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ICE detains British journalist after criticism of Israel on US tour

by Evelyn Reynolds 26 October 2025, 20:16

British journalist Sami Hamdi was reportedly detained on Sunday morning by federal immigration authorities at San Francisco international airport, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair) says that action is apparent retaliation for the Muslim political commentator’s criticism of Israel while touring the US.A statement from Cair said it was “a blatant affront to free speech” to detain Hamdi for criticizing Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza while he engaged on a speaking tour in the US. A Trump administration official added in a separate statement that Hamdi is facing deportation.“Our attorneys and partners are working to address this injustice,” Cair’s statement said. The statement also called on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “to immediately account for and release Mr Hamdi”, saying his only “‘crime’ is criticizing a foreign government” that Cair accused of having “committed genocide”.The press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, wrote of Hamdi in a social media post: “This individual’s visa was revoked, and he is in ICE custody pending removal”.McLaughlin’s post also said: “Those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country.”During his tour, Hamdi spoke on Saturday at the annual gala for Cair’s chapter in Sacramento. He was expected to speak on Sunday at the gala for the Florida chapter of Cair.McLaughlin’s post about Hamdi’s detention was shared by Trump administration ally Laura Loomer, who took credit for his being taken into custody.Loomer, who has called herself a “white advocate” and a “proud Islamophobe”, has often peddled conspiracy theories such as endorsing claims that the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 were an “inside job”.In 2018, she infamously chained herself to Twitter’s headquarters in New York City in protest of her account being banned. Billionaire businessman Elon Musk reinstated her account after he bought the social media platform in 2022.“As a direct result of … my relentless pressure on the [state department] and Department of Homeland Security, US officials have now moved to take action against Hamdi’s visa status, and his continued presence in this country,” Loomer posted on social media.Hamdi is the latest of numerous immigrants who have been arrested and deported by ICE over pro-Palestinian views. Earlier in October, journalist Mario Guevara was deported to El Salvador after having been detailed while live streaming the massive, anti-Trump No Kings protest in June.On 30 September, a federal judge appointed during Ronald Reagan’s presidency ruled the administration’s policy to detain and deport foreign scholars over pro-Palestinian views violates the US constitution and was designed to “intentionally” chill free speech rights.The ruling is bound to be appealed, possibly all the way to the US supreme court, which is dominated by a conservative supermajority made possible by three Trump appointments. The state department, meanwhile, has said it will continue revoking visas under the policy. More

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US news outlets refuse to sign new Pentagon rules to report only official information
by Evelyn Reynolds 13 October 2025, 21:33
Several leading news organizations with access to Pentagon briefings have formally said they will not agree to a new defense department policy that requires them to pledge they will not obtain unauthorized material and restricts access to certain areas unless accompanied by an official.The policy, presented last month by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has been widely criticized by media organizations asked to sign the pledge by Tuesday at 5pm or have 24 hours to turn in their press credentials.The move follows a shake-up in February in which long-credentialed media outlets were required to vacate assigned workspaces which was cast as an “annual media rotation program”. A similar plan was presented at the White House where some briefing room spots were given to podcasters and other representatives of non-traditional media.On Monday, the Washington Post joined the New York Times, CNN, the Atlantic, the Guardian and trade publication Breaking Defense in saying it would not sign on to the agreement.Matt Murray, the Post’s executive editor, said the policy runs counter to constitutional guarantees of freedom of the press.“The proposed restrictions undercut First Amendment protections by placing unnecessary constraints on gathering and publishing information,” Murray wrote in a statement published on X. “We will continue to vigorously and fairly report on the policies and positions of the Pentagon and officials across the government.”The Atlantic, which became embroiled in a dispute with Pentagon and White House officials earlier this year after editor Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a group chat on Signal, said it “fundamentally” opposes the new restrictions.The new policy “constrains how journalists can report on the U.S. military, which is funded by nearly $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars annually,” a New York Times statement said. “The public has a right to know how the government and military are operating,” wrote the Times Washington bureau chief, Richard Stevenson.Hegseth responded on social media to statements from the Atlantic, the Post and the Times by posting a single emoji of a hand waving goodbye.Righ-leaning outlets have also declined to sign the document. “Newsmax has no plans to sign the letter,” the network told the New York Times reporter Erik Wemple. “We are working in conjunction with other media outlets to resolve the situation. We believe the requirements are unnecessary and onerous and hope that the Pentagon will review the matter further.”Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told the Washington Post that media outlets had “decided to move the goal post”, saying that the policy doesn’t require reporters to agree, but just acknowledge they understand it.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionParnell said that request had “caused reporters to have a full-blown meltdown, crying victim online.” He added: “We stand by our policy because it’s what’s best for our troops and the national security of this country.”The Pentagon Press Association, which represents the press corps covering the defense department, said last week that a revised policy that seeks to prohibit journalists from soliciting unauthorized information in addition to accessing it, appeared to be “designed to stifle a free press and potentially expose us to prosecution for simply doing our jobs”.The PPA noted that the revised policy “conveys an unprecedented message of intimidation to everyone within the DoD, warning against any unapproved interactions with the press and even suggesting it’s criminal to speak without express permission – which plainly, it is not”.The new rules were accepted by the far-right cable channel One America News, whose White House correspondent is frequently invited by the president to ask him questions. One of the channel’s hosts, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, said the pro-Trump outlet “is happy to follow these reasonable conditions”. More
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What does Donald Trump think free speech means? – podcast
by Evelyn Reynolds 19 September 2025, 04:00
Archive: CBS, Good Morning America, The Charlie Kirk show, ABC News, Katie Miller Pod, CBS Austin, PIX11 News, Fox News
Listen to Science Weekly’s episode on the data behind political violence
Listen to Politics Weekly, all about Trump’s state visit to the UK
Purchase Jonathan Freedland’s new book, The Traitor’s Circle, here
Send your questions and feedback to politicsweeklyamerica@theguardian.com
Support the Guardian. Go to theguardian.com/politicspodus More
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Charlie Kirk murder suspect told he faces death penalty if convicted in first appearance – live updates
by Evelyn Reynolds 16 September 2025, 21:34
Tyler Robinson is now appearing for his first, virtual court appearance from the Utah jail where he is being held.A Utah judge has ruled Robinson indigent, saying he qualifies for a court-appointed attorney.The judge has also granted a pre-trial protective order for Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk.A Utah state prosecutor has also shared that the state intends to pursue the death penalty.Viewers of Tyler Robinson’s recent court appearance may have witnessed the suspected shooter of far-right political activist Charlie Kirk wearing a green vest.The BBC’s Kayla Epstein reports that two court officers told her the vest is intended to prevent self-harm and that it is not a bulletproof vest. So-called “anti-suicide smocks” are not uncommon in US prisons.While announcing the charges against Robinson earlier today, Utah county attorney Jeff Gray shared that Robinson suggested he might harm himself, rather than turn himself in, while speaking with family after the shooting.The next hearing in Tyler Robinson’s case is scheduled for September 29, and will be conducted virtually.A lawyer must be appointed to represent Robinson by then.Today’s hearing has concluded.Judge Tony F. Graf is currently reading Tyler Robinson the charges that Utah county attorney Jeff Gray announced earlier today.Those are:1. Aggravated murder,2. Felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury,3. Obstruction of justice for moving and concealing the rifle used in the shooting,4. Obstruction of justice for disposing the clothing he wore during the shooting,5. Witness tampering for directing his roommate to delete his incriminating text,6. Witness tampering for directing his roommate to stay silent if police questioned him,7. Commission of a violent offense in the presence of a child.Tyler Robinson is now appearing for his first, virtual court appearance from the Utah jail where he is being held.A Utah judge has ruled Robinson indigent, saying he qualifies for a court-appointed attorney.The judge has also granted a pre-trial protective order for Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk.A Utah state prosecutor has also shared that the state intends to pursue the death penalty.Earlier today, Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace introduced a resolution to censure Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar over comments Omar made following the death of far-right political activist Charlie Kirk.“Ilhan Omar has shown us exactly who she is: someone who defends political violence and refuses to condemn the loss of innocent lives when it doesn’t suit her agenda, even the cold-blooded assassination of Charlie Kirk,” Mace said in a statement released before she introdued the resolution. “If you mock a political assassination and celebrate murder, you don’t get to keep your committee seat, you get consequences.”A spokesperson for Omar challenged that characterization in comments shared with CNN.