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Trump Media Group Sues Brazilian Supreme Court Justice

By
Madeleine Jackson
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2
O ex-presidente Jair Bolsonaro (PL) concede entrevista e posa para fotografia ao sair do Senado Federal. O ex-presidente participou de uma reunião no gabinete do seu filho Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ). Foto: Roque de Sá/Agência Senado

President Trump’s media company sued a Brazilian Supreme Court justice for allegedly censoring conservative voices on social media.

The unexpected lawsuit came hours after Brazilian Justice Moraes had received an indictment that would force him to decide whether to order the arrest of Jair Bolsonaro, the former Brazilian president and an ally of Trump. The justice is overseeing multiple criminal investigations into Bolsonaro.

The Trump Media & Technology Group — which is majority owned by Mr. Trump and runs his Truth Social site — sued the Brazilian justice, Alexandre de Moraes, in U.S. federal court in Tampa, Fla., on Wednesday morning.

The companies accused Justice Moraes of censoring political discourse in the United States and infringing upon the First Amendment by ordering Rumble to remove the accounts of prominent supporters of Bolsonaro.

The New York Times reports:

The companies argued that those orders could apply to how those accounts appeared in the United States, breaking American law. Mr. Trump’s company has not been subject to Justice Moraes’s orders, but it argued in the lawsuit that it relied on Rumble’s technology and therefore could be harmed if Rumble’s operations were affected.

Justice Moraes has argued that his actions are necessary to protect Brazil from the anti-democratic acts of Mr. Bolsonaro and his supporters. His spokeswoman said that Justice Moraes did not have immediate comment.

In 2023, a mob of Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters raided Brazil’s Supreme Court.

Late last year, a Bolsonaro supporter tried to bomb the Supreme Court but instead killed only himself.

On Tuesday, new details emerged in the indictment of Mr. Bolsonaro showing that, according to Brazilian investigators, the former president and his allies had plotted to assassinate Justice Moraes as part of their bid to hold on to power.

Bolsonaro has denied that he tried to stage a coup or had any knowledge of a plot to kill Justice Moraes.

As part of investigations into attacks against Brazil’s democracy, Justice Moraes has ordered arrests of Mr. Bolsonaro’s allies and the confiscation of the former president’s passport, as well as the suspension of hundreds of social media accounts belonging to his supporters. Last year, Justice Moraes faced off against Elon Musk — and won — blocking Mr. Musk’s social network, X, in Brazil until the billionaire backed down in his refusal to comply with the judge’s orders to suspend accounts.

Disturbing Threat Against Elon Musk Scrawled On NY Overpass: Photos

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Residents in Rochester, New York, noticed an apparent threat against billionaire and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Chair Elon Musk.

    The Daily Wire spoke to two residents who saw the graffiti, photos of which have been posted online. The graffiti reads, “Who will kill Elon?” It was plastered on a 490 off-ramp bridge to Howell Street.

    Barbara Pierce, Director of Bureau of Communications & Special Events for the City of Rochester, told The Daily Wire via email on Thursday that the “offensive graffiti” was removed “as soon as the city became aware of it.”

    The Daily Wire also reached out to the Rochester Police Department and New York State police about the incident, but has yet to receive a response.

    In recent weeks, Democrats have picked up their attacks on Musk, whom they suggest is causing a “constitutional crisis” as he finds waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government.

    This past week, for example, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) called Musk a “d***” who is “harming the American public in an enormous way” and called for Americans to bring “actual weapons to this bar fight.”

    “What I think is really important and what the American public want is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight,” he said on CNN airwaves. “This is an actual fight for democracy, for the future of this country. And it’s important to push back on the chairperson of this committee.”

    Report: Trump Proposes Changes To White House Landscape

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      2

      President Donald Trump is reportedly mulling making significant changes to the White House Rose Garden.

      The New York Times reported that designers have already drafted various options. One of the variables that they are considering is whether to use “limestone or an easily interchangeable hard surface, with the possibility of installing hardwood floors for dancing.”

      White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded to the story by saying that Trump was seeking to spice up the historical structure.

      “The White House has not been given any tender, loving care in many decades, so President Trump is taking necessary steps in order to preserve and restore the greatness and glory of ‘the People’s House,’” he said.

      During his first term in office, First Lady Melania Trump redesigned the Rose Garden. It’s not clear what she thinks about the new plans.

      The Department of the Interior’s National Park Service maintains the White House grounds, including the Rose Garden.

      The report said that Trump also wants to “hang a grand chandelier from the ceiling of the Oval Office” and is thinking about building a ballroom inside the White House.

      Trump Confirms US Military Airstrike Killed Al-Qaeda Official

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      0
      David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

      A member of a group linked to al Qaeda has been killed in a U.S. airstrike.

