Wednesday, May 6, 2026

the 40 days of trumpmas - a surreal serial poem

the 40 days of trumpmas - a surreal serial poem


Remember, remember! The fifth of trumpvember

 the 40 days of trumpmas - a serial poem

 

for 40 days the trumpeter reigns,

his lies and hate on whom he disdains,

but election day will come so soon,

we'll no longer hear the orange baboon;

 

in 39 days full of world wide problems.

we could elect him to get rid of the muslims,

but as he'll rant on trivialities of his presidential life,

what could be worse? - you could be his wife;

 

in 38 days just what will you do?

the donald has said he likes lgbtq,

but as he bullies his women and all his men too,

if youre questioning, what stops him from bullying you?

 

in just 37 days, some people are saying,

(or pleading or hoping or some even praying)

the duke of prunes will dye his forelock purple my friend,

and thus make america grape again,

 

our days are down to just 36,

before our problems the don will fix,

he will on day one do what hes said - true,

he'll wall out our enemies - and fat women too!

 

on the 35th day of trumpmas

yes just seven weeks remain!

will the polls and tallies deliver us

donald with his golden mane?

 

34 days and the vice-pipers have piped,

though pence didnt say why donalds suit shouldnt be striped,

he wouldnt defend his master's string pulling,

to make america great? - who do they think they're fooling?

 

just 33 days till the macho tornado,

unless its blown away by hurricane machado,

with women and voters he has so much to loose.

keep your mouth shut donald (unless youre changing your shoes)

 

32 days and we’ve been hit by the big blowhard,

donald spoke here in fla (oh, we had a hurricane too)

this administration gives us playing the race card, a weak economy, and unemployment

but if you want a job you could be donald’s campaign manager (unless youre a jew)

 

31 days, just a month, remains;

will the donald say hes sorry, and his baser impulses restrain?

or keep blaming bill clinton for our moral demise;

when trump speaks to us, our NO votes must be our replies!

 

election comes this time (in 30 days) each 4 years,

time for praise and tears and fears;

as polls will open in many states,

vote early, please dont vote late!

 

down to 29, just a leap february,

and theres still the donald quite

contrary;

donald donald, how does your garden grow?

quoth the master debater, "with pretty maids groped in a row"

 

just 28 days - later or soon,

and the zombies will rise, led by the big goon;

unless everyone gets a reality inoculation,

i might have to move to canada for a well deserved vacation; 

 

now just 27, less than 4 weeks,

no time for you to say 'yikes!' or 'eeeks!'

obama wants to go to mars and colonize it for man,

lets send trump tomorrow! and colonize it for orangutan!

 

26 days are all that remain,

will our democracy and economy go down the drain?

if we all keep listening to the blustering oaf,

will he give jobs and prosperity? - or just half a loaf

 

25 days - will more women speak?,

of the antics of donald who the presidency seeks,

dating 14 year old girls or groping their mothers,

how did the gop pick him over the others?,

 

24 days - were down to two dozen,

the next woman who speaks just might be your cousin,

or mother or sister, aunt, niece, even daughter,

describing the circumstance in which donald caught her,

 

23 days left and trump doesnt yet have as many accusers,

as cosby, but he assures us that they are all really losers,

sent by bankers or hillary with secret agendas,

to disrupt our election of him - our defender!,

 

22 days and we know charity begins at home,

but donalds attention is so prone to roam,

his gift that disappeared to 911 survivors from his foundation?,

oops! maybe donald spent it on a vacation,

 

21 days and trump says the election may be rig-ly,

if hes not the winner and his total's not big-ly,

tremendously higher than hillary gets,

he warns his supporters may all lose their wits,

 

20 days left and while george zimmerman still walks free,

the man who shot at HIM got 20 years - while trayvon got eternity,

trump wants us to support our cops and maintain law and order,

he'll put all the inner city dwellers in jail, and send the immigrant criminals far across the border,

 

19 days left till we all go to pretend,

to elect someone to lead us, as if on it our lives depend,

but wise man, donald trump, already really knows,

who we really voted for - a wolf in president's clothes?,

 

