LetMyPeopleVote
LetMyPeopleVote's JournalMaddowBlog-FBI's Bongino tries to explain his discredited conspiracy theory in pipe-bombs case
Why did the FBI deputy director get the pipe-bombs case wrong? He has an answer, but it isn’t a good one.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino now admits that when he peddled bogus conspiracy theories about the pipe-bombs case, he didn’t know what he was talking about.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-05T15:22:08.279Z
“I was paid in the past for my opinions,†he said.
I’m not sure if he’s fully thought this through. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/fbis-bongino-tries-to-explain-his-discredited-conspiracy-theory-in-pipe-bombs-case
How, pray tell, does the FBI deputy director explain peddling conspiratorial nonsense that his own agency appears to have debunked? As it turns out, Bongino was given an opportunity to explain himself during a Thursday night appearance on Fox News
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1996765992589185500
Host Sean Hannity noted Bongino’s earlier comments about the case, to which the FBI deputy director responded, “You know, listen, I was paid in the past, Sean, for my opinions. That’s clear. And one day, I’ll be back in that space, but that’s not what I’m paid for now.”
So let me see if I have this straight: Bongino was a far-right media personality who used his platform to tell the public, among other things, about his conspiratorial beliefs related to the pipe-bombs case. Two months after peddling these claims, the president tapped him to help lead the FBI.
And now, however, Bongino seems willing to acknowledge that he didn’t know what he was talking about (or that he embraced certain positions because they were more lucrative) — which naturally raises a whole bunch of questions about why he was hired for a key federal law enforcement position and why anyone should find him credible going forward.
MaddowBlog-FIFA rewards Trump with a new, hastily arranged, entirely unwarranted 'peace' prize
FIFA rewards Trump with a new, hastily arranged, entirely unwarranted ‘peace’ prize
The fact that Trump put the ridiculous “FIFA Peace Prize†medal around his own neck added an unintentionally amusing — and oddly apt — twist on the award ceremony. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-05T18:01:52.369Z
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/fifa-rewards-trump-with-a-new-hastily-arranged-entirely-unwarranted-peace-prize
In fact, Infantino directed the international organization to create its own honor, called the “FIFA Peace Prize — Football Unites the World.” The New York Times reported that the effort “was so hastily arranged that it surprised several of the body’s most senior officials, including board members and vice presidents, according to four soccer executives briefed on the events.”
Take a wild guess who won the award.
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1996997128875659386
.......The obvious problem with these developments is that Trump doesn’t deserve a peace prize. The president is, after all, embroiled in an ongoing controversy surrounding his administration’s alleged war crimes, which dovetails with a series of related incidents that include Republicans’ threats targeting Latin American countries and Nigeria, preemptive military strikes on targets in Iran and a bombing campaign in Yemen.......
But there are other problems just below the surface of this new peace prize. What we have here is an example of a foreign businessman trying to curry favor with the White House, concocting a dubious prize that he knows Trump will appreciate.
Infantino isn’t alone. Axios recently reported that officials in Switzerland persuaded Trump to lower tariff rates by deploying a delegation of industry tycoons to the White House bearing gifts, including “a special Rolex desktop clock, a 1-kilogram personalized gold bar, and loads of flattery.”
The report added, “Trump loves such pampering, and the word’s out among nations and companies seeking his favor. Tributes fit for a king — especially gold — catch his eyes and his heart.” (The Swiss gold bar, which sounds a bit similar to the gift that helped land former Sen. Bob Menendez in prison, was stamped with “45” and “47” in homage to Trump’s presidential terms.)
And now FIFA has rewarded the American president with a gold honor of its own.
Kash Patel ordered FBI detail to give girlfriend's pal a lift home: sources
Source: NBC
FBI Director Kash Patel has — on more than one occasion — ordered that the security detail protecting his girlfriend escort one of her allegedly inebriated friends home after a night of partying in Nashville, according to three people with knowledge of the incidents.
Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, asked FBI agents on her security team at least two times, including once this spring, to drive her friend home, and agents objected to diverting from their assignment, said the sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss nonpublic matters. But Patel insisted they do as Wilkins requested and in one case called the leader of Wilkins’ security detail and yelled at him to do so.
News of the effort to deploy agents to provide security for a private citizen has spread through the bureau and beyond, as agents have grown increasingly concerned by Patel’s use of the bureau’s strapped resources, the people said. .....
At Patel’s direction, the FBI provides a separate security detail for Wilkins, 27, a country music performer who lives part time in Nashville for her work. The FBI security detail, first reported by MS NOW, is made up of members of an elite SWAT team based in the area. It has spurred concerns about Patel abusing FBI resources to essentially drive his girlfriend around for various events and appointments. The FBI has never before provided a separate security detail for a director’s girlfriend. Spouses of past directors typically received episodic security protection, but only when they were traveling with their spouse and the director’s detail.
Former FBI agents and senior law enforcement officials said it was already disturbing that Patel had pulled elite tactical agents away from their SWAT mission to drive his girlfriend around town. But they told MS NOW they were shocked that the director instructed tactical agents to use their time on yet another person the FBI had no reasonable duty to protect.
Read more: https://www.ms.now/news/kash-patel-girlfriend-fbi-detail-wilkins-ride-home
Kash Patel ordered FBI detail to give girlfriend's pal a lift home: sources
The FBI director’s use of resources is under intense scrutiny as he insists he’s “a steward of the taxpayer dollars.”
Kash Patel ordered FBI detail to give girlfriend’s pal a lift home: sources
— Republicans Against Trumpism (@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social) 2025-12-05T14:59:29.051Z
www.ms.now/news/kash-pa...
https://www.ms.now/news/kash-patel-girlfriend-fbi-detail-wilkins-ride-home
Patel’s girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, asked FBI agents on her security team at least two times, including once this spring, to drive her friend home, and agents objected to diverting from their assignment, said the sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss nonpublic matters. But Patel insisted they do as Wilkins requested and in one case called the leader of Wilkins’ security detail and yelled at him to do so.
News of the effort to deploy agents to provide security for a private citizen has spread through the bureau and beyond, as agents have grown increasingly concerned by Patel’s use of the bureau’s strapped resources, the people said. .....
At Patel’s direction, the FBI provides a separate security detail for Wilkins, 27, a country music performer who lives part time in Nashville for her work. The FBI security detail, first reported by MS NOW, is made up of members of an elite SWAT team based in the area. It has spurred concerns about Patel abusing FBI resources to essentially drive his girlfriend around for various events and appointments. The FBI has never before provided a separate security detail for a director’s girlfriend. Spouses of past directors typically received episodic security protection, but only when they were traveling with their spouse and the director’s detail.
Former FBI agents and senior law enforcement officials said it was already disturbing that Patel had pulled elite tactical agents away from their SWAT mission to drive his girlfriend around town. But they told MS NOW they were shocked that the director instructed tactical agents to use their time on yet another person the FBI had no reasonable duty to protect.
MaddowBlog-Trump taps new ballroom architect for $300 million White House vanity project
Whether the president will ever devote this much attention to governing and policymaking is unclear.
As Trump hires another ballroom architect for his White House vanity project, a question hangs overhead: Will he ever devote this much attention to governing and policymaking?
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-12-05T14:04:30.667Z
I think we know the answer. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-taps-new-ballroom-architect-for-300-million-white-house-vanity-project
When the shambolic process did not sit well with McCrery, it became time to bring in a new architect. NBC News reported:
The White House has brought in a new architect to work on President Donald Trump’s ‘vision’ for his massive $300 million ballroom project, officials said Thursday.
Shalom Baranes, head of Shalom Baranes Associates, has ‘joined the team of experts to carry out President Trump’s vision on building what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office — the White House Ballroom,’ White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.
.....Regardless, it seems likely that the president’s new architect should prepare himself for an endeavor in which Trump will be guiding his hand, ensuring this vanity project — a wildly unnecessary addition that will sit empty for most of the year and will only be used occasionally by the hyper-elite — meets his evolving standards.
