☕ Daily Brief: Lawfare On Le Pen

By Upward News | Created at 2025-04-01 13:20:13 | Updated at 2025-04-03 23:38:52 2 days ago

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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

⚖️ Judge blocks Trump plan to end protections for Venezuelans. A federal judge in San Francisco halted the Trump administration’s move to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 350,000 Venezuelans just one week before it was set to expire. The ruling criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s order as likely unlawful and potentially motivated by bias. The decision marks another legal challenge to the executive branch’s authority over immigration policy.

🎓 Trump reviews $9B in Harvard funding over antisemitism. The Trump administration launched an investigation into $255.6 million in federal contracts and nearly $9 billion in grants to Harvard University for failing to address campus antisemitism. The review, conducted by Trump's antisemitism task force, threatens to withhold significant federal funding if the university doesn't take stronger action. The GOP effectively forcing out former Harvard President Claudine Gay was only the start of forcing the school to crack down on perceived antisemitism.

🗳️ House to vote on citizen-only voting legislation. The House of Representatives is set to vote Thursday on the SAVE Act, which would prohibit states from registering non-citizens for federal elections and criminalize such registrations. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), would require documentary proof of citizenship to vote and mandate removal of non-citizens from voter rolls. This legislation directly challenges the 14 states and DC that currently don't require voter ID for elections.

🚢 China blocked a $23B Panama Canal ports sale to a US group. China's market regulator halted the $23 billion sale of 43 global ports, including critical Panama Canal facilities, to a BlackRock-led US consortium. President Xi Jinping was reportedly "angry" that Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison didn't consult Beijing before the deal. This move underscores the strategic importance of the Panama Canal in the broader US-China power struggle, with Trump previously claiming China militarily controls the waterway.

INSIDER RADAR

🔒 MEMBERS ONLY

Mentioned behind the paywall: Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, Scott Bessent, Steve Scalise, and Elon Musk.

HOAX TRACKER

🔒 MEMBERS ONLY

Mentioned behind the paywall: The Wall Street Journal and Pete Hegseth’s wife, Jenn Hegseth.

QUICK AND IMPORTANT

The Israeli military will reportedly occupy 25 percent of Gaza over the next few weeks as part of a "maximum pressure" campaign on Hamas to release hostages.
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The Trump administration transferred 17 alleged gang members, including Tren de Aragua leaders and MS-13 members, to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center.
Republican Party headquarters in New Mexico was vandalized with "ICE = KKK" graffiti and set ablaze in an alleged arson attack.
The Department of Government Efficiency will investigate lawmakers who have become "strangely wealthy" despite modest government salaries.

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INSIDER EXCLUSIVE

Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff started making moves before President Donald Trump was even sworn in the second time, negotiating between Israel and Hamas over a week before the inauguration … But over three months later, a series of questionable statements and ceasefire collapses have made it unclear just how successful he really has been…

EDITOR’S NOTE

Good morning. Last week, I walked past a Tesla with its windshield smashed in. Every day, new stories pop up about Teslas being attacked — simply because Elon Musk is now the face of Trump’s federal-slashing operation.

And given that context, let’s call this what it is: not vandalism, but terrorism. Ordinary Americans are having their cars destroyed as a political statement.

The good news? Trump now has an FBI under new leadership. Attorney General Pam Bondi wants to put these attackers away for 20 years. Trump even floated sending them to El Salvador.

The bad news? So far, only three vandals have been arrested, and the attacks are still happening.

THE MAIN STORY

WHAT’S HAPPENING_

Marine Le Pen, the populist right leader of France’s National Rally party and one of the front-runners in the 2027 presidential race, has been sentenced to house arrest and barred from running for office for five years following a court conviction for embezzling European Union funds.

The ruling has triggered a national and international backlash, with political leaders across the West accusing the French judiciary of lawfare, drawing parallels to the legal action taken against Donald Trump before the 2024 election. The verdict has upended France’s political landscape and leaves the nation’s most popular party without its leader. Le Pen vowed to appeal the ban.

_THE FACTS_

A Paris court convicted Marine Le Pen of misusing EU funds between 2004 and 2016, sentencing her to four years in prison, though two will be suspended, and two will be served at home with an ankle monitor.
She must pay a €100,000 fine and will be ineligible for holding or running for public office for five years.
Le Pen will be barred from running in the 2027 presidential election, where she was the projected frontrunner.
Prosecutors alleged that National Rally misused €6.8 million in European Parliament funds by employing assistants working in Brussels for political work back in France.
Le Pen’s defense argued that EU rules don’t clearly define assistants’ duties and claimed that helping EU Parliament members in their home countries is an “integral” part of their role.
Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, called the order “a declaration of war from Brussels.”
Populist-right leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders, and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni expressed support for Le Pen.
President Trump also spoke up in support, calling it “a very big deal.” The State Department said it was concerning.
National Rally president Jordan Bardella called the decision an attack on democracy and claimed it was intended to block Le Pen’s candidacy.
National Rally currently leads national polling with 32 percent, and Le Pen had been polling at 38 percent.

_INSIGHTS_

BIAS SPOTTER

🔒 MEMBERS ONLY

Mentioned behind the paywall: Politico, The Guardian, The European Conservative, and The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro.

THE DAILY DEBATE

POLL RESULTS FROM YESTERDAY

What do you think was DOGE’s most notable new finding?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 👴 Mass Social Security Fraud (508)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🏞️ Useless $1B Parks Surveys (131)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💸 $600M Fraudulent Loans (61)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💳 4.6M Gov-Issued Credit Cards (105)
⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🤔 Unsure (27)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💬 Other (73)

👴 Mass Social Security Fraud: “Since Social Security is always on the brink of ruin, it is very helpful that DOGE found waste and fraud in abundance.” — Teri

🏞️ Useless $1B Parks Surveys: “An incredible single example of unbelievable waste, fraud, and abuse.” — Laurie

💸 $600M Fraudulent Loans: “These ‘loans’ are clearly money laundering or kickbacks which seem to be rampant in our government.” — G.M.

💳 4.6M Gov-Issued Credit Cards: “Like Elon said, there should be no more cards than employees.” — Dan

💬 Other: “Every dollar of waste, fraud, and abuse they find is equally important.” — Joe

905 votes

Today’s newsletter was written by Brandon Goldman, Anthony Constantini, and Ari David. We scoured 100s of sources to bring you stories and insights you won’t find in the mainstream media.