Carl Gibson, AlterNet

Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) ignited a firestorm of outrage after a recent tweet in which he blamed the 42 million Americans set to lose their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits this weekend for their own plight.

On Thursday, Higgins posted to his official X account: "There are 22 million American households receiving SNAP benefits for groceries, at $4200 per year on average. Try to get your head wrapped around how many pantries you can stock with $4200 dollars in properly shopped groceries. Any American who has been receiving $4200 dollars per year of free groceries and does NOT have at least 1 month of groceries stocked should never again receive SNAP, because wow, stop smoking crack."

Higgins' post was met almost immediately with anger and ridicule. Children's author Kristine Rudolph wrote on Bluesky: "Tell us you don’t do the grocery shopping in your house without telling us you don’t do the grocery shopping in your house."

Pennsylvania Capital-Star editor-in-chief Tam Lambert posted that $4,200 per year in SNAP benefits amounts to "about $80 a week."

Retired air traffic controller Vivian M. Lumbard argued that Higgins' post reveals how "none of these Republicans seem to understand how much groceries actually cost, especially if you have kids."

"$4200 equates to $350/month," she wrote. "I doubt I could cover all my groceries just for myself for that amount of money, even if I gave up meat."

Political consultant Jamison Foster quoted Lucille Bluth from the sitcom "Arrested Development" (who famously said: "It's one banana Michael. What could it cost? $10?) by writing: "It's one month of groceries, Michael. How much room can it take up? Ten closets?"

Political scientist Miranda Yaver broke down Higgins' post by pointing out that Republicans simultaneously expect Americans to "Stop eating processed foods. Make healthy choices: eat more fresh food" while claiming SNAP recipients are "irresponsible" if they "don't have a month's food supply on hand to live on when we can't keep the government open."

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is ignoring a request from one state official to give trick-or-treating families a break on Halloween.

The Daily Beast reported Thursday that during a Fox News interview, the DHS secretary ignored a plea from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) for the DHS to pause aggressive immigration enforcement actions in Chicago on Friday, when kids in the Windy City will be walking neighborhood streets in celebration of Halloween.

"Illinois families deserve to spend Halloween weekend without fear," Pritzker wrote in a Wednesday letter to Noem. "No child should be forced to inhale tear gas or other chemical agents while trick or treating in their own neighborhood."

However, Noem told Fox News' Sandra Smith that despite Halloween festivities, ICE would still be "out on the streets in full force, and increase activities to make sure kids are safe."

"We will be out there to make sure that they can be safe, enjoy the holidays, spend some time with their families and their neighbors and communities," she continued. "And then they don’t have to be the victim of a crime because of these illegal aliens that are in our country victimizing them."

Pritzker was likely referring to an incident on Oct. 25, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents fired tear gas canisters into a crowd of children headed to a Halloween event. Earlier this month, ICE agents deployed tear gas in Chicago's Brighton neighborhood, which affected 13 local police officers on the scene.

In response to the tear-gassing incidents, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis forced U.S. Customs and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino to wear a body camera and give daily reports to the court. She also voiced concerns about ICE agents not identifying themselves to members of the public when asked.

Click here to read the Beast's report in its entirety (subscription required).

President Donald Trump's losses both in Washington and in court are stacking up, and a former federal prosecutor says one of those setbacks is particularly devastating for the president.

In a video, Glenn Kirschner — a former assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia — pointed out that Trump has gotten a wave of bad news just in 24 hours at the beginning of this week. He took note of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals granting a full review of his attempt to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon; five Republican senators joining all Democrats to revoke Trump's tariffs on Brazil, and acting U.S. attorney Bill Essayli being disqualified from holding his post by judges in the Southern District of California.

Kirschner argued that the 9th Circuit's decision is likely to overrule a previous 2-1 ruling by a 9th Circuit panel allowing Trump to send the military to Portland. That ruling — in which two Trump-appointed judges were in the majority — overturned a previous decision by U.S. District Judge Karen Immergut (also a Trump appointee) blocking Trump from sending the National Guard.

Should the full 9th Circuit uphold Immergut's initial ruling, Trump would have no choice but to appeal to the Supreme Court, which is already weighing Trump's attempt to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, Illinois.

The former prosecutor also said the "bipartisan rebuke of Trump" following the Senate's vote to reject tariffs on Brazil was a significant blow to the administration, given how central tariffs are to the president's economic agenda. Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Rand Paul (R-KY) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) joined all 47 Democrats to prevent Trump from using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in regard to Brazilian imports.

