Jeffrey Epstein's brother, Mark Epstein, disputed the authenticity of an alleged suicide note released Wednesday after being sealed for nearly seven years.

Mark Epstein told the National Enquirer that if his brother intended to end his life, "he would've written it 'to somebody,' not just a blanket statement saying goodbye."

The note was allegedly discovered by Epstein's former cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione -- a former police officer convicted of kidnapping and murdering four men. Tartagliome claimed to have found the note in a graphic novel.

The New York Times successfully pressed for its release.

While the note's contents include language similar to Epstein's past emails — including the phrase "watcha want me to do – bust out cryin"— Mark Epstein rejected its authenticity as a "forgery."

Mark Epstein described the incident that led him to dispute the note's authenticity: weeks before Jeffrey Epstein's death, Jeffrey was found semi-conscious in his cell with “marks on his neck,” according to NBC 4. Epstein would then accuse Tartaglione of attacking him, though he would later retract his accusation.

Watch the video below.

Trump's giant gold statue of himself at his Doral Golf Club in Miami was met with online disgust by people who couldn't believe that anyone would want or applaud such a vanity project.

"What's wrong with people," wrote journalist James Surowiecki on X, reacting to video of the statue and a photo of a pastor dedicating it in Trump's honor.

Even Saddam didn't do this s---," noted writer and podcast host Jim Stewartson, referring to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. "He is so far gone."

"How did our country get captured by this cult?" asked economic writer Noah Smith.

"I guess they couldn't make it a calf," joked journalist Jonah Goldberg. "Still..."

"This is hilarious," activist and writer Wilfred Reilly said. "Big bro built a golden statue of himself, and made a pet preacher bless it."

Former CNN reporter Jim Acosta had a reality check for Fox News' Jesse Watters, after the latter objected to the former's criticism of President Donald Trump's latest vanity project in Washington, D.C.

"After Jesse Watters of Fox complained about my story on Trump’s ridiculous reflecting pool project, I decided to do a fuller report on many of the ways Trump is ruining DC. CRY MORE," he wrote on X, attaching a video montage of some of Trump's other projects.

"Hey guys, I thought it would be a good idea to walk around Washington, D.C., and look at all of the insane ways that Donald Trump is ruining your nation's capital," said Acosta. "And guess who's paying for it? That's right — you're paying for it! Just in time for America's 250th birthday. Let's take a look."

Acosta started by looking at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House, where Trump is planning to give the historic stone facade it a coat of white paint.

He then went to the traffic circle where Trump plans to build his victory arch, possibly funded by a legal settlement from TikTok. "[It would be larger than the Lincoln Memorial ... it would be twice as high as the Lincoln Memorial. It would be, yes, shorter than the Washington Monument, but almost as tall as the U.S. Capitol. And Trump wants to do this anyway, even though there are veterans' groups who are pissed about this because, take a look at this, the arch would actually dwarf the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery."

Acosta then took a look at the Reflecting Pool project, where Trump is painting the entire structure blue. "Trump seems to think that all these federal workers are going to be able to make this look like a swimming pool by using blue paint on the bottom ... and Jesse Watters got so angry about this that he did a video, perhaps you saw it." He posted the video of Watters, proclaiming "TDS Tuesday" and saying Acosta is "crying like a baby" for criticizing the project.

"Jesse, don't you realize that in like a few months, all the pollen and the leaves and the birds pooping in it and the ducks and so on, it's just going to go back to looking the same way it was before he spent millions of dollars on all of this?" he said.

Then he went to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which a group of Trump appointees slapped Trump's name on, calling it "outrageous and appalling ... people don't want to come to this place anymore," and then the Institute of Peace, which Trump also put his name on "despite starting a war in the Middle East that is making everybody's gas prices go up."

Finally, he went to the ballroom, which Trump already razed the East Wing to build — and which Republicans are trying to approve a $1 billion security package for despite Trump initially promising it would be privately funded. "You're welcome!" Acosta concluded.

Trump is reportedly losing patience with his own war that he started in Iran and wants it to end as soon as possible, according to a new report.

According to a Friday article by The Atlantic, an outside advisor to Trump said that the president is "bored" with the war.

"Others believe he is frustrated at Iran's intransigence," the Atlantic reported. "Trump is reluctant to resume hostilities," aides and advisors told The Atlantic. One advisor told The Atlantic that Trump would like "to tamp down any military action ahead of his trip to Beijing next week."

According to The Atlantic, Trump is going to have to wait longer than that to get out of his mess in Iran because "a number of experts have forecast that Iran can withstand pressure from the blockade for months, not weeks." The Atlantic article mentioned a U.S. intelligence assessment for policymakers that suggested "Iran could make it at least three of four more months" with the Strait of Hormuz closed.

