White House Blocked Plan to Return Wrongfully Deported Maryland Dad

Other than those indigenous to this vast and blessed land, we are all immigrants here in the United States of America, with rights enshrined in the constitution, no matter our status. The frantic mass deportations pushed by the current administration have affected visa holders, asylum seekers, tourists, and legal citizens. Sweeping reforms have eliminated due process in a web of reinterpreting archaic laws like the Alien Enemies Act and have revoked Temporary Protection Statuses (TPS) , affecting hundreds of thousands of innocent people.

Chief Justice John Roberts warned a group of graduating laws students Monday that the rule of law is “endangered.” Without naming any names, the conservative justice also said during an event with students at Georgetown University that recent attacks against Supreme Court justices have gone too far. “The notion that rule of law governs is the basic proposition,” Roberts said, according to Politico . “We need to stop and reflect every now and then how rare that is, certainly rare throughout history, and rare in the world today.” Read more at The Daily Beast.

Donald Trump’s White House accused the German owner of Politico and Business Insider of “foreign political meddling” after a Business Insider story compared Donald Trump Jr. to Hunter Biden. The story , published on Monday with the headline “Don Jr. is the new Hunter Biden,” rankled the White House enough for it to directly attack Business Insider’s German parent company Axel Springer using extraordinary language which suggested it could take legal action against it for the story. The report detailed Trump Jr.’s work with investment firm 1789 Capital. 1789 aims to invest in U.S.-based “anti-woke” MAGA businesses. The report, by longtime business writer Bethany McLean, cited multiple people who discussed the potential for a conflict of interest over the president’s son benefiting from his father’s government office—though it did not allege any illegality—and drew a direct line to Hunter Biden. Read more at The Daily Beast.

JIM WATSON / AFP via Getty Images President Donald Trump is planning to celebrate his 79th birthday and the Army’s 250th anniversary in one yuge celebration—all on the dime of U.S. tax payers, Reuters reported Wednesday. The birthday celebration could cost as much as $25 million to $45 million in tax payer dollars, depending on if there is a parade, and could include as many as 25 tanks thundering through Washington, D.C., 6,500 troops, and around 150 vehicles and 50 aircraft moving to Washington, according to officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. Those costs reportedly don’t include post-celebration costs that the Beltway would have to bear, including trash pickup and road repairs from the weight of the tanks. Some critics have rebuked the parade as wasteful given the mission of Trump and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Yet the U.S. Army, helmed by Trump ally Pete Hegseth, is already planning to move troops and battle equipment to Washington for the anniversary celebration on June 14. Plans for a parade were added due to the date coinciding with Trump’s birthday. Read it at Reuters Read more at The Daily Beast.

AMAC Aerospace Donald Trump isn’t the first president to be offered a free luxury jet worth hundreds of millions of dollars from the ruling family of Qatar. In 2018, Sheikh Tamim Al Thani gifted Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with a $500 million Boeing 747-8i, the same model on offer to Trump. The gift—which at the time was described as the “largest and most expensive private jet in the world”—came after Turkey had backed Qatar in a year-long stand-off with other Arab states. Since taking office in 2014, Erdoğan—who was previously Turkey’s prime minister—has taken control of the judiciary, police and military; dismantled institutional checks and balances; cracked down on dissent; and jailed his political opponents, according to the BBC . While Turkey is technically a democratic, secular and social state, the government has been described as “competitive authoritarian,” meaning it holds elections but they’re rigged in favor of Erdoğan’s conservative Justice and Development Party. According to Freedom House , the country is careening toward a full-on dictatorship after the March arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and Erdoğan’s most influential political rival. Erdoğan—it seems—also shares a taste for expensive airplanes with the U.S. president. Read it at

A veteran air traffic controller has opened up in stunning detail about the Trump-era safety crisis currently roiling the U.S. travel industry. Jonathan Stewart outlined in an on-the-record interview a recent close call at Newark-Liberty International Airport, and outlined the dangers of staffing shortages bedeviling the FAA. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal , Stewart described the stress that comes with his job as supervisor at the Philadelphia site that oversees planes arriving at the New Jersey airport. Read more at The Daily Beast.

