LetMyPeopleVote
LetMyPeopleVote's JournalMaddowBlog-Trump's Justice Department finalizes second settlement with Michael Flynn
The first settlement with the former White House official was described as “a miscarriage of justice.” The second settlement adds insult to injury.
The first settlement with disgraced former White House National Security Advisor Michael Flynn was accurately condemned as “a miscarriage of justice.â€
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-07T19:49:40.679Z
The second settlement adds insult to injury.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/justice-department-michael-flynn-settlement
It also has a sequel. Bloomberg News reported:
The US Justice Department settled a second lawsuit against the government brought by Michael Flynn, agreeing to pay the conservative activist and ally of President Donald Trump to resolve his claim that the US Army wrongly withheld approximately $38,000 from his retirement pay several years ago.
The settlement was finalized and “executed” in recent weeks, according to a public court filing in late June, but it did not specify the terms. The agreement included paying Flynn a sum below $75,000, according to a person familiar who asked for anonymity to discuss a matter that’s not yet public.
....Late on a Wednesday afternoon, the day before Thanksgiving 2020, Trump quietly pardoned Flynn. It was among the most corrupt moves the president made in his first term.
The pardon, however, apparently wasn’t enough. Flynn also wanted a payout, claiming that federal law enforcement had subjected him to malicious prosecution when it charged him with crimes — and I can’t emphasize this enough — he had twice pleaded guilty to. Trump’s hyperpoliticized Justice Department agreed in a development that Mary B. McCord, an MS NOW legal and national security contributor, described as “a miscarriage of justice.”
The second settlement in a separate but related case now adds insult to injury.
There was a point between Trump’s first and second terms when he suggested that, should he return to power, he might very well bring Flynn back to the White House. It increasingly appears, however, that Flynn doesn’t need a job, since the president’s team keeps agreeing to send him taxpayer money.
These lawsuits are a way to implement the $1.8 billion weaponization fund. Now, all MAGA assholes like Flynne have to do is file a bogus lawsuit that will be settled by the trump DOJ
MaddowBlog-The White House's failed DOGE experiment comes to an official and overdue end
The Department of Government Efficiency was hyped as a governmental game changer. Its doors are now closing as a pitiful failure.
As DOGE’s charter expires, it’s worth recognizing what this endeavor was at its core: a failed experiment.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-07T12:56:57.458Z
DOGE’s goals went unmet. Its promises went unfulfilled. It envisioned one set of results but delivered the opposite.
Good riddance.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/doge-failed-white-house-government-efficiency
For a variety of reasons, none of this made any sense, but in early 2025, the Republican White House followed through and launched the Department of Government Efficiency, though the charter came with an expiration date of sorts: DOGE would cease to be on July 4, 2026.
In other words, in the wake of Independence Day, DOGE is no more.
Politico reported shortly before its formal demise:
DOGE claims it saved $215 billion, or $1,335.40 per taxpayer, with its cuts, which included slashing duplicative software licenses, canceling diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, grants as well as ending leases for underused office space. That’s a pittance to the federal budget, which is now about $7 trillion each year. The effort faded relatively early too as tech mogul Elon Musk clashed with government officials and left DOGE in May last year.
....Except it wasn’t. Amid all the hype and tumult, it’s easy to lose sight of DOGE’s original remit: Trump tasked Musk and his team with leading an effort to cut spending and make the federal government more efficient. As the department expires, the facts show that government spending went up, not down, during Musk’s tenure, and that the DOGE endeavor made the government less efficient, not more.
Even the “savings” that the office touted proved illusory, misleading or both.
DOGE’s goals went unmet. Its promises went unfulfilled. It envisioned one set of results but delivered the opposite.
Good riddance.
MaddowBlog-ICE arrest of nun adds to clashes between Team Trump and the faith community
For all of the chest-thumping about immigration agents targeting the “worst of the worst,” Ugboaja is a nun who was walking to mass when she was hauled off.
For all of the chest-thumping about immigration agents targeting the “worst of the worst,†ICE recently hauled away a nun while she was en route to mass.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-06T18:16:23.961Z
Team Trump’s many clashes with the faith community tend not to generate a lot of attention, but they matter.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/ice-arrest-of-nun-adds-to-clashes-between-team-trump-and-the-faith-community
The arrest of a Catholic nun from Nigeria by federal immigration officers in southern Texas [last week] made for an unlikely alliance on Capitol Hill as lawmakers from both parties demanded her release and asked the question: Why aren’t border officials focused on real threats to public safety?
Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja, 56, was walking the block between her home and the Catholic Church where she attends Sunday Mass in McAllen, Texas, when she was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. The agents arrested her, taking her rosary, and brought her to a nearby detention facility.
