TV News LIES

President Donald Trump said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is stepping down from her position at the end of the month to spend more time with her family, a departure that opens up one of the White House's most visible roles.

Trump announced Leavitt's exit in an Aug. 12 post on Truth Social, calling her "one of my most trusted aides" and "wonderful." He said he understands and respects her decision, adding that Leavitt will remain one of his top outside advisers and an influential voice within the Republican Party.

"Karoline has been one of the best White House Press Secretaries in the History of the Office. Thank you, Karoline, for a job well done!" Trump said.

Leavitt, 28, the youngest press secretary in White House history, has served in the role for Trump's entire second term. Known for her combative and energetic communications style behind the podium, Leavitt has often set the tone for the White House's handling of a wide-range of issues.

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A body representing Palestinian citizens of Israel has condemned what it called an “obsessive campaign of incitement” by Israeli ministers against Arab medical staff in recent days.

The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel was referring to comments by Defence Minister Israel Katz and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who called for an investigation into allegations that Arab medical workers mistreated wounded Israeli soldiers.

The claims were made by relatives of a soldier wounded in Lebanon and treated at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.

Yehoshua Shani, chairman of a forum that opposes the Gaza ceasefire and supports continuing the war, claimed his nephew was mistreated by Arab staff at the hospital.

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Four US-based rights groups sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for its sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In a statement, the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and the Open Society Institute called the sanctions "blatantly illegal". 

They said they are being forced "to curtail a wide range of human rights and legal work in violation of... First and Fifth Amendment rights under the US Constitution and under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act", given that anyone who appears to associate with ICC cases or officials could now face legal repercussions.

Just days after he assumed power in late January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to sanction the ICC over its investigations into top Israeli officials.

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Conservative US commentator Tucker Carlson said Israeli "agents" close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed him to falsely report that Hunter Biden’s leaked laptop material showed him abusing minors.

"The claim that there was material involving the abuse of minors on the computer came from the Israelis," Carlson said in an interview aired on Monday with Hunter, former US President Joe Biden's son. "I'm just telling you that they came to me with it, and that's how I know it.”

Carlson’s claim dates back to 2020 when he was a presenter at the right-wing cable news network Fox and pushed allegations that Hunter was involved in corrupt business dealings with Ukraine when his father was vice president.

The younger Biden’s laptop story emerged in the weeks before the 2020 US election, which President Biden went on to win against President Donald Trump.

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A federal judge on Tuesday blocked ⁠the US Postal ⁠Service ​(USPS) from implementing part of Donald Trump’s executive order that aims ⁠to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November midterm elections that ⁠will decide control of Congress.

The ruling by ​US district ‌judge Indira ‌Talwani in Boston in effect expanded on an ‌earlier order she had issued in June that had prevented Trump’s administration from implementing it in 23 mostly Democratic-led states.

Several voting rights groups had ‌urged her to go further and prevent USPS from implementing anywhere ​in the nation a proposed rule requiring states to provide lists of voters and adopt new balloting procedures before ⁠the mail agency would make deliveries.

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Evacuations have been ordered for areas along California’s famous Big Sur coast as a wildfire burns in the nearby steep, rugged mountains.

The Timber fire in Monterey county started on Sunday and grew to nearly 3,000 acres by Tuesday evening, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency. Nearly 500 fire personnel had been assigned to the fire in the Los Padres national forest.

The evacuations have affected famed tourist destinations such as the Nepenthe restaurant, the Henry Miller Memorial Library and the Alila Ventana resort, as well as state parks during the region’s busiest season. Part of the Pacific Coast Highway in Monterey county was closed for non-residents, and officials urged visitors to avoid the area entirely.

Firefighters worked to build containment lines along the Highway 1 corridor, Cal Fire said on Monday, and have boxed in 5% of the blaze. Ground crews are working to access difficult terrain, the agency said, but the fire is moving slowly, burning primarily along the ground through grass, brush and oak woodland and has not moved into the tree tops.

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The Kennedy Center was ordered this week to pay thousands of dollars to an artist who pulled out of his annual performance when the center was renamed after President Donald Trump.

A judge ruled Monday that musician Chuck Redd was owed more than $250,000 by the center to cover attorney fees and other costs. Redd, who has performed at the center’s annual Christmas Eve jazz show for nearly two decades, canceled his scheduled appearance last December in protest of the center’s name change.

Lawyers for Redd wrote in a statement Tuesday that they found the judgment “appropriate as no citizen should have to spend time and money fending off baseless and politically motivated lawsuits filed by the Trump Administration.”

The Kennedy Center plans to appeal the ruling.

The center previously attempted to sue Redd earlier this year for violating his contract, but the suit was dismissed in June.

Richard Grenell, the center’s former president, wrote in a letter to Redd “that we will seek $1 million in damages from you for this political stunt,” despite the artist not having a signed contract

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a Wednesday notice that outlined plans to provide Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers with gloves that will deliver painful electric shocks.

The agency is planning to spend up to $20 million on the new devices known as a Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter or G.L.O.V.E. that could be used by officers in the field as they are conducting immigration operations.

Prison and jail staffers have begun to implement the tools behind bars to “de-escalate” chaotic incidents. 

The device works similar to a taser but does not jump as high in voltage, according to KFOR. 

A spokesperson for Compliant Technology, the company that makes the electric shock gloves, told reporters the device uses positives and negatives on the hand pad to trigger a sensory response on the skin upon contact.

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