(Aaron M. Sprecher//Evan Vucci/AP photos)

President Donald Trump is denying that he came up with the idea of renaming New York City’s Penn Station “TRUMP STATION” despite a recent report that he withheld billions of dollars in federal funding to do just that.

Trump, taking to his Truth Social platform on Monday afternoon, posted a long screed voicing his opposition to the so-called “Gateway” tunnel project between New York and New Jersey, saying it would be “financially catastrophic for the region.”

He then turned his attention to the Penn Station matter.

“Also, the naming of PENN Station (I LOVE Pennsylvania, but it is a direct competitor to New York, and ‘eating New York’s lunch!’) to TRUMP STATION, was brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me – IT IS JUST MORE FAKE NEWS! NO COST OVERRUNS!!!”

He capped the rant with his signature, “Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

Trump’s “TRUMP STATION” denial came nearly two weeks after NBC News reported that he told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) he would release the federal funds necessary for the Gateway tunnel if Schumer renamed Dulles International Airport and Penn Station after him.

Trump claimed that it was Schumer who floated the idea to him, a notion later contradicted by Trump’s own press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, who said Trump floated the idea to the New York senator.

The post Trump Insists Others ‘Brought Up’ Renaming Landmark ‘TRUMP STATION’ — Despite Report He Held Up Billions in Public Funds to Make it Happen first appeared on Mediaite.

Fox News host Aishah Hasnie sparred with Democratic pundit David Carlucci Monday over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) sloppy answer on foreign policy during the Munich Security Conference.

Hasnie, filling in for Harris Faulkner, introduced the clip of AOC flubbing a question on China and Taiwan, saying, “Critics are torching AOC for this word salad flub on a basic foreign policy question.”

In the clip, the moderator asked AOC, “Would and should the U.S. actually commit U.S. troops to defend Taiwan if China were to move?”

AOC’s answer was punctuated with long pauses:

You know, I think that — this is such a, you know, I think that — this is a, a, this is, of course, a very longstanding, um, policy of the United States. And I think what we are hoping for is that we want to make sure we never get to that point.

“Look, if you’re gonna enter world politics in the global stage you gotta be better prepared on a topic that is critical — and everything you say, China watches,” Hasnie said to Carlucci.

“Yeah look. I think what we’re missing here is Republicans are just piling on the word structure of AOC when Republicans should be more concerned about pushing back against Putin’s power structure and that’s what we see. We see Marco Rubio coming, gives a good speech, you know, talks in poetry, while AOC comes and talks in prose about what are we really going to do.”

“She didn’t have a strategic answer. She didn’t come prepared,” Hasnie said.

Carlucci answered that AOC was being “reserved” in her answer.

“Remember, this is a rank-and-file member of Congress. We can’t compare that to the secretary of state that really does need to come with a solid answer of what are you doing right now,” Carlucci said. “AOC is saying, ‘Look, while Marco Rubio might be sending a Hallmark card to Europe, the Democrats are talking about a real security plan of how we’ll govern going forward and keep our allies safe and keep them close.'”

“I think you made an excellent point — this is a rank-and-file member — which raises the question why a rank-and-file member, what they were doing at the Munich Security Conference,” Hasnie said.

Watch the clip above via The Faulkner Focus on Fox News.

The post ‘She Didn’t Come Prepared!’ Fox News Host Spars With Democrat Over AOC’s Foreign Policy Flub in Munich first appeared on Mediaite.

Hillary Clinton fumed President Donald Trump is “modeling” himself after Russian authoritarian Vladimir Putin and has “betrayed the West” since returning to the White House in an acid-tongued rant in Germany.

The ex-secretary of state went off on Trump at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday — and her rant was so intense that one of her fellow panelists had to joke about it. Clinton doubled down by saying he needed to take a “hard look” at the damage Trump is doing to the Europe-USA relationship; more on that in a moment.

“He has betrayed the west, he’s betrayed human values, he’s betrayed the NATO charter, the Atlantic charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Clinton started off saying about Trump.

She then accused Trump of wanting “unaccountable power,” before saying “none of us in this room — including all of us on this panel — would choose to live under a regime that is so unaccountable, that it could act with impunity the way Putin does, except that’s who Trump is modeling himself after.”

Co-panelist Petr Macinka, the deputy prime minister of the Czech Republic, scoffed.

“I think you really don’t like him,” Macinka quipped.