The vote came as the Supreme Court is considering an appeal from the administration to reverse a prior decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that Trump had no legal authority to use the IEEPA to impose tariffs.

"I don't care how Trump's flunkies try to spin this one," Kirschner said. "This makes Trump weaker."

Kirschner concluded the video by outlining the implications of Trump's hand-picked U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California being removed from his position on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright ruled that Bill Essayli was "unlawfully serving" as U.S. attorney after his 120-day period as interim U.S. attorney expired. Kirschner argued that Essayli's dismissal will likely help make the case that interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan should be disqualified from serving as interim U.S, attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (which conservative attorney George Conway has also argued).

"[Essayli's disqualification] has the potential to blow up the vindictive prosecutions of New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI Director James Comey," Kirschner said.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) is calling attention to one consequence of the weeks-long government shutdown that's about to impact the finances of millions of President Donald Trump's supporters: Rising health insurance premiums.

During a Tuesday interview with The Bulwark's Sam Stein, Kelly pointed out that as the open enrollment period starts on Saturday, Americans will likely be in for significant sticker shock when shopping for new health insurance plans. He particularly heaped blame on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for sending the House out on a "six-week paid vacation" rather than keeping the House in session to negotiate an end to the shutdown.

"They haven't been back here in six weeks. They have abdicated their responsibilities under the Constitution," Kelly said. "They're not doing their jobs ... There are 23 million Americans who, on November 1, are gonna get punched in the face with a skyrocketing healthcare bill."

"I've spoken to many of them in Arizona. There are going to be people that are paying $250 or $300 who are going to be paying $1,100 or $1,200," he continued.

Kelly then observed that the cost difference was even more substantial in Republican-controlled states. He recalled a conversation with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in which he was taken aback by the amount of money red state residents were going to have to pay if the Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits that are expiring at the end of 2025 aren't renewed (Democrats have made ACA tax credits a sticking point in exchange for their support of a government funding bill).

"I thought it was kind of a rumor. And I said to Lisa, 'hey, is it true that people re getting letters saying their healthcare premium is going to go up from $600 to $4,000 a month? No, come on,' and she said 'yes, that is true that people in Alaska are going to see those increases,'" Kelly told Stein. "We're going to see people with increases of 200, 300, 400 percent, right? And these people can't afford it."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) previously warned of the sky-high cost red state residents would be facing if the ACA premiums aren't renewed. In addition to premiums rising by 346 percent in Alaska, they're also projected to go up by 150 percent in Louisiana; 314 percent in Mississippi; 235 percent in South Dakota; 320 percent in Tennessee; 387 percent in West Virginia and 382 percent in Wyoming.

Watch the segment below:

- YouTube youtu.be

As President Donald Trump is in the midst of a trip to multiple Asian countries, one Virginia-based soybean farmer is accusing him of weakness in standing up for the American agricultural sector.

During a Monday segment on MSNBC, John Boyd — who operates Boyd Farms out of Baskerville, Virginia — said Trump abandoned his "America first" agenda by bailing out Argentina to the tune of $40 billion while leaving American farmers out to dry. He pointed out that China, which used to be the top buyer of American soybeans, now buys most of its soybeans elsewhere due to Trump's tariffs.

"This president sold America's farmers out," said Boyd, who is also the founder of the National Black Farmers Association. "Farmers call every day. And they say that they feel like they've been betrayed by this president, you know, $40 billion to Argentina. And then they start to sell soybeans to China. And then the president comes and invites them here to the United States and then cuts another deal undermining beef cattle farmers here at home. So he always says he's putting Americans first, that he loves farmers. But this doesn't look American at all to America's farmers."

Boyd also laid blame for the ongoing government shutdown at Trump's feet, calling on him to "show some leadership" and get Congress to agree on a deal to fund federal agencies "before he runs abroad."

"When he was running for office, he said that someone who entertained a shutdown looks weak. That's what he said. A president that allows that on his watch is looking weak," Boyd said. "So the president isn't looking strong. Heading out to cut a deal with someone when our own government here at home is is closed, it's not open for business."

The Virginia farmer warned that because annual payments are due for farmers during the harvest season between October and November, and because the government is shut down, there will be "a lot of farms on the auction blocks in the coming months." He also painted a dire picture of rural America as farmers grapple with a tenuous economic climate in the midst of a trade war.

