Trump Officials Welcome Far-Right U.K. Activist Tommy Robinson

Trump administration officials met with racist, Islamophobic, far-right U.K. activist Tommy Robinson—and gave him a tour of the State Department. 

One of Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s senior advisers publicly boasted about meeting with Robinson on Wednesday. 

“Honored to have free speech warrior @TRobinsonNewEra at Department of State today,” Joe Rittenhouse wrote on X, including a picture of the two of them. “The World and the West is a better place when we fight for freedom of speech and no one has been on the front lines more than Tommy. Good to see you my friend!”

Robinson also bragged last week about meeting Kari Lake, the Trump-appointed head of Voice of America.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, co-founded the anti-Muslim “English Defence League” and founded the British National Party. He was previously imprisoned for contempt of court after his racist libel of a 15-year-old Syrian boy on his massive social media platform.  

“The Trump administration hosting Tommy Robinson must be a wake-up call,” British Member of Parliament Calum Miller wrote on X. “The government needs to include the US in their inquiry into foreign interference in UK politics. We cannot stand by while the likes of Trump and Musk meddle in our democracy.”

“Yaxley-Lennon is being touted around Washington as a ‘free speech warrior.’ We need to engage this administration on the difference between that and incitement to violence and racial hatred,” British Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Emily Thornberry said. “There should be no place in any democracy for the latter.”

Hillary Clinton was supposed to testify behind closed doors Thursday to the House Oversight Committee as part of its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. Representative Lauren Boebert and conservative influencer Benny Johnson briefly blew that up.

At noon Thursday, Johnson posted a photo from the hearing on X showing Clinton seated at a table with a quizzical expression on her face. He captioned it with a siren emoji followed by “BREAKING: The first image of Hillary Clinton testifying under oath about Jeffery Epstein to the Republican Oversight Committee.

“This is the first time Hillary has had to answer real questions about Epstein. Clinton does not look happy,” the post said, and credited the photo to Boebert.

That photo was followed by another with a full view of the hearing showing most of the participants, and with Boebert’s name tag visible in the front of the image.

After Clinton and her advisers learned of the posts, the hearing was paused, as Boebert’s photos were unauthorized. The deposition has since resumed, but Clinton asked that press be allowed into the room after the leaked photos, a request that was denied.

Clinton had pushed for public hearings for herself and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, but was turned down earlier this month by Republican Representative James Comer, the committee chair, who said that open hearings are “more for entertainment than substance,” accusing the Clintons of “trying to play the victim card.”

President Trump wasn’t a big fan of the Clintons testifying before Congress. A former president and first lady (and senator and secretary of state) testifying before lawmakers means that it wouldn’t be a big deal if Trump himself gets called to testify about Epstein, a subject Trump is trying desperately to ignore. Trump’s Republican allies may have pushed for the Clintons to answer their questions, but their efforts could put him in a bind.

This story has been updated.

A group of MAGA activists are working with the White House to convince President Trump to declare a national emergency over allegations of Chinese election interference—a move they say would allow him to ban mail-in ballots and voting machines.

Florida attorney and former Trump boarding school classmate Peter Ticktin told The Washington Post he has had “certain coordination” with the White House regarding the 17-page executive order draft that his group wants Trump to sign.

Ticktin’s draft hinges on the debunked claim that China successfully interfered in the 2020 election on behalf of former President Joe Biden. Trump to this day still believes that this election was somehow stolen from him, and now the Chinese government seems to be the next scapegoat.

“Under the Constitution, it’s the legislatures and states that really control how a state conducts its elections, and the president doesn’t have any power to do that,” Ticktin told the Post. “But here we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes.... That causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it.”

“The stage is largely being set by the revelations coming out of foreign powers being involved in influencing the 2020 election,” said Jerome Corsi, a progenitor of the birtherism claims Trump has made against former President Barack Obama. “If there was a provable foreign intrusion, that would be a national security emergency and the order could be issued under his powers as commander in chief.”

While Trump has already signed an executive order requiring proof of citizenship on voter registration forms and revoking funding from states that accept mail-in ballots, a presidential election emergency has never been challenged in the Supreme Court.

The vice president made a surprising claim on Fox News Wednesday while discussing his new role leading the administration’s so-called “war on fraud.”

