Johnson backs off claim that Trump was an ‘FBI informant’ in Epstein case

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/09/07/trump-epstein-johnson-fbi/

Last week, Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill that Trump cares deeply about the crimes Epstein committed and said that Trump “was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down.”

“The Speaker is reiterating what the victims’ attorney said, which is that Donald Trump — who kicked Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago — was the only one more than a decade ago willing to help prosecutors expose Epstein for being a disgusting child predator,” the statement from Johnson’s office read.

Exclusive: DOJ says names of two associates Epstein wired money to should stay secret

INSANE confession about Trump and Epstein SURGES into news

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Experts skeptical of legality of Trump’s strike on alleged drug boat

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/06/politics/venezuela-boat-strike-trump-legality

The president has the authority under Article II of the Constitution to use military force when it is in the national interest, and when it does not amount to “war” in the constitutional sense, which requires an act of Congress. Past administrations have interpreted these standards fairly broadly — especially in the decadeslong war against al Qaeda, ISIS and other evolving Islamist terror groups — and Trump officials have also claimed the president was exercising his inherent Article II powers here.

But again, legal experts say, there is a wrinkle: That amorphous power still requires that the president establish that its targets are legitimate military targets who should be treated as combatants under both international and domestic law. Cartel members and drug smugglers have traditionally been treated as criminals with due process rights — not enemy combatants — and the Trump administration has yet to offer a justification beyond the FTO defense that it is in a state of armed conflict with Tren de Aragua.

Finucane and others pointed to Rubio’s admission that the boat could have been interdicted rather than destroyed — as has been done in the past — but that the president ordered a lethal strike as a matter of first, not last, resort.

'Murder on the high seas’: Outrage after Trump admin vows to 'blow up' more boats

Lawrence: RFK Jr., the most dangerous nepo baby in American history, testified today not under oath

Harvard Beats Trump Admin—Judge's 5 Key Takeaways

 https://www.newsweek.com/harvard-trump-admin-judges-takeaways-2124329

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to reverse its cuts of more than $2.6 billion in funding for Harvard University.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled the cuts amounted to illegal retaliation for Harvard's rejection of the Trump administration's demands for changes to its governance and policies.

The Trump administration had tied the funding freezes to Harvard's delays in dealing with antisemitism. But Burroughs, an appointee of Democratic President Barack Obama, said in her ruling that there was "little connection between the research affected by the grant terminations and antisemitism."

She wrote: "In fact, a review of the administrative record makes it difficult to conclude anything other than that (the government) used antisemitism as a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country's premier universities."

Burroughs said it resulted in the government terminating Harvard's grants without complying with the law and retaliating against the school in violation of its free speech rights under the First Amendment.

Burroughs said that it was "clear, even based solely on Harvard's own admissions, that Harvard has been plagued by antisemitism in recent years and could (and should) have done a better job of dealing with the issue."

DC sues Trump administration over National Guard deployment

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/04/politics/washington-dc-sues-trump-national-guard

Washington, DC, officials are suing the Trump administration, accusing the president of violating the Constitution and federal law by sending thousands of National Guard troops into the city without consent from local leaders.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday by DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, claims the troops – many from out of state – have been deputized by the US Marshals office and are patrolling neighborhoods, conducting searches and making arrests, despite federal laws that generally bar the military from acting as local police.

The lawsuit argues that the deployment undermines the city’s autonomy, erodes trust between residents and law enforcement and damages the local economy by discouraging tourism and hurting businesses.

Federal judges anonymously criticize Supreme Court for overturning decisions with emergency rulings

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-judges-anonymously-criticize-supreme-court-overturning-decisions-emergency-rulings

A group of anonymous federal judges is criticizing the Supreme Court for overturning lower court rulings and siding with President Donald Trump's administration with little to no explanation, NBC News reported Thursday.

NBC spoke with 12 federal judges, appointed by Democratic and Republican presidents including Trump, who pointed to a trend of lower court decisions being overturned by emergency rulings from the high court. These cases often see prominent members of Trump's administration lashing out at lower court judges before their cases are overturned.

Ten of the 12 judges argued the Supreme Court should offer more explanation when overturning such decisions, saying emergency rulings in such cases imply poor work on the part of lower court judges.

Epstein Transparency Act

Survivor Jena-Lisa Jones on Trump 'Epstein hoax' claim: I voted for him, he's supposed to protect us

Expressing Hostility through being overly helpful

 I recently heard of a situation where a devoted mother took her obese daughter shopping to help her deal with disappointment in shidduchim. She found a beautiful skirt that her daughter liked and it was 50 off. but it was too small for her daughter. Trying to be helpful the mother loudly called out - "Is this available in extra large!" The daughter was embarrassed and is now angry with her mother  but the mother felt she was being helpful. How would you handle this?

Trump loses ‘police state’ case on Nat. Guard! Ari Melber reports on ‘illegal’ smackdown

Donald Trump Suffers Big Legal Blow Over Migrant Deportations

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-legal-blow-deportation-migrants-alien-enemies-act-2123573

President Donald Trump was blocked by a federal appeals court from using an 18th-century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport Venezuelan migrants his administration says belong to the criminal gang Tren de Aragua.

The 2-1 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found that there was not an "invasion or predatory incursion" by a foreign power as required by the 1798 statute to justify its invocation in the case of this group of migrants.