For all of the president’s and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s chest-thumping about Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers targeting the “worst of the worst,” Ugboaja is a nun. She was wearing her habit and walking down a public sidewalk en route to Sunday Mass when she was hauled off.....
There have been related controversies surrounding the Pentagon’s list of officially recognized religions, Trump picking fights with Pope Leo XIV, the administration stripping funding from Catholic charities, and instances in which federal agents have shot faith leaders with pepper balls.
If these developments unfolded during a Democratic administration, is there any doubt that Republicans and conservative media outlets would launch hysterical campaigns about the “Democratic war on religion”?
MaddowBlog-Judge rejects Team Trump's $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post
The demise of the president’s latest case against a media company is a demonstration of the benefits of fighting back — and of the folly of appeasement.
As Team Trump’s .8 billion defamation lawsuit against the Washington Post gets thrown out of court, two things seem obvious:
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-07-08T15:53:40.433Z
- He sure does sue a lot of news organizations
- He sure does lose a lot when news organizations push back
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-washington-post-defamation-lawsuit-news-organizations
That didn’t go well. The Post reported:
A federal judge on Thursday ruled in favor of The Washington Post, throwing out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed in 2023 by President Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber, who is based in Tampa, wrote in a summary docket entry — known as a minute order — that Trump Media “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that The Post “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.”
.....The Trump campaign’s 2020 case against CNN failed. Trump’s 2021 case against The New York Times failed. Trump’s 2023 case against journalist Bob Woodward failed. The Trump campaign’s case against the Post failed. Trump’s class-action lawsuit against social media giants also failed.
Last year, Trump filed a $15 billion civil suit against The New York Times, which was thrown out four days later, not because it lacked merit, but because a federal judge found that the president’s lawyers’ court filing was simply too ridiculous.
Two months later, Trump’s media company also lost a defamation suit against The Guardian.
As recently as April, Trump’s $10 billion defamation suit against The Wall Street Journal was also thrown out of court, though he and his lawyers refiled the case a month later......
Meanwhile, news organizations that stood up for themselves and resisted the ridiculous attempts at intimidation have prevailed.
Let this be a lesson to the larger political world: Resistance is far more successful than appeasement. It’s true when it comes to law firms, it’s true when it comes to higher education and it’s true in his court fights against news organizations.
Media organizations are no longer settling with trump. When they take these cases to trial, these media organizations win
MaddowBlog-Ahead of NATO summit, Trump renews offensive on Italy's Meloni for no reason
As Trump prepared for an important international gathering, there was no reason to renew his offensive against his Italian counterpart. He did it anyway.
Ahead of NATO summit, Trump renews offensive on Italy’s Meloni for no reason! If you’ve not noticed, Trump’s ongoing rampage of irreparable damage to the US reputation in the world continues! Congress COULD exercise the 25th Amendment and get rid of him! www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
— Ph.D. (@cammosher.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T19:52:47.002Z
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/nato-summit-trump-offensive-giorgia-meloni-no-reason
United States President Donald Trump on Sunday evening shared a social media post featuring Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, reopening a recent dispute between the two leaders ahead of this week’s NATO Summit in Turkey.
Trump posted an image on Truth Social that shows Meloni looking up at the American President, with the words “restraining order needed” printed across the top.
....The Italian prime minister was the only European leader to attend his second inauguration, which came on the heels of a Mar-a-Lago visit. Headlines that referred to Meloni as Europe’s “Trump whisperer” soon followed.
In April, however, the relationship started to deteriorate. After the Republican picked a bizarre fight with Pope Leo XIV, Meloni defended the pontiff. The presidential whine was almost immediate: Trump complained that Meloni was “very different from what I thought,” adding, “I’m shocked by her. I thought she had courage. I was wrong.” He added, “She is the one who is unacceptable.”
In June, for reasons unknown, Trump renewed the offensive, telling an Italian journalist that Meloni had “begged” him to take a photo with her at the recent G7 summit in France.....
This week, after the story had faded from view and as Trump prepared for an important international gathering, there was no reason to renew his offensive against his Italian counterpart. Apparently unable to help himself, he did it anyway.
Soon after, the Italian foreign minister told La Stampa newspaper that the country would no longer officially respond to the president’s nonsense.
“We have a U.S. president who loves to provoke, especially on social media,” Tajani said. “We have decided to stop responding to these remarks so as not to fuel disputes among our allies.”
MS NOW- DOJ alums urge Senate not to approve Blanche as attorney general
More than 1,200 former DOJ employees urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Blanche’s nomination ahead of his confirmation hearing this month.
https://x.com/gstuedler/status/2074780560237502551
https://www.ms.now/news/doj-alums-urge-senate-not-to-approve-blanche-as-attorney-general
The Justice Connection, a network of fired DOJ employees created to support the department’s career prosecutors who they say have been targeted by the Trump administration, released the letter one week before the kickoff of Blanche’s highly anticipated two-day confirmation hearing before the Senate panel.
