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    Supreme Court Responds To Michael Cohen Appeal

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

    The Supreme Court will not get involved.

    On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to revive Michael Cohen’s lawsuit seeking damages for retaliation during his prison sentence.

    Cohen’s lawsuit comes after the former Trump “fixer” began serving his sentence for federal election finance crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Due to health reasons that would be exacerbated by the virus, Cohen’s prison term was furloughed, and he was temporarily sent to home confinement. 

    Officials later ordered him back to prison after he raised issue with a release condition asking him to waive his ability to criticize then-President Trump

    A federal judge ruled to release Cohen again and said the former president’s ex-fixer suffered unconstitutional retaliation for wanting to critique Trump on social media and in a book. However, the judge later dismissed Cohen’s claim for damages over the incident. 

    The Hill reports:

    “As it stands, this case represents the principle that presidents and their subordinates can lock away critics of the executive without consequence,” Cohen wrote in his request for the justices to hear his case.  

    Trump attorney Alina Habba said in the former president’s brief to the court that Cohen’s complaint is “entirely devoid of merit.” She also added a question over whether Cohen’s claim is barred by presidential immunity, which the justices declined to weigh. 

    Cohen testified as a star witness in the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal case against his former boss, which ended in a conviction in May, and took the stand in an earlier civil fraud trial against Trump and his business.  

    In a previous interview with The Hill, Cohen said his appeal to the justices was about deterrence. His experience, he said, was “merely a practice run” for the sweeping retribution Trump has vowed in a potential second term. 

    “Donald has opened up a Pandora’s box for future Trump 2.0s acting in the same autocratic manner,” Cohen said. “This writ of certiorari will be part of the process that would prevent any other U.S. citizen ever from being imprisoned because they refused to waive their First Amendment right or because they express criticism.”  

    The type of relief Cohen sought against Trump, various officials involved and the federal government itself for violating his constitutional rights is known as a Bivens claim. Over the past 44 years, the Supreme Court has turned away a dozen such lawsuits – making the ex-fixer’s request an uphill fight. 

    This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

    President Trump is the only one who stood up for working families, and the DC elite want him destroyed. Kamala is raising over $1 Billion to crush his campaign. Will you chip in $3 before the day ends? — JD Vance

    Canada Threatens To Retaliate Against U.S. If Trump Admin. Imposes Sweeping Tariff

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6

    The premier of a critical region in Canada is threatening to cut off energy and critical oil exports to the U.S. if President-elect Donald Trump implements a tariff on all Canadian products. 

    Trump recently threatened a 25% tariff on all Canadian and Mexican exports in an effort to stop the flow of illegal immigration and drugs coming into the U.S.

    Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, said that he would consider retaliatory measures against the U.S. if the incoming president acted on his promise.

    “We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy – going down to Michigan, going down to New York State and over to Wisconsin,” Ford, who represents a region known for its crude oil production, told reporters. 

    The premier added that other officials in the country are reportedly identifying ways they can hurt U.S. exports if Trump enacts a tariff.

    “Some premiers proactively identified products that their provinces produce and export to the United States and which the U.S. relies on, and which should be considered as part of the Canadian response. This included some critical minerals and metals,” Ford said.

    “Canadians get hurt, but I can assure you one thing: the Americans are going to feel the pain as well, and isn’t that unfortunate?” Ford said.

    Trump has responded to the threats, saying “that’s okay if he does that.”

    “The United States is subsidizing Canada, and we shouldn’t have to do that,” Trump told CNBC at the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. “And we have a great relationship. I have so many friends in Canada, but we shouldn’t have to subsidize a country.”

    However, a Canadian political science professor noted Ford might not be able to unilaterally cut off the province’s energy supply to the U.S.

    “I do not believe Ontario could unilaterally stop electricity exports to the U.S. without Ottawa’s approval. Similarly, Michigan cannot unilaterally stop the flow of western Canadian natural gas to eastern Canada without Washington’s approval,” University of Toronto political science Professor Nelson Wiseman told Now Toronto in response to Ford’s retaliatory threat.

