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US judges ‘usurping” Trump’s power-White House laments

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The White House on Wednesday accused judges of “usurping” executive power after a series of rulings against Donald Trump’s administration, including one that sought to block the deportation of Venezuelan migrants and drew the president’s ire.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt alleged there had been a “concerted effort by the far left” to pick judges who were “clearly acting as partisan activists” to deal with cases involving the Republican’s administration.

“Not only are they usurping the will of the president and the chief executive of our country, but they are undermining the will of the American public,” Leavitt said at a daily briefing.

Leavitt in particular lashed out at District Judge James Boasberg, who ordered the suspension over the weekend of the deportation flights carried out under an obscure wartime law, calling him a “Democrat activist.”

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Trump’s administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport Venezuelan gang members as part of its mass deportation program of undocumented migrants.

Trump personally called for the judge’s impeachment on Tuesday, saying Boasberg was “a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama.”

The Yale-educated Boasberg, 62, was first appointed to the bench by president George W. Bush, a Republican, and later named a district court judge by Obama, a Democrat.

Trump’s comments drew a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

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“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said.

Boasberg, in an order in the deportation case on Wednesday, also issued a pointed reminder to Justice Department lawyers that court rulings are to be obeyed.

“As the Supreme Court has made crystal clear, the proper recourse for a party subject to an injunction it believes is legally flawed… is appellate review, not disobedience,” he said.

‘Assault on democracy’

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Federal judges are nominated by the president for life and can only be removed by being impeached by the House of Representatives for “high crimes or misdemeanors” and convicted by the Senate.

Impeachment of federal judges is exceedingly rare and the last time a judge was removed by Congress was in 2010.

Trump renewed his attacks on Boasberg on his Truth Social network on Wednesday, although he did not repeat his call for impeachment.

“If a President doesn’t have the right to throw murderers, and other criminals, out of our Country because a Radical Left Lunatic Judge wants to assume the role of President, then our Country is in very big trouble, and destined to fail!” he said.

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Judges have dealt Trump a number of setbacks in recent weeks as his administration pursues its wholesale overhaul of the federal government.

Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship has been blocked by the courts and a judge on Tuesday ordered an immediate halt to the shutdown of the main US aid agency by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

On the same day, another judge suspended the Pentagon’s ban on transgender people serving in the military.

The South African-born billionaire Musk railed against what he called a “judicial coup” in posts on his social network X.

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“We need 60 senators to impeach the judges and restore rule of the people,” Musk said, misstating the process and the actual number of senators required — 67.

White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller also lashed out at the judiciary, saying “district court judges have assumed the mantle of Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security and Commander-in-Chief.”

“It is lunacy. It is pure lawlessness. It is the gravest assault on democracy. It must and will end,” Miller said on X.

Trump, the first convicted felon to serve in the White House, has a history of attacking the judges who presided over his civil and criminal cases.

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But Trump’s administration now appears bent on a showdown with the judiciary as he asserts extraordinary levels of executive power.

© 2025 AFP

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Foreign

Georgia Mayor Fires Entire Police Force For Upsetting His Wife

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The mayor of a small Georgia town has fired his entire police force for upsetting his wife.

Cohutta Mayor Ron Shinnick shut down the Cohutta Police Department and fired all 10 of its employees earlier this week after officers allegedly made “inappropriate comments” about his spouse on Facebook, WDEF reported.

“The PD has been dissolved, and all personnel have been terminated,” read a brutal sign on the department’s door first thing Wednesday.

“They’ll get a paycheck. We’re not that way, and I appreciate their service, okay? It is time for a change,” Shinnick said bluntly when asked about the controversy.

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According to the New York Post, tensions boiled over late last month after several officers filed formal complaints alleging that the town’s former clerk, Pam Shinnick who is also the mayor’s wife continued working for the town despite being fired.

She was terminated last year for apparently creating a “hostile work environment” in the town of less than 1,000 people — but allegedly still had access to personal and classified information.

In the wake of the formal complaints, the mayor held a joint press conference with Police Chief Greg Fowler and town attorney Brian Rayburn to say they’d managed to resolve the dispute through “open dialogue and good-faith mediation.”

