After losing Kennedy Center case, Trump throws tantrum, calls for judge’s impeachment
After losing Kennedy Center case, Trump throws tantrum, calls for judge’s impeachment
The president appeared quite outraged after a federal court ruled that he had to follow the law regarding renaming the Kennedy Center.
Shortly before Christmas, Donald Trump’s handpicked allies, mindful of the president’s obsession with self-glorification, claimed that they had renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, adding the Republican incumbent’s name to the venue.
Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty of Ohio, an ex officio member of the center’s board who was excluded from voting on the name change, quickly filed suit, arguing not only that the process was improper, but that the entire gambit was illegal for the simplest of reasons: A name change required congressional approval, and that had not happened.
With this in mind, it wasn’t too big of a surprise when U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ruled Friday that Team Trump’s gambit was obviously illegal and gave the Republican operation 14 days to undo what it had done.
On Friday afternoon, when much of the world was waiting for the president to shed light on his plans for the war in Iran, he instead published a 580-word tirade to his social media platform, whining at great length about the judge’s ruling and suggesting that he was prepared to give up on his Kennedy Center ambitions altogether. From the online rant:
[B]ased on the fact that the Radical Left Democrats care more about opposing your favorite President, ME, than saving a dying Performing Arts Center, almost all of which lose large amounts of money throughout the Country, we are going to be working with Congress to transfer this failing Institution back to them so they can make a determination as to what to do with it. […]
I have instructed the Department of Commerce to make all necessary arrangements with Congress to allow a full and complete transfer of this Institution, giving them the responsibility for its Operation, Maintenance, and Management.
In other words, if the courts say Trump has to follow the law, he’ll stomp his feet, take his ball and go home.
On Saturday morning, the president kept going, publishing a 721-word harangue that went after the judge’s wife, before telling the public that the nation’s “Court System is RIGGED.”
For good measure, on Saturday night, the Republican added that the judge and his wife “should be ashamed of themselves,” before concluding, “Judge Cooper, like numerous other Crooked Judges on my cases, should be IMPEACHED.”
The key phrase in that sentence was “numerous other.” Two months into Trump’s second term, he became the first modern American president to explicitly call for the impeachment of a sitting federal judge for ruling in a way the White House didn’t like, and the scope of his vision quickly grew.
“We have bad judges, we have very bad judges,” Trump said last spring. “These are judges that shouldn’t be allowed.”
A group of congressional Republicans apparently interpreted Trump’s appeal as a directive and got to work introducing impeachment resolutions against judges who ruled contrary to the White House’s preferences. At last count, GOP lawmakers have filed impeachment resolutions against eight federal judges, and as radical as the crusade is, House Speaker Mike Johnson endorsed the effort earlier this year.
It stands to reason that Cooper could face an impeachment resolution of his own, despite national polling that found 70% of Americans are opposed to impeaching federal judges over rulings the president doesn’t like.
Israel kills 8 in Lebanon after Trump said Israel and Hezbollah agreed to de-escalate
Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday reportedly killed eight people, including a father and his son and daughter.
BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli drone strikes on southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed eight people, including a father and his son and daughter, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel and Hezbollah agreed to dial back fighting.
Israel threatened on Monday to strike Beirut’s southern suburbs, causing panic in the Lebanese capital as thousands fled to safer areas and Hezbollah fired rockets at northern Israel. Israeli forces recently made their deepest incursion into Lebanon in 26 years, but Beirut has been mostly spared over the past six weeks, apart from two targeted attacks on the city’s southern suburbs in May.
Trump announced later Monday, after a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and communicating with the Lebanese militant group through mediators, that “there will be no Troops going to Beirut.”
Lebanon’s State-run National News Agency reported Tuesday that an Israeli drone strike hit a car on the road linking the southern town of Marjayoun with the city of Nabatiyeh, killing James Karam, a dentist from the nearby Christian town of Qlayaa, along with his daughter and son. The Lebanese army said two soldiers were lightly wounded when a separate drone targeted them on a road outside the city.
