Donald Trump on Mamdani saying he won't allow ICE to do arrests in NYC Look, we don't need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I'm going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.

Quote:Donald Trump has claimed that the future owner of the US TV network CBS will provide him with $20m worth of advertising and programming – days after the network canceled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

The US president recently reached a $16m settlement with Paramount, the parent of CBS News, over what he claimed was misleading editing of a pre-election interview with the Democratic candidate for president, Kamala Harris.

While CBS initially called the lawsuit “completely without merit”, a view shared by many legal experts, Paramount is in the midst of an $8bn sale to the Hollywood studio Skydance Media, which requires the approval of federal regulators.

Quote:The US office of special counsel, an independent federal agency, confirmed to NBC News on Saturday that it is investigating former Department of Justice prosecutor Jack Smith for possible violations of the Hatch Act.

Smith led investigations into Donald Trump’s part in January 6 US Capitol riot and alleged mishandling of classified documents...

The Hatch Act, a federal law passed in 1939, limits certain political activities of federal employees. Trump, along with other prominent Republican lawmakers, have argued that Smith’s investigations into Trump amounted to illegal political activity.

Quote:Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday directed Department of Justice (DOJ) officials to open a grand jury investigation into how Obama administration officials handled intelligence about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The grand jury probe marks another escalation of the Trump administration’s focus on allegations of wrongdoing by Obama officials, including the former president...

Gabbard referred the documents to the Justice Department and FBI for potential criminal referrals, though the director repeatedly dodged when pressed on what crime former President Obama could be charged with.

Obama’s office issued a rare public statement calling the document drops a “distraction” as Trump faced calls to release information about the prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Quote:Texas House issues arrest warrants for Democrats who left state to block congressional redistricting

The warrants apply only within state lines, making them largely symbolic as most of the legislators in question decamped to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.

Quote:The FBI has agreed to cooperate with Texas state law enforcement to locate the 50 Democratic legislators who left the state to avoid a vote on redistricting, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said on Thursday.

The big picture: For days, Texas Republicans have been threatening the state legislators with "legal consequences" for breaking the quorum, a sentiment that President Trump also echoed.

Quote:A lawsuit seeking a trove of government documents related to Jeffrey Epstein just got passed to the federal judge who made Donald Trump’s life a living hell.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who previously presided over Trump’s federal election interference case, will now oversee a new lawsuit from Democracy Forward Foundation, a D.C.-based nonprofit, requesting the Department of Justice and the FBI release any communications between Trump officials on the Epstein matter, any communication between Trump and Epstein himself, and Epstein’s so-called client list that Attorney General Pam Bondi previously acknowledged having in her possession.

Quote:The FBI is forcing out more senior officials, including a former acting director who resisted Trump administration demands to turn over the names of agents who participated in Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigations and the head of the bureau’s Washington field office...

The news about Driscoll and Jensen comes amid a much broader personnel purge that has unfolded over the last several months under the leadership of FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino. Numerous senior officials including top agents in charge of big-city field offices have been pushed out of their jobs, and some agents have been subjected to polygraph exams, moves that former officials say have roiled the workforce and contributed to angst...

The FBI has moved under Patel’s watch to aggressively demote, reassign or push out agents seen as being out of favor with bureau leadership or the Trump administration.