“That is absolutely true,” Clinton responded. “Not only do I not like him, I don’t like him because of what he’s doing to the United States and the world, and I think you should take a hard look at it if you think there’s something good that will come of that.”

The back-and-forth got some chuckles from the room.

Macinka told her that he felt what Trump was doing was simply a “reaction” to “some policies that really went too far” for “regular people.”

Clinton asked him to point to examples, and Macinka said the “woke revolution” and cancel culture. “This is something that went too far,” he added, after saying the belief there are more than two genders is a “social construct.”

“But does that justify selling out the people of Ukraine?!” Clinton shot back.

“Can I finish my point? I’m sorry it makes you nervous,” Macinka sardonically said.

Clinton said she was not nervous about Trump and the two discussed the Russia-Ukraine War from there.

Watch above via Forbes.

The post ‘He’s Betrayed the West!’ Hillary Clinton Scolds Panelist After He Mocked Her Anti-Trump Rant at European Forum first appeared on Mediaite.

Border Czar Tom Homan did not defend the remarks Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when confronted about her saying DHS has been “proactive to make sure that we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country.”

Noem made the comments during a press conference in Arizona on Friday to promote the SAVE Act that would require all voters to show I.D. at the polls.

“So, what does she mean when she says electing the right leaders?” Tapper asked on Sunday’s edition of CNN’s State of the Union. “That’s not really immigration enforcement or DHS responsibility.”

“I don’t know, that’d be a question for the secretary,” Homan answered. “If I had to guess, probably, that, you know, only those legally eligible to vote would vote, but I have not talked to the secretary about those statements. That’d be something she’d have to answer.”

Tapper then asked about the “credibility issue” faced by DHS following Noem’s stint in Minneapolis where she defended the aggressive tactics taken by ICE and Border Patrol agents.

“Do you agree that there are people in the Trump administration that are causing DHS to have a credibility problem?” Tapper asked.

Homan first said that he ordered more internal affairs officers to Minnesota to investigate allegations of officer misconduct.

“We’ll let the internal affairs and the bureau investigate these allegations, and that’s the right thing to do,” He said, continuing:

But I’m not going to let the media divide this administration. Look, it’s one team, one fight. And, you know, do me and Secretary Noem agree on everything? No, we have discussions and we have difference in opinion. That’s what makes it a strong team. We bring different ideas to the table, then agree on a mission. But based on, you know, again, you can’t work in an echo chamber. You want to hear different opinions. Different — you know how you think this should happen or that should happen. But in the end, we clear a mission. We have great success on it. But it’s one team, one fight. I’m not going to divide this administration. I’m just going to keep doing what the president wants me to do as a border czar. And we just keep going and doing what president promised the American people.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

The post Tom Homan Does Not Defend Kristi Noem When Pressed On Her Comments About Wanting ‘The Right People’ to Elect ‘The Right Leaders’ first appeared on Mediaite.

CNN’s Jake Tapper confronted Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on Sunday’s State of the Union over Trump’s Department of Justice trying and failing to indict six Democratic lawmakers for creating a video urging troops not to obey illegal orders.

President Donald Trump had called their actions “sedition at the highest level” and demanded the DOJ prosecute Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D- MI) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Reps. Jason Crow (D-CO), Maggie Goodlander (D-NH), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), and Chris Deluzio (D-PA).

“So, your fellow Republican senators were pretty outspoken about what the Trump administration tried to do,” Tapper began, listing off comments from Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

“How do you feel about the Trump administration trying to send those six members of Congress, including two of your Senate colleagues, to prison?” Tapper asked.

Mullin claimed he had no opinion on the DOJ’s actions, saying, “It’s not the lane I walk in — I leave that to the DOJ. I’m not an attorney, don’t pretend to be an attorney.”

“I do have a tough time imagining, let’s say if the Biden administration had tried to prosecute Rand Paul for saying things about Covid that they didn’t like,” Tapper pushed back. “I have a tough time imagining you would say the same thing.”

“Well, I would say the same thing if I’m not familiar with the case law,” Mullin persisted, adding, “What we don’t want to happen is for the DOJ to be used for political leverage, which is what happened underneath the Biden administration, which what happened when they went after Trump for year after year after year. And we’re trying to change that.”