A drone strike on the village of Jibchit killed two Syrians who worked at a plant nursery, the agency reported, while another on the nearby village of Toul killed two people. A third strike hit a car near the village of Harouf, killing one person.
NNA also reported that an Israeli airstrike on Monday killed six in the southern village of Marwaniyeh.
Hezbollah said Tuesday its fighters fired anti-tank missiles on Israeli troops who were pushing into the southern village of Hadatha, about 4 miles from the Israeli border. Sirens sounded in several areas in northern Israel, the military said in a statement, adding that “a suspicious aerial target” was identified in the area in which Israeli soldiers are operating in southern Lebanon, and that no injuries were reported.
Despite a Washington-brokered ceasefire reached in April, the two sides have continued to exchange strikes after Israel targeted areas in Lebanon, saying it was for self-defense.
The latest exchanges came as a second round of talks between Israel and Lebanon is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington, where Lebanese negotiators are set to seek a full ceasefire that will prevent future attacks. The Israel-Lebanon talks that began in April in Washington were the first in more than three decades between the countries, which have no formal diplomatic relations.
The fighting presents a major obstacle to the emerging deal to extend the ceasefire in the Iran war that erupted after the United States and Israel struck the Islamic Kingdom on Feb.28. Tehran wants any agreement to include a complete ceasefire in Lebanon.
Hezbollah has rejected direct talks, counting on pressure from Iran.
The latest round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has killed 3,433 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million people. According to Netanyahu’s office, at least 27 Israeli soldiers and a defense contractor have been killed in or near southern Lebanon. Two civilians have also been killed in northern Israel.
Israel’s military said late Monday that a soldier was killed in southern Lebanon. It added that seven more soldiers were wounded in the incident, three of them severely.
Hezbollah’s use of hard-to-detect fiber-optic drones has been deadly for the Israeli military, which is struggling to respond.
PART 2: Discover the rest of the story in the comments section.
The kitchen remained silent. No one moved. No one spoke. Alejandro stood over the table, slowly turning page after page. With every document he read, the color drained further from his face. I had seen my husband angry before. I'd seen him frustrated. Exhausted. Heartbroken. But I had never seen this expression. It was the look of a soldier uncovering an enemy.
Methodical. Focused. Dangerously calm. "What is it?" I asked quietly. For several seconds, he didn't answer. Then he held up a document. "Did you ever meet with Dr. Peterson?" I frowned. "No." He looked at another paper. "Did you ever report suicidal thoughts?" My heart stopped. "What?" "Did you?" "Of course not!" Alejandro's jaw tightened. The document in his hand was.
The document in his hand was a psychiatric evaluation. According to the report, I suffered from severe depression. Paranoia. Emotional instability. Potential risk to a child. Every word was a lie. A complete fabrication. Yet the paperwork looked official. Signed. Stamped. Filed. My stomach turned. "Who wrote that?" Alejandro slowly placed the document on the table. "No licensed psychiatrist." I stared.
"What do you mean?" He pointed toward the signature. "The license number is fake." Across the room, Margaret's breathing became noticeably heavier. The police dispatcher was still connected through Alejandro's phone. Everything was being recorded. Every word. Every reaction. Every lie. Alejandro picked up another folder. Inside were photographs. Dozens of them. I felt sick immediately. They were pictures of me.
Leaving grocery stores. Walking into medical offices. Sitting alone on park benches. Some had obviously been taken from far away. Without my knowledge. Without my consent. My hands started shaking. "Oh my God." Alejandro's face hardened. "This has been going on for months." The realization hit me like a truck. Every strange feeling. Every moment I thought I was being watched.
Every unexplained encounter. I hadn't imagined any of it. Someone really had been following me. And judging by Margaret's silence... She knew exactly who. A knock interrupted the tension. Police officers entered through the front door. Two uniformed officers. Then a detective. The detective immediately noticed the hot iron. The forged military notice. The stack of suspicious documents. And Margaret standing.