Trump has already tried to declare a win in Iran, but he's also struggled to uphold ceasefires or the short-lived attempt to escort ships through the backed-up Strait of Hormuz. Advisors and aides told The Atlantic that Trump "is convinced that he can sell any sort of agreement as a win," but as of Friday, "Washington is still waiting for Iran to respond to the latest offering."

Part of the problem for Trump is "the U.S. has largely exhausted its list of significant military targets," advisors said to The Atlantic, which added that "to continue to escalate, which is Trump's signature move, he'd have to threaten civilian targets."

On top of that, "American officials privately admit that, with Iran's leadership fractured, they're not sure with whom they are negotiating," according to The Atlantic.

A pair of outside advisors told The Atlantic that Trump sold the Iran war as "another Venezuela" that would wrap up quickly.

Plans to build portions of the border wall in Big Bend National Park are off after bipartisan backlash over the proposed construction, a top U.S. Customs and Border Patrol official told the Washington Examiner.

CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said the Trump administration was no longer planning to construct the wall within the national park following pushback from residents, the Examiner reported this week.

“Big Bend National Park has some just, like, unbelievably huge granite cliffs. It would be kind of silly to put like a 30-foot border wall on top of a 90-foot granite cliff,” Scott said in an interview with the Examiner. “So what we’re trying to convey is that we are going to have meaningful border security in that entire area.”

Scott's comments only referenced the national park and did not detail whether CBP's withdrawal from wall construction also included the nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park or private property in the region.

CBP officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about updated plans.

Instead of a wall, federal officials will pave roads along the border in the national park and make use of drones and other digital surveillance equipment, Scott said. News of the cancellation comes after weeks of upheaval in Texas as elected officials from both political parties and residents asserted that construction in the park would be a waste of resources.

In February, Trump administration officials waived over two dozen environmental laws to clear the way for a 150-mile-long border barrier through West Texas, including Big Bend National Park.

Then in early April, an interactive map on the CBP website showed the agency planned to instead install “virtual wall” technology in the region that would alert Border Patrol agents when people cross the border. CBP officials took down the map in late April, and it is not currently available on the agency’s website.

Local residents near Big Bend sued the Trump administration in mid-April, arguing that federal officials waived the regulations illegally in pursuit of the construction project.

Funds acquired through the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” President Donald Trump’s key spending package, direct CBP to construct a multifaceted barrier system, or a “Smart Wall,” across the southern border with Mexico. The proposed barriers would include bollard walls and patrol roads, as well as surveillance technology and floating buoys placed in the Rio Grande.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

A GOP senator trying to keep his seat in a contentious battleground state was hit with a damning attack ad calling out his connections to sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

"Of all 535 members of Congress, who's taken the most money from associates of Jeffrey Epstein?" the attack ad opened. "Jon Husted, that's who."

The opponent of Sen. Husted (R-OH), Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown, approved the message, which was paid for by Friends of Sherrod Brown. Axios congressional reporter Andrew Solender described it as "a doozy of an ad."

"Husted's taken over $116,000 from one of Epstein's closest friends and co-conspirators," the ad claimed, while showing pictures of Epstein cut over clips of Husted speaking. "And last year took a maximum donation from him just weeks before voting to block the release of the Epstein files."

The final shot put a picture of Husted up next to Epstein's mugshot and asked, "Jon Husted, who's he really working for?"

The donor in question is Les Wexner, the former Victoria's Secret CEO, who was identified in February 2026, in DOJ-released FBI documents, as a co-conspirator of Epstein. Campaign finance records confirm Husted accepted about $117,000 from Wexner across 21 contributions between 2001 and 2025, including a $3,500 donation in July 2025, just weeks before Husted voted to block the release of the Epstein files.

Snopes found that roughly $37,000 of that total went to joint Husted-DeWine committees rather than directly to Husted alone. Wexner has never been charged with any crime connected to Epstein, and said in a congressional deposition that he never lobbied Husted to block the files' release.

Husted was appointed to his Senate seat by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in January 2025 to fill the vacancy left when JD Vance became vice president. Brown, who lost his Senate reelection bid to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024, is now attempting a comeback in what is shaping up to be one of the most expensive Senate races of the cycle.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has gone from being considered a far-left backbencher when she was first elected in 2018, to one of the Democratic Party's most prominent rising stars — and with that has come swirling questions and rumors about whether she plans to seek higher office.

Former Barack Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod asked her about precisely that during an interview at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics — and she gave an answer that wowed many observers.

"There are a lot of people who would like you to run for president in 2028," said Axelrod. "And there are others who would like you to run for the Senate."

"In this op-ed that Bezos paid for in The Washington Post, there was a veiled threat — it was the elite saying if you want this job, you just stepped out of line," said Ocasio-Cortez. "What’s funny about that is they assume my ambition is positional. They assume my ambition is a title or a seat. My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country. Presidents come and go, elected officials come and go, single payer healthcare is forever."

This answer caused a massive stir among commenters on social media.

