April 24, 2025 at 6:00 AM EDT
'Chilling': Trump official threatens staff with criminal sanctions for speaking with press

A top official in the Department of Labor this week informed all staff members that they could face criminal charges if they speak to journalists, former employees or others about agency business. A memo sent Monday by Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer's chief of staff, Jihun Han, and obtained by ProPublica, states that "individuals who disclose confidential information or engage in unauthorized communications with the media may face serious legal consequences."

April 24, 2025 at 5:37 AM EDT
'Underhanded scheme': Emails reveal new Trump prosecutor made serious ethical violations

Reporting Highlights

April 24, 2025 at 5:22 AM EDT
'Blowing it': Rachel Maddow delivers devastating rant on Trump's first 100 days

Rachel Maddow outlined a multi-page list of President Donald Trump's mistakes since returning to office. She pulled enough material to fill the first half of her show. "... [I]f there is something to learn about what Trump in power is going to be like, I think the first 100 days have given us one very clear lesson," Maddow said, before launching into a tirade on purported savings Elon Musk's DOGE had incorrectly claimed, government property it had incorrectly put up for sale, and government employees it had wrongfully removed.

April 24, 2025 at 5:18 AM EDT
Ineptitude, incompetence, stupidity and chaos: The theme that unites everything

Some Democrats fear they're playing into Trump's hands by fighting his mass deportations rather than focusing on his failures on bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living. But it's not either-or. The theme that unites Trump's inept handling of deportations, his trampling on human and civil rights, his rejection of the rule of law, his dictatorial centralization of power, and his utterly inept handling of the economy is the ineptness itself.

April 23, 2025 at 10:02 PM EDT
'Absolutely blowing it': Rachel Maddow delivers devastating rant on Trump's first 100 days

Rachel Maddow outlined a multi-page list of President Donald Trump's mistakes since returning to office. She pulled enough material to fill the first half of her show. "... [I]f there is something to learn about what Trump in power is going to be like, I think the first 100 days have given us one very clear lesson," Maddow said, before launching into a tirade on purported savings Elon Musk's DOGE had incorrectly claimed, government property it had incorrectly put up for sale, and government employees it had wrongfully removed.

April 23, 2025 at 9:34 PM EDT
'A Trump magic trick': Daily Show's Jordan Klepper reveals his wildest MAGA moments

Comedian Jordan Klepper is known for his viral interviews with some of President Donald Trump's most diehard MAGA supporters, and recently shared details about some of the scariest -- and most insightful -- moments from those interactions. On Wednesday, the Daily Show posted a video from Klepper's recent "After the Cut" segment, which shows longer and more in-depth moments from the show that don't make it into the final broadcast. He wryly observed that as a former improvisational comedy teacher he wasn't used to having to travel with a security team, but that the combative tone of contemporary American politics required him to do so.

April 23, 2025 at 9:29 PM EDT
'Get in there and disrupt!' Critic orders Dems to take fight directly to Fox News

New Republic Columnist Greg Sargent says Republicans are showing a "dark endgame" on Fox News and other right-wing outlets, but Democrats have an opening to fight it--and they'd better. Democrats are leery of appearing on a hostile network and giving a "sheen of legitimacy" to what they consider propaganda but Sargent says not going on lets fringe outlets drag Republican news consumers and GOP-leaning independents even further to the fringe without the benefit of "contrary facts and complicating nuances."

April 23, 2025 at 9:03 PM EDT
'Unacceptable': The Trump administration just doxxed an American citizen

The Trump administration has not only sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to a Salvadoran megaprison due to an "administrative error" and so far refused to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court order to facilitate his return to the United States, but also shared on social media the home address of his family in Maryland, forcing them to relocate. The news that Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and her children were "moved to a safe house by supporters" after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted to X a 2021 order of protection petition that Vasquez Sura filed but soon abandoned was reported early Tuesday by The Washington Post .

April 23, 2025 at 8:11 PM EDT
'Consider yourself a journalist?' CNN reporter confronts right-wingers with press passes

Several MAGA media personalities who have recently been given press access to the White House recently had a run-in with CNN journalist Donie O'Sullivan -- who covers the far right. The Daily Beast reported that Sullivan cornered Real America's Voice Chief White House Correspondent Brian Glenn, LindellTV White House reporter Cara Castronuova and Bannon's War Room Co-Host and White House Correspondent Natalie Winters for a segment that aired Wednesday. O'Sullivan began the conversation by asking Winters: "Do you consider yourself a journalist?"

April 23, 2025 at 5:18 PM EDT
'Big problem': Chuck Todd reveals why it's bad Trump is 'violating one of his own rules'

Earlier on Wednesday, several CEOs warned that President Donald Trump's tariffs on China could lead to empty store shelves this summer. This has led to Trump reportedly clamoring to make a deal with China to end the ongoing trade war. During a recent panel discussion on CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt , legal analyst Elliott Williams noted that Trump has emphasized that a core part of his brand has been that of the dealmaker. But journalist Chuck Todd pointed out that China has already outmaneuvered Trump by getting him to preemptively offer to drop some of his tariffs (which are currently at 145%) without any official dialogue.

April 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM EDT
'A monster': 'Narcissist' Trump mocked by 'Apprentice' actor

Actor Sebastion Stan is confident President Donald Trump saw 'The Apprentice', even if it showed audiences the makings of "a monster." Last October, Trump railed the movie on Truth Social, calling it "a cheap, defamatory, and politically disgusting hatchet job." He added: "So sad that HUMAN SCUM, like the people involved in this hopefully unsuccessful enterprise, are allowed to say and do whatever they want."

April 23, 2025 at 4:18 PM EDT
Denied: Sarah Sanders begs Trump to reconsider federal disaster aid

Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders -- who was once President Donald Trump's White House press secretary -- is now urging him to reverse his administration's denial of her disaster relief request. Rolling Stone reported Wednesday that Sanders' initial request for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) following severe storms in her state was denied. She's since written a separate letter begging her former boss to intervene and reverse the denial.