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                    "Blanche defends Trump's criticism of supreme court justices after ruling to block mail-in voting executive orderSpeaking to reporters today, Todd Blanche said that the supreme court\u2019s ruling yesterday that blocks Donald Trump\u2019s executive order to implement restricts on mail-in voting, will not affect \u201congoing criminal investigations into illegal voting\u201d.He added that the \u201cefforts to make sure that we have free and fair elections are not going to stop just in November or after or thereafter\u201d.The attorney general went on to defend the president\u2019s earlier criticism of the justices on the bench who ruled to block his order.\u201cHe [Trump] is very frustrated,\u201d Blanche said. \u201cHe has every right, and indeed he should communicate his concerns with the supreme court whenever he has them. This isn\u2019t the first time that he\u2019s done it, and it won\u2019t be the last \u2026 The idea that President Trump shouldn\u2019t be allowed to communicate to the American people his frustration, I \u2026 I don\u2019t share that.\u201dKey events4m agoSix green-card holders in Texas swept up in federal crackdown on illegal voting1h agoTrump says Kennedy Center will not be renovated at all unless his name is added to memorial for assassinated predecessor2h agoHere's a recap of the day so far2h agoSenate blocks consideration of major cryptocurrency regulation bill3h agoAttorney general dismisses possible investigation into Russian oligarch who helped pay for Donald Trump Jr's wedding4h agoBlanche defends Trump's criticism of supreme court justices after ruling to block mail-in voting executive order4h agoCongressional Budget Office says Iran war has cost US $38bn in latest estimate4h agoSanders decries rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, says Congress has been 'asleep at the wheel'5h agoBessent defends Trump's $5k midterm incentive in House hearing6h agoJudge blocks Kennedy Center board from putting Trump's name on the building or grounds in any way6h agoCongressman Casar calls for US to lead AI diplomacy and end AI arms race6h agoPatel spars with Democratic senator over Atlantic article that alleges FBI director's excessive drinking7h agoPatel does not commit to keep FBI agents away from polls during midterm elections8h ago'This court has really let our country down': Trump blasts decision that blocks mail-in voting executive orders10h agoBernie Sanders and podcaster Steve Bannon to call for AI restrictions11h agoKash Patel to testify before Senate committee on FBI agenda12h agoTrump facing AI backlash in Congress as push for guardrails intensifies12h agoSupreme court rejection of Trump mail ballot restrictions will ensure 'safe, secure and accurate elections'Six green-card holders in Texas swept up in federal crackdown on illegal votingEarlier on Tuesday, Todd Blanche, the US attorney general, alerted reporters at the White House to stand by for what he called \u201ca big development\u201d in the federal crackdown on voting by non-citizens to be announced by Ryan Raybould, the US attorney for the Northern District of Texas.When it came, however, Raybould\u2019s announcement, within the past hour, that his office had charged six lawful permanent residents and one undocumented immigrant for voting in federal elections over the past 8 years, hardly lived up to the billing.While six of those charged cast ballots in the 2024 general election, the impact of their votes was almost unmeasurably small, given that two of them cast provisional ballots that were not counted, and 11,388,670 other Texans voted in that election.Of the four illegal votes that were apparently counted in error, three were cast by green-card holders from Nigeria, India and Mexico, who might have wrongly thought they were eligible to vote, and just one by an undocumented immigrant from Mexico.Donald Trump won the state by a margin of 1,558,347 votes over his nearest rival, Kamala Harris.Chris SteinThe House of Representatives shot down an attempt to impeach Donald Trump on Tuesday, though many Democrats supported keeping the effort alive.By a 232-147 vote, with 47 lawmakers voting \u201cpresent\u201d, the chamber tabled the impeachment effort proposed by Democratic congressman Al Green, a fierce Trump critic who was censured by the House for disrupting a speech the president gave shortly after returning to the White House, and recently lost his primary. Green had proposed impeaching Trump over the killings of US citizens by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during his second term, and accused the president of trying to create an \u201cauthoritarian regime\u201d.\u201cPresident Trump has used ICE and CBP to suppress the First Amendment rights to free speech and a free press; violate the Fourth Amendment right to privacy and protections against unlawful searches and excessive force; and defy the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment guarantees of due process and equal protection by allowing and encouraging racially targeted arrests, unjustified detentions, and unjustified killings,\u201d his resolution read.The House impeached Trump twice during his first term, but the Senate acquitted him both times, and the question of whether to impeach him again is a sensitive one for Democrats as they eye a return to the majority in Congress in the November midterm elections. In advance of the vote, the party\u2019s House leaders released a statement saying they would vote \u201cpresent\u201d on Green\u2019s effort, effectively abstaining, saying that none of the investigative work necessary to successfully impeach the president has been done. They vowed to \u201ccontinue our fight to make life more affordable for everyday Americans, while committing to holding the crooks accountable using every tool available to us beginning on day one.