Trump Executive Action thread

[Winehole23]

Eleventh Circuit refuses to block the district court's sanctions order in the "$1.776 billion Weaponization Fund Settlement" casehttps://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca11.97154/gov.uscourts.ca11.97154.68.0.pdf

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:eoss3vmzem55cm5kuddhdmwn/bafkreieevikztfaq25zg6a4aqgqezrq4gbwxgpplciyigy7p4 i7k3pbfla


"The appellants did not submit or offer any evidence to explain their litigation conduct or demonstrate that the lawsuit the settlement were not collusive."

[Winehole23]

impoundment is still illegal and still unconstitutional


The Trump administration must spend the $810 million that it said last week it planned to cancel, according to a report released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office.


The congressional watchdog’s decision contends the White House budget office doesn’t hold the ability to claw back that funding without approval from Congress.
“Any withholding of appropriated funds beyond their date of expiration, regardless of size, subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse,” wrote GAO General Counsel Edda Emmanuelli Perez.
https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/congressional-watchdog-says-trump-administration-cant-defy-lawmakers-revoke-810m

[Winehole23]

A federal law known as the Impoundment Control Act allows the White House to ask Congress to cancel funding that lawmakers previously approved and the president signed into law.


Lawmakers have 45 days after the rescission request is sent to decide whether they want to approve it in full or modify the proposal. Congress declining to take any action means lawmakers have rejected the plans and the administration must spend the money.


A request sent during the last 45 days of the federal fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30, is known as a pocket rescission.


The Trump administration believes that sending a rescissions request during that timeframe allows it to cancel the funding regardless of whether lawmakers sign off on the plan.


The GAO has disagreed with that opinion before and reiterated it Tuesday in its five-page decision (https://www.gao.gov/assets/900/890546.pdf).


“The Constitution vests in Congress the power of the purse, and Congress did not cede this important power through the ICA,” Perez wrote.

[Winehole23]

Trump DOJ has SCOTUS on speed dial


By my math, the order was filed 11 minutes after the Trump administration's reply brief came in.https://bsky.app/profile/stevevladeck.bsky.social/post/3mwojkhijhs24

[ChumpDumper]

lol yoni tried to act like Trump was using the Impoundment Act at the beginning of this term. In asked him to produce the documents that are required for the administration to produce. Grok couldn't find any so I never heard from yonibot again.

[Winehole23]

lol yoni tried to act like Trump was using the Impoundment Act at the beginning of this term. In asked him to produce the documents that are required for the administration to produce. Grok couldn't find any so I never heard from yonibot again.Russ Vought is still claiming power under the Impoundment Act!

The basic argument seems to be that POTUS can impound every single appropriation and pocket rescission whole budgets

[ChumpDumper]

Not if they don't do the paperwork.

[Winehole23]

Trump steals US appropriations



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:l7dn34bre6lgyu3q4vkomw32/bafkreiezq6myczstvgxdzte7hdohbmss6nlng4exymsfyj3sz kit6cmbry

[Winehole23]

misappropriation of funds to propagandize you


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cpqgjlhxe7ne3bjyny65hxz7/bafkreihwbcydo7nnsbqowwb53ai72uc3ayfhx336i4743uzfm 3q6335u3m

[Winehole23]

"creative ways to steal the power of the purse"


The National Science Foundation, one of the biggest sources of federal research funding, withheld $1.4 billion that Congress had intended for research over the course of the past year, according to internal data reviewed by The New York Times.


The extraordinary move — holding back about one-fifth of the N.S.F.’s primary research budget — is the latest sign of how the Trump administration is finding creative ways to work around Congress.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/us/politics/national-science-foundation-research-funds.html

[Winehole23]

more of the same

revolt against the constitution and a coup of the US republic


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreia76jtglpv74oryzomeugnn6ffmcm6jonjlvkxfrtkd7 rarzj7y4ihttps://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/10/01/trump-defies-democrats-diverts-aid-europe-latin-america-instead/

[Winehole23]

US foreign policy as family business and crony capitalism


The Trump administration’s talks with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine have expanded to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal that would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to the two main U.S. negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.


The deal, which is contingent on approval from the U.S. government and the Kremlin, is for a sprawling set of oil fields, refineries and gas stations around the world owned by Lukoil, one of Russia’s biggest energy companies.


