TV News LIES

A federal judge ruled on Thursday that the terminations of hundreds of humanities grants last year by the Trump administration’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) were unconstitutional and involved “blatant” discrimination. In April last year, Donald Trump’s administration terminated more than 1,400 grants, representing more than $100m in congressionally appropriated funds awarded to scholars, writers, research institutions and other humanities organizations.

The terminations were part of a cost-cutting drive that billionaire Elon Musk was leading at Doge.

“The Government engaged in blatant viewpoint discrimination,” the US district judge Colleen McMahon said in condemning what the Trump administration cast as a crackdown on diversity practices.

The judge said the terminations violated the US constitution’s first amendment, which provides free speech rights, and its fifth amendment’s equal protection component. The ruling also said Doge did not have the legal authority to terminate the grants.

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A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent interviewed a high-ranking Wisconsin state election official in recent days about the 2020 presidential election, according to sources with knowledge of the conversation.

The agent sat down with Wisconsin Elections Commission deputy administrator Robert Kehoe earlier this week and discussed with Kehoe how elections are carried out in Wisconsin and various election theories. Kehoe debunked false claims and clarified how elections work, according to the sources.

One of the sources called the conversation "a professional interview by a career FBI agent."

A spokeswoman for the FBI did not immediately respond to questions. A spokeswoman for the state Elections Commission declined to comment.

The interview comes at a time when Wisconsin and Milwaukee election officials are bracing for potential action from federal authorities over their administration of the 2020 election, which President Donald Trump falsely claims he won.

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Virginia Democrats on Friday asked the state Supreme Court for a stay on its ruling that threw out last month’s referendum on redistricting in the commonwealth, signaling plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The state, Virginia’s House of Delegates Speaker Don Scott (D) and others filed a joint motion asking the state Supreme Court to “delay issuing its mandate” on the referendum, according to a copy obtained by The Hill. It also stated that they plan to file an emergency petition to the nation’s highest court.

“Today’s action is an imperative step in the process we promised to pursue to explore every available option to restore the will of the voters. We will continue moving through that process deliberately, responsibly, and with full respect for the voters who made their voices heard,” said Rae Pickett, spokesperson for Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones (D), in a statement shared with The Hill.

The Virginia court on Friday had issued a ruling that quashed a new map, narrowly approved by voters in a referendum last month, that would have given Democrats as many as four new pickup opportunities ahead of the midterms.

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A new initiative named the Anti-Zionist America Political Action Committee (Azapac) released an unprecedented video ad on Monday calling for donations and volunteers to help it build momentum and counter pro-Israeli lobbying groups in the US. 

The project, which kicked off earlier this year, is spearheaded by former New York University professor and author Michael Rectenwald, a self-described Libertarian, and has amassed more than 22,000 followers on X.

"Our government acts like the servant of another country. That other country is, of course, the State of Israel," Rectenwald says in the ad, overlaid with images of the Israeli flag outside several offices of members of the US Congress.

"That's not policy. That's a national disgrace," he adds. "Their strings are pulled by donors loyal to the modern nation-state of Israel. This isn't an alliance. It's extortion."

As Rectenwald details the US contribution to Israel of $33bn since 7 October 2023, the ad shows images of Palestinians in body bags.

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Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature passed redistricting maps on Thursday, eliminating the state’s one Democratic, Black-majority congressional district a week after the US supreme court effectively gutted a major section of the Voting Rights Act.

The move cracks Tennessee’s ninth congressional district, which covers Memphis, into three pieces, each of which contains almost exactly a third of the city’s Black voters. The new maps mean that all nine of Tennessee’s congressional districts are Republican-leaning.

The district had closely occupied the south-west corner of the state. Now three districts snake out from Memphis’ dense center, with two crossing the Tennessee River to reach Nashville’s suburbs 200 miles away.

“If Republican policies are so great, why are we changing the lines to rig elections?” asked Vincent Dixie, a state representative from Nashville, during debate on Thursday, pleading for Republicans to refrain. “Where is your humanity in this?”

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Federal authorities executed a search warrant on Wednesday morning at the offices of Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas (D), a key player in the state’s congressional redistricting fight, as part of a corruption investigation, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill’s sister network NewsNation.

Multiple FBI vehicles were positioned outside Lucas’s office in Portsmouth, Virginia, according to Nexstar affiliate WAVY. The outlet also reported a law enforcement presence at a nearby cannabis store co-owned by Lucas.

A spokesperson for the FBI Norfolk field office told The Hill in a statement that agents were executing a “court-authorized federal search warrant” in Portsmouth but declined to provide further details.  

“There is no threat to public safety,” the spokesperson said. “This is an ongoing investigation and no further information is publicly available at this time.”

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