TV News LIES

Lawyers for imprisoned British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell are fighting the requested release of 90,000 pages related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell, saying a law used to force the public release of millions of documents is unconstitutional.

The lawyers filed papers late Friday in Manhattan federal court to try to block the release of documents from a since-settled civil defamation lawsuit brought a decade ago by the late Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre against Maxwell. The Justice Department recently asked a judge to lift secrecy requirements on the files.

Maxwell’s attorneys said the Justice Department obtained the documents — otherwise shttps://www.huffpost.com/entry/ghislaine-maxwell-fights-release-epstein-documents_n_699a0c2fe4b050c4ef21c519?origin=home-latest-news-unitubject to secrecy orders — improperly during its criminal probe of Maxwell. They said the documents include transcripts of over 30 depositions and private information regarding financial and sexual matters related to Maxwell and others.

Some records from the year-long exchange of evidence in the lawsuit battle were already released publicly in response to a federal appeals court order.

More...

Conservation and historical organizations sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over National Park Service policies that the groups say erase history and science from America’s national parks.

A lawsuit filed in Boston says orders by Donald Trump and interior secretary Doug Burgum have forced park service staff to remove or censor exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant US history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change.

Separately, LGBTQ+ rights advocates and historic preservationists sued the park service on Tuesday for removing a rainbow Pride flag from the Stonewall national monument, the New York site that commemorates a foundational moment in the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

The changes at exhibits came in response to a Trump executive order “restoring truth and sanity to American history” at the nation’s museums, parks and landmarks. It directed the interior department to ensure those sites do not display elements that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living.” Burgum later directed removal of “improper partisan ideology” from museums, monuments, landmarks and other public exhibits under federal control.

More...

A special education teacher was killed in a car crash in Savannah, Ga., on Monday morning that involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Department of Homeland Security said Linda Davis, 52, died after Oscar Vasquez-Lopez, a 38-year-old man from Guatemala who ICE was trying to arrest, “fled the scene, making a reckless U-turn and running a red light, colliding into a civilian vehicle.”

Although the collision occurred near Herman W. Hesse K-8 School, students were not present as Monday was a federal holiday, the school said.

The Chatham County Police Department said Vasquez-Lopez was in custody and had been charged with reckless driving, driving without a valid license, failure to obey a traffic control device and homicide by vehicle -1st degree.

More...

A growing number of Olympic athletes competing for the U.S. in this month’s Winter Games are expressing discomfort with representing the country under President Trump’s administration, sparking intense pushback from the president’s supporters and Trump himself. 

Trump attacked U.S. athlete Hunter Hess directly after Hess said he was conflicted about competing for Team USA given the country’s political climate.

“It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now. I think it’s a little hard,” Hess, a freestyle skier, told reporters during a recent press conference. “There’s obviously a lot going on that I’m not the biggest fan of, and I think a lot of people aren’t. Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.” 

The president in a Truth Social post hours later called Hess a “real loser” and said it is “very hard to root for someone like this” when watching the games.

Hess’s comments came days after Amber Glenn, an American figure skater, decried the administration’s policies toward people in the LGBTQ community.

More...

At least a half-dozen top officials in the current Trump administration have connections to Jeffrey Epstein, according to an NBC News review of some of the over 3 million documents the Justice Department has released.

The degree to which each individual was connected to Epstein varies significantly, from a single email to years of communications. President Donald Trump, who had a lengthy relationship with Epstein, is mentioned thousands of times in the files. Trump has never been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing connected to Epstein, and has said he parted ways with him in the mid-2000s because he was a “creep.” He has also denied any wrongdoing.

During a testy oversight hearing on Wednesday. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., pressed Attorney General Pam Bondi on whether any current administration officials have been questioned by the Justice Department about their ties to Epstein.

"I'm stunned that you want to continue talking about Epstein," Bondi replied while sidestepping the question.

In a post on Truth Social on Thursday, Trump praised Bondi's appearance at the Senate hearing and claimed that the files provide "conclusively" that he "has been 100% exonerated."

Some officials from previous Democratic administrations have appeared in the files — including former President Bill Clinton, his former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and former Obama White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler.

More...

New Jersey progressive candidate is the projected winner of the Democratic nomination in the race for Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s (D) former House seat, Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) announced Friday.

Her closest rival, former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), conceded the race on Tuesday.

Mejia declared victory hours later, thanking supporters and pledging to represent her district’s interests in Congress if she sails through the general election in April.

“People will say that this district is not the kind of district in which a progressive or a lefty could win. But it’s not about left-right. It’s about right and wrong,” she told supporters. The director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, Mejia was the most high-profile progressive candidate in the race, having scored endorsements from Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).

Her apparent victory in the primary sets her up as the favored candidate in the April general election in a district that voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 9 points in 2024. It’s the latest boost for the party’s left flank and represents a stunning upset against Malinowski, who outraised her and had a higher name ID in the state by virtue of his previous two terms in Congress, ending in 2023.

More...