentleson, according to Politico. The report comes as the Democratic Party is strategizing on how best to reconnect with voters they lost in the 2024 election cycle.

Dem Heavyweights, Including Laurene Powell Jobs, Bankroll ‘Black Liberation’ Activist Who Called Jewish Museum Shooting ‘Morally Righteous’– freebeacon.com

pgnewser June 3, 2025 0

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Apple heiress Laurene Powell Jobs, Google founder Eric Schmidt, and the George Soros-backed Tides Foundation are among the Democratic heavyweights bankrolling the anti-Israel charity of activist Kamau Franklin, who called Elias Rodriguez’s alleged assassination of two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., a “morally righteous” act.

Franklin runs Community Movement Builders, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that promotes “liberation” ideology for black Americans, Palestinians, and other groups. The organization embraces radical rhetoric in support of those causes, referring to police as “pigs” and calling the state of Israel “the result of a war crime.”

Last week, Franklin signed an open letter defending Rodriguez’s assassination of Israeli diplomats Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky at the Capital Jewish Museum. The letter, which Franklin touted on his social media feeds, called Rodriguez’s actions “fully justified,” “eminently defensible,” and “morally righteous.” And in a thinly veiled threat, the letter says Rodriguez’s shooting will “teach a lesson and set an example” for supporters of Israel. Community Movement Builders, which Franklin formed in 2015, also expressed support on social media for Unity of Fields, an anti-Israel organization that published the open letter.

The group’s radical rhetoric could raise concerns for its roster of deep-pocketed donors, while showing that violent, anti-Israel sentiments are closer to the Democratic Party mainstream than they would like to admit. Of the $2.9 million that Community Movement Builders raised in 2023, the most recent year for which tax information is available, nearly $2 million came through large donations from the charities of several Democratic donors, liberal philanthropies, and groups in the Arabella network, a Democratic dark money juggernaut.

BREAKING: Democrat Newark Mayor Ras Baraka Files Federal lawsuit Against Alina Habba for “False Arrest and Malicious Prosecution” | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com

pgnewser June 3, 2025 0

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Democrat Newark Mayor Ras Baraka filed a lawsuit against Interim US Attorney Alina Habba for “false arrest and malicious prosecution.”

Ricky Patel, a Special Agent in Charge of the Newark Division of Homeland Security, was also named as a defendant.

Baraka’s lawyers accused Alina Habba of acting as a “political operative” in the 17-page complaint.

Read the full complaint here.

The lawsuit alleges Alina Habba violated Ras Baraka’s Constitutional rights, including his Fourth Amendment, First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights.

On Monday evening, Alina Habba blasted Ras Baraka after his office ‘leaked’ that he was planning to file a lawsuit against the Feds.

Democratic Warnings Are Working As Qatar Blames Trump For Bribe Plane– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser May 29, 2025 0

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Democrats in Congress have been warning the nation of Qatar since it was announced that Trump would accept a plane from them worth hundreds of millions of dollars, that giving Trump what amounts to a bribe would carry consequences in the future.

Those warnings seem to be working, as The Washington Post reported:

Qatar is insisting that a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Doha specify that the aircraft’s transfer was initiated by the Trump administration and that Qatar is not responsible for any future transfers of the plane’s ownership, these people said.

The delay reflects lingering concerns about legal liability stemming from the White House maneuver to transform what was originally a sale between two countries into a “gift” that Trump continues to tout as a major deliverable from his recent trip to the Middle East.

Inside the Democratic Party’s Strategic Efforts To Enhance Receptivity in Masculine-Coded Heteronormative Cohorts Through Data-Driven Holistic Outreach– freebeacon.com

pgnewser May 28, 2025 0

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They’ve got a lot to learn

Democratic donors and consultants have been meeting in luxury hotels to analyze the party’s inability to connect with male voters and propose alternative communications strategies. The results, according to the New York Times, have often resembled “anthropological studies of people from faraway places.” One liberal group is planning a $20-million campaign called “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan,” or SAM for short, that will “study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality” in masculine-coded heteronormative communities.

Two Secret Service agents suspended over on-duty altercation– thehill.com

pgnewser May 28, 2025 0

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Two Secret Service agents were suspended after getting into a physical altercation last week that was captured on video and circulated online.

