SmartNews

US-born citizen being held for ICE under Florida’s new anti-immigration law

Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen, was being held in the Leon County Jail Thursday, charged with illegally entering Florida as an “unauthorized alien” — even as a supporter waved his U.S. birth certificate in court.

The man, who was arrested Wednesday after a traffic stop in which he was a passenger on his way to his job in Tallahassee, is set to remain in jail for the next 48 hours, waiting for federal immigration officials to pick him up, even though Leon County authorities dropped his first-degree misdemeanor charge.

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Cops deploy undercover AI bots to infiltrate college protests: report

An artificial intelligence program that's sold to police departments is being used to infiltrate and spy on college protest groups with "undercover" bots, reported Wired on Thursday.

"Massive Blue, the New York–based company that is selling police departments the technology, calls its product Overwatch and markets it as an 'AI-powered force multiplier for public safety' that 'deploys lifelike virtual agents, which infiltrate and engage criminal networks across various channels,'" reported Emanuel Maiberg and Jason Koebler.

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'This should be shocking': Judge levels Trump DOJ in scathing ruling

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the Trump Department of Justice's request to block orders that the Trump administration facilitate the release of wrongly deported immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

The decision, which was written by Reagan-appointed Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, informed the administration that it would not "micromanage" the orders of Judge Paula Xinis, who has demanded that the administration provide daily updates its efforts to return Garcia to the United States.

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Experts highlight law that could smash key argument in Trump deportations case

Three law school professors are disputing a claim from President Donald Trump's administration that information regarding immigrants sent to an El Salvador prison is classified.

In court last month, the Trump administration invoked the “state secrets” privilege when a federal judge demanded information about immigrants deported to an El Salvador prison under the Alien Enemies Act, reported CBS News.

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'So inappropriate': Trump Treasury appointee asks IRS to reconsider audit of Mike Lindell

One of President Donald Trump's political appointees at the Department of the Treasury has reportedly requested that the Internal Revenue Service reconsider its audit of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's business.

Two sources told The Washington Post that David Eisner, a deputy secretary at the Treasury Department, had inquired about the audit because he was concerned that Lindell may have been "inappropriately targeted."

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'Comrade Trump': President's punishment of China backfires as workers hail him as hero

The 245 percent tariffs President Donald Trump put on China are “unlikely to achieve his goal of returning manufacturing jobs to the United States,” wrote Dr. Moira Weigel in a New York Times guest essay Thursday.

And instead, they're earning him praise for championing the nation.

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Roger Stone drives bus over JD Vance: 'More talk about Marco Rubio for president'

Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, suggested that Secretary of State Marco Rubio might be the Republican pick for the next president instead of Vice President JD Vance.

"Obviously, many people believe that JD Vance will succeed Donald Trump as president," Stone told conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday. "There's a great tradition in our party of hegemony."

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'I'm not happy with him': Trump uses Oval Office to attack Fed Chair Jerome Powell

President Donald Trump attacked Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in an Oval Office press question time on Thursday as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sat beside him.

A reporter inquired about a post Trump made on Truth Social on Thursday morning, in which he blasted Powell and called for interest rate cuts. The reporter noted that Powell has said he won't leave his post, even if Trump asks him to.

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'I said it was!' Leading Dem snaps as CNN's Dana Bash grills over 'constitutional crisis'

House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) appeared to grow frustrated when asked if President Donald Trump had plunged the country into a constitutional crisis.

CNN's Dana Bash said on Thursday's Inside Politics, "The Trump administration is finding ways to defy the courts on a few fronts right now," citing the case of a Maryland father wrongly deported to an El Salvadoran prison, and the White House's refusal to allow the Associated Press to cover the administration.

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Vietnam fast-tracks approval for Trump resort in mad dash to stave off tariffs: report

U.S. trade partners are buying up more American goods and trying to curry favor with president Donald Trump in an effort to stave off sweeping tariffs.

The administration is negotiating with more than 70 trading partners, many of whom are trying to eliminate the trade imbalances Trump says the tariffs are meant to even out, but it's not clear the spending spree – or other favors to him and his allies – will appease the president, who announced the reciprocal tariffs April 2 but agreed to pause them until July, reported the Wall Street Journal.

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Trump treasury secretary 'repeatedly cautioned' him against move that would tank market

United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reportedly been trying to calm President Donald Trump's rage at Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell due to the negative impacts it could have on the economy.

Politico reports that Bessent has "repeatedly cautioned" Trump against his desire to fire Powell, as doing so would likely set off panic in the global stock markets and further damage the American economy that has already been reeling from the president's trade disputes with nearly every country on the planet.

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'Zero authority': Experts preparing to fight Trump's new 'obviously illegal' prison scheme

President Donald Trump thinks he's hit on a winning issue with threatening to lock up American citizens in a foreign torture prison, but legal experts say he's got "zero authority" to do it.

Two White House officials who are familiar with the matter told CNN that the Justice Department and the White House counsel's office are both discussing whether Trump has any legal justification to send "homegrown" criminals to El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison, and one of those sources say the president views it as an "80-20" issue, meaning that he believes 80 percent of Americans agree with his proposal.

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DeSantis-aligned charity pulls plug on Zoom board meeting after trolls invade

A Florida-based charity that is currently under scrutiny by lawmakers over the allocation of funds under the eye of the wife of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Casey DeSantis, was forced to shut down a board meeting on Zoom Thursday morning after online trolls created havoc.

According to a report from the Palm Beach Post, the Hope Florida Foundation meeting came to an abrupt end after being flooded with adult images, racist comments and Nazi symbols.

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