… Trump blamed DEI at the FAA for the fatal airline/helicopter crash last night in DC. He called a press conference where sycophantic Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy began it by praising him: "I would just note, the president's leadership has been remarkable during this crisis." Then Pete Hegseth: “I want to echo that, Mr. President, about your leadership from the moment this happened.” Obviously, they all got the memo on the first requirement of the job.
… Trump then baselessly speculated that the crash must’ve been caused by a woman or a minority: “They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA. Brilliant people have to be in those positions when you have many planes coming in to one target.” When asked why he would say that DEI caused the crash: “Because I have common sense. Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t. We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level. You’re dealing with very high level computer work. Complex computers.”
… Question from reporter - What evidence have you seen that diversity hiring could have caused this crash? “It just could have been. You have to go by brain power, you have to go by psychological quality .. For an air traffic controller, we want the brightest, smartest, sharpest, we want somebody that’s psychologically superior - and that’s what we’re going to have.”
… Trump also made a grossly irresponsible post on Truth Social right after the incident happened: “Why didn’t the control tower tell the helicopter what to do instead of asking if they saw the plane? This is a bad situation that looks like it could have been prevented. NOT GOOD!!!”
… Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), who just filed the bill to amend the Constitution so Trump can serve a 3rd term: “Was it human error, equipment failure, or did DEI play some kind of role in this?”
… Pete Buttigieg responded: “Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again.”
… NAACP President Derrick Johnson to NBC: “The NAACP is disgusted by this display of unpresidential, divisive behavior. We’re proud to see thousands of first responders in the region unify to support the enormous recovery efforts taking place on the Potomac. The President has made his decision to put politics over people abundantly clear as he uses the highest office in the land to sow hatred rooted in falsehoods, instead of providing us with the leadership we need and deserve.”
… AOC: “I represent LaGuardia Airport as well as workers for JFK. Trump gutted the Aviation Safety Committee last week. Air traffic controllers - already understaffed - got Trump’s ‘buyout’ this week with a one-week ultimatum to decide. It’s not DEI - it’s him. And Elon too.”
… Sen. Tom Cotton used this tragic incident to justify confirming Trump’s nominees immediately. To Fox: “We need officials at the heads of these departments. It’s important we move forward promptly for accountability and so we have officials leading this vital work.”
… White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X doublespeak where she claimed that rescinding the memo that directed a funding freeze for grants and programs did not mean that the freeze would end: “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo. Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction. The President's EO's on federal funding remains in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.”
… Meanwhile, lawyers for the Trump Admin were in court arguing to a judge that a lawsuit filed by multiple states should be dismissed since the memo was rescinded. But lawyers for the states showed the judge Leavitt’s post and said that she was saying one thing on social media while their lawyers were saying the opposite in court. Politico reported that the judge granted the motion and ordered funds to be released until further litigation “based on comments by the president’s Press Secretary.”
… Newly-elected Rep. Dave Min (D-CA) on Trump’s Press Secretary: “Karoline Leavitt is a fake Christian, like so many in the Golden Calf administration.” He said she lied repeatedly about the funding freeze “while wearing a giant cross to let everyone know how pious and moral she is, even as she is so comfortable stating a bald-face lie to hundreds of millions of people. As a person of faith, I find it appalling that this admin uses religion to advance an agenda while lying through their teeth about what they are doing.”
… WaPo’s Jeff Stein: “Amid immense pressure from congressional Republicans over the funding freeze, Budget Director Russ Vought held an emergency meeting Tuesday at the WH with baffled and exasperated staff. Vought said they needed to clarify that the memo only applied to funds affected by Trump's EO. ‘Anybody who could read English’ could see it didn't, one official told me.
… The report also says that Stephen Miller was the one who asked OMB to write the guidance memo on the freeze, but he did not review the final memo that went out which caused the chaos to ensue.
… Stein: “The generous interpretation is they wanted a TEMPORARY shut down of all spending to give them time to figure out what was in violation of executive order guidance. I think it's true the intent was not to shut down all grants permanently, but to buy them time to stop what they didn't want going out. But the memo says what it says.”
… Trump, who had no idea any of this was happening while he was playing golf, then later absurdly claimed that they had to put a freeze on all government payouts because Elon Musk found abuses: “We identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas. And you know what's happened to them? They've used them as a method of making bombs.” Condom Bombs in Gaza. Got it.
… Trump’s Senior Legal Advisor Alina Habba on Fox: “$50 million towards condoms in Gaza for Hamas? It’s absurd. That’s what we’ve stopped.”