And Margaret standing alone near the kitchen counter. "This is quite a scene," he said quietly. Alejandro handed him the fake casualty notice. The detective read it. His expression changed instantly. "Where did this come from?" No one answered. The detective looked directly at Margaret. "Ma'am?" She swallowed. "I found it in the mail." The detective raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
He flipped the document over. Then pointed at the military seal. "This seal hasn't been used in seven years." Silence. Absolute silence. The lie had collapsed immediately. The detective slowly nodded. "Let's try again." Margaret looked away. For the first time that night, she seemed genuinely nervous. The detective turned toward Alejandro. "Captain, we'll need statements from everyone." Alejandro nodded.
Then he handed over another document. And another. And another. The detective's expression grew darker with every page. Finally he stopped. "What exactly was she planning to do with these?" Nobody answered. But I suddenly knew. The answer had been sitting in front of me the entire time. The forged psychiatric evaluations. The canceled appointments. The photographs. The custody forms.
The fake military death notice. All connected. One horrifying plan. If Alejandro had truly died overseas... Margaret would have filed for emergency custody. She would have argued that I was mentally unstable. Unable to care for a newborn. Dangerous. Unfit. And because Alejandro would supposedly be dead... No one would be left to challenge her. The realization made me dizzy.
She wasn't trying to help. She was trying to take my baby. The detective seemed to reach the same conclusion. His eyes narrowed. "Ma'am, why were you attempting to obtain custody?" Margaret's mask finally cracked. Completely. Years of fake smiles. Fake concern. Fake kindness. Gone. She slammed both hands onto the counter. "Because she doesn't deserve that child!" The room froze.
Even the officers looked startled. Margaret pointed directly at me. "She trapped my son." My mouth fell open. "What?" "You heard me." Tears streamed down her face. Real tears this time. But they weren't tears of sadness. They were tears of obsession. Possession. Control. "You took him from me." The detective exchanged a glance with one of the officers. Alejandro simply stared.
As though he were looking at a stranger. Margaret continued. "He was supposed to stay with family." "Mom." "He was supposed to need me." "Mom." "But then you showed up." Her finger remained pointed at me. Accusing. Trembling. "You got pregnant." The room became painfully quiet. And then she said something that made everyone's blood run cold. "I was only trying."
"I was only trying to save my grandson." The detective frowned. "Save him from what?" Margaret laughed. A strange, broken laugh. Then she whispered: "From becoming hers." No one spoke. Because suddenly the situation felt much bigger than greed. Much bigger than custody. Much bigger than family conflict. This wasn't about legal documents anymore. This was obsession. And obsession was unpredictable. Dangerous.
The detective slowly stepped closer. "Mrs. Castillo, I need you to come with us." Margaret's eyes widened. Then something changed. A flash of panic. Real panic. For one brief second, she looked toward the hallway. Toward the staircase. Toward the second floor. Alejandro noticed it immediately. So did the detective. Everyone did. The glance lasted less than a second. But it was.
But it was enough. The detective followed her line of sight. "What’s upstairs?" Margaret's face went white. Nobody answered. The detective turned to one of his officers. "Check it out." The officer headed upstairs. The rest of us waited. Thirty seconds. One minute. Two minutes. Then we heard him shout. "Detective! You need to see this." The officer sounded shocked. Terrified.
The detective hurried upstairs. Alejandro followed. I remained frozen in the kitchen. My heart pounding. Wondering what could possibly be worse than everything we'd already discovered. Three minutes later, Alejandro returned. His face was pale. Completely pale. The detective came down behind him carrying a large plastic storage box. Inside were hundreds of photographs. Baby clothes. Medical records. Ultrasound copies.
A nursery plan. A birth certificate application. And one item that made my blood run cold. A framed photograph. Not of Margaret. Not of Alejandro. Of me. With my face scratched out. Repeatedly. Violently. Alejandro stared at the box. Then at his mother. And in a voice barely above a whisper, he asked: "How long have you been planning this?"
Margaret said nothing. But the answer was already sitting inside that box. For much longer than anyone had imagined. And the detective had just uncovered evidence that could turn this custody dispute into something far more serious.