      On Saturday, U.S. forces “conducted a precision airstrike in Northwest Syria targeting and killing a senior finance and logistics official in the terrorist organization Hurras al-Din (HaD), an Al-Qaeda affiliate,” U.S. Central Command said in a press release.

      CENTCOM said the airstrike was part of its “ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.”

      “We will continue to relentlessly pursue terrorists in order to defend our homeland, and U.S., allied, and partner personnel in the region,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement.

      President Donald Trump congratulated U.S. forces following the mission.

      “US forces conducted a precision airstrike against a member of al-Qaeda in Syria this weekend,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The terrorist leader was working with al-Qaeda across the region.”

      “Congratulations to CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla, and the US warfighters who dealt Justice to another Jihadi threatening America and our allies and partners,” he continued.

      Hurras al-Din was formed in 2018 after the Nusrah Front terror group broke off from Al-Qaeda. The group operates primarily in Syria’s Idlib Province and could have as many as 2,500 members, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.

      White House Issues Statement Clarifying Musk’s Role With DOGE

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      6
      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.

      Retired General Predicts Putin Will ‘Wait Out’ Trump Term Before Final Ukraine Strike

      By
      Madeleine Jackson
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      2
      By President Of Ukraine from Україна - Joint Statement of the fourth Ukraine - Nordic Summit in Reykjavik., CC0, curid=156221560

      Retired U.S. Army Gen. Jack Keane said he suspects Russian President Vladimir Putin will wait for President Trump to leave office before he launches an attack to unseat the Ukrainian government.

      In an interview on Fox News, Keane said he does not think Putin will ever give up his long-term goal of taking over Ukraine, even if he accepts a peace agreement during Trump’s time in office.

      Keane said he thinks Putin is “willing to, at some point, if the deal is OK with him, to accept a peace agreement and a ceasefire.”

      Kremlin.ru, via Wikimedia Commons

      “But he’s not given up on his strategic goal to topple the government in Ukraine and take over the country,” Keane continued, adding, “So, where is he coming from? He’ll wait out President Trump, I suspect, and attack.”

      Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz met with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss an end to the war.

      Asked whether he thinks it will be difficult for Trump “to get the kind of peace” agreement he wants, Keane said in the interview, “No.”

      “I think he can get a peace agreement,” Keane said. “But what I think will happen is … it [is] likely he [Putin] will not take on his goal of toppling the government in Ukraine until after Trump is out of the presidency.”

      Keane nodded to intelligence that suggested Putin anticipated his invasion of Ukraine would happen swiftly and with little resistance. Instead, he encountered a resolute Ukrainian military, backed by a strengthened NATO alliance.

      “Listen, everything is on the line for him. He has strategic failure here. He thought this was going to take place in two to three weeks, that people would capitulate. It did not happen,” Keane said about Putin.

      “And here we are going into a third year,” he continued. “The reality is, his presidency is at stake. And I think also his personal life is at stake if all of this blows up on him.”

      Trump told reporters Sunday that he thinks Putin “wants to stop fighting” and that he is not still aiming to take all of Ukrainian territory.

      Asked about Putin’s territorial ambitions — and whether he thinks Putin wants the whole of Ukraine’s land — Trump said he asked Putin the same question.

      “I think he wants to stop. That was my question to him. Because if he’s going to go on, that would have been a big problem for us, and that would have caused me a big problem, because you just can’t let that happen,” Trump said.

      “I think he wants to end it. And they want to end it fast. Both of them,” Trump continued, noting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “wants to end it too.”

      Dem Congressman Declares ‘All Crashes Are Trump’s Fault’ In Hateful Rant

        By
        Madeleine Jackson
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        5

        Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is facing fierce backlash online after suggesting President Donald Trump is to blame for a small plane crash in Georgia last weekend.

        Swalwell took to social media to declare that Trump has had “more planes crash” in his first month in office than any other U.S. president. He then doubled down on the comment with a blunt statement to Fox News Digital.

        “Trump is President. President Trump is in charge of air safety. All crashes are Trump’s fault,” he said.

        The lawmaker made his initial comment in reaction to a small private plane crash that took place this weekend in Covington, Georgia, which left two people dead.

        Social media users began to pile on immediately, calling out Swalwell for what they saw as an unfair connection to Trump.

        “Are you suggesting the catalysts for those crashes were all caused by policies changed in the last month?” one user wrote.

        “You really do have TDS. Grab some coffee and take a walk,” wrote another user who goes by the name of SouthernRepublicanMomma.

        Georgia’s crash saw a single-engine airplane take off from the Covington Municipal Airport at 11 p.m. on Saturday. Ground control lost communication with the plane roughly 20 minutes later, at which point police officers located the plane crashed near the runway.

        The plane’s two occupants were immediately announced dead at the scene.

