The Trump administration imposed the sanctions after accusing Albanese of “biased and malicious activities” and “lawfare,” including recommending that the International Criminal Court issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
“It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions – they are nothing more than her opinion,” Leon said in his decision.
(May 15, 2026)
Judge Leon made preliminary findings that President Donald Trump’s administration likely violated Albanese’s right to free speech by imposing sanctions against her. In his 26-page decision, he discussed the applicability of the First Amendment to Albanese, including an extensive discussion of the significance of free expression. He wrote:
Albanese has done nothing more than speak! It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions–they are nothing more than her opinion… Finally, protecting the freedom of speech is “always” in the public interest… Indeed, the “proudest boast” of our First Amendment is that it protects the freedom to express even “the thought that we hate.” Enough said.
(May 13, 2026)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed the sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for Palestinian human rights, last July under an executive order President Donald Trump signed authorizing such actions against people “directly engaged” in the International Criminal Court’s investigations related to alleged atrocities in Gaza.
However, in a ruling Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said the administration’s sanctions against Albanese violate the First Amendment because they’re based solely on her encouraging the ICC to investigate and prosecute.
Throughout the west, criticizing the Netanyahu government is now a crime punishable by imprisonment. Glenn Greenwald on the end of free speech.
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Miller shared his blunt assessment of Carlson and the situation he’s in on Sunday, one day after Carlson claimed the Justice Department would soon charge him for being an unregistered foreign agent; Carlson said he was being targeted for “talking to people in Iran before the war,” which he said the CIA found out by spying on his text messages.
The congressmen said that if Carlson is telling the truth — and if he really committed “treason” — he has to pay the price.
On Friday morning, I taped an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s program to discuss the ongoing Iran War, growing Israeli influence in the U.S., and proliferating attacks on free speech in the West in the name of shielding that one foreign country from critique (I presume it will air in the next few days). Perhaps the most notable part of our conversation was what Tucker told me prior to the cameras rolling.
Tucker said he had learned from several high-placed sources — and he obviously has many within the Trump administration — that the CIA was preparing a criminal referral about him to the DOJ. The subject of the agency’s report of suspected crimes: conversations he allegedly had with Iranian officials and others in Iran prior to the start of the Trump/Netanyahu war. The clear implication was that Tucker had committed acts of subversion or even treason by speaking to Iranians in advance of the war that was about to be launched on their country.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
“Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions — also known as the fake news — have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up,” Carr wrote in a post on the social platform X.
“The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not,” he warned.
Amid surging oil prices and an unpopular war of choice in Iran, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr is threatening not to renew the licenses of broadcasters for “running hoaxes and news distortions.” The Saturday post from Carr on X is not subtle: It explicitly warns broadcasters that they “have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.”
Carr’s missive came in response to a Truth Social post on Saturday from President Donald Trump, which the FCC chair included in full as a screenshot.
(updated 57 minutes ago)
Lemon was in L.A. to cover the Grammy Awards and was arrested after 11 p.m. local time in a hotel lobby in Beverly Hills.
He was arrested by a team of agents from Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the operation. His case is being led by HSI.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, said in a statement Friday morning. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable.”
The former CNN anchor Don Lemon and three other people have been arrested on charges that they violated federal law during a protest at a church in St. Paul, Minn., this month, lawyers and Justice Department officials said on Friday, reviving a case that was rejected last week by a magistrate judge.
The arrests of Mr. Lemon, a second journalist and two protesters came a little more than a week after three other demonstrators who took part in the action at the Cities Church on Jan. 18 were taken into custody.
The place is a Liberal mess, allowing a certain group of crazed lunatics to enter and exit the classroom and spew fake ANGER AND HATE. It is truly horrific! Now, since our filings began, they act like they are all “American Apple Pie.” Harvard is a threat to Democracy, with a lawyer, who represents me, who should therefore be forced to resign, immediately, or be fired. He’s not that good, anyway, and I hope that my very big and beautiful company, now run by my sons, gets rid of him ASAP!
In a statement, one of the sons, Eric Trump, confirmed that the Trump Organization intended to cut ties to Mr. Burck over his decision to represent Harvard.
“I view it as a conflict, and I will be moving in a different direction,” he said.
Mr. Burck declined to comment.
(April 21, 2025)
Harvard filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration, arguing its freeze on research funding is unconstitutional and “flatly unlawful” and calling on the court to restore more than $2.2 billion in research dollars.
The filing, in U.S. District Court in Boston, requests that the court vacate and set aside the funding freeze to allow previously approved funding to flow and halt administration efforts to freeze current or deny future funding without engaging in procedures contained in federal law.
It is unfortunate, then, that your letter disregards Harvard’s efforts and instead presents demands that, in contravention of the First Amendment, invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court.
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The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.
The plaintiffs in the case, led by the states of Missouri and Louisiana, eminent doctors, and others alleged that under guise of combating „mis-, dis-, and mal-information,“ the Biden White House and nearly a dozen federal agencies have, alongside private-sector cutouts, cajoled and colluded with Big Tech platforms to silence millions of Americans. The topics social media platforms have censored at the government‘s direction, measuring likely hundreds of millions of posts, range from the Hunter Biden laptop story, to matters of election integrity, to virtually every aspect of the coronavirus pandemic.
When I met with Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, I was most impressed by his intelligence, his compassion, and his belief in the power of truth. „If wars can be started by lies,“ he said, „peace can be started by truth.“ Now, Assange is being prosecuted for the publication of the Afghan War Diary and the Iraq War Logs, uncovering war crimes, torture, and civilian deaths perpetrated by the United States government in our name and with our money. Assange‘s award-winning publications have been cited as a crucial factor in changing public perception of these wars, which have cost trillions of dollars, hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, and displaced 37 million people.
In other words, the truth matters.
The Department of Justice and FBI are pressuring multiple British journalists to cooperate with the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, using vague threats and pressure tactics in the process. I know because I am one of the British journalists being pressured to cooperate in the case against him, as someone who used to (briefly) work and live with him, and who went on to blow the whistle on WikiLeaks’ own ethical lapses.
(July 03, 2023)
Whistleblower Dan Ellsberg joined us after the Justice Department charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act for publishing U.S. military and diplomatic documents exposing U.S. war crimes. Assange is locked up in London and faces up to 175 years in prison if extradited and convicted in the United States. Ellsberg died in June, and as we remember his life and legacy, we revisit his message for other government insiders who are considering becoming whistleblowers: “My message to them is: Don’t do what I did. Don’t wait ’til the bombs are actually falling or thousands more have died.”
(…)
„It’s this generation, not the next one, the people living right now, that have to change these problems fast. And I think truth-telling is crucial to mobilize that.“