SmartNews

Pam Bondi may have twisted the law in Maine anti-trans lawsuit: legal expert

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."

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'Jaw-dropping conflict of interest': Trump accused of new scheme to benefit from trade war

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.

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'We've got to do a quick fact-check here': MSNBC reporters pile on Bondi press conference

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.

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Critics aghast as Trump official floats raising retirement age for air traffic controllers

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.

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Sarah Palin exposed true agenda by joking with NY Post writer outside court: report

Outside of Sarah Palin’s libel court case against The New York Times, she got cozy with conservative outlet The New York Post, according to a Slate report by Alexander Sammon.

This is the second time the court case is being heard. It pertains to Palin’s 2022 lawsuit on an article from 2017, which refers to a shooting in 2011. “But there was a reason Palin was back here, and it was clear the Times’ lawyers had their eyes on the bigger stakes, too,” Sammon penned. “That was all reinforced by what I saw on the way out.”

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Republicans might 'exert collective power' on Trump under one condition: GOP strategist

One political expert said that the more anger seen at town halls and from voters, the more pressure is placed on U.S. House and Senate members. She further suggests this might force Republicans to use their power on President Donald Trump.

Lindsey Drath, a former regional finance director for Sen. Mitt Romney's (R-UT) campaign, told MSNBC host José Díaz-Balart that the kind of town halls lawmakers are facing back home could ultimately have an impact.

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Judge finds probable cause to hold Trump admin in contempt over deportation flights

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg found probable cause to hold President Donald Trump's administration in contempt of court over officials' rush to deport hundreds of people to El Salvador despite an order telling them not to.

In a 46-page ruling on Wednesday, the judge stopped short of deferring officials for prosecution immediately.

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FBI raid on China-born professor 'brings chills to spines' of experts

The recent raid by federal agents on two homes owned by a China-born cybersecurity professor has shocked his community and struck fear through fellow academics.

Xiaofeng Wang had been questioned by his employers at Indiana University in December about alleged undisclosed payments from China for a project that also received U.S. federal research grants, and though he hasn't been charged with any crimes, he was fired on the same day as the raids in an apparent violation of the school's own policy, reported The Guardian.

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'Trying to make a moment': Heated exchange erupts between CNN anchor and GOP lawmaker

In a heated exchange, CNN anchor Pamela Brown and Congressman Rich McCormack (R-GA) accused each other of trying to 'make a moment' while speaking about the deportation of Maryland man Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.

“Are we supposed to blindly trust the government when it alleges gang ties without providing the evidence to back it up? Again no, we don't know. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't but the administration hasn't provided that evidence,” Brown pressed.

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Steve Bannon pushes Trump to escalate trade war with 'total embargo' on China

MAGA influencer Steve Bannon urged President Donald Trump to escalate his trade war by placing a "total embargo" on all trade with China.

Bannon's call for a cessation of trade came after China cut off the supply of rare earth exports, and Trump retaliated by banning the sale of technology needed for artificial intelligence.

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Trump has been warned 'he's alienating his allies on the Supreme Court right now': MSNBC

The decision, so far, by Donald Trump's administration to ignore the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling to "facilitate" the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from an El Salvador prison to his family has the president on a path for a showdown with the nation's highest court where he may come out on the losing end.

That is the opinion of MSNBC host Joe Scarborough who pointed out the president has had every opportunity to back down and put out the firestorm he has created, but has chosen not to.

Speaking with his panel on Wednesday morning, he compared the controversy to what he called "Signalgate," where Trump administration officials used an unsecure chatroom to discuss an upcoming military attack in Yemen.

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

"Just admit you made a mistake. It will be better for you in the long run and they wouldn't admit that they made a mistake," he suggested before adding, "And the White House will tell you that that was the first big bump in the road for them politically."

"It didn't have to happen that way," he advised. "Same thing here: say we made a mistake, alright? They've already said that they can bring him back to the United States, they can, they can go through deportation process and then work with the courts to figure out where to deport him, where he can go safely and that's something, again, they win, he gets deported if he's here illegally and he doesn't get the sort of blow back."

"But this isn't an issue that's going to go away and they need to figure that out," he explained. "And when they figure that out, you know, the things –– well, again, we'll get to it –– but things will get worse for them. "

"As the Wall Street Journal has said, as other constitutional scholars have said, he's alienating his allies on the Supreme Court right now, and they need to quit while they're behind," he concluded.

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'Fundamental rights': Jim Jordan comes out swinging against searches of citizens' data

Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) argued in a Washington Post opinion piece Wednesday, that it's every Americans' constitutional right to require the government to obtain a legal warrant based on probable cause before conducting a search on private records.

"That’s a key part of the Bill of Rights and an important protection against government abuse," Jordan wrote, adding that "short of imminent threats to national security, there is no good excuse for ignoring the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement."

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Trump's deals with big law firms could be 'unravelling': NYT reporter

A new report from the New York Times reveals that many of the big law firms that struck deals with President Donald Trump to avoid having their security clearances stripped are now finding that they're getting more than they bargain for.

Specifically, the Times reports that the firms thought that the tens of millions of dollars worth of pro-bono work they agreed to do for the Trump administration would revolve around relatively uncontroversial issues such as cases involving veterans' benefits.

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