TV News LIES

Senate Republicans on Wednesday voted down an attempt to require Donald Trump receive Congress’s permission before continuing the war with Iran, batting aside concerns from Democrats that the campaign is illegal and risks plunging the United States into a prolonged conflict.

The 47-53 vote on a war powers resolution introduced by Virginia Democrat Tim Kaine broke largely along party lines. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to vote against the measure, while Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only member of the Republican majority to support the resolution.

The measure would have forced an end to the US air and naval campaign against Iran and require the president to go to Congress before re-entering the war. Before the vote, Democratic senator Chris Murphy said the resolution was necessary to prevent Trump from repeating in Iran the follies of previous US presidents in Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere.

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The U.S. House Oversight Committee voted March 4 to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify about the Department of Justice's handling of its release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Some members of Congress have expressed frustration and outrage that the Department only released a little more 3 million pages of the 6 million it possesses related to investigations of the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges. Congress voted in December to force the Department to release all of the Epstein files with limited redactions to protect victims and their identities.

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Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) tore into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in a 10-minute tirade criticizing her from everything to her handling of the deaths of two Minnesotans to killing her own dog in a monologue that garnered applause from the audience of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“I’m giving you a performance evaluation here – I’m not looking for a response,” said Tillis, adding that “time after time after time, I’ve been disappointed.”

Tillis, who is retiring at the end of his term next year, accused Noem of holding up federal emergency funding, violating U.S. citizens rights in carrying out immigration enforcement and quashing independent oversight of her department in a move he said would prompt him to renew his hold on DHS nominees.

He faulted her for indiscriminate immigration enforcement.

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The House Ethics Committee is investigating Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) over allegations that she may have engaged in “improper reimbursement practices” and violated House rules.

The committee wrote in a statement on Monday that they had received a referral from the nonpartisan Office of Congressional Conduct (OCC), which reviews allegations of misconduct against members of Congress.

The board of the OCC had written in a report that there is “substantial reason to believe” that Mace had “engaged in improper reimbursement practices,” recommending that the committee further review the allegation. The report alleges that Mace’s requests for reimbursement had exceeded the total of her D.C. property expenses during several months in 2023 and 2024, “amounting to an excess of 9,485.46.”

The chairman and ranking member of the House Ethics Committee wrote in a statement that it had “extended its review of the matter.”

“The Committee notes that the mere fact of conducting further review of a referral, and any mandatory disclosure of such further review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” the statement says

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Former President Bill Clinton denied wrongdoing in his relationship with accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein as House Republicans grilled him on Feb. 27 about the late financier's fundraising, numerous visits to the White House and pictures in Justice Department files.

Clinton, the first former president forced to testify before Congress, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in his opening statement he “had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing.” He dismissed the 20-year-old pictures from the department’s files and Epstein's estate.

“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” Clinton said. “As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing – I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals.”

Upon exiting the session, Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Kentucky said questioning the former president was "very productive" while declining to elaborate.

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The Republican chair of the House Oversight Committee plans to look into NPR's investigation revealing Epstein files related to President Trump are missing from the public record.

Asked if he is concerned about a possible Justice Department cover-up after NPR discovered documents related to an accusation of sexual abuse against President Trump weren't included in the database, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said Oversight Republicans plan to investigate.

"We're looking into the accusation made by the NPR," Comer told reporters during a Thursday press conference ahead of the committee's deposition of former first lady Hillary Clinton. "We don't know the answer to that. We know what the administration says. We're still looking to get a definitive answer on that."

NPR's previous reporting found internal FBI and Justice Department outline documents related to allegations from a woman who, according to documents within the database, claimed that around 1983, when she was around 13 years old, Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to Trump, "who subsequently forced her head down to his exposed penis which she subsequently bit. In response, Trump punched her in the head and kicked her out."

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