President Donald Trump's civil rights attorney astounded a legal expert on Thursday after she boosted a bet on the prediction market Polymarket about her ability to prosecute a journalist.
Harmeet Dhillon, Trump's deputy attorney general for the DOJ's civil rights division, reposted a Polymarket bet on X about former CNN anchor Don Lemon being indicted in connection with a Minnesota church protest. The Department of Justice made multiple arrests related to the protest earlier in the day, and the Trump administration has weighed charging Lemon under the KKK Act for seeking to deprive others of their rights.
Polymarket said there was a 36% chance Lemon would face criminal charges.
A federal judge recently rebuffed the DOJ's attempt to charge Lemon, arguing there was no basis for the charges.
Dhillon's repost caught the eye of Adam Klasfeld, editor-in-chief of All Rise News, who said it seemed like she was trying to boost the odds that she would be able to "corrupt the system."
"Ms. Dhillon is apparently quite proud that people are literally gambling roughly one-in-three odds that she'll be able to corrupt the system enough to do it following her initial failure," Klasfeld posted on X.
A top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee revealed a startling aspect of the hearing on Thursday with former special counsel Jack Smith during an interview on CNN.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) joined CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead" to discuss Smith's hearing, which included several bombshell moments. Before the hearing began, a right-wing operative and a former Capitol police officer nearly got into a fistfight. Republicans on the committee also staged several confrontations with Smith during the hearing, accusing him of acting on political motives and other misdeeds.
But there was one part of the hearing that was truly startling. Republicans didn't deny any of the findings in Jack Smith's report, Lieu told Tapper.
"None of them actually disputed Jack Smith's findings," Lieu said. "He issued an entire report, volume one of his report. They didn't even talk about that report. They didn't dispute that Donald Trump engaged in a conspiracy to try to get fake electors and fake documents to overturn this election."
Instead, Republicans used their time to try to discredit some of the steps Smith took in his investigation. One aspect they harped on was his decision to subpoena phone records of lawmakers who had allegedly helped Trump with his scheme.
Lieu, a former prosecutor, was having none of it.
"It's idiotic what these Republicans are saying," he said.
President Donald Trump raged at another one of his political foes in a Truth Social post on Thursday.
"Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is worth over $30 Million Dollars. There is no way such wealth could have been accumulated, legally, while being paid the salary of a politician," Trumpwrote. "She should be investigated for Financial and Political Crimes, and that investigation should start, NOW!"
Trump and Omar have sparred several times over the last decade that Trump has been in politics. Their feud began during his first administration when she supported impeachment proceedings against him. Since then, Trump and his MAGA fanbase have tried to paint Omar as a symbol of Democratic corruption.
The Truth Social post happened just hours after former special counsel Jack Smith publicly testified before the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees his former employer, the Department of Justice.
During his hearing, Smith said he still believed his case against Trump for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election is rock solid and that he could have successfully prosecuted him if Trump hadn't run out the clock by being elected in 2024.
The House passed a bill that will keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement funded through at least Sept. 30 by a 214-213 margin, according to the House Clerk's office. Democrats all voted against the bill because of misgivings about the Trump administration's deportation operations.
The vote all but guarantees that the government will avoid at least a partial shutdown ahead of the Jan. 30 funding deadline.
Some Democrats told Raw Story they are furious with the way the party fought against the bill.
Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA) said he thought Democrats would "fight much harder than this" to defeat the bill.
"What we're seeing right now is people being yanked off the streets, people being disappeared in a sense, and to allow that to continue by basically having the same funding in place, I think it's wrong."
The bill passed by the House keeps ICE's funding level at $10 billion per year. House Democrats had sought a significant reduction in funds following the deadly shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) also warned that the situation with ICE appears likely to get worse before it gets better. He referred to the no-knock warrants ICE has been serving across the country, including to U.S. citizens.
"It's just gotten so much worse," Gomez said. "In Minnesota, you're seeing people of any background, you're seeing [ICE] go to their house, just pull up and ask them for ID."
President Donald Trump dropped a stunning comment Thursday — suggesting his "numbers" were so strong that he should not only consider a third — but fourth run.
Trump, who has faced a series of unfavorable polling results in recent weeks and has even called for criminal charges to be filed against pollsters after The New York Times published results he didn't like after a new survey found his reputation spinning into freefall, unleashed a bizarre suggestion.
