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CNN host Abby Phillip threw President Donald Trump's words back in his face in a searing takedown on "NewsNight."

During an Easter event at the White House on Wednesday, Trump claimed the federal government cannot afford to continue paying for programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Instead, he suggested that states raise their taxes to pay for it, and that the U.S. government should focus solely on defense spending.

A new intelligence report on Iran's military capabilities alarmed an expert during a CNN interview.

CNN reported, citing sources inside the Trump administration, that the president's intelligence community has determined that Iran has roughly half of its missile launchers intact and that thousands of one-way attack drones are still in the country's arsenal. That's despite President Donald Trump claiming that the country had been completely decimated during his national address on Wednesday.

With Attorney General Pam Bondi getting the pink slip on Thursday, MS NOW's Ali Velshi opened the night's edition of "The Briefing" with a sendoff to one of Trump's longtime foot soldiers — and pinned down one of the key moments she humiliated the administration.

"There were a lot of reasons to fire Pam Bondi," said Velshi. "There were plenty of moments from her career, a tenure as attorney general that you could choose from. But there was one moment that I couldn't stop thinking about today. Happened back in February, when Bondi was asked in Congress why she had not prosecuted any of Jeffrey Epstein's co-conspirators, and she said this."

A journalist flagged the "cancer on the body politic" that the Republican Party refuses to deal with in a new podcast interview on Thursday.

John Avlon, who has written extensively about political extremism, argued during a new episode of the podcast, "The Court of History," that the Republicans seem to be refusing to acknowledge the growing antisemitism within their party. He described it as a "cancer on the body politic" that will need to be addressed one way or another.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche startled some political analysts and observers on Thursday when he flubbed a softball question about the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Blanche was asked whether the public would learn the identities of the men who abused young women that are mentioned in the Epstein files during a press conference. Blanche's answer left some observers unsettled.

A viral clip posted to X on Thursday showed Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback blowing up at a Black voter and telling him he should be "lynched" for asking about the allegations of inappropriate behavior with teenagers.

The clip was posted by the account @JustinUSA, who describes himself as a "normal Republican."

Fox News legal pundit Jonathan Turley warned that Pam Bondi was a "torpedo in the water" after she was fired as attorney general by President Donald Trump.

"Well, I think that the president obviously is trying to prepare for what he sees as coming," Turley explained on Thursday. "I would say that when Chuck Schumer celebrates this, he should think again. Pam Bondi is still in good favor with not just the president, but most people in that party."

Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones slammed the White House over an event where President Donald Trump was compared to Jesus Christ.

During his Thursday show, Jones noted that White House adviser Paula Jones had likened Trump to the Christian savior during an Easter celebration. The president also praised hawkish Fox News host Mark Levin at the same event.

Speaking just as Fox News was reporting that Attorney General Pam Bondi was relieved of her duties by Donald Trump, MS NOW’s Laura Barrón-López listed off possible long-term candidates for the job which included former Trump lawyer Alina Habba.

Speaking with host Chris Jansing, the White House correspondent reported, “I know that Fox News is reporting that this decision has come down, but our sources have told us that it was going to be, you know, potentially as early as today, but that she is out.“