\u201dThe motion to table Green\u2019s resolution was supported by 213 Republican-aligned lawmakers and 18 Democrats, while 147 Democrats were opposed. The \u201cpresent\u201d votes included 46 Democrats and one Republican.Trump says Kennedy Center will not be renovated at all unless his name is added to memorial for assassinated predecessorDonald Trump is taking the ruling on Tuesday by a federal judge that his name can not be added, in any form, to the exterior of the Kennedy Center, which is a memorial to the late president, about as well as you might expect.Writing on his social media platform, Trump said that adding his name to the memorial for the assassinated 35th US president was a non-negotiable demand and the performing arts center would be closed immediately and not renovated at all if the US supreme court did not intervene to overturn the order against that issued by district court judge Christopher Cooper.The inscription on the facade of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington has remained covered by a tarp since June, when the administration reluctantly complied with a court order to remove Donald Trump\u2019s name, which had been added to it. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/ReutersAfter Cooper reiterated his previous ruling \u201cthat Congress named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for President John F. Kennedy alone\u201d, Trump wrote that the center would be closed immediately and what he described as \u201ca very large and complex\u201d renovation \u201ccannot begin until such time as\u201d Cooper\u2019s ruling on the name is overturned by an appeals court.\u201cIf the ruling is a negative one, which it should not be, and is not overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court,\u201d Trump wrote, in his usual idiosyncratic style, \u201cthe Reconstruction and the Renovation of The Kennedy Center will not take place.\u201dThe ruling by Cooper, who was nominated by former president Barack Obama, made it plain that he sees no scope for reconsidering his decision that adding Trump\u2019s name would simply be illegal.\n double quotation markFour months ago, this Court declared that Congress named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for President John F. Kennedy alone. It came to this conclusion for a simple reason: The federal law that created the Kennedy Center permitted no other result. In 1983, Congress amended that law to guarantee \u201cno additional memorials or plaques in the nature of memorials shall be designated or installed in the public areas of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.\u201d 20 U.S.C. \u00a7 76j(b)(1). The Court ruled that the decision by the Kennedy Center\u2019s Board of Trustees to rename the institution in honor of President Trump violated that congressional prohibition and others. And the Court ordered the permanent removal of the President\u2019s name from the front portico of the main building, as well as any other physical or digital signage or official materials.\n\u201cYet the drama at the Kennedy Center continues,\u201d Cooper added, before barring the Trump-appointed board from enacting a resolution to add Trump\u2019s name to the center\u2019s facade, calling it the Trump Kennedy Center and also naming the plaza outside the center for Trump.\u201cDefendants are hereby enjoined from inscribing \u2018renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump\u2019 on the main building or renaming the campus the \u2018President Donald J. Trump Plaza.\u2019 Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress\u2019s blessing,\u201d Cooper wrote.Here's a recap of the day so far\n \n  Donald Trump today blasted the supreme court\u2019s ruling which blocked his long-sought executive order which curbs mail-in voting. The president called mail-in voting \u2013 which he has used on several occasions to cast a ballot \u2013 \u201ca laughing stock\u201d across the world. He has routinely claimed, without evidence, that the voting method is prone to fraud. \u201cThe Supreme Court has really let our Country down! Certain Justices are petrified of these crazed and depraved Democrats, and are totally unable to show the courage necessary to save our America,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. The president suggested that the justices he nominated for the bench \u2013 Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett \u2013 are not \u201cthe people I interviewed to serve\u201d but \u201cmerely a shell of their original selves\u201d.\n \n  Todd Blanche, the attorney general, defended the president\u2019s earlier criticism of the justices on the bench who ruled to block his order. \u201cHe [Trump] is very frustrated,\u201d Blanche said at a White House press conference. \u201cHe has every right, and indeed he should communicate his concerns with the supreme court whenever he has them. This isn\u2019t the first time that he\u2019s done it, and it won\u2019t be the last.