May 14, 2026 at 4:39 PM EDT
'Groundless': Trump's WSJ suit hits major snag as judge slaps down legal team's move

For nearly a year, President Donald Trump has been engaged in a lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, claiming the news outlet had knowingly published "false and defamatory" information about his links to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Now, reports the New Republic, his case has hit a major snag, as a judge declared he can't use the legal process known as "discovery" to search for evidence of his claims. This decision comes via U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles, who on Wednesday declared, "Thus, allowing President Trump to conduct discovery on actual malice, where his initial attempt at pleading a defamation claim fell short, is exactly the type of 'expensive yet groundless litigation' the Eleventh Circuit has cautioned against."

May 14, 2026 at 12:06 PM EDT
Trump is ceding power to China at an 'alarming rate:' security expert

Amid President Donald Trump's high-profile summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in which the two leaders will address wide-ranging diplomatic, economic, and global concerns, a leading security expert warns that "the US is now losing power to China at an alarming rate." A senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and the China-Global South Project, Derek Grossman cites two key examples of Beijing's ascension and Washington's weakening: diplomatic efforts in Iran and Southeast Asia.

May 14, 2026 at 11:48 AM EDT
DOJ lawyers told Todd Blanche to recuse himself from Trump cases last May: official

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was told last year that he must recuse himself on all matters dealing with President Donald Trump since he was, at one time, Trump's personal attorney. The previously unreported detail was reported Thursday by CNN that "the first time Blanche was formally informed he would need to recuse himself from cases involving Trump. Around the same time, the department's top career lawyer advised that [ex-Blanche aide Emil] Bove potentially had a conflict of interest by being involved in firings of DOJ lawyers."

May 14, 2026 at 11:31 AM EDT
Top FBI agents fled Trump's chaos in droves -- and it can't be fixed anytime soon

The FBI has been "hemorrhaging" some of its most experienced and valuable agents amid President Donald Trump's chaotic and messy return to the White House, with an MS NOW report revealing the development as the bureau's director has been caught inflating arrest numbers. On Thursday, MS NOW's Ana Cabrera hosted a segment delving into the outlet's recent revelations about FBI Director Kash Patel using sneaky methods to inflate the data pertaining to the bureau's success. Ken Dilanian, the reporter who broke the story, explained that Patel's recent boast about the FBI arresting twice as many violent felons in 2025 compared to when Joe Biden was president in 2024 was the result of a change in policy about what sorts of arrests are included in the statistics.

May 14, 2026 at 11:27 AM EDT
Trump is no China hawk -- he gives Xi his 'highest accolade': Maggie Haberman

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman explained that President Donald Trump is far from a hawk when it comes to China. Instead, he admires them and holds them in his highest esteem. Speaking to CNN on Thursday about the president's trip abroad, the reporter once referred to as "Trump Whisperer" explained that he "recognize[s] China's strength in the world. And, you know, to some extent, the points of leverage that it has that he simply can't do much against."

May 14, 2026 at 11:00 AM EDT
Trump adviser gives the game away about his epic gaffe: 'This is what he thinks'

Democrats are relentlessly attacking President Donald Trump for saying, "I don't think about Americans' financial situation" when he's weighing his next moves in the Iran war. Publicly, Trump's defenders are insisting that he wasn't being indifferent to Americans' economic concerns, only saying that he won't be deterred from his goals in Iran. According to a Trump adviser interviewed by Axios, however, Trump was expressing his actual views.

May 13, 2026 at 10:55 PM EDT
The biggest question hanging over the new Fed Chair's head

The Senate just confirmed Kevin Warsh to become the next chair of the Federal Reserve on a 54-45 vote. This marks a new chapter in the history of an institution that depends for its credibility on political independence. That independence is important to you and everyone else who wants prices to remain stable and avoid inflation.

May 13, 2026 at 10:03 PM EDT
Trump's recent gaffe may be the thing that costs him the midterms

President Donald Trump recently said that he does not care about Americans' financial situation as his war against Iran continues raising prices on essential goods -- and experts are saying this may cost him the 2026 midterm elections. On Tuesday Trump was asked by The New York Times' Erica Green if he will be motivated by Americans' economic hardships as he tries to strike a deal that will end the Iran war. Because Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz after Trump invaded their country earlier this year, prices on gas, food and other necessary products have skyrocketed.

May 13, 2026 at 9:37 PM EDT
Former Trump official warns the president to prep 'his prison cell'

Ex-DHS official Miles Taylor said President Donald Trump should get ready for an ugly world once he's out of the White House after prosecutors begin to chew on his obvious allegations of corruption. "It's clear there's no one telling him 'no' inside," said MS NOW anchor Chris Hayes, referring to Trump's attempt to convince his own appointees to hand him a whopping $10 billion settlement while president. "And if there were ever a clearer example of that, to me, it is this there is no one saying you cannot give yourself $10 billion from the us treasury."

May 13, 2026 at 9:09 PM EDT
Tempers flare as GOP-endorsed candidate flops off the September primary

Finger pointing is underway in Massachusetts as the GOP-backed candidate for lieutenant governor accuses a Republican firm of scamming her out of the September primary ballot. WBUR reports Anne Brensley in a Wednesday statement said her campaign had relied partly on an outside firm to collect the 10,000 signatures required to get on the ballot. But she said the firm, run by Republican Joe Bronske, failed to collect the promised 6,500 signatures.

May 13, 2026 at 9:07 PM EDT
Trump is quietly backing away from one of his pet projects: report

President Donald Trump has boasted about his plans to renovate the Lincoln Memorial's Reflecting Pool, but recent reports indicate that he is quietly backing away from his former pet project. "It's never been altogether clear why exactly Donald Trump began fixating on renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, but like his beloved ballroom vanity project, it's not going smoothly," reported MS NOW's Steve Benen on Wednesday. "The endeavor is not only facing a new lawsuit, the price tag has climbed to $13.1 million -- more than seven times the original cost the president touted -- as part of a no-bid contract that circumvented federal procurement laws for dubious reasons."

May 13, 2026 at 6:13 PM EDT
Trump reaching for world's 'richest family' status by 2028: expert

President Donald Trump and his family are using the White House to make the Trump family "the richest on the planet by the time the president's term is over," warned MS NOW correspondent Jonathan Lemire on Wednesday. 'Donald Trump Jr. has been quoted in media reports saying that his goal is for the Trump family to be the richest on the planet by the time the president's term is over," Lemire told MS NOW anchor Katy Tur on Wednesday while discussing the first people to disembark Air Force One in China. "It is telling that Eric Trump and his wife Lara Trump were among the first off the plane. And I will say, at least in that initial wave of officials who came down the front steps of Air Force One, I didn't see the Secretary of State. I didn't see the Secretary of Defense. I did see a couple of CEOs, and I certainly saw the Trump family -- which I think is a fitting symbol of a family that, in the first term, did put up a few minor barriers and did try to have a few restrictions on how they did business, particularly business overseas. That has all gone. There's not even a pretense of that now."