While “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to ABC on Tuesday, the late night show won’t be returning to Sinclair’s ABC affiliates as the broadcaster will replace the show with news programming as discussions with ABC continue, The Wrap reports.
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Trump Gives Unproven Medical Advice
“President Trump spoke about autism and vaccines at the White House, giving direct and unproven medical advice about vaccines and the use of a common painkiller, acetaminophen, despite not having any medical background,” the New York Times reports.
“He declared that there was a link between rising autism rates and the use of the painkiller, the active ingredient in Tylenol. Scientists’ research on a potential connection has yielded inconclusive results.”
Associated Press: Trump promotes unproven ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism without new evidence.
Wall Street Journal Seeks Dismissal of Trump’s Lawsuit
“The Wall Street Journal, its parent company and Rupert Murdoch asked a federal judge to dismiss Donald Trump‘s $10 billion defamation lawsuit over the publication’s report on the president’s past connections to Jeffrey Epstein,” Deadline reports.
“The attorneys also challenged the notion the that the article could have damaged Trump’s reputation, noting that he had ‘publicly admitted to ‘locker room talk’ and has made numerous bawdy public statements,’ as well as to his relationship with Epstein.”
White House Denies Homan Took Bag of Cash
“A White House spokeswoman denied on Monday that the president’s border czar, Tom Homan, accepted a bag with $50,000 in cash as part of an undercover FBI investigation last September, contradicting news reports about the case,” the New York Times reports.
“FBI agents working under cover made an audio recording of the September 2024 meeting in which Mr. Homan accepted the money in a bag from the fast-food chain Cava.”
Trump Agrees to Meet with Schumer and Jeffries
President Donald Trump plans to meet this week with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss the looming government-funding crisis, Punchbowl News reports.
Justices Weigh Trump’s Power Over Independent Agencies
“The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider expanding President Donald Trump’s power to shape independent agencies by overturning a nearly century-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members,” the AP reports.
“The justices have allowed the Republican president to carry out some high-profile firings while lawsuits play out, signaling the conservative majority is poised to overturn or narrow a 1935 Supreme Court decision that found commissioners can only be removed for misconduct or neglect of duty.”
New York Times: “A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Trump to fire one of the leaders of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a series of emergency orders enabling the president to remove Democratic members of several independent agencies.”
Trump Cancels Bike-Lane Grants Deemed ‘Hostile’ to Cars
“The Trump administration canceled grants for street safety measures, pedestrian trails and bike lanes in communities around the country this month, each time offering a simple rationale for yanking back federal aid: the projects aren’t designed for cars,” Bloomberg reports.
Jimmy Kimmel to Return to Air
Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show will resume broadcasting on Tuesday, days after Disney pulled the show indefinitely during controversy over the host’s remarks about the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Georgia Election Case Against Trump Hits the Skids
Atlanta Journal Constitution: “It’s not quite over. The case will soon be transferred to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, a nonpartisan state agency that steps in when a prosecutor is removed or has a conflict. Whomever the executive director appoints to replace Willis could decide to pick up where she left off, slim the case down or dismiss it entirely. What is clear: There is no guarantee Willis’ evidence will ever go before a jury.”
“That means some of the most contentious elements of Georgia’s 2020 election — some of which are still being fought over in party and election board meetings, in the legislature and on cable TV — might never have their day in court.”
Mamdani Cancels Town Hall Over Kimmel Suspension
“Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, said on Monday that he was canceling a town hall on WABC that had been planned for this week, in protest of the decision by the station’s parent company to indefinitely suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show,” the New York Times reports.
Washington Post: Mamdani pulls out of event with ABC station after Kimmel suspension.
This Is How Democracy Ends
Zack Beauchamp: “The kind of authoritarianism I fear is emerging in the United States, which political scientists call ‘competitive authoritarianism,’ doesn’t involve the outright criminalization of the opposition or formal martial law.”
“Instead, it depends on perverting the law, modifying and twisting it with the intent of incrementally undermining the opposition’s ability to compete fairly in elections.”
Trump to Redirect Funds for California High-Speed Rail
“The Trump administration plans to allocate the roughly $2.4 billion that was stripped from California’s embattled high-speed rail to other transit projects,” Bloomberg reports.
How Much Trump’s Kids Have Made from His Presidency
Forbes: “President Trump just had the most lucrative year of his life. But percentage-wise, members of his immediate family, including sons Eric, Don Jr. and Barron, did even better.”
“Crypto is the big driver, but additional funds have come from advising right-wing companies in America and partnering with cash-rich firms overseas, especially in the Middle East. Family members who never had significant fortunes of their own—Eric, Don Jr., Barron and Melania—have accumulated tens, then hundreds of millions of dollars. All told, the family (including the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner) is now worth an estimated $10 billion, having nearly doubled its net worth since last year’s election.”
Democrats Want to Negotiate with Trump on Shutdown
New York Magazine: “The Democrats’ latest maneuver has been to demand Donald Trump directly negotiate with them since his congressional vassals won’t go to the bathroom without a permission slip from the White House.”
“Oddly enough, Trump opened the door to a meeting while seeming to dismiss the idea of making any concessions to Democrats.”
Said Trump: “They want all this stuff, they haven’t changed, they haven’t learned from the biggest beating they’ve ever taken, just about. I’d love to meet with them if they want to meet.”
Nate Silver: “Democrats are in what chess players call zugzwang, where there aren’t necessarily any winning moves.”
RFK Jr. Has a Prescription for America: Pure Chaos
Jonathan Cohn: “Last week showcased another, equally important side of Kennedy’s management: the way he is eliminating the people and dispensing with the procedures that allow agencies like the CDC to carry out their basic functions in a transparent, scientifically sound way.”
“The effect isn’t so much to realign priorities as it is to unleash chaos. But that can still be corrosive to the government’s credibility—and hazardous to the people who depend on it.”
Bonus Quote of the Day
“At some point, it defies your oath to serve a president who rejects the rule of law and bends the Department to his abuses.”
— Conservative Harvard Law professor Jack Goldsmith, in his newsletter.
Welcome to Mobocracy
Andrew Sullivan: “The president openly demands his attorney general file charges against named political enemies despite no solid evidence they have committed any crimes.”
“One of his senior officials, Tom Homan, is on an FBI tape receiving $50,000 in cash in bribes, and he remains in office with the full backing of the president. Megyn Kelly says of this bribe: ‘WE DO NOT CARE.'”
“This is a criminal enterprise, not an administration.”
For members: Punishing Foes, Protecting Friends
GOP Candidate Follows Sexually Explicit Accounts
Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Bill Berrien (R) is campaigning as a conservative leader who stands up for family values and is especially critical of transgender individuals, saying they are engaged in “radical social experimentation,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“But Berrien’s online footprint tells a different story — one that he quietly tried to erase in recent days.”
“On Medium.com — an older online platform, similar to Substack — Berrien, 56, has an account that was following a transgender porn star named Jiz Lee and several other authors of sexually explicit essays.”
“Other writers he was following include Octavio Morrison, author of ‘7 Types of Orgasmic Sensations’ and ‘3 Terrible Reasons to Have a Threesome’ and Emma Austin, who calls herself ‘a wholesome perv with a touch of whimsy’ who has posted items such as ‘Pegging is A-OK,’ and ‘I Love Getting Jackhammered.'”
