{"id":840979,"date":"2025-04-14T16:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T21:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/14\/mike-johnson-has-terrifying-threat-for-courts-that-rule-against-trump\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T16:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T21:12:10","slug":"mike-johnson-has-terrifying-threat-for-courts-that-rule-against-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/14\/mike-johnson-has-terrifying-threat-for-courts-that-rule-against-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Johnson Has Terrifying Threat for Courts That Rule Against Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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House Speaker Mike Johnson threatened Tuesday to outright eliminate district courts where judges rule against Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

During a press conference, Johnson discussed how Congress was \u201cworking through\u201d a \u201cnatural tension\u201d between the branches of government, as courts across the nation have issued injunctions blocking a series of the Trump administration\u2019s questionable actions.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Most recently, Trump and several members of his administration have attacked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, who on Monday <\/span>refused<\/a> to lift his injunction blocking the administration\u2019s expedited deportations under the Alien Enemies Act.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson issued a sinister warning that courts that stood against the president could see themselves wiped off the map.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have authority over the federal courts, as you know. We can, we can eliminate an entire district court. We have power of funding over the courts, and all these other things,\u201d Johnson <\/span>said<\/a>. \u201cBut, um, desperate times call for desperate measures, and Congress is going to act.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Johnson later clarified that he was making a point about the \u201cbroad authority\u201d of Congress over the \u201ccreation, maintenance and the governance\u201d of the courts. Congress <\/span>eliminated<\/a> two federal courts as recently as 1982, erecting two others.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson\u2019s threat is both extreme and unlikely. Passing legislation defunding the courts now would require amazing cooperation among the Republicans\u2019 narrow majority in the House\u2014as well as total unanimity among Senate Republicans, who would need to convince seven Democrats to join them. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Johnson also said that the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee was looking at alternative legislative moves, including his \u201cfavorite,\u201d a <\/span>bill<\/a> from Representative Darrell Issa to \u201climit the scope of federal injunctions.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The bill would restrict the ability of federal judges to \u201cabuse the system,\u201d as Johnson put it, by preventing them from imposing nationwide injunctions\u2014though that\u2019s not quite abusing the system so much as using checks and balances the way they were designed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this month, an <\/span>amendment<\/a> was added to the bill that would allow broad orders brought by multiple states to stand in some instances, if they were heard and approved by a three-judge district court panel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more about Trump\u2019s legal battles:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Trump administration is claiming that it\u2019s made billions off its visa \u201cgold card\u201d program\u2014even though the pay-to-play immigration alternative doesn\u2019t exist yet.<\/p>\n

