Politics

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department wants the cop convicted of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights to serve just one day in jail—and suggests he never should’ve been prosecuted in the first place.  The DOJ made the surprising request late Wednesday night, asking a judge to sentence Brett Hankison—the only officer convicted so far on criminal charges related to the deadly 2020 raid on Taylor’s apartment—to a single day behind bars, which would count as time served. The department also recommended three years of supervised release and used the memo to argue that Hankison never should have faced civil rights charges in the first place. Former Louisville Police officer Brett Hankison describes what he saw in the apartment of Breonna Taylor during testimony, on March 2, 2022, in Louisville, Kentucky. The request wasn’t just unusually lenient—it was blatantly political. It wasn’t signed by the career prosecutors who handled the case, but by Trump appointee Harmeet Dhillon, who now heads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, and her senior counsel, Robert Keenan. Neither had a role in prosecuting Hankison. Hankison, a former Louisville officer, was found guilty last year after firing 10 shots through a covered window and glass door during a botched “no-knock” raid, endangering Taylor and her neighbors. None of the bullets hit Taylor, but several tore through the apartment’s walls and into the unit next door. Taylor was fatally shot by another officer after her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a warning shot with a legally owned firearm. Taylor’s killing happened just weeks before the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, and became a key moment for the Black Lives Matter movement—one of several cases that sparked nationwide protests against police violence. Before Hankison’s conviction, the only person held criminally responsible in the raid was Kelly Goodlett, a former detective who pleaded guilty to federal charges for helping falsify the search warrant used to enter Taylor’s home and cover up her actions after Taylor’s death. If Hankison gets a lenient sentence, it could reignite anger among activists who say the justice system protects police officers from consequences. His federal conviction was the first time any officer had been held criminally responsible in Taylor’s death. He faces up to life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for Monday. But the DOJ’s new filing insists Hankison “did not shoot Ms. Taylor and is not otherwise responsible for her death.” The memo notes that the Justice Department respects the jury’s verdict, but questions whether the case should’ve gone forward at all, stating: “Counsel is unaware of another prosecution in which a police officer has been charged with depriving the rights of another person under the Fourth Amendment for returning fire and not injuring anyone.”  Legal experts and former DOJ officials were alarmed. According to The Washington Post, Samantha Trepel, a former civil rights prosecutor who helped secure convictions against the officers who violated Floyd’s rights, called the memo “transparent, last-minute political interference” and “a betrayal of the jury’s verdict.” The memo, she said, sends a dangerous message “that the Justice Department will not hold officers accountable who violate the law.” Hankison was previously acquitted on state charges. His first federal trial ended in a mistrial in November 2023, but a second jury convicted him last November. Notably, they found him not guilty on a separate charge involving Taylor’s neighbors. Related  | Justice Department smothers Biden-era police reform deal The DOJ memo is just the latest sign of Trump’s aggressive efforts to dismantle Biden-era reforms meant to hold law enforcement accountable. In May, the department eliminated consent decrees in Minneapolis and Louisville, Kentucky, two cities at the center of the 2020 protests. Consent decrees are legally binding court agreements meant to enforce civil rights reforms in departments found to have engaged in unconstitutional practices. And it fits Trump’s broader pattern: from Daniel Penny to Kyle Rittenhouse, he’s repeatedly embraced men who harmed or killed people of color, then turned them into heroes. So yes, Trump loves criminals. But only the ones who serve his politics.