He wrote the following on his Truth Social platform:
"RECORD NUMBERS ALL OVER THE PLACE! SHOULD I TRY FOR A FOURTH TERM?"
Several polls have indicated that Americans are unsatisfied with the state of the country under Trump.
Trump has suggested multiple times that he would consider a third run for president, which the U.S. Constitution limits under the 22nd Amendment.
Political analysts and observers were outraged on Thursday after a nonprofit newsroom published an explosive report about one of President Donald Trump's allies.
The Florida Bulldog published a copy of the House Ethics Committee's final report concerning its investigation into allegations that former Rep. Matt Gaetz sex trafficked minors. Gaetz was never formally charged by the Department of Justice in the case, although one close associate, Joel Greenberg, pled guilty to sex trafficking charges and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Greenberg also worked with House investigators during their probe, according to reports.
Gaetz resigned from Congress in 2024. Trump initially nominated him to be attorney general before withdrawing him in favor of Pam Bondi.
The House Ethics Committee cited Gaetz's resignation as its reason for withholding the report.
The report paints a damning picture of Gaetz's actions. For instance, it found that Gaetz "regularly" paid for sex between 2017 and 2020 and that he engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl, both of which are claims Gaetz initially denied. The report also found that Gaetz misrepresented his relationship with someone to the Department of State to help them obtain a passport.
The ethics report sparked outrage online.
"Matt Gaetz is such a uniquely awful human that even Senate Republicans couldn’t stomach him (and they confirmed Brainworm Kennedy!)," Rajan Narang, director of state for the Pro-Democracy Center, posted on Bluesky.
"Every member of the Republican House Ethics committee should resign in absolute disgrace!" Professor Adam Cochran posted on X.
"The House Ethics Committee found that Matt Gaetz did all of the horrible things previously claimed—sex trafficking minors, prostitution (including of minors), drugs, drunk driving, obstruction, the works. The Florida Bulldog has secured and published the House report this evening," Scott Horton, contributing editor at Harper's, posted on Bluesky.
"We sort of knew all this, but I hope the constituents of the GOP 'Ethics' Committee members hound them relentlessly about why they fell in line to protect this criminal," writer Julian Sanchez posted on Bluesky.
"Not only did Trump want to make this guy AG, but Matty Gaetz played a key role in the pardon of former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez," journalist Marcy Wheeler posted on Bluesky.
A Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee took President Donald Trump to task over his latest threat to prosecute one of his enemies.
Rep. Rebecca Balint (D-VT) spoke with Raw Story on Thursday after former special counsel Jack Smith testified publicly before the committee on Thursday morning. His testimony came as the Trump administration faces significant pressure on multiple fronts over its failure to release the Jeffrey Epstein files by the deadline required by law and his continued fruitless efforts to prosecute people the president considers enemies, like former FBI Director James Comey and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA).
Following Smith's testimony, Trump posted on Truth Social that there is "no question" Smith should be prosecuted.
"The president proves our point!" Balint said. "It is all about punishment. It is all about vindictiveness. It's about retribution. The fact that we were making this case that that is what the president is about; he was literally on Truth Social doing it in real time, and my colleagues on the Republican side pretend that it's not what that's about."
Balint also called out her colleagues for supporting Trump's revisionism surrounding the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
"The receipts are there!" Balint said. "They were running away from the January 6 people. They were hiding in their offices, and there they were hours later, saying this was horrible. It's like they've all had lobotomies."
A CNN reporter revealed on Thursday that the vice president's speech in Minneapolis "didn't do a damn thing" to calm tensions in the city after a high-profile killing by an immigration officer.
Sara Sidner, CNN's senior national correspondent, reported on Vice President JD Vance's speech from Minneapolis, where he spoke to the community as he was surrounded by police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The speech happened at a time when tensions are high in Minneapolis after ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother who was leaving the scene of an ICE raid in her car.
During the speech, Vance called on protesters to stop "assaulting federal officers." He also blamed local law enforcement for not helping federal agents perform immigration raids.
Sidner's sources told her that Vance's speech seemed to escalate tensions in the city.
"What you're also hearing frompeople is if he came here tocalm things down, what he diddidn't do a damn thing towards thateffort," Sidner said. "People here, I think,will be calm because of what ishappening above us. The weather.Things are going to get so, socold. We're in the negativedegrees as we speak now, andit's only going to get worse.