    Harvard Sues Trump Admin. Over Foreign Student Ban

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4
    PaWikiCom, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over its decision to terminate the university’s student visa program. 

    Harvard said the policy will affect more than 7,000 visa holders and is a “blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act,” per its court filing.

    On Thursday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Harvard to be taken off the Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. The order effectively bans Harvard from enrolling international students and forces current ones, who make up roughly a quarter of the school’s student population, to transfer. 

    DHS moved to terminate the program after Harvard allegedly failed to provide it with the extensive behavioral records of student visa holders the department requested. DHS offered Harvard 72 hours on Thursday to come into compliance with the request. 

    As of now, Harvard may no longer enroll foreign students in the 2025–2026 school year, and existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status to reside in the U.S. before the next academic year begins. International students made up 27 percent of Harvard’s student body in the 2024-2025 academic year. 

    The records requested include any footage of protest activity involving students on visas and the disciplinary records of all students on visas in the last five years. 

    Requested records also include footage or documentation of illegal, dangerous or violent activity by student visa holders, any records of threats or the deprivation of rights of other students or university personnel.

    Harvard President Alan Gerber announced the suit in a letter to the Harvard community.

    “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the complaint reads. 

    The administration has launched a multi-front pressure campaign against the school for refusing to bow to its demands for changes to its admissions and hiring policies, as well as getting rid of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and a stronger stance against antisemitism.  

    Last month, the school sued the administration for freezing more than $2 billion in federal funding unless it complies with various demands. 

    Federal Appeals Court Upholds $5 Million Penalty Verdict E. Jean Carroll Against Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    6
    Gavel via Wikimedia Commons Image

    On Monday, a federal appeals court in New York rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s appeal, ordering him to pay $5 million to advice columnist E. Jean Carroll.

    The Hill reported, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded Trump did not sufficiently show any claimed errors affected his rights or warranted a new trial.  

    “On review for abuse of discretion, we conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” the panel wrote in its unsigned opinion. 

    Trump requested a new trial over allegations that the jury heard improper testimony and Trump was wrongly precluded from asking Carroll certain questions during cross-examination. 

    The New York jury found Trump liable last year for sexually abusing Carroll in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and defaming her by denying her story when she came forward during Trump’s first presidency. 

    Steven Cheung a Trump spokesperson set to become his White House communications director, said in a statement that Trump will continue to appeal the verdict.

    “The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,” Cheung said in a statement.

    “We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again,” he added.

    In a separate case, a jury ordered Trump to pay $83.3 million in defamation damages for continuing to deny her story. 

    Unlike many other court cases brought against Trump that have ended since he was re-elected to the presidency, Carroll’s cases continue, with the $83.3 million defamation appeal still looming.

    Report: House Task Force Releases Scathing Assassination Disclosure

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Americans still want answers…

    On Monday, the House Task Force investigating the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania released its initial findings.

    Lack of adequate planning, a narrow field of vision for local snipers, the absence of a unified command post and fragmented communication were among the main findings in the 53-page report that examined how 20-year-old shooter Matthew Crooks was able to climb atop a building with a line of sight to Trump and fire at him. 

    “Although the findings in this report are preliminary, the information obtained during the first phase of the Task Force’s investigation clearly shows a lack of planning and coordination between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners before the rally,” the report said.

    U.S. Secret Service (USSS) personnel at the event “did not give clear guidance” to state and local authorities about how to manage security outside of their hard perimeter, nor was there a central meeting between USSS and the law enforcement agencies supporting them the morning of the rally – two findings presented as key failures in the 51-page report.

    The House Task Force investigating the attempts on Trump’s life is expected to release its final report by Dec. 13.

    Read the interim report in its entirety:

    5d5fdc40-house-task-force-trump-interim-reportDownload

    Crooks’s bullet came within inches of killing the former president and injured his ear. Shots also killed one rally attendee and seriously wounded two others. 

    The latest report also detailed information about Crooks’ autopsy report and the chain of events that led to release of the remains to the Crooks’s family. The Butler County Coroner’s office released the remains after the FBI concurred that no additional evidence was necessary, the report said. 

