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Appeals court drops major ruling on judge's Trump admin contempt order

A plan to go forward with contempt proceedings against officials in Donald Trump administration for defying court orders had the plug pulled on it Friday morning.

According to Politico's Kyle Cheney, two of the three judges in the D.C. Circuit Court who signed the decision ruled against US District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg who has been battling with the administration over the forced removal of immigrants without due process.

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'Uh-oh': 'Warning signs for Republicans' reported amid 'clear Democratic momentum'

Republicans across the country are looking to redraw their state's congressional maps, and CNN's Harry Enten presented polling data that might explain their zeal.

Texas Democrats have left the state to deprive the GOP-led legislature the quorum needed to pass a redistricting plan that could gain five new U.S. House seats for Republicans, and lawmakers in Indiana and other states may try to do the same at the urging of President Donald Trump, and Enten told "CNN News Central" that's because they're in danger of losing their congressional majorities.

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Trump 'secretly' signs order deploying military against cartels: NYT's Maggie Haberman

President Donald Trump said during his 2024 campaign that he wanted to bomb the drug cartels in Mexico, which he links to the high rate of opioid addiction in the U.S. Now, he has secretly moved to deploy soldiers to begin an all-out war with the cartels.

The New York Times reported Friday that a directive was secretly signed for the Pentagon to target certain Latin American cartels that he decided in January to label terrorist organizations.

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'He should be on that list!' Prosecutor demands ex-Trump official's testimony on Epstein

The House Oversight Committee issued a number of subpoenas this week to high-profile figures for information on Jeffrey Epstein, though one notable omission is leaving legal experts baffled.

“This is really anything but a pursuit of honesty, the truth, evidence and facts,” said attorney and former New York prosecutor Jeremy Saland, speaking on CNN Friday regarding the Trump administration’s ongoing investigation surrounding Epstein, who died in 2019 awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, and is alleged to have maintained a ‘client list’ of powerful figures for blackmail purposes.

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Trump White House worried as GOP lawmakers become more willing to 'defect and defy': MSNBC

Above and beyond Donald Trump having to deal with the relentless blowback over the failure to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, his White House is in turmoil over the poor jobs report and a softening of his support in Congress.

Building upon his report for The Atlantic, where he pointed out that Trump's second term is not going nearly as well as Republicans would like to think, MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire said there is trouble ahead for the White House.

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'This is hell': Critics pounce on White House's 'preferred alternative' to PBS in schools

The White House has backed a right-wing educational partner to replace PBS after congressional Republicans effectively killed off the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

The publicly funded entity will shut down after Congress clawed back $500 million of federal funding in President Donald Trump's massive tax-and-spending law, but the White House announced a new partnership with the nonprofit PragerU, which specializes in right-leaning educational videos for adults and children, reported Vox.

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'He's dangerous to them': Trump reportedly scrambling to 'muzzle' a 'rogue' FBI official

The reported meeting at JD Vance's residence about the notorious Epstein files was actually about silencing a key FBI official, according to a former insider.

Former Trump associate Lev Parnas, who says he used to be "deep inside the Trump machine" and now reports from the outside, earlier flagged an example of Donald Trump "saying the quiet part out loud."

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'Very bizarre': MSNBC panel stumped by 'mind-boggling' DOJ response to employee's scandal

A decision by Department of Justice officials to rush to the defense of a senior adviser who attended the Jan. 6 insurrection and urged fellow rioters to kill Capitol police officers left an MSNBC panel flabbergasted on Friday morning.

After "Morning Joe" co-host Mika Brzezinski reported on the DOJ having hired and placed Jared Wise, who screamed at police officers, calling them "Nazi" and "Gestapo," and then exclaiming "kill 'em," co-host Joe Scarborough called the DOJ's response to the controversy "very bizarre."

As was noted, the DOJ curtly responded to inquiries about Wise with, "Jared Wise is a valued member of the Justice Department and we appreciate his contributions to our team."

