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Playboy Reporter Sues White House

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Playboy White House correspondent Brian Karem has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and press secretary Stephanie Grisham, after having his credentials temporarily revoked. . .

Karem lost his daily access “hard pass” for 30 days after he traded barbs with former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka during a social media summit in the White House Rose Garden on July 11, The Hill reported.

On Tuesday, Karem’s attorney, Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. issued a statement, saying:

Today we filed a lawsuit against President Trump and Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham asking the federal district court in Washington, D.C. to order the immediate restoration of the press credentials of Playboy White House correspondent Brian Karem and to enjoin the ongoing violation of his First and Fifth Amendment rights. We are confident that the Administration’s latest punitive and lawless action against a journalist will not stand, and we look forward to our day in court.

. . .

The situation with Karem is reminiscent of CNN White Correspondent Jim Acosta having his credentials suspended last year following a contentious press conference with President Trump. CNN sued, and the White House restored Acosta’s press pass after a nearly two-week long saga. (Read more from “Playboy Reporter Sues White House” HERE)

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Reporter Brian Karem Says White House Suspending His Press Pass

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Playboy’s White House correspondent Brian Karem said his White House press pass is being suspended.

“Received an email today shortly before 5 p.m. from the WH: as of Monday afternoon my press pass is suspended for 30 days,” Karem tweeted.

It was not immediately clear why. Karem has had a number of high-profile combative exchanges with members of the Trump administration.

Last month, he got into a confrontation with former White House staffer Sebastian Gorka following President Trump’s July 11 social media summit. Karem said the audience, which were mainly right-wing provocateurs and social media influencers, a “group of people that are eager for demonic possession.” A fight nearly broke out.

Gorka responded to the news no social media, tweeting, “Don’t be sad Brian. You’re still a punk.”

(Read more from “Reporter Brian Karem Says White House Suspending His Press Pass” HERE)

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Watch: Communists Burn American Flag, Assault Secret Service Outside White House

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Members of the Revolutionary Community Party burned an American flag outside of the White House on Thursday shortly before President Donald Trump’s “Salute to America” speech. They then threw the flag on multiple Secret Serviced agents.

A veteran grabbed the half-burned flag and attempted to put it out, clearly upset at the Communists’ gesture. Secret Service eventually used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire.

According to the Washington Examiner, flag-burning activist Gregory “Joey” Johnson and two others were arrested for the stunt.

Johnson made a name for himself when he won a 1989 Supreme Court case that made flag-burning legal. He recently received a $225,000 settlement from Cleveland, Ohio for being arrested for bringing a flag at the 2016 Republican convention.

(Read more from “Watch: Communists Burn American Flag, Assault Secret Service Outside White House” HERE)

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Sarah Sanders Leaving Trump Administration

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President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders would be stepping down from her post at the end of the month and returning to her own home state.

“After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas,” Trump tweeted. “She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas – she would be fantastic. Sarah, thank you for a job well done!”

. . .

“The 36-year old Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee, worked on her father’s presidential campaign during the 2016 Republican primary until he dropped out of the race,” Fox News reported. “She then joined the Trump campaign and, subsequently, the Trump administration as a White House communications aide. She was promoted to White House press secretary in 2017, after the president’s first top spokesman, Sean Spicer, resigned from the position.”

(Read more from “Sarah Sanders Leaving Trump Administration” HERE)

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Obama’s White House Deleted Evidence of Border Crisis Before Trump Took Office

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By The Daily Caller. The Obama administration deleted hundreds of speeches and statements on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) website just hours before President Donald Trump officially entered office, according to research released Tuesday.

A collection of 190 transcripts of speeches on ICE’s website was deleted on Jan. 18 and late in the evening on Jan. 19, 2017, according to research conducted by the Sunlight Foundation, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for government transparency. Statements made by high-ranking ICE officials regarding controversial immigration topics such as sanctuary cities, E-Verify, treatment of detainees, and other issues were included in the reported deletions.

“With a couple of clicks of a mouse, access to a federal government web resource containing 12 years of primary source materials on ICE’s history was lost,” the Sunlight Foundation wrote, noting that archived speeches dating back from 2004 were among those deleted.

Speeches from former acting ICE Director Thomas Homan, a public supporter of Trump’s immigration policies, were among those prominently included in the deletion list.

A February 2016 speech delivered to the Senate Judiciary Committee by Homan was among those removed. Then the executive associate director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, Homan spoke about the “Unaccompanied Minor Crisis,” telling lawmakers how the agency and the Obama White House were working to manage the surge of young illegal children reaching the southern border en masse. (Read more from “Obama’s White House Deleted Evidence of Border Crisis Before Trump Took Office” HERE)

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A California Desert Town Sees Surge in Migrants as Border Crisis Worsens

By The LA Times. . .The scene that unfolded recently in this desert city about 100 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border exemplifies how the immigration crisis has spilled over into communities farther north.

With a historic flow of Central American families fleeing poverty and violence, federal officials earlier this spring began releasing migrants on their own recognizance from inundated detention centers in growing numbers. About 175,000 have left custody since Dec. 21.

Nonprofit and faith-based organizations in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are among those that have stepped in to help the asylum seekers. But the mounting costs have raised doubts — among local officials and advocates alike — about how long they can keep doing so.

Many of the drop-offs have taken place in Blythe, a city of about 20,000 along the Colorado River across from Arizona. Since March, said Riverside County spokeswoman Brooke Federico, 2,600 migrants have arrived here. (Read more from “A California Desert Town Sees Surge in Migrants as Border Crisis Worsens” HERE)

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Man Who Set Himself On Fire Near White House Dies; Identity Revealed

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In a horrifying moment caught on video, a man set himself on fire near the White House on Wednesday, walking around fully engulfed in flames for several seconds before Secret Service and police arrived to extinguish the flames and attempt to save his life. The man died from the wounds Wednesday evening, authorities say. More details about the man, who has since been identified, have emerged.