Despite centering his campaign and presidency around deporting immigrants\u2014documented or not\u2014and limiting admission into the country, last month, Donald Trump pitched giving rich foreigners a new pathway to citizenship. The initiative, which the president has suggested calling the \u201c<\/span>Trump card<\/a>,\u201d would replace the EB-5 visa program.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Speaking with the <\/span>All In<\/i> podcast<\/a> last week, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed that the administration had made $5 billion by selling the EB-5 visa replacement for $5 million a pop.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday I sold a thousand,\u201d Lutnick said, saying that the program would launch in a couple of weeks and that Elon Musk was currently working on software to handle applications for the pricy legal papers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lutnick explained that American billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson was the brains behind the visa replacement, sharing the details of the \u201cgold card\u201d with Trump over the phone. Since the card does not actually exist yet, Lutnick\u2019s claim (if true) means that people are willing to pay Trump $5 million a pop for little more than a promise.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But Lutnick\u2019s blank explanation for the gold card came with a casual, dual warning for green card recipients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have a green card, which used to be a green card now a go-card, you\u2019re a permanent resident of America. You can be a citizen, but you don\u2019t have to be, and none of them are going to choose to be,\u201d Lutnick said, completely fabricating the last point.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have the right to be an American, as long as they\u2019re good people, and they\u2019re vetted,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can always take it away if they\u2019re evil or mean or bad or something.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Some green card holders, including Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, have already been forcibly detained and had their green cards canceled by the Department of Homeland Security after they dared to protest the actions of the U.S. government. Others, like 21-year-old <\/span>Yunseo Chung<\/a>, are still evading ICE\u2019s deportation efforts despite being legal permanent residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is, if I was not American, and I lived in any other country, I would buy six\u2014one for me, one for my wife, one for my four kids\u2014because God forbid something happens, I want to be able to go to America and I want to have the right to go to the airport to go to America,\u201d Lutnick said of the gold card, plainly restricting the terms that used to be available to all refugees seeking shelter in the U.S. to just the ultrawealthy denizens of the world. \u201cI don\u2019t want to hear that I can\u2019t come here when there\u2019s a horrible war, a horrible whatever.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics of Trump\u2019s \u201cgold card\u201d program have claimed that the new visa is yet another sign that Trump is willing to sell American democracy to the \u201c<\/span>highest bidder<\/a>\u201d and would allow America\u2019s longtime adversaries\u2014including Russian oligarchs\u2014to effectively buy their way into the country.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more about the gold cards:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Trump administration plans to freeze millions of dollars in grants to family planning organizations in order to investigate whether the money went to diversity initiatives. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal <\/i><\/span>reports<\/span><\/a> that $120 million in funds set to go to organizations like Planned Parenthood this year is on hold, citing unnamed sources. Pregnancy testing, providing contraception, treating sexually transmitted infections, and infertility evaluation and counseling are among the services threatened by the freeze. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Department of Health and Human Services is reviewing recipients of the grants to comply with President Trump\u2019s executive orders prohibiting the funding of anything related to <\/span>diversity, equity, and inclusion<\/span><\/a>, a spokesperson for the agency said. The funds are distributed under HHS\u2019s Title X program, and $120 million amounts to about half of the funds available to the program for this year. <\/span><\/p>\n

Under the program, about four million people receive free or reduced services at a network of about 4,000 clinics. Planned Parenthood clinics in about a dozen states would have received $20 million under the program. HHS could fully rescind those grants or redistribute them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump-Vance-Musk administration wants to shut down Planned Parenthood health centers by any means necessary, and they\u2019ll end people\u2019s access to birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and more to do it,\u201d Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told the <\/span>Journal<\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Conservatives have long fought to defund Planned Parenthood due to its abortion advocacy, despite no federal funds being used for the health procedure given that federal law already prohibits taxpayer funds from going to abortions. Vice President JD Vance said during the 2024 presidential campaign that Trump would <\/span>halt funding<\/span><\/a> for the organization if elected, and it looks like this is an early attempt to begin that process.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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More on government spending:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Trump administration\u2019s deny, deny, deny tactic to brush off its Signal chat scandal about airstriking another country is starting to make its own officials look wildly uninformed.<\/p>\n

Members of Trump\u2019s Cabinet accidentally added The Atlantic<\/i>\u2019s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a Signal chat regarding sensitive details<\/a> of a plan to bomb Houthis in Yemen earlier this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And during a prescheduled Senate hearing Tuesday to discuss national security threats, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard\u2019s repeated efforts to shirk the classified label only made the intelligence leader appear increasingly uninformed or blind to the core principles of her job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Senator Angus King torched Gabbard for conducting such sensitive business on an unofficial channel via a private company, strongly disagreeing with the national intelligence leader\u2019s definition of classified information.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSecretary Hegseth put into this group text a detailed operation plan, including targets, the weapons we were going to be using, attack sequences, and timing, and yet you\u2019ve testified that nothing in that chain was classified. Wouldn\u2019t that be classified?\u201d <\/span>asked<\/a> King, referring to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. \u201cWhat if that had been made public that morning, before the attack took place?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But Gabbard opted to dodge the question.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSenator, I can attest to the fact there were no classified or intelligence equities that were included in that chat at any time,\u201d Gabbard said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo the attack sequencing, and timing, and weapons, and targets, you don\u2019t consider should have been classified?\u201d King pressed.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI defer to the secretary of defense and the National Security Council,\u201d Gabbard answered.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you\u2019re the head of the intelligence community,\u201d King scoffed. \u201cYou\u2019re supposed to know about classifications.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

