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ICE handed $12M to a 'surveillance' firm whose 'lead scientist' was a stock photo: report

Immigration and Customs Enforcement gave a $12.2 million no-bid contract to a company that appears to have fabricated staff and was originally founded to hold its founder's sailboat, according to a new report.

ICE contracted with Edge Ops LLC for a program called Project SAFE HAVEN, an AI surveillance tool that tracks immigrants' daily routines, habits, and real-time locations and categorizes them as potential threats. But reporting by The Lever found a series of fabrications on the company's website.

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Trump DOJ makes stunning claim to hold power judges already said it doesn't have

President Donald Trump's Department of Justice released a stunning memo on Tuesday night claiming that Trump has the authority to take state voter rolls — a claim that directly contradicts several federal court rulings finding the DOJ has no such authority.

The memo was released at a time when Trump's efforts to obtain voter rolls have been repeatedly stifled by the courts. The Justice Department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for refusing to provide unredacted voter rolls containing sensitive information like driver's licenses and partial Social Security numbers. Federal judges in California, Michigan, and Oregon have all ruled against the DOJ, finding it lacks statutory authority to compel states to turn over voter data.

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'Get out of our country!' Far-right pastor goes on racist tirade against Vivek Ramaswamy

Far-right Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon went on a virulently racist tirade this week, proclaiming that Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy must be "demolished" to punish the GOP and warn them off ever nominating "polytheistic, demon-worshiping, cow-worshiping, bare-feet scamming anchor baby Indians" to office again.

The clip, posted to X by Right Wing Watch, showed Webbon getting visibly animated as he worked himself up — and it comes as the GOP is increasingly fractured over Ramaswamy's candidacy. Ramaswamy was named to co-lead President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency alongside Elon Musk after the 2024 election, but dropped out of the role to focus on his gubernatorial campaign.

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'Boom': GOP gov candidate who defied Trump hit with death threat day before bomb scare

A Republican candidate for governor in Georgia and the current secretary of state received a death threat the day before a bomb scare at one of his campaign events, according to a new report.

According to the New York Times, Brad Raffensperger received a four-page, handwritten manifesto on Monday. The manifesto came with a photo of Raffensperger and the word "Boom" written across his forehead, a campaign official told the Times.

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Senator accuses FBI Director of being a 'public concern' as competence questions mount

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) directly challenged FBI Director Kash Patel during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday, citing credible reports of misconduct, including heavy alcohol use and political purges of agents involved in President Donald Trump's investigations.

Van Hollen stated, "Patel's private conduct becomes a public concern if it interferes with job performance, referencing reports of Patel being "so drunk and hungover that your staff had to force entry into your home."

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Ex-DOJ lawyer flags detail that could doom another high-profile Trump prosecution

A former federal prosecutor flagged a startling fact on Tuesday that could doom President Donald Trump's high-profile prosecution of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whose wrongful deportation to El Salvador became one of the most prominent immigration cases in the country.

Glenn Kirschner, a former assistant U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C., said during a new episode of his podcast "Justice Matters" that the Trump administration's prosecution of Abrego Garcia could be doomed because the administration has treated him differently than others in similar situations.

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'That's not what I hear': James Comer flees when confronted on Trump's words on economy

House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-KY) played ignorant when Meidas Touch reporter Pablo Manríquez confronted him about President Donald Trump's new comments dismissing the rising cost-of-living crisis.

The remark came after reporters asked him about the latest monthly inflation numbers. "The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon," said the president. "I don't think about Americans' financial situation."

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'I'm sorry, what?' Ex-GOP rep gobsmacked by fine print for Trump's gold phone

An ex-GOP congressman couldn't believe what he heard when learning about the Trump family's gold "Made in USA" phone that's starting to sound like it could be a scam.

"Company executives confirmed the phone would actually be manufactured overseas with only the final assembly of about 10 components happening in Miami," Adam Kinzinger, a former GOP lawmaker and outspoken Trump critic, said in a video he posted on X on Tuesday.

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Trump's new ICE chief once intervened to deport woman at behest of president's friend: NYT

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that David Venturella will lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Venturella is known not just as a career ICE agent and former executive at the GEO Group, the private prison company that owns some of the ICE detention facilities, as reported by the New York Times. He also intervened to deport the mother of the child of Paolo Zampolli — the man who introduced Donald Trump to Melania — after she was detained in a Miami jail, calling ICE's Miami office to have her grabbed before she could be released on bail.

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Dr. Marty Makary resigns from Trump's FDA

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary stepped down Tuesday following an extended dispute with President Donald Trump over flavored vape nicotine products, making him the fourth high-profile Trump administration departure this year, NBC News reported.

The conflict centered on Trump's frustration with Dr. Makary's pace in approving flavored vapes for retail sale, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The Trump administration sought to expand the availability of flavored vapes earlier this year, but Dr. Makary's office issued a memo blocking the authorization of several flavors.

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Royal family biographer names surprising new Epstein connection

Jeffrey Epstein's relationship with the British royal family may be much deeper than previously reported, according to one of the royal family's biographers.

Andrew Lownie, who has written two books about the royal family, including a biography of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's relationship with Epstein, revealed during a new episode of the Daily Beast’s "The Royalist Podcast" that another member of the royal family also kept company with Epstein. Lownie said that Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, had dinner with Epstein in the mid-1990s and may have helped give him credibility he didn't deserve.

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'He's lost a step': MS NOW analyst pinpoints skill Trump lost that's scaring Republicans

President Donald Trump has lost his ability to do one of the most important parts of his political formula, Vanity Fair's Molly Jong-Fast argued to MS NOW's Ari Melber on Tuesday's edition of "The Beat" — and it's causing his base to fall to pieces.

"So when he runs on, hey, one thing I'm going to do is lower prices or have no forever wars or release the Epstein files — every last big promise, with the exception, perhaps, of hardline immigration, has been contradicted," said Melber.

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Blundering Trump just gave China what it always wanted: ex-GOP strategist

Trump has already delivered China's ambitions with "self-inflicted" wounds, an ex-GOP strategist warned ahead of the president's visit with the country's leader, Xi Jinping.

"China's ambitions, whether they are military or economic, have been delivered up by Donald Trump," Rick Wilson said on a Tuesday episode of his podcast. Trump was set to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping from May 12-15 with business leaders like Elon Musk, and Wilson noted he's going in with "cataclysmically low poll ratings" and "tremendous political weakness" amid the war in Iran.

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