Category: Trump Administration

HUD to reinstate Obama-era fair housing rule gutted under Trump — minus the ‘burdensome’ reporting requirement

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Some housing discrimination experts worry suspending the requirement could undermine enforcement.

Nearly a year after the Trump administration replaced an Obama-era fair housing rule that critics decried as “burdensome” and that President Donald Trump alleged would “abolish” suburbs, President Biden’s housing department is restoring the requirement that communities take steps to reduce racial segregation or risk losing federal funds.

But missing from the requirement is the 2015 mandate that communities undergo an extensive analysis of local barriers to integration and submit plans to dismantle them to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to senior HUD officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an “interim final rule” before its publication in the Federal Register on Thursday.

Biden administration HUD officials said the creation and review of these assessments of fair housing “proved to be unnecessarily burdensome” for communities as well as the agency, echoing some of the complaints voiced by former HUD secretary Ben Carson. Continue reading.

Fallen cop’s Trump-loving partner ready to go to war with Mitch McConnell and Republicans for protecting Trump

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Sandra Garza, the partner of fallen Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick spoke to CNN Tuesday about her loss and the anger she has around the attack on the U.S. Capitol that led to his death.

Both she and Sicknick were avid Trump supporters, but in wake of the attack, things have changed. 

“I know you are a supporter because you believed in ‘blue lives matter’ and you believed in the former president’s defense in law enforcement,” said CNN’s Erin Burnett. “Why do you think this report does not look at Trump’s role in what happened that day?” Continue reading.

Fox News staff leaked to CNN host how ‘distraught’ they are network keeps covering up the Jan. 6 attack

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CNN host Brian Stelter told Jake Tapper on Tuesday that he had to nearly rewrite his book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth for the paperback version because so much has happened since it was first published in hardback.

He explained that about a dozen Fox News staffers came to him privately to say that they were “distraught” over the network’s downplaying of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. More recently, the liberal group Meidas Touch gave Fox News just under $200,000 to run an ad with statements from Capitol and D.C. police officers about what they experienced on that day. Fox refused to run the ad, effectively canceling the police officers they purport to support. 

The Fox staffers told Stelter that their network has “looked the other way and made excuses for the rioters.” However, he explained, those staffers leaking aren’t in the majority. “Riot denial has won out at Fox and today, the network has barely covered this new Senate report and they have stuffed this down the rabbit hole.” Continue reading.

Trump allies set for bitter brawl in Texas AG primary

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Two high-profile allies of former President Trump are barreling toward confrontation in the race for Texas attorney general in what could become one of the Lone Star State’s closest-watched primaries next year.

The Republican primary race began in earnest last week when Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), announced a challenge to sitting Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is expected to run for a third term in 2022.

Both men are ardent allies of Trump and are aggressively seeking his endorsement in the primary, believing that the former president’s backing would offer the easiest path to the GOP nomination. Trump has teased making an endorsement soon but has offered no hints as to which candidate he’s leaning toward. Continue reading.

Mo Brooks Erupts When Served In Capitol Riot Lawsuit

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Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) appears to be up in arms after he was finally served a lawsuit from California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who is accusing Brooks of helping incite the violent insurrection at the Capitol on January 6 and is seeking damages from Brooks for his conduct.

Brooks was one of the leaders of the effort to try to block congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory last January 6. And he spoke at a rally that preceded the insurrection, telling the Donald Trump-supporting crowd that eventually stormed the Capitol that “American patriots” should “start taking down names and kicking ass.”

On March 5, Swalwell sued Brooks — along with Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani — whom he accused of being responsible for the attack by launching “a campaign of lies and incendiary rhetoric [that] led to the sacking of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.” Continue reading.

Republican AG admits voter suppression helped Trump win Texas in 2020

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One need only compare now-President Joe Biden’s losses in Texas in 2020 to his losses in Idaho or Wyoming to see that Texas has gone from deep red to light red. Biden lost Texas by 6%; he lost Wyoming by 43%, Idaho by 30% and North Dakota by 43%. Nonetheless, the Democratic Party has, historically, had a turnout problem in the Lone Star State; Democrats are going to need a heavier turnout in the Democrat-leaning parts of the state if they are going to win statewide races (presidential, gubernatorial or U.S. Senate) in the future. And Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, during a June 4 appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast, essentially admitted that voter suppression helped former President Donald Trump win Texas in 2020.

Paxton told Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist in the Trump Administration in 2017 following his years as chairman of Breitbart News, that had his office not blocked Harris County from sending out mail-in ballot applications to its residents, Trump would have lost Texas in 2020. Harris County includes Democrat-leaning Houston.

“Trump won by 620,000 votes in Texas,” Paxton told Bannon. “(The) Harris County mail-in ballots that they wanted to send out were 2.5 million. Those were all illegal, and we were able to stop every one of them.” Continue reading.

Mary Trump Predicts How Donald Trump Will Throw His Children Under The Bus

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And the ex-president’s niece is “fairly sure” her cousins will flip on their father.

Mary Trump doesn’t doubt that her uncle, ex-President Donald Trump, will sacrifice his own children to save himself from potential prosecution.

On Monday, CNN’s Chris Cuomo asked Mary Trump if her uncle would “take one for his kids” if they were targeted by prosecutors. Both Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump work for the Trump Organization, which is under criminal investigation by authorities in New York.

“No, he wouldn’t,” responded the former president’s niece, a vocal critic of her relative. Continue reading.

Biden’s Task Force Identified More Than 3,900 Immigrant Children Who Were Separated From Their Families Under Trump

“Our efforts to reunify every family continue,” a senior Department of Homeland Security official said.

The Biden administration has identified 3,913 children who were separated from their parents at the southern border as a result of Trump’s zero tolerance policy as efforts to reunite them ramp up.

Officials believe the latest official government tally released on Tuesday accounts for nearly all separation cases, but said there is still a lot of work required to undo the damage to the families.

“Children were unjustly ripped from the arms of their mothers and loved ones and forced to separate. It is no experience any family should have to live through,” a senior Department of Homeland Security official said on a call with reporters. “Our efforts to reunify every family continue.” Continue reading.

10 Emerging GOP Lies About The U.S. Capitol Riot Shredded On MSNBC

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The latest Republican spin on the Jan. 6 insurrection got firmly fact-checked by “The Beat” anchor Ari Melber.

MSNBC’s Ari Melber on Monday pointed out how “more and more” Republicans are embracing lies about the U.S. Capitol riot by pretending the violence wasn’t that bad or trying to cast blame away from former President Donald Trump for starting it.

“The Beat” anchor then swiftly shredded 10 emerging falsehoods — by playing audio of outlandish GOP claims alongside footage of the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection incited by Trump and his election lies.

“There are signs of (how) blatantly rejecting the evidence of your eyes and ears has become a litmus test for some hard-right figures,” said Melber. “This matters for truth and justice and how these lies spread matters for our future as a country.” Continue reading.

New report highlights severe intelligence failures on Jan. 6

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Senate investigators have outlined a spectacular series of intelligence and communication failures leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in a new report that paints the picture of a horrific scene that left lawmakers and staff scrambling for safety. 

The 127-page report, which includes a transcript of former President Trump’s speech to rallygoers, is the first full congressional committee review of the deadly attack on Congress as it moved to certify President Biden’s election victory. 

It pieces together multiple warnings of violence that were poorly circulated and largely went unheeded by top leaders in several agencies. That left Capitol Police forces unprepared for clashes with hundreds of protesters outside and inside the building. Continue reading.