“I think it’s unfortunate that nobody has ever tried to take a systematic look at how much fraud there is in the federal government,” JD Vance said.

Sorry, what?

There are some of us old enough to remember Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which purported to investigate claims of fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal government. The agency managed to slash thousands of federal jobs without meaningfully reducing spending—while making it easier for fraudsters to take advantage of Americans. Musk, who was appointed as head of DOGE after donating a whopping $288 million to Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, used his position to boost his many businesses, win big off of Trump’s tariffs, and dismantle the agencies that regulate his companies.

Vance said that there was no way to know a “top-line number” on how much fraud there was, because no one had ever bothered to investigate, but still baselessly claimed that “billions and billions of dollars” in Medicaid funding were being used on undocumented immigrants.

Vance’s so-called “war on fraud” is a thinly veiled excuse to go after Trump’s political opponents and punish blue states—all while the president has already enriched himself to the tune of $1.4 billion at the taxpayer’s expense.

More than a dozen schemes have popped up in Minnesota’s safety net programs in recent years, many of them involving members of the state’s Somali population. It’s worth noting that the government had already investigated federal fraud in Minnesota. During the Biden administration, more than 90 Minnesotans were charged, at least 60 of whom were ultimately convicted. Both red and blue states have participated in benefits abuse, but not everyone has had sweeping federal cuts inflicted on them.

Senior Justice Department prosecutor Colin McDonald told the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday that the recent crackdown on alleged fraud in Minnesota would serve a blueprint for a new DOJ office focused on protecting taxpayer dollars from scams.

Speaking to Fox News later that day, Vance claimed that the entire administration would be enlisted in the war on fraud, and would employ “a whole host of tools that we have that have never been used.”

Fed up with the Trump administration repeatedly violating court orders in immigration cases, a federal judge said Thursday that he is prepared to make officials in the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security testify under oath.

U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi ordered the immediate release of Diana Elizabeth Cartagena Hueso, a 29-year-old immigrant from El Salvador with no criminal record. In his ruling, Quraishi pointed to several cases in his federal district in New Jersey where the government has “largely frustrated” court efforts to protect the rights of immigrant detainees. Quraishi said that earlier this month, “the U.S. Attorney’s Office conceded to violating 72 orders issued in immigration habeas cases in this district alone.”

“That number by itself is objectively appalling, but at least one judge has indicated that it was underreported,” Quaraishi wrote in his ruling. “The Government’s continued actions after being called to task can now only be deemed intentional. The undersigned will not stand idly by and allow this intentional misconduct to go on. It ends today.”

Quaraishi went even further, warning the U.S. Attorney’s Office and DHS that if any other unauthorized detentions and arrests of immigrants came before him, he would order officials to show cause and schedule hearings where they would have to testify under oath.

Such a move would be a big step, as it has rarely been done during the current Trump administration. In the few times it has happened, the government has cried “uncle” and released the immigrant in question, as was the case with Juan Tobay Robles in Minnesota last month. If more judges attempt this approach, it could compel the Trump administration to follow court orders or it would have to explain its cruel and arbitrary mass deportation procedures to federal judges. Maybe then, administration goons like Stephen Miller and Kristi Noem would actually follow the law.

The Texas Senate race is making Republicans nervous.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging incumbent Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary, and the race is so close that an expensive runoff election is possible. A runoff could draw resources away from other close elections around the country and aid Democratic efforts to flip the seat.

Republican donors have poured over $60 million into the state to defeat Paxton, who is also running against Representative Wesley Hunt. But Paxton is still the front-runner in the race despite the fact that he didn’t even air any TV ads until the middle of February, with the election on March 3. If none of the candidates get more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff would take place 10 weeks later.

Paxton has been hammered by attack ads airing his many scandals since he was first elected attorney general in 2014. In 2015, he was indicted by a grand jury on securities fraud and faced civil action from the Securities and Exchange Commission over it. Paxton also faced a whistleblower lawsuit in 2020 from seven aides in his office accusing him of abuse of office, bribery, and other crimes. He escaped trial in both cases, though he was ordered to pay a hefty settlement to his aides.

The Texas House still impeached him in 2023, only for the state Senate to acquit him of any wrongdoing. Last year, his wife, state Senator Angela Paxton, filed for divorce on “biblical grounds,” referring to her husband’s extramarital affair. Many Republicans feel that all of this would be easy fodder for the Democratic challenger, whether that’s Representative Jasmine Crockett or state Representative James Talarico.