"This is very bizarre coming from a political party holding up such a person that is calling for the killing of cops," Scarborough told the panel. "Very bizarre that he's working in the preeminent law enforcement agency in America for a president and a party who claim to be supporting law enforcement officers and claiming it's the liberals that don't support law enforcement officers."

"What can you tell us about this, this person who, at really the most heated time on January 6th, was calling for the killing of law enforcement officers?" he asked MSNBC's Ken Dilanian.

"It's mind-boggling, Joe," he replied. "I will say that Mr. Wise did express contrition for those comments during his trial which was cut short when Donald Trump ended all the prosecutions of January 6th defendants and pardoned them all."

"But I think what we're seeing here is the consequences of an administration that has rewritten history, rewritten the history of January 6th, and as I, you know, Donald Trump pardoned all the defendants including those who assaulted police officer and is now going about firing FBI agents who worked on those cases and FBI supervisors and then hiring people who were part of the riot."

He then added, "And, you know, to your point Joe, I suspect if you polled most Americans, even most Republicans, they're not necessarily on board with this."

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'We don't do this': GOP lawmaker cut off for yelling as he is put on the spot in interview

MSNBC's Joe Scarborough had to intervene after a Republican lawmaker bristled at tough questions about health care and started yelling at another panelist.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) appeared Friday on "Morning Joe" to defend the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law last month by President Donald Trump, and former Democratic senator Claire McCaskill put him on the spot over cuts to Medicaid in the massive tax-and-spending measure.

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'Stop putting words in my mouth!' GOP lawmaker shouts over MSNBC host amid major factcheck

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough turned up the heat Friday on Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) after the New York Republican tried to dismiss claims that President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act would harm hospitals and kick Americans off Medicaid.

Scarborough asked Lawler how hospitals in his own district will manage the more than $700 billion in cuts to Medicaid included in the OBBBA, with many hospitals in Lawler’s own district projected to be severely impacted. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned this week that Trump’s megabill would see more than $31 million in cuts to New York hospitals.

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'Something broke': 'Nervous' Republicans reportedly plotting against 'flailing' Trump

The "knives are out" as fellow Republicans quietly plot against the president, according to conservative strategist Rick Wilson.

Wilson, a conservative anti-Trump activist who co-founded the Lincoln Project and hosts the group's podcast, wrote on Friday about Trump's potential political demise.

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GOP lawmakers pressured by ex-colleague to put 'Pam Bondi under oath' as walls close in

Republican lawmakers may have no choice but to call in Attorney General Pam Bondi and put her on the spot, under penalty of perjury, to get answers on what the Department of Justice has on Jeffrey Epstein, according to a former Republican lawmaker.

During an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," to talk about the war over redistricting that is spreading across the country, ex-Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) moved on to the Epstein crisis that has the White House on its heels and GOP lawmakers scrambling to distance themselves as evidenced by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sending his caucus home early.

As he told the MSNBC hosts, they may only have one way to escape before they get caught up in the wrath of the MAGA base that is clamoring for scalps.

After pointing out that GOP lawmakers are already worried the gerrymandering battles "may come back to bite them," he moved on to their fears that the Epstein firestorm may do the same.

"In this case, it's the hardcore conservatives, the MAGA base, the president's strongest supporters in the House who are demanding this information that the president has asked them to stop doing," Curbelo pointed out. "So it's a very complex situation."

"It's not going to go away until Republicans address it in a meaningful way, unless they get Pam Bondi out there under oath, answering questions, unless they're able to release some information," he warned. "This drumbeat is going to continue and if they don't, then this really does threaten their chances in the 2026 election. President Trump's a guy who has bet everything on his base. If his base isn't enthusiastic, if they're not motivated, that spells big trouble for House Republicans in particular."

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'He said the quiet part out loud': Trump's ex-operative says president gave away the game

Donald Trump just tipped his hand in the ongoing redistricting war in Texas, according to the president's former "trusted operative."

Former Trump associate Lev Parnas, who says he used to be "deep inside the Trump machine" and now reports from the outside, recently flagged a news story that he was sure would make Trump "flip."

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