But roughly a week later, the cops were all fired anyway.

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“This all comes to personal vendetta from the mayor and I wholeheartedly believe that,” said one of the axed officers, Sgt. Jeremy May, adding that they’d been assured their jobs weren’t in jeopardy for lodging complaints about the mayor’s wife.

“Official response from the town attorney: Nobody’s jobs are in jeopardy,” May said. “Here we are, less than a week later, nobody has a job.”

“We took a stand for transparency, and in result, every one of them has lost their jobs,” he added.

The mayor, for his part, blamed the conflict on “inappropriate comments” posted on Facebook by the officers.

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For now, the fired officers have been ordered to return all department equipment.

The Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office is set to take over policing for the small town.

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Cause Of CNN Founder, Ted Turner’s Death Revealed

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American entrepreneur cum founder of the Cable News Network (CNN), Ted Turner, has died at the age of 87.

Turner Enterprises announced the death in a press release issued on Wednesday, stating that Turner died after battling Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder.

In a statement, CNN CEO and Chairman Mark Thompson, paying tribute to the deceased, described Turner as a committed leader.

Thompson said, “Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement.

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“He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”

Robert Edward Turner III, born November 19, 1938, was an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor and philanthropist.

He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel.

In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television, and TNT, a television network.

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In 1991, Time named Turner its Man of the Year, citing his influence in transforming global television news and making viewers in over 150 countries “instant witnesses of history.”

Although he later sold his networks to Time Warner and eventually stepped away from the business, Turner continued to describe CNN as the “greatest achievement” of his life.

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Middleast war: Ceasefire deadline with Iran not over – Pentagon

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U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday that the ceasefire with ‌Iran was not over, even as the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the Gulf as they wrestled for control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Hegseth said the U.S. had successfully secured a path through the critical waterway and that hundreds of commercial ships were lining up to pass through, as Washington seeks to break a chokehold Iran ​has asserted on the Strait of Hormuz since the conflict began on February 28.

“We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this ​fact. They said they control the strait. They do not,” Hegseth told a Pentagon news conference.

The U.S. military says ⁠it sank six Iranian small boats and intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones, after President Donald Trump sent the navy to escort stranded tankers ​through the Strait of Hormuz in a day-old campaign he called “Project Freedom.”

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Several merchant ships in the Gulf reported explosions or fires on Monday, the ​first day of the operation.

General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iran attacked Oman once on Monday and waged three attacks on the United Arab Emirates, before adding that, at least so far, “today is quieter.”

Caine said that since the ceasefire was announced on April 7, Iran had fired at commercial vessels ​nine times and seized two container ships. Iran has attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times, he added.

However, the attacks fell “below the threshold of ​restarting major combat operations at this point,” Caine told reporters.

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Asked whether the ceasefire with Iran still held, Hegseth said: “No, the ceasefire is not over.”

“We said we would ‌defend and ⁠defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that, and ultimately, the president can make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire,” he said.

The operation is Trump’s latest effort to force an end to the disruption of international energy supplies caused by Iran’s blockade of the strait, which carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas before the war.

The U.S. Navy is also enforcing a maritime ​blockade of Iran, which prevents ships ​from going to Iran or ⁠departing Iranian territory.

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The two military operations seek to pressure Iran to strike a deal to end the conflict on Trump’s terms. But Iran has countered that there is no military solution to the crisis, and it has ​threatened to fight for as long as necessary.

The U.S. military said on Monday two U.S. merchant ships ​made it through the ⁠strait, with the support of Navy guided-missile destroyers.

Iran denied any crossings had taken place, though shipping company Maersk said the Alliance Fairfax, a U.S.-flagged ship, exited the Gulf under U.S. military escort on Monday.

Caine estimated 22,500 mariners embarked on more than 1,550 commercial vessels were stuck in the Gulf, unable to ⁠transit.

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“CENTCOM, along with ​partner nations, is in active communication with hundreds of ships, shipping companies and insurers,” ​Hegseth said, referring to the U.S. military’s Central Command, which leads operations in the Middle East.

“All of these ships from all around the world want to get out of the ​Iranian trap that they have been stuck inside.”

[Reuters]

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