18 days and we bad hombres demand a rebate,

on the ill feelings left since the comments of one candidate,

the debaters have met in their final grudge match,

but only donald can say from whose hands victory will be snatched,

 

17 days and our government is corrupt with quid pro quo,

did you take latin at wharton? is that how you know?,

donald wants us to fire at them all - the bureaucrats lined up in rows,

and believe me, corruption is a subject. that donald really knows,

 

16 days - lets set term limits on all our office holders,

and put all our women in binders - or maybe in folders,

donalds endless complaints are becoming a sour whine,

have a little cheese with that, from wisconsin, where 

hillary's doing fine,

 

15 days and on stocking covered thighs did linger,

two miniature hands with two thumbs and eight tiny fingers,

they belonged to the donald who believed that he owned,

any thing that he wanted - or anyone he got alone,

 

14 days yes only two weeks,

till the duke of orange assends to the throne he seeks?,

to rule all americans, the strong and the weak?,

and dominate the globe with power that's peak?,

 

the 13th day to go - does that seem unlucky?,

not for donald whos lately been appearing quite plucky,

claiming media, polls, and parties are against him,

and rallying his multitudes with wit waxing dim,

 

on the 12th day of trumpmas donald awoke with a jerk,

promptly fired his latest campaign manager (who considered that a perk),

if youre "AAAfroAAAmurikan" and unemployed i can put you to work,

barked donald the businessman from behind his sly smirk,

 

it's the 11th and engineer casey trump is in the caboose,

i hear some of you saying oh no! what's the use,

our campaign will probably just go off the tracks,

but donald says its ok - cause he's got "the blacks",

 

just ten days left yes only one-zero,

til donald is hoping that he'll be your hero,

as new hillary emails come under investigation,

donald hopes to rename camp david to camp donald for

his vacations,

 

like a cat has nine lives we're left with only 9 days,

till we're subject to donald? and his old wicked ways,

on foreign affairs he says he'll save us from isis,

but his domestic affairs are misogyny and crisis,

 

our days are numbered - yes only eight,

till once again we make america great,

by getting rid of candidates who have nothing to add,

goodbye donald you wont make america sad,

 

just one week to go - its day minus seven,

till america's lifted above - to trumpty dump heaven?,

where for rich folks like donald opportunity abounds,

and we keep the working poor with a wall that surrounds,

 

how the time it does fly its already day 6,

till americans problems the donald will fix,

his solutions begin on trumpday number one,

dont you like them? they'll come at the barrel of a gun,

 

Five days to go, baby, One in five,

No one here gets out alive, now,

david dukes not opposed to all jews,

he backs trump - who are you going to choose?,

 

only 4 days left till the armaged-don,

he'll seize power by the horns once he has won,

and donnie will be what he longs for - a winner,

using the FBI to wreak havoc on hillary the sinner,

 

only three left, just a triad of days,

and the donald his supporters continues to amaze,

with hoopla and folderoll made up in his head,

his winning temperament will leave us all dead,

 

just a pair of days - 2 - till trump paradise,

since these words you're reading please heed my advice,

the creatures that surround us are beginning to bite,

'blacks for trump' fear the Illuminati so lets turn out their light,

 

just a single day left till our thanksgiving,

deliver us from donald and preserve the living,

forget sanity and disgard your misgivings,

but pray hard to your gods that they'll be forgiving,

since we've got the nukes why can't we use'em?,

on the road to 2016 why couldn't we lose HIM?,

 

and trumpmas now has finally come,

the tallies will count up to a winning sum,

unless the earth is struck soon by a cataclysmic comet,

to elect a candidate who just makes you want to vomit?,

we wish you a merry trumpmas at this time each 4 years,

if you have'nt voted you've lost the chance to mitigate your fears,

cause donald duck is ready to lead, forget your crocodile tears,

so you'd better get the vaseline and lubricate your rears!

stay informed 5

 stay informed 5

 https://www.youtube.com/@SenatorChrisMurphy/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@RepRoKhanna/videos 

https://www.politico.com/ 

https://www.youtube.com/@ForbesBreakingNews/videos 

https://www.nbcnews.com/ 

https://www.nvunheard.org/protest-listings/?q=ergonomic%20backpack

https://www.hrc.org/ 

 