Sidner reported that protests appear to be organized regardless of the weather.
"There is a planned protestthat will happen tomorrow, whichis not out in the streets," she said. "It'sactually to do nothing to not goshopping, to not engage, to stayaway from helping the economy,for example, to stop and to maketheir voices heard in the mostquiet way possible. By notengaging in anything."
President Donald Trump called for former special counsel Jack Smith to be prosecuted just minutes after he told a House committee that there was evidence beyond a reasonable doubt to convict the commander-in-chief.
During a Judiciary Committee hearing, Smith said Trump "was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law, the very laws he took an oath to uphold." Under Smith, the president was charged with attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election and with mishandling classified documents. The charges were later dropped.
Trump reacted to Thursday morning's testimony by calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Smith.
"Jack Smith is a deranged animal, who shouldn't be allowed to practice Law," Trump wrote in a morning post on Truth Social. "If he were a Republican, his license would be taken away from him, and far worse! Hopefully the Attorney General is looking at what he's done."
Apparently, Trump was still fuming when he returned to Truth Social that afternoon, minutes after Smith concluded.
"Based on his testimony today, there is no question that Deranged Jack Smith should be prosecuted for his actions. He destroyed the lives of many innocent people, which has been his history as a prosecutor. At a minimum, he committed large scale perjury!" he exclaimed.
A CNN legal expert revealed something surprising during former special counsel Jack Smith's testimony on Thursday.
Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig described how Smith omitted something in his first public testimony over his investigations of President Donald Trump before the House Judiciary Committee hearing. CNN anchor Briana Keilar asked Honig to respond to the questions involving the timing around Smith's pursuit of going to trial against Trump.
"To your question, Brianna, thelast congressman we saw broughtup the fact that Jack Smithdemanded a trial date fourmonths out, five months out in acase involving 13 million pagesof documents," Honig said. "There is nodefense lawyer in the countrywho can constitutionally preparefor trial and defend his clienton that short of time frame. Theimplication was you were rushingto get this in before the 2024election. Jack Smith did notdefend himself, by the way. Hedidn't say a word about that,which I found, I found strange... And he didn'tdefend."
Smith, who has maintained that he is a nonpartisan prosecutor amid the fiery hearing with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, responded to questions over whether Smith was trying to push the trial for Trump forward ahead of the 2024 elections. At the time, Trump had called for retaliation against people with whom he disagreed politically, which Smith discussed with lawmakers during the hearing.
"And Jack Smith has always maintained this veneer that he never thought about the election. Of course he did," Honig said. "Why would you demand such a quick trial date? But there's a contrast that some of the Democrats made, which is, here you have Donald Trump explicitly calling for prosecutions of people. So some of Jack Smith's conduct gives rise, I think, to a fair conclusion that he was trying to rush it before the election. And Donald Trump is explicitly saying, 'go after this person, DOJ, go after that person who I don't like politically.'"
Smith, a career federal prosecutor, was appointed as a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate Trump's handling of classified documents and his role in the events surrounding the Insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
Smith led high-profile criminal investigations and prosecutions against Trump on multiple counts, including obstruction of justice and violations of the Espionage Act related to classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, though the cases faced significant legal challenges and delays, with Trump ultimately avoiding trial on these charges following his 2024 election victory.
President Donald Trump on Thursday made a big announcement about an upcoming global event and who he picked to help lead it.
He posted the following on his Truth Social platform: "Today, I am announcing the United States’ intention to bid for the World Expo 2035. The Great State of Florida has expressed strong interest in hosting the Expo in Miami, which I fully support. Miami Expo 2035 can be the next big milestone in our new Golden Age of America."
Trump shared the news just a day after meeting with world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and having major pushback to his demands to seize Greenland and invoke tariffs on European allies in retaliation to their objections — then announcing he had sought a new deal over the Arctic nation.
He also revealed who in his circle will help lead the effort.
"I am appointing Miami native Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Chair the efforts of coordinating and advancing this exciting opportunity to convene the World. We will create thousands of jobs, and add Billions of Dollars in GROWTH, to our Economy. In my First Term as President, I fought hard to bring the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 LA Summer Olympics to the U.S.A. I now have the Honor of hosting as the 47th President, plus America250, G20 Doral, and the G7. I look forward to winning and participating in the Miami Expo 2035!"