Whether the president will ever devote this much attention to governing and policymaking is unclear.
Has trump already pardoned the pipe bomber?
https://x.com/gtconway3d/status/1996727772321141015
Supreme Court allows Texas to use Trump-backed congressional map in midterms
I was afraid of this. The filing deadline is Monday, Dec 8. The gerrymandered maps will be used.
https://x.com/cnnbrk/status/1996718323296256336
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-trump-backed-congressional-map-in-midterms
The decision could have significant consequences for next year’s midterm elections, which will determine control of the House for the final two years of Trump’s presidency. Had Texas been blocked from using its new map, it would have upended Trump’s nationwide push to avoid a Democratic House majority.
The court issued a brief unsigned opinion granting Texas’s request over the objection from the court’s three liberal justices.
In its brief order, the Supreme Court said that a lower court that ruled against the map likely did so in error, in part because it failed to honor “the presumption of legislative good faith by construing ambiguous direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature.”
...The legal battles over Trump’s mid-decade congressional redistricting strategy will continue to play out in coming weeks. Last week, the Justice Department sued officials in California over new maps meant to give Democrats in the Golden State an edge next year. A court is set to hear arguments in that case next month.
Deadline Legal Blog-Supreme Court sides with Texas in challenge to congressional map deemed discriminatory
A lower court ruling authored by a Trump-appointed judge said the new map was likely an illegal racial gerrymander.
BREAKING: Supreme Court sides with Texas in challenge to congressional map deemed discriminatory
— MS NOW (@ms.now) 2025-12-04T23:23:52.723Z
https://www.ms.now/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/texas-redistricting-supreme-court-gerrymander
The court’s three Democratic appointees dissented from the Republican-appointed majority’s decision to put the Trump-backed map in play on Thursday. The majority granted Texas emergency relief because, it said, the state would likely succeed in its appeal.
Writing for the dissenting trio, Justice Elena Kagan said the majority’s order “ensures that many Texas citizens, for no good reason, will be placed in electoral districts because of their race. And that result, as this Court has pronounced year in and year out, is a violation of the Constitution.”
After a divided three-judge panel deemed the state’s map to be likely racially discriminatory on Nov. 18, Texas filed an emergency appeal to the high court. The appeal initially went to Justice Samuel Alito, the justice assigned to field such requests from that region. On Nov. 21, Alito issued an order temporarily halting the lower court ruling, pending further review by the full bench of justices.
Texas argued that the map it produced over the summer in response to Trump’s call was motivated by politics (which the Supreme Court has allowed), not race. The state noted that California worked to add Democratic seats to its congressional delegation in response to Texas’ move.
Mike Luckovich-If you pay enough you can get off naughty list
— Mike Luckovich (@mluckovich.bsky.social) 2025-12-04T21:30:30.597Z
Supreme Court allows Texas to use Trump-backed congressional map in midterms
I was afraid of this. The filing deadline is Monday, Dec 8. The gerrymandered maps will be used.
https://x.com/cnnbrk/status/1996718323296256336
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/04/politics/supreme-court-allows-texas-to-use-trump-backed-congressional-map-in-midterms
The decision could have significant consequences for next year’s midterm elections, which will determine control of the House for the final two years of Trump’s presidency. Had Texas been blocked from using its new map, it would have upended Trump’s nationwide push to avoid a Democratic House majority.
The court issued a brief unsigned opinion granting Texas’s request over the objection from the court’s three liberal justices.
In its brief order, the Supreme Court said that a lower court that ruled against the map likely did so in error, in part because it failed to honor “the presumption of legislative good faith by construing ambiguous direct and circumstantial evidence against the legislature.”
...The legal battles over Trump’s mid-decade congressional redistricting strategy will continue to play out in coming weeks. Last week, the Justice Department sued officials in California over new maps meant to give Democrats in the Golden State an edge next year. A court is set to hear arguments in that case next month.
Profile Information
Member since: Mon Apr 5, 2004, 03:58 PMNumber of posts: 173,566