A Rhode Island MAGA fan was left feeling cheated after his pricey Trump-edition watch arrived with a fatal flaw. Tim Petit said he shelled out $640 to buy his wife a pink “limited edition” timepiece from GetTrumpWatches.com. Yet upon closer inspection, the watch he received read “RUMP” on its face, NBC 10 News reported . Petit said hearing an ad on the radio convinced him to check out the timepieces. Read more at The Daily Beast.

For Rae Vermeal, the experience of one Pima County senior illustrates the complexity of the housing struggle for older people in the region. The woman owns her home and gets $967 through Social Security.

This story was originally published by InvestigateWest , a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to change-making investigative journalism. Sign up for their Watchdog Weekly newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Reach Whitney Bryen at 208-918-2458 or whitney@investigatewest.org. Reach Kaylee Tornay at 503-877-4108 or kaylee@investigatewest.org.

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld admitted Tuesday that Donald Trump is likely acting purely for the benefit of his own ego—but said he doesn’t have a problem with the president’s self-obsession. “It doesn’t matter,” he declared on The Five , because everything the president does is clearly for Americans’ benefit. “This is a great week… because it says a lot about the mindset,” he began, shortly after Trump received a royal welcome in Saudi Arabia on the first leg of his four-day Middle East tour. Read more at The Daily Beast.

President Donald Trump called for a round of applause Thursday at a U.S. airbase in Qatar for one of the comedians who hosted the president on his podcast during his re-election campaign. Theo Von was in the audience at Al Udeid Air Base as Trump addressed the troops. He was one of several comedian-podcasters who helped the president soften his image and reach young male voters through friendly conversations that generally avoided much policy discussion. “I also want to influence you to clap for a man who is a great influencer,” Trump told the troops who gathered to hear him speak at Al Udeid. Read more at The Daily Beast.

A bronze statue of Melania Trump in her native Slovenia was chopped off at the ankles and is now missing. Police are looking into the whereabouts of the metal likeness of the first lady, which had stood on a tree stump in a private field in her hometown of Sevnica. “The theft was reported on 13 May and immediately police officers visited the crime scene and launched an investigation,” police spokesperson Alenka Drenik Rangus said on Thursday, the Guardian reported . Read more at The Daily Beast.

Kristi Noem reportedly wants the U.S. citizenship process to play out in front of the cameras. The Department of Homeland Security has been working with writer and producer Rob Worsoff to pitch a reality TV show—titled The American— where immigrants will compete in a string of challenges across the country “for the honor of fast-tracking their way to U.S. citizenship,” according to the Daily Mail . Citing a copy of Worsoff’s 35-page program pitch, the Daily Mail reported that the Canadian-born producer aims to “celebrate what it means to be American and have a national conversation about what it means to be American, through the eyes of the people who want it most.” Worsoff is best known for producing the A&E reality show Duck Dynasty . Read more at The Daily Beast.

Sacramento residents and Social Security recipients nationwide can expect changes to their payments this May. Nearly 74 million Americans will receive benefits electronically, with payment dates based on birth dates. For those born between the 1st and 10th, payments will arrive on May 14. Beneficiaries born from the 11th to 20th will see payments on May 21, while those born after the 20th will be paid on May 28.

Rep. Mike Lawler attacked fellow Donald Trump loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene by referencing the unhinged “Jewish space laser” conspiracy she shared online before entering office. The two MAGA Republicans got into a war of words on social media over a disagreement regarding changes to the state and local tax (SALT) deductions proposed under Trump’s “big, beautiful” spending bill. Greene landed the first blow by lashing out at Lawler for threatening not to vote on the GOP’s mega spending bill unless the SALT deduction cap increases from the proposed $30,000 limit. Greene suggested that Lawler should fall in line, as his New York seat is a “toss-up.” Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fox News host and avid Trump supporter Sean Hannity joined the president Monday on his flight to the Middle East, where he conducted an interview for his primetime show. Earlier in the afternoon, Hannity announced on X that he would be joining Trump on his four-day tour through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. “We’ll be in Saudi Arabia—Riyadh. And we look forward to seeing you all there,” he said while on the tarmac in front of Air Force One, which he observed was “a pretty big plane.” Read more at The Daily Beast.