"America's farmers are facing the highest bankruptcy rates in a very, very long time," Boyd said. "Farm suicides are up, farm foreclosures are up. And we're still sitting here talking about a framework. Farmers need to hear ... more stronger language than that here at home."

President Donald Trump recently denied reports that he deployed B-1 bombers to Venezuela amid escalating tensions with the South American country. But journalists are now proving him wrong in real time.

During a Thursday press gaggle, Trump was asked directly about the deployment of two B-1 Lancer jets, which the Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the day flew from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas toward the Venezuelan coast (though they remained in international airspace). The Journal cited both an unnamed U.S. official and flight tracking data to confirm the deployment.

"No, it's not accurate," Trump told CBS reporter Kathryn Watson when asked about the jets.

However, CNN reporter Natasha Bertrand fact-checked Trump's denial, writing: "They were easily viewable on flight radar and have been tracked by open source analysts for most of the day. At its closest point a B1 bomber was a little more than 50 miles from the Venezuelan mainland."

Bertrand also tagged fellow CNN reporter Avery Schmitz, who regularly tracks flight radar. Last week, Schmitz posted radar images of B-52 bombers flying near the Venezuelan coast, just 48 miles from a Venezuelan archipelago with several thousand residents.

On Thursday, Reuters reporter Idrees Ali reported that Trump suggested there could be "land action" in Venezuela soon, suggesting potential airstrikes on Venezuelan soil. However, as of Thursday there have been no formal plans announced to ramp up military operations in South America.

Trump has been vocal in his opposition to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, particularly as his administration is carrying out bombings of boats the president alleges are carrying drugs. To date, no details have yet been shared with Congress or the public beyond what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has relayed. In response to a reporter's question about Maduro's offer to have mediation sessions with the Trump administration, Trump has said that Maduro "doesn't want to f—— around with the United States."

President Donald Trump recently announced he was officially pardoning Changpeng Zhao, who is the former CEO of cryptocurrency company Binance. One member of his party is now publicly condemning the act.

Politico reported Thursday that after Trump pardoned Zhao — a Chinese-born Canadian resident who is ranked as the 21st richest person in the world with a net worth in excess of $87 billion — Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said it sent "a bad signal."

"I don’t like it,” said Tillis, who is not running for another term next year. "He was convicted. He’s not innocent."

Zhao pleaded guilty in November of 2023 to money laundering charges and agreed to pay $4 billion in penalties. Then-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said after the plea deal that Binance "allowed money to flow to terrorists, cybercriminals, and child abusers through its platform." Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said at the time that Zhao's company "gave sanctioned customers unfettered access to American capital and financial services."

However, Zhao also had personal ties to the Trump family. As the Wall Street Journal reported, Binance supported the Trump Organization's World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency venture headed by Donald Trump Jr., which has led to the president's personal net wealth spiking significantly since the start of his second term.

The Senate is currently discussing market structure legislation aimed at regulating the cryptocurrency industry. Some Democrats are arguing for provisions in the bill that would prevent the president and his family from profiting from its crypto business, though Republicans are likely to reject them.

“It’s absolutely corrupt what this president is doing, and none of us should be surprised,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told Politico. “What we’re trying to do in market structure is to keep the Binances of the world outside of the United States market.”

Click here to read Politico's full report.

One of the reddest states in the country is now urging President Donald Trump to take swift action to end the government shutdown by warning him that severe economic calamity will soon hit many of his voters.

The Atlantic's Toluse Orunnipa reported recently that as the shutdown is about to extend into its fourth week, lawmakers in Arkansas passed a resolution saying the state was "in need of strong leadership from President Donald J. Trump" to prevent the looming closure of thousands of farms in the mostly rural state. Republican state representative DeAnn Vaught, a farmer who authored the resolution, compared farmers' plight to "a tsunami coming."

"This is going to affect the state of Arkansas in a very mighty way," Vaught said.

Between the expiration of the Farm Bill, the Trump administration's tariffs resulting in foreign governments buying fewer agricultural products from the United States and the shutdown, farmers are teetering on insolvency. While the U.S. Department of Agriculture typically has fully staffed offices aimed at helping farmers obtain loans, the shutdown has resulted in those offices being closed for the bulk of the last month.

Trump has promised to divert some of the revenue from his tariffs to help farmers, though the details of those plans have yet to be hashed out given the shutdown. According to the Atlantic, approximately one-third of Arkansas farms could be shuttered before next year's harvest absent a multibillion-dollar bailout from the federal government. But each day the shutdown continues makes their survival less likely.

