July 25, 2025 at 6:24 PM EDT
FCC chairman assigns 'bias monitor' to CBS -- who reports 'directly to the president'

As part of its agreement to allow an $8 billion merger between media conglomerates Skydance and Paramount, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has assigned a government monitor to CBS (which is owned by Paramount) to rein in perceived "bias" against President Donald Trump and his administration. Tech outlet Gizmodo reported Friday on an interview FCC chairman Brendan Carr gave to far-right, pro-Trump network Newsmax, in which he gave new details on the conditions the administration imposed in its green-lighting of the merger. According to Carr, Paramount will now have a government-assigned "bias monitor" tasked with making sure the company's properties -- including CBS -- aren't too critical of Trump.

July 25, 2025 at 5:59 PM EDT
'Didn't hold anything back': Ghislaine Maxwell gave up '100 different people' to Trump DOJ

Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted child sex trafficker, reportedly gave the Justice Department information on around 100 people during two days of interviews with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a Tallahassee courthouse. David Markus, Ghislaine Maxwell's attorney, said after Friday's interview that he has not discussed a pardon with President Donald Trump or anyone in the administration, but noted Trump had earlier in the day reminded reporters he could grant one""even while maintaining he hasn't considered it. Markus told reporters he hoped Trump "exercises that power in the right and just way."

July 25, 2025 at 5:19 PM EDT
'Nonsense': Trump blows up at reporters for bringing up 'conspiracy theories'

President Donald Trump continues to be dogged by the Jeffrey Epstein scandal even while visiting another continent. After landing on the tarmac in Scotland on Friday, Trump took questions from reporters -- many of whom wanted to know more about the ongoing controversy that has divided his base and put a halt to Congress' work schedule. While answering a question about whether he advised House Republican leadership to oppose resolutions to make the Epstein files public, Trump quickly shot down the reporter's question, and went on to blast the media for its refusal to stop covering "conspiracy theories."

July 25, 2025 at 4:29 PM EDT
'Corrupt': Critics outraged at 'monster' Ghislaine Maxwell angling for pardon from Trump

Just hours after President Donald Trump appeared to leave the door open to granting clemency to convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, her attorney said they are hopeful the President will issue a pardon. Trump claimed he hadn't even considered a pardon for Maxwell, the longtime associate of the late Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender""but quickly added that he has every right to grant one.

July 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM EDT
'Critical': 14 GOP senators call on Trump to stop withholding money from their states

More than a dozen Senate Republicans have co-signed a letter urging President Donald Trump's administration to release health research grant money their states are counting on to find cures for deadly diseases. According to a Friday report in Politico, the group of 14 senators has asked White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) director Russell Vought to end its freeze of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant funding. The letter -- which was chiefly written by Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) -- gently reminded Vought that the funding in question had already been approved by Congress, meaning that the administration's refusal to release the funding is illegal.

July 25, 2025 at 3:28 PM EDT
Second whistleblower accuses Trump judicial nominee of telling DOJ to defy federal courts

Emil Bove -- who President Donald Trump has nominated to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals -- is now being accused by a second Department of Justice (DOJ) whistleblower of instructing employees to ignore the judiciary. HuffPost's Jennifer Bendery reported Friday that an unnamed whistleblower has since confirmed a previous whistleblower account that Bove, in his capacity as principal associate deputy attorney general (the 3rd most powerful official in the agency), instructed employees to defy a federal judge's orders. Earlier this month, Erez Reuveni publicly came forward as the DOJ employee behind the first whistleblower account alleging that Bove told staffers to say "f--- you" to the courts in response to an order prohibiting the deportation of immigrants to a notorious maximum security mega-prison in El Salvador.

July 25, 2025 at 12:04 PM EDT
'Fix is in': Trump parks outrage by leaving door open to pardoning Epstein co-conspirator

Just before departing for a five-day trip to his golf properties in Scotland while the Epstein files scandal swirls around him, President Donald Trump left the door open to possibly issuing a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein. The Epstein scandal has plagued the Trump administration for weeks, fueled by the President's refusal to release the government's files in the case""despite a campaign pledge to do so. Many believe the documents could contain the names of Epstein's clients. According to The New York Times, Attorney General Pam Bondi informed President Trump in May that his name appears in the files, though the context remains unclear and numerous individuals are mentioned, including in unverified or hearsay references.

July 25, 2025 at 11:49 AM EDT
'Not just racist but stupid': VP slammed for 'sleight of hand' while promoting far-right theory

Author Katherine Stewart says Vice President JD Vance is "polishing ideas from the far-right gutters with an Ivy League sheen," particularly when it comes to smearing a pretty face over the racist Great Replacement Theory. Stewart says President Donald Trump is expelling asylum seekers, abusing foreign visitors and deporting and incarcerating people who have never been accused of any crime. Meanwhile, Vance is in the wings, pushing a "thoughtful" version of the "Great Replacement Theory" that's sure to appease nativists who embrace the idea that immigration is part of a deliberate plot to destroy the U.S. by replacing "real" or "true" Americans with aliens.

July 25, 2025 at 11:07 AM EDT
'They want to die': Here are 5 of the wildest moments from Trump's rambling presser

On Friday morning, July 25, U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to reporters outside the White House before leaving for a trip to Scotland. Trump covered a lot of ground during the press conference, discussing everything from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation to U.S. economic policy. Here are five of the wildest moments from the presser.

July 25, 2025 at 10:25 AM EDT
'Adios' to GOP House control if Trump can't fix issue that got him elected: CNN data analyst

As President Donald Trump departs for a five-day overseas trip to his golf courses in Scotland with "chaos swirling in Washington," his average approval ratings are underwater""even on inflation, the one issue CNN analyst Harry Enten says propelled him to victory. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll published Sunday, nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) disapprove of President Donald Trump's handling of inflation. That poll "also found that half of U.S. adults think the Trump administration's policies have made them 'financially worse off,' and 62 percent think the White House's policies have driven food and grocery costs up," The Hill reported.

July 25, 2025 at 9:56 AM EDT
'Not great staffing work': Joe Scarborough cheers Powell's masterclass fact check of Trump

'Morning Joe' host Joe Scarborough spoke through laughter as he described President Donald Trump's Thursday attempt to "renew pressure on [Fed] chairman Jerome Powell" to retire. Trump arrived to tour renovations at the Federal Reserve's headquarters but ultimately got fact-checked by Powell in front of reporters. "So, we're taking a look and it looks like it's about $3.1 billion," Trump said of renovations costs. "It went up a little bit, or a lot, so the $2.7 [billion] is now 3.1 [billion]."

July 24, 2025 at 10:06 PM EDT
'Absolute threat': Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly breaks with Trump over key policy issue

Even Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) -- who has consistently remained one of President Donald Trump's biggest supporters in Congress -- isn't a fan of his latest policy. In a lengthy Thursday night post to her congressional account on X, Greene came out swinging against Trump's latest executive order (EO) on artificial intelligence (AI). The Georgia Republican said she had "many concerns" about both the danger AI poses to the environment as well as Trump's position against states regulating it.