“Honestly, if you look at the polling in a general election setting, I don’t think it’s outside the realm of possibility that the seat [flips], depending on who the Democrats nominate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Politico. Paxton, meanwhile, enjoys strong support from the MAGA right over his efforts to fight the results of the 2020 election and sue Pfizer over the Covid-19 vaccine, among other conservative credentials.

Internal polling from the National Republican Senatorial Committee has Paxton losing to Talarico by three points and Cornyn defeating Paxton by the same margin. If Crockett is the Democratic nominee, she would lose to Cornyn by seven points and Paxton by one, according to the poll.

Neither fear nor polling has helped Cornyn’s standing, and President Trump hasn’t offered his help, either, saying earlier this month of the Republican candidates that “I’m friendly with all of them. I like all of them, all three.” One thing is for certain: The Republican primary is going to be close, and the winner will have a tall order: Democrats are turning out in their own Senate primary in record numbers.

Just one day after Republicans invited Nick Shirley to join them at the State of the Union address, the right-wing YouTuber endorsed a copycat of his work warning against a “Jewish invasion.”

“EXPOSE IT ALL,” Shirley wrote on X, sharing a post from fellow right-wing content creator Tyler Oliveira announcing his recent 73-minute “documentary on New Jersey’s Jewish Invasion.”

Oliveira’s portfolio includes clips titled “I Deported ILLEGAL Immigrants with ICE!” and dozens of videos dehumanizing Black people. In 2024, he published and amplified unverified (and since debunked) claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were causing “constant car crashes” and were capturing and eating local pets.

But somehow, blatantly targeting the Jewish community was a step too far for Oliveira’s far-right audience.

“The replies to this tweet show the double standards and hypocrisy of half of the ‘republican influencer’ space,” Oliveira wrote, defending his work against droves of online critics. “Does welfare abuse/fraud only suck when it’s a Somali? Ask your local ‘MAGA Republican influencer’ where he draws the line.”

Oliveira was also banned from Patreon over the video, though it wasn’t the first time he released a controversial piece about Jewish communities. In January, the 26-year-old posted a video to YouTube titled “Inside the New York Town Invaded by Welfare-Addicted Jews …”

But in a testament to the genre’s political affiliations, known white supremacist Nick Fuentes defended Oliveira’s latest doc, claiming that “when it comes to African Somali Muslims, everything is tolerated.… When another guy does the exact same thing to the Jews, ‘This is another holocaust.’”

Shirley clearly feels similarly.

Shirley gained national notoriety last year after he published a video that inspired the conservative caucus to politically scapegoat Somali immigrants. Vice President JD Vance circulated the video, positing that Shirley had “done far more useful journalism than any of the winners of the 2024 @pulitzercenter prizes.”

In his widely circulated “investigation,” Shirley door-knocked a slew of Somali-run day care centers in Minnesota, arguing that sites that did not respond or allow him—an unannounced, unknown white man—entrance into a center filled with children had fraudulently accepted federal funding.

It would later emerge that elements of Shirley’s report were incorrect or inadequately reported: At least two of the centers featured in his video had been closed for several years, according to Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families. The government had already investigated federal fraud in Minnesota—during the Biden administration, more than 90 Minnesotans were charged, with at least 60 cases resulting in convictions.

Nonetheless, the report resulted in the suspension of $185 million intended for Minnesota from the Department of Health and Human Services.

It also stirred a national services controversy, in which predominantly blue states were accused of abusing federal funds for programs focused on childcare and local poverty. In truth, states of all stripes across the nation have participated in benefits abuse, but not everyone suffered the federal cuts. Instead, Donald Trump axed $10 billion from five Democratic states, including Minnesota.

The Department of Homeland Security has kidnapped yet another Columbia University student—and lied to campus public safety officers to get into her building.

Columbia neuroscience undergraduate student Ellie Aghayeva posted “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help,” on her Instagram story early Thursday morning.

Columbia University President Claire Shipman said federal agents told campus officials that they were looking for a missing person in order to gain access to the building.

“All law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access,” Shipman wrote in a statement. “If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait.… Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”

DHS claimed that Aghayeva is an “illegal alien from Azerbaijan, whose student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes.”

