SmartNews

President Donald Trump's administration, in consultation with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will reportedly shut down the free tax filing system known as Direct File.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration would eliminate the popular program developed under Joe Biden's presidency.

Andrew McCarthy, a legal analyst for the National Review, is criticizing Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his ‘disingenuous’ explanation for the deportation Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

The 29-year-old Maryland man was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month. He was a topic of conversation on Monday during President Donald Trump's meeting with El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. Rubio, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and others were all present for the meeting and took questions from the media.

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) accused the Trump administration of blatantly lying about the whereabouts of wrongfully deported immigrant Kilmar Ábrego García on Wednesday.

After touching down in El Salvador to inquire about García's whereabouts, Van Hollen said that he was not able to see García nor even to have a phone call with him.

Two members of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) have been let go by the Trump White House, including one who was appointed by Trump during his first administration, according to a report from Reuters.

Tanya Otsuka and Todd Harper, who are both Democrats, were removed on Tuesday. They released separate statements on their termination.

President Donald Trump has bedazzled the White House in gold flourishes to go along with the changes he's made to the presidency since returning to office.

The president has used executive orders to make sweeping changes to the federal government and claimed expansive powers that are being challenged in courts, shaking up the global order and rattling the stock market. And while his transformation of the White House isn't quite as dramatic, it's not lacking in subtlety, reported the Wall Street Journal.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled on Wednesday that "probable cause exists to find the Government in criminal contempt."

The issue involved deportation flights to El Salvador that the judge ordered turn around and return to the United States. The judge said at the time that the individuals deported did not have the due process to which they were entitled. They, however, landed in the Central American country and the occupants were transferred to a jail there.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell predicted "significantly larger" inflation and slower economic growth due to President Donald Trump's tariffs.

"The level of tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated, and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth," Powell told the Economic Club of Chicago on Wednesday. "Both survey and market-based measures of near-term inflation expectations have moved up significantly, with survey participants pointing to tariffs."

Fox Business correspondent Charlie Gasparino on Wednesday warned that President Donald Trump's international trade war strategy would soon face a do-or-die moment.

Writing on X, Gasparino outlined why Trump's plan appears fraught with peril for the American economy.

Fox News host Joe Concha tested the 5-second rule by dropping a banana on the floor and eating it.

In a Wednesday segment on the Outnumbered program, co-host Ainsley Earhardt reported that a scientist had recently demonstrated that bacteria grow on food less than one second after it's dropped on the floor.

According to one legal analyst, Attorney General Pam Bondi's lawsuit against the state of Maine Department of Education appears to incorrectly quote the law.

As CBS News reported, Bondi announced on Wednesday that the Department of Justice says Maine is violating Title IX by "discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women's sports."

President Donald Trump's social media company is marketing "America First" accounts that would allow him to personally benefit from the tariffs that have been roiling the stock market and lopping value off the dollar.

Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the parent company of the social media platform Truth Social, announced Tuesday that it was marketing a series of actively managed investment accounts to allow investment in companies that benefit from the president's agenda, and independent journalist Judd Legum reported that his tariff policies could be used to manipulate the value of those accounts.

Reacting to comments made by Attorney General Pam Bondi on Wednesday, where she defended a refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S. despite a unanimous ruling from the conservative Supreme Court to "facilitate" his repatriation, three MSNBC reporters called her out.

During her address before reporters where she announced her plan to sue the state of Maine for "discriminating against women by failing to protect women in women's sports," Bondi was asked why she won't lift a finger to bring the Maryland father home.

As she told reporters, "He is an illegal alien who has been living illegally in our country from El Salvador. ICE testified an immigration judge ruled he was a member of MS-13. An appellate judge ruled he was a member of MS-13. He's from El Salvador, he's in El Salvador and that's where the president plans on keeping him."

ALSO READ: 'Retribution or bust’: 'Secretary of Retribution' joins J6 leaders to demand mass arrests

That brought a quick rebuttal from MSNBC host Ali Vitali, who told viewers, "We've got to do a quick fact check here. The administration has yet to provide any evidence Abrego Garcia has ties to MS-13. Furthermore, the 29-year-old has never been formally charged or convicted, either here in the U.S. or in El Salvador."

She added, "A federal district court judge on Tuesday laid into the Trump administration, saying they've done nothing to comply with her requests. The judge added she won't tolerate future gamesmanship or grandstanding. This case could very well end up back in the Supreme Court."

Asked to comment MSNBC legal analyst Ken Dilanian pointed out that Fox News reporter put Bondi on the spot immediately, with Dilanian adding they "...urged the attorney general to present any evidence that she has on this score, and both times, she essentially dodged the question," before she asserted, "We have the transcripts from the court hearings. I'll be glad to give you the court hearings from 2019, what we have. "

Dilainian then did his own fact-check.

"Let me just explain that that was an immigration court hearing," he told Vitali. "Immigration courts are not courts of law. The immigration judge in this case took at face-value what the police said and the evidence that we're aware of supporting the idea that this man was an MS-13 gang member consisted of essentially an allegation from a police informant and the fact that he was wearing a Chicago Bulls ball cap in the Home Depot parking lot when he was picked up –– so that's not evidence by most people's lights."

NBC's Kelly O'Donnell added, "They [the Trump administration] have been pressed multiple times, in addition to the clip you played with the attorney general that has been raised at the White House briefing room and there will still be additional opportunities to raise this to the president."

"Part of why this is at issue is because evidence is essential in the American process, and due process is afforded to those who are not even American Citizens if they are in the United States and he was at that time," she explained. "So providing evidence would be perhaps the shortest, fastest way to affirm their position and to explain it."

You can watch below or at the link.

Trump Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday horrified many observers when he floated raising the retirement age for air traffic controllers.

Duffy's remarks came during an appearance on Fox Business in which he wondered why air traffic controllers retired from their jobs after 25 years of service, and he suggested that America could fix its current shortage of ATCs by having them work longer.