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The president of the Kennedy Center’s board is once again lashing out at critics of President Donald Trump – this time targeting a veteran jazz musician who abruptly canceled a Christmas Eve performance following the center’s MAGA-style renaming to the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”

Richard Grenell, a Trump ally who has led the board since February, blasted musician Chuck Redd after the drummer and vibraphonist withdrew from his long-running holiday “Jazz Jams” performance at the venue, a tradition he has overseen since 2006, Politico reported Friday.

President Donald Trump lashed out over the ongoing release of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case files, calling the whole thing a Democratic hoax in a Truth Social post on Friday evening — despite the fact that he signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, and that every Republican in Congress except for one voted for it.

"The Dems are the ones who worked with Epstein, not the Republicans. Release all of their names, embarrass them, and get back to helping our Country!" wrote Trump. "The Radical Left doesn’t want people talking about TRUMP & REPUBLICAN SUCCESS, only a long ago dead Jeffrey Epstein - Just another Witch Hunt!!!"

President Donald Trump faced blunt criticism from an unlikely venue on Friday as a Fox News panelist warned that his political influence is rapidly deteriorating with key voting blocs – and may be beyond repair before the midterms.

The bleak analysis for the president came as Fox News contributor Leslie Marshall pushed back forcefully during a segment on the network’s “The Five,” saying she rejected the framing of the MAGA leader offered by other panelists.

Outrage rippled through conservative social media circles Friday after New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced he would appoint Lillian Bonsignore as the next FDNY commissioner, a historic selection that will take effect when he assumes office on Jan. 1.

Mamdani praised Bonsignore while announcing the appointment earlier this week, saying he was proud the 31-year veteran of the FDNY, who served as chief of EMS operations during the Covid-19 pandemic, will make history “as the first openly gay person to head up the department,” and only the second woman to lead it.

President Donald Trump on Friday said he believes there's a genuine opportunity to broker a peace deal this weekend between Russia and Ukraine, claiming both sides now want to negotiate, even as he acknowledged the persistent obstacle of competing interests.

"Well, I think we have a good shot at it," Trump told the New York Post on Friday afternoon, ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's scheduled visit to Mar-a-Lago on Sunday.

Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan donned a hijab while touring the Somali community in her state to express solidarity — and it triggered a meltdown among far-right activists, Newsweek reported on Friday.

Flanagan is one of the main Democratic candidates for Minnesota's open Senate seat, the other being Rep. Angie Craig.

A CNN panel on Friday argued that President Donald Trump’s repeated references to Jeffrey Epstein over the Christmas holiday have spiraled into an obsession that is now hurting him with his own political base.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Arena” that Trump helped create a "culture of conspiracy" that is now consuming the MAGA leader.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones insisted that he was now personally advising the White House and Vice President JD Vance.

During a Friday broadcast, fringe conservative insider Patrick Byrne told Jones that a "fog has lifted" for President Donald Trump about the alleged rigging of the 2020 presidential election.

Utah voters are coming forward to allege that Republican operatives are lying to trick people into signing a petition to put repeal of the state's anti-gerrymandering law on the ballot, reported The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday.

It's the latest saga in a years-long war the Utah GOP has fought over Proposition 4, which was passed by voters in 2018. Proposition 4, also known as the Better Boundaries Initiative, was used earlier this year to strike down the legislature's congressional map that denied Democrats a seat by carving up Salt Lake County into several pieces.

A staffing crisis looms for nursing homes as the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration eliminates work authorization for immigrant employees who care for vulnerable seniors.

At a Miami facility, more than a third of one facility's workforce — mostly immigrants from Haiti — have already lost their jobs, Notus reported Friday.

President Donald Trump's legal war on a Salvadoran immigrant was dealt a bitter blow on Friday, as a federal judge in Tennessee canceled the current date for his trial on human smuggling charges — and will instead hold a hearing on the legality of the prosecution.

The order, by U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw, was first reported by NBC Washington's Paul Wagner. It comes after Kilmar Abrego Garcia's legal team presented evidence that he was being targeted for selective and vindictive prosecution.

Part-time beauty salon owner and second generation Iranian immigrant Mora Namdar was sworn in Thursday as the Trump administration’s new assistant secretary for the Bureau of Consular Affairs, a role that may see her terminate visas for migrants who have been critical of Israel, based on her past testimony before a Senate committee.

Namdar served in the Trump administration from May 19 through Dec. 1 leading foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa at the State Department prior to her being elevated to the Bureau of Consular Affairs, a role that will now see her help oversee immigrant visas and U.S. passports.