TV News LIES

When not firing off social media posts threatening potential war crimes against 93 million Iranians, Donald Trump is busy quietly killing the so-called American dream. With gasoline at US$4 a gallon, credit card debt hitting a record US$1.28tn, and stagnating wages, Americans are struggling to detect the prosperity their president promised them. Regardless, Trump plans to spend a record $1.5tn on the military in 2027 – a 40% increase for the Pentagon at a time when farm bankruptcies have increased by 46%.

But if Trump’s illegal war on Iran has taught us anything, it is this: Americans will pay any price for freedom, except if it increases the price of groceries or gasoline. People in the Maga heartlands tolerated the erosion of civil liberties, democracy and the rule of law during the first year of Trump’s second presidency but they will be unforgiving if their standard of living declines.

My wife and I moved from Fremantle to New York for our careers 15 years ago, bringing our three small children with us. All of them are US citizens. But we recently took a family decision to return to Australia. To be honest, it feels like an escape.

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Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s plans to rally in the state this week with controversial livestreamer Hasan Piker are roiling the Democratic primary, with other candidates blasting the decision to invite him on the campaign trail.

El-Sayed, the former Wayne County health director backed by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), was the runner-up to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial primary.

He’s earned significant progressive backing, but his decision to invite Piker to rally with him on Tuesday at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University has raised the hackles of his Democratic rivals while upping concerns for his party that if he wins the primary, he could make it easier for Republicans to take back the seat.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), one of El Sayed’s opponents, told Jewish Insider that Piker is “the exact opposite of someone I’d be campaigning with.”

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Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) on Sunday slammed President Trump’s message to Iran earlier in the day, saying he is “insane” and “not a Christian.”

Early Sunday morning, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.”

“There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

Less than two hours later, Greene posted a screenshot of his post to the social platform X and wrote, “On Easter morning, this is what President Trump posted.”

“Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness,” she continued. “I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit.”

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The state of Minnesota is suing the Trump administration for access to investigative materials related to the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the two Minneapolis residents fatally shot earlier this year by federal agents during the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the state.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, argues that state officials were shut out of efforts to gather evidence in the shootings by high-level Trump administration officials. It also claims officials halted any federal investigation into Good’s killing.

Beyond Good and Pretti, the suit also cites the nonfatal shooting of a third Minnesota resident, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, by federal agents.

“These shootings are just three examples of the violent actions committed by federal agents in Minnesota during the Surge,” reads the lawsuit. “Federal agents also carried out illegal stops, sweeps, arrests, and dangerous raids in sensitive public spaces. The Surge created widespread fear among Minnesota residents, both citizens and noncitizens.”

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Robert S. Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and who later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has died. He was 81.

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”

At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau’s mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the Sept. 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush.

The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau’s top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on Mueller and the rest of the federal government: preventing 99 out of 100 terrorist plots wasn’t good enough.

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Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in Miami as part of the ​U.S. Justice Department's investigation into former officials who ‌have previously probed and prosecuted President Donald Trump, CBS News and Axios reported on Thursday, citing sources.

The investigation has produced more than 130 ​subpoenas since cranking up last year, and targets ​top officials who worked under former presidents Barack Obama ⁠and Joe Biden, Axios reported.

The Justice Department did not ​immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative of ​Comey could not be reached. Comey's attorneys declined to comment to CBS News.

Reuters reported late last year federal prosecutors were preparing grand jury subpoenas ​to investigate Obama-era intelligence officials who produced an assessment ​that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election that Trump won.

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