"Pope Leo XIV repeatedly states that health care is a universal human right," wrote religion commentator and former Democratic National Committee delegate Christopher Hale.

"Probably the best answer anyone has given to this question ... in a very very long time," wrote former Biden administration press secretary and MS NOW host Jen Psaki.

"Well that’s one of the most compelling answers to that question I’ve ever heard," wrote former Obama speechwriter and podcaster Jon Favreau.

"The reason Republicans are so freaked out by @AOC is because they know when normie Americans of any party hear her speak like this, they all agree with her," wrote Zeteo News editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan.

Virginia's Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Friday that the state's Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot authorizing mid-decade redistricting.

Justice D. Arthur Kelsey wrote, “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,” striking down the narrowly approved measure enacted two weeks earlier in response to gerrymandering in GOP-led states.

President Donald Trump hailed the decision as a "huge win for the Republican Party."

"The decision overturns the will of voters for technical reasons and gives Republicans a leg up for the 2026 midterms," warned Democracy Docket on Bluesky. "The decision marks a significant and terrifying moment in our democracy as the court allowed an election to be cancelled after its completion."

Democratic Virginia delegates criticized the decision as undermining redistricting reform efforts and questioned the court's impartiality, given lawmakers' reappointment authority over justices.

Watch the video below.

The Wall Street Journal's editorial board threw its weight behind reports that President Donald Trump is planning to fire FDA Commissioner Marty Makary on Friday, and didn't hold back in explaining why.

"That would be great news for patients who have been denied access to life-saving therapies on his watch," the board wrote in a hard-hitting editorial published Friday.

The board, which had written approvingly of Makary's appointment last year, said he and his deputy Vinay Prasad did the opposite of what they promised, increasing regulatory rigidity rather than flexibility, and blocking promising treatments for rare diseases and cancer rather than expanding access to them.

Most damagingly, the board accused Makary of making "false statements in TV interviews about drugs the agency rejected" — and that sources told them he had also "misled a GOP Senator who met with him about a rare disease drug rejection." The board has said it caught Makary in a lie about a cancer drug rejection on national television.

The board also accused Makary of running counter to Trump's own "right to try" agenda by demanding large randomized controlled trials for treatments for deadly diseases, a standard the board derided as unethical, given that patients would die while waiting for results.

"Removing Dr. Makary is a necessary step to remedy a toxic culture that has taken hold at the FDA," the board concluded.

The editorial comes as Trump appeared blindsided Friday when a reporter asked him about reports he had already signed off on firing Makary, with the president saying only "I know nothing about it."

Red state officials trying to redistrict their state congressional map suffered a setback in a lower court on Friday.

According to Alabama journalist Kyle Whitmire, a three-judge panel denied Alabama a stay, saying that it doesn't have the jurisdiction. Alabama officials have been trying to undo a federal injunction that came out of the case Allen v. Milligan, which restricts state lawmakers from redistricting until the next Census in 2030.

Alabama officials filed an emergency motion demanding a stay that ended up before the three-judge panel earlier in the week, asking it to lift its own injunction. A separate emergency order was filed to conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who handles requests from the 11th Circuit asking the Supreme Court to lift an injunction.

Quoting the panel, Whitmire relayed, "Quite simply, we do not have the authority to issue an order that upends Alabama's status quo, especially in the middle of an election, while our injunction establishing that status quo is well under review in the nation's highest court."

Whitmire went on to explain, "the court's subtext: why are you asking US and why are you asking US now?" The court noted that "the state could have asked for a stay when it appealed and didn't," Whitmire added.

Now, the Supreme Court is the only hope for Alabama officials seeking to redistrict in time for the midterms, as it's the only arena left where they can get what they want before the red state's new May 19 primary date.

President Donald Trump was caught on the back foot Friday when a reporter asked him about the reports his Food and Drug Administration commissioner is set to be fired, not even appearing to understand what was being asked of him.

"What's going on with Marty Makary?" asked a reporter.

"Nothing much," said Trump. "He's fine."

"Are you going to fire him?" the reporter followed up.

"Uhhh. I've been reading about it, but I know nothing about it," he replied.

This comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has already "signed off" on a plan to fire Makary, after the president clashed with him on abortion and drug policy, and most recently on the speed with which the FDA is acting to approve flavored nicotine vapes.

It also comes after Makary has come under heavy fire from some commentators about the extent to which he and his allies have blocked promising new medical therapies.

Emmy award-winning "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi has hired high-profile litigator Bryan Freedman before her contract with CBS News expires at the end of the month, with little chance of renewal.

The departure follows a public clash with newly appointed CBS News head Bari Weiss, who killed Alfonsi's "Inside CECOT" investigation hours before airing. The segment examined controversial deportations to an El Salvador prison.

Alfonsi responded with an internal memo criticizing management's interference and attempts to "shield the Trump administration," which was leaked to the press. Weiss subsequently threatened to sue Alfonsi for breach of contract.