\u201d\n \n  Blanche also dismissed calls to investigate the contributions of a Russian oligarch, who is close to Putin, and who helped pay for Donald Trump Jr\u2019s wedding in May. \u201cThe president doesn\u2019t know who this person is. I think other members of the family don\u2019t know who this person is. The president\u2019s son has said that he\u2019s a very close friend,\u201d the attorney general told reporters. \u201cWhen you say, \u2018am I investigating?\u2019 Am I investigating what? And when you say this person is a friend of Putin, I don\u2019t even know if that\u2019s true or not.\u201d\n \n  However, Democrats on the House oversight committee have started to investigate possible ties between the Trump administration and Kremlev. Congressman Robert Garcia, the panel\u2019s top Democrat, has asked Susie Wiles \u2013 the White House chief of staff, to provide documents, records and communications between the White House and Trump Jr about Kremlev, among other requests. More here\n \n  Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, said that Congress has \u201cbeen asleep at the wheel\u201d when it comes to AI regulation. Sanders decried the speed of the technology\u2019s evolution at the Pro-Human Assembly in Washington today. The senator has proposed bicameral legislation with congressman Greg Casar to permanently ban the development of artificial superintelligence, and said that the pledges this week from leading AI company CEOs for the industry to \u201cslow down\u201d are encouraging but ultimately not enough. \u201cWhen the future of humanity is at stake, we need binding international safety rules, not voluntary standards from the industry,\u201d Sanders added.\n \n  A federal judge has ruled that Donald Trump\u2019s name must stay off the facade of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, blocking an effort by the center\u2019s Trump-appointed board to restore his name to the building. The judge also said the board cannot proceed with plans to rename \u200bthe campus where it sits the \u201cPresident Donald J. Trump \u200cPlaza\u201d. Earlier, the board voted to immediately close the institution citing safety and financial concerns.\n \n  And on Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats blocked a major cryptocurrency regulation bill, saying it did not contain enough constraints on Donald Trump and other government officials\u2019 ability to profit from digital assets. A vote to advance the measure, known as the CLARITY act, failed by a 49-50 margin, with all Democrats and three Republicans opposed. The product of months of negotiation, the bill would created the first ever regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, and included provisions intended to stop Trump and other elected officials from profiting from the assets while in office. More here\n \n  Earlier, FBI director Kash Patel clashed with lawmakers in a Senate judiciary committee hearing over \u2026 bestiality (among other issues). Senators from both parties questioned Patel about his department lowering hiring standards for FBI applicants with certain background histories. This includes those who have had sexual encounters with sex workers, theft from an employer or engaging in acts of bestiality. On the last one, the FBI director claimed this only includes people who were \u201ctrafficked\u201d into having sex with an animal. More here\nSenate blocks consideration of major cryptocurrency regulation billChris SteinSenate Democrats just blocked a major cryptocurrency regulation bill, saying it did not contain enough constraints on Donald Trump and other government officials\u2019 ability to profit from digital assets.A vote to advance the measure, known as the CLARITY act, failed by a 49-50 margin, with all Democrats and three Republicans opposed. The product of months of negotiation, the bill would created the first ever regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, and included provisions intended to stop Trump and other elected officials from profiting from the assets while in office. Financial disclosures released over the summer showed the president had made $1bn from crypto, even as his administration adopted policies favored by the industry.Though the measure\u2019s Republican backed argued the guardrails represented a major concession, they weren\u2019t enough for Democrats, who declined to provide the votes needed to overcome the Senate filibuster.\u201cAll President Trump wants is for the Senate to give him time to crime, and I won\u2019t support any piece of legislation that enables him,\u201d Democratic senator Ruben Gallego said after the vote, which he said Republican leaders forced even as negotiations to address his party\u2019s concerns with the bill were ongoing.\u201cThis legislation failed squarely because Republicans refuse to say no to the president. It takes 60 votes to pass a bill, and instead of spending their time twisting themselves into knots to appease President Trump, Republicans should have worked more closely with Senate Democrats to craft a bill that could pass with strong ethics provisions.\u201dFellow Senate Democrat Adam Schiff said: \u201cAfter more than a year of intensive negotiations with my Senate Democratic colleagues, Republican counterparts and the White House, the administration has made clear it is not willing to reach a deal that would put an end to the president\u2019s profiteering through digital assets.