Kimmel Doubles Down On Melania ‘Expectant Widow’ Insult
Kimmel Doubles Down On Melania ‘Expectant Widow’ Insult
Late-night host Jimmy Kimmel apologized for his “roast” of First Lady Melania Trump, saying that people misunderstood his joke about her being “an expectant widow.” In his opening monologue of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Monday night, Kimmel refused to accept any responsibility or offer an actual apology.
“It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he’s almost 80 and she’s younger than I am,” Kimmel said. “It was not—by any stretch of the definition—a call to assassination.”
Kimmel admitted to being under scrutiny from President Donald Trump, this time because he made a joke about the first lady being a “widow” a few days before the U.S. Secret Service stopped a potential assassin outside the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night.
“You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the first lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job?” Kimmel’s monologue began. “We’ve all been there, right?”
Kimmel then continued to criticize the first lady, doubling down on political rhetoric after President Trump’s warnings.
“Obviously, it was a joke about their age difference and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together,” he said, adding that “they know that” was not a joke about “assassination” but Trump dying of old age.
Kimmel also added he understands the “stress” of being Trump’s first lady.
“But I understand that the first lady had a stressful experience over the weekend, and probably every weekend is pretty stressful in that house,” he continued. “And also, I agree that hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do, and I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.
“Donald Trump is allowed to say whatever he wants to say, as are you and as am I. Because under the First Amendment, we have, as Americans, a right to free speech,” he added.
Kimmel apologized to the media affected by the assassination attempt, saying he was “sorry” for everyone at the dinner.
“Just because no one got killed doesn’t mean it wasn’t traumatic and scary, and we should come together,” he said. “We really should. But, if you want us to believe that a joke I made three days before this dinner had any effect on anything that happened, well then, maybe someone should look into this psychic lady too.”
WATCH:
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump both issued statements calling for Kimmel’s firing following the attempted attack.
The suspect charged in the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting made his initial appearance in federal court Monday, where he was formally advised of the charges filed by prosecutors.
Cole Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, is accused of entering the Washington Hilton while armed with multiple weapons and attempting to reach the ballroom where President Trump was attending the dinner alongside Cabinet officials and journalists Saturday night.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Allen appeared in court wearing a blue jail uniform and faces charges including attempted assassination of the President of the United States, discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, and transporting a firearm across state lines.
When he was arrested, the newly unsealed probable cause affidavit revealed that he had a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun and a Rock Island Armory 1911 .38-caliber pistol.
Shortly before the alleged attack, authorities said Allen sent a written manifesto to members of his family describing an intent to target President Trump and other Cabinet officials.
In his manifesto, Allen sharply criticized Trump, falsely accusing him of being a “rapist” and “pedophile,” while also announcing he wanted to target several members of the president’s administration.
Video:
Feds Just Raided the ‘Quality Learing Center’ In Minneapolis As Fraud Probe Explodes
Looks like the Trump administration is moving on all of that fraud that’s been uncovered in Minneapolis. It’s going to be interesting to see who is caught up in this, especially a) given that most of it seems to be concentrated in the large Somali community; b) Rep. Ilhan Omar is Somali; and c) Gov. Tim Walz decided not to run for reelection after the fraud was discovered.
Federal law enforcement has once again targeted the sanctuary city on Tuesday, the site of last winter’s crackdown on illegal immigrants who settled there due to its lenient immigration policies. But again, this time, the focus of the operation is on fraud being committed by Somali-operated businesses in the Twin Cities area.
Among those being investigated is the now-infamous “Quality Learing Center” uncovered by indy investigative journalist Nick Shirley. The raids involve agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Notably, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) does not appear to be involved in this operation.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin broke the story on X, reporting that “FBI and HSI agents are currently raiding 20+ locations in the Minneapolis, MN area in relation to ongoing federal fraud investigations.” A DHS spokesperson commented: “Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation.” He wrote:
BREAKING: DOJ confirms to @FoxNews that FBI and HSI agents are currently raiding 20+ locations in the Minneapolis, MN area in relation to ongoing federal fraud investigations. Sources tell FOX the locations are largely Somali linked businesses, including the infamous “Quality Learning Center”. I’m told these are court approved search warrants being served and they are tied to fraud, not immigration enforcement. Fox is told 22 search warrants were executed in Minnesota this morning.