California Democrats say they are looking for ways to extract as many as seven Democratic congressional seats out of the state, Punchbowl News reported, and are currently debating the legal avenues to make that happen. It’s Democrats’ effort to combat Republicans’ naked attempt to rig the 2026 midterms. Related Texas Republicans are trying to rig the map for the next election “We’re ready,” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) told Punchbowl. “If Texas goes, we are going.” President Donald Trump has demanded that Texas and Ohio redraw their congressional maps to make more Republican-leaning seats, offsetting potential losses in other states across the country to ensure Republicans keep their House majority. He fears that if Democrats retake the House, it will both thwart his legislative agenda as well as open him up to investigations of his corrupt and illegal actions. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott has acquiesced to Trump’s demand, calling a special session of the legislature to get the Republican-led body to redraw Texas’ U.S. House districts. Texas Republicans could try to extract as many as five seats from a new map—though experts say doing so could backfire on the GOP. Distributing Republican voters across more districts would create some marginally Republican seats that could flip in a Democratic wave election. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Ohio is also doing a mid-decade redraw of its egregiously gerrymandered districts, and could wipe out as many as three Democratic lawmakers. In California, in order to redraw the districts, Democrats would have to find a way to negate the state’s independent redistricting commission, which was added to the state constitution in 2010 after voters passed a ballot measure. Punchbowl reported that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom could call a special election for voters to strip the commission from the state constitution—paving the way for a redraw. “Democrats believe voters would back their proposal if they frame it as the key to thwarting what they see as a congressional power grab by President Donald Trump. Democrats would need to go on the airwaves to message the issue, and this would be extremely expensive. Republicans will try to fight this dramatic redraw of the map, of course,” Punchbowl reported, saying that Democrats may sell it to voters by saying that the independent commission would return if states like Texas and Florida pass independent commissions of their own. If California is successful, it would be a step in the right direction for Democrats, who need to fight fire with fire. “Any Democrat in the California state legislature in a safe blue district that opposes this should be primaried with the fire of a thousand suns,” Democratic pollster Adam Carlson wrote in a post on X. “Oh they’re a [Yes In My Backyard]? Run another YIMBY against them who actually cares about preventing another federal Republican trifecta.” California’s Democratic lawmakers seem to understand that. “We want our gavels back,” Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA) told Punchbowl. “That’s what this is about.”

They’re having a meltdown over at r/conservative, the main political hub for right-wing users on Reddit. In thread after thread after thread after thread, pro-MAGA users are losing their minds over President Donald Trump’s gaslighting on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. On Wednesday, a furious Trump called his own supporters “weaklings” for demanding his administration release the Epstein case files. He said his “PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullshit,’” and declared, “I don’t want their support anymore!” Daaaamn. Epstein has been a central fixation of right-wing conspiracy theorists for years—one Trump himself has gleefully exploited. He repeatedly promoted the idea that Democrats, especially former President Bill Clinton, were implicated. And while the vast majority of the conspiracy ecosystem is nonsense, there is a legitimate core question: Who were the powerful people who abused the underage girls Epstein trafficked? If his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of helping traffic the girls, who were the clients? That gap in public knowledge—i.e., verifiable crimes but very few named perpetrators—has long fueled the Epstein conspiracies. And now Trump is pretending it’s all a “Hoax”? Even his base isn’t buying it. For the first time in memory, a significant chunk of Trump’s online base is taking off the blinders. They’re not just furious that Trump is calling the Epstein files a Democratic smear job—they’re seeing it in the context of broader betrayals: There are countless comments like that one: Trump said he’d end the war in Ukraine and cut the debt but now he’s arming Ukraine and signed a spending bill that adds trillions to the deficit. I want him to support Ukraine (assuming he doesn’t flip-flop), but it’s enraging his fanbase that loves Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. And the budget deficit? His base doesn’t yet realize how badly this bill will gut rural America—but they do know it explodes the deficit. And yet … none of that made them waver much. Not until now. Not until Epstein. And Trump is so rattled by the backlash that he’s pretending to dump them before they can dump him. “I don’t want their support anymore!” he wrote in Wednesday’s Truth Social post. What happens next is anyone’s guess. Never underestimate the cult’s ability to rationalize themselves back into his arms. But this time? This break feels real. It might finally be too deep to mend.

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. They came for us. We stood strong. We won. And we couldn’t have done it without your support! DOJ’s latest firing ensures Epstein scandal won’t go away Hmm … that’s not suspicious at all. Senate GOP deals blow to rural America in voting to defund NPR and PBS Republicans are doing what they do best: hurting their own base. Democratic senators are fed up with GOP colleagues’ bullsh-t “This is us simply trying to rush through one of the most controversial nominees we’ve had under this presidential administration.” You won’t believe the latest evidence of Trump’s brain rot He’s very good at making up stories, we’ll give him that. Cartoon: Fed TACO Will he stay, or will he go? Even Republican elections officials aren’t down with Trump’s demands Unfortunately for Trump, people who run elections are fanatical about election security. Trump wants cane sugar in Coke—at the expense of corn country He’s alienating his voters in the name of … Mexican Coke? Click here to see more cartoons.

