As U.S. media coverage of Gaza has plummeted since the “ceasefire,” Israel has continued to kill civilians on a routine basis.
Democratic Representative Maxine Waters caught Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a clear and obvious lie during a congressional hearing. “Did you write a letter to investors raising concerns about the impact of tariffs, writing that ‘tariffs are inflationary’? Did you say that at that time, yes or no?” Waters asked. “Uh, no,” Bessent replied. “OK … we have a New York Times article that agrees that you said that,” Waters said.“Great, New York Times,” Bessent said, smiling. WATERS: Did you write a letter to investors raising concerns about the impact of tariffs, writing that 'tariffs are inflationary'?BESSENT: Uh .... noWATERS: We have a New York Times article that agrees you said thatBESSENT: Great. New York Times. pic.twitter.com/eJdKPzy8hN— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 4, 2026Waters continued:“Last summer, when you testified before a Senate committee, you said, and I quote, ‘There is no inflation. Tariffs are not being passed on to consumers.’ You were quite definitive, and even claimed that critics had ‘tariff derangement syndrome,’” she said. “Well, those comments are at odds with the statement you made to investors that tariffs are inflationary.... Are tariffs inflationary? Yes or no?”“According to the San Francisco Federal Reserve … tariffs do not cause inflation,” Bessent said. Bessent may have very well perjured himself, given the letter he claimed doesn’t exist certainly does. In that January 2024 letter, which Semafor’s Eleanor Mueller first highlighted, Bessent wrote: “Tariffs are inflationary and would strengthen the dollar--hardly a good starting point for a US industrial renaissance.” He then goes on to argue that Trump will weaken the dollar to “make US manufacturing competitive.”Bessent attacked The New York Times to distract from Waters’s question, as if nothing reported about him in the paper could possibly be true. When asked to clarify, Bessent stated that if he even said that tariffs were inflationary, he was wrong. This is all part of an effort to shield the average American from the harsh reality that they, not other countries, are shouldering most of the economic burdens of Trump’s tariff wars.“Not only did he lie, but his advice was horrible on every level,” Representative Sean Casten commented. “Under Trump and Bessent they have imposed tariffs, overseen a collapse in the US dollar and delivered a collapse in US manufacturing jobs.”CASTEN: I want to read you a quote -- 'tariffs are inflationary and would strengthen the dollar.' Do you recognize it?BESSENT: You're referring to a letter a wrote. Tariffs could be inflationaryCASTEN: No no. It says 'tariffs are inflationary.' Do you want to correct the… pic.twitter.com/bUXWHrsPLK— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 4, 2026
The latest reporting on the released files on Jeffrey Epstein.
The chief strategist during the president’s first term has a grim vision for the 2026 midterm elections, and it involves armed federal agents.“You’re damn right we’re gonna have ICE surround the polls come November,” Steve Bannon said on his War Room podcast on Tuesday.“We’re not gonna sit here and allow you to steal the country again,” Bannon continued, repeating Donald Trump’s thoroughly debunked 2020 election conspiracy. “And you can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”Caroline Wren, a GOP fundraiser that was on the podcast, agreed with Bannon, claiming that dissent against ICE activity and its funding was fueled by individuals who “don’t want ICE at the polling stations to stop illegals from voting.”It is, and has been, illegal and impossible for noncitizens to vote in U.S. elections.Bannon’s comments seem to be the latest escalation in a nationwide Republican push to tighten up voter restrictions to a dystopian degree. Last year, conservative lawmakers passed the SAVE Act, requiring people to confirm their names with documented proof of citizenship before they register to vote—a detail that legal experts have warned could prevent droves of married women from casting their ballot.Trump seemed to be on the same wavelength as Bannon the day prior, telling former FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino during an interview Monday that Republicans should “take over and nationalize” elections in several states.“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” Trump said. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many—15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”Since he lost the 2020 election, Trump and his allies have obsessed over contrived claims of voter fraud—a statistical nonissue in U.S. elections. For instance, a statewide audit out of Georgia, the epicenter of Trump’s baseless theory, revealed in 2024 that just 20 noncitizens out of 8.2 million residents existed on the state’s voter roll, approximately 0.00024 percent of the state’s voting population. Out of those 20, only nine participated in elections years ago, before ID was required as a part of the voter verification process. The other 11 individuals were registered but never actually voted, according to the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger.
Former executive editor Marty Baron said the cuts “rank among the darkest days” in the newspaper’s history.
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday to allow California to use a newly drawn congressional map that could earn Democrats as many as five additional House seats in the upcoming midterm elections. Republicans sued California over the new district lines drawn by Democratic lawmakers and approved by voters in November, claiming that the new map was racially gerrymandered.When a federal judge found late last month that the map had been drawn along partisan lines, not racial lines, Republicans, joined by the Department of Justice, filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.California Governor Gavin Newsom, who had championed the redistricting effort in his state, responded to the court’s decision Wednesday. “LFG,” he wrote on X.The high court’s ruling represents another major victory for the Democrats in the face of Donald Trump’s vast gerrymandering scheme. Last month, Virginia’s Democrat-controlled legislature passed an amendment that would allow the state to redraw its own congressional map, potentially netting Democrats—who already control six of the state’s 11 districts—an additional three to four seats in November. So far, five red states have moved to redraw their congressional maps at the president’s behest in order to hand a potential nine additional seats to the Republican Party: Missouri, North Carolina, Texas, Ohio, and Utah. Last month, Trump told Republican lawmakers that he needed the party to maintain control of the House and Senate in order to avoid being impeached. This seems increasingly unavoidable, as in a typical midterm cycle, the presidential party pretty consistently loses ground. Those basic odds, coupled with Trump’s dismal approval rating and Democratic candidates’ growing momentum, is a particularly bad sign for the president, who has started babbling about potentially canceling the midterm elections altogether. Elections experts have cautioned that Trump does not have the legal authority or mechanism to cancel the midterm elections, but his continued ranting could hurt participation and spur distrust of election results.This story has been updated.
“Halting construction would imperil the President,” a Department of Justice court brief states.