“Regardless of how we joined the department, every one of us took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, not the occupant of the White House,” the former prosecutors wrote in the letter addressed to Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
“That oath now compels us to speak out against the nomination of Todd Blanche for Attorney General — someone who took the same oath, but has utterly failed to abide by it,” the letter said.....
Blanche’s degradation of the DOJ’s apolitical career workforce was another point of concern in the letter.
“The culture of fear Blanche has instilled within DOJ’s workforce must end,” the letter said. “Respect for career professionals must return … and instead of exhibiting fealty to the president, the Attorney General must heed John Adams’ admonition that our republic remains a ‘government of laws, not of men.’
Confirming Blanche as Attorney General will destroy the Department of Justice.
Lawrence O'Donnel -Always wait for the vetting
@lawrenceodonnell.bsky.social on the lesson of the Platner campaign: Always wait for the vetting youtu.be/rnKosV5DkqA?...
— The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell (@lastwordmsnow.bsky.social) 2026-07-08T04:19:12.688Z
A photo of a Black woman went viral. Her family says she's more than a symbol.
The Reuters photo shows the woman on a Metro train on July Fourth surrounded by masked members of a white-supremacist group.
https://x.com/jas__golden/status/2074579800522436835
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/07/07/family-black-woman-seen-viral-july-4-photo-says-shes-more-than-symbol/
When the woman’s brother, Paul Bowlding, saw it on Instagram that day, he recognized the woman as his older sister: Bernita Bowlding, a 33-year-old mother of two.
Bernita Bowlding had told a family member earlier Saturday that she was taking the train to Silver Spring. As the photo of her circulated, hours passed without family members hearing from her. Paul Bowlding said he grew worried because his sister has struggled for years with mental illnesses. He considered going out to look for her, but he didn’t know where she could be. ....
After an anxious Saturday, Paul Bowlding said he and his family were relieved when his sister showed up at her mother’s house Sunday morning, nearly a day after the train ride. Their mother said the photo did not come up in their conversation.....
Paul Bowlding said his sister is quiet and tough, yet kindhearted. “One of the amazing ones,” he said. He said he sees her strength in the photo. “I do see her as a role model of letting people know … ‘It’s going to be okay because God got us.’”
I am glad that we know who this amazing woman is and that she is okay. I am worried that she will become a target of the MAGA assholes.
Judge rules for The Washington Post in $3.8B defamation suit brought by Trump Media
The social media company failed to identify convincing evidence that The Post acted with actual malice, a federal judge in Tampa ruled.
Judge rules for The Washington Post in .8B defamation suit brought by Trump Media - The Washington Post share.google/GMISwpSgs14N...
— 💙🇺🇸DWally🇺🇸💙 (@dkwally.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T21:31:18.976Z
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/07/07/judge-rules-washington-post-38b-defamation-suit-brought-by-trump-media/
U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber, who is based in Tampa, wrote in a summary docket entry — known as a minute order — that Trump Media “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that The Post “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.” Barber granted The Post’s motion for summary judgment and denied one from Trump Media.
The judge said in his ruling Thursday that a full opinion is forthcoming.
Public figures who sue for defamation in U.S. courts generally must demonstrate that the defendants acted with actual malice — disseminating information they know is false, or acting with reckless disregard for the truth — under the standard set by the landmark 1964 Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
trump losses yet another bogus lawsuit
Judge rules for The Washington Post in $3.8B defamation suit brought by Trump Media
Source: Washington Post
A federal judge on Thursday ruled in favor of The Washington Post, throwing out a $3.8 billion defamation lawsuit filed in 2023 by President Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber, who is based in Tampa, wrote in a summary docket entry — known as a minute order — that Trump Media “failed to present evidence that would allow a jury to find by clear and convincing evidence” that The Post “published the allegedly defamatory statements with actual malice.” Barber granted The Post’s motion for summary judgment and denied one from Trump Media.
The judge said in his ruling Thursday that a full opinion is forthcoming.
Public figures who sue for defamation in U.S. courts generally must demonstrate that the defendants acted with actual malice — disseminating information they know is false, or acting with reckless disregard for the truth — under the standard set by the landmark 1964 Supreme Court case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/07/07/judge-rules-washington-post-38b-defamation-suit-brought-by-trump-media/
Judge rules for The Washington Post in .8B defamation suit brought by Trump Media - The Washington Post share.google/GMISwpSgs14N...
— 💙🇺🇸DWally🇺🇸💙 (@dkwally.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T21:31:18.976Z
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