On Thursday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) refused to say whether or not he supports efforts to strip the Pentagon budget bill of a highly controversial provision to integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries, even as other Democrats unite on the issue. This week, a group of 12 members of the Senate led by Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) urged congressional leaders to remove…
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A new report has revealed that the ICE agent who fatally shot a Colombian resident of Maine earlier this year was hired by the federal agency despite his history of racist and violent behavior. According to reporting from The New York Times, David Brouillette — who has been identified by his family members and ex-partners as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who killed…
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For congressional Democrats interested in pursuing the many controversies surrounding Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., there’s a foundational challenge: where to start.
That said, two Democratic senators are moving forward with an investigation into whether Kennedy lied to Congress about his reason for a 2019 trip to Samoa, and there’s reason to believe they’re pulling on a worthwhile thread. The Associated Press reported:
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., said in a letter Wednesday to Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit group known for anti-vaccine activism that was formerly chaired by Kennedy, that they were starting an investigation.
The lawmakers asked the group for a broad range of documents related to Kennedy’s Samoa travel, his 2024 presidential campaign and his Senate confirmation process. The letter also requested all communications between the group and federal government officials since President Donald Trump’s second term began in January 2025. The senators gave the group a deadline of Dec. 4 to comply.
Note, Wyden and Alsobrooks are currently seeking the group’s voluntary cooperation with their inquiry. If, however, Kennedy’s former organization declines to provide the requested information, it’s likely to face a congressional subpoena early next year, when there’s a Democratic majority.
The underlying controversy has been simmering for a while. In fact, MS NOW reported early last year on the difficult and painful questions surrounding Kennedy’s efforts in Samoa years before he became a powerful White House Cabinet secretary. Hawaii’s Democratic governor, Josh Green, a former emergency medical physician, said before Kennedy’s confirmation that he’d treated Samoan measles patients in 2019 and blamed Kennedy personally for preventable deaths.
During that confirmation fight, Kennedy repeatedly
On October 10, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a presidential decree postponing the legislative and presidential elections from November 2026, the original scheduled date, until September 2027. Amid obstacles imposed by the Israeli occupation, the postponement was justified by a need to create appropriate political, security, and on-the-ground conditions for free, fair…
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The sister of David Brouillette, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot a Colombian man in Maine earlier this year, is shedding light on her brother’s past disparaging comments about immigrants. She told MS NOW’s Peter Alexander that she believes emails she exchanged with Brouillette are “highly relevant to investigating his actions.”
On July 13, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero was shot and killed in Biddeford, Maine, while agents said they were conducting an immigration enforcement operation. The Department of Homeland Security said officers were trying to stop a vehicle after it left the residence when an agent, later identified as Brouillette, fired because he feared for public safety. According to the lawyer for Durán Guerrero’s family, the 25-year-old was not the target of the operation and was authorized to work in the U.S. legally.
This week, Brouillette’s sister, Elizabeth Emen, shared emails she said she exchanged with her brother five years before the shooting. In the emails he criticized her relationship with her Colombian partner, the father of two children.
In an email shared with The New York Times, Brouillette said that Emen’s partner, who was in the U.S. legally, should “take his non citizen ass back to his country and enjoy his third world luxuries.” Emen told the paper that the exchange, which the Times said was confirmed by a friend who discussed the email with her at the time and a family representative, was a snapshot of his views about people born outside the country.
Brouillette declined to speak to the Times. In a statement, the DHS said that “any claims of substandard training or vetting are FALSE”