 

Trump would fire Howard Lutnick if he saw video of his Epstein testimony, say House oversight committee

Trump would fire Howard Lutnick if he saw video of his Epstein testimony, say House oversight committee 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2026/may/06/donald-trump-iran-howard-lutnick-jeffrey-epstein-midterms-redistricting-latest-news-updates 

 

Trump would fire Howard Lutnick if he saw video of his Epstein testimony, say House oversight committee Democrats – live

Ro Khanna criticizes commerce secretary after closed-door interview about ties to Jeffrey Epstein as Democrats call performance ‘embarrassing’

Wed 6 May 2026 15.58 EDT
Howard Lutnick, in a black suit and purple tie, arrives flanked by police and men in suits
Howard Lutnick (center) US commerce secretary, arrives for a closed-door interview with members of the House oversight committee. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
From

Trump would 'fire' Howard Lutnick if he saw video of testimony, say oversight Democrats

Following closed-door testimony from Howard Lutnick before the House oversight committee on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats called the commerce secretary’s performance “embarrassing”.

“If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick,” said congressman Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California.

Lawmakers pointed to alleged inconsistencies between Lutnick’s previous comments on podcasts that he stopped associating with the late sex offender after 2005.

The justice department’s release of case files showed that Lutnick had two engagements with Epstein years past that. He attended a 2011 event at Epstein’s home. And Lutnick’s family had lunch with Epstein on his private island in 2012 – four years after Epstein was sentenced to 13 months in jail for procuring a minor for prostitution.

Lutnick admitted to the 2012 lunch during his 10 February testimony before the Senate appropriations committee. “I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick said. In that testimony, Lutnick also insisted that he “barely had anything to do” with Epstein.

According to Suhas Subramanyam, a Democratic representative of Virginia, the commerce secretary said “he could remember nothing about the visit to the island. Couldn’t remember why he was there. Couldn’t remember anything he saw.”

Oversight Democrats also said that Lutnick did not answer their questions about whether he spoke with Donald Trump ahead of giving testimony before the panel today.

“I feel very comfortable saying that Howard Lutnick is a pathological liar who is enabling the most egregious cover-up in American history,” congresswoman Yassamin Ansari told reporters, while noting that the commerce secretary told lawmakers it was “inexplicable” that he visited Epstein’s private island. Lutnick described his encounters with Epstein as “meaningless and inconsequential,” Ansari added.

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Key events

Here's a recap of the day so far

  • Following closed-door testimony from Howard Lutnick before the House oversight committee on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats called the commerce secretary’s performance “embarrassing”. “If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick,” said congressman Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California. Lawmakers also pointed to alleged inconsistencies between Lutnick’s previous comments on podcasts that he stopped associating with the late sex offender after 2005, despite justice department files that show Lutnick had two engagements with Epstein years past that.

  • Earlier, James Comer, the Republican chair of oversight committee, told reporters that Lutnick had, in the past, not been “100% truthful” about whether he had ever visited Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous private island. After the closed-door testimony Comer said that commerce secretary has been “very forthcoming” with his “three” interactions with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade.

  • Ted Turner, the founder of television news network CNN, has died at the age of 87. The cause of death was not immediately released, but Turner had revealed that he was suffering from Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder, in 2018. Turner became one of the most powerful figures in US media and entertainment, after he launched CNN as the first 24-hour news channel in 1980.

  • The FBI has launched a “criminal leak investigation” focused on Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote a detailed story last month about government officials’ alarm over the bureau’s director Kash Patel’s alleged “bouts of excessive drinking” and “unexplained absences”, two people familiar have told MS NOW. The move is highly unusual, given that leak investigations are usually focused on government officials – not journalists – who may have disclosed state secrets or classified information.

  • In the Oval Office, Donald Trump said that Iran now wants to make a deal “very badly”. He added that the situation had changed quickly. “A few days ago. It’s a long time ago in the world of war,” Trump said. He also repeated his claims that the regime’s military capabilities have been decimated, but also added that Iran has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon moving forward.