Freedman, known for representing major news talent including Megyn Kelly, Don Lemon, and Tucker Carlson, secured $69 million for Kelly's NBC departure in 2019. However, sources suggest Alfonsi faces obstacles securing a substantial settlement since CBS is allowing her contract to expire rather than terminating her employment.

Watch the video below.

American singer Ashnikko publicly banned MAGA hats from her concerts this week after a Trump supporter was jeered at her Orlando show for wearing one.

"I would just like to reaffirm that MAGA hats are not [expletive] allowed at my shows," Ashnikko told the crowd at her Miami concert, which erupted in cheers.

The clip was posted to TikTok on Friday, appearing to be a direct response to the Orlando incident earlier this week, where concertgoers broke into chants of "[expletive] Donald Trump" as the MAGA-hat-wearing attendee tried to cover his face.

Ashnikko, known for her outspoken progressive politics and devoted queer fanbase, uses she/her and they/them pronouns and has publicly identified as pansexual and genderfluid. She has long been a vocal advocate for social justice causes.

The president of UFC tried to create some space between himself and President Donald Trump, a well-known friend of his, during a recent podcast interview.

"Everybody has friends they disagree with," Dana White said during an appearance on the podcast, The Breakfast Club, on Friday. "I consider myself right down the middle, a little liberal, to be honest."

White tried to clarify that he and Trump have been friends for more than two decades, "and he just happened to become president," he said.

"I'm just saying this guy isn't perfect and he's my friend," White said. "I don't base my relationship with him on politics."

Host Charlamagne tha God pressed White to confront his friend, who has "a disapproval rating of 62 percent, record high," he said.

"People say they don't like his handling of the Iran war, the economy is s---, cost of living for people is f----- up, why can't you tell your friend he's failing?" Charlamagne asked. "Every day, working people who support your sport are hurting."

White said, "I'm not part of his Cabinet. I'm just one of his friends," and "I'm not inside enough to sit down and get political with him."

"Don't be a glazer, though," Charlamagne told him. "A yes man, basically."

"I don't think anyone's ever accused me of being a yes man," White said. "I'm not an overly political person either."

MS NOW's Symone Sanders-Townsend kicked off Friday night's edition of "The Weeknight" by contrasting America's economic malaise with President Donald Trump's obsession with lavish spending on renovations in Washington, D.C.

Many of these renovations appear to have shady details under the hood, including Trump steering the contract to redo the Reflecting Pool to a business tied to Trump properties.

"A new NPR/PBS poll finds 63 percent of Americans blame Trump for the sticker shock, with about half blaming him, quote, 'a great deal,'" said Sanders-Townsend. "One in three Americans say soaring gas prices are a major strain on their family's budget. 48 percent say it's a minor strain. Now, of course, this hurts low-income families the most. With all of this data, you would think a top concern for the president would be addressing the pain at the pump. And yet Republicans on Capitol Hill, well, they are debating using your taxpayer dollars to fund Trump's White House ballroom."

"And last night, the president took a joyride to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, inspecting his latest renovation project," said Sanders-Townsend, before cutting away to a clip of Trump bragging about his Rose Garden makeover.

"Where you're standing, we're sitting right now is white stone, and that was grass," said Trump in the clip. "And the problem with it is you couldn't walk on it because this is built on a wetland and the grass was always soaking wet. It didn't matter. It was always soaking wet. Women would come with high heels and it wasn't a pretty picture. And now we have lunches here, we have dinners here, and it's nice and it's cool right up here. You probably noticed the new black granite. I hope you like what we're doing. Did everybody get to see the Presidential Walk of Fame? We added the pictures of the presidents from George Washington to a guy named Trump."

"Where are the cameras pranking us? Because this is insane," Sanders-Townsend continued. "America, this is the president y'all elected. This is the man who has the nuclear codes. This is the person that's supposed to help in the war with Iran, the war that he started, and help open up the Strait of Hormuz. This is the guy that y'all, some of y'all said was gonna bring the prices down. This was the man that so many people said they just they had to vote for him and they couldn't vote for that lady. This is the man. This is the President of the United States of America."

- YouTube youtu.be

Trump's social media platform is struggling as it just reported more than $400 million in losses during the most recent quarter, according to recent reports.

Truth Social, run by the Trump Media and Technology Group, reported a net loss of more than $400 million and less than $1 million in total sales during the first three months of 2026, according to a Variety article on Friday.

Most of the losses came from "non-cash losses, including unrealized losses on digital assets, digital assets pledged and equity securities," according to a press release from Trump Media and Technology Group. Variety noted that the losses come after former GOP Rep. Devin Nunes suddenly left as the company's CEO last month.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was forced onto social media Thursday to reassure the tech industry after her own National Economic Council director went off-script and publicly floated FDA-style government approval requirements for new AI models — touching off nearly a day of anxiety across the sector, according to Politico.

Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, had suggested the administration was considering a vetting process for new AI models similar to the FDA's drug approval system. The comments sent the tech sector into a panic, forcing Wiles to step in, tweeting that the administration was pushing a strategy that "empowers America's great innovators, not bureaucracy."

But the cleanup did little to resolve the underlying confusion. Several lobbyists and policy advisers told Politico there is no clarity on where the White House stands.

“There is no clarity,” said one senior tech lobbyist. The person added that “different factions within the White House have different views about what should happen.”

The lobbyist said the administration’s “lack of organization is both increasing anxiety across the AI policy ecosystem and also impeding the development of effective policy, because they’re not really getting the right folks in the room to have these conversations. I think that has left people scrambling to try to figure out exactly what the White House is doing.”

The episode is just the latest sign of dysfunction in an administration whose relationship with the AI industry has grown increasingly volatile, even as GOP infighting over AI policy threatens to become a midterm liability, Congress remains gridlocked on guardrails, and public backlash against AI infrastructure continues to mount.

A top White House official has become so frustrated with seeing details of the Trump administration leaked to the press that she's begun cracking down internally, according to a new report.

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles sent an email across the Executive Office of the President telling staff to stop leaking information to the press, Politico reported on Friday.

According to Politico, the email stated that "no staff member within the Executive Office of the President is permitted to speak with members of the news media without the explicit approval of the White House Communications Office," adding that "unauthorized leaks" can get them fired.

"She was generally very frustrated with leaks," a source told Politico. The White House has been "increasingly frustrated" with staff going around "formal channels and carrying disputes or decision-making battles into the press," a source relayed to Politico.

The crackdown on leaks comes a month after Wiles privately told Cabinet members to avoid international travel and focus on Trump's agenda at home, Politico noted.

Politico also brought up comments Wiles made on Thursday, where she said if she does get into trouble in the White House, "I have a couple of friends in the reporter ranks."

Former Homeland Security Chief of Staff Miles Taylor warned Friday that President Donald Trump may invoke a secret "Doomsday Book" containing pre-drafted executive orders hidden in a secure White House location.

Created under the Eisenhower administration to maintain government continuity following a nuclear attack, the book grants presidential powers to censor the press, detain civilians, suspend communications, and enact martial law.

In a report published in The i Paper, Taylor wrote that during Trump's first term he believed the president did not fully understand these capabilities, noting Trump once referred to his "magical authorities" to bypass legal constraints. However, Taylor expressed alarm, suggesting Trump now appears aware of and willing to exploit these powers.

"Three years ago, my concern was that Trump did not fully appreciate the powers he might abuse," Taylor wrote.

"Today, my concern is that he's decided to do so."

Taylor stressed the situation represents a genuine threat to American democracy.

Watch the video below.

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President Donald Trump's Washington, D.C. prosecutor Jeanine Pirro made a massive blunder in the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting case, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig told CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday — and it could cause huge problems down the road.

Specifically, she is not going to recuse herself from the case, despite having described herself as a victim, since she was at the dinner when the shooting happened.

"Elie, just from a practical standpoint, I mean, there are thousands of prosecutors, federal prosecutors who were not at the dinner," said Tapper. "Wouldn't it make sense just to make sure that there's no grounds for appeal, that this guy, if he's found guilty, if he is guilty, is locked up forever, and there's no grounds for appeal? Wouldn't it make sense just to have one of those federal prosecutors who wasn't there be in charge of it?"

Honig concurred. "This is a huge mistake, Jake."

"If Jeanine Pirro and Todd Blanche refuse to recuse themselves, it's such an easy, obvious call," he continued. "They are witnesses, no fault of their own. They were in the ballroom. They heard the gunshots. They saw the reaction. They are witnesses. They also are likely potential intended victims. If you look at this individual's writings, he said, 'I'm going after the administration members top to bottom.' Jeanine Pirro herself said, I was in the line of fire. She didn't mean that literally."

"It is a bedrock rule of prosecution that if you are a witness or potential witness, and especially if you're a victim, you have to recuse yourself," said Honig. "It's not punishment. It's the smart tactical move. As you said, Jake, what would happen if they recused themselves? There are dozens, hundreds of other prosecutors in DOJ more than capable of trying this case and of supervising this case. And on the flip side, you take away an appeals issue. If they stay on this case, Pirro and Blanche, they are handing this individual where the proof of his guilt seems to be overwhelming, an issue to raise on appeal."

"Now, it doesn't mean he automatically wins," he added. "But I will tell you, Jake, there are federal courts of appeals in this country that have thrown out guilty verdicts because prosecutors refuse to recuse when they should have recused. So this, to me, is a really dangerous path that DOJ is going down. And for the good of the case and the prosecution, Pirro and Blanche need to do the right thing and step off and recuse themselves."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

A New Jersey man was body slammed and arrested at a packed township meeting this week after speaking out against a proposed AI data center — part of a growing national backlash against Trump's $500 billion push to build AI infrastructure across the country.