“Congresswoman Omar was one of the first to condemn Charlie Kirk’s murder. She explicitly expressed her sympathies and prayers to his wife and children. She condemned his assassination and has routinely condemned political violence, no matter the political ideology,” the spokesperson said. “In her interview, she also grappled with his divisive legacy, but she in no way implied violence was deserved, nor did she celebrate his death.”The news comes as members of the Trump administration have fired public officials who have spoken out about Kirk’s legacy, and just one day after JD Vance guest-hosted Kirk’s podcast, where he told listeners to “Call them out, and hell, call their employer,” if they knew anyone celebrating Kirk’s death.Tyler Robinson, the Utah man accused of murdering far-right political activist Charlie Kirk last week, is expected to appear in court at 5pm ET, according to the Utah County Attorney’s Office.The hearing will be conducted online and will be Robinson’s first court appearance in the murder case.We’ll bring you the latest when it begins.Here is footage from our coverage earlier of Utah state prosecutors charging Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old Utah man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk, with aggravated murder, among other charges.A separate piece of news from the United Kingdom as Donald Trump is expected to land there shortly: Microsoft has announced that it will invest $30bn in the UK through 2028.The company’s president, Brad Smith, told reporters, including the Associated Press, that Microsoft planned to invest in the UK due to the company’s “regulatory stability” and commitment to developing power data centers.In other news, Air Force One is due to land soon at London Stansted airport as Donald Trump heads to the UK for an unprecedented second state visit.The UK’s largest and tightest security operation since King Charles’s coronation is now under way, with police boats in the River Thames, and snipers and drones also in place.There will be no public-facing engagements for the duration of the president’s two-day visit, with last week’s fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk – as well as the attempt on Trump’s life last year – at the forefront of security considerations.Tomorrow Trump is expected to meet with the king in Windsor before heading to Chequers – the prime minister’s country residence – on Thursday to meet with Keir Starmer.The suspect in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, has been charged with aggravated murder and weapon and obstruction offenses, and the state of Utah will be pursuing the death penalty. He continues to be held without bail and is due to appear in court for the first time – via video link – at 5pm ET.DNA “consistent with” Robinson was also found on the trigger of the bolt-action rifle believed to have been used in Kirk’s shooting, as well as on other parts of the rifle, the fired cartridge casing, two of the three unfired cartridges, and the towel the rifle was found wrapped in.According to charging documents filed today, Robinson allegedly planned the shooting for a little over a week and confessed to his roommate/partner.His roommate told authorities that Robinson texted on 10 September and told them to look under a keyboard. A note was under the keyboard that stated: “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I’m going to take it.”The roommate then texted Robinson and asked if he was joking. Robinson responded: “I am still OK, my love. … Shouldn’t be long till I can come home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest, I had hoped to keep this secret until I died of old age.”In further messages, Robinson said he was the one who shot Kirk. Roommate: you weren’t the one who did it right???? Robinson: I am, I’m sorryWhen the roommate asked why he did it, Robinson responded: “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”In further text messages, Robinson told his roommate that the rifle belonged to his grandfather and sent several messages about how he might retrieve it while police were searching for him. He appeared to consider whether it could be traced back to him.Authorities said the suspect might have concealed the murder weapon in his pants as he walked on campus, tipping off authorities with his “unusual gait”. The suspect walked “with very little bending in his right leg, consistent with a rifle being hidden in his pants,” the charging documents read.Robinson then instructed the roommate to delete “incriminating” text messages and to not speak to police or media, according to the documents.We’ve also learned that the suspect’s mother identified him in a photo released by authorities. His mother told the police that her son had “become more political and started to move more to the left” over the last year or so and had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented”.In one conversation with his parents before the shooting, Robinson mentioned that Kirk would be holding an event at UVU, which Robinson said was a “stupid venue” for the event. Robinson accused Kirk of spreading hate.While talking to his parents at their home after the shooting, Robinson allegedly implied that he shot Kirk, “and stated that he couldn’t go to jail, and just wanted to end it”, alluding to suicide. He allegedly told his parents when they asked why he did it: “There’s too much evil in the guy.”My colleagues Anna Betts and Ramon Antonio Vargas have the full report on the news conference:Utah state prosecutors have charged Tyler Robinson, the man accused of fatally shooting the far-right activist Charlie Kirk, on Tuesday with aggravated murder, meaning the 22-year-old could face the death penalty if convicted.Jeff Gray, the top prosecutor in Utah county, said Robinson also ordered his roommate to delete incriminating text messages and stay silent if police questioned him in the aftermath of the Turning Point USA executive director’s killing on 10 September.“I do not take this decision lightly,” Gray said. “And it is a decision I have made independently as county attorney based solely on the available evidence and circumstances and nature of the crime.”And that’s it, the briefing is over.Asked why his office has been measured in sharing the investigation information around Charlie Kirk’s killing, in stark contrast to FBI director Kash Patel, Gray says:
Well, as attorneys, we typically like to control that information to preserve an impartial jury and a fair trial.