The leading group seeking the deal includes an American investor, Todd Boehly, who has donated $2 million to President Trump’s political causes; two Middle Eastern groups that have done business with Mr. Kushner or Mr. Witkoff’s family; and an arm of the U.S. government itself.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/us/politics/kushner-witkoff-russia-oil-deal.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1E.zXvR.RPqpSnh Z_kBL&smid=nytcore-android-share

[Winehole23]

non-denial denial


CNN reported (https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/01/us/jared-kushner-israel-gaza-investments-invs-vis) Thursday that Kushner’s private equity company, Affinity Partners, is the largest stakeholder in a Tel Aviv firm, Phoenix Financial, that invests in companies that provide Israel with military equipment, according to records the network reviewed.

Affinity doubled its stake in Phoenix shortly before Trump began his second term, sold a quarter of its stake in the company in July for more than $340 million and still owns a 7.4% share of the firm worth more than $1 billion as of July.

In his voluntary diplomatic role in the Trump administration, Kushner has helped broker a peace deal between Israel and Hamas, though Israel has continued to launch daily strikes against Gaza.

Kushner accused CNN of suggesting his work in the Middle East “somehow benefited investments in Israeli defense companies,” insisting in a post on X Friday, “I have no role in deciding what Phoenix buys or sells.”

Kushner told Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/sites/monicahunter-hart/2025/09/16/how-jared-kushners-bold-bets-in-the-middle-east-made-him-a-billionaire/) last year, when we reported he became a billionaire, that he maintains “a very active dialogue” with Phoenix, which he called “the JPMorgan of Israel.”

Kusher, who referred to Phoenix as Affinity’s “best investment” in the interview with Forbes last year, said in his X post Friday, Phoenix “has performed very well for Affinity and our investors, up more than five times since our initial investment.”

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2026/10/02/kushner-rejects-cnn-report-that-his-israeli-diplomacy-might-benefit-his-private-equity-fund/

[Winehole23]

funding the government with private donations is a violation of the Antideficiency Act (https://www.gao.gov/legal/appropriations-law/resources) and is corruption per se





A company linked to a major Trump donor received authorization from the Treasury Department to complete an acquisition involving a sanctioned Russian bank, according to public records. The Texas-based Dynamic Frontier Holdings purchased Teghut, one of Armenia’s largest copper mines, this summer. Dynamic Frontier’s manager is Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-American businessman who was one of three dozen private donors to ...... wait for it ...


President Donald Trump’s $350 million White House ballroom project. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a73967876/white-house-ballroom-trump-russia/

[Winehole23]

"mean librul media is making me look bad"


“[T]he President determined that Plaintiff news networks had published stories that adversely affect national security, including publishing possibly classified or sensitive information,” the Justice Department argued. “In doing so, these outlets each demonstrated their willingness to publish information that undermines national security. Restricting access to the White House removes one avenue for these outlets to obtain such harmful information.”https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/02/politics/justice-department-asks-court-allow-white-house-press-ban

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:nyjm4ylfid2a7mjm6varxuiq/bafkreie72c3xrsrdfgh3y3gek6rfdfg5it5xmigvoaz7lcb5n 2zlr7kig4

[Winehole23]

flop sweat and desperate loser shit


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:xx4at3byg3oggcqlslx4eghc/bafkreif6htbtnz2hybafveidezu4kn4bxcigoydnohhy367jb vephfdfpu

[Winehole23]

The Moves That Backfired on Trump and Drove Interest Rates and Inflation Higher
The president’s advisers said fiscal restraint and deregulation would bring down prices and borrowing costs. Then came tariffs, war and an investment boom.
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trump-economy-inflation-jobs-724e4da8?st=KciBVC&reflink=article_copyURL_share

[Winehole23]

routine self-dealing


Trump Organization billed the Secret Service $17,000 per month (averaging roughly $567 per night) to rent a three-to-four-room cottage on the club grounds for the protective detail, billed continuously even when Trump was elsewhere.

[Winehole23]

Article I, Section 9, Clause 7[/FONT]]No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/article-1/section-9/clause-7/appropriations-clause


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:nnffk6m46cmabw3e6cxo2fhj/bafkreidnkmkq4exjng37i7mvp4oqyjftbfleykhwke4k22lsn pntgmxpla

[Winehole23]

Protect the Union, enforce the constitution


The Department of Justice was created in 1870 with an explicit mission to protect civil rights and enforce the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments.

The DOJ went after the Klan hard, securing thousands of indictments and 600+ convictions within the first year alon

[Winehole23]

more illegal impoundment, says GAO

$1B worth



Congress’s watchdog arm has found that the Trump administration illegally withheld federal funds last year from federal government programs at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services.


