Democratic Congressman Reminds Fox Host of Constitution’s Existence

Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo had to be reminded that the Second Amendment exists while defending the federal immigration agents who shot and killed American citizens.

Speaking with Bartiromo Friday, Representative Ro Khanna defended his congressional colleagues’ decision not to stand in support for Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement at the State of the Union, arguing that they couldn’t support the ICE that had killed American citizens.

“This requires some context,” Bartiromo replied, launching into a defense of federal agents responding to citizens who interrupted their immigration enforcement operations, referring to Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who had been filming agents during a protest.

“I think if an ICE agent feels a threat and feels that he or she and his team is under threat by having someone who’s armed, clearly armed with a gun on his belt, interrupt him, then he’s going to shoot,” she said. “And they’re trained to kill.”

Khanna was forced to remind Bartiromo of the existence of the Second Amendment. “You can’t say that any person who shows up with a gun, simply by doing that at an event, can be shot to death,” the California Democrat chided.

Bartiromo struggled to conceal the shock on her face, and stammered as she insisted Pretti had previously been seen “antagonizing” agents. Khanna noted that harassing agents would not require capital punishment.

“I guess I just have such a strong belief in civil liberties and constitutional rights, he’s an American citizen, you don’t kill him,” he added, leaving the conservative news host thoroughly humiliated.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is addressing the affordability crisis by asking Americans to eat more liver and less steak.

“There’s a lot of good food in grocery stores that goes to waste. Most of the cheap cuts of meat are very inexpensive. If you buy a porterhouse steak … it is gonna set you back,” the secretary said as he gave the keynote address at the “Eat Real Food” rally in Austin, Texas, on Thursday. “You can buy liver, or the cheaper cuts of steak that are very very affordable.”

Nothing’s wrong with eating liver. But to put the burden of the affordability crisis on the choices of everyday Americans rather than the administration he works for is woefully out of touch. The liberal rebuke was swift.

“Dear @WhiteHouse: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND @RobertKennedyJr TO EVERY SWING HOUSE DISTRICT WHERE HE CAN TELL AMERICANS TO EAT LIVER OR CHEAP CUTS OF MEAT TO COPE WITH SURGING INFLATION,” Representative Ted Lieu wrote on X. “THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER.”

“NEW AD TAGLINE: “Liver. It’s what’s for dinner,” chimed in CNBC reporter Carl Quintanilla.

“A reminder that Trump is hosting a candlelit dinner for his donors at Mar-a-Lago this weekend,” DNC Chair Ken Martin wrote. “I wonder what they’re serving?”

Paramount Skydance successfully outbid Netflix Thursday, paving the way for the media behemoth to merge with its Burbank, California, neighbor, Warner Bros. Discovery—but local officials caution that the acquisition still has a long way to go before it’s official.

“Paramount/Warner Bros is not a done deal,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta told Deadline Thursday evening.

“These two Hollywood titans have not cleared regulatory scrutiny—the California Department of Justice has an open investigation, and we intend to be vigorous in our review,” Bonta added.

Netflix surprised the media landscape when it announced its intention to buy Warner Bros. in late December, though the streaming giant’s celebration was short-lived. Paramount, which completed its merger with Skydance in August in a whopping $8 billion deal, was projected to be the frontrunner in the deal and refused to let go.

The two companies have duked it out in the weeks since, offering successively large bids in order to acquire the media studio. Last week, California’s Department of Justice opened a probe into the bidding war, examining the legality of the deal regardless of the auction’s ultimate victor.

“The film and entertainment industry not only has historical importance to our state, it also is a critical sector that buoys the state’s economy of California and touches the lives of Americans daily,” Bonta said on February 20. “The proposed Warner Bros. transactions must receive a full and robust review, and California is taking a very close look.”

That could cause problems for Paramount Skydance, which won out with a “superior proposal” valued at around $111 billion. The company’s absorption of Warner Bros. Discovery would only further consolidate America’s largest media companies, merging two of the five major Hollywood film studios in what poses the threat of a monopoly on the industry.

Democrats were explicitly critical of Paramount Skydance’s merger last summer, questioning the timing of Paramount’s multimillion legal settlement with Trump and the FCC’s ultimate green stamp on the seismic studio tie-up.

Other California Democrats have taken aim at the Warner Bros. deal, insisting that the purchase must pass through the proper governmental channels without interference from the Trump administration.

“What was true for Netflix is still true now for Paramount,” said Senator Adam Schiff, who earlier this month pressed the companies for a commitment to protect California’s labor market. “The merger of two of Hollywood’s biggest studios must be subject to the highest levels of scrutiny, free from White House political influence, to determine its impact on American jobs, freedom of speech, and the future of one of our nation’s greatest exports.”

Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he thinks the U.S. could have a “friendly takeover” of Cuba, alluding to the blockade the U.S. has currently placed over the island.

“The Cuban government is talking with us, they’re in a big deal of trouble as you know, they have no money, they have no anything right now, but they’re talking with us,” Trump told reporters on the White House lawn as he prepared to board a helicopter. “Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba. We could very well end up with a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

The U.S. has effectively stopped ships from reaching Cuba in the past few months, preventing any oil from reaching the island. Last month, Trump signed an executive order threatening to impose tariffs on any country that sends oil to Cuba, and the country is now running out of fuel fast. 

Trump’s words about a takeover carry extra weight considering that Cuban Border Guard troops killed four people on a boat entering the country’s territorial waters on Wednesday, The Cuban government claims that the people on board the U.S.-registered vessel opened fire on the troops, who fired back. 

Trump has deployed several ships to the Caribbean Sea and seized several oil tankers in the region, preventing any countries from trying to thwart the blockade. It’s taking a toll on ordinary Cubans, exacerbating conditions on the island. The New York Times reports that food prices are skyrocketing, schools are canceling classes, hospitals are suspending surgeries, and garbage is building up.  

The U.S. is allowing some humanitarian aid to Cuba, including $6 million in help through the Catholic Church. But Cuba’s medical assistance to other countries, which brings revenue to the government, is ending due to U.S. pressure. 

For example, Honduras announced earlier this week that they would stop using Cuban doctors, following other countries such as Guatemala, Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada ending or scaling back their use of Cuban medical professionals. All of this is isolating and weakening Cuba, lending credence to the idea that the U.S. is gearing up for a takeover of the island.

This story has been updated.

Former President Bill Clinton called out Republicans in his opening statement to the House Oversight Committee Friday for bringing in his wife, former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to testify about Jeffrey Epstein.

Clinton said in his own testimony that his wife had never even met Epstein and had no dealings with him, and having her testify before the committee was “not right.”

“I have to get personal. You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing. She has no memory of even meeting him. She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties. Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her was simply not right,” Clinton said.

Clinton also denied having any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes, saying, “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong.”

“As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing—I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals,” Clinton said.

Both Clintons agreed to testify before the committee, although Chair James Comer turned down their requests to have public hearings. Hillary’s testimony took place yesterday and was nearly derailed when conservative influencer Benny Johnson posted photos from the closed-door hearing sent to him by Representative Lauren Boebert.

Clinton argued that if details of the hearing were coming out while it was in progress, the press should be allowed in, but her request was denied. Boebert and Johnson, meanwhile, were excoriated by conservatives on social media for nearly derailing a hearing with one of the right-wing’s least favorite people.

Unlike Hillary, Bill Clinton is a former president. How will the right handle his testimony? So far, according to Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Clinton is being “cooperative and answering all of our questions.”