King then argued that if the information is not classified, the entire text thread should be released to the American public so that they could draw their own conclusions about the Trump administration\u2019s behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In another <\/span>heated exchange<\/a> with Senator Mark Kelly, Gabbard refused to say that details regarding a potential strike on another country would constitute classified information. Instead, CIA Director John Ratcliffe threw Gabbard under the bus, capitulating that a \u201cpre-decisional strike deliberation\u201d should be conducted through \u201cclassified channels.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Continuing to deny that the chat ever took place\u2014or that a journalist that Trump officials have derided as \u201c<\/span>deceitful and highly discredited<\/a>\u201d was accidentally sent sensitive details\u2014won\u2019t do the administration any good. A spokesperson for the National Security Council, Brian Hughes, already confirmed to Goldberg that the chat was real.<\/span><\/p>\n

The monumental slipup was a horrific omen for U.S. national security, whose weakest link is apparently a crew of Cabinet members who can\u2019t accomplish the basic due diligence of double-checking who they\u2019re adding to a group chat hosted by a private company.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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CIA Director John Ratcliffe flailed Tuesday when asked one simple question about the Trump administration\u2019s major national security scandal. <\/p>\n

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Ratcliffe and other intelligence officials faced tough questions about a Signal chat Cabinet members used to discuss sensitive details <\/a>of a plan to bomb Houthis in Yemen earlier this month\u2014which accidentally included The Atlantic<\/i>\u2019s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Unlike the <\/span>more reticent<\/a> Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Ratcliffe dove straight off a sinking ship and readily admitted to participating in the group chat. He insisted that the CIA was permitted to use Signal. <\/span><\/p>\n

But Ratcliffe crumbled when asked a straightforward question by Senator Jon Ossoff. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDirector Ratcliffe, this was a huge mistake, correct?\u201d the Georgia Democrat <\/span>asked<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There was a silence before Ratcliffe responded, shaking his head. \u201cNo,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

There was another long silence in the chamber as Ratcliffe\u2019s answer started to sink in. It seemed Ratcliffe wanted so badly not to be in trouble that, somehow, including a journalist in sensitive discussions of strike plans wasn\u2019t even a mistake? At once, Ossoff continued, and Ratcliffe attempted to make sense of his unbelievably poor response.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA national political rep\u2014no, no you hold on,\u201d Ossoff said, over Ratcliffe\u2019s pleas of, \u201cHold on, let me answer!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNo, no Director Ratcliffe, I asked a simple yes or no question, and now you hold on,\u201d Ossoff said. \u201cA national political reporter was made privy to sensitive information about imminent military operations against a foreign terrorist organization, and that wasn\u2019t a huge mistake? That wasn\u2019t a huge mistake?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As Ossoff spoke, Ratcliffe continued to limply defend himself. \u201cYou can characterize it how you want,\u201d Ratcliffe said of the \u201cinadvertent mistake of adding a reporter.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that they characterized it as a mistake,\u201d Ratcliffe finally said, defeated. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis is an embarrassment. This is utterly unprofessional. There\u2019s been no apology. There has been no recognition of the gravity of this error. And by the way, we will get the full transcript of this chain, and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content,\u201d Ossoff said. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Ossoff: This was a huge a mistake correct? <\/p>\n

Ratcliffe: No <\/p>\n

Ossoff: This is an embarrassment. We will get the full transcript of this chain and your testimony will be measured carefully against its content pic.twitter.com\/Ue0FdwT0bF<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2014 Acyn (@Acyn) March 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