In 2025, the Trump administration prevented the two agencies from distributing more than $1 billion appropriated by Congress, in prohibitions (https://www.gao.gov/products/b-337872) known as impoundments, according to two decisions (https://www.gao.gov/products/b-337485) that the Government Accountability Office sent to Congress on Wednesday.
https://www.washingtonsun.com/whitehouse/congress-watchdog-trump-illegally-withheld-1-billion-federal-funds

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:tygzdwxfkryv2hkudzyaivmf/bafkreibvhjmt7vjni46ewhbgfadsgheqahbeqf4brwv2u5dwl yi7mfgoxe

[Winehole23]

"hiring foreign workers is fraud"

so much for freedom of contract


Microsoft is suspended from applying for permanent residency for workers employed through a US visa program for high-skilled workers, JD Vance announced on Thursday.

The US vice-president accused the tech company of abusing the H-1B system, which allows those on the visa to work while they apply for and are in the process of obtaining a green card.

“Our message to Microsoft is, you’re a great American company, but you’ve got to hire great American workers,” Vance said at a press conference announcing the suspension. “You cannot lay off American workers and then replace them with foreign indentured servants.”
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/53d66ebd8b4c6838ae365637ba65b0178b71b3f3/1075_391_4346_3477/master/4346.jpg?width=460&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max& (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2026/oct/08/ai-gig-work-refugees-kenya)

Microsoft said the vast majority of its workers were American and 80% of the H-1B applications it filed in the last year were for extensions or status changes for people who already worked for the company.

“Microsoft only files H-1B petitions for those who meet the rigorous standards of this visa category,” the company wrote in a statement. “We pay our employees some of the highest compensation in the tech sector, and our wages are among the highest of all H-1B filings. We pay our H-1B employees the same as any other employees doing comparable work.”

The US labor department also said Adobe had been similarly suspended.

“We will not accept any new or process any pending permanent labor certification applications involving these companies,” said Keith Sonderling, the US labor secretary, in a statement.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/08/jd-vance-microsoft-visa-workers-green-card-suspension

[Winehole23]

Trump is convening an ad-hoc, appointed by him star-chamber to fire Lisa Cook after the Supreme Court said Trump firing her would be improper

More cargo-cult tyrant bullshit


President Donald Trump established a committee of inquiry to investigate whether Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook made “false statements in connection with one or more mortgage instruments,” his latest effort to remove her from the central bank.


“As President, it is my job to ensure the laws are faithfully executed, including by firing subordinates who cannot be trusted to tell the truth and follow the law,” Trump wrote in a memo (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/10/establishment-of-a-committee-of-inquiry-to-investigate-allegations-of-false-statements-by-lisa-denell-cook/).
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/09/donald-trump-lisa-cook-fed-investigation-01113667

[Winehole23]

Two states, one storm

Only one got disaster aid

https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/trump-administration-denies-illinois-request-for-disaster-relief-again/


how are blue states are supposed to keep paying into a system that deprives them of the agreed upon benefits of being in that union?

[Winehole23]

private meetings, official corruption, invasion of privacy, regulatory capture


A cadre of elite techies, financiers, and high-level Trump (https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/trump) administration officials have spent a year quietly charting an extraordinary and rapid campaign to persuade Americans to use apps and other artificial intelligence-powered tools to manage their healthcare and medical records.


As that campaign has unfolded, administration officials have granted tech companies an unusual opportunity to nudge the nation’s health department toward a loosely regulated future for AI health apps in which the government reimburses them for services as it does medical professionals.


In February, federal health officials invited those businesses — including tech giants Microsoft, Anthropic, OpenAI, Apple, and Google — to a listening session on conversational AI products for patients, such as chatbots. Representatives from at least 35 industry organizations attended the meeting held by the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for regulating health apps as medical devices. Companies were prompted in advance to explain their AI products and how they access patients’ sensitive medical information.

...


The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has not formally announced the chat room through federal regulatory channels, though CMS officials have talked about it at industry conferences. Legal experts said the chat room resembles a federal advisory panel, which would be required to operate in public view.


KFF Health News reviewed thousands of Slack messages, meeting transcripts, and video recordings that reveal how the Trump administration has granted the industry a direct line to top government officials — including former head of the Department of Government Efficiency Amy Gleason (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gleasonamy/).


But the meeting did not appear on the FDA’s public calendar or regulatory notices, nor was the public invited. Rather, the invitation for a select group to help shape federal policy governing AI in healthcare was extended in a chat room on the messaging service Slack.