… Except the whole thing was a lie. No condoms were sent to Gaza. No money was sent to Gaza to buy condoms. A USAID Report stated that no condoms have ever been sent by the US to any country in the Middle East. Some contraceptives were sent to Africa during both the Trump and Biden Administrations. That is it.
… Sen. Mike Lee told Fox that he wants Congress to authorize privateering to American citizens who want to stop migrants and drugs from being brought in by cartels: “To destroy the cartels, Congress should consider hiring a few pirates. They will be authorized to engage in acts of piracy on the high seas, with the understanding that any loot they are able to bring back that is not contraband can be liquidated and sold.”
… Lee said that Congress is authorized under the Constitution to enlist privateers, and even though it hasn’t happened in over 200 years, now is the time. Then he posted his call to arms on X: “Imagine you’ve just been granted a Letter of Marque by Congress making you a pirate. What do you wear?”
… Deportation Czar Tom Homan said he isn’t happy with the pace of deportations so far. The NY Post reports that Homan is demanding at least 1,800 arrests per day from ICE — setting a quota of at least 75 arrests each day for each of the agency’s 25 offices. When asked about the report, Homan said “we need more deportations” but denied setting a quota.
… Kristi Noem’s much-hyped operation in NYC, where she was decked out in a bulletproof ICE vest for the cameras with freshly filled lips and her best hair extensions out in front, netted a grand total of 20 arrests: 12 arrests of people with a past criminal history, 8 arrests of people with no criminal history at all.
… Trump announced that they will be sending migrants to Gitmo: I’m signing an Executive Order to instruct DOD and DHS to begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay. We're going to send them out to Guantanamo Bay. This will double our capacity immediately. That's a tough place to get out of.”
… SecDef Pete Hegseth: “We don’t want criminal illegals on our soil - they need to go home. Using Gitmo will facilitate that. It’s the perfect location.”
… Immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick said Guantanamo has never been used for this purpose: “No one arrested in the US has EVER been sent to Guantanamo. It's a first in American history and raises a ton of serious legal questions.”
… Noem told Fox that she has rescinded an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status for Venezuela that was granted by Biden just before leaving the White House. Florida has the largest population of TPS migrants in the country, and 60% of them are from Venezuela.
… Trump-loving Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, who represents a huge Venezuelan immigrant community in Miami, to the Miami Herald: “Venezuela’s dictator Nicolas Maduro jails, beats, rapes, and kills anyone who speaks against him,” which is why she “supported TPS for Venezuelans fleeing political persecution.” But she also supported Trump.
… But WaPo noted that one of Trump’s final acts in office in 2021 was to extend TPS for Venezuelans in 2021, and he said then that sending them back would be “catastrophic” given the situation in their country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time that deporting Venezuelans would be a “death sentence” for them.
… Telemundo reports that a 3-year old, his mother, and his grandmother were arrested by ICE while speaking Spanish shopping at a department store in Milwaukee. They were US citizens from Puerto Rico. It wasn’t until they were in detention that the mother was allowed to produce identification and birth certificates to prove their citizenship. ICE apologized and made them pay for their own cab ride home.
… Several groups associated with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) have sued the Trump Admin over a new DHS order that allows ICE agents to enter churches to arrest suspected migrants. The DHS order ended a Biden-era policy that forbid ICE from entering so-called "protected" areas such as churches, hospitals, and schools.
… The lawsuit, brought by five Quaker groups, alleges that the order violates their First Amendment right to freedom of religion: "The very threat of government officials wearing ICE-emblazoned jackets outside of our religious service will have a significant impact on our communities and ability to practice our faith. Government enforcement actions that stops people from entering our meeting house, or scares them from doing so, affects us personally, viscerally, emotionally, and theologically."
… Tom Homan told CNN that he wants to start using the military: “I want them very involved, what happened in the last 4 years is the biggest national security vulnerability.” He also said he’s going to need a lot more money: “The more money we have, the more successful we're going to be. More money for beds, more money for operations."
… Emily Hernandez, who was pardoned by Trump for her role in the J6 insurrection, was just sentenced to 17 years in prison for causing a fatal crash while drunk driving.
… Sen. Chuck Grassley says he hasn’t been able to get any response from the White House to his letter asking why Trump illegally fired 18 Inspectors General while failing to provide written reasons to Congress 30 days before taking action: “The thing at the White House was just a big event, there wasn’t an opportunity.” Trump played golf two days in a row after Grassley sent his letter. But Trump is too busy to give him an answer about why he broke the law.