During Thursday\u2019s hearing, Gabbard insisted that there had been no classified information sent in the group chat, though Goldberg reported that there had been information that, if \u201cread by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command\u2019s area of responsibility.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Read more about the group chat:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Senator Michael Bennet and CIA Director John Ratcliffe got into an intense <\/span>back-and-forth<\/span><\/a> over how exactly the editor in chief of <\/span>The Atlantic<\/i> <\/span>got added to a Signal chat in which top defense leaders were debating an attack on the Houthis in Yemen.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPlease answer the question, don\u2019t \u2026 insult the intelligence of the American people,\u201d Bennet said at a Senate hearing on security threats on Tuesday. \u201cDid [Goldberg] invite himself to the Signal thread?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t know how he was invited, but clearly\u2014\u201d Ratcliffe said before being interrupted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cClearly it was?\u201d Bennet said. \u201cFinish your sentence please.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cClearly he was added to the Signal group, your question is\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cSo you don\u2019t know that the president\u2019s national security adviser invited [Goldberg] to join the Signal thread? Everybody in America knows that. Does the CIA director not know that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen conflicting reports about who added the reporter to the Signal messaging group,\u201d Ratfcliffe waffled.<\/span><\/p>\n

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BENNET: Don’t insult the intelligence of the American people. Did Goldberg invite himself to the Signal thread?<\/p>\n

RATCLIFFE: I don’t know how he was invited. I’ve seen conflicting reports.<\/p>\n

BENNET: You’re the CIA director! Why didn’t you call out that he was present on the thread?\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/m8WgwdiygL<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2014 Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 25, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cYou think that it\u2019s perfectly appropriate that there was a reporter added\u2014especially one that the secretary of defense says is \u2018deceitful, highly discredited, a so-called journalist who\u2019s made a profession of peddling hoaxes over and over again\u2019\u2014is your testimony that it was appropriate that he was added to this Signal thread?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNo, of course not,\u201d Ratcliffe replied.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did you not\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow hold on Senator, you are mischaracterizing my testimony\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou answered the question, let me ask you. When he was added to the thread\u2014you\u2019re the CIA director! Why didn\u2019t you call out that he was present on the Signal thread?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if you use Signal messaging app\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do! Not for classified information. Not for targeting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWell neither do, I, Senator, neither do I, Senator.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWell that\u2019s what your testimony is today!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt absolutely is not, Senator, were you not listening at the beginning when I said that I was using it as permitted, and it is permissible to use.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Ratcliffe went on to insist that the contents of the Signal were not classified\u2014which is hard to believe given the country\u2019s leaders were discussing attack plans on a privately owned third-party messaging app that is <\/span>not <\/span>approved for defense officials to use. But apparently this is the story the Trump administration is <\/span>going with<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth\u2019s <\/span>ill-advised Signal chat<\/span><\/a> planning an attack on Yemen went against a Pentagon warning from last week, and even Department of Defense regulations.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to NPR, a department-wide email went out last week <\/span>warning<\/span><\/a> everyone in the DOD that a vulnerability was detected in the Signal messaging app, which Hegseth, <\/span>along with several other administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance,<\/span> used to discuss bombing Houthi targets in Yemen.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Specifically, the email <\/span>stated<\/span><\/a> that \u201cRussian professional hacking groups are employing the \u2018linked devices\u2019 features to spy on encrypted conversations,\u201d and noted that Google identified Russian hacking groups \u201ctargeting Signal Messenger to spy on persons of interest.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As head of the DOD, Hegseth would have undoubtedly received that email. Even if he missed it, or habitually lets his work emails pile up, he should have known that <\/span>using Signal<\/span><\/a> for government business is an explicit violation of DOD regulations. This raises the question as to whether Hegseth and other officials were using Signal to avoid <\/span>leaving records<\/span><\/a> of their communications.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnmanaged \u2018messaging apps,\u2019 including any app with a chat feature, regardless of the primary function, are not authorized to access, transmit, process non-public DoD information. This includes but is not limited to messaging, gaming, and social media apps. (i.e., iMessage, WhatsApps, Signal),\u201d a 2023 department <\/span>memo<\/a><\/span> states.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Will Hegseth, or any of the other senior government officials in the chat group, who include Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and national security adviser <\/span>Mike Waltz<\/span><\/a>, face any accountability for using Signal to conduct national security operations, let alone any government business? Aside from violating DOD regulations, the chat may likely have been illegal.
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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard absolutely\u2014and accidentally\u2014shredded Donald Trump\u2019s phony reason for placing steep tariffs on Canada. <\/p>\n