Gray says he talked to officials from both the governor’s office and the Trump administration before filing charges, but said the decision to seek the death penalty was his.Gray says he wants to ensure a fair and impartial trial.Robinson confessed to his roommate in a series of messages after the incident, according to the charging documents filed today.Roommate: you weren’t the one who did it right????Robinson: I am, I’m sorryRoommate: I thought they caught the person?Robinson: no, they grabbed some crazy old dude, then interrogated someone in similar clothing. I had planned to grab my rifle from my drop point shortly after, but most of that side of town got locked down.In another part of the exchange, Robinson’s roommate asked why he did it. “I had enough of his hatred. Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” Robinson replied, according to the documents.Robinson also told his roommate that the rifle he allegedly used belonged to his grandfather. He sent several messages about how he might retrieve it while police were searching for him in the hours after the shooting.“I’m worried what my old man would do if I didn’t bring back grandpas rifle,” Robinson said in the messages, and appeared to consider whether it could be traced back to him.“I might have to abandon it and hope they don’t find prints. how the f*ck will I explain losing it to my old man,” he said, according to the documents.Robinson also told his roommate to delete the messages and not to speak to police or the media.According to charging documents, Tyler Robinson’s roommate and romantic partner appears to have discovered that Robinson carried out the Kirk shooting when Robinson sent a text saying: “Drop what you are doing, look under my keyboard.”That’s where the partner found a note that said, “I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I’m going to take it,” according to the charges.After reading the note, the roommate asked Robinson if he was joking. Robinson responded: “I am still OK, my love. … Shouldn’t be long till I can home, but I gotta grab my rifle still. To be honest, I had hoped to keep this secret until I died of old age. I am sorry to involve you.”The roommate then asked Robinson if he was involved in the shooting. Robinson confirmed that he was and said he intended to grab his rifle, but the area was on lockdown.When the roommate asked why he did it, Robinson responded: “I had enough of his hate. Some hate can’t be negotiated out.”Robinson instructed the roommate to delete their text conversation, Gray said.Robinson’s mother told the county sheriff’s office that her son had accused Charlie Kirk of spreading hate, Gray says.While talking to his parents at their home, Robinson allegedly implied that he shot Kirk, “and stated that he couldn’t go to jail, and just wanted to end it”, Gray says.When Robinson was then asked why he did it, Robinson said that Kirk “spreads too much hate”, Gray said.“There’s too much evil in the guy,” Robinson allegedly told his parents, Gray says.Robinson’s mother told the police that her son had “become more political and started to move more to the left” over the last year or so and had become “more pro-gay and trans-rights oriented”, Gray says.He had also become romantically involved with his roommate, who was transitioning, Gray says.This resulted in several discussions with family members, but especially between Robinson and his father, who have very different political views, he adds.In one conversation with his parents before the shooting, Robinson mentioned that Charlie Kirk would be holding an event at UVU, which Robinson said was a “stupid venue” for the event. Robinson accused Kirk of spreading hate, says Gray. More
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Washington Post columnist says she was fired over posts after Charlie Kirk’s killing
by Evelyn Reynolds 15 September 2025, 17:54
Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah says she has been fired from the newspaper over social media posts about gun control and race in the aftermath of far right commentator Charlie Kirk’s killing.Attiah, 39, recounted in a Substack post that she had been dropped as a Post columnist after 11 years for “speaking out against political violence, racial double standards, and America’s apathy toward guns”.The Post, she wrote, accused “my measured Bluesky posts of being ‘unacceptable, ‘gross misconduct’ and of endangering the physical safety of colleagues – charges without evidence, which I reject completely as false”.Attiah continued: “They rushed to fire me without even a conversation. This was not only a hasty overreach, but a violation of the very standards of journalistic fairness and rigor the Post claims to uphold.”The columnist’s job was understood to be in jeopardy after she clashed with Post opinion editor Adam O’Neal, formerly of the Economist and the Wall Street Journal, who has reportedly offered buyouts to writers whose work does not fit with the editorial mix of the newspaper owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos.The Bezos-founded Amazon contributed $1m to the fund for the inauguration of the second presidency of Donald Trump, for whom Kirk was a close ally. And the Post decided to forego endorsing a candidate in the November election won by Trump, a Republican, after the newspaper’s editorial board had voted to