Transcript of Breaking: Republicans in Chaos as Senator Blocks ICE Funding From Moving Forward

We have major news this morning. The Senate deal to fund ICE, to fund the Department of Homeland Security, completely in doubt because of one man, Lindsay Graham, the Senator from South Carolina. Complete chaos on Capitol Hill as he has blocked the Senate from moving forward on voting on this legislation. We're going to have a government shutdown begin tonight because of what Lindsay Graham is doing, chaos within the Republican Party right now on Capitol Hill. Now, meanwhile, Dawn Lemon was arrested. Georgia Fort, another independent journalist was arrested. We're learning now at this hour that career prosecutors in Los Angeles and Minneapolis took no part in the indictment of either Fort or Lemon because they felt as though the evidence was insufficient to indict either of them. We're also learning that the federal judge in New York has taken the death penalty off the table for Luigi Mangioni as a possible criminal punishment in his case, a major win for Mangioni. And finally, Trump announced his new pick to be the Fed chairman, and well, at least one Republican a key Republican vote, Tom Tillis says, I am not going to vote on it. Major developments right now.

Let's break it all down for you. Make sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. The more you like, the more people see. Subscribe to my sub stack clicking the link below to support my work. I want to walk through what's happening on Capitol Hill right now. Because late last night, Lindsay Graham jumped in to Senate Majority Leader John Thune's office and essentially said the package was a bad deal. Remember, right now, the government is partially funded, but there are six agencies that have yet to be funded, including ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. There was a deal struck overnight between Democrats and Republicans to fund five of the packages through September and then fund ICE for just two weeks. Well, Lindsay Graham says it's a bad deal. He was angered about the treatment of ICE officers. He was also angry about the fact that Republicans removed a key provision in the bill that would have allowed Lindsay Graham to sue the federal government for hundreds of thousands of dollars because his phone was seized by Jack Smith. And well, today, this is what he's telling Fox News. He's telling Fox News that he to lift his hold on the bill if he gets an agreement to have a vote to criminalize the conduct of local officials to operate sanctuary cities.

He also says that he wants to expand the pool of up to 190 groups or individuals who were surveilled by Jack Jack Smith and give them the right to sue Jack Smith. Specifically, he wants to be able to sue Jack Smith for half a million dollars. That provision was taken out of the minibus spending package. So Graham wants to not only be able to sue Jack Smith, but he also wants to allow 190 other people to sue Jack Smith for up to a half a million dollars. He wants to restrict investigations from acquiring future telephonic metadata of House and Senate members unless they are facing criminal investigations themselves. He said, If his demands are met, he's willing to move the spending package forward today. If his demands are not met, we're going to have a government shutdown tonight. It's all but certain that we're going to have a government shutdown because even if the Senate passes this This New deal, the House also come back in and pass the bill. The House is not going to vote until Monday at the earliest. We are going to have a partial government shutdown, and there is chaos within the Republican Party because of one man, and his name is Lindsay Graham.

Now, meanwhile, we learned this morning that Don Lemon in Georgia Fort were arrested in Minneapolis. We've been talking about how this is a critical assault on the First Amendment, but we're now learning that career prosecutors at the Justice Department in both Minnesota and Los Angeles refuse to be involved in charging Don Lemon and the other journalists because the evidence does not support the charges. They're going after journalists to make an example, and this is a test case. If they can go after Don Lemon, they can go after me, they can go after you, they can go after any of us next. That is what they're trying to do. And I want to show you this video posted or sent to Phil Lewis by Georgia Fort as she was being arrested. She's the Vice President of the National Association of Black Journalists in Minnesota. She was also arrested today. Watch this video.

Yes. Okay. Okay, well, this is really scary. There's kids in the house. You guys have not been really friendly in the community. And to me, this seems a Can I finish, sir? Can I finish? Can I finish? Get your phone. This seems a little bit aggressive to have all these cars in our condensack, two or three agents, and now I saw the one disappear to the back. So to me, this is a little aggressive to just serve a warrant. Slide the warrant. Let me see the warrant. Okay. And that, to me, what I have been told, is not a judicial warrant that has me to have to open the door for you.

This is very serious. This is what they're doing to journalists right now in the United States of America. And if we don't call it out, no one will. Now, that's not the only problem for the White House this morning. Senator Tom Tillis came out against Donald Trump's pick to be or for Kevin Walsh to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Why is this a big deal? Senator Tom Tillis is a key swing vote, right? He's a Republican, but he's also the key swing vote on the Senate Banking Committee. If he doesn't vote for Kevin Worsch to be confirmed as the next Fed Reserve chairman, then it's stalled. He writes, Kevin Worsch is a qualified nominee with a deep understanding of monetary policy. However, the Department of Justice continues to pursue a criminal investigation into Chairman Jerome Powell based on committee testimony that no reasonable person could construe as possessing criminal intent. Protecting the independence of the Federal Reserve from political interference or legal intimidation is nonnot negotiable. My position has not changed. I will oppose the confirmation of any Federal Reserve nominee, including for the position of chairman, until the DOJ's inquiry into Chairman Powell is fully and transparently resolved.

It comes as a federal judge today, ruled that Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty. Essentially, throughout two criminal charges, he was facing four criminal charges in the federal system related to the alleged killing of Brian Thompson, the United Health care CEO. Counts three and four related to a crime of violence made him death eligible. Capital crime. Those two counts have been thrown out by a federal judge. Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty for any of his cases because remember, in New York State Court, New York, does not have the death penalty. It's abolished the death penalty. The federal system still has a death penalty, but a federal judge just said, No, no death penalty eligible for you. He's still eligible for life in prison without the possibility of parole. Lots of news. I know this was a It's a very, very chaotic morning, and it's likely only to get busier throughout the day. I'm going to continue providing you updates throughout the day, but I do want to just say this. A lot of you have reached out. They're like, Well, they can arrest Don Lemon. They can arrest you, too.

I hear you. But today, the focus is on Don Lemon. We need to get him out, and we need to protect the First Amendment now more than ever before, because it really is a scary time to be a journalist. It's a scary time to report on this. We can't back down now. We cannot stop. Make sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. If you want to support my work, subscribe to my sub stack by clicking the link below. I'm going to have another update shortly, so stay tuned for more, and get ready for a long day of reporting.