TV News LIES

The deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro pleaded not guilty to drugs, weapons and narco-terrorism charges on Monday, two days after his capture by US special forces in an operation ordered by Donald Trump that sent shockwaves around the world.

The brevity and formality of the arraignment hearing in federal court in Manhattan – barely 30 minutes during which Maduro was asked to confirm his name and that he understood the four charges against him – belied the far-reaching consequences of the US action.

As Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores addressed the court in lower Manhattan, the UN security council held an emergency meeting just a few miles to the north, where a dozen countries condemned the US “crime of aggression” and secretary general António Guterres suggested the operation constituted a breach of international law.

Maduro, 63, insisted to federal judge Alvin Hellerstein that he was “still president of my country”, had been illegally “captured” at his Caracas home, and was “a prisoner of war”.

“I am innocent. I am not guilty. I am a decent man,” Maduro said in Spanish during repeated attempts to speak over the judge.

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The nonprofit charged by Congress with allocating funds to NPR, PBS and other US public radio and television stations announced is dissolving after massive federal funding cuts under Donald Trump.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) announced on Monday that its board of directors had voted to dissolve the organization after nearly 60 years in operation.

Patricia Harrison, president and CEO of CPB, said in a statement Monday that the organization’s board of directors voted to dissolve the organization as it “faced a profound responsibility”.

She added: “CPB’s final act would be to protect the integrity of the public media system and the democratic values by dissolving, rather than allowing the organization to remain defunded and vulnerable to additional attack.”

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The Trump administration sued two California cities on Monday, seeking to block local laws that restrict natural gas infrastructure and appliances in new construction.

The lawsuit is the administration’s latest attack on energy policies that seek to rein in the use of fossil fuels to combat climate change. California, a Democratic stronghold, has among the most aggressive climate change policies in the world.

Republicans, including Donald Trump, for years have attacked local Democratic efforts to limit gas-powered appliances.

In the complaint filed in US district court in the northern district of California, justice department attorneys alleged that ordinances passed by the San Francisco-area cities of Morgan Hill and Petaluma since 2019 violated a 1975 law that prevents states and cities from regulating the “energy use” of products subject to federal standards.

“The natural gas bans not only impose crushing costs on California residents but are also unlawful,” the complaint said.

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White House adviser Stephen Miller refused to rule out the possibility of the United States taking Greenland by force from Denmark when pressed by CNN's Jake Tapper on Monday.

Tapper pointed out that on Saturday, Miller's wife, former White House deputy press secretary Katie Miller, posted an image of Greenland overlaid with the American flag, writing "SOON" in her post on X. He then asked Miller at least three times if U.S. military action in the territory was off the table, and Miller repeatedly avoided answering.

"What do you mean, military action against Greenland? Greenland has a population of 30,000 people, Jake. The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland?" Miller asked.

Trump, Miller said, has "been clear for months now that the United States should be the country that has Greenland as part of our overall security apparatus.

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The Trump administration on Monday said it had slashed billions in social services funds to a handful of blue states as part of its escalating response to new and unproven fraud allegations in Minnesota.

The Department of Health and Human Services will freeze $10 billion worth of federal grants to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York, an HHS official told HuffPost, confirming news first reported by The New York Post.

It’s not clear whether the freeze was inspired by specific fraud allegations or solely for political reasons. Officials did not immediately provide a public explanation.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) dropped his bid for a third term on Monday over the fraud allegations, saying, essentially, that he couldn’t campaign, fight actual fraud, and fight fraudulent accusations all at the same time.

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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) went after Hilton Hotels on Monday, accusing it of engaging in an effort to cancel agents’ reservations in Minnesota. The company pushed back on the claim.

“@HiltonHotels has launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to REFUSE service to DHS law enforcement,” the department wrote in a post on the social platform X.

“When officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously CANCELLED their reservations,” the department added.

In an emailed statement to The Hill, a Hilton spokesperson said the chain’s “hotels serve as welcoming places for all.”

“This hotel is independently owned and operated, and these actions were not reflective of Hilton values,” a Hilton spokesperson said. “We have been in direct contact with the hotel, and they have apologized for the actions of their team, which was not in keeping with their policies. They have taken immediate action to resolve this matter. Hilton’s position is clear: Our properties are open to everyone and we do not tolerate any form of discrimination.”

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Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has backed down from previous threats to court-martial retired Navy captain Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, for his role in a video telling service members they "can refuse illegal orders."

Hegseth instead issued a formal censure to Kelly, the defense secretary announced on X, and has initiated proceedings aiming to demote Kelly in retirement. If demoted, the Arizona senator's military pension would be reduced.

But demoting Kelly requires an administrative process known as officer grade determination, which by law makes its decisions based on an officer's conduct while on active duty. It's not clear how the Navy can legally consider Kelly's post-retirement conduct when making its determination.

According to federal law and Navy regulations, Navy Secretary John Phelan decides the retired rank of officers below the grade of vice admiral. In most cases, an administrative board reviews an officer's conduct before making a recommendation to Phelan.

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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has ended his reelection bid amid mounting pressure over a fraud scandal that has engulfed his administration in recent weeks.

The move comes days after a handful of Republican state lawmakers asked Walz to leave office, citing reports from a U.S. attorney that at least half of the $18 billion paid through Minnesota's 14 Medicaid waiver programs since 2018 could be fraudulent and after Republicans in Congress called on Walz to testify about his failure to address the scandal.

Walz, the former vice presidential candidate on Kamala Harris' 2024 presidential campaign, spoke about his decision at a news conference Jan. 5, citing the growing pressure as one of the reasons for his decision to leave the race and pushing back on claims that his administration failed to combat fraud.

"As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all," he said, reading from a previously published statement. "I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work."

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