endorse Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.In her Substack post, Attiah noted that she “was the last remaining Black full-time opinion columnist” on the paper and blasted that Washington DC, “one of the nation’s most diverse regions, … no longer has a paper that reflects the people it serves”.Attiah said her firing was “part of a broader purge of Black voices from academia, business, government, and media – a historical pattern as dangerous as it is shameful – and tragic”.The Washington Post is under an editorial mandate for the newspaper’s opinion section to focus specifically on supporting and defending “personal liberties and free markets”.A Washington Post spokesperson declined to comment on personnel matters and pointed to the organization’s policies and standards, including a section governing social media use.In writings on Bluesky, Attiah lamented that the US, in her opinion, “accepts and worships” gun violence.“My only direct reference to Kirk was one post – his own words on record,” she said in her Substack letter. The letter included a screenshot of a Bluesky post alluding to a 2023 remark from Kirk about how several prominent Black women “do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken really seriously.“You have to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”Attiah continued that she was pointing “to the familiar pattern of America shrugging off gun deaths and giving compassion for white men who commit and espouse political violence”.The firing described by Attiah came after the Status media newsletter – citing sources – reported in August that she had refused a buyout offer. It also comes days after MSNBC political analyst Matthew Dowd was dismissed for describing Kirk – in the aftermath of his killing – as a “divisive” figure who pushed “hate speech”.Some accused Dowd of implicitly justifying the violence against Kirk by having said that “hateful words” lead to “hateful actions”. Dowd has since written his comments were “misconstrued” and MSNBC caved to pressure from a “rightwing media mob”.Dowd was one of the earliest instances of people across the US either being fired from or disciplined at their jobs amid a coordinated effort to clamp down on commentary that is critical about Kirk.In August, the Post published an opinion piece by Trump administration official Jay Bhattacharya to argue that the federal health and human services department’s decision to cut to support to mRNA vaccine development was a “necessary” step. Experts have warned that the approach is wrongheaded, with mRNA vaccines having saved millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic.The editorial page also published an opinion from Jeanine Pirro, a former host at the conservative Fox News network who is now serving as a Washington DC district attorney, that promoted the administration’s decision to deploy national guard troops on the streets of the capital to allegedly make them safer – even though the city’s violent crime rate is at 30-year low.O’Neal reportedly sent a memo on 14 July asserting that his “top priority will be to significantly increase the reach and effect of our work”.“Advocating for free markets and personal liberties will be critical as we rebuild trust with more Americans and scale our high quality journalism,” the memo reportedly said. It said the changes were “not a partisan project” and the paper “won’t let sentimentality slow down much-needed reform”. More
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The US is complicit in genocide. Let’s stop pretending otherwise | Mehdi Hasan
by Evelyn Reynolds 2 August 2025, 10:00
Can we finally stop pretending that what we have been witnessing in Gaza over the past 22 months is a “war,” a “conflict,” or even a “humanitarian crisis”? Many of the world’s leading human rights and humanitarian groups – including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders – agreed months ago that what is being livestreamed to our phones on a daily basis is indeed a genocide.This week, Israel’s own leading human rights group announced that it had reached “the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip”. In other words, said B’Tselem, “Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip”.The debate over whether or not Gaza is a genocide is, effectively, over. So can we now also stop pretending that we are mere bystanders to this genocide? That our sin is one only of omission rather than commission? Because the inconvenient truth is that the US has not just looked the other way, as tens of thousands of Palestinians have been besieged and bombed, starved and slaughtered, but helped Israel pull the trigger. We have been complicit in this genocide, which is itself a crime under article III of the Genocide convention.As retired Israeli Maj Gen Yitzhak Brick acknowledged in November 2023: “All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the US. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability … Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period.”In fact, given Brick’s assessment, I would argue that what we have witnessed in Gaza from the US government is worse than complicity. It is active participation in an ongoing genocide.Donald Trump has given Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and his far-right government not only the green light to “clean out” Gaza and “finish the job”, but also the arms, intel and funds to do so. When Netanyahu launched his blockade of all food and aid going into Gaza in March, he emphasized it was done “in full coordination with President Trump and his people”. “Over the past six months,” Axios reported in late July, “Trump has given Netanyahu an almost free hand to do whatever he wants in Gaza.” An Israeli official told the site: “In most calls and meetings Trump told Bibi: ‘Do what you have to do in Gaza.’”Trump’s Republican allies in the House and Senate are even more gung-ho. Forget complicity; Congress is filled with GOP cheerleaders for genocide, from Senators Tom “bounce the rubble in Gaza” Cotton to Lindsey “level the place” Graham. The newest member of the House, Randy Fine, a Republican representative of Florida, has called for the nuking of Gaza and said just days ago that Palestinians in Gaza should “starve away” until the Israeli hostages are all released. (A reminder that incitement to genocide is also a crime under Article III of the Genocide convention.)But we cannot let Democrats off the hook either. The first 16 months of this mass slaughter unfolded on a Democratic president’s watch. From the get-go, Joe Biden gave Netanyahu and his cabinet of génocidaires everything they needed – 2,000-lb bombs to drop on refugee camps filled with Palestinian children? Check. UN security council vetoes to prevent the passage of resolutions calling for a permanent ceasefire? Check. The burial of internal US government reports warning of war crimes and famine in Gaza? Check.It wasn’t just Biden. The vast majority of Democrats in Congress spent much of 2024 casting vote after vote to keep arming, funding and whitewashing the mass killing of Palestinian civilians. Even now, in the summer of 2025, seven high-profile Democratic senators were happy to take a smiling photo with Netanyahu, including the Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, who claims talk of genocide is antisemitic and says his job “is to keep the left pro-Israel”.Then there is the US media’s complicity in this genocide. It isn’t just the Radio Rwanda wannabes over at Fox, where the morning host Brian Kilmeade has said it was hard “to separate the Palestinians from Hamas” and the primetime host Jesse Watters has said “no one wants” Palestinian refugees and “demographically [Palestinians] are a threat”.There are also genocide enablers in the liberal media. Those who repeatedly insist Israelis have a right to defend themselves while never asking whether Palestinians do. Those who parrot Israeli government talking points while sanitizing the violence inflicted on Gaza. Palestinians, remember, are not killed by Israeli bombs or bullets; they just “die.”US newsrooms have bent over backwards to present “both sides,” even when one side has been deemed genocidal by some of the world’s leading scholars on genocide. The New York Times, per an internal memo obtained by the Intercept, instructed journalists covering Gaza to limit the use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to “avoid” using the phrase “occupied territory” when referring to the West Bank and Gaza.One study of media coverage, also published by the Intercept, found that “highly emotive terms for the killing of civilians like ‘slaughter’, ‘massacre’, and ‘horrific’ were reserved almost exclusively for Israelis who were killed by Palestinians, rather than the other way around”. Another study, published in the Nation, found that “with one exception the Sunday shows covered and debated [Gaza] for 12 months without speaking to a single Palestinian or Palestinian American”.Go beyond the media. Elite US institutions are also disgracefully complicit in the annihilation of Gaza, from the Ivy League universities that punished anti-genocide protesters on campus; to the white-shoe law firms that disqualified anti-genocide applicants for jobs; to the big tech companies accused by a UN special rapporteur of profiting from the genocide.Most Americans, of course, don’t want to believe that our country is helping commit one of the 21st century’s worst atrocities. But, again, we must stop pretending. Our complicity and collusion are clear. As my Zeteo colleague Spencer Ackerman has written: “This is an American genocide as much as it is an Israeli one.”The US supplied and then resupplied the bombs and bullets used to kill tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians; the US facilitated the destruction of homes and hospitals; the US signed off on the starvation of children. These are the undeniable facts.And so to the Biden and Trump administrations, to Democrats and Republicans in Congress, to the US media, I say this: history will judge you. For the bombs you sent, the votes you cast, the lies you told. This will be your shameful legacy when the dust finally settles in Gaza, when all of the bodies have been pulled from the rubble. Not defending your ally or fighting terrorism, but non-stop complicity in a genocide; aiding and abetting the crime of crimes.
Mehdi Hasan is the founder, CEO and editor-in-chief of the media company Zeteo. More
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The inside story of the Murdoch editor taking on Donald Trump
by Evelyn Reynolds 2 August 2025, 08:03
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Has the Epstein affair strained Trump’s cozy relationship with the Murdoch media empire?
