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‘I’m a Member of Congress’: Freshman House Republican Lashes Out at CNN Host
Freshman U.S. Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY) attempted to promote several falsehoods but was rebuffed by Jim Sciutto, after the CNN host urged him to be respectful.
Rep. Williams, whose social media bio reads “People over Politics,” attempted to claim that President Biden could address the border issue with executive actions, including “Remain in Mexico.” Sciutto noted that the courts had stopped several of then-President Donald Trump’s executive actions on the border.
“Joe Biden shredded the Remain in Mexico policy his first week in office. He did it very, with great flamboyance and he could reinstate that today simply with a pen,” Williams told Sciutto when asked about the now-dead border bill.
“As you know,” Sciutto interjected, “many of the moves President Trump attempted were challenged in courts. You had a Democratic president here, who is willing to give more –”
Williams cut him off, saying, “Remain in Mexico was not struck down by the court. That’s simply not true.”
“I’m talking about executive privilege,” Sciutto responded, “and powers that the House is saying the President could exercise, but as you know, this is a president who’s actually making concessions that previous different Democratic presidents didn’t make. I just wonder why is it safer for your constituents to have no increased security at the border, as opposed to that negotiated by your Senate Republican colleagues?”
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“Well,” Williams said, “I’m glad to hear you say that Joe Biden has provided no security at the border along with Secretary Mayorkas. I think that’s a bold admission.”
“Not exactly what I said, I did not say that,” Sciutto declared.
“That is exactly what you said,” Williams insisted.
After talking over Sciutto, the CNN host urged Williams, “Let’s talk as people who respect each other, I respect your service. I’m asking you why no deal is better for your constituents for the rest of the year, as opposed to a deal that significantly tightened up restrictions of the border?”
But Williams continued to push falsehoods and GOP talking points.
“Well because five, you know, permitting in, in the law, in the code 5000 per day, on average, over a period of time, to enter the country,” William replied, wrongly explaining the deterrents the bill would have provided to border patrol agents.
“That’s not true. It’s not true,” Sciutto told him.
“It is true, it’s a disaster,” Wiliams insisted.
As Sciutto explained the parameters of that portion of the defunct legislation, Williams again interjected: “I’m sorry. Is that is that respecting each other? Is that what you’re getting at here is respecting each other?”
“I will challenge you when you say something that’s not true,” Sciutto offered.
“I’m a member of Congress, you’re cutting me off,” Williams protested. “It absolutely is true.”
“Only when you say something not true,” replied Sciutto.
“Oh, I see. And you’re the arbiter of truth. I realize that CNN has a great track record on that,” Williams snarked.
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“Senator James Lankford, a Republican Senator, said that the 5000 per day talking point was false. So I’ll quote him if you won’t take my word for it,” Sciutto concluded.
Last year, then-Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy joined hands with more than a dozen House Republicans, among them reportedly including Rep. Williams, as he lead them in prayer at the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance. That event was co-sponsored by several far-right Christian organizations, at least five of which appear on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of anti-LGBTQ hate groups.
Also last year, as Syracuse.com reported, Congressman Williams “unleashed a profanity-laced tirade … while threatening his former top staffer at a holiday party in Washington’s International Spy Museum.”
“Williams can be seen in a video angrily pointing his finger in the face of Michael Gordon, his former chief of staff and campaign manager,” the news outlet added.
Watch Williams and Sciutto below or at this link.
“I’m a member of Congress, you’re cutting me off. And you’re the arbiter of truth. I realize that CNN has a great track record on that.” — GOP Rep. Brandon Williams throws a fit at the end of this clip over some very mild pushback pic.twitter.com/9FOP2C9jDq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 13, 2024
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Maine Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Graham Platner is under fire after releasing a video declaring that new allegations against him are false, yet he is “taking time to reflect” on a path forward.
Politico on Monday afternoon reported that a woman who dated Platner, Jenny Racicot, “says he forced her to have sex with him nearly five years ago despite her repeated objections, an allegation Platner denies.”
“Racicot said she had an on-and-off relationship with Platner,” Politico reported, “for more than two years before he entered her rural Maine home uninvited one night in late 2021, deeply intoxicated, and forced himself on her while she repeatedly told him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him the encounter was not consensual.”
In a video posted to social media eleven minutes after the Politico story dropped, Platner says, “I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.”
He said he and his supporters “were united in a love of Maine, a belief that our politics must change, in a focus on defeating Susan Collins.”
“So, regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.”
“Those were the goals when we launched this campaign. And they remain my goals today.”
“Throughout it all, you never turned your back on me. And I will not turn my back on you now. Every one of you deserves to see that vision come to fruition and see Susan Collins defeated. And we will use every tool at our disposal to do so.”