“The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS,” they continued, ignoring the reports that the officers lied about why they were there.

This comes less than a year after DHS agents abducted Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil. And their methods—lying—are also similar to how they detained Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi. Both Khalil and Mahdawi are Palestinian.

“ICE has no place in our schools and universities. These activities do not make our city or country safer, but rather drive mistrust and danger,” New York City Council members Julie Menin and Shaun Abreu wrote in a joint statement. “As Columbia College alumni, our hearts are with the community there, and we have been in contact with the University to offer our assistance.”

This story has been updated.

Trump administration officials just can’t seem to decide whether Iran is actually enriching uranium, as the president threatens to launch a major military strike there.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that Iran was not currently enriching uranium, while speaking to reporters Wednesday at St. Kitts and Nevis.

“They are in possession—first and foremost, after their nuclear program was obliterated, they were told not to try to restart it, and here they are. You can see them always trying to rebuild elements of it,” he said. “They’re not enriching right now, but they’re trying to get to the point where they ultimately can.”

Rubio’s statement directly contradicted the Trump administration’s main justification to attack Iran—and statements from other U.S. officials.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff claimed on Fox News Saturday that Iran’s enrichment level had reached “60 percent.”

“They’re probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material,” Witkoff warned.

Most nuclear reactors that produce electricity only require uranium that is enriched to between 3 percent and 5 percent. Highly enriched uranium is anything above 20 percent, and weapons-grade uranium is enriched above 90 percent, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

After Donald Trump launched a massive bombing campaign on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the White House insisted that the United States had “obliterated” the country’s nuclear capabilities. Nine months later, and even MAGA Republicans are struggling to sell the administration’s story that Iran was once again a threat.

Top U.S. military officials, meanwhile, have reportedly warned the White House against dragging the country into war with Iran, arguing that it could entangle America in a prolonged conflict.

It seems that a key provision in the 2008 sweetheart plea deal that protected Jeffrey Epstein from serious sex trafficking charges was proposed by a former federal prosecutor who regularly corresponded with the sexual predator. 

The Miami Herald has reported that former chief criminal prosecutor Matthew Menchel not only had a social and business relationship with Epstein, he even dated his defense lawyer—showing that Epstein was just as deeply entrenched within the law enforcement apparatus as he was in the financial one. 

According to the Herald’s reporting, while Menchel insisted on a minimum two-year sentence and a felony conviction for Epstein, he also proposed that it be in state court, not federal—which ultimately gave Epstein the work release that got him out of jail for periods at a time. And Menchel initially discussed those stipulations without the knowledge of the lead prosecutor on the case, Marie Villafana. Instead, he discussed it with Epstein’s defense lawyer Lily Ann Sanchez—whom he dated without telling his supervisors, according to a 2020 report from the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility. 

“I told Lily [sic] that a state plea with jail time and sex offender status may satisfy the USA,” Menchel wrote to Villafana in July 2007.

Villafana was incensed, as she had already prepared an 82-page prosecution memo directed to U.S. attorney Alex Acosta and Menchel that suggested a 60-count indictment for Epstein, the Herald reported. 

“[I]t is inappropriate for you to enter into plea negotiations without consulting with me or the investigative agencies, and it is more inappropriate to make a plea offer that you know is completely unacceptable to the FBI, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], the victims and me,” she wrote back to Menchel. 

Villafana described Menchel’s response to this as an intimidation effort.  

“If the U.S. Attorney [Acosta] or the First Assistant [Sloman] desire to meet with you, they will let you know. Nor will I direct Epstein’s lawyers to communicate only with you,” he wrote back. “If you want to work major cases in the district you must understand and accept the fact that there is a chain of command — something you disregard with great regularity.”

Menchel quit the Miami U.S. Attorney’s Office in August 2007, one month before Epstein’s non-prosecution deal was finished, and was not involved in final negotiations. The two men went on to develop a close social and business relationship, regularly corresponding over the next decade. And even though Menchel’s lawyers insist that their correspondence was only “​​in the context of potential representation and referrals, none of which ever materialized into any business,” emails show Menchel initiating correspondence with Epstein, and the men even had dinner together multiple times. 

The full report reveals just how powerful—and how devious—Epstein was. And it wasn’t just him, or Ghislaine Maxwell. He got plenty of help along the way.

This post has been updated for clarity.