\u201dHe didn\u2019t shut the door on cryptocurrency regulation entirely, saying \u201cI remain open to continuing to work to get an ethics deal that will be acceptable to the American people and crack down on corruption by any and all public officials.\u201dDavid SmithSteve Bannon spoke immediately after Bernie Sanders at the Pro-Human Assembly in Washington earlier today, though the populist pair did not share the stage.Bannon, host of the War Room podcast, called for an aggressive economic and technological \u201cquarantine\u201d of China, demanding the immediate expulsion of Chinese nationals from US research laboratories, an end to the training of Chinese engineers and technologists and the total severance of capital flows.\u201cDid our fathers and grandfathers, did they underwrite the Soviet Union?\u201d Bannon asked. \u201cDid they train Soviet Union scientists? Did they take Russian kids over here to college to let them go to the best universities and get the best degree? Did they have Wall Street slobbering to do their deals? Did they have every bank there to lend them money quicker than to lend anyone in this audience?\u201cThe answer is they did not. They stood up to the Soviet Union and the first thing to stand up to them was to choke them off and that\u2019s what we have to do today to the Chinese Communist Party. No deals, no agreements, you\u2019re out of the AI business because we\u2019re going to shut your ecosystem down.\u201dDemanding immediate executive action to isolate Beijing\u2019s tech sector, Bannon said: \u201cNo chips, no black marketing chips, no free ride off American technology, no steal on American tech\u2026 To hell with the Chinese Communist Party.\u201dOnly then, Bannon argued, can the US have the time necessary to consider the proper regulation of the AI sector. He delivered a scathing verdict on major technology corporations and executives, accusing them of gambling with public safety for private profit.Bannon accused Silicon Valley of seeking to \u201csocialise all the risk with the American people including potential bailouts\u201d while keeping all financial upside. \u201cThe American people are not going to be supplicants to these tech oligarchs,\u201d Bannon said, praising grassroots campaigns that previously defeated federal pre-emption bills aimed at blocking state-level AI regulations.Bannon has long praised Trump as a historic figure and endorsed his lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. But on Tuesday, while claiming that executive action is required rather than legislation by Congress, he made only a glancing reference to the president who has dismissed AI concerns as a \u201choax\u201d and \u201csick conspiracy\u201d.Attorney general dismisses possible investigation into Russian oligarch who helped pay for Donald Trump Jr's weddingTodd Blanche dismissed calls to investigate the contributions of a Russian oligarch who is close to Putin and who helped pay for Donald Trump Jr\u2019s wedding in May.A reminder that a ProPublica report revealed that Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands of dollars bankrolling the multi-day event in the Bahamas.Trump Jr and his wife, Bettina, later confirmed Kremlev\u2019s contributions to the celebrations and characterized them as \u201can extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend\u201d.Blanche, today, was resolute that there would be no follow-up.\u201cThe president doesn\u2019t know who this person is. I think other members of the family don\u2019t know who this person is. The president\u2019s son has said that he\u2019s a very close friend,\u201d the attorney general told reporters at the White House today. \u201cWhen you say, \u2018am I investigating?\u2019 Am I investigating what? And when you say this person is a friend of Putin, I don\u2019t even know if that\u2019s true or not.\u201dBlanche added: \u201cIt\u2019s fun to talk about this issue and the rhetoric around it. But I think all the relevant people involved, the president and his kids, have already addressed it. I don\u2019t have any information. I don\u2019t know this person either, so I don\u2019t have any information about it beyond that.\u201dA reminder that Democrats on the House oversight committee have started to investigate possible ties between the administration and Kremlev. Robert Garcia, the panel\u2019s top Democrat, has asked Susie Wiles \u2013\u00a0the White House chief of staff, to provide documents, records and communications between the White House and Trump Jr about Kremlev, among other requests.Blanche also said today that he doesn\u2019t anticipate any extra work from the justice department to help educate voters about mail-in voting, given the confusion around the practice as litigation ricocheted through the courts.\u201cI haven\u2019t seen any suggestion or any information or heard from secretaries of state that that that\u2019s an issue,\u201d the attorney general claimed. \u201cBallots are confusing in every election. The way they\u2019re distributed, the way they\u2019re talked about, that\u2019s something that the state and locals handle very well every single election cycle for one reason or another. So no, that doesn\u2019t concern me.\u201dTodd Blanche voiced his support for Pete Hegseth, after Republican congressman Thomas Massie on Tuesday proposed impeaching the defense secretary, saying that he had repeatedly violated the constitution through his handling of war with Iran and the deaths of civilians in conflicts worldwide.