“This is a great opportunity to support HHS’ goals and share your state-of-the-art understanding of safe Conversational AI development and monitoring to help FDA shape future guidance,” CMS senior policy adviser Morgan Taylor wrote in the Slack workspace.
https://www.alternet.org/medicare-artificial-intelligence/

[Winehole23]

special interests playing in the government sandbox


“We wanted to give industry a chance to play in the sandbox of government-supported healthcare,” CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said in September (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAnRiI7AoiQ) at the public launch of an initiative that allows health apps to bill Medicare for AI services such as wearable device tracking. Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered an enthusiastic endorsement of AI in healthcare, claiming it is “much better informed than any doctor in the country.”


Meanwhile, HHS staff even promised that a recently launched Medicare App Library (https://www.medicare.gov/health-apps) would serve as a lucrative pipeline for those businesses to get new users. The library's webpage currently promotes only two dozen commercial apps to millions of American seniors and those with disabilities.

[Winehole23]

Doctors, meanwhile, are increasingly worried about how patients use and share their medical records with the nascent technology.


“Some of these tools just aren’t ready for primetime,” said John Whyte, CEO of the American Medical Association. “We don’t have enough data about them. We don’t understand how they work, how they’re using the information. There’s no liability if these tools get things wrong.”


CMS officials declined to answer several questions about the Slack workspace, including about its legality.

[Winehole23]

netted out, FDA and Dr. Oz are letting AI companies reshape Medicare regulation and policy, and letting them play with Americans' healthcare data

[Winehole23]

maha my ass


The US Food (https://www.theguardian.com/food) and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to expand a controversial loophole to allow some of the world’s most toxic chemicals to be added directly to food without a safety review.
The “threshold of regulation” (TOR) exemption currently allows dangerous compounds to be used without review in food contact materials, such as packaging or processing equipment, if they are not carcinogenic, and are added at levels below 0.5 parts per billion (ppb).

But campaigners say many chemicals, especially hormone disruptors linked to brain damage and reproductive harm in children, are considered dangerous at levels far below 0.5ppb. Even in its limited form, the loophole has already raised alarm. One TOR exemption that allows the rocket fuel chemical perchlorate to be used in grain bags dramatically increased (https://blogs.edf.org/health/2019/01/11/fda-perchlorate-in-food/) the amount of the compound found in kids’ cereal, which advocates say could cause brain damage (https://blogs.edf.org/health/2019/10/29/edf-joins-court-challenge-of-fdas-refusal-to-ban-use-of-perchlorate-in-food-contact-materials/).


The new proposed TOR expansion would allow companies to use the chemicals as an ingredient added directly to food, as flavorings, preservatives, emulsifiers, processing aids, enzymes, stabilizers and binders, and for myriad other uses, in ultra-processing.


The revelation comes after Robert F Kennedy Jr and the FDA claimed victory and declared “promises kept (https://www.hhs.gov/promisesmade-promiseskept/index.html)” in August for “closing” a different controversial regulatory loophole called “generally regarded as safe” (Gras), which over the decades was used to send ingredients to the market that campaigners said could sicken (https://www.fda.gov/food/hfp-constituent-updates/fda-update-post-market-assessment-tara-flour), injure or kill (https://www.gao.gov/assets/hrd-93-28r.pdf) people
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/10/fda-toxic-chemicals-food-analysis

[Winehole23]

taxpayer funded political propaganda despite a court order to stop


After a coalition of advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging the ads – arguing they constitute taxpayer-funded “propaganda” – the Department of Homeland Security said in a Saturday court filing (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.674638/gov.uscourts.nysd.674638.37.0.pdf) that the ads wouldn’t continue past Sunday. President Donald Trump had also said campaign funds would be used to pay for future ads.


In a Sunday order, (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/judge-trump-ads_n_6acc23f8e4b0942a6141af06) Judge Jennifer Rochon wrote the administration must “cancel or cause to be cancelled” any such ads from airing starting Sunday evening, and that the government is banned from “using, disbursing, or transferring” DHS funds to develop and distribute the videos.