Fabian Schmidt, a green card holder who has lived in the U.S. for 18 years, has recalled the “dehumanizing” ordeal that saw him detained for two months. Schmidt, told GBH News that he’s still processing what happened once he was stopped at Logan International Airport in Boston on March 7 after returning from Europe. “Once you’ve had such a traumatic experience, it kind of comes with—I would say some sort of postpartum scares and stuff like that, so I’m still very, like, shook. That’s the best word," the 34-year-old said. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Just before 3 am local time in the Middle East this morning, President Donald Trump sent out via Truth Social a new statement addressing his acceptance of a private plane as a gift from the Qatari royal family. “Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done,” Trump wrote. “This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Only a FOOL would not accept this gift…” “Only a FOOL” indeed. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back at a Republican lawmaker who chastised her for looking into the camera during a marathon House hearing involving Medicaid early Wednesday. The New York Democrat called out Texas GOP Rep. Randy Weber’s “terribly disrespectful comment” after he accused her of addressing viewers instead of speaking directly to Republicans during the House Energy and Commerce Committee panel discussing its markup of the GOP megabill. The exchange occurred at around 3 a.m. Wednesday morning, about 13 hours after the hearing began, according to Politico . During the session, Ocasio-Cortez pressed Republicans on whether people who suffer a pregnancy loss would be required to be employed at the time to qualify for Medicaid under the GOP’s proposed changes. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy insisted Wednesday that he moved his wife’s flight away from Newark Airport to avoid delays—not because the troubled facility is unsafe, as one controller claims . Duffy, 53, raised eyebrows this week when he admitted to switching his wife‘s flight away from the busy New Jersey airport, which has seen critical issues with its air traffic control infrastructure and staffing levels. The embattled transportation secretary instead booked another flight for her, out of LaGuardia Airport in New York. Read more at The Daily Beast.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was meeting last week with representatives from a teachers union in his home state when things quickly devolved.

As a journalist, governmental chaos keeps me busy. As an expert on poverty and homelessness – who spent a third of her career in homeless shelters – comments from the oval office are jaw-droppingly clueless and beg to be challenged.

Federal authorities have taken down what they call "one of the largest and most dangerous drug trafficking organizations in U.S. history." The operation targeted the Sinaloa Cartel through the seizure of a record-breaking 400 Kilograms of Fentanyl - the largest in the history of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) - which was the lead agency in the multi-state effort.

Lawrence O’Donnell has trashed Trump’s “demented dream” of accepting a $400 million Boeing jet from Qatar, saying the president is “too stupid” to see that he’s actually being humiliated. The MSNBC host said Trump is on a “humiliation tour” of the Middle East. On Tuesday’s episode of The Last Word he even suggested that leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates view Trump with contempt. O’Donnell said they see Trump as “someone who lives beneath them, as someone who takes their secondhand junk, their secondhand toys.” Read more at The Daily Beast.

Several graduation ceremonies occurred in Richmond, Virginia on Saturday, May 10, 2025. However, the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) commencement ceremony will be different from the others.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The U.S. government is reversing the termination of legal status for international students around the country after many filed court challenges against the Trump administration crackdown, federal officials said Friday.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears to have taken her cue from President Donald Trump with a new request for her own private jet. The U.S. Coast Guard made a last-minute change to its 2025 budget to secure a $50 million new plane for Noem, Illinois Rep. Lauren Underwood revealed in a Wednesday hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security. “I was horrified last Friday when we received a last-minute addition to your spend plan for Fiscal [Year] ‘25: A new $50 million Gulfstream 5 for Secretary Noem’s personal travel coming from the Coast Guard budget,” Underwood told acting Coast Guard Chief Admiral Kevin Lunday. “She already has a Gulfstream 5, by the way. This is a new one.” Read more at The Daily Beast.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s war on pesticides is alarming White House and federal agency officials, according to The Wall Street Journal. Top aides are reportedly on edge ahead of an expected May 22 report to “Make America Healthy Again” from Kennedy, who was confirmed in January as President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of health and human services . People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the report will spotlight what Kennedy believes is the “deleterious impact of pesticides” on health. Targets include glyphosate—the active ingredient in Roundup, the world’s most widely used weedkiller—and atrazine, a herbicide commonly sprayed on corn and grasses. Read more at The Daily Beast.

Warning: Disturbing Content A longer version of the disturbing video showing Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway has been released. The full 15-minute video includes new camera angles that show Combs, 55, dragging the singer, 38, by her hooded sweatshirt amid the brutal beating. Read more at The Daily Beast.