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truthout • 2 days ago

Senator Urges Dems to Block All Other Bills Until There’s a War Powers Vote

“Democrats should not just pretend like this is normal,” Sen. Chris Murphy said.

New Republic • 2 days ago

Trump Goes After 2020 Voting Records in Second Swing State

The White House is working to dredge up another election conspiracy with eight months on the clock until midterms.The Trump administration subpoenaed records related to the 2020 presidential election Monday from Maricopa County, Arizona.Arizona Senate President Warren Peterson wrote on X that he had complied with a federal grand jury subpoena to turn over records of the county audit to federal authorities.“The FBI has the records. Any other report is fake news,” Peterson wrote, responding to a post in which Donald Trump said the development was “great!” Peterson is currently running to be Arizona’s attorney general, though his candidacy is reportedly in doubt due to the state’s “zombie laws,” which require candidates to have recently practiced law before they announce their candidacy.Officials in Maricopa County, however, had no idea what Peterson was talking about.Jason Berry, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, told the Phoenix-area radio station KJZZ that the board had not received a subpoena.“Maricopa County runs elections in accordance with the law. We have not received a subpoena at this time but will cooperate if that were to occur,” Berry said.The Maricopa County recorder’s office also said it had not received a subpoena, referring questions back to Peterson.It’s the second state at which the administration has recently taken aim as it continues to sow doubt over Donald Trump’s major political loss. In December, Attorney General Pam Bondi sued Fulton County officials in Georgia, demanding that they turn over “all used and void ballots, stubs of all ballots, signature envelopes, and corresponding envelope digital files.”Weeks later, the FBI raided an elections office outside of Atlanta.The Georgia suit was filed the same day as the DOJ announced legal action against four more states—Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada—in a sweeping national effort to access sensitive voter data. Since Trump first planted the seeds of doubt about the results of the 2020 election, a litany of his allies have continued to tend and water the theory—so much so that within a handful of years, refusing to admit that Trump ever lost to Joe Biden has become a fealty test for MAGA membership.Both Maricopa County and Fulton County have played major roles in Trump’s political conspiracy. But there is no doubt: Trump lost that election by a landslide, coming up short by 38 electoral votes. More evidence that Trump did not win includes the fact that he was not inaugurated in 2021, and did not serve a day as president until he was reelected in 2024.But for anyone still in doubt, know that the theory has been thoroughly debunked by the president’s own appointees. Trump’s last attorney general, Bill Barr, announced in 2022 that despite an intensive, multi-agency investigation, no evidence of widespread fraud had been discovered that supported the president’s wild claims.Yet the theory—and Trump’s vast cadre of yes men—persist. Late last year, Trump granted “full, complete, and unconditional” pardons for dozens of the alleged co-conspirators that helped fuel the scheme, including disgraced New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Boris Epshteyn, John Eastman, Mark Meadows, and 72 others.This story has been updated.

New Republic • 2 days ago

Ousted Republican NTSB Member Rejects White House Story on His Firing

Donald Trump has fired a Republican member of the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, accusing him of misconduct on the job.J. Todd Inman was fired late last week and said he was given no explanation why. On Monday, the White House released a statement accusing him of “inappropriate alcohol use on the job, harassment of staff, misuse of government resources, and failure to attend at least half of NTSB meetings,” saying he was “lawfully removed” due to “highly concerning reports.”“The Trump administration remains committed to maintaining safety and security for Americans in the air and on the ground,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said in a statement.Inman, meanwhile, told The Washington Post that it was all made up.“I categorically deny the false allegations made in the White House statement,” Inman said. “It has become increasingly obvious this action was a political hit job. While not my original intent I look forward to defending my reputation against those responsible with every legal means possible.”Inman didn’t tell the Post why he said his firing was political, but he had represented the NTSB at news conferences since an American Airlines flight crashed in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of Trump’s second term.Last May, Trump fired another member of the NTSB, vice chair Alvin Brown, who was appointed by President Biden. Brown is suing the Trump administration over his ouster, arguing that Trump didn’t have the authority to fire him, even as the Senate confirmed his replacement, John DeLeeuw, last month. The Supreme Court is expected to rule in favor of the Trump administration. Will Inman sue as well?

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Breaking Points • 2 days ago

Jeffrey Sachs: WE ARE IN WORLD WAR

New Republic • 2 days ago

Guess Who’s Helping Anthropic With Its Lawsuit Against Team Trump?

One of the same law firms that President Trump tried and failed to suppress is now representing AI company Anthropic in its lawsuit against the Trump administration.Last year, Trump signed an executive order demanding that government agencies eliminate WilmerHale’s government contracts, their security clearances, and their access federal buildings, on the grounds that they allegedly “rewarded” Robert Mueller by allowing him to remain on their payroll after his investigation into Trump’s connections to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The executive order was ruled unconstitutional in May.Now, that same law firm is helping Anthropic sue the Trump administration for labeling them a “supply risk” after the AI company refused to lift regulations restricting government access to surveillance and unmanned weapons systems.More than a dozen federal agencies are targeted in the lawsuit, including the Departments of Defense, Treasury, State, and Veterans Affairs.“Anthropic was founded based on the belief that AI technologies should be developed and used in a way that maximizes positive outcomes for humanity, and its primary animating principle is that the most capable artificial-intelligence systems should also be the safest and the most responsible. Anthropic brings this suit because the federal government has retaliated against it for expressing that principle,” the lawsuit reads.The lawsuit goes on to cite Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegesth’s statements on Anthropic against them. “When Anthropic held fast to its judgment that Claude cannot safely or reliably be used for autonomous lethal warfare and mass surveillance of Americans, the President directed every federal agency to ‘IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology’—even though the Department of War (Department) had previously agreed to those same conditions,” the suit states. “Hours later, the Secretary of War directed his Department to designate Anthropic a ‘Supply-Chain Risk to National Security,’ and further directed that ‘effective immediately, no contractor, supplier, or partner that does business with the United States military may conduct any commercial activity with Anthropic.’“These actions are unprecedented and unlawful,” the lawsuit adds. “The Constitution does not allow the government to wield its enormous power to punish a company for its protected speech.”In response, the White House has stated that it “will never allow a radical left, woke company to jeopardize our national security by dictating how the greatest and most powerful military in the world operates.”

Jezebel • 2 days ago

Your Pets Might Be Safer Under Markwayne Mullin Than Kristi Noem—But That's About It

Trump's pick to replace Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security is an extremely anti-abortion, anti-trans senator from Oklahoma who once joked about shooting journalists.