The Trump White House is coming under fire for what appears to be an attempt to mock the U.S. Supreme Court, the facts in the case of a Maryland man wrongly deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, and The New York Times.

The White House’s official account on the social media platform X posted a “corrected” version of a New York Times story—corrections that have drawn concern and scorn from the legal community and political commentators.

“Senator Meets With Wrongly Deported Maryland Man in El Salvador,” read a screenshot of the Times’ headline.

But the White House’s version (below), complete with red ink and cross outs, reads: “Senator Meets With MS-13 Illegal Alien in El Salvador Who Is Never Coming Back.”

The White House added remarks saying, “Fixed it for you, @NYTimes. Oh, and by the way, @ChrisVanHollen — he’s NOT coming back.”

Fixed it for you, @NYTimes.

Oh, and by the way, @ChrisVanHollen — he’s NOT coming back. pic.twitter.com/VoAphh2ZPY

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 18, 2025

Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) traveled to El Salvador this week and, after several days, was finally permitted to meet with Kilmar Abrego Garcia—the legal U.S. resident whom the Trump administration has admitted in court it wrongly deported. Multiple courts, including the Supreme Court, have ordered the administration to “facilitate” his return. Yet the Trump administration appears to be refusing.

Friday’s claim that Abrego Garcia is “never coming back” was taken as a serious statement of intent by some.

Attorney Aaron Regunberg wrote: “The White House is saying he’s ‘never coming back’ — they are explicitly declaring they will violate a unanimous Supreme Court order.” Calling out Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Regunberg wrote: “you said this was your red line that would trigger ‘extraordinary action.’ So…where the f— are you?”

“2 telling things here,” offered The Washington Post’s senior political reporter Aaron Blake. “1) White House crosses out ‘wrongly,’ despite repeatedly acknowledging its error in court. 2) ‘who’s never coming back’ is basically taunting SCOTUS. Signals the opposite of any intent to ‘facilitate’ his return.”

“The White House press shop lies and claims Mr. Abrego was not wrongfully deported, despite having acknowledged that fact at every single stage of the court process; at the district court, the circuit court, and the Supreme Court,” noted attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. “They are openly contemptuous of the truth.”

Civil rights attorney Patrick Jaicomo, replying to the White House, wrote: “There is a mistake in the headline. You didn’t wrongly deport Garcia. You wrongly imprisoned him without due process. So, fix your mistake, as the courts have ordered. You don’t have to keep doubling down on bad decisions.”

Attorney Dilan Esper added, “I’ll remind you that the federal judges issuing orders see this.”

Veteran journalist John Harwoood called it, “disgusting fascism,” and wrote that “the Trump WH is garbage from top to bottom.”

Opinion writer Magdi Jacobs noted, “They’re moving from evading the judiciary to openly mocking it. This is very dangerous territory.”

Some others addressed what they appeared to suggest was the juvenile nature of the White House’s post.

“When you graduate from 4chan and land your first job at the White House,” wrote Talking Points Memo publisher Josh Marshall.

“The Trump admin really wants to distract people from the fact that it illegally sent someone to El Salvador in violation of a court order & binding law, either out of malice or sheer incompetence. No amount of s—posting will change that,” said Reason magazine’s Billy Binion.

“This is the evil of the Trump White House,” remarked Fred Wellman, an Army veteran, political consultant, and the host of the podcast “On Democracy.”

Journalist and author Robert Lusetich observed: “The White House, an ever-lasting symbol of the power, dignity and greatness of the United States. Now, a trolling meme account.”

Anti-gun-violence activist Fred Guttenberg declared the White House is “staffed by pathetic punk 2nd grade pre pubescent children.”

Journalist James Surowiecki commented, “Your tax dollars are paying for this childish cr–.”

See the White House’s social media post above or at this link.

Image via Reuters

From the outset of his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump signaled that a central focus of his presidency would be targeting and exacting retribution against his critics.