    The autopsy report found that Crooks died from one gunshot wound to the head, found negative results for alcohol or drugs of abuse, but was positive for antimony, selenium, and lead. Heightened levels of lead could have been due to time spent at the shooting range, the Allegheny County Chief Medical Examiner said.

    The House force is made up of a bipartisan group of lawmakers and has also been assigned to investigate the September apparent assassination attempt on Trump in at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

    “The Task Force will continue to rigorously investigate the July 13 assassination attempt in the coming months,” the report said, adding that it is “in the process of conducting more than 20 transcribed interviews of federal officials and others who may have knowledge relevant to the events of July 13.” 

    This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.

    President Trump is the only one who stood up for working families, and the DC elite want him destroyed. Kamala is raising over $1 Billion to crush his campaign. Will you chip in $3 before the day ends? — JD Vance

    Report: USAID Closes HQ To Staffers Monday As Musk Says Trump Supports Shutting Agency Down

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    1
    UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    A significant development…

    U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staffers said that they tracked over 600 workers who reported getting locked out of the USAID computer systems overnight, according to the Associated Press. People who remained in the system got emails stating that “at the direction of Agency leadership” the headquarters facility “will be closed to Agency personnel on Monday, Feb. 3.”

    Elon Musk, who is spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort, had said during an X spaces conversation that President Donald Trump agreed that the USAID should be shut down.

    Musk indicated that the shut-down process is underway. 

    He said that unlike an apple contaminated by a worm, the agency is “a bowl of worms.”

    This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

    White House Issues Statement Clarifying Musk’s Role With DOGE

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    9
    UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    All eyes are on Elon Musk…

    The White House said Monday that Elon Musk is technically not part of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), even though the tech billionaire is said to be leading its sweeping cost-cutting efforts. 

    Musk is an employee of the “White House Office” and serves as senior advisor to the president, said Joshua Fisher, director of the White House Office of Administration, in a court filing. 

    The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is not an employee of the U.S. DOGE Service or the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization, both of which are separate from the White House Office, according to Fisher. 

    He is also not the U.S. DOGE Service administrator, the head of DOGE as laid out in President Trump’s executive order last month establishing the service. 

    “In his role as a Senior Advisor to the President, Mr. Musk has no greater authority than other senior White House advisors,” Fisher said in his declaration to the court.  

    “Like other senior Whtie House advisors, Mr. Musk has no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself,” he continued. “Mr. Musk can only advise the President and communicate the President’s directives.”

    Fisher compared Musk’s role to Anita Dunn, who served as a senior advisor to former President Biden. 

    The announcement comes as part of a lawsuit brought by 14 states against Musk, Trump and DOGE last week, arguing that the government role of the world’s richest man is unconstitutional because he has not been confirmed by the Senate.  

    “Mr. Musk’s seemingly limitless and unchecked power to strip the government of its workforce and eliminate entire departments with the stroke of a pen or click of a mouse would have been shocking to those who won this country’s independence,” the states wrote.  

    “There is no office of the United States, other than the President, with the full power of the Executive Branch, and the sweeping authority now vested in a single unelected and unconfirmed individual is antithetical to the nation’s entire constitutional structure,” they continued.   

    The states initially asked the court to bar Musk and the DOGE team from taking a wide range of actions, including making changes to government contracts, regulations, personnel or the disbursement of public funds, as well as receiving access to or altering data systems. 

    The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a post on its website says it has found $55 billion in savings through a combination of efforts, including a reduction in the federal workforce.

    It said it estimated it had realized $55 billion in savings by canceling or renegotiating leases and contracts, selling assets, cancelling grants, finding regulatory savings, making programmatic changes to the government and reducing the workforce.

    Other top agencies that DOGE said it had cut contracts from include the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), General Services Administration (GSA), Department of Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

    On Tuesday, the Social Security Administration’s acting leader stepped down from her role over requests from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to access recipient data, according to The Hill.

    Acting Commissioner Michelle King departed from the agency over the weekend after more than 30 years of service. She allegedly refused to provide DOGE staffers with sensitive information.