… Mike Pence put out a video for GOP Senators showing a montage of clips of Trump trashing RFK Jr. last year during the campaign. Pence captioned it: “President Trump was right the first time. Senators, Vote No on RFK,Jr.” Trump said in one of the clips: “I’d rather take Biden over RFK Jr, because our country would last another year longer. But with Junior it would collapse almost immediately.”
… RFK Jr had a difficult time in his two Senate confirmation hearings, with many of his past statements about medicine and science coming back to haunt him. He repeatedly denied saying the things he said in the past on video and in articles. Sen. Raphael Warnock: “You have compared the CDC's work to Nazi death camps. You've compared it to sexual abusers in the Catholic church.” RFK JR: “I never said that.” Warnock: “I have a transcript!”
… Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO): “Did you say that Lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bioweapon? RFK JR: I probably did say that. BENNET: I want all of our colleagues to hear, Mr. Kennedy. I want them to hear it. You said yes. Did you say that exposure to pesticides causes children to become transgender? RFK Jr: No, I never said that. BENNETT: Okay. I have the record that I'll give to the chairman.”
… He said it. On video. We have it.
… Bennet: Did you say that Covid 19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon that targets Black and White people, but spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people? RFK JR: “I just quoted a published study.”
… RFK Jr’s cousin Jack Schlossberg: “But why did you say that? So you could convince people you’re this guru shaman figure and get them into your cult. GUILTY!”
… Sen. Bernie Sanders had a viral moment when he confronted RFK Jr about toddler onesies being sold on his organization’s website for $26 with an anti-vaccine message inscribed on them: “You started a group called the Children’s Health Defense. On their website, they are selling what's called onesies. These are little clothing things for babies. One of them is titled ‘Unvaxed, Unafraid.”
… RFK Jr responded that he wasn’t in charge of choosing the merch for the group he founded. Sanders exploded: “Are you supportive of this? Are you supportive of these onesies!?!”
… He was then asked whether his kids were vaccinated: “All of my kids are vaccinated.”
… Sen. Tommy Tuberville said in the hearing that he didn’t understand why meds were prescribed to kids anyway when all they need is a good whipping from time to time: “We have an attention deficit problem in this country. Attention deficit - when you or I were growing up, our parents didn’t use a drug, they used a belt and whipped our butt.”
… Sen Elizabeth Warren to MSNBC on RFK Jr keeping a financial interest in a pending lawsuit against a vaccine company: "He can stand there, smile at you and say, 'anybody can vaccinate their kids who wants to,' but he literally could bankrupt the vaccine manufacturers with the power he will have. And since he's got a financial incentive to do that, we cannot trust him in that job."
… Sen Chris Murphy: “You could literally walk down the street, and the first hundred people you'd find would be less dangerous at the head of HHS than RFK Jr. For RFK Jr. to say he's not anti-vaccine, he's just pro-science - it's kind of like a pyromaniac saying, well, I'm not an arsonist. I just set fires to buildings every day. He will get people killed. He said chemicals in water are causing kids to turn transgender.”
… Sen. John Fetterman told Fox he wasn’t impressed: “I don't think it went well for him. I'm not really sure how much support is going to emerge after that.”
… RFK Jr’s former running-mate Nicole Shanahan issued a video threat vowing to get revenge on any Senator who votes against him: “While Bobby may be willing to play nice, I won’t. If you vote against him, I will personally fund challengers to primary you in your next election.”
… Shanahan married Google co-founder Sergey Brin and divorced him 3 years later. She received $1 billion in the divorce settlement. Which is why RFK Jr chose her as his running mate at a time his campaign was in debt. Now she will use more of that money to threaten Senators.
I have tried to do the daily bulletins on Wednesdays when I also have my live podcast but it has been too difficult. So from now on, starting with this one, I have combined Wed/Thur into one bulletin like I do with Sat/Sun. That is why this is longer than normal. So all 7 days of the week will still be covered, but in 5 bulletins (M, T, Th, F, Sun).
… Charlie Kirk also issued threats on OAN: “The message has been very clear: If you vote against Trump’s nominees, you will get a well-funded and well-organized primary.”
… Tuberville finally said that quiet part out loud - they need RFK Jr confirmed because Republicans need his supporters in the next election: “RFK was a MAJOR piece to the puzzle that helped President Trump win all 7 battleground states and the national popular vote. No Cabinet nominee could damage the political future of Democrats