The confrontation unfolded Thursday at an Andover Township Committee meeting in Sussex County, where hundreds of residents turned out to oppose plans for a data center by developer National Land Developers LLC. The project is part of a wave of similar developments accelerating under Trump's Stargate initiative, a joint venture with OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle that the president has called "the largest AI infrastructure project in history."

Among them was Shane Connolly, of Butler, who challenged the committee over what he called a lack of transparency between the township and the developer.

"Somebody's lying, whether it's you or it's them, and we deserve to know who," Connolly told the committee, drawing thunderous applause from the crowd, according to Patch. "If you listened to your constituents, the only thing you'd be trying to pass is an outright ban on data centers."

After concluding his remarks, which ended with profanity directed at the committee, police ordered Connolly to leave. Video shows him being body slammed and physically dragged from the room by two officers after he resisted at the door. He was subsequently arrested.

The Sussex Visibility Brigade, a local advocacy group, identified one of the officers as the son of Andover Mayor Thomas D. Walsh, a claim that has stoked even more outrage over the incident. Walsh and Andover police have not responded to requests for comment, according to Patch.

"What happened in Andover is completely unacceptable," said Chris Sotiro, deputy director of the Climate Revolution Action Network, who testified at the meeting.

"Andover Township 'leadership' continues to demonstrate perfect examples of what NOT to do as an elected official," the Sussex Visibility Brigade posted. "No matter what a person SAYS--that is their first amendment right and so long as they are not threatening you (which he wasn't), there was no reason to THROW him to the ground."

The incident reflects rising tensions at town halls across the country, where communities are pushing back against data center construction they say is being rushed through without meaningful public input. Analysts have warned that the backlash, which spans both political parties, could swell into a significant political liability for Trump heading into the midterms.

The GOP is walking into an embarrassing trap by stumping for one of Trump's vanity projects, said an ex-GOP political operative on Friday.

"This is one of the stupidest political traps I've ever seen somebody walk themselves into," said former Republican political strategist Rick Wilson during an appearance on MS NOW. "I want Republicans to vote for the ballroom."

Wilson was talking about Trump's White House ballroom. Senate Republicans are asking that taxpayers fork over $1 billion to fund security features in the Trump ballroom and have tied the demand into a $70 billion reconciliation package to fund federal immigration enforcement.

"I want them to go out and cheerlead for the ballroom every day," Wilson said, as he would like to see the GOP continue to shoot itself in the foot. "The GOP, while they're nervous...They're still not going to publicly defy Trump."

Wilson explained that "the ads write themselves" as farmers in rural districts deal with "record farm bankruptcies and unbelievably high fuel costs." It would be easy to imagine "that farmer looking straight into the camera saying, 'you know, we're going to lose the farm, we're going bankrupt, but at least I get to pay for a ballroom with my taxes,'" Wilson said.

"The suburban mom at the grocery store or at the gas pump: 'At least I get to pay for a ballroom. Can't really afford to go to work, but I'm going to pay for the ballroom,'" Wilson said.

"If they cast this vote, it is going to get hung around their neck like a dead animal," Wilson predicted. "And it's going to stink all the way to election day."

Emmanuel Saez, the UC Berkeley economist who designed California's proposed billionaire wealth tax, accused the Washington Post and owner Jeff Bezos of publishing "misinformation" about the measure.

Saez criticized a Post editorial board piece arguing the tax would cost California billions in lost revenue due to a billionaire exodus, claiming the analysis contains "glaring falsehoods" and omits key details.

The proposal would impose a one-time 5% tax on assets of California's approximately 200 billionaires to raise roughly $100 billion for healthcare, food assistance, and education. Saez pointed out that the cited study modeled a permanent annual tax rather than the one-time tax actually proposed, and vastly overestimated California income taxes paid by wealthy residents.

The economist noted that between 2019 and 2025, three tech billionaires paid only $269 million in state income taxes annually, not the $1.7 billion claimed.

Saez also highlighted that over 400 California hospitals have fired 3,400 healthcare workers due to federal funding cuts.

“Local hospitals and emergency rooms could shut their doors forever because billionaires insist on paying less than the rest of us,” Saez said.

Watch the video below.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) thinks she's cracked the case on extraterrestrial life — and the answer, she says, is in scripture.

As President Donald Trump released his long-teased "UFO Files" on Friday, the firebrand Republican offered her own theory on what the government may actually be tracking: fallen angels.

"God is the creator of the universe. He’s never not going to create. So it’s always been something in my mind to say, ‘well, how can we be the only ones.’ Like, God’s not going to stop creating just with us,” said Boebert in a clip flagged by Right Wing Watch.

Boebert pictured something dark.

