TV News LIES

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has defended his decision to dismiss the country’s popular defence minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, and confirmed reports that relations had broken down between the ministry and the country’s top army leadership.

Speaking at a press conference in Kyiv with the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, Zelenskyy said there had been a “challenging dialogue” between Fedorov – widely seen as a reformist and moderniser – and the military’s commander in chief, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi.

“I would very much like to see unity. The sides have not found it. And the problem lies not only with the sides, but with me as well,” Zelenskyy said. “But things are as they are. And in such a situation, you have a choice: either one side or the other.”

He has appointed the acting head of Ukraine’s security service, Yevhenii Khmara, as acting defence minister and asked parliament to approve him in the position.

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Donald Trump fired the new top federal prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district, highlighting tensions between the courts and the president over the powerful positions.

Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, was sworn in as US attorney before 8am at the US courthouse in downtown Seattle. In a phone interview, he said he then went to the US attorney’s office and asked to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, whose 120-day interim term in the position ended in February.

As he waited in a lobby, Rogoff said, he received an email from the Trump administration informing him he had been removed from the position. He is consulting with other lawyers about suing over his firing, he said.

Presidents normally appoint US attorneys, the top federal prosecutors in each judicial district. The positions require Senate confirmation, except in temporary appointments. When temporary appointments expire before a nominee is confirmed, the judges in a judicial district can name a US attorney.

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Liz Oyer, a former pardon attorney, condemned Todd Blanche, Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, over his Wednesday testimony to the Senate judiciary committee. Blanche fired Oyer after she refused to recommend restoring firearms rights to the actor and Trump ally Mel Gibson, who was previously convicted of domestic violence.

“I declined to rubber-stamp a political favor for a friend of the president, and it cost me my job,” the former US pardon attorney told the committee on the second day of Blanche’s confirmation hearing.

Blanche said on Wednesday that Oyer’s recommendation last year did not lead to her termination. “The decisions that she had made as pardon attorney in the weeks and months leading up to the end of President Biden’s term were completely inconsistent with President Trump’s authority,” Blanche said.

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Several major news broadcasters will not carry President Trump’s speech on Thursday evening, spokespeople for these networks confirmed. 

ABC News, NBC News and CNN will carry the president’s remarks on separate streaming platforms or editorial live updates.

Trump has teased “big news” ahead of this speech, in which he is expected to address his previous unsubstantiated claims of widespread election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to former President Joe Biden. 

A spokesperson for CNN said that the network will monitor Trump’s remarks as a “news event,” coupled with analysis and commentary from experts in elections, intelligence and the FBI.

“A live feed of the speech, alongside analysis and expert commentary, will be available on CNN-dot-com and available on CNN’s All Access streaming platform,” the spokesperson noted.

White House officials and Republican lawmakers were quick to criticize the networks’ decision. 

“Cowards. NBC and ABC don’t want you to hear the truth. All they want to do is hide the facts from YOU,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote in a social media post ahead of Trump’s speech.

“Tune in @WhiteHouse at 9:00pm EDT, where we always get bigger ratings than any of the networks,” he continued.

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A survivor of Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operation said that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche behaved in a "condescending" manner during his meeting with her and other survivors.

The meeting came as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) made meeting with Epstein survivors a prerequisite for his vote to confirm Blanche, the deputy attorney general and President Donald Trump's former personal attorney.

Lara Blume McGee described the meeting to The Independent in a text message on Thursday evening.

"Today, Epstein survivors confronted Todd Blanche — and he treated it like a perfunctory audition for votes, not accountability," Blume McGee said.

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Arab diplomats familiar with the discussions said regional governments increasingly view Netanyahu as an impediment to Trump's diplomatic ambitions in the Middle East.

Several Arab leaders have privately urged US President Donald Trump to reconsider his support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli public broadcaster KAN News reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the leaders described Netanyahu and his government as "an obstacle to realizing his vision in the region."

Additionally, Arab diplomats familiar with the discussions said regional governments increasingly view Netanyahu as an impediment to Trump's diplomatic ambitions in the Middle East, left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

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Catastrophic flash floods in Texas have killed two people and forced hundreds of rescues in areas still reeling from devastating floods a year ago, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday.

Rescuers aboard boats and helicopters have saved more than 200 people, including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Abbott said.

The governor said the hardest-hit areas are expecting more rain and are not out of danger yet.

After days of pounding rain, the National Weather Service said a “large and deadly flood wave” barreled down the same river wrecked by flash floods last summer when two dozen children and counselors were killed at Camp Mystic.

Much like last year, the floods came in the middle of the night. But this time some residents in the Texas Hill Country said they received more warnings.

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The Israeli government announced on Tuesday that it had approved a budget of approximately 1.3bn shekels ($434m) to fund the establishment of 34 new settlements in the occupied West Bank.

According to Israeli news outlet Ynet, the decision was made by the security cabinet in June but kept under wraps over concerns about the US response.

The cabinet had separately approved the establishment of the 34 settlements in March, but the decision was not publicly announced until Tuesday.

The latest approval brings the number of settlements authorised under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's current government to 104 since it took office in late 2022, Ynet reported.

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