But according to the advertising data, two of the ads aired multiple times during various shows after Rochon’s deadline passed, including on “ABC World News Tonight” and CBS’s “60 Minutes.” The ads, which were paid for using DHS funds (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/election-2026-trump-government-ads_n_6abc816ae4b0ecc03a1d83d9), included one resembling a Trump 2024 presidential campaign video and another of him and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth advocating for the Iran war.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/live-updates_n_6acc9961e4b0a568b68e46d5/liveblog_6acd284fe4b064943475fea4

[Winehole23]

government by special birthday boy


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:vwajgkd45f5damhlwimo3bom/bafkreibkwdyhfdvnympumgct53grf7jq52g5r3gaflyjw2d3p 2mwokwvpu

[Winehole23]

taxpayer funded political propaganda despite a court order to stop

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/live-updates_n_6acc9961e4b0a568b68e46d5/liveblog_6acd284fe4b064943475fea4

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:353gzbhcjbznfxegvayffqek/bafkreigelsoxtwsw5xm3pxnopbmufd5lyftpewwhnpfgy25bh ckntedy6y

[Winehole23]

private donations funding projects the president controls is corruption


Some donors on the list obtained by The Post cut large checks, while others created installment plans that are still being paid off, the additional records show. The list does not include in-kind contributions.



The Post’s reporting does not establish a connection between the donation commitments and favorable actions by the Trump administration. But the documents show that the vast majority of the funds raised came from companies and wealthy individuals with interests before the federal government.



Companies or executives of firms that have had contracts with the federal government during Trump’s second term accounted for about half of the total, The Post found.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/10/15/secret-documents-reveal-donors-behind-330-million-trumps-ballroom/

[Winehole23]

routing government funding through a presidentially controlled nonprofit org is super shady


The ballroom donations are routed through the Trust for the National Mall, a D.C.-based nonprofit whose mission is to restore and preserve the National Mall and the White House grounds. Nonprofits are not generally required to disclose their donors.



Prospective donors were sent a “pledge agreement form,” a copy of which was obtained by The Post, for giving toward the “Donald J. Trump Ballroom.” The form lists Meredith O’Rourke, the top fundraiser for Trump’s 2024 campaign, as the main contact.

[Winehole23]

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:pnfdj4uuuf7p6qnwykizhw3r/bafkreiccgaslp4qjntwrivwpil75h23xoiizgpqfga2ig7sq6 e2v7z2qmq

[Winehole23]

political appointee calls off CFTC insider trading probe



Billions of dollars’ worth of futures contracts were bought 15 minutes before Trump announced his U-turn in a post on Truth Social. The U.S. CFTC began an investigation of insider trading, which was halted after the intervention of a Trump-linked advisor.https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/10/14/world/crime-legal/iran-war-oil-trades-regulator-probe/

[Winehole23]

slush fund for partisan snitches

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:wjvc76fsrmfqqtx5vuia7lrf/bafkreicv44krfgc5onealmyhiguamgywudii5cjdeshyr5k46 juucpxysm

[Winehole23]

quite the vision of civil society

https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.IJKSndpsr-5AgGOiUWPqvwHaEK?w=333&h=187&c=7&r=0&o=7&dpr=1.5&pid=1.7&rm=3


"People will make millions of dollars by turning others in"

[Winehole23]

wildly illegal



https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:clxs5bimkdx2zvxzrbs6v3pw/bafkreiaui4gd3i64ixtcpg55mcwp56cyfekciqc3qtnxuctao rl3at6ryu

[Winehole23]

Comey prosecuted on supposed 2016 espionage act violation


On October 5, the DOJ filed a criminal information (https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297/gov.uscourts.dcd.297297.1.0.pdf) in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. A criminal information is not an indictment — and this distinction is critical to understanding this debacle.

An information is a charging document, written and signed by the prosecutor, without going to a grand jury or a judge. For misdemeanors, which carry a sentence of less than a year in jail, that's enough to start the case.

But the Fifth Amendment says that no one may be "held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury." And so, to charge a defendant with a felony, prosecutors have to convince a grand jury to vote for indictment by demonstrating probable cause to believe that a crime occurred

The sole exception (https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcrmp/rule_7) is when the defendant "in open court and after being advised of the nature of the charge and of the defendant's rights — waives prosecution by indictment," in which case he "may be prosecuted by information." So, in the case of a plea deal, the parties can just walk into court with an information and not bother with a grand jury.

Obviously, that’s not what happened here. And, when pressed, prosecutors pointedly refused to confirm that they weren’t about to get a grand jury indictment and show up to arrest him. So Comey’s lawyers filed an emergency motion for a hearing before Judge Trevor McFadden hoping to head off a public arrest.