“But the more I look into this, the more I see the Old Testament and what was told to us there of fallen angels and Nephilim. I mean, this is in the Bible,” Boebert said. “There’s nothing that says that fallen angels, that Nephilim, just disappeared. And so I believed that this could be an aspect of it."

She went further, suggesting the unexplained sightings could be supernatural gateways.

“There are things that we have seen that could resemble portals, and … we serve an infinite God, a God of the universe. And to say, ‘this is the only realm’ is ignorant," Boebert added.

"I wouldn't put it as Marvin the Martian kind of thing, but I do believe that this is more spiritual, and if you really want to go there, demonic."

A 2024 Pentagon report found no evidence that the U.S. government has recovered alien technology or confirmed alien life.

The remarks drew swift mockery and alarm online.

"Modern conservatism is mostly a combination of half forgotten Bible study, mostly misunderstood popular culture, Camp of the Saints, and a suite of mental illness," wrote Toronto Star columnist Bruce Arthur.

Boebert's comments were too much even for white nationalist Richard Spencer, who chimed in, "People like this govern us."

Boston Globe columnist Richard Hanania added: "They’re too stupid to even realize their UFO nonsense contradicts their religious nonsense. Nothing has to make sense.

Disinformation researcher Jim Stewartson saw something more sinister at work.

"Boebert is at the forefront of the psyops to come. Mark my words. The UFO story is designed to create additional evidence that evangelical eschatology is real—the End Times are here. It is radicalization 101: the enemy are actual aliens. It’s not demonic, but it is diabolical," he said.

Podcaster Robbie Martin offered a blunt verdict on Congress itself: "They essentially QAnonified congress to the point where nobody in their right mind will ever take a congressional hearing or investigation seriously again, good job it [expletive] worked."

And New York Times tech reporter Mike Isaac mocked Boebert's comments, likening them to "me and deckard cain choppin it up over the horadric cube" — a reference to the video game franchise Diablo.

Alabama officials have filed an emergency motion to the Supreme Court, asking for it to lift a federal court order that prohibits the state from redistricting until the next scheduled Census.

The motion goes specifically to Justice Clarence Thomas, a far-right jurist who oversees such requests when they come from within the 11th Circuit.

In its prior Allen v. Milligan ruling, the Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions that found Alabama's original map with six majority-white districts and one majority-Black district was a racial gerrymander, ordering them to redraw the map to include a second district that gives Black voters representation. Alabama attempted a redraw that fixed none of the underlying issues and retained six majority-white districts, after which a court stepped in and imposed a map with two majority-Black districts.

Alabama officials' new filing asks the Supreme Court to intervene in light of their ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which significantly limited the use of the Voting Rights Act to police racial gerrymanders in cases where partisan gerrymandering cannot be ruled out. However, the majority in the Callais decision specifically said it did not overturn the Milligan decision.

If Alabama were to be granted this relief, they would be allowed to use their rejected remedial map, which would again eliminate one majority-Black district in the state and, by extension, almost certainly pick up a seat for Republicans.

It would also potentially let GOP lawmakers in Alabama reconvene to redraw their maps to eliminate majority-Black districts altogether, as Republicans are doing in Tennessee and considering in South Carolina.

A grand jury in Oklahoma uncovered evidence that Gov. Kevin Stitt pulled strings behind the scenes to get a political donor released early from prison, KOSU reported on Friday.

"In 2023, Sara Polston was driving in Norman with a blood alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit. While traveling 66 miles per hour in a 25 mph zone, she crashed into another car, grievously injuring a 20-year-old woman," said the report. "Late last year, Polston was sentenced to eight years in prison and seven years on probation. But after just 73 days in prison, she was released as part of an electronic monitoring program that uses GPS to track offenders."

"The grand jury has spent months figuring out how and why that happened, as first reported in The Oklahoman," the report continued. "They found that Stitt called the interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections to discuss other matters, but brought up Polston’s pre-sentence investigation process. Stitt knows Polston and her husband, Rod, who is an attorney and owns a tax firm in Norman."

While the grand jury did not find any criminal wrongdoing in the arrangement, they concluded by blasting “this rank political favoritism, particularly on a crime that nearly took the life of a 20-year-old young woman."

Stitt was elected as a hard-right MAGA candidate but has, in recent years, fostered disagreements with President Donald Trump and come under heavy fire as a result of this revelation.

"Shameful. Stitt’s no better than Trump. Sara Polston drove drunk and almost killed an innocent driver. She served 73 days of her 8-year sentence before her buddy Stitt called in a favor and got her released," wrote Jena Nelson, a Democratic congressional candidate for Oklahoma's 5th District. "When we put the ultra-rich in charge, they only care about protecting and further enriching themselves — everyone else be d---ed."

"It’s essential to our democracy that we elect more working class people and get big money out of politics," she added.

New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman delivered a blunt assessment of one of the GOP favorites to win the Republican nomination for president in 2028.

