TV News LIES

U.S. service members — including staff officers and at least one drone pilot — are seeking advice from outside groups, fearing they could face legal consequences for any involvement in the Trump administration's lethal strikes on suspected drug boats.

Over the past three months, the U.S. has blown up more than 20 vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that the administration says were running illicit narcotics. More than 80 people have been killed in the strikes.

The administration says it is taking action to stop the flow of drugs into the U.S. It says the strikes are legal and are being conducted under the laws of war, and that President Trump ordered them under his Article II powers as commander-in-chief and in self-defense.

Many legal experts, however, including former military lawyers, contend the strikes against the alleged civilian narcotraffickers are unlawful and amount to murder.

The vast gulf between those two legal views has left some members of the U.S. military in the lurch, worried about potential legal blowback for themselves for taking part in the campaign.

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Being a member of the Pentagon press corps was once one of the more prestigious assignments in US journalism, a position reserved for heavy hitters from venerable newspapers and news channels, reporters at the peak of their powers.

Almost all credentialed reporters from traditional media companies surrendered their Pentagon press passes in October, rather than sign a 21-page Pentagon document that set restrictions on journalistic activities.

Those constraints include requiring news organizations to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material – in effect limiting journalists to reporting on officially provided information – and agreeing to limits on journalists entering certain parts of the Pentagon.

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The allegations carry a familiar ring: Fox News aired outrageous lies that an election software company rigged votes in the 2020 presidential elections for Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Behind the scenes, Fox News' controlling owners, executives and biggest stars didn't believe the wild claims from President Trump and his allies. Nonetheless, the voting tech company's officials received death threats. Its reputation and financial prospects were badly damaged.https://www.npr.org/2025/12/02/nx-s1-5627506/fox-news-smartmatic-lawsuit-election-claims-trial

These claims are contained in legal filings at the heart of a hearing that will take place in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday afternoon over whether a multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuit against Fox News should be allowed to proceed to a full jury trial.

The lawsuit is being brought by Smartmatic, a London-based voting technology firm that played a limited role in the 2020 race but was, nonetheless, accused on Fox shows of taking votes away from Trump and throwing them to Biden. Smartmatic is suing for $2.7 billion.

The reason these allegations are so familiar is that the company's claims closely echo those from a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox News stars and their on-air guests also blamed that company for Trump's loss, as they served up a stew of baseless conspiracy theories about the election.

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President Donald Trump on Thursday attacked a journalist for asking a basic question during a Thanksgiving media availability after he spoke to U.S. service members, part of a recent trend of insults he’s hurled at the women who cover him.

“Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?” he asked the reporter during a tense exchange about the suspect in Wednesday’s attack on two National Guard members in Washington, D.C.

Trump during the event announced that one of the victims, 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom, had died and railed against the immigration policies of President Joe Biden as the suspect, who had worked with the CIA in Afghanistan, was allowed into the United States as part of a resettlement program in 2021.

However, he was granted asylum this year by the Trump administration.

“He was vetted and the vetting came up clean,” the reporter pointed out.

“He went cuckoo,” Trump replied. “I mean, he went nuts, and that happens too. It happens too often with these people.”

But Trump insisted that Afghan migrants were allowed in with no screening, and held up a photo of a crowded plane of asylum-seekers:

“There was no vetting or anything, they came in unvetted,” he said.

“Actually, your DOJ IG just reported this year that there was thorough vetting by DHS and by the FBI of these Afghans who were brought into the U.S.,” she persisted. “So why do you blame the Biden administration?”

Trump did not like the question at all.

“Because they let ’em in,” he fired back. “Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? Because they came into on a plane along with thousands of other people that shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person.”

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Donald Trump lashed out on Wednesday against a New York Times reporter, calling her “ugly inside and out” in his latest personal insult against female members of the media after last week calling another “piggy”.

In a Truth Social post, Trump criticized the newspaper for an article suggesting he was running low on energy in his 80th year, insisting he had “never worked so hard in my life”.

Trump specifically targeted one of the authors. “The writer of the story, Katie Rogers, who is assigned to write only bad things about me, is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out,” he wrote.

Rumors surrounding the president’s health have been circulating for months, with more questions raised after Trump admitted to having an MRI last month. He claimed it was part of a standard physical and would not reveal what body part the test had analyzed.

On Tuesday, the Times wrote that Trump was exhibiting “signs of fatigue” as he “faces realities of aging in office”.

Trump, now the oldest person ever to hold the presidency, was said to have appeared drowsy at a 6 November Oval Office event, where his “eyelids drooped until his eyes were almost closed, and he appeared to doze on and off for several seconds”.

Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesperson for the paper, defended its journalists.

“The Times’s reporting is accurate and built on first hand reporting of the facts. Name-calling and personal insults don’t change that, nor will our journalists hesitate to cover this administration in the face of intimidation tactics like this,” he said in a statement.

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Canadian human rights activists are demanding answers from their government after a former United Nations special rapporteur who investigated Israeli abuses against Palestinians was interrogated at the Canadian border on “national security” grounds.

Richard Falk, 95, was stopped at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Thursday and questioned for several hours. He said a security official told him that Canada had concerns that he and his wife, fellow legal scholar Hilal Elver, posed “a danger to the national security of Canada.

The treatment of the couple has sparked anger and calls for an explanation from Ottawa.

“We need answers – and from the highest levels of government,” said Corey Balsam, national coordinator at Independent Jewish Voices-Canada, a group that supports Palestinian rights.

Despite the outcry, Canadian authorities have not publicly addressed the incident. But the office of Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree, who oversees the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), has acknowledged the case in a statement to Al Jazeera, saying he is seeking more information about what happened.

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