“In 2016, I declared, ‘I am your voice,’” Trump told attendees at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference in March 2023. “Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

In keeping his retribution vow, Trump in just three months—often with the use of the power of his executive orders—has targeted for retribution numerous top law firms, revoked the security clearances of dozens of top national security experts, former government officials, and former political opponents. He has targeted top universities, threaten to defund millions of dollars or more in critical research grants, and declared top news outlets CNN and MSNBC “corrupt” and “illegal.”

Just days after the 2024 election, NPR reported that during the campaign, “Trump made more than 100 threats to investigate, prosecute, imprison or otherwise punish his perceived enemies, including political opponents and private citizens.”

READ MORE: ‘Things Like This Take Place’: Trump Shrugs Off Mass Shooting Despite Once Being a Target

On Thursday, Trump threatened to go after one of his top legal critics: CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit legal and ethics watchdog that has been working for years to hold him (and others) to account, often by suing.

Asked by a reporter what group he would like to see have their tax exempt status removed, Trump replied, “Well, we’ll be making some statements, but it’s a big deal.”

“They’re so rich and so strong, and then they go so bad, they’ve earned so much by being a member of this country, you know, a member of this group, this beautiful group of people in this country, and then they go and they abuse their power like that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday afternoon. “I think it’s, you know, I think it’s very sad.”

“I have a group named CREW,” he continued. “CREW. You ever hear of it? I think it’s CREW, and they have a guy that heads CREW. It’s supposed to be a charitable organization. The only charity they had is going after Donald Trump. So we’re looking at that.”

“We’re looking at a lot of things, but if you take a look at CREW, what they’ve done, and I think it was a very big abuse, but we’re going to be finding out pretty soon.”

During Trump’s first and second terms, CREW sued Trump or his administration for alleged emoluments clause violations, alleged Presidential Records Act noncompliance, and challenged some of his executive orders. It also represented voters in a lawsuit attempting to use the 14th Amendment to remove him from the ballot, claiming his role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection was constitutionally disqualifying.

READ MORE: ‘Full Time Babysitter’: Treasury Secretary Urges Caution After Trump Fed Chair Threat

In January, CREW was part of a lawsuit suing to “block Trump’s illegal plan to fire government workers,” and in February, CREW sued the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) “to compel transparency.”

CREW, in a statement to NCRM, vowed to continue its work.

“For more than 20 years, CREW has exposed government corruption from politicians of both parties who violate the public trust and has worked to promote an ethical, transparent government,” CREW Vice President of Communications Jordan Libowitz said. “Good governance groups are the heart of a healthy democracy. We will continue to do our work to ensure Americans have an ethical and accountable government.”

Legal experts are blasting Trump’s threat.

“It is literally a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison for the President, VP, or any senior White House employee, to ‘request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the IRS to conduct … an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer,'” wrote attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.

“The Trump administration has gone after law firms, they’ve gone after universities, and they’re now going after civil society, including groups like @CREWcrew. They want to silence any opposition to their extreme agenda,” added the National Women’s Law Center.

“President Trump is now threatening to weaponize the IRS against nonprofit organizations like @CREWcrew,” wrote Public Citizen. “He is attacking our most basic right: to say what we believe without fear of government prosecution. We proudly stand in solidarity with our friends at CREW.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Reporter: On the tax-exempt status subject, what are the other groups you would like to see status remove from?

Trump: … Could be. Environmental — I have a group named crew. Ever hear of it? I think it is c-r-e-w. The only charity they had is going after Trump pic.twitter.com/lfaxnQ0A1N

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 17, 2025

Watch the video above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Stunning Admission’: GOP Senator Says Colleagues ‘Are All Afraid’ of ‘Retaliation’

Image via Reuters

Two people were killed and five others were wounded in a mass shooting at Florida State University on Thursday—an attack that President Donald Trump appeared to downplay during remarks in the Oval Office, while later recommitting to defending the Second Amendment.

“It’s a shame. Horrible thing. Horrible thing. Things like this take place. And we’ll have more to say about it later,” Trump told reporters, while the mass shooting was still in progress and the death toll was not yet known. “In the meantime, it’s an honor to have the Prime Minister of Italy with us.”