"The biggest worry of farms that see themselves as eligible for a trade-related bailout is that the delay may make it difficult to get the money," Montana State University professor Vincent Smith told the Atlantic.

Other red state farmers are also feeling pressure from the shutdown. Chris Gibbs — who grows corn and soybeans in Shelby County, Ohio — said he's been hoping for the shutdown to end soon so he can apply for a commodity loan at his local Farm Service Agency office. Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins recently announced that those offices will reopen and be staffed by employees working without pay in order to free up roughly $3 billion in assistance. But Gibbs, a former Republican who now chairs his local Democratic Party, said the "extreme pressure" caused by the shutdown and the tariffs means that some farms will still likely close despite the administration's efforts.

"We’re going to lose some farmers," Gibbs said.

Click here to read the Atlantic's full article (subscription required).

A resolution in the Michigan State Senate against political violence prompted one Republican member to shout expletives on the floor.

The Detroit News reported Tuesday that Sen. Joe Bellino's (R) speech against the two-page resolution devolved into profanity, resulting in Sen. Erika Geiss (D), who was presiding over the chamber at the time, banging her gavel and calling for order. Bellino called the resolution "complete bulls——" twice before ending his speech.

According to the Detroit News, the resolution condemned political violence "in all forms." It was written by Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D) after a previous Republican resolution on political violence calling for a memorial to slain MAGA activist Charlie Kirk failed.

"The Michigan Senate values the right of Michiganders to freely express themselves and feel safe when doing so, as civic engagement is crucial for a successful democracy," the resolution read.

Bellino's main complaint with the resolution was that he viewed it as portraying Republicans as "the party of political violence." He recalled an incident when running for the state senate in 2022, in which he accused a union-affiliated group of leaving a noose in his front yard.

"Now, you want to talk about civility and no violence. Complete bulls——," Bellino said, as Geiss banged her gavel.

"They upset my wife!" Bellino reportedly shouted over Geiss' gavel.

The Detroit News further reported that Bellino's speech came immediately after an elementary school class visiting from DeWitt, Michigan was recognized in the senate gallery. According to the report, most of the children had left by the time Bellino started swearing.

Click here to read the Detroit News' full report (subscription required).

Fox News host Sandra Smith repeatedly talked over a guest after he mentioned a sophomoric AI-generated video President Donald Trump posted to social media on the day of massive protests against his administration.

The Daily Beast reported Monday that former Biden administration official Dan Koh, who is running as a Democrat for a U.S. House district in Massachusetts, was abruptly interrupted the moment he brought up the video, which shows the 47th president of the United States flying a jet with "King Trump" written on it, dumping feces on a crowd of protesters. The video featured the song "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins, though the musician later demanded that his song be removed from the video. The video with the song is still live as of this writing.

A separate video Trump posted showed Trump donning a crown, putting on a royal cloak, and holding up a sword, interspersed with footage of Democrats kneeling during 2020 racial justice protests. The song "Hail to the King" by Avenged Sevenfold can be heard playing in the background of the second video.

Smith had asked him a question about a book by former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, and Koh brought up both videos in the context of last weekend's "No Kings" protests.

"Look, in terms of the Democratic Party, this weekend was a good analogy," Koh said in response to Smith asking if he was "buying what Karine Jean-Pierre is selling."

"I saw Democrats, Republicans, Independents, who were protesting in the millions against a president who was trying to silence us," he continued. "And the analogy was apt when the president uploaded a video of himself in a king hat—"

"—So what, so Dan, sir, are you gonna answer the question?" Smith interjected.

"Yes, I will, but please give me a moment," Koh responded. "[The video depicts Trump] literally defecating on people exercising their right to free speech."

"OK, so Dan, let’s go back to the question and stick to the point," Smith insisted.

Watch the exchange below:

During the height of his third campaign for the White House, President Donald Trump was reportedly obsessed with helping one of his recently divorced top advisors find a date, and frequently made objectionable comments about female members of his Mar-a-Lago club.

That's according to Zeteo journalist Asawin Suebsaeng, who recently reported that sources close to Trump said he went out of his way to offer "wingman" services to Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. Zeteo editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan wrote in his publication's recent newsletter that he felt he needed "to go take a shower" after reading about what Suebsaeng's sources confided.

"By mid-2024, Donald Trump and Project 2025 architect Russell Vought were talking on the phone fairly regularly. But it often wasn’t about policy," Suebsaeng reported. "Trump – when he had downtime from campaigning and plotting his fascist presidency – appeared preoccupied with getting the recently divorced Vought laid, two knowledgeable sources tell me."