The Bulwark’s Tim Miller, a political commentator who served as the communications director for the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign, blasted Platner.
“I’m sorry but ‘we are taking time to reflect on the best path forward’ is not an option on the table,” Miller wrote. “Either it’s false and you campaign with vigor or it’s true and you get out / apologize to everyone you let down.”
Journalist Ryan Grim, commenting on Platner’s video, noted that Platner “strongly suggests he is considering dropping out. Already Troy Jackson and Chellie Pingree, both gubernatorial candidates, are being kicked around in Maine circles as potential replacements.”
Several others, including Puck News’ Peter Hamby, predicted Platner will be dropping out.
Platner had postponed several campaign events before the Politico story was published.
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) July 6, 2026
President Donald Trump is facing backlash after posting a video of children — including showing their unblurred faces — graduating from kindergarten, with some of the girls purportedly wearing hijabs.
“President Trump posted a captionless video of graduating kindergarteners on Truth Social on Monday, goading his supporters into verbally attacking little children simply for being Muslim,” The New Republic reported. “The clip is from Gateway STEM Academy, a majority-Black K-8 public charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota. It shows about 21 children in caps and gowns on stage singing a song together. Most of the girls are wearing hijabs.”
The original post of the video which Trump reposted reads: “Public school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.”
Trump did not add any comments. TNR called the post “Islamophobic, weird, and creepy,” while noting that the comments section of Trump’s post was filled with calls “by racist, xenophobic MAGA supporters” to “deport the children and ban hijabs.”
TNR also noted that it “should come as no surprise that Trump isn’t above attacking children who just learned how to read, but this post is still particularly discomforting—and will certainly contribute to the already potent level of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and in Minnesota.”
Critics blasted Trump.
“There is something deeply unsettling about the president of the United States—the most powerful person in the world—going after kindergarten schoolchildren in Minnesota because they wore hijabs, as Trump has done this morning on his website,” The Bulwark’s Sam Stein wrote.
One social media commentator wrote, “Trump posted an unblurred video of more than a dozen Muslim kindergartners to Truth Social, exposing the children’s faces while targeting them for their religion.”
Another added, “Trump is a bigot. The president took to Truth Social to attack kindergarteners in hijabs. These are little kids. The president isn’t just a bigot, he’s also a coward.”
The original video was posted to the X social media platform in June.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the time commented, “If you are in a public school in America, you should be speaking english.”
Image via Reuters
President Donald Trump’s apparent efforts to delay releasing the $5.8 million civil judgment to E. Jean Carroll are being met with a warning by the journalist’s legal team, who suggest there could be a legal maneuver for Trump to employ to forgo paying the judgment in either of the two cases he lost.
According to The Guardian, on July 4, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Trump to release the $5.8 million judgment, which is in escrow, to Carroll by this coming Tuesday — or explain why he would not do so.
Carroll’s attorneys think Trump may be trying to buy time to mount another legal strategy, telling the judge that Trump’s request for an extension “appears to be little more than yet another play for time.”
“The case is separate from Trump’s appeal of a Manhattan civil jury’s 2024 award of $83.3m to Carroll for defamation,” The Guardian explains. “But her lawyers have suggested a legal scenario in which the president might seek to conjoin the cases and further delay payment of both.”
Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan (no relation to the judge) wrote, “We can only assume that defendant is seeking … to buy time so he can try to concoct some new basis to put off paying plaintiff presumably in connection with his forthcoming petition and motion for a rehearing.”
Trump’s former attorney, Justin Smith, in one of his final acts, wrote to the Supreme Court suggesting that his client would be appealing the $83.3 million civil judgment.
Smith argued that the Supreme Court “may wish to consider the petitions together,” given they involve the same parties.
The larger judgment case involves possible questions of presidential immunity, and that has Carroll’s attorneys concerned.
“A conjoined case, Carroll’s lawyers fear, could result in both judgments being wiped out,” The Guardian reports.
The president has also made clear he is no fan of Judge Kaplan, after the jurist made several rulings that “angered” Trump.
“What else can you expect from a Trump Hating, Clinton appointed judge, who went out of his way to make sure that the result was as negative as it could possible be,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in 2023, “speaking to, and in control of, a jury from an anti-Trump area which is probably the worst place in the US for me to get a fair ‘trial’.”
Image via Reuters
Platner Scorched Over ‘Taking Time’ Video After New Accusation
Trump Sparks Fury Online After Posting Unblurred Video of Muslim Kindergartners in Hijabs
One Legal Maneuver Threatens to Undo Everything E. Jean Carroll Won
Inside the Group Helping MAGA Voters Walk Away — And What Finally Pushed Them
