Pete Hegseth in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Accusations refer to attack on Iran without congressional authorization and strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats
House Democrats filed six articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing the defense secretary of “high crimes and misdemeanors”, in reference to the attack on Iran without congressional authorization and deadly strikes on suspected drug smuggling boats, among other official acts.
The move comes as the Trump administration faces mounting scrutiny over recent foreign action, particularly the war with Iran.
In Wednesday’s resolution, Yassamin Ansari, a Democratic congresswoman from Arizona, and colleagues including John Larson of Connecticut accused Hegseth of disregarding rules to minimize civilian casualties during armed conflict.
The US may have been responsible for a March strike on a school in Iran that left at least 175 individuals dead, including children, according to a New York Times report.
The House Democrats also pointed at a growing number of boat strikes in the Caribbean. The military has repeatedly sought to frame individuals on the vessels as “narco-terrorists”.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
Large white tents and steel fencing at Camp East Montana at the Fort Bliss army base in Texas. Photograph: AP
Detainees tell of abuse at sprawling Texas facility whose giant generators gobble energy and fuel climate crisis
Dust was everywhere, covering people’s blankets and clogging their airways inside Camp East Montana, the huge tent facility for immigration detention in west Texas, said D, a young Venezuelan man who was held there.
The air conditioning blasted constantly, keeping the living areas inside tents the length of two football fields at what felt like near-freezing temperatures despite the balmy weather outside, and rain leaked through the tarps, so people awoke on wet mattresses, he recalled.
“Everyone was coughing a lot – and with the same problem to breathe,” said D, who has since been released and spoke with the Guardian via video interview.
Camp East Montana is the facility with the largest number of immigration-related detainees in the US, with a capacity of 5,000 and an estimated daily average of 2,505 locked up. After just nine months in operation it has become a health and human rights scandal – and also an environmental hazard that affects the inhabitants and the area, while fueling the climate crisis.
Reports of harsh conditions, abuse, sickness and death have accumulated since the camp was erected last summer on the Fort Bliss army base in El Paso. And flying thousands of people often hundreds of miles to be locked up in an encampment run on electricity generators in the desert gobbles energy and produces emissions that are heating the planet.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
After Georgia Fort and Don Lemon reported from a church whose pastor reportedly works for ICE, agents arrested Fort in front of her children
When federal agents arrived at Georgia Fort’s front door to arrest her, she knew what to do: be a journalist.
Fort, an independent Minnesota reporter who faces criminal charges after covering a protest inside a St Paul church, took out her phone and spoke directly to the camera, livestreaming to her audience that her lawyer advised her to go with the agents. Her three kids were in the house at the time, she said.
“I’m going to have to hop off here and surrender to agents,” she said in the video on 30 January. “As a member of the press, I filmed the church protest a few weeks ago, and now I’m being arrested for that. It’s hard to understand how we have a constitution, constitutional rights, when you can just be arrested for being a member of the press.”
…
During the height of “Operation Metro Surge” in January, days after a federal agent killed Renee Good, dozens of people entered the church to call attention to one of its pastors, who reportedly served as an acting field director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Nearly 40 people have been charged over the protest in a sprawling case that pits the first amendment rights to protest and report against the free exercise of religion. The Trump administration has made clear that the case is a high priority. Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the civil rights division at the Department of Justice, has said the government is “going to pursue this to the ends of the earth”, which the government said in legal filings was not a political statement but “mere promises to vigorously enforce federal criminal law”.
…
Fort often highlights attacks on journalists in her coverage, and she brings up the sustained attack on press freedom globally as context for her arrest. She points to journalists like Mario Guevara, a Latino journalist in Georgia who was deported by the Trump administration, and the hundreds of journalists killed in Gaza.
These attacks on journalists aren’t just personal – they are an attack on the public’s right to know, she said.
“Why would anybody not want you to know truth and facts?” she said. “Why would someone want to arrest and criminalize the people whose job it is to simply keep you informed?”
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A charity distributes meals to displaced Palestinians in the Rimal Neighborhood as food shortages persist due to the Israeli policy on aid entering the Gaza City, Palestine, on April 15, 2026. [Ahmed Jihad Ibrahim Al-arini – Anadolu Agency]
The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas condemned statements by the US Vice President J.D. Vance claiming that aid entering Gaza is at its highest level in five years, describing the remarks as “misleading and far removed from reality.”
In a statement issued Wednesday, Hamas said the claims represent an attempt to distort facts and obscure the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
The movement stated that conditions on the ground contradict such assertions, pointing to Israel’s ongoing policies of “engineering starvation,” alongside strict restrictions on the entry of aid and disruption of essential supplies.
It added that Israeli authorities have not implemented the terms of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, maintaining a blockade that leaves residents in “life under duress.”
Hamas said the situation has led to severe shortages of basic goods, including food, medicine, and fuel, citing reports by human rights organizations and international bodies.
The statement also noted that continued targeting of infrastructure is further worsening humanitarian conditions, contributing to what it described as an unprecedented level of crisis in the Gaza Strip.
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Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
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In this episode, we examine why the first round of Iran-US talks broke down, how Lebanon has moved to the centre of ceasefire negotiations and why Trump appears to be retreating from his earlier endorsement of Iran’s 10-point plan.
In this episode, we examine why the first round of Iran-US talks broke down, how Lebanon has moved to the centre of ceasefire negotiations and why Trump appears to be retreating from his earlier endorsement of Iran’s 10-point plan.
We also ask whether the war on Iran now amounts to a historic strategic defeat for both Washington and Tel Aviv, before looking at the build-up to war and Netanyahu’s role in shaping it. The discussion then turns to the growing rift between Pope Leo and Trump, the dangerous normalisation of political assassination and the rise in US soldiers refusing to fight with Iran. We close by considering why Israel is more dangerous than ever and what Viktor Orban’s defeat could mean for Israel and the global far right.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Straight of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.