Trump administration to pull federal funds for Maine prisons over trans inmate
The Trump administration is pulling funding from the Maine Department of Corrections over a transgender woman who is being housed in a women's prison, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in an interview Tuesday.
"We pulled all nonessential funding from the Department of Corrections in Maine, because they were allowing a man in a woman's prison," Bondi told Fox News.
Bondi did not provide an amount during the interview, but Fox News reported it would be $1.5 million.
The inmate Bondi was referring to is Andrea Balcer, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2018 for the murder of her parents and family dog. Balcer's attorney argued that she was going through a gender identity transformation and that her parents were not accepting. Balcer had no criminal record before the killings on Oct. 31, 2016, at her family home in Winthrop, Maine. She was 17 at the time.
Balcer is currently incarcerated at the Maine Correction Center's Women's Center, according to the Maine Department of Corrections' online inmate database.
'We will pull your funding, we will protect women in prison, we will protect women in sports, we will protect women throughout this country,' Bondi said in the interview.
The Maine Department of Corrections released a statement Tuesday saying, in part, that it is "evaluating the impacts to services from these funding terminations."
The department noted that the funding will affect three grant programs: Improving Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery Outcomes for Adults in Reentry; Second Chance Act Addressing the Needs of Incarcerated Parents and Their Minor Children; and Smart Probation: Innovations in Supervision Initiative.
Advocacy groups criticized the move.
'If the federal government truly cares about women, all women, they would not withdraw funding for essential programs that lead to public safety in our communities,' Jan Collins, assistant director of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, said Tuesday.
Maine has already been a target of an attempt to pull federal funding. The Department of Agriculture has paused federal funding for certain state educational programs over the state's compliance with Title IX, the law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.
At issue is Maine's allowing of a transgender athlete to participate in women's sports. It comes after a public c onfrontation between Maine Gov. Janet Mills and President Donald Trump, which ended in Mills telling the president, 'We'll see you in court.' The federal government then launched an investigation into Maine's policies, which found that Maine Department of Education, the Maine Principals' Association and a high school in the state were in violation of Title IX.
Last week, the federal government issued a 'final warning' to the state, saying it will send the case to the Justice Department if all parties do not sign an agreement by April 11.
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The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
Fox News dishonestly spins Trump's ‘receipts' about Newsom call, which actually prove governor is right
After Gavin Newsom pushed back on Donald Trump's claim that the two had a phone call 'a day ago' about the ongoing protests in Los Angeles, Fox News published what it called 'receipts' from the president that supposedly proved that the California governor was 'lying.' Instead, the call log that Trump handed over to Fox News anchor John Roberts Tuesday showed that Newsom was right all along. That didn't seem to matter to the right-wing network, though, as multiple hosts and reporters still dishonestly spun for the president despite their 'receipt' supporting the governor's claim. Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon, the president was asked when he last spoke to the governor, who is currently suing the administration for federally deploying the National Guard to LA in response to the demonstrations over Trump's immigration raids. 'A day ago,' the president responded. 'Called him up to tell him, got to do a better job, he's doing a bad job. Causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death.' Captioning a clip of Trump's remarks, Newsom immediately disputed the president in a social media post. 'There was no call. Not even a voicemail,' the governor wrote. 'Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying the Marines onto our streets doesn't even know who he's talking to.' Following Newsom's denial that a call had taken place within the past day, Trump quickly called up Roberts and told him that the governor was lying. The Fox News anchor then posted on X the president's comments as well as a screenshot of Trump's phone showing the latest call activity with Newsom. 