A dubious Tapper argued, “Well, you just said you didn’t want to weigh in, but then you accused the Biden DOJ of politicizing the DOJ. I mean this DOJ is going after Trump’s political opponents: [James] Comey, Letitia James, people on the Fed, two of your colleagues, Kelly and Slotkin. I mean, you really don’t think this DOJ is politicized?”

Mullin ignored the question and returned to attacking Biden.

“I don’t think there’s even a question that the DOJ was weaponized against President Trump at this point. I mean, I don’t even think that’s a question.”

Mullin then claimed the DOJ issue was “nothing but a distraction” from the “political theater” of Democratic lawmakers allowing a partial government shutdown over immigration policy.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

The post CNN’s Tapper Battles GOP Senator Over Trump Admin’s Efforts to Indict 6 Democrats: ‘You Really Don’t Think This DOJ is Politicized?’ first appeared on Mediaite.

Conservative pundit Pete Seat went at it with Elie Mystal over the Epstein files on CNN’s Table For Five on Saturday, accusing him of deflecting over the Biden administration’s lack of action.

Seat began by addressing host Abby Phillip’s bewilderment at Attorney General Pam Bondi’s embattled performance in front of the House Judiciary Committee this week.

“She did what she did because Pam Bondi is a triple threat: She is inept, incompetent and incapable, and that’s what we saw in that hearing,” Seat said before calling on President Donald Trump to get rid of Bondi just like he did with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Minnesota.

Seat then turned on Mystal.

“But I do want to follow up to what you said — Did you once ask why the Biden administration didn’t look those survivors in the face, even one time? And don’t roll your eyes!” he said.

Check out the exchange below:

MYSTAL: We’re not going to play whataboutism over the Epstein files. The person in charge right now is Pam Bondi and the Trump administration —

SEAT: Nothing! Four years!

MYSTAL: — and they should be investigating. And if you want to talk about things that I think Merrick Garland should investigate, you don’t want to get me started on who I think Merrick Garland should have in jail right now, because if Merrick Garland was doing a good job, Trump wouldn’t have even been able to run for president.

SEAT: That’s an incredibly skilled deflection.

MYSTAL: I am not deflecting!

SEAT: You are! Because you won’t answer the question. Did you wonder why the Biden administration did not seek justice for those survivors for four whole years?

MYSTAL: They didn’t not seek justice. I’m not deflecting from the question, I am disagreeing with your with your incorrect premise. They did seek justice. I didn’t think Merrick Garland went hard enough. I didn’t think Merrick Garland did a great job. I do not think that Pam Bondi is doing a great job. I do not think Donald Trump is doing a good job. Is that a full enough answer? Nobody involved here is doing enough to defend the Epstein victims. Are you satisfied with that answer?

SEAT: Sure, good job.

Watch above via CNN.

The post Elie Mystal Loses It on CNN Guest Over Epstein Files: ‘I Am NOT Deflecting!’ first appeared on Mediaite.

Screenshot via TMZ

New video from near the Tucson, Arizona home of Nancy Guthrie was released by TMZ on Friday and is currently being looked into by police.

Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today anchor Samantha Guthrie, has been missing since the beginning of the month. The FBI recently released additional details about the suspected kidnapper and increased the reward to $100,000 for anyone who can provide information that leads to an arrest or Guthrie’s location.

The new video released by TMZ on Friday was taken one week before Guthrie went missing. The Ring video footage shows a suspicious man lurking outside a home six miles from Guthrie’s house and trying to obstruct his face from the camera.

TMZ reported that police are giving a “hard look” at the video as a “potential lead.” The person who took the video said the unidentified person fled the home when they heard dogs barking. The man was masked in the video, but a goatee or beard can be seen through it.

Police found blood outside of the home of Guthrie and TMZ has reported on a ransom note for her return. Authorities previously released footage from outside Guthrie’s home showing a masked man wearing a backpack.

“The suspect is described as a male, approximately 5’9” – 5’10” tall, with an average build. In the video, he is wearing a black, 25-liter ‘Ozark Trail Hiker Pack’ backpack,” the FBI announced.

TMZ founder Harvey Levin said on Thursday that he received an email from a tipster claiming to know who kidnapped Guthrie and offering information in exchange for a Bitcoin payment.

“We’ve sent it on to the FBI. They’re looking at it. You know, but he says something in the middle of it that, you know, he paints a very bleak picture,” he told CNN.

The post New Video Provides ‘Potential Lead’ In Nancy Guthrie Kidnapping first appeared on Mediaite.