  • The FBI raided the office of Louise Lucas, a Virginia state senator who played a key role in the recent fight to redraw the state’s congressional maps, according to several reports. In a statement to the Guardian, the FBI only said that it was executing a “court-authorized federal search warrant” in the city which sits next to Norfolk. They added that this is an ongoing investigation with no further information publicly available at this time.

Updated at 

Trump says Iran wants to make a deal 'very badly' and has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon

In the Oval Office, Donald Trump – flanked by Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters ahead of a 14 June fight at the White House – said that Iran now wants to make a deal “very badly”.

“A few days ago. It’s a long time ago in the world of war,” Trump said when asked about why this moment is different. He repeated his claims that the regime’s military capabilities have been decimated, but also added that Iran has agreed to not have a nuclear weapon moving forward.

The president also claimed, falsely, that Pope Leo XIV suggested that Iran should be able to create a nuclear weapon. “If that happened, the entire world would be hostage,” Trump said, repeating baseless claims that informed his admonitions of the pontiff. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is set to meet the pope on Thursday in Rome – hoping to remedy a strained relationship between Washington and the Vatican.

Donald Trump meets with UFC fighters Ilia Topuria, left, and Justin Gaethje, in the Oval Office, 6 May 2026.
Donald Trump meets with UFC fighters Ilia Topuria, left, and Justin Gaethje in the Oval Office on 6 May 2026. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP
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Speaking to reporters after Howard Lutnick’s closed-door testimony, James Comer, the Republican chair of the oversight committee, said that the commerce secretary has been “very forthcoming” with his “three” interactions with Jeffrey Epstein over the course of a decade.

Comer also insisted that there is no “cover-up”, as suggested by Democratic members of the panel.

“We asked very substantive questions the first hour,” Comer added. “The Democrats, during their hour, repeated the exact same question.”

Updated at 

FBI searches office of Virginia state senator who played key role in redistricting fight – reports

The FBI raided the office of Louise Lucas, a Virginia state senator who played a key role in the recent fight to redraw the state’s congressional maps, according to several reports.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Associated Press and the New York Times both report that Lucas’s district office in Portsmouth, Virginia, was searched. The AP adds that the search was part of a corruption investigation.

In a statement to the Guardian, the FBI only said that it was executing a “court-authorized federal search warrant” in the city which sits next to Norfolk. They added that this is an ongoing investigation with no further information publicly available at this time.

Lucas, 82, has been a state senator for 34 years, and is also the first woman and first African American to serve as the Virginia senate’s president pro tempore.

Louise Lucas listens to a debate on the Senate floor, Richmond, Virginia, 17 February 2026.
Louise Lucas listens to a debate on the state senate floor in Richmond, Virginia, on 17 February 2026. Photograph: Ryan M Kelly/AP
Updated at 

Trump would 'fire' Howard Lutnick if he saw video of testimony, say oversight Democrats

Following closed-door testimony from Howard Lutnick before the House oversight committee on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Democrats called the commerce secretary’s performance “embarrassing”.

“If Donald Trump had seen the video transcript, he would have fired Howard Lutnick,” said congressman Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California.

Lawmakers pointed to alleged inconsistencies between Lutnick’s previous comments on podcasts that he stopped associating with the late sex offender after 2005.

The justice department’s release of case files showed that Lutnick had two engagements with Epstein years past that. He attended a 2011 event at Epstein’s home. And Lutnick’s family had lunch with Epstein on his private island in 2012 – four years after Epstein was sentenced to 13 months in jail for procuring a minor for prostitution.

Lutnick admitted to the 2012 lunch during his 10 February testimony before the Senate appropriations committee. “I did have lunch with him, as I was on a boat going across on a family vacation,” Lutnick said. In that testimony, Lutnick also insisted that he “barely had anything to do” with Epstein.

According to Suhas Subramanyam, a Democratic representative of Virginia, the commerce secretary said “he could remember nothing about the visit to the island. Couldn’t remember why he was there. Couldn’t remember anything he saw.”