A cartoon by Mike Luckovich. Related | Americans reject MAGA meanness as ‘Superman’ soars

As voices that are independent and critical of the current administration vanish, please support PoliticusUSA by becoming a subscriber. Subscribe now In a shocking move, CBS announced that it would cancel Late Night With Stephen Colbert in May 2026 and exit the late-night television business completely. Colbert told his audience at Thursday’s taping: Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending our show in May. It’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS. This is all just going away. I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And of course, I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world. The news is not a complete shock as the Trump-allied Ellison brothers are taking over CBS, and one of their goals is to remove Trump critics from the network. PoliticusUSA is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. It was first speculated a few weeks ago that both Stephen Colbert at CBS and Jon Stewart at the now Ellison-owned The Daily Show could be pushed off the air. It was viewed to be less likely that Colbert would be canceled because the show is usually the highest rated in late night, and CBS spent decades struggling in late night until David Letterman moved over from NBC. The Trump impact on media is very real. Since Trump returned to office, critics of his administration have been removed from mainstream media. If Colbert wants to continue his late-night show, if the decision to pick him up was strictly about business, networks would be tripping over themselves to sign him. Where Colbert ends up next should be viewed as a test of the media’s willingness to stand up to Trump. If Stephen Colbert quickly finds a new high-profile home, it will be a hopeful sign. If not, the loss of Colbert will reflect the mainstream media’s complete cave to Trump.

PoliticusUSA is solely supported by readers like you. Please consider supporting us by becoming a subscriber. Subscribe now The Wall Street Journal is a conservative mainstream publication that will never be mistaken as liberal, which is why the fact that the WSJ was preparing to publish a big story on Trump’s close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein sent the president into a panic. The Status newsletter reported: The article, said to be in the works for days, had still not appeared as of Thursday afternoon—raising eyebrows and fueling speculation across Washington and New York. According to people familiar with the matter, The Journal is facing pressure from the White House over the story. In fact, Trump is said to have personally called Emma Tucker, The Journal’s editor-in-chief, to voice his objections. The specifics of the call remain unclear, but it’s hard to imagine Trump voiced anything but outrage. It’s unclear whether Trump reached out to Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns The Journal. While the specifics of what The Journal intends to report remain under wraps, the story is said to contain new material shedding light on the Trump-Epstein relationship. PoliticusUSA is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. If it were CNN, The Washington Post, or The New York Times that had this story, the White House might not be so frantic to kill it. The administration would attack the story as fake news and count on the fact that those media outlets had been poisoned long ago, so the odds of Trump’s supporters believing anything from those sources are minimal. The Wall Street Journal is a different story. An exclusive that contains bombshells from the Journal is likely to be believed across the political spectrum. If there is nothing to the story, Trump could have squashed it during his first term by releasing everything. The Epstein conspiracy theories were born because the Trump administration was shady after Epstein died in prison. Once Trump lost the 2020 election, he leaned into the Epstein conspiracies and tried to use them for political gain. The crisis that this administration is dealing with currently is Trump’s creation. Donald Trump responded to his supporters’ expectation that he would keep his campaign promise to release everything on Epstein by trying to shut them down. The story isn’t going anywhere, and with outlets like The Wall Street Journal digging around, the odds are high that it could get much worse. It isn’t the 34 fraud felony convictions or the E. Jean Carroll lawsuit that has done the most damage to Trump. Two impeachments and allegations of collaborations with a hostile foreign power bounced off of Donald Trump like they were nothing. What is sticking to Donald John Trump is Jeffrey Epstein. When Trump’s second term began, no one would have said that by the summer of 2025, Trump’s biggest problem would be Jeffrey Epstein. Even if Trump is able to kill the WSJ story, there will be others. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt faced multiple Epstein questions at the briefing on Thursday. If the most comfortable lap dogs in the corporate press are challenging the Trump administration on this, the dam is about to break, and even bigger problems could be coming. What do you think about Trump trying to kill the WSJ story? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Subscribe now

President Trump’s health was thrust into the spotlight on Thursday afternoon, as the White House revealed he had been diagnosed with has chronic venous insufficiency after an exam. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a note from Trump’s physician during a press briefing that detailed the exam. Trump underwent ultrasounds and a “comprehensive exam” that included…