\u201cSecretary Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job \u2026 he follows the law, and so the DoJ plays a role in that, and we play an active role in making sure the laws are complied with,\u201d the attorney general said.When it comes to the ongoing discussion about the need for further guardrails on AI development, Blanche said that it was not the job of the justice department to \u201cregulate\u201d.\u201cWe\u2019re prosecutors, not regulators, so we\u2019re not going to try to regulate AI,\u201d he told reporters in the Rose Garden, adding that the call for checks has \u201cconveniently\u201d become a \u201cflashpoint this week\u201d.The attorney general said that he agrees with Trump\u2019s assessment in response to the calls to decelerate AI development. A reminder that the president has deemed these warnings from lawmakers and AI executives alike, as hoaxes.\u201cEvery Democrat senator suddenly races to a microphone to talk about AI after being eerily silent for months and months and months,\u201d Blanche added. \u201cTo talk about the timing of this as being nothing but an effort to influence the midterms, I shouldn\u2019t have to say that out loud. Of course, that\u2019s what it is.\u201dBlanche defends Trump's criticism of supreme court justices after ruling to block mail-in voting executive orderSpeaking to reporters today, Todd Blanche said that the supreme court\u2019s ruling yesterday that blocks Donald Trump\u2019s executive order to implement restricts on mail-in voting, will not affect \u201congoing criminal investigations into illegal voting\u201d.He added that the \u201cefforts to make sure that we have free and fair elections are not going to stop just in November or after or thereafter\u201d.The attorney general went on to defend the president\u2019s earlier criticism of the justices on the bench who ruled to block his order.\u201cHe [Trump] is very frustrated,\u201d Blanche said. \u201cHe has every right, and indeed he should communicate his concerns with the supreme court whenever he has them. This isn\u2019t the first time that he\u2019s done it, and it won\u2019t be the last \u2026 The idea that President Trump shouldn\u2019t be allowed to communicate to the American people his frustration, I \u2026 I don\u2019t share that.\u201dCongressional Budget Office says Iran war has cost US $38bn in latest estimateThe Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the nonpartisan agency that provides financial estimates on legislation and policies for lawmakers, has said that the war in Iran has cost the Pentagon approximately $38 billion as of 1 August 2026.The CBO says the amount reflects the costs of \u201creplacing expended munitions and equipment lost in battle, increased flying hours, other operations, and increased fuel costs\u201d.The estimate does not include other costs incurred by the war, such as the increased cost of fuel used by the Postal Service. It also doesn\u2019t include costs already accounted for in the federal budget, such as the basic operating costs of the military forces involved in the conflict.In a short while Todd Blanche, the attorney general, will hold a White House press briefing for reporters. A reminder that Donald Trump has yet to announce a permanent replacement for Karoline Leavitt, the former press secretary who resigned last month.Sanders capped off his speech by noting that we are at \u201ca dangerous and unprecedented moment in world history\u201d, and it is \u201cimperative\u201d to stand up to AI industry leaders, but also to a \u201ca government of both political parties, which have not been as aggressive in any way, shape, or form as they should be\u201d.While the senator said that AI has the potential to do \u201csome extraordinarily good things\u201d when it comes to healthcare and prescription drug development, but he stressed the need to make sure that AI \u201cworks for all of the people and does not simply end up making a handful of the richest people on Earth even richer\u201d.Sanders decries rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, says Congress has been 'asleep at the wheel'Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, has decried the advancement of artificial intelligence the Pro-Human Assembly in Washington today.The leading progressive lawmaker has emerged as a leading voice in warning against the rapidity of the technology\u2019s evolution.\u201cIf AI surpasses human intelligence, as many scientists believe could happen, this technology will escape human control with potentially catastrophic consequences,\u201d Sanders said in Washington today. \u201cAI is advancing exponentially, exponentially every single day. In other words, what you are looking at right now is the least capable version of AI that we will ever have \u2013 the least capable, the dumbest version. The speed and scope of AI development in just the last four years has been almost beyond human comprehension.\u201dSanders added that Congress, under both Republican and Democratic control, has been \u201cbeen asleep at the wheel\u201d.\u201cWe now have a president whose ignorance regarding this issue is truly embarrassing,\u201d he said, referring to Donald Trump\u2019s insistence that the calls for AI guardrails are a \u201choax\u201d that would put the US on the back foot in the ongoing technological arms race with China.Sanders, who we reported earlier, has proposed bicameral legislation with congressman Greg Casar to permanently ban the development of artificial superintelligence, said that the pledges from leading AI company CEOs for the industry to \u201cslow down\u201d are encouraging but ultimately not enough.