The man, who U.S. Park Police identified early Thursday as Arnav Gupta, 33, of Bethesda, Maryland, died of his wounds Wednesday evening, Washington D.C.’s WTOP reported Thursday. Gupta had been reported missing earlier Wednesday, family members citing concerns about his “physical and emotional welfare.”

On Wednesday, the Montgomery County Police Department issued the following press release announcing “Concern for Missing Bethesda Area Man”:

Detectives from the Montgomery County Department of Police – 2nd District Investigative Section are asking for the public’s assistance in locating a missing Bethesda area man. . .

Gupta is described as an Indian male who is 5’ 9” tall and weighs 200 pounds. He has black hair, brown eyes, a mustache, and wears glasses.

(Read more from “Man Who Set Himself on Fire near White House Dies; Identity Revealed” HERE)

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WATCH: Man Sets Himself on Fire Outside White House

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An unidentified man set himself on fire early Wednesday afternoon in front of sightseers on the Ellipse park in downtown Washington, D.C., not far from the White House, authorities said.

The Ellipse is a 52-acre park area that lies south of the White House and north of the National Mall, in the heart of Washington. The fire occurred just north of the Washington Monument.

Secret Service spokesman Jeffrey Adams said in a statement that the agency’s Uniformed Division Officers “responded in seconds” after the “male individual lit himself on fire.” Officers then began administering first aid to the man. . .

A spokesman for the Washington Fire Department told CNBC that, “I can confirm that we’ve transported one patient with burns from the Ellipse and we’re now on the scene assisting law enforcement,” referring to Park Police and U.S. Secret Service officers. . .

Alina Berzins, a 17-year-old recent high school graduate from Lorton, Virginia, told CNBC that she was visiting the National Mall with two of her cousins from Bolivia when “we saw this man” on the Ellipse and “he starts running, and then we saw him covered in flames.”

(Read more from “Man Sets Himself on Fire Outside White House” HERE)

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White House May Be Looking to Make NSA Wiretapping Permanent

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The White House is reportedly seeking to make a temporary surveillance law, that enabled the National Security Agency to collect cell phone metadata in bulk, permanent in December, even though the NSA has abandoned the program.

The Washington Post and Greenwich Time both report that the White House has been discussing plans to extend a 2015 revision to the USA Patriot Act, which allowed the NSA to collect “metadata” from Americans’ cell phones without warrants.

The program, revealed by then-NSA contractor Edward Snowden, was designed to help the NSA ferret out Americans who had contact with terror cells abroad, and collected basic information about millions of telephone calls made between Americans at home and abroad.

Snowden, of course, is now living in exile in Russia after revealing the metadata collection program, then known as PRISM, to journalists from The Guardian. Snowden had come into contact with information about the program while working for a string of defense contractors who either helped develop or administer the program.

At the time PRISM was revealed, the government contended that the metadata collection program did not require law enforcement to pursue individual warrants since the information gleaned from the program didn’t contain details of what was said in the calls themselves — just date, time, duration, and destination information. Several courts, over the years, have disagreed, chipping away at the program and the government’s self-given blanket permission to spy on American citizens, but only when the plaintiff has provided proof that they were the subject of a warrantless NSA wiretap. (Read more from “White House May Be Looking to Make NSA Wiretapping Permanent” HERE)

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Pelosi Is Outraged at Leaked Plan From Trump Admin to Punish ‘Sanctuary Cities’

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A plan to retaliate against the political foes of the president by busing illegal immigrants to ‘sanctuary cities’ was leaked by whistleblowers on Thursday, and Democrats are outraged.

“The extent of this administration’s cynicism and cruelty cannot be overstated,” said Ashley Etienne, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

“Using human beings — including little children — as pawns in their warped game to perpetuate fear and demonize immigrants is despicable,” she concluded. . .

The plan was revealed in the Washington Post, which relied on anonymous sources in the administration, but it was confirmed by a statement from the White House. . .

The report says administration officials pressured the Department of Homeland Security to implement the plan twice in order to pressure political enemies of President Donald Trump, but they resisted. (Read more from “Pelosi Is Outraged at Leaked Plan From Trump Admin to Punish ‘Sanctuary Cities'” HERE)

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White House Blames New York’s Sanctuary City Stance After Illegal Alien Bites ICE Officer’s Finger Off

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The White House condemned New York City’s sanctuary stance after an illegal immigrant bit off an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent’s finger.

“New York’s dangerous ‘sanctuary’ policies are directly responsible for the egregious and violent harm suffered by this courageous ICE officer,” White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told The Daily Caller Wednesday.

On Mar. 14, court papers revealed that Cristopher Santos Felix was charged with assault. The New York Post reported that Felix entered the U.S. in June 2015 on a visitor’s visa. Officers went to his home 11 days prior to arrest him for staying in the U.S., “’longer than his legal authorization permitted.’” The officers took off the handcuffs, allowing Felix to put on some clothing.

Felix, “became combative,” struggling with the officers in his bedroom. When an officer tried to restrain him, the suspect bit his ring finger off. . .

“Communities are safer when law enforcement works together, yet sanctuary city policies continue to hinder the coordination needed to keep dangerous criminals off our streets,” the spokeswoman said. “The officer’s injury was the direct, foreseeable and entirely avoidable result of New York’s criminal alien sanctuary policies. Proponents of sanctuary policies claim they make communities safer, but in many cases they are causing more harm than good.” (Read more from “White House Blames New York’s Sanctuary City Stance After Illegal Immigrant Bites ICE Officer’s Finger Off” HERE)

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