by Evelyn Reynolds 27 July 2025, 11:00
In the wake of new revelations regarding the friendship of Donald Trump and disgraced and deceased billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire has both poured gasoline on to the story and come to Trump’s loyal defense. Experts say that, much like the broader Maga movement, the Epstein affair is testing Trump and Murdoch’s mostly chummy relationship.To think, only months ago, at Jimmy Carter’s funeral, Barack Obama and Donald Trump were laughing together in the pews.But in Trump’s latest attempt to deny and deflect when faced with controversy, he’s calling for his first predecessor’s prosecution over trying “to rig the election” against him in 2016. Of course, Fox News, the crown jewel in Murdoch’s wallet of media properties, has followed suit: in one of the days following the fallout from Epstein, mentions of Obama’s name reportedly drowned out that of the convicted pedophile and suspected spy, by a score of 117 to two.But there is trouble in paradise. Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal (WSJ) broke the story that Trump allegedly penned a seedy birthday message to Epstein in 2003. The president then did what he does best: filed a libel suit for billions in damages.“The Trump-Murdoch media dynasty has traditionally been a cozy one,” said Margot Susca, an assistant professor of journalism at American University and the author of Hedged: How Private Investment Funds Helped Destroy American Newspapers and Undermine Democracy. “Murdoch-owned Fox News serves up what amounts to state-owned television for Trump.”At the outset of his second presidency, Trump named several Fox News personalities to his stable of figures in the administration, namely Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense who was a weekend host of Fox & Friends and has taken on his role at the Pentagon with the vigor expected of a veteran talking head.“I’d like to believe the $10bn defamation lawsuit Trump filed against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch for its Epstein coverage will serve as a wakeup call that Murdoch is not immune to Trump’s press bullying,” she said, referring to the legion of ways Trump has imposed his will against the fifth estate. “They should have favored press freedom and picked the press’s role in democracy over access and cronyism.”The White House, thus far, has had a direct line to the most influential broadcaster in the country.Susca admitted that though the WSJ is a “bright spot” among the “lapdog coverage” for the president in the list of other Murdoch properties, Fox, the highest-rated news network in America, could easily be holding the government accountable day to day. But on the one hand, as Susca pointed out, Fox has “barely mentioned” the defamation suit, while on the other, the WSJ “still has its Epstein story posted”.Trump, eager to escape the myriad and legitimate questions surrounding his well-documented former friendship with Epstein, has rallied all of his media and congressional troops to distract his associations with a conspiracy theory that he himself has stoked among his Maga disciples for years.“Clearly, Trump wants to distract from the fact that he had a close and intimate friendship with Epstein, a billionaire pedophile that seemed to have set up a global trafficking ring,” said Edward Ongweso Jr, a senior researcher at Security in Context, an international project of scholars housed at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. “And he wants to distract from the obvious implication of his about-face here (going from insisting the Epstein files will be released to insisting they never did and were invented by Democrats to take him down): that he’s in them.”Ongweso did note that Trump’s continued ability to dodge becoming a casualty of the news cycle is unmatched: “It is hard to imagine how any of his tactics will work, but then again he has gotten out of almost every single situation that would’ve doomed anyone else, hasn’t he?”But there’s help already on the way for the president.Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, issued a convenient end to the congressional session to avoid a vote on the floor for the release of all the Department of Justice files relating to Epstein, while Mike Flynn, former Trump national security adviser (turned QAnon peddler) and former general, has told followers Obama needs to go to jail over the years-old Mueller report of 2019.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“The entire corrupt investigation was based on a fabricated lie that was part of a COUP by [Obama] to overthrow the United States,” he posted on X, before calling on the FBI and justice department to investigate and arrest the former president. “EVIL PERSONIFIED!” he said in another post with hundreds of thousands of views. Flynn’s endorsement of the Obama conspiracy was a sharp turn away from days of breathlessly begging for the release of the Epstein files.But while the WSJ, a more independent and centrist publication in comparison with the rest of Murdoch’s media empire, cast a stone against the president, Fox News is more than making up for it. Perhaps, that is, to avoid the fates of Paramount and ABC, which paid off Trump in large sums to settle suits that ultimately involved freedom of the press issues. Both networks stood to beat Trump on the facts of the cases, but avoided more litigation in what many have seen as a veritable bribe to a suit-happy and powerful president.“I think this is more about caution than falling in line, but I can’t see how it will last,” Ongweso said, referring to Fox and its coverage of Obama over the more salacious and Maga topic of Epstein. “He’s been able to get Paramount and ABC to settle even though their cases were winnable.”Last year, Murdoch’s Fox decimated CNN on election night, scoring millions more viewers and having their hosts fawning over Trump, a far cry from when the network enraged him by declaring Arizona for Joe Biden in 2020 – ultimately ruling on who won the presidency.Murdoch himself is rumored not to be a personal fan of Trump, reportedly backing Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, for the presidency in the lead-up to the 2024 election, before switching sides again. Even his own immediate family has enjoyed cozy relationships with media companies that were firmly in the Democratic orbit.Still, Ongweso believes WSJ reporters might smell blood in the water for the president and report on him accordingly.“There has been a trickle of additional Epstein-Trump material, most recently the resurfacing of photos showing Epstein at Trump’s 1993 wedding to Martha Maples,” he said. “There is certainly more that WSJ reporters will uncover and unless there’s editorial interference, I can’t see how Murdoch’s empire can stop itself from uttering his name again.” More