Former Capitol Police Officer Michael Fanone responded with profanity after Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) suggested that the Jan. 6 Committee's initial investigation was political.
During a Thursday hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Nehls told former special counsel Jack Smith that his "witch hunt" against President Donald Trump had been "politically motivated."
"To put it bluntly, Mr. Smith, the stink remains on you," Nehls said. "And lastly, I would like to quickly address the police officers on January 6th... I'm a member of the new select committee to actually examine, actually examine what happened that day. And I can tell you, gentlemen, that the fault does not lie with Donald Trump."
"We know, we know they had the intelligence, and there was going to be a high propensity for violence that day," he continued.
With that, Fanone could be heard coughing, followed by the phrase: "Go f--- yourself."
"You will be in order!" Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) exclaimed. "We've had some disruptions already. We don't need that."
After that, Fanone apparently began using gestures to communicate with the lawmaker.
"And last thing, your hand gestures, Mr. Fanone, you need medication," Nehls griped.
A Republican lawmaker Thursday had an unexpected reaction after he asked former special counsel Jack Smith about President Donald Trump's threats.
Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA) was questioning Smith during the House Judiciary Committee hearing — the first time Smith has testified publicly on the probes against Trump — when he asked about the gag order the prosecutor sought against the president.
"Mr. Smith, America was founded on theprinciple that the governmentdoesn't silence politicalspeech, in particular speech,before it happens," Cline said. "You sought aprior restraint against President Trump without asingle violation of pretrialrelease. In fact, there was noreal world harm that you couldarticulate, justified givingthe federal government thepower to silence him as apresidential candidate wasthere."
Smith fact-checked Cline.
"The court granted thosemotions and found that theprosecutor did not have to waituntil someone was harmed tomake such a motion," Smith said.
Cline responded, pausing for a moment and stumbling on his words.
"Actually, the request wasrejected when the case wasactually when when you actuallywere not able to, it wasrestricted. Correct? The gagorder was restricted, correct?" Cline said.
Smith clarified what actually happened.
"Well, wewe filed for anorder in the district court.The district court granted anorder," Smith said. "Mr. President Trumpappealed that order. The courtof appeals absolutely agreedthat there was a basis and thatthe threats to witnesses thatcame from the targeting by Donald Trump were real, andthat we had a duty to protectthem. You are correct in thatthe court of appeals narrowedthe order. So the order coveredwitnesses, court staff, thejudge and my staff. Thedifference was that it didn'tcover me anymore, which I wasfine with."
Cline asked Smith if he had any evidence that Trump had threatened him or intimidated witnesses to prevent them from coming forward.
"I had evidence that he said, 'if you come after me, I'm coming after you,'" Smith said. "He asked — he suggested a witness should be put to death. The courts found that those sort of statements not only deter witnesses who've come forward, they deter witnesses who have yet to come forward."
Cline asked Smith if he was able to identify a witness who might have been intimidated by Trump — that's when Smith set the record straight.
"We had extremely thorough evidence that his statements were having an effect on the proceedings," Smith said. "That is not permitted in any court of law in the United States."
Cline tried to push back and argue that he should have reconsidered the gag order. Smith had a sharp response to the suggestion.
"Both courts upheld the orders, and it is not incumbent on a prosecutor to wait until someone gets killed before they move for an order to protect the proceedings," Smith said.
Cline tried to argue that the gag order could have infringed on Trump's First Amendment rights.
"My recollection is that we, of course, discussed First Amendment issues regarding this application because I and my staff respect the First Amendment, but the First Amendment does not allow one to make statements that interfere with the administration, administration of justice, and a judicial proceeding," Smith said.
"My interpretation was supported and agreed upon by the district court and the court of appeals in terms of the phenomena of the statements being made, targeting individuals, causing threats to happen to them, I would I would also add, sir, that in the days after Donald Trump made some of these statements, the district court in this case received vile threats, threats to the district court's life in that environment," Smith added. "I felt a duty as a prosecutor to make that motion, and I make no apologies."
Smith, a career federal prosecutor, was appointed as a special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to investigate Trump's handling of classified documents and his role in the events surrounding the Insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021.
Smith led high-profile criminal investigations and prosecutions against Trump on multiple counts, including obstruction of justice and violations of the Espionage Act related to classified materials at Mar-a-Lago, though the cases faced significant legal challenges and delays, with Trump ultimately avoiding trial on these charges following his 2024 election victory.
