SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Jack Smith to Detail Trump’s Criminal Misconduct Before Congress and the Public
Today, former special counsel Jack Smith