MSN

A trio of House Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to multiple Trump administration agency heads demanding a classified briefing on the bungled operation in El Paso, Texas, airspace that triggered a shutdown of the airport.

The closure, which was initially set to last 10 days but was lifted after seven hours, still has multiple agencies offering conflicting reports of what happened — and frenzied finger-pointing at high levels.

A federal judge held a lawyer from President Donald Trump's Department of Justice in contempt on Wednesday for failing to return a detainee's identification paperwork after the detainee was released from immigration custody, according to a report.

Judge Laura Provinzino of the District Court of Minnesota held Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Matt Isihara in civil contempt for failing to return the documents. Beginning on Friday, Isihara will be responsible for paying a $500 for every day the plaintiff is not in receipt of his ID documents, according to the order.

Communities around the country are rising up to oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement building new prison facilities in their backyards — and some of the people leading the charge are President Donald Trump's own voters.

According to The New York Times, "Stacy Bradley voted for President Trump because of his border policies, and she likes that he has restored 'law and order.' But she is unsettled by one aspect of his immigration agenda. Last month, the federal government bought a warehouse next to her cheerleading gym in Surprise, Ariz., which the administration plans to convert into a detention center for up to 1,500 immigrants."

Donald Trump Jr. had no valid excuse when trying to defend the crypto firm he helped found taking in a $500 million investment from a company tied to the United Arab Emirates, David Kirkpatrick of The New Yorker told CNN's Jake Tapper on Wednesday.

This comes after the firm, World Liberty Financial, issued a statement to CNN denying any link between the Emirati investment and a controversial agreement to render chips to the Middle Eastern country.

Political analysts were aghast on Wednesday after ProPublica published a "soul-crushing" report about 911 calls made by people detained in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement center in Texas.

ProPublica recently investigated the living conditions at the Dilley detention center outside of San Antonio, Texas, where the Trump administration has sent roughly 3,500 detainees since they reopened the facility.

"60 Minutes" star Anderson Cooper delivered a stunning rebuke to CBS News's new MAGA-friendly boss Bari Weiss — and the message was unmistakable, insiders say.

Months after Weiss desperately courted the veteran broadcaster to helm "CBS Evening News," Cooper chose to walk away from his two-decade tenure as correspondent entirely, effectively rejecting the network altogether.

Former Trump administration White House lawyer Ty Cobb delivered a dire warning Wednesday on MS NOW about the growing network of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities that are planned and funded — and suggested that Trump having that much detention power and resources at his disposal is horrifying.

Cobb's warning came in the middle of a discussion with anchor Ari Melber, about the possibility ICE might try to engage in election interference by stationing agents at polling places.

A group in Colorado has proposed a new election map that could give Democrats a 7-1 advantage in the House of Representatives, according to a Denver Post report.

Colorado's current Congressional delegation includes four Democrats and four Republicans. The proposed map could make three Republican-leaning districts currently occupied by Reps. Gabe Evans (R-CO), Jeff Hurd (R-CO), and Jeff Crank (R-CO) are more competitive for Democrats.

One of President Donald Trump's old warnings about Iran resurfaced on Wednesday as reports indicate that he is pondering war with the country.

In 2011, Trump claimed that then-President Barack Obama would strike Iran to ensure he was elected for a second term. The post at the time was quite controversial, as the former president was facing a stiff re-election campaign while the country was still recovering from the Great Recession.

The conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board expressed relief on Wednesday at a "welcome FDA walkback" as Dr. Vinay Prasad, the agency's head of vaccine oversight, got overruled on a controversial move to block a new flu shot.

Prasad, who was briefly forced out of the agency by far-right influencer Laura Loomer before returning shortly, has become notorious for blocking experimental medicines based on no solid logic — as he did recently by trying to shut down approval for a Moderna mRNA flu vaccine, using similar technology to the vaccines that helped get COVID under control. "StatNews reported that Dr. Prasad overrode his staff. His rejection cast a pall of uncertainty on vaccine and drug development," wrote the board.

A neuroscientist revealed the "horrific dangers" of President Donald Trump's mental decline during a podcast interview on Wednesday.

Dr. Frank George, a neuroscientist and psychologist, joined political commentator David Pakman on "The David Pakman Show" to discuss Trump's mental state. George revealed that Trump is becoming more disinhibited, which is a sign that his dementia is becoming worse and that he will soon have "no guardrails" for his malignant narcissism.

President Donald Trump's empowerment of voter fraud conspiracies, immigration enforcement, and violent crackdown on protesters in places like Minnesota are all connected, Media Matters for America chief Angelo Carusone argued on MS NOW Wednesday.

"There are others all across the government, you know, not just on the inside but on the outside that are helping reinforce and buttress that narrative from official purchase," said Carusone, whose own liberal watchdog group has faced legal attacks by the Trump administration. "People like Heather Honey, other 2020 election deniers, suddenly have special government employee status so that they can help work on these investigations that are now taking place elsewhere. So that's the first piece. They have the ability now to operationalize threads of that narrative from an official position."