"What is going to happen in the next couple of years will impact whether JD Vance becomes president," Haberman said during an appearance on CNN on Friday. "His fate is tied to President Trump."

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt was asking Haberman for her input after Secretary of State Marco Rubio found himself in the discussion of possible 2028 candidates. Hunt said that "there is this shadow campaign going on between him and JD Vance," noting that Vance was in Iowa earlier in the week while Rubio was in the spotlight with the Pope.

"I don't think that Rubio is doing much to try to engage in a shadow campaign," Haberman countered. "Clearly, there are a lot of people who would like to see Marco Rubio run. I don't know that he is among them."

The way Haberman sees it, it's "the vice president's nomination to lose at the end of the day," and she pointed out that Trump's popularity is "ticking down" even though "he is still overwhelmingly popular among Republicans," she said.

"Vance is still an incredibly well-known figure," Haberman said. "He is much more popular with the base than almost anyone else I can think of who would be running right now."

She said Trump's declining popularity is already a disadvantage for Republicans heading into the midterms. "Right now, it's bad," she stressed. With enough donors, Vance can have a "structural advantage," but "what they're not at an advantage toward is President Trump's popularity."

Republican businessman and Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is once again facing criticism and mockery for remarks that cast doubt on his authenticity.

Ramaswamy, an ally of Trump who ran for president alongside him in 2024 and helped him craft the Department of Government Efficiency project, was born in Cincinnati — but had constantly faced accusations he doesn't have a solid connection to the state, buttressed by his recently resurfaced comments in 2023 that Ohio is "a good state" but "I can't say it's the best state."

His latest remarks, captured and posted to X by the youth supporter account for his Democratic opponent Amy Acton, stem from an interview he was giving while visiting the Mahoning Valley, in the northeast corner of the state along the Pennsylvania border, where he was asked about his favorite part of the area, and listed a national park an hour's drive outside of it.

"I just want to know what your favorite place around this area is to come by to stop here?" said the interviewer in the clip.

"You know, look, I love long drives, right?" said Ramaswamy. "You think about the time we spent in Trumbull County, you think about the time we even spend just going for a nice jog. You think about Cuyahoga National Park, not far from where we are. I'm a nature guy."

A number of commenters reacted with derision, with some pointing out that he goes most places in a private jet, not "long drives," and others noting that the self-proclaimed "nature guy" completely missed Mill Creek Park and Mosquito Lake State Park, both of which are actually in the Mahoning Valley.

"Vivek Ramaswamy is asked what his favorite place in the Mahoning Valley is, clearly has no answer and word-salad’s his way into saying Cuyahoga National Park is his favorite place in Youngstown lol," said the Students for Amy Acton account.

"OK for real tho has anyone ever seen him out and about in Ohio. Just out shopping or whatever," wrote Rachel Coyle, co-founder of the civic group How Things Work Ohio.

Washington Post readers launched a wave of criticism Friday after the Jeff Bezos-owned publication published a Mother's Day column attributed to Melania Trump.

Titled "Mothers are America's strength," the piece prompted hundreds of comments expressing skepticism about authorship, with readers questioning if President Donald Trump wrote the column instead.

Critics raised concerns about the publication's credibility, given Melania's reported $28 million payment from Bezos for the box office flop "Melania" documentary. Commenters also expressed dissatisfaction with the Trump administration's policies on family support, healthcare, and immigration, while questioning why the Post would platform the piece.

Several readers announced subscription cancellations, citing the column as the final straw following Bezos's ownership and staff layoffs. Readers characterized the piece as lacking substance and being out of touch with American families' realities.

The controversy highlighted broader concerns about the Post's editorial direction under Bezos's ownership.

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The Department of Justice wants to strip a dozen Americans of their citizenship, including a former United States ambassador and National Security Council official, as it moves forward with denaturalization, according to a new report.

According to a report by The Hill, the DOJ announced on Friday that it is seeking to "denaturalize" 12 U.S. citizens between the ages of 26 and 75. One of them is former U.S. Ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha, The Hill reported.

The DOJ is alleging that the 12 people hid serious offenses by lying during the naturalization process, according to The Hill. The DOJ said they lied about providing material support to terrorists, war crimes, and sexual abuse of a minor, The Hill reported.

“The Trump administration is taking action to correct these egregious violations of our immigration system,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in The Hill article. “Those who intentionally concealed their criminal histories or misrepresented themselves during the naturalization process will face the fullest extent of the law.”

Rocha is a Colombian native, and since 2024, he's been serving a 15-year federal prison sentence for spying on behalf of the Cuban government, according to the DOJ.

The DOJ is also trying to revoke the citizenship of five people from Africa, three from Asia, and two from South America, The Hill reported.

According to The Hill, denaturalization cases "have been historically rare. Research shows that the U.S. government opened an average of 11 denaturalization cases per year between 1990 and 2017."

However, Trump has openly called for a "massive" denaturalization campaign, and his administration has been gearing up to follow through.