SmartNews

Trump may have accidentally 'admitted knowledge of a grotesque crime': legal expert

A legal expert was taken aback Thursday night after watching President Donald Trump admit he knew of a "grotesque crime" when he talked about his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein.

Ryan Goodman, founding co-editor-in-chief of the legal and policy website Just Security, joined Erin Burnett on CNN's "OutFront" to weigh in on Trump's shocking remarks regarding his relationship with Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting trial on sex trafficking allegations.

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'Lies!' Nobel economist Paul Krugman slams media for endorsing Trump’s 'pure fantasy'

Nobel-winning economist Paul Krugman unloaded Thursday on media outlets that he feels are failing to call out President Donald Trump's "lies."

Krugman, who recently left The New York Times, citing editorial disagreements, took the opportunity to bash news outlets in a new piece published to his Substack.

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Key Trump appointee blocked by Senate Republican playing harball over pet project

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) has placed a block on Adm. Daryl Caudle, President Donald Trump's nominee for the top position in the Navy, to try to demand an extra benefit for his state, Politico reported Thursday.

Sullivan "is objecting to the Senate confirmation due to issues that have nothing to do with Caudle. The four-star admiral sailed through the Senate Armed Services Committee vote without any issues," noted the report. Instead, Sullivan's hold "is a way for the Alaska lawmaker to put pressure on the Navy so the Pentagon agrees to reopen the long-shuttered Adak Naval Air Station, located in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska."

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Harvard scholars demand school not cave to Trump's 'assault'

A group of prominent faculty members at Harvard University on Thursday urged the school to stand firm against legal and financial pressures being brought by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration.

The New Republic's Greg Sargent posted a letter on Bluesky from the Harvard scholars addressed to Harvard President Alan Garber, in which they explain why striking a deal with Trump could be a major blow for both academic freedom and American democracy. The letter begins by decrying the administration's "assault on the vibrancy and inclusiveness of U.S. higher education" and then outlined values that they believe Harvard should not compromise during any negotiations with the government.

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Expert blown away by DOJ’s 'five-alarm fire' election plot: 'Nothing more worrisome'

An attorney and democracy advocate sounded what he called a "five-alarm fire" ignited by Attorney General Pam Bondi, warning that "nothing is as worrisome" as her new scheme.

Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket, joined Bryan Tyler Cohen on Cohen's YouTube channel on Thursday to discuss what the Justice Department is doing under Bondi.

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'Losing faith': New poll shows Trump bleeding support from 'disenchanted' voting bloc

A new survey by the Latino outreach firm Equis shows alarming numbers for President Donald Trump among a voting group critical to the GOP's strategy — but it doesn't necessarily mean good news for Democrats.

Latino voters, who constitute one of the most diverse ethnic groups in the United States, have historically been a Democratic-leaning group, and remain so. But a growing contingent has backed Republicans in the last few years, and Trump winning a large minority proved crucial to his popular vote plurality last year.

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'DOGE lied': Expert floored as blistering report finds Musk team blew billions

The Department of Government Efficiency wasn't so efficient after all. In fact, was extraordinarily wasteful, according to a Thursday report by the U.S. Senate's investigations subcommittee.

When Elon Musk spent the early part of this year ransacking the federal government, the billionaire promised that his mass layoffs of federal employees, his choking off of critical foreign aid, and his gutting of consumer watchdogs all served a greater purpose: saving the government—and by extension, the American people—money by rooting out waste.

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'De-Muskification': DOGE just 'lost all remaining influence' at key agency

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency just suffered another massive blow as the Trump administration continues its "de-Muskification" of the General Services Administration, according to a new report.

Musk and Trump's dramatic falling out came over disagreements about Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill." Musk strongly opposed the bill, which experts say will explode the national debt, and urged Republicans to vote against it. In turn, he was thrust out of Trump's circle.

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Trump's $200M White House ballroom leaves critics aghast: 'Can’t afford pediatric cancer?'

The new specs of President Donald Trump's White House ballroom reveal that the size will be twice that of the existing complex.

The new 90,000 square foot extension will completely remake the look of the historic building and is being estimated to cost $200 million. The specifics about the estimate haven't been published, but some are concerned that it could balloon similar to the U.S. Central Bank's renovation.

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Epstein reportedly used Trump meeting to groom 14-year-old: 'This is a good one, right?'

Deceased wealth manager and accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein used a meeting with President Donald Trump to groom one of his 14-year-old victims, The Daily Beast reported on Thursday.

The victim, known only as "Jane," testified extensively to how she was targeted and manipulated while testifying at the 2021 trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite accused of helping Epstein groom his victims and sometimes sexually assaulting them herself.

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GOP governor issues stern threat over millions owed to innocent man jailed 45 years

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) is pressuring Richmond city officials to pay $5.8 million owed under a new law to a man who was wrongfully convicted of murder and imprisoned for 45 years.

"Richmond, the state’s capital city, has yet to compensate Marvin Leon Grimm Jr. for a miscarriage of justice that began with his 'coercive' interrogation by local police in 1975," The Washington Post reported. "His ordeal ended in 2024, when Grimm was finally cleared of the abduction, sexual assault and murder of a 3-year-old neighbor."

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'Inappropriate!' Agitated Trump bashes 'lunatic' reporter after grilling on tariff law

An agitated President Donald Trump called a reporter a "lunatic" — minutes after bashing another reporter — during a question-and-answer session Thursday afternoon, reacting to a question about his tariff policy.

"As you know, a federal appellate court today heard oral arguments about whether or not you had the authority to unilaterally impose those tariffs," the reporter told Trump. "I'm not going to get you to weigh in on the legal arguments, but you're weighing your decision to do that, your authority to do that, based on a 1977 law."

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'Fake news!' Trump lashes out after reporter asks why Epstein 'stole' women from him

President Donald Trump lashed out at ABC News correspondent Rachel Scott after she asked a question about his relationship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

During a White House event on Thursday, Scott noted that the family of Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein's victims, had expressed outrage after the president said that the sex offender "stole" women from him.

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