DOJ spokesperson holding statement:
“Today the FBI with federal, state and local law enforcement is involved in court-authorized law enforcement activity as part of an ongoing fraud investigation.”
The feds have acted upon 22 search warrants, which were described as “non-immigrant related. Also, there’s video of everyone’s favorite Somali-run “daycare center” being raided:
Dear Americans, this shirt is for you!
It comes in mens and womens and lets your friends know you're happy to express your views and don't care what anyone thinks! Cheers!
#BREAKING: Sources tell Fox that federal agents raided about 22 businesses across Minneapolis this morning, many of them tied to Somali-owned operations. One of those search warrants is being served at the “Quality Learning Center,” which went viral after a sign outside misspelled “learning.”
Vice President JD Vance, whom President Trump has named “fraud czar,” shared Melugin’s post on X, adding: “The task force and the DOJ will be relentless in exposing these fraudsters wherever they may be hiding.”
Burn it all down, Mr. President, and let’s get some hefty jail time for these immigrants who have been financially raping American taxpayers as their way of saying ‘thank you for letting us into your country.’
Virginia Supreme Court Delivers First Ruling in Redistricting Fight
The Supreme Court of Virginia has already issued a ruling in the case involving a gerrymandered map drawn by a majority of Democrats in the state. Justices denied a request for an emergency stay of last week’s Tazewell ruling that said the State Board of Elections can’t certify the results of Virginia’s redistricting referendum, according to reports.
The ruling is merely on the request for a stay, as experts online explained, not on the merits of the appeal. It comes after the court heard arguments on Monday about whether the vote approving the gerrymander earlier this month was legal and constitutional.
If upheld, the newly redrawn map, which was only narrowly approved by a 51-48.3% margin, would change the current 6R-5R congressional seat makeup to 10D-1R. “The proposed amendment is invalid for several reasons, any one of which is sufficient to invalidate the proposed amendment and require invalidation of the vote,” Thomas McCarthy, lawyer for the Republican challenge, concluded in the hour-long hearing on Monday, Fox News reported.
The Republicans argue that the Democrat-led General Assembly violated procedural rules by presenting a constitutional amendment to voters, which would allow mid-decade redistricting.
If the court determines that the lawmakers did indeed break these rules, it could invalidate the amendment, making last week’s statewide vote meaningless.
“It’s often said ours is a government of laws, not of men,” McCarthy continued. “Sadly, that’s not the case if a bare partisan majority can circumvent the constitutional amendment process and undermine the rights of the people in whom all government power ultimately rests – also, that partisan majority can transform our system from a nonpartisan one where the voters elected representatives into a partisan one where the representatives select their voters.”
“We ask that the court enforce the constitutional amendment process by affirming the decision below, declaring the proposed amendment invalid and enjoin certification of the election,” he added.
Attorneys for Democratic legislative leaders urged the Virginia Supreme Court to uphold the amendment and allow the new map, arguing that voters and lawmakers had followed every step required by the state Constitution.
In rebuttal, attorney Matthew Seligman said, “The people did, in fact, validly ratify the proposed amendment last Tuesday,” arguing further that challengers were trying to undo a democratic process that had already been completed through legislative approval and a statewide vote.
At one point, the justices acknowledged that courts allowed the vote to be held despite ongoing legal challenges.
Seligman also argued before the justices that the challengers’ case relies on reading limitations into the Constitution that do not actually exist. He stated that the General Assembly has control over its own procedures and that there is nothing in the Constitution preventing lawmakers from acting as they did during the special session.
Seligman maintained that the legal definition of “election” supports the state’s position that the amendment was passed before the relevant November election.
In closing, he noted that federal law and court precedent support the view that Election Day occurs on a single day in November, which undermines the challengers’ argument, even though Democrats support weeks’ worth of early voting and early voting took place in Virginia in regard to the redistricting effort.
The Virginia court proceedings represent the latest development in a national redistricting conflict between Republicans and Democrats, each striving for an advantage in the upcoming November election that will determine whether Republicans can maintain their slim majority in the House.
May you like
Former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), meanwhile, said last week he believes the state Supreme Court is likely to strike down the state’s newly approved map.
Cuccinelli made the remarks during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Friday. He pointed to both procedural concerns and constitutional questions surrounding how the measure was brought before voters, adding he thinks the decision to overturn will be unanimous at 7-0.