New concerns about President Donald Trump’s mental state are being raised after he recounted a story purportedly involving his college professor uncle and the Unabomber that simply never happened. Speaking in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, Trump claimed that his late uncle John Trump taught Unabomber Ted Kaczynski at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then claimed that he quizzed his uncle about his supposed student. “Kaczynski was one of his students. Do you know who Kaczynski was? There’s very little difference between a madman and a genius,” Trump told the audience. “I said, ‘What kind of a student was he, Uncle John—Dr. John Trump? I said, ‘What kind of a student?’ And he said, ‘Seriously good.’ He said he’d go around correcting everybody. But it didn’t work out too well for him.” YouTube Video None of this ever happened. As CNN reports, Trump’s uncle died in 1985. While Kaczynski’s streak of homicidal bombings began in 1978, his identity was unknown to the public until his arrest in 1996—11 years after John Trump’s death. Also, Kaczynski was not a student at MIT. He attended Harvard University and the University of Michigan. “We have no enrollment record or information that Ted Kaczynski ever attended MIT,” a spokesperson told CNN. The completely invented interaction gives renewed fodder to ongoing concerns about Trump’s mental state. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump In June, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that Trump “lost it,” and that he noticed a change in Trump’s behavior compared to past personal interactions. “He is not the same person that I dealt with just four years ago, and he’s incapable of even a train of thought,” Newsom told Fox 11 Los Angeles. And this keeps happening. Trump has repeatedly mixed up key historical facts and figures, including forgetting the leaders of foreign nations—a vital part of his job as president. When running for office in 2024, he confused former Speaker Nancy Pelosi with his then-GOP rival Nikki Haley. While corporate media tirelessly went after President Joe Biden’s mental acuity and age, there has largely been silence about Trump’s numerous episodes of mental misfiring. As recently as last Friday, Trump even claimed that he saw Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth “on Fox News this morning.” Hegseth did not appear on the network. As commander in chief of the U.S. military, Trump recently used his presidential power to order a strike on Iran. In addition to his other duties, which give him access to national security secrets, his inability to demonstrate mental soundness adds to existing concerns about his fitness to lead.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats walked out of a hearing on Thursday in protest of their GOP colleagues advancing President Donald Trump’s nomination of his scandal-plagued personal criminal defense lawyer, Emil Bove, to serve as a lifetime judge on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. Democrats were irate that Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, refused to hear a whistleblower’s testimony accusing Bove of willfully defying court orders that blocked some of Trump’s deportations. Grassley instead ended debate and called for a vote to advance Bove’s nomination to the Senate floor. “This lacks decency. It lacks decorum. It shows that you do not want to simply hear from your colleagues,” Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said as Grassley ordered the vote. “This is us simply trying to rush through one of the most controversial nominees we’ve had under this presidential administration.” And Democratic Sen. Mazie Hironi of Hawaii called the Senate Judiciary Committee a “kangaroo court” as she walked out. YouTube Video Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont explained why he and his colleagues left instead of casting their votes—which wouldn’t have mattered anyway, given that every Republican voted in favor of Bove’s nomination. “Senator Grassley violated the rules and refused to allow Senators to speak against Emil Bove’s lifetime judicial appointment. So I and every Democrat on the Judiciary Committee walked out of the hearing,” Welch wrote on X. Emil Bove, President Donald Trump’s former personal criminal defense lawyer and nominee for a lifetime federal court appointment Bove, for his part, doesn’t deserve to step foot in a federal court, let alone serve as a lifetime judge on one. Aside from being accused of willfully defying a court order, Bove also oversaw the pardons of hundreds of Capitol insurrectionists—many of them violent—and then led the charge to purge the Department of Justice of agents and prosecutors who worked to bring those traitors to justice. Bove also ordered federal prosecutors to dismiss the charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams in exchange for Adams’ cooperation with Trump’s deportation agenda. And he’s even been accused of lying in court. So it’s unsurprising that hundreds of former DOJ officials and dozens of retired judges have spoken out against Bove’s nomination. “It is intolerable to us that anyone who disgraces the Justice Department would be promoted to one of the highest courts in the land, as it should be intolerable to anyone committed to maintaining our ordered system of justice,” read a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was signed by more than 900 former DOJ employees. Related | Trump rewards yet another one of his defense attorneys with a cushy gig Similarly, several retired judges signed on to a letter declaring that Bove does not deserve to be a federal judge. “Mr. Bove’s egregious record of mistreating law enforcement officers, abusing power, and disregarding the law itself disqualifies him for this position,” the judges wrote. But that didn’t stop Senate Republicans from advancing his nomination—including Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who recently claimed that he would never vote for a Trump nominee who supported the Jan. 6 insurrection. Apparently TACO applies to the rest of the GOP, too.