In court on October 9, the government admitted that it had planned to do just that, taking Comey into custody after close of business to ensure that he’d remain locked up through the holiday weekend. Deprived of the the handcuffed perp walk they so clearly desired, they eventually agreed to hold off for 30 days while the court considers Comey’s motion to dismiss the case.
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/comey-third-criminal-charges

[Winehole23]

DOJ attempt to stiff-arm probable cause hearing, pre-election Comey perpwalk denied


A federal judge on Monday dismissed a criminal complaint (https://apnews.com/article/biden-laptop-fbi-official-charged-e41b7407f97c6dfc7c017875054c0c67) against two former FBI officials accused of making false statements to Congress about Hunter Biden, saying the investigation that produced the charges was rushed, overtly political and dogged by “critical mistakes.”

“What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui said in a scathing ruling from the bench that dismissed the case against former officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides.

He noted that the investigation was opened a day after a primetime speech by President Donald Trump in which he rehashed grievances over his 2020 election loss and that it was mandated and closely tracked by FBI Director Kash Patel. He also pointed out that the Justice Department could have brought the case, which arises from statements made in 2023, at any time but opted to do so two weeks ago, in the run-up to Tuesday’s midterm voting.

“I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend that I cannot read a calendar,” Faruqui said.
https://apnews.com/article/fbi-hunter-biden-laptop-justice-department-101ccd65d10b5f779985747eb0045b52

[Winehole23]

wut


https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_fullsize/plain/did:plc:6wwty6iar2ya7heph6d25cw3/bafkreigs4khwpjyp2pz7dvp6zprnjojijteugp4wgx22cu5yv 6gevtauam

[Winehole23]

DOJ making up inflammatory bullshit about defendants in splashy public announcements isn't going over well in Florida

Trump's DOJ has a pattern of smearing defendants publicly, pre-trial


A federal judge is demanding answers from the Trump Justice Department (https://www.rawstory.com/doj-2678215691/?utm_source=msn) after prosecutors' splashy announcement about a fraud case went sideways.

In an order issued Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Irick directed the government to name the people who wrote and posted a press release falsely claiming all 13 defendants in a Florida (https://www.rawstory.com/florida-gop-2678148136/?utm_source=msn) immigration fraud case were foreign nationals, according to a post (https://x.com/SeamusHughes/status/2117731491753136388) on X by court records researcher Seamus Hughes. Those people must then explain in writing why they should not be sanctioned.


The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida put out the release (https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/homeland-security-task-force-investigation-yields-federal-charges-thirteen-foreign) Monday under a headline touting "13 Foreign Nationals Charged." Its opening line said the defendants were from Brazil and Cuba.
"That press release appears to both contain a false assertion and be in violation of Local Rule 3.11," Irick wrote. "In fact, all thirteen Defendants are not foreign nationals. Based on the hearings that occurred yesterday, the Court knows that at least one of the Defendants is a United States citizen. Others might be United States citizens as well."



He also aimed at the release's final paragraph, which ties the case to a Homeland Security Task Force created under President Donald Trump's executive order titled "Protecting the American People Against Invasion." That paragraph lists crimes of violence and crimes against children, none of which are charged in the case.
"There is no basis to provide incorrect or false or materially misleading information about the nationality of any criminal defendant in a public statement, especially when the information concerning foreign nationality is included for the purpose of aggravating the description of the charges," Irick wrote.
He added that the release came on the heels of the prosecutor named in the press release "providing what appeared to be incorrect information concerning a Defendant" at Monday's hearings.



Irick reminded counsel that they are bound by the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar, citing a local rule that allows the court to "disbar, suspend, reprimand, or otherwise discipline" lawyers who appear before it. The government has until Thursday to name those responsible, who must respond by the same day.https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/trump-doj-s-invasion-hype-backfires-as-judge-threatens-to-punish-officials-behind-it/ar-AA2gHuAS

[Winehole23]

no data, no problem


The Trump administration has stopped disclosing natural disaster data that has shown President Donald Trump favoring Republican states in awarding federal aid.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency last week removed from its daily operations briefing an official list of pending disaster requests that it has published since at least 2012. The publicly available briefing is emailed to thousands of federal employees, and state and local emergency management officials.
...
FEMA removed the information the day after POLITICO reported that Trump fast-tracked Florida disaster aid approval (https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/29/trump-florida-hurricane-aid-fema-election-isaias-01141405) just before the midterm elections — while taking no action on earlier requests from other states and from tribal nations.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/11/05/fema-trump-disaster-aid-data-01151704