Two hundred and fifty years ago, a group of Americans signed their names to a piece of parchment and made a promise no nation had ever made before: that we're all created equal, endowed by our Creator with unalienable rights — life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We're the only nation in history built not on ethnicity, or blood, or geography but on an idea. That's always been what makes us exceptional. We chose that path 250 years ago but that’s where the work began, not where it ended. Every generation has had to choose it again. At Valley Forge, at Gettysburg, on the beaches of Normandy, in the streets of Selma. Americans recommitted themselves to the principles on which our nation was founded.
Now it's our turn.
There's nothing guaranteed about our democracy. We have to fight for it, defend it, and earn it. Over and over, year after year. That's not a burden. That's what it means to be an American.
250 years in, we still haven't fully lived up to those words in the Declaration. But we've never walked away from them, and this July 4, I hope all of us can commit to one thing: that we never will. I don't believe we're as divided as we're told we are. I've bet my whole life on the American people, and I'm not stopping now.
Happy 250th birthday, America. Our story isn't finished. Let's keep writing it together.
Donald Trump secured a massive loan from Charles Schwab Bank last year, leaving his debt profile murkier than it has been in ages. Full story: https://t.co/hPsCahJh25
📸: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
MAGA bootlickers are spreading false information that the NY Comic Book has refused to correct in an article filled with innuendo, NOT facts.
They are playing into Trump’s lawless fishing expedition. Empty-handed, but under orders from the White House to find something, the U.S. DOJ is now chasing ghosts. Instead of identifying evidence of wrongdoing and following it, this appears to be a broad search for something — anything — they can use.
So here are the facts:
FACT: There is no evidence that the alleged use of a wire on one of the FBI’s informants is in any way connected to the Governor, despite what the piece clearly suggests. That investigation had nothing to do with the Governor. The charges against Ms. Williamson concerned conduct from before she worked for the Governor.
FACT: When Ms. Williamson was offered a “deal” in exchange for information on the Governor – as her lawyer said, after they raided her house in the early morning hours in November 2025 – there was nothing for her to “offer,” because there was no crime involving the Governor.
https://t.co/YT9MVTCWH8
FACT: After Ms. Williamson’s arrest, investigators pursued an allegation of misconduct involving the Governor and our office. We cooperated and provided information that conclusively confirmed the allegation was baseless.
FACT: Only weeks after receiving information making clear that the investigation had nowhere to go, the U.S. DOJ launched a flurry of new activity targeting the Governor, the First Partner and others close to them – a fishing expedition that appears to be based on completely unrelated subjects.
FACT: President Trump has called for the Governor’s arrest. Recent reporting confirmed that leadership at a United States Attorney’s Office has been pressing line prosecutors for weeks, coinciding with the recent flurry of new investigative activity, to develop a case against the Governor. Unnamed US DOJ sources have confirmed that the investigation into the First Partner began within the last year. The US DOJ has repeatedly seized on any allegation or evidence, no matter how thin or unreliable, to launch investigations targeting the President's political opponents.
https://t.co/8BQeSts54b
FACT: The effort to smear the Newsoms is the latest chapter in the playbook of President Trump and those who carry out his retribution campaign against those he perceived as political threats to him and his MAGA agenda. Judges and juries around the country have rejected these attempts, and this one has no stronger basis.
FACT: Ms. Podesta departed as an agency secretary appointed by Governor Newsom’s predecessor, within the first year of Newsom's taking office. The Post offers no real evidence she was in his “orbit.” Under the Post’s theory, every one of the more than 2,000 appointees to boards and commissions is somehow an “ally” and in the political orbit of the Governor. Framing Ms. Podesta’s personal relationship with Ms. Williamson as part of the Governor’s inner circle is shoddy journalism.
FACT: It’s not news that Ms. Podesta had recorded conversations. Ms. Williamson’s indictment included an excerpt from a transcript of a conversation between Ms. Williamson and an unnamed coconspirator who wasn’t charged, making clear that the conversation had been recorded. Ms. Podesta’s lawyer confirmed she was that person and that she had cooperated with investigators. Reporting from that time reflected that Ms. Podesta had recorded conversations with Ms. Williamson.
https://t.co/ttdYRWVFmG
🚨”Trump 2020” supporter Warren Arledge, 53, was just sentenced to 15 years in prison after a jury convicted on 2 counts of third-degree s*xual assault on a child and 3 counts of intentional child abuse.
Prosecutors said he groomed several children aged 12 and 13.
Arledge — who’s Instagram bio simply stated “Trump 2020” — didn’t hesitate to portray himself as the victim: “I’m ashamed. I can’t even — I don’t even go walk out my neighborhood anymore for fear somebody is going to recognize me. I’ve had people online on the sheriff’s website posting my address,” Arledge said.
Judge Todd Engleman didn’t hold back: he told the courtroom he’d have given Arledge more time if the law allowed it. Calling Arledge’s behavior “classic grooming,” Engleman said it would have escalated further.
“You have zero remorse for what you’ve done to these girls, their families, your family. I have empathy for your family. But I also have a job to do. These girls didn’t lie,” Engleman said.
Arledge’s attorney asked for probation, arguing a presentence report flagging him as high risk to reoffend was “exaggerated and biased,” and pointed to character letters as evidence of family support.