    Federal Judge Orders Limited DOGE Access To Treasury Payment System

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    10
    UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from obtaining access to certain Treasury Department payment records.

    Treasury officials “will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained within the [Treasury] Bureau of Fiscal Service,” Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a temporary restraining order.

    That program handles an estimated 90% of federal payments. 

    The order comes after the Justice Department on Wednesday agreed in a proposed court order to limit access to the sensitive records to only two “special government employees” within DOGE, who will have read-only permission. Kollar-Kotelly approved the motion in a brief order Thursday.

    Several government employee unions brought suit over who could access the material as part of a government-wide evaluation of programs and systems, led by DOGE. 

    dcd-afra-v-bessentDownload

    The lawsuit claimed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allowed improper access to Elon Musk’s team, potentially exposing personal financial information to unauthorized individuals. 

    Under the order, only Musk ally Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, and Marko Elez – an engineer and former Musk company employee — will continue to have access to Treasury’s Fiscal Service, but they will not be allowed to make any changes to the program. 

    Report: Special Counsel Jack Smith To Resign

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Goodbye and good riddance…

    Special counsel Jack Smith will finish up his work and resign from his position before President-elect Trump is sworn in.

    Smith is aiming to bring to an end his cases against Trump and step down before the presidential inauguration as a way to get ahead of the Republican’s promise to fire him “within two seconds.” 

    Trump has pointed to a Supreme Court immunity ruling from this summer that broadened the criteria for official presidential conduct ineligible for prosecution even after a president is no longer in office.

    Smith has been evaluating how to wind down both the 2020 election interference case and the separate classified documents case before Trump takes office, Fox News reported last week. 

    Longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.

    Smith on Friday filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C., a widely expected move, but one that stops short of dropping the case against him completely. 

    Smith is required under DOJ regulations to submit a report of his findings and an explanation of the charges the prosecutor considered and ultimately filed – even though neither case made it to trial. 

    However, it’s not clear whether Attorney General Merrick Garland would make that report public before the end of President Biden’s term or defer to the incoming Trump administration, according to the Times. 

    Sources close to the matter told the Times that Smith has no intention of dragging his feet, and has informed career prosecutors and FBI agents on his team not directly involved in preparing the report that they can plan their exits in the coming weeks. 

    GOP Congressman Moves To Impeach Judge

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    4

    Georgia Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde formally introduced his articles of impeachment against a Rhode Island judge who previously ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze federal funds. 

    The articles, first shared with Fox News Digital, charge Chief U.S. District Judge John James McConnell Jr. with abuse of power and conflicts of interest, stating he “knowingly politicized and weaponized his judicial position to advance his own political views and beliefs.”  

    If McConnell is found guilty of such charges, the articles read, he should be removed from office. 

    McConnell is currently overseeing a lawsuit brought by 22 states and the District of Columbia that challenges the Trump administration’s move to withhold federal grant funds. After McConnell ordered the administration to comply with a restraining order, the government appealed to the First Circuit – which refused to stay the orders. 

    “The American people overwhelmingly voted for President Trump in November, providing a clear mandate to make our federal government more efficient,” Clyde told Fox News Digital. “Yet Judge McConnell, who stands to benefit from his own injunction, is attempting to unilaterally obstruct the president’s agenda and defy the will of the American people. Judge McConnell’s actions are corrupt, dangerous, and worthy of impeachment.”

    McConnell has also come under fire from Trump supporters and conservatives in recent weeks after a 2021 video resurfaced in which he warned that courts must “stand and enforce the rule of law … against arbitrary and capricious actions by what could be a tyrant or could be whatnot.” 

    The articles cite that video, claiming McConnell “has allowed his personal, political opinions to influence his decisions and rulings,” and that he has demonstrated a “bias that would warp his decision” in the federal freeze case. 

    In a statement, Clyde said “judicial activism” is “the Left’s latest form of lawfare.”

    Clyde’s impeachment resolution follows a similar move by Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who earlier filed articles of impeachment against U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg.

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