TV News LIES

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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A global campaign in support of captive Palestinians has urged the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to immediately resume independent visits to Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, warning that Israel has yet to implement a Supreme Court ruling overturning its ban on humanitarian access.

The Red Ribbons campaign emerged last year as people started wearning red ribbons in support of Palestinian captives held in Israeli prisons at protests from New York to London.

In a statement, it called on the ICRC to “take immediate humanitarian action to ensure the practical implementation of the Israeli Supreme Court's ruling of 3 June 2026, which revoked the blanket prohibition on ICRC visits to Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli custody.”

An open letter sent last week also urged the Red Cross to “restore regular, meaningful and independent access to Palestinian hostages and prisoners in accordance with international humanitarian law and the ICRC's own established standards for detention visits.”

Israel’s Supreme Court unanimously struck down the ban on 3 June, ruling that the government had violated Israeli and international law and failed to prMore...ovide a legal basis for blocking visits since October 2023.

The rules bar visits to several categories of detainees, limit the ICRC to one visit every three months, and allow it to request meetings with no more than five prisoners.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky honored soldiers, medics, energy workers and other civilians with state awards on Ukrainian Statehood Day, personally presenting the Order of the “Golden Star” to the mother of a fallen Hero of Ukraine who received the title posthumously.

Zelensky announced the ceremony in a statement on Wednesday, listing former Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, First Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal, French Ambassador to Ukraine Gaël Veyssière, historian Natalia Yakovenko, writer and serviceman Illarion Pavliuk, and publisher Anton Martynov among those decorated.

“On the occasion of Ukrainian Statehood Day, I honored our people whose work helps Ukraine hold its ground and preserve our independMore...ence,”  Zelensky said, adding that “Ukraine stands on the people who defend, rescue, rebuild, and work for it every day.”

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