Trump Lies

The Washington Post reports: The Social Security Administration is surging staff to its customer service phone operations in the latest effort to address a massive influx of calls that has overwhelmed its struggling 1-800 number. The agency said it is temporarily reassigning about 1,000 customer service representatives from field offices to work on the swamped toll-free phone line, increasing the …

Politico reports: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday suggested the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s response to the 2023 Lahaina wildfires was so poor that one in six survivors had to trade sexual favors in exchange for basic supplies — a reference to a report on female Filipino fire survivors that one of the authors says is a “gross manipulation” …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Wednesday announced plans to impose a 50 percent tariff on all goods from Brazil, in part due to the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro over an alleged plot to remain in power after losing an election. Trump, who has criticized Brazil’s treatment of Bolsonaro in recent days, cited the ongoing trial in a …

The Daily Beast reports: Donald Trump has praised the president of Liberia for speaking “such good English”, seemingly unaware that Liberia’s official language is, in fact, English. The awkward remark was made as the U.S. president hosted five African leaders on Wednesday for lunch at the White House to discuss potential economic opportunities. After inviting Liberian president Joseph Boakai to …

NBC News reports: President Trump posted more letters to other countries, including the Philippines, Iraq and Moldova, outlining what the tariff rates on their goods will be if they don’t reach trade agreements with the U.S. by Aug. 1. The largest trading partner included in the batch of letters is the Philippines, with which the U.S. had a trade deficit …

Newsweek reports: Audio of Trump speaking at a private meeting with fundraisers in 2024 about a conversation with Putin was broadcast by CNN. “The fact is that there were no telephone conversations then,” said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, state news agency Tass reported. “After all, we are talking, as far as I understand, about the period when Trump …

“He was worth four or five billion dollars. Most of it’s– half of it’s in cash. And he wants to have lunch with me over one million dollars. You know the guy. He wants to have lunch– I said, ‘You know, one million dollars is not a lot. You’re worth five or six billion dollars. You’re much richer than that. …

“It has been brought to my attention that the Great State of Florida, which I won BIG three times, and where I am a proud Resident, has renamed an important four-mile stretch of Southern Boulevard, in Palm Beach County, to ‘PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP BOULEVARD.’ Thank you to Palm Beach County, Governor Ron DeSantis, and all of Florida’s great State …

Fox News reports: Former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey are under criminal investigation for potential wrongdoing related to the Trump–Russia probe, including allegedly making false statements to Congress, Justice Department sources told Fox News Digital. CIA Director John Ratcliffe [photo] referred evidence of wrongdoing by Brennan to FBI Director Kash Patel for potential prosecution, DOJ …

404 Media reports: In March, Trump issued an executive order, titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity To American History,” demanding public officials ensure that public monuments and markers under the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction never address anything negative about American history, past or present. Instead, Trump wrote, they should only ever acknowledge how pretty the landscape looks. Last month, National …

Axios reports: Copper prices notched record highs Tuesday after President Trump signaled plans to impose a 50% tariff on the commodity. The price of copper figures into a wide variety of goods, including building construction, electronics, transportation equipment and industrial machinery. Copper futures were up more than 9.5% at 3:08pm to $5.51 per pound. At one point today, the commodity …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for President Donald Trump’s administration to resume carrying out mass job cuts and the restructuring of agencies, elements of his campaign to downsize and reshape the federal government. The justices lifted San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge Susan Illston’s May 22 order that had blocked large-scale federal layoffs called “reductions …

From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: In letters to Japan’s Prime Minister and South Korea’s President, Mr. Trump huffs and puffs again about bilateral trade deficits, which he mistakenly thinks are a sign of foreign exploitation. “We must move away from these longterm, and very persistent, Trade Deficits,” he says. Hence the new 25% tariffs, starting Aug. 1. What …

Bloomberg News reports: President Donald Trump said his administration is weighing whether to take control of the city of Washington, DC, to help combat crime, in a move that would represent a dramatic upheaval to the capital’s half-century of home rule. “We could run DC. I mean, we’re looking at DC,” Trump said during a cabinet meeting Tuesday, where he …

The Daily Beast reports: President Donald Trump was apparently all buddy-buddy with President Barack Obama at the late Jimmy Carter’s funeral, even imploring his erstwhile nemesis to play golf with him. The High Lord of MAGA apparently tried to woo his Democratic predecessor by “enticing him with descriptions of Trump’s courses around the world,” according to an advance copy of …

“Lori Chavez-DeRemer is our Secretary of Labor. And the H2A visa program, all of the programs that ensure to moving in seasonal ag workers are under Secretary Chavez-DeRemer. She has been working around the clock with her team. But I can’t underscore enough. There will be no amnesty. The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way, and we move …

“As a general area of policy, we should not be dropping gigantic tariffs, particularly on countries that we are trying to ally against China. Japan is threatened by China. South Korea is threatened by China. We should be trying to draw those people in, not trying to alienate them outward so that they are going to trade more with China. …

The Hill reports: President Trump on Tuesday said he would not provide an “amnesty” program that would offer help to farms and migrant farm workers, but did announce a new program intended to support the agriculture industry. Trump has heard complaints from the agriculture industry in recent weeks that massive raids have disrupted their businesses. “There’s no amnesty,” Trump said. …

“In February, I did an interview on Fox. And it’s been getting a lot of attention because I was asked a question about the client list. And my response was, ‘It’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed.’ Meaning the file — along with the JFK, MLK files as well. That’s what I meant by that. “The [prison] video was …

The Guardian reports: A pregnant physician who was denied a Covid-19 vaccine is suing the Trump administration alongside a group of leading doctors associations, charging that the administration sought to “desensitize the public to anti-vaccine and anti-science rhetoric”, according to their attorney. The lawsuit specifically takes aim at health secretary Robert F Kennedy’s unilateral decision to recommend against Covid-19 vaccines …