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday, Gabbard presented the <\/span>Annual Threat Assessment<\/a>, or ATA, about the dangers state and nonstate actors pose to the United States. In her opening statement, Gabbard emphasized the presence of foreign cartels and illicit drug trafficking as the most dire threat to national security\u2014but notably didn\u2019t mention Canada at all. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Canada\u2019s absence in the report presents a stark contradiction to the Trump administration\u2019s insistence that drug trafficking across the northern border presents a major threat to Americans. Trump has cited this excuse as part of his rationale for levying <\/span>25 percent<\/a> tariffs on Canadian exports. <\/span><\/p>\n

Senator Martin Heinrich <\/span>asked<\/a> Gabbard to explain why she hadn\u2019t mentioned Canada in her report. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIs the [Intelligence Community] wrong in its omission of Canada as a source of illicit fentanyl in the ATA? I was surprised, given some of the rhetoric, that there is no mention of Canada in the ATA,\u201d the New Mexico Democrat pressed. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cSenator, the focus in my opening and the ATA was really to focus on the most extreme threats in that area. And our assessment is that the most extreme threat related to fentanyl continues to come from and through Mexico,\u201d Gabbard replied. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the president has stated that the fentanyl coming through Canada is massive, and actually said it was an \u201c<\/span>unusual and extraordinary<\/a> threat,\u201d and that was the language that was used to justify putting tariffs on Canada,\u201d Heinrich said. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to reconcile those two issues. Is it an \u201cunusual and extraordinary threat,\u201d or is it a minor threat that doesn\u2019t even merit mention in the Annual Threat Assessment?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Gabbard said she couldn\u2019t speak to the \u201cspecifics\u201d of the threat posed by Canadian fentanyl trafficking.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Heinrich assured her that it accounted for \u201cless than 1 percent\u201d of the fentanyl seized by the U.S. government. \u201cBut if you have different information, I would very much welcome that,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Trump administration has repeatedly referred to a terrifying 2,000 percent increase in drug trafficking over the U.S.-Canada border in the last year. But the reality is much less thrilling. <\/span><\/p>\n

In 2023, only two pounds of fentanyl were seized at the northern border, and a total of 43 pounds of fentanyl were seized in 2024, according to <\/span>U.S. Customs and Border Protection<\/a>. As one NBC News reporter <\/span>pointed out<\/a>, that\u2019s still \u201cless than a carry-on suitcase.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Trump\u2019s border czar just confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is detaining innocent people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tom Homan was <\/span>asked<\/span><\/a> on Fox Business Tuesday morning about whether ICE would be providing the city of Boston with information regarding the <\/span>370 people<\/span><\/a> it said it arrested over the last week in the city.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cTom, will you share information with the mayor on those arrested?\u201d the host asked Homan.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe never hide anything. I can tell you that their city\u2019s safer.\u2026 It\u2019s safer now because [of the] actions of ICE.\u2026 We arrested 370 illegal aliens in Boston and the surrounding counties, not just Boston,\u201d Homan said. \u201cMajority of them were criminals. We had, you know, numerous collateral arrests. And I\u2019ve said it before on this show and I\u2019ll keep sayin\u2019 it: Collateral arrests are gon\u2019 be \u2026 people who aren\u2019t criminals that are found when we\u2019re lookin\u2019 for the criminal are gonna be taken into custody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a significant admission that tracks well with the administration\u2019s recent detainments: indiscriminate kidnappings and extraditions of hundreds of Latino men on shaky allegations of <\/span>gang tattoos<\/span><\/a>. Trump always knew his massive criminal deportation crackdown promises were <\/span>overambitious<\/span><\/a>, so he\u2019s drawing innocent people into the crossfire as he alleges all of ICE\u2019s targets are rapists and terrorists\u2014unsubstantiated claims that none of the detainees can defend because they won\u2019t get a day in court.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Time will only tell who starts to get classified as a \u201ccollateral arrest\u201d going forward.
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Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard refused Tuesday to admit to her involvement in a major national security scandal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump administration officials used a Signal chat to discuss sensitive details<\/a> of a plan to bomb Houthis in Yemen earlier this month\u2014and accidentally added The Atlantic<\/i>\u2019s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to join.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gabbard, who recently <\/span>railed against<\/a> leaks from the intelligence community, was reportedly one of the many high-ranking Cabinet officials in the group chat who lacked the basic due diligence to check the members of the group before spouting off about war plans.<\/span><\/p>\n