A Secret Service spokesperson confirmed the authenticity of the video, which depicted two female officers getting into a physical fight while on duty. NBC News reported that the incident occurred outside of former President Obama’s home in Washington, D.C.

The spokesperson said the incident — which occurred early last Wednesday — is under internal investigation.

“The U.S. Secret Service is aware of an on-duty altercation that occurred between two Uniformed Division officers at approximately 2:30 a.m. on May 21,” the statement read. “The individuals involved were suspended from duty and this matter is the subject of an internal investigation.”

Trump’s Memorial Day Mental Collapse Worsens With Arlington Embarrassment– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser May 27, 2025 0

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There is no sanewashing at PoliticusUSA. We offer just the news and the truth from our point of view, so please support us by becoming a subscriber.

Donald Trump’s speech at West Point on Saturday was bad, but the president managed to top himself and show off his decline at the sacred Arlington cemetery on Memorial Day.

Trump’s remarks lasted for less than 20 minutes, but they contained mispronounced words, and at times, the president was running his words together, making them difficult to understand.

In one section of his speech, Trump said:

 But even for a moment, that freedom is a gift of the highest cost and peace is one at the most precious price. These extraordinary American heroes in there, immense and ultimate sacrifices. They offer only the faintest glimpse at the infinite grace we have received from all who laid down their lives for America over the past 250 years.

We’re gonna have a big, big celebration, as you know, 250 years. In some ways. I’m glad I missed that second term where it was because I wouldn’t be your president for that. Most important of all, in addition, we have the World Cup and we have the Olympics. Can you imagine I missed that four years and now look what I have.

I have everything amazing the way things work out.

God did that. I believe that too.

God did it.

You know, I got the World Cup and I got the, uh, Olympics. The 250 years was not mine. I’d like to take credit, but I got the Olympics. I got the World Cup when I was president. And I said, boy, it’s too bad I won’t be president then. And look what happened. I, I turned out that we’re gonna have a great time, we’re gonna have a great celebration.

But most important of all is the 250th anniversary that blows everything away, including the World Cup and including the Olympics. As far as I’m concerned, in any corner of the cemetery, at any resting place for our war, dead, anywhere on earth, you’ll find untold stories of equal heroism and heartbreak unmatched.

Patriotism and devote.

Maryland congressman says he was denied access to Kilmar Abrego Garcia in El Salvador– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser May 27, 2025 0

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Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) said he was denied access in El Salvador to visit Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the suspected MS-13 gang member mistakenly deported by the Trump administration.

Ivey, who represents the congressional district in which Abrego Garcia lived, said he contacted a Salvadoran ambassador to make a request to their government before his trip. Despite that outreach, he added, he was denied access to the prison where Abrego Garcia is being held.

“They knew we were coming, they knew why we were coming, and they know we have the right to do this,” Ivey said in a video posted on X on Monday. “So, they need to just cut the crap, let us get in there and have a chance to see him and talk with him.”

Ivey noted he was told to travel to San Salvador to obtain a permit before he could visit Abrego Garcia. He appeared in the video alongside Abrego Garcia’s attorney and a member of CASA, the Maryland-based union he was part of.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Brands Trump a Racist ‘Monster’ After DOJ Probes His Anti-White Discrimination (VIDEO) | The Gateway Pundit– www.thegatewaypundit.com

pgnewser May 23, 2025 0

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has described President Trump as a “monster” for launching a federal investigation against him.

Speaking at a church in Woodlawn, Illinois over the weekend, Johnson said he preferred to hire black people because they are more generous than whites.

This has since led to Department of Justice opening an investigation into Johnson for racial discrimination.

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Johnson said that Trump’s investigation was the result of his own racial animus:

As far as, you know, the president’s animus towards women, people of color, working people, we have always known who he has been. This is not a surprise. He’s a monster.

We have the most diverse administration in the history of Chicago, and he is threatened by that.

You can tell when someone is fearful is because they act out. We have a president that is screaming and having tantrums right now because we have an administration that reflects the city of Chicago, but he would much rather have administrations that reflect the country club. Period.

He is most comfortable around people who think and look like him.