        “On February 15, 2025, the Covington Police Department officers responded to the Covington Municipal Airport at approximately 11:21 p.m. after receiving a call from the FAA in reference to a single-engine aircraft that had taken off at approximately 11:00 p.m. There was no further communication from the aircraft after takeoff,” the Covington Police Department said in a statement.

        White House communications director Steven Cheung tore apart Swalwell in a statement reacting to his claim.

        “Swalwell must be taking his orders from Fang Fang or suffering from a severe debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome because there is no other reason anyone with a functioning brain would make that that type of false and disgusting claim. He is a complete disgrace not only as an elected official, but as a human being who has continued to beclown himself,” Cheung said.

        The incident comes in the wake of multiple other plane crashes in recent weeks, the most dramatic being the collision of a helicopter and a commercial airliner in the skies over Washington, D.C. last month.

        Report: Trump Admin. Seeks Permission To Fire Head Of The Office Of Special Counsel

          By
          Madeleine Jackson
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          3
          Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

          On Sunday, the Trump administration filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, aiming to secure permission to fire the head of the federal agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers.

          The emergency appeal, obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday, could likely be the start of a steady stream of court filings by lawyers of President Donald Trump and his administration aimed at reversing lower court rulings that have delayed his priorities for his second term in office.

          The appeal seeks to prevent Hampton Dellinger from resuming his role as the head of the Office of Special Counsel.

          A lower court judge previously temporarily reinstated Dellinger to his position, which he was appointed to by former President Joe Biden. Now, the Department of Justice is calling on the high court to lift the judge’s order.

          Dellinger has argued that by law, he can only be dismissed from his position for job performance problems, which were not cited in an email dismissing him from his post.

          The Trump administration’s petition came hours after an appeals court refused to lift the order on procedural grounds, which was filed last Wednesday and is expected to expire on Feb. 26.

          The case is not expected to be placed on the docket until the Supreme Court returns after the Presidents’ Day holiday weekend. Once filed, the earliest the justices will be able to act will be Tuesday.

          Dellinger sued the Trump administration in D.C. federal court last Monday following his firing on Feb. 7. 

          VP Vance Slams CBS Reporter After Making Ridiculous Holocaust Comment

          By
          Madeleine Jackson
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          1

          CBS News reporter Margaret Brennan is in hot water…

          Vice President JD Vance snapped at Brennan after she claimed that Nazis “weaponized” free speech in order to perpetrate the Holocaust.

          Her remark occurred during a Sunday interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during which she pressed the Trump official over comments made by Vance in Munich earlier this week. Vance criticized European NATO allies on Tuesday for stifling free speech and claimed the enemy of the continent was not Russia or China but rather the “enemy within.”

          Brennan also criticized Vance for visiting with leaders of Germany’s far-right AfD party, stating, “Well, he was standing in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide, and he met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups.”

          Rubio responded, “No, I have to disagree with you.” He added:

          Free speech was not used to conduct a genocide. The genocide was conducted by an authoritarian Nazi regime that happened to also be genocidal because they hated Jews and they hated minorities and they hated those that they had a list of people they hated, but primarily the Jews. There was no free speech in Nazi Germany. There was none. There was also no opposition in Nazi Germany. They were a sole and only party that governed that country. So, that’s not an accurate reflection of history.

          Multiple conservatives and prominent Trump allies slammed Brennan for making the comment following the Sunday interview on Face The Nation. However, Vance responded with a quick response on X mocking Brennan.

          “This is a crazy exchange,” Vance wrote to his followers on Sunday. “Does the media really think the holocaust was caused by free speech?”

          The exchange triggered furious responses online:

          Axios To Use ‘Gulf of America’ In Compliance With Trump Admin.

          By
          Madeleine Jackson
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          1

          Axios announced it will comply with the Trump administration’s decision to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” the “Gulf of America” in its reporting, saying its audience is mostly U.S.-based compared to other media outlets.

          “Our standard is to use ‘Gulf of America (renamed by U.S. from Gulf of Mexico)’ in our reporting because our audience is mostly U.S.-based compared to other publishers with international audiences,” said a statement from Axios released on the social platform X.

          “At the same time, the government should never dictate how any news organization makes editorial decisions. The AP and all news organizations should be free to report as they see fit,” the statement added.

          Axios’s announcement comes a day after the White House said it would limit the Associated Press’ access to the Oval Office and Air Force One over its decision not to use “Gulf of America” in its reporting.

          “The Associated Press continues to ignore the lawful geographic name change of the Gulf of America,” White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich wrote in a post Friday on X.

          In a statement to The Hill Friday, the AP said, “Freedom of speech is a pillar of American democracy and a core value of the American people.”

          “The actions taken to restrict AP’s coverage of presidential events because of how we refer to a geographic location chip away at this important right enshrined in the U.S. Constitution for all Americans,” a spokesperson for the outlet added.

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