Obama Calls For DOMA Repeal At Ricky Martin Headlined NYC Fundraiser
President Barack Obama called for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)Â Monday evening at a fundraiser headlined by the popular singer Ricky Martin, who, ironically, had performed at the 2004 inauguration of President George W. Bush.
“It’s been said that this election is going to be about values, and I absolutely agree. It’s about the economic values we have, about the values that I believe are what makes America so special — the idea that everybody gets a fair shot, everybody does their fair share, everybody plays by the same set of rules,” President Obama told about 200 supporters at the fundraiser co-hosted by Ricky Martin, the LGBT Leadership Council and the Futuro Fund at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City.
“So everything we do — from Wall Street reform, making sure that banks aren’t taking risks with other people’s money that taxpayers may have to end up bailing out later, to repealing DOMA — to getting the DREAM Act passed, to investing in our schools, to rebuilding manufacturing in America — all of these things are designed to make sure that we’re restoring middle-class security for all those folks out there that are struggling for their small portion of the American Dream.”
“We admire his courage, like the courage he showed last week in affirming his belief in marriage equality,” Martin, who introduced the President, said. “That is the kind of courage we expect from our president and that is why we support him. He knows we’re in this together and that together we’re stronger than divided. We elected the right president at the right time.â€
Looking back to the 2008 campaign, President Obama last night also said that the “idea that all of us, if we worked, if we tried, we could make it here in America — regardless of what we look like, where we came from, who we loved, what our surnames were; the notion that those basic values of responsibility and hard work, of giving back, that that’s what built this country and we built it together. And we felt like we had lost some of those core values.”
The first bill I signed, the Lilly Ledbetter Act — a simple proposition — equal pay for equal work. I don’t want my daughters treated differently than my sons. That’s the reason why we’re fighting for comprehensive immigration reform — because I believe that a child who’s here, raised with our kids, playing with our kids, has as much talent as our kids, the notion that somehow they would not have the capacity, the ability to proclaim themselves Americans and to fulfill their American Dream — that’s not who we are and that’s not what we’re about.
The announcement I made last week about my views on marriage equality — same principle. The basic idea — I want everybody treated fairly in this country. We have never gone wrong when we expanded rights and responsibilities to everybody. That doesn’t weaken families; that strengthens families. It’s the right thing to do.
New York’s Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, and actress Eva Longoria, were in attendance as well.
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Fox News hosts are suggesting that President Donald Trump is just an average guy.
In a segment on the cable network’s “Outnumbered” on Wednesday, co-host Harris Faulkner told her colleagues, “it’s ironic, though, but he’s not really all that different.”
Faulkner then sought to portray Trump — a billionaire real estate developer who owns multiple golf courses and the Mar-a-Lago resort — as relatable, describing him as “just a guy’s guy” and “not really all that different” from ordinary Americans.
“He loves McDonald’s,” she said.
“He likes to hang.”
“He loves his family.”
“And kind of, like, not that McDonald’s is poor to being, like, an all American, but I think it is — love those fries,” Faulkner remarked.
READ MORE: House Republican Calls for Bondi to Testify Over Epstein Files ‘Failure to Comply’
“But, I mean, he’s all those things that you don’t have to have a billion dollars or have to have zero dollars to get,” she exclaimed. “He’s just a guy’s guy.”
Faulkner went on to say that Trump “respects women.”
“He’s hired a lot of tremendously talented women — we’ve met them.”
“My dad,” she added, “used to say, the test of a man is how he treats the women in his life.”
“Can he be that alpha, and be loving, and generous, and all those things?”
Co-host Riley Gaines added, “They called him a misogynist but really he’s the worst misogynist, ever.”
Faulkner: He’s a billionaire—he’s different. It’s ironic though he’s not all that different. He loves McDonald’s, he loves his family. He is just a guy’s guy. pic.twitter.com/TorAoZXzmB
— Acyn (@Acyn) January 14, 2026
READ MORE: Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report
A prominent House Republican is calling for U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify before Congress over her failure to comply with the requirements of federal law surrounding the release of the Epstein Files.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act required the federal government to release all unclassified documents in the Epstein files by December 19. Reports state that less than one percent of all the documents have been made public.
U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), the lead co-sponsor of legislation forcing a vote on the release of the files, on Wednesday said that the Attorney General “should be called to testify in the House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee where she must answer for her failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.”
READ MORE: Federal Officer Who Shot Renee Good ‘In Hiding’: Report
Congressman Massie also called it “unusual” that Bondi has “never appeared in front of the House Judiciary Committee.”
Massie, along with California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, last week asked a federal judge to consider appointing a special master to oversee the production and publication of the Epstein Files.
“Put simply, the DOJ cannot be trusted with making mandatory disclosures under the Act,” Massie and Khanna wrote to Judge Paul E. Engelmayer of the Southern District of New York, according to Politico.
“I think it’s the quickest way to produce, to expedite the document production, because these lawyers at the DOJ understand what judges can do in courtrooms,” Massie added. “And they are already communicating with that judge, even though they’re not communicating with us.”
U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) told CNN that “Donald Trump continues to lead a White House coverup of the Epstein files.”
“Why has it been weeks now, weeks, that the date has passed, where all the files should have been released to the Congress and to the public? We have received one percent of the files. That is criminal, it’s illegal. What is Pam Bondi and Donald Trump hiding?”
READ MORE: Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report
Image via Reuters
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer Jonathan Ross, who reportedly fatally shot Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, at point-blank range in Minneapolis last week, is now said to be in hiding.
“I know for a fact now he has to be in hiding … for the safety of him and his family,” Trump border czar Tom Homan said during an episode of the “Will Cain Country” podcast, according to The Hill.
Homan alleged that there are “wanted” posters with Ross’ picture and license plate number, and said that Ross is receiving death threats.
“It’s beyond the pale,” Homan added.
READ MORE: Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report
He also suggested that Ross may decide to take legal action against those who have labeled him a murderer.
Vice President JD Vance said that Ross and all ICE officers have absolute federal immunity. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said Ross has “federal immunity.”
“The precedent here is very simple,” Vance said, according to CNN. “You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action – that’s a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job.”
Legal experts disagree.
“The idea that a federal agent has absolute immunity for crimes they commit on the job is absolutely ridiculous,” said Michael J.Z. Mannheimer, a constitutional law expert, told CNN.
The Trump Department of Justice has said it will not open a civil rights investigation into Ross’ shooting of Good.
President Donald Trump claimed that Good was acting in a “disrespectful” manner while he defended the ICE officer.
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Image via Reuters
Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report
Federal Officer Who Shot Renee Good ‘In Hiding’: Report
House Republican Calls for Bondi to Testify Over Epstein Files ‘Failure to Comply’
Fox Hosts Try to Convince Viewers Trump ‘Not Really All That Different’ From Them
Fox Hosts Try to Convince Viewers Trump ‘Not Really All That Different’ From Them
House Republican Calls for Bondi to Testify Over Epstein Files ‘Failure to Comply’
Federal Officer Who Shot Renee Good ‘In Hiding’: Report
Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report
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