Oversight Democrats also said that Lutnick did not answer their questions about whether he spoke with Donald Trump ahead of giving testimony before the panel today.

“I feel very comfortable saying that Howard Lutnick is a pathological liar who is enabling the most egregious cover-up in American history,” congresswoman Yassamin Ansari told reporters, while noting that the commerce secretary told lawmakers it was “inexplicable” that he visited Epstein’s private island. Lutnick described his encounters with Epstein as “meaningless and inconsequential,” Ansari added.

Updated at 
Richard Luscombe

Donald Trump’s aggressive and wide-reaching immigration-enforcement agenda has convinced increasing numbers of adults that the US is no longer a welcoming country for outsiders, a new poll has found.

About six in 10 respondents to the Associated Press-NORC poll, conducted last month, say the country used to be a great place for immigrants, but no longer is.

Another one-third said they or somebody they knew personally had been affected by the Trump administration’s crackdown in the previous 12 months, rising to about 60% of Hispanic adults.

Almost half of the Hispanic adults who responded said they had started carrying proof of their US citizenship or permanent residence for fear of being detained or deported by federal immigration agencies.

The wide-ranging poll paints a damning portrait of how opinions have changed in the 14 months since Trump returned to the White House and embarked on his long-threatened “largest deportation operation in US history”.

The survey found that only a quarter of adults still believed the US was welcoming to immigrants, while about one in 10 believed it never was.

A question about birthright citizenship, which Trump has attempted to remove by an executive order blocked by federal courts and currently under deliberation by the justices of the US supreme court, brought a mixed response.

Overall, 65% believe that all children born in the US should be entitled to citizenship regardless of their parents’ status, and 75% believe the same for children whose non-citizen parents are legally present in the US on work visas.

Read the full report here:

At the White House, Trump said the situation in Iran is “very much under control” after the president told the regime to accept a deal to end the war in the Middle East or face a new wave of US bombing “at a much higher level and intensity than it was before” in a post on Truth Social.

He claimed, at the military Mother’s Day event, that Tehran wants to “make a deal very much”, while noting the ongoing naval blockade in the strait of Hormuz is “unbelievable”.

“[Iran is] not getting anything through one way or the other, so they’re out of business,” Trump said. “We’ll see whether or not they are agreeing, and if they don’t agree, they’ll end up agreeing shortly thereafter.”

Updated at 

At a military Mother’s Day event at the White House, Donald Trump used the opportunity to tout his new ballroom project, which the president said now comes with a $400m price tag earlier on social media.

“We’re a little bit ahead of schedule, right on budget, but it’s going to be something great. It’ll be one of the most beautiful buildings of its kind anywhere in the world,” Trump told attendees in the East Room. “Aside from being secure, I think it’s going to be the most beautiful ballroom I’ve ever built. And it’s something that the White House has needed.”

Earlier this week, Senate Republicans released the text of a new immigration enforcement reconciliation package that includes a proposed $1bn that could go to security measures related to the ballroom, part of the president’s “East Wing modernization project”.

And in an internal memo, the Warner Bros Discovery CEO, David Zaslav, called Ted Turner a visionary and a trailblazer. He wrote to colleagues that “Ted’s entrepreneurial spirit, creative ambition and willingness to take risks changed the media industry forever”.

He did not just disrupt media. He transformed it.

In 1980, many questioned the logic of launching CNN, the world’s first 24-hour news network. Ted believed the world deserved access to news as it happened, and he acted on that conviction.

CNN fundamentally changed how the world experiences history in real time, and its impact on journalism continues to be felt every day through the work of our teams.

With the launch of TNT in 1988, and through the sports legacy he built across Turner Sports, he helped redefine sports television and created a platform that brought iconic moments into millions of homes. In founding Turner Classic Movies in 1994, Ted ensured that great films and the history of cinema would be preserved and celebrated. TCM stands as a testament to his belief that great storytelling has no expiration date, and that honoring the past is essential to shaping the future.

Zaslav also paid tribute to Turner’s philanthropy and extended his deepest condolences to the late founder’s family.

It is our responsibility to honor and carry forward the legacy he built.