"Trump spoke to Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist who’s now one of the president’s most hardline enforcers, about the 'gorgeous' and 'beautiful ladies' who roam Trump’s club, Mar-a-Lago, so often that it 'weirded out' some of his advisers, in one source’s words," he continued. "Trump offered to be Vought’s wingman. And Trump spoke crudely of all the 'p——' that Vought would surely get as the president’s favorite 'bachelor.'"

Vought is regarded not only as a key figure behind the far-right authoritarian Project 2025 playbook but as the brainchild behind the administration's wave of mass firings across federal agencies that defined the early months of his second term. He also proposed using the government shutdown as justification to implement permanent mass layoffs at various agencies, whereas most federal workers are merely furloughed until the government reopens.

The OMB director also made headlines earlier this month, after neighbors in his Virginia suburb spoke out publicly about their opposition to his policies. Many put signs on their lawns expressing solidarity with federal workers, and Mother Jones noted that Vought's neighborhood is full of sidewalk chalk messages trolling the Trump administration official like "ASK YOUR NEIGHBOR RUSS VOUGHT ABOUT PROJECT 2025."

"People have strong feelings about him," one of Vought's neighbors told Mother Jones. "Everyone knows someone who lost their jobs."

Click here to read Suebsaeng's report in Zeteo's newsletter.

According to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, President Donald Trump's latest moves all share the same goal: Keeping Americans distracted from the ongoing fallout over his administration's handling of unreleased documents pertaining to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

In an atypical Friday night broadcast (the longtime host hasn't had a regular weekly show since the end of Trump's first 100 days), Maddow used her opening monologue to argue that the president's distraction agenda is coming off as increasingly desperate. She touched on how Trump has quietly withdrawn appointees to key government positions, and not announced replacements — as he did with former Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) commissioner nominee E.J. Antoni last month. And she pointed out that despite the BLS having the ability to publish a September jobs report despite the shutdown, it had not done so.

Maddow also observed that, 17 days into a government shutdown, Trump has yet to broker a deal to extend Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies due to expire at the end of the year that Democrats have all agreed are a necessity to gain their support in reopening the government. She noted that should the ACA tax credits not be extended, people in Republican-dominated states would be on the hook for the biggest health insurance premium increases.

The MSNBC host then pivoted to Trump announcing Friday that he was commuting the sentence of disgraced former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was expelled from Congress in 2023. Santos was serving an 87-month sentence after being convicted of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

"So clearly that's a president operating from a position of strength, right?" Maddow said while laughing. "This is what he wants to be known for. I mean, his only moves right now are big distraction moves. We're on day 17 of a government shutdown. He's refusing to release the jobs data or the inflation data about what he's doing to the country's economy, while all the private sector data that we have to look to, to try to understand those things, is terrible."

"His paramilitary and would-be military assault on his own people in cities across the country is being pushed back: Not only on every street corner where he's trying it, but in every courtroom where he's trying to get away with it — including in front of judges he himself appointed," she continued. "He is pulling out all the last stops he can to try desperately to avoid the Epstein disaster he is still mired in. He is quietly, quietly pulling his nominees and hoping no one notices, and asks why the health care policy on which the Democrats are totally unified and taking their stand against him, is about to be a full-blown economic disaster for literally tens of millions of American families."

"He is 24 points underwater in his job approval, 24 points," she added. "And his big idea to change the subject is to free America's comedic poster child for compulsive lying and stealing. I mean, for a supposed strong man, this is all pretty weak, right?"

Watch the segment below:

President Donald Trump made a scheduled visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday for what the White House said was an annual physical. But conservative attorney and prominent Trump critic George Conway found two specific words in the readout from Trump's physician that told a bigger story.

In the readout from White House physician Cpt. Sean Barbabella, CNN host Kaitlan Collins observed that Trump was given both a flu vaccine and a Covid-19 booster shot. Retired policy and communications professional George Basile tweeted "would you look at that," given Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's outspoken opposition to both the Covid-19 vaccine and other vaccines.

But according to Conway, the vaccine portion wasn't the most significant part of Trump's visit to Walter Reed.

"'Advanced imaging' are the important words here," Conway tweeted in response to Collins' post.

As Conway mentioned, the first paragraph of Barbabella's writeup of Trump's visit reads: "The visit was part of his ongoing health maintenance plan and included advanced imaging, laboratory testing and preventive health assessments conducted by a multidisciplinary team of specialists. These evaluations were performed in coordination with leading academic and mental consultants to ensure optimal cardiovascular health and continued wellness."