Trump on the FSU Student Union school shooting: “Things like this take place” pic.twitter.com/e1jvO6ltWv

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) April 17, 2025

Later in the Oval Office, Trump, informed of the death toll, said: “Look, I’m a big advocate of the Second Amendment, I have been from the beginning. I protected it, and these things are terrible, but the gun doesn’t do the shooting, the people do,” according to CNN.

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“As far as legislation is concerned, this has been going on for a long time. I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment, I ran on the Second Amendment, among many other things, and I will always protect the Second Amendment,” he added.

Trump on FSU shooting: These things are terrible. But the gun doesn’t do the shooting, the people do.. as far as legislation is concerned, I have an obligation to protect the second amendment pic.twitter.com/FelLyHUoDs

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 17, 2025

After he was shot on the campaign trail in July, when a bullet grazed his ear, Trump said he had God on his side as he spoke at length about the event.

“I took a bullet for democracy,” Trump repeatedly declared.

“I’m not supposed to be here tonight. Not supposed to be here,” he told Republican National Convention attendees, speaking for ten minutes about the attack. “I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God.”

“Let me begin this evening by expressing my gratitude to the American people for your outpouring of love and support following the assassination attempt at my rally on Saturday. As you already know, the assassin’s bullet came within a quarter of an inch of taking my life.”

“I immediately knew it was very serious, that we were under attack,” he said. “I was very brave.”

Critics on Thursday blasted what some called the President’s lack of empathy, while others noted when he survived an assassination attempt, he talked about it for months.

“Oh cool just the President reacting to a mass shooting on an American college campus like he got the wrong order at the Chic-Fil-A drive-thru,” mocked Josh Tyler, the publisher of a popular entertainment, science, and technology website.

“When he’s shot at it wasn’t ‘things like this take place’,” wrote one user on the X social media platform, “his life is no more valuable then the thousands of students who attend fsu this is a disgraceful answer.”

“Thank goodness they only shot up a bunch of college kids and no Teslas were hurt,” snarked The Lincoln Project’s Jeff Timmer, mocking the Trump administration’s use of the Department of Justice to protect the electric vehicle’s dealerships.

“Things like this DON’T just take place,” noted U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA). “No student—from elementary school to college—should fear for their lives while receiving an education. My heart is with the FSU family today. We must end America’s gun violence epidemic.”

“Devoid of empathy,” wrote Rusty Reuff, a former Obama appointee to the Advisory Committee for the Arts for The Kennedy Center, “but yet they hold him up as their role model.”

READ MORE: ‘Stunning Admission’: GOP Senator Says Colleagues ‘Are All Afraid’ of ‘Retaliation’

“Donald Trump will only put his fist up in the air and fight if it’s him that gets shot, not you or your kids,” wrote anti-gun violence activist Jackie Corin, a survivor of the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and a March for Our Lives co-founder.

Everytown, America’s largest gun violence prevention organization, wrote: “This is the 81st mass shooting of 2025 and the 18th shooting on a college campus in 2025. It’s not a coincidence that we have a gun homicide rate 26x that of peer nations, or that guns are the leading cause of death for kids in America—it’s a policy failure.”

“Gun violence doesn’t just happen,” Everytown added. “It’s the result of cowardly politicians bought by the gun lobby—like Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis—repeatedly failing us while the gun industry profits.”

“What a fraud,” exclaimed attorney Paula Chertok. “Trump declares ’emergency’ almost daily to do whatever he wants—abuse power, gut the constitution, even lie we’re at war & have been invaded—all on the pretext of keeping Americans ‘safe.’ Yet does worse than nothing for actual safety from America’s #1 killer: GUNS!”

Another X user observed: “An immigrant commits a violent action, Trump builds an entire campaign around assuring it never happens again. Mass shootings occur a few times a year killing/injuring many and terrorizing thousands now scarred for life. Trump shrugs, ‘s— happens’.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Strategically Disastrous’: How JD Vance Is Harming America’s Foreign Relations

 
Image via Reuters