Ted Turner changed our industry forever. I’m grateful for his courage, his imagination and the lasting mark he leaves on Warner Bros Discovery and the world.

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Reacting to CNN founder Ted Turner’s death, fellow media mogul and longtime rival Rupert Murdoch called Turner a “trailblazer” who “transformed the media industry” and “left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape”.

Ted Turner’s vision for 24-hour cable news transformed the media industry and gave viewers everywhere a front seat to witness history unfold. His impact as a trailblazer has left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape. He was a great American and friend.

The two men famously had a long-running and often hostile rivalry, which stemmed from a yachting collision in 1983 that resulted in Turner challenging Murdoch to a fist fight.

The drama intensified when Murdoch launched Fox News in 1996 as a direct, conservative rival to CNN. Turner at one point called Murdoch a “warmonger” and compared him to Adolf Hitler (he later apologized for that choice of words).

In later years it became more of a “friendly rival”, with Turner acknowledging Murdoch’s business acumen, “He’s one of the smartest guys in the media business.”

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GOP House oversight chair says Lutnick ‘wasn’t 100% truthful’ about Epstein ties as commerce secretary faces grilling

James Comer, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, told reporters earlier as he entered a closed-door interview with Howard Lutnick that the commerce secretary had in the past not been “100% truthful” about whether he had ever visited Jeffrey Epstein’s infamous private island.

A reminder that Lutnick – the highest-ranking Trump administration official prominently named in the Epstein files, aside from Donald Trump himself – said on a podcast last year that he had decided to “never be in the room” with Epstein following a 2005 tour of the financier’s home in Manhattan that disturbed him and his wife.

But the release of case files on Epstein earlier this year showed that Lutnick had kept in contact with Epstein – even after Epstein’s 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl – and met up with him a couple of times in 2011 and 2012.

And under questioning from Democrats during an unrelated hearing earlier this year, Lutnick confirmed he had visited Epstein’s private island with his family in 2012 for lunch.

Comer told reporters ahead of the hearing that he planned to ask Lutnick why his interactions with Epstein spanned years beyond his initial claims.

We’re going to ask him all of these questions, and we’ll let the American people judge whether the credibility was damaged or not.

At the end of the day, I haven’t seen wrongdoing in the email correspondence, but he wasn’t 100% truthful with whether he had been on the island. So we’ll see.

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FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote about Kash Patel's drinking and behavior - report

The FBI has launched a “criminal leak investigation” focused on Atlantic journalist Sarah Fitzpatrick who wrote a detailed story last month about government officials’ alarm over the bureau’s director Kash Patel’s alleged “bouts of excessive drinking” and “unexplained absences”, two people familiar have told MS NOW.

The move is highly unusual, given that leak investigations are usually focused on government officials - not journalists - who may have disclosed state secrets or classified information.

Indeed, according to MS NOW’s sources, there is concern among some of the FBI agents assigned to the probe. “They know they are not supposed to do this,” one source said. “But if they don’t go forward, they could lose their jobs. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.”

Fitzpatrick cited over two dozen anonymous sources in her reporting, detailing such alarm among FBI and DOJ officials over Patel’s alcohol consumption and erratic conduct that the FBI director feared his job was in jeopardy. Patel was known to “drink to the point of obvious intoxication”, she reported, and on multiple occasions his security detail had trouble waking him in the morning.

Patel sued the Atlantic over the story, accusing the magazine of publishing “false and obviously fabricated allegations” and seeking damages for defamation.

FBI spokesperson Ben Williamson denied the investigation. “This is completely false. No such investigation like this exists and the reporter you mention is not being investigated at all,” he said.

In a statement to MS NOW, the Atlantic’s editor-in-chief, Jeff Goldberg, said:

We will have further comment when we learn more. If true, this would be an outrageous, illegal, and dangerous attack on the free press and the First Amendment. We will defend Sarah and all of our reporters who are subjected to government harassment simply for pursuing the truth.

Trump praises Ted Turner and lambasts CNN: 'It became woke'

While issuing condolences on social media following Ted Turner’s death, Trump called the late media mogul “one of the Greats of All Time” and a “friend”. However, he wasted no time using his Truth Social missive to slam CNN.

