TV News LIES

With the help of two Democrats, the Senate on March 23 confirmed Markwayne Mullin to replace Kristi Noem as the head of the Department of Homeland Security.

The pugilistic Oklahoma Republican senator now is tasked with leading not only a critical federal agency in mounting crisis, but also the immigration agenda of a White House that has increasingly found its hardline enforcement policies to be a political liability – in a midterm year that could cost the president's party control of Congress.

The largely partisan vote, 54-45, was a break from precedent, as senators of both parties have in the past shown at least some deference to their colleagues in the legislative chamber to support them for Cabinet positions. It was a stark reminder of a staunchly polarized Congress, especially when it comes to issues related to immigration.

All GOP senators except for one, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, voted to confirm Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter who ran a multimillion-dollar plumbing business before he was first elected to Congress as a member of the House of Representatives over a decade ago.

More...

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which serves as the exclusive union for TSA officers, slammed Trump's plan to deploy ICE agents to perform security at airports while officers continue showing up to work without a paycheck.

"ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security," AFGE President Everett Kelley said in a statement, stressing that TSA officers go through extensive and specialized training that requires ongoing recertification.

"You cannot improvise that," he said. "Putting untrained personnel at security checkpoints does not fill a gap. It creates one."

Tens of thousands of TSA employees have been working without pay since the partial government shutdown went into effect earlier this year. While the shutdown leaves Homeland Security – which includes TSA – without funding, ICE officers' paychecks were already secured by previous funding.

More...

The counter-terrorism official who resigned from Donald Trump’s administration over the US and Israel’s war against Iran has said he is bracing for political retribution – but would do it all again anyway.

Asked by conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly if he was concerned about a pre-existing FBI search investigating him for leaking classified information, Joe Kent said he was ambivalent.

Kent said he was “not concerned because I know I did nothing wrong”. But, alluding to the way the Trump administration has sought to criminally prosecute people the president considers enemies, he added: “Of course, I am concerned because we’ve all seen the full weight of the FBI and the government come down on individuals who speak out.”

US counter-terrorism chief who resigned says he fears retaliation but has no regrets.

“That has me a little bit concerned,” he also told Kelly on her podcast on Friday. “But I know that the truth and the facts are on my side.

More...

Former Trump White House attorney Ty Cobb condemned President Donald Trump Saturday for celebrating the death of former special prosecutor and FBI Director Robert Mueller, calling the president a “demented narcissist.”

“So that’s the type of person that President Trump is,” Cobb said on MS Now. “He’s a demented narcissist, [he] seriously hates anybody who stands in opposition to him.”

Mueller died on Friday at the age of 81. His cause of death was not immediately known, but he had reportedly been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease prior to his passing.

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a Saturday statement to the Associated Press. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”

More...

Robert S. Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and who later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has died. He was 81.

“With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.”

At the FBI, Mueller set about almost immediately overhauling the bureau’s mission to meet the law enforcement needs of the 21st century, beginning his 12-year tenure just one week before the Sept. 11 attacks and serving across presidents of both political parties. He was nominated by Republican President George W. Bush.

The cataclysmic event instantaneously switched the bureau’s top priority from solving domestic crime to preventing terrorism, a shift that imposed an almost impossibly difficult standard on Mueller and the rest of the federal government: preventing 99 out of 100 terrorist plots wasn’t good enough.

More...

Former FBI Director James Comey has been subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in Miami as part of the ​U.S. Justice Department's investigation into former officials who ‌have previously probed and prosecuted President Donald Trump, CBS News and Axios reported on Thursday, citing sources.

The investigation has produced more than 130 ​subpoenas since cranking up last year, and targets ​top officials who worked under former presidents Barack Obama ⁠and Joe Biden, Axios reported.

The Justice Department did not ​immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative of ​Comey could not be reached. Comey's attorneys declined to comment to CBS News.

Reuters reported late last year federal prosecutors were preparing grand jury subpoenas ​to investigate Obama-era intelligence officials who produced an assessment ​that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election that Trump won.

More...