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Why Trump’s political playbook is failing in the Epstein case | Jan-Werner Müller
by Evelyn Reynolds 24 July 2025, 12:00
The problem with a successful playbook is that you eventually keep doing the same thing mechanically. Fresh from intimidating ABC and CBS with meritless lawsuits, Donald Trump is suing Rupert Murdoch and the Wall Street Journal reporters who broke the story of a lewd birthday message for Jeffrey Epstein. But, unlike with the frivolous allegations against the big broadcasters, there’s clearly a fact of the matter here: an authentic letter either exists or it does not; and there is plenty to be revealed in the process of finding out. Trump’s time-proven move – whatever happens, just counter-attack – is likely to keep the very story he wants to kill alive. Meanwhile, the other elements of his playbook – deny, deflect, distract – only work if journalists and Democrats play along. They, not the seemingly all-important Trump base, are the actors to watch.We still debate whether Trumpism is a substantial ideology or not; what we are missing is that Trumpism, for sure, is a set of tactics for exploiting weaknesses in the US political, legal and media systems. Some of these tactics were inherited from his mentor Roy Cohn and many are now being adopted by Trump’s followers – one must never admit guilt; one must always swing back; and one must reject, or ideally entirely bury, defeats (such as Trump’s case against Bob Woodward and Woodward’s publisher being dismissed recently).But there is also a less obvious element, and it has to do with managing political time (a challenge for all politicians, come to think of it). The point is not just seizing opportunities or exploiting opponents’ weaknesses in a timely manner; rather, it is about the art of speeding things up or slowing them down to one’s advantage. Think of how we appear to have become inured to Trump doing and saying things that would have ended previous presidencies (OK, previous presidents did not have AI-generated images of themselves as kings or popes available, but still).One reason is this: an administration that faces one or two big scandals in a four-year period may well be damaged beyond repair; one that produces three very big scandals a day seems to have nothing to worry about since no one can keep up. It is difficult to stick with one story, as the newest outrage already appears so much bigger (the Qatar plane scandal can feel like it happened years ago). To be sure, not all scandals are consciously produced, but there is little doubt that Trump’s posting an AI-generated clip of Barack Obama being arrested in the White House and identifying Obama as a “ringleader” of election fraud are meant to distract – which is not to deny that they would justify impeachment.While the frequency of scandals is maximized to game the news cycle, the legal system is used to slow things down. Releasing the grand jury testimonies in the Epstein case will take time, if the request is not rejected altogether by courts (as has already happened in Florida). Even if they are released, they are unlikely to contain anything relevant about Trump. The calculation is that, a few weeks from now, the files will be forgotten.None of this is to suggest Trump is a master Machiavellian who can manipulate Americans (or even just his base) at will. His approach partly works because institutional and cultural contexts have changed: news cycles are shorter, as are attention spans. His behavior has become progressively normalized – and generalized: shamelessness once unique to him is now in the manual of required GOP conduct (just think of blatant lies about Medicaid). Most important, a free press sticking relentlessly with scandals and ignoring intimidation can no longer be taken for granted; broadcasters in particular have become vulnerable to parent companies putting profits before everything else. Democrats, understandably not wanting to look like they mainly focus on the sordid details of the Epstein story, are tempted to move on and deal with the vaunted “kitchen-table issues”. But it should give them pause that the story is apparently so scary for the other side that Republicans would rather shut down the House than deal with it in any shape or form.Are they right to panic? For sure, Trump made a mistake with his social media post urging followers to move on, which was the equivalent of “don’t think of an elephant” (while also providing further evidence for the Streisand effect: censorship generates the very attention meant to be avoided). Trump lobbying Murdoch to kill the story will give pause to all still naive enough to think of Republicans as free speech defenders. By now, the fact that releasing only the grand jury testimony is relatively meaningless has sunk in and – never mind the base – what political scientists call “low-information voters” will be left with a lasting impression of a Trump-Epstein connection or at least a chaotic administration. In the lawsuit, Trump has to prove “actual malice” on the part of the newspaper – a difficult hurdle to jump. Unlike with the Russia investigation, Trump himself is the instigator of a lengthy process overshadowing his presidency; unlike with the many investigations between his presidential terms, when his lawyers outran the clock, time is not really on his side. In fact, he might be lucky if the case is dismissed on a technicality – he apparently failed to comply with a Florida law that requires giving defendants five days’ notice.
Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University More

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