'President Trump just contacted me from Air Force 1 to say this: 'First call was not picked up. Second call, Gavin picked up, we spoke for 16 minutes. I told him to, essentially, 'get his a** in gear,' and stop the riots, which were out of control. More than anything else, this shows what a liar he is - Said I never called. Here is the evidence,'' Roberts tweeted. The screenshot on the president's phone log, meanwhile, showed two calls made to Newsom, one of which was not picked up and the other lasting for over 16 minutes. Both of these calls took place at 1:23 a.m. ET on June 7, which would have been late Friday night in California - days earlier then Trump claimed in the Oval Office. Newsom had already publicly discussed that call with multiple reporters in recent days, including in an interview with NBC News that featured the governor daring the administration to 'come get me' after Trump's border czar threatened to arrest him. The governor told NBC News on Sunday that he had a 'very decent conversation' with Trump late Friday night that lasted roughly 20 minutes, adding that the president never brought up the prospect of mobilizing the National Guard. While the call log from the president clearly supported Newsom's timeline, Roberts framed the matter as the president bringing the 'receipts' to disprove the governor during an on-air report. At the same time, he massaged the president's Oval Office remarks to give Trump a bit more cover. 'After Trump said in the noon hour in the Oval Office that he called him yesterday or the other day, Gavin Newsom tweeted the following: 'There was no call. Not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying the Marines onto our streets doesn't even know who he's talking to,'' Roberts stated, suggesting the president said something he never uttered. Going through the president's screenshot and comments to him, Roberts conceded that this showed the call happened on June 7 and that it would have been late Friday night where the governor was located. Still, the segment was framed as the president catching Newsom in a lie. 'We're waiting to see if Gov. Newsom has a response to the president's – essentially what he has there is the receipts for what he says is the call that was made,' co-anchor Molly Line declared, prompting Roberts to add: 'It's all about the receipts!' That Fox News segment was quickly picked up by MAGA media personality Charlie Kirk, who tweeted that it was 'gold' because it revealed that Trump had dropped 'the receipts on his call with Gavin Newsom.' The governor, however, promptly pushed back. 'If only he had shown the right ones... Trump doesn't even know what day it is,' he posted on X. Meanwhile, in response to Roberts' initial tweet of the president's screenshot, Newsom's press office flatly pointed out that 'this call was from 3 days ago.' Despite it being clear at this point that Trump had not refuted Newsom's claim that a call did not take place the previous day, the network continued to frame the president's comments and phone log as proof to the contrary. 'Trump brings receipts he called Newsom amid LA riots as California gov claims there wasn't 'even a voicemail,'' the headline read of Fox News' digital story on the back-and-forth, which was co-bylined by Roberts. While the digital story includes comments from Newsom and his press office pointing out that the governor was 'clearly' responding to Trump's 'comment this morning of 'a day ago,'' the report largely revolves around how the president 'hit back' at the governor's 'claims that the president did not recently call him.' The network's senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy, in multiple reports on Fox News and its sister network Fox Business, essentially just pretended that the disagreement wasn't over when the president last called Newsom, but rather if Trump had ever phoned him. 'Newsom then claimed that there was no call, not even a voicemail,' Doocy said on Special Report after airing a clip of Trump's Oval Office comments. 'A screenshot of an iPhone call log to Fox News' John Roberts shows two calls from the president to Newsom on Saturday. One lasted for 16 minutes!' With the network's 'straight news' division laying the groundwork, the conservative cable giant's pro-Trump opinion hosts were then apparently given free rein to get even more deceptive with their own spin. During his primetime show Tuesday night, Jesse Watters – who had already asserted on The Five hours earlier that Newsom was 'lying' because he 'can't control the narrative' – presented an edited clip of Trump's Oval Office remarks that completely excised the president's assertion that it was 'a day ago' that he called the governor. 'Newsom responded, and he said there wasn't a phone call. He said Trump never called him. Not even a voicemail, he said,' Watters proclaimed after airing the edited video. 'But John Roberts got Trump's call logs, and it shows Trump called him late Friday night and they talked for 16 minutes,' the MAGA host added. 'Why would Newsom lie and claim Trump never called him? Why would he do that?!' The president, in the end, made sure to reference his text to Roberts when he was asked on Tuesday night about Newsom disputing his claim that the two had talked on Monday. 'Gov. Newsom says he did not speak to you a day ago, as you said in the Oval Office earlier. What's your response to that?' a reporter wondered after Trump returned from his Fort Bragg speech. 'It wasn't a day ago, a little longer than that, and I presented the phone conversation to Fox News' John Roberts and Molly Line at Fox News, because they were the ones that said it,' Trump responded. 'And we actually spent 16 point something minutes on the phone. And I told him, he's got to get his act together. …. We had a pleasant conversation. …. I'm sure you all saw it. You saw them, yeah? But why would you ask me that question if you saw it?'
The Guardian
7 hours ago
- The Guardian
Jimmy Kimmel on troops in LA: ‘Disgusting and unnecessary abuse of power'
Late-night hosts react to Donald Trump sending troops to Los Angeles in response to protests to his immigration raids, and dispute the Fox News narrative of insurrection. Jimmy Kimmel tore into Donald Trump in front of a full house in Hollywood, 'which might be surprising to you in other parts of the country who've been watching cable news and believe this city is some sort of totalitarian hellscape right now,' he noted. 'It most certainly is not.' Kimmel showed footage of life as usual outside the studio in Los Angeles – 'not only is it not an apocalypse, they're having a Disney Pixar movie premiere right now' – in contrast to the Fox News narrative of a violent insurrection. And he tore into the president, first for pursuing brutal raids on immigrants working in the city, arresting and detaining thousands without due process. 'I'm very angry,' he said. 'I cannot believe what's going on. I knew it was going to be bad. I did not know it was going to be this bad. People who have lived here their whole lives, people who have been in this city longer than I have, the vast majority of whom have never done anything wrong are being abducted – which is the correct word to use – by agents in masks hiding their identities. Grabbing people off the street and at work, and sending people to detention centers.' 'And to protest that, which is not only our right as Americans, it's our responsibility, Los Angelenos have been gathering to demonstrate – with very few exceptions, peacefully demonstrate – to voice their opposition to this disgusting and unnecessary abuse of power instigated by our mentally ill president.' Trump, he added, is 'dead-set on exacerbating this. He actually wants conflict. He is intentionally inflaming and lying to make it seem like there's a war going on here. He wants there to be a war going on here, and he doesn't care who gets hurt in it. There's no riot outside. We have more so-called unrest here when one of our teams wins a championship. But that's not what you're seeing on TV.' 'Trump wants it to seem like anarchy, so he goes around our governor, he calls in 4,000 troops from the National Guard, 700 active marines,' Kimmel continued. 'You know, when we had the wildfires that devastated big chunks of our city, he did absolutely nothing. Now that we're in the middle of a non-emergency, send in the National Guard!' The president, Kimmel added, 'lies about everything, but it's especially maddening when it's about a situation you are physically in. Everyone in this room right now knows that none of these doomsday scenarios the president and his minions keep imagining allowed are remotely true. There are no mobs. There's no violent insurrection. There are Americans who are upset, marching to protect their neighbors, no matter what this sick person says.' 'Donald Trump created this problem,' he concluded. 'He's putting the police and the military in danger. He is the one deporting children and their parents without any process. He's the one who has Ice agents outside immigration offices arresting the people who showed up to do the right thing and check in with the immigration office.' 'This is not a problem we have, this is a problem he made, and is intentionally doing everything he can to make it worse,' he added. 'He is purposefully pitting Americans against each other to create protest porn for Fox News.' On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert looked ahead to a massive military parade in Washington DC this weekend. The parade, nominally for Flag Day, will feature 7,500 soldiers, 28 Abrams tanks, 50 military helicopters, 28 Stryker armored vehicles, a display of rocket launchers and missiles, plus 34 horses, two mules and a dog. 'This is dictator stuff,' said Colbert. 'An unprecedented peacetime display of military hardware on American soil, and all I can say is: not enough mules!' The parade is also supposed to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the American military's founding, though it just so happens to coincide with the president's 79th birthday. 'A military parade in Washington? That's just for his 79th. For his 80th, he's going to make the whole army go on a girl's trip to Nashville,' Colbert quipped. 'If you're keeping track, the running tally of reasons for Trump's big boom-boom parade are: Flag Day, the 250th Army anniversary and also, for some reason, winning World War II 80 years ago,' Colbert noted before a clip of Trump in the Oval Office claiming that 'we're the only country that didn't celebrate the victory.' According to the secretary of the army, there's yet another reason for the parade: to tell the public about the army. 'Well thank goodness!' Colbert joked. 'Because without this parade, the American people would have no awareness of any of our military branches, unless they watch before a football game, during a football game, the football game post-show, or if they live in Los Angeles, California.' Trump knows best: nothing calms down a situation like a military invasion 'By now, you've probably seen all the protest footage coming out of LA in the wake of Trump's immigration sweeps,' said Desi Lydic on the Daily Show. 'But despite what you're seeing on the news, keep in mind that most of the protesters have come with more of a chill SoCal vibe.' Lydic cut to footage of protesters dancing, playing music and blowing bubbles. 'So there's definitely a chance that this can all be resolved peacefully, as long as nobody escalates this thing with an unnecessary force, we'll be A-OK.' Not so, after Trump sent in 4,000 national guard troops over the objections of governor Gavin Newsom, as well as 700 active duty marines. 'Nothing calms down a situation like a military invasion,' Lydic joked. 'In fact, that was part of my birth plan. I was like 'honey, I want candles, classical music and 700 armed marines storming the hospital room.'' 'You know, I'm beginning to wonder if Trump is intentionally trying to escalate this situation, because more chaos allows him to portray blue states as centers of crime while positioning himself as a strongman that the country needs to rally around … ' Lydic quipped. 'No, that's silly. I'm sure he's just doing what's best for everyone.' And on Late Night, Seth Meyers referred to a new interview in which Trump said that Elon Musk had been 'disrespectful' to the office of the president. 'And if the guy selling these thinks that's bad…' Meyers said, referring to Trump's superman-styled digital tokens, adding in his Trump voice 'he has no respect for the office I'm putting on Airbnb!' Trump, meanwhile, is set to attend the opening night of Les Miserables this week at the Kennedy Center. 'It's the story of a convicted criminal who struggles to find redemption by going to see Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center,' Meyers joked. ''Les Miserables' is French for how Trump will feel while sitting through it.' And finally, the fast-food chain Chipotle is set to launch a new Adobo ranch dip. 'And then about four hours later, you'll launch it,' Meyers joked.
The Guardian
8 hours ago
- The Guardian
As military is deployed to LA, rightwing media decry protesters as ‘invaders'
There were unsavory scenes in Los Angeles over the weekend, as police used tear gas and 'less-lethal munitions' on thousands of people gathered to protest the arrest of undocumented people immigrants. The events playing out on rightwing TV channels and in the conservative podcasting realm were almost as miserable, as excitable media figures decried protesters as 'invaders', called for both the mass arrest of elected officials and the invocation of a two-century old laws and used the chaos to push racist conspiracy theories. It came as the Trump administration said the military will remain on the ground in LA for two months, after Donald Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act. About 700 US marines deployed to the US's second largest city on Tuesday, after LA's police chief effectively said their presence would complicate law enforcement's efforts. The clamor for arrests mainly focussed on Gavin Newsom, California's Democratic governor, as rightwing media followed the lead of the US president, who first made the suggestion over the weekend. Trump didn't seem to know under what law Newsom should be arrested, and the conservative commentariat wasn't sure either. Still, it didn't stop them crying for the California governor to be placed in handcuffs. Sean Hannity, the Fox News host, claimed Newsom 'should be arrested for obstructing US immigration law', even as Tom Homan, the border czar, said Newsom hadn't done anything to warrant detention. Wayne Root, a host on the rightwing channel Real America TV, suggested Newsom should be charged with 'treason' and be detained at Guantanamo Bay while he awaits trial. 'Be sure he showers with MS-13,' Root added, a take that, even for the rightwing media cesspool, was particularly macabre. But the right wasn't just calling for the caging of Newsom. Some wanted Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, to be arrested too, including Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist adviser-turned-podcast host. 'Right there, LAPD,' Bannon announced on Monday, apparently under the impression that the entire LA police force was listening to his War Room show. 'The mayor is involved in this and having the stand down [sic]. She ought to be arrested today. Immediately.' Bannon went on to call for 'hard actions,' whatever they are, adding: 'Not even question we're on the side of the righteous.' The bad takes were everywhere. Chris Plante, a host at rightwing TV channel Newsmax, said on air: 'The Democrats are just – I mean, at what point are they declared to be a terrorist organization – with all of the affiliations and all the violence and the shootings and the fire-bombings and the targeting Jews and on and on?' Laura Ingraham, who often seems to be trying just a bit too hard to be offensive, went further. On her Fox News show she accused Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas, the former secretary of homeland security, of having 'opened the border' and given 'benefits to 10 million illegal aliens'. 'The goal was to resettle America with new people in order to transform it completely in ways that you really can't do at the ballot box, at least when you're that radical,' Ingraham said. She was referring, not very subtly, to the concept of 'great replacement', a racist conspiracy theory that falsely claims there is an ongoing effort by liberals to replace white populations in current white-majority countries. It's a concept that started on fringe websites before making its way to Fox News. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Others were upset by more prosaic matters, including the sight of people at the protests flying flags other than the stars and stripes. It really set off Charlie Kirk, with the influential rightwing declaring that the US has 'a parasitic relationship with Mexico, and we have for quite some time'. He added: 'If you loved the promise of America, you wouldn't wave a Mexican flag when American police tried to remove criminals. This should be a wake up call. If you did not realize it before, guess what? Pat Buchanan and President Trump were right. We are a conquered country that has been invaded by a force in certain areas.' Kirk is uniquely placed to comment on such matters. His Turning Point USA organization sent 80 busloads of people to Washington on the day that hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol, and Kirk has celebrated Trump's mass pardon of people who attacked police officers that day. When it came to the treatment of people protesting in LA, however, Kirk was of a different mind, as he called for US troops to be used in policing US civilians. 'Los Angeles does not feel like a protest, what's happening there. It's an entire city that's declaring open rebellion to American sovereignty and authority,' he said. 'We must be unafraid to declare the Insurrection Act of 1807.'
