SmartNews

Numerous relatives of El Chapo cross into US under Trump admin's deal with cartel: report

A Mexican security official says more than a dozen relatives of an infamous Mexican drug cartel boss crossed the border into the United States, reported The New York Times on Wednesday, and it was likely part of a negotiation or plea deal made with the Trump administration.

"For days, rumors had spread that 17 relatives, including one of the ex-wives of the crime boss known as El Chapo, had flown from a cartel stronghold to Tijuana, Mexico, and then crossed into the United States," reported Alan Yuhas.

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Trump's DOJ 'weaponization' chief slams GOP senator 'under the spell' of Jan. 6 'hoax'

Ed Martin, the former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., lashed out at the Republican senator who derailed his nomination over the Jan. 6 riot.

In an interview with right-wing host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, Martin said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) had confronted him for organizing the "Stop the Steal" protest of Jan. 6, 2021.

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House Republican claps back at MAGA senator's rebuke: 'We're not aligned'

Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) may be from the same party and the same state as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), but the two are worlds apart when it comes to how Medicaid should be represented in the House spending bill.

Hawley told CNN's Manu Raju earlier Wednesday that he would not sign on to the House bill as it stands now because he believes cutting Medicaid benefits is akin to "taxing the poor to give to the rich, and I'm totally opposed to that," Hawley said.

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'My opinions are irrelevant': Top health official doesn't think you should take his advice

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told members of Congress that Americans shouldn't listen to him when it comes to medical advice.

The secretary appeared before Congress for a hearing Wednesday to discuss President Donald Trump's budget. The line of questioning came from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), who returned to questioning Kennedy on vaccines.

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The right is 'cracking' as factions split — and 'these fights are telling': analysis

Support for the MAGA movement among two factions is “cracking,” according to Vox correspondent Zack Beauchamp.

“Hostility to the left is what brought disparate groups together under the Trump banner,” Beauchamp said. “But now, in a world where the administration has to govern, some of those factions are bound to feel like they’re losing or even betrayed.”

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DOGE dealt a blow in court as judge allows 'limited discovery': expert

A Washington, D.C. appeals court allowed “limited discovery" about the Department of Government Efficiency's operations to move forward in an ethics group's lawsuit over whether the entity is an “agency” subject to public records requests, according to Anna Bower, senior editor at Lawfare.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, sued DOGE, claiming that the entity was operating in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

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DOJ reamed as judge finds it likely retaliated against group that criticized Trump

A federal judge in Maryland has issued a temporary restraining order against the Justice Department for terminating grants from the Office on Violence Against Women to the American Bar Association, finding that the decision was likely retaliation for the group's criticism of President Donald Trump and therefore a violation of the First Amendment.

The grants provided $3.2 million to the bar association to train lawyers to represent survivors of domestic and sexual violence. After Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche canceled the payments, they said it was because the association was engaged in "activist causes" that ran against the Justice Department's mission, but did not elaborate further. However, per The Guardian, this decision came after the bar association publicly said Trump's mass firings at federal agencies were unlawful, and Trump hit back, calling the legal trade group a "snooty" bunch of "leftist lawyers."

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'It makes no sense!' Clash on CNN as panelists argue over Biden election mess

Things got heated on CNN's Inside Politics Wednesday over the question of who knew what and when about President Joe Biden's cognitive decline — and whether it would hurt Democrats in the 2028 presidential election.

Biden ultimately dropped out of the race, but critics said it was too late for then-Vice President Kamala Harris to get a real foothold against Donald Trump.

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'Out of bounds': Ex-GOP strategist flags AG over ties to facility where Dem arrested

A former Republican strategist laid into Attorney General Pam Bondi on MSNBC over the recent arrests of public officials accused of interfering or trespassing on the property of federal immigration officials, most recently the prosecution of Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, after he joined a protest at a private detention facility being used by ICE.

"Since Trump took office, ICE agents have arrested several people inside the Milwaukee county courthouse, according to the FBI affidavit," said anchor Chris Jansing. "But local leaders have pushed back against these ICE arrests at local courthouses, saying it discourages people from showing up for hearings for reporting crimes. Does this kind of blurring of the lines between the court and ICE arrests help or hurt Republicans?"

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'Get out': Leading scholars flee Trump's US — cite lesson of Jews escaping Nazi Germany

Three Yale University professors who studied fascism have decided to flee the United States out of concern and fear — and they took their lead from the exodus of Jews as Hitler rose to power in Germany.

Speaking to the New York Times, historian Timothy Snyder, who writes extensively about tyranny and authoritarianism; historian of totalitarianism, Marci Shore; and Jason Stanley, an expert who studies fascist rhetoric, revealed they're moving abroad.

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'RFK kills people!' Chaos as cops drag protesters out of Senate health hearing

Capitol Police officers removed multiple protesters from a Senate hearing after they demonstrated against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

As the Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee kicked off its Wednesday hearing, protests erupted just feet away from President Donald Trump's health secretary.

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'Not ready for prime time': GOP extremists and moderates unite for rare Trump defiance

A long-simmering Republican Party feud is threatening to derail President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Representatives from either ideological end of the GOP U.S. House conference, hard right and moderate center, told Raw Story on Wednesday work on the GOP’s contentious spending bill, covering tax and spending cuts and enshrining Trump's hardline immigration policy, remains a long way from done.

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Tulsi Gabbard fires two intel veterans after they undercut Trump legal argument

Intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard fired a pair of veteran analysts whose work undercut a key legal argument the Trump administration had used in court.

The director of national intelligence dismissed the top two career officials leading the National Intelligence Council, the in the intelligence community's senior most analytical group that determines the biggest threats to U.S. security, after Gabbard's office released a declassified assessment that undercut administration claims about the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, reported CNN.

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