TV News LIES

President Trump has pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of corruption-related crimes, including trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat vacated by former President Barack Obama.

Blagojevich served as the state's governor from 2003-'09. It was a political saga toward the end of his time in office.

In 2008, federal prosecutors accused Blagojevich of turning Illinois' government into a moneymaking operation for himself by trying to, among other things, shake down a children's hospital and racetrack owners. When prosecutors charged Blagojevich with corruption over the Senate seat, they presented as evidence a profanity-filled telephone conversation he had that was secretly recorded by the FBI.

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A federal judge extended indefinitely the deadline for government workers to accept a government buyout, as a lawsuit to block the offer continues in court.

U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole heard arguments Monday over the legality of the offer, in which the Office of Personnel Management has pledged eight months of pay and benefits for those wishing to leave the federal service.

It’s O’Toole’s second extension for employees to take the offer, making a ruling just hours ahead of the original Thursday deadline to punt the timeline for taking the deal.

A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration to comply with his order to unfreeze federal grants, after attorneys general for several Democratic states claimed the directive was not being fulfilled.

In a short order Monday, U.S. District Judge John McConnell directed the Trump administration to “immediately” end any federal funding pause until he decides whether to indefinitely block the freeze while litigation is ongoing.

A third federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s order to stop providing citizenship to children born in the United States to parents without legal authorization.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante issued the injunction Monday at the request of New Hampshire Indonesian Community Support. He said both sides argued their cases well, but that the Indonesian community was likely to win the case and would be harmed if the order weren't blocked now.

“Nobody threw me any curveballs this morning," Laplante said. "I’m not persuaded by the defendants’ arguments in this case."

Laplante’s order followed similar restrictions from judges in Maryland and Washington state. U.S. District Judge John Coughenour called the order “blatantly unconstitutional,” in a separate challenge in Seattle.

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Russell Vought, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ordered staffers at the agency to stop all work in an email Saturday night.

"I am committed to implementing the President's policies, consistent with the law, and acting as a faithful steward of the Bureau's resources," Vought wrote in the email reviewed by USA TODAY. "Effective immediately, unless expressly approved by the Acting Director or required by law, all employees, contractors and other personnel of the bureau shall … cease all supervision and examination activity."

Employees were also directed not to start or continue investigations, to stop existing investigations, not to approve or issue any proposed rules or guidance and not to issue any public communications.

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Way back in 2019, Steve Bannon, then a Trump consigliere, outlined in a TV interview a strategy for managing information. “The opposition party is the media,” he said, “And because they’re dumb and they’re lazy, they can only focus on one thing at a time… All we have to do is flood the zone. Every day we hit them with three things. They’ll bite on one, and we’ll get all of our stuff done. Bang, bang, bang.”

Since his re-election, Donald Trump has been following this script to the letter, and the media, not to mention the entire world, are feeling punch-drunk. Which is, as Bannon pointed out, enabling other members of the Trump crew to get their stuff done. Really bad stuff too, to which the world has not been paying enough attention.