The phrase "advanced imaging" would suggest that Trump was either given a computed tomography (CT) scan or a magnetic resonance imaging exam (MRI) — or both — which are used to detect various health conditions and monitor conditions affecting the organs. This would seem to dispute a previous White House statement that Trump's visit to Walter Reed was part of his "routine yearly check up" (his second such check-up in a handful of months).

Trump has already been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), in which the legs can have difficulty circulating blood back to the heart. This can lead to swollen ankles, which were visible when the president hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House earlier this week.

Interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan – who President Donald Trump installed in late September — may have completely circumvented Attorney General Pam Bondi in her latest high-profile indictment. One former U.S. attorney emphasized that such a move would be "funky" and "nuts."

ABC News reported Friday that Bondi was reportedly "caught off guard" by the news that Halligan indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on Thursday. Senior Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership hadn't been informed that Halligan was presenting evidence to a grand jury until after the fact.

During a Friday interview with CNN host Brianna Keilar, former U.S. attorney Harry Litman (an appointee of former President Bill Clinton) argued that the details over James' indictment were growing "stranger and stranger," especially with the news that Halligan had been apparently keeping Bondi "at arms' length."

"All the evidence seems very strong that it was directed or it was in order to satisfy Trump's urge for a reprisal prosecution," Litman said. "Lindsey Halligan is his private attorney. Did she just completely bypass DOJ leadership and go directly to the top? That would be very anomalous and improper."

As Litman mentioned, Halligan is a former insurance lawyer whom Trump ended up hiring on his legal team in the case involving his alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. That case never went to trial, as U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (who Trump appointed to a lifetime post in 2020) dismissed the charges in July of 2024. This means Halligan – who also indicted former FBI Director James Comey in late September — has almost no courtroom experience, and is nonetheless reportedly keeping the DOJ in the dark about criminally charging Trump's political opponents.

"Anyway you slice it, something really weird happened here," Litman said. "Possibly she wants Bondi to have deniability, but we're going to have a focus here as we did in Comey about the reasons for doing this prosecution. Was it reprisal or not? And that's gonna engage leadership of DOJ, if she somehow did this on her own."

"Remember, she has zero experience. She doesn't know where the door is," he added. "That's gonna be, funky would be the legal term. Just really nuts."

Halligan is less than a month into her role after Trump fired her predecessor, Erik Siebert, whom he himself appointed to head the Eastern District of Virginia this spring. Siebert was driven out of his position after refusing to bring charges against Comey, James and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who led impeachment proceedings against Trump.

President Donald Trump's Department of Justice on Thursday indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), and one national security expert is warning that the charges have strong implications for the state of the American justice system.

In a Thursday interview with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace, John Brennan — who was the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during former President Barack Obama's administration — slammed the indictment of James, who successfully sued Trump for fraudulent real estate valuations in 2023.

Brennan observed that the DOJ indictment of both James and former FBI Director James Comey was "just one feature that we have seen over the last nine months in terms of the collapse of the America we once knew." He also said that whether the prosecutions are ultimately successful in court is irrelevant to Trump's aims.

"Donald Trump probably doesn't care. He probably would like people to get convicted, but he knows he can't control that," Brennan said. "What he would like, though, is to have the word 'indicted' next to individuals' names. And he knows that he has a Department of Justice that he can exploit and manipulate, and he has an attorney general who's willing to do the bidding."

The former CIA director compared Bondi's DOJ indictment of James and Comey to former President Richard Nixon's attorney general, Elliot Richardson, who resigned after refusing Nixon's orders to indict special prosecutor Archibald Cox during the Watergate investigation. According to Brennan, Americans should have no reason to expect Trump administration officials to put the country's interests above their loyalty to the president.

"We are not in that era anymore. We don't have individuals who are willing to stand up to what clearly is an autocratic, authoritarian effort on the part of the Trump administration," he said. "Not just Trump, it's the Stephen Millers and others who are very mean-spirited, very vengeful, very nasty in many respects, trying to hurt people across the board."

"If you're not on the Trump team, you are potentially a target ... The way that they're going out now and trolling and looking for ways to indict people or bring charges against people, really is something that should worry every American," he added. "And the fact that Republicans in Congress are allowing this to happen, that I find is the most appalling part. Until they grow some ... in Congress and say enough is enough, I think we're going to continue to see this abuse of power, which is what it is."