“[Turner] founded CNN, sold it, and was personally devastated by the Deal because the new ownership took CNN, his ‘baby,’ and destroyed it,” he said. “It became woke, and everything that he is not all about.”

Trump noted that the “wonderful people” at Paramount Skydance, run by the president’s close ally, David Ellison, might be able to bring back CNN’s “former credibility and glory” after the multibillion deal to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (CNN’s parent company) is finalized.

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Michigan Democrat wins state senate special election

Chedrick Greene, a Democratic firefighter and marine veteran, won a special election in Michigan on Tuesday, allowing Democrats to retain control of state senate for the remainder of the year.

In the race for Michigan’s 35th senate district, a constituency that former vice-president Kamala Harris won by only a single percentage point in 2024, Greene beat Republican Jason Tunney – clinching more than 58% of the vote, compared with Tunney’s 39%, according to local results. The district includes parts of Bay and Saginaw counties, purple areas of the state.

Donald Trump ultimately won the state in the last election, but Michigan Democrats were hoping to hold on to their narrow majority in the senate ahead of the term-limited governor, Gretchen Whitmer, leaving office in January. Republicans control the state’s lower chamber.

“We delivered this decisive victory by listening and speaking to the things keeping everyday people up at night – worries about affordability, safety and freedom,” Greene told supporters on Tuesday, as he was declared the winner.

Hakeem Jeffries, the US House minority leader, heralded Greene’s win on social media. “State Sen.-elect Chedrick Greene’s decisive 19-point overperformance last night ensures Democrats keep control of the Michigan Senate,” Jeffries wrote on X. “A massive defeat for MAGA Republicans!”

The Senate seat had been vacant since January 2025, when Representative Kristen McDonald Rivet, a Democrat, left the post after she won a seat in the US House.

Tunney, a former prosecutor, vowed to challenge Greene again when voters return to the polls in November, to elect a representative for the 35th district for a full four-year term.

“Tonight, we fell short in the special election, but I’m incredibly proud of what this campaign accomplished together,” Tunney said. “This is only the halfway point. As we head into November, the contrast between Chedrick and myself will only become clearer to more and more voters. I’m excited about what lies ahead, and I’m not going anywhere.”

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CNN founder and media mogul Ted Turner dies aged 87

Ted Turner, the founder of television news network CNN, has died at the age of 87.

The cause of death was not immediately released, but Turner had revealed that he was suffering from Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder, in 2018.

Ted Turner is seen at his desk inside the CNN Center in 1982.
Ted Turner is seen at his desk inside the CNN Center in 1982. Photograph: Nancy Mangiafico/AP

Turner became one of the most powerful figures in US media and entertainment, after he launched CNN as the first 24-hour news channel in 1980. The network set a template for worldwide news coverage of wars, trials, revolutions, and human-made and natural disasters.

In 1996 Time Warner Inc bought his Turner Broadcasting System for $7.5bn, creating the world’s largest communications company, with properties such as HBO, Warner Bros movie studio, Time magazine, CNN, Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies.

According to a news release from Turner Enterprises, the media mogul was surrounded by his family at the time of his death, and is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

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US politics live with Shrai Popat

  • Primary elections: crucial showdowns set in Ohio; Indiana races yield ‘big night for Maga’ as Trump asserts control of party – as it happened

  • Democrats say ‘fight is just beginning’ after supreme court’s temporary reinstatement of abortion pill access – as it happened

  • ‘That’s bullshit’: Democrats slam Trump’s claims that Iran hostilities ‘have been terminated’ – as it happened

  • Top Democrats demand clarity from Jeanine Pirro over threat to reopen investigation into Jerome Powell – as it happened

  • Former inspector general urges audit of Epstein files release be conducted ‘without undue influence’ – as it happened

  • Pentagon announces US navy secretary is leaving ‘effective immediately’ and replaced with deputy – as it happened

  • Democrats celebrate as Virginia voters approve new congressional maps that could flip House seats in their favor – as it happened

  • Democrats say Trump administration ‘imploding’ after third cabinet member steps down – as it happened

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