During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing Tuesday about global threats to the United States, Gabbard <\/span>flatly refused<\/a> to answer questions about her own role in threatening national security.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDirector Gabbard, did you participate in the group chat with the secretary of defense and other Trump senior officials discussing the Yemen war plans?\u201d Senator Mark Warner asked.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Gabbard refused to answer. \u201cUh, Senator I don\u2019t want to get into the specifics\u2014\u201d she replied, before being cut off by Warner.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Virginia Democrat continued to press Gabbard to answer. \u201cYou were not \u2018TG\u2019 on this group chat?\u201d he asked, referring to the Signal screen name. Gabbard continued to insist she would not \u201cget into specifics.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy aren\u2019t you gonna get into the specifics? Is this\u2014is it because it\u2019s all classified?\u201d Warner asked.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBecause this is currently under review by the National Security Council,\u201d Gabbard said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it\u2019s all classified? If it\u2019s not classified, share the texts now,\u201d Warner said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Warner then turned to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who <\/span>readily admitted<\/a> to participating in the Signal group chat, claiming that its use was permitted under a Biden-era policy and insisted the platform was considered safe for use at the CIA, as long as the decisions made within the chat were recorded formally. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Warner moved his attention back to Gabbard, asking whether she had requested a sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIF, to discuss the strike plans.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no classified material that was shared in that Signal chat,\u201d Gabbard <\/span>said<\/a>, suddenly more forthcoming.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her statement echoed that of White House, which <\/span>claimed<\/a> that not only were no classified materials shared but that no war plans were discussed. Much of the White House\u2019s statement was false, and it also contradicted the National Security Council\u2019s own prior statement confirming the legitimacy of the chat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cSo, if there was no classified material, share it with the committee! You can\u2019t have it both ways! These are important jobs! This is our national security,\u201d Warner said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBobbing and weaving and trying to, you know, filibuster your answer\u2014so please answer the question,\u201d Warner said. \u201cIf this was a rank-and-file intelligence officer who did this kind of careless behavior, what would you do with them?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSenator, I\u2019ll reiterate there was no classified material in that Signal\u2014\u201d Gabbard said, before being cut off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\u201cAnd if there\u2019s no classified materials, share! And then if there\u2019s no classified materials, then answer\u2014you can\u2019t even answer the question whether you were on the chat,\u201d Warner said, visibly frustrated.<\/span><\/p>\n

He asked Gabbard what she planned to do if the information was, in fact, classified. She emphasized that there was a difference between the \u201cinadvertent release\u201d and \u201cmalicious leaks\u201d of classified information, before restating that there was no classified material in the chat.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Read more about the group chat:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Edith Olmsted
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Speaker Mike Johnson threatened Tuesday to outright eliminate district courts where judges rule against Donald Trump. During a press conference, Johnson discussed how Congress was \u201cworking through\u201d a \u201cnatural tension\u201d between the branches of government, as courts across the nation have issued injunctions blocking a series of the Trump administration\u2019s questionable actions. Most recently<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":840980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[712,2304],"tags":[6782,9912],"class_list":{"0":"post-840979","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-johnson","8":"category-terrifying","9":"tag-johnson","10":"tag-terrifying"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=840979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}