\u201cWhen you are racing towards a cliff, you don\u2019t just ease up on the gas pedal. You hit the brakes,\u201d Sanders added. \u201cWhen the future of humanity is at stake, we need binding international safety rules, not voluntary standards from the industry.\u201dBessent defends Trump's $5k midterm incentive in House hearingScott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, defended Donald Trump\u2019s $5,000 so-called \u201cdividend\u201d that he promised to every adult US citizen if Republicans win the House and the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections.\u201cI think it\u2019s a good idea for the American people to keep more of their money,\u201d Bessent said in response to a question from Democratic congressman Juan Vargas at a financial services committee hearing today.\u201cDoes that hurt the deficit or the debt? Does that increase the deficit or does it increase the debt?\u201d Vargas asked the treasury secretary.\u201cI believe that there are ways to do it without increasing the debt or deficit,\u201d Bessent said. \u201cI\u2019m not ready to discuss it at present, but at Treasury, we\u2019ve been working on it for quite a while.\u201dThis comes as US debt reached $40tn for the first time last month. The milestone marks years of government spending that grew under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.In a post on Truth Social this morning, Donald Trump reiterated claims that the Kennedy Center \u201cis in a virtual state of collapse, and has been for many years\u201d, before claiming that \u201ca large piece of concrete and steel\u201d had fallen from the ceiling in one of the hallways, arguing this posed a risk to the public and meant a security guard had narrowly escaped death.This was supposedly to add to his argument that the institution should close for renovations, which the board is voting on today. He blamed the \u201cvery hostile and conflicted judge\u201d for previously halting the closure, \u201cin which case, unfortunately, the Building is destined to doom.\u201dHere\u2019s the full post:\n double quotation markThe Kennedy Center is in a virtual state of collapse, and has been for many years. A large piece of concrete and steel just dropped down, in a thud, from the ceiling of a heavily trafficked main hallway. If the Building were open, innocent people would have been killed. A security guard had just passed the area, one minute prior to this ceiling collapse. He was, therefore, 60 seconds away from certain death. The Judge has made us keep it open even though there are no performances, and no people that would have the Courage to even go in. The Board of The Kennedy Center has strongly voted to save it, and they know I\u2019m the only one who can do so, because I have the ability to raise the money, and the ability to construct \u2014 that few others have. I also have the strength and power of the Presidency, which will be needed do what must be done, and give it a strong shot at Greatness again! Remember, The Kennedy Center was losing Hundreds of Millions of Dollars when I took over. It was failing badly! It had nothing to do with me, I am only there to help. I just got there to reveal the facts, but especially those concerning Building Safety. A very hostile and conflicted Judge (What else is new?) seems like he won\u2019t let that happen, in which case, unfortunately, the Building is destined to doom. Isn\u2019t that too bad? We have already wasted more than 6 months \u201cplaying around\u201d in Court. Time is our Enemy! The Board, comprised of some of the most prominent and respected people in our Nation, is meeting again today. It will be interesting to see what happens!\nJudge blocks Kennedy Center board from putting Trump's name on the building or grounds in any wayA federal judge has ruled that Donald Trump\u2019s name must stay off the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, blocking an effort by the center\u2019s (Trump-appointed) board to restore his name to the building.The judge also said the board cannot proceed with plans to rename \u200bthe campus where it sits the \u201cPresident Donald J. Trump \u200cPlaza\u201d.\u201cSimply put, defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress\u2019s blessing,\u201d Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington wrote in the order. \u201cThe board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.\u201dPer my colleague Joseph Gedeon, Cooper ordered Trump\u2019s name removed from the building in May, ruling that only Congress has authority to rename it, and the lettering came down in June. The board voted in August to reinstate an inscription and proceed with a closure for renovations, the latter of which a vote is expected to formalize today.And yesterday, the Washington Post (paywall) reported that the Trump-installed leaders of the center claimed the institution was on the brink of bankruptcy, and argued that putting the president\u2019s name on its facade may be the only way \u2060to avoid imminent and \u201ccertain fiscal collapse\u201d. The documents obtained by the Post were prepared in advance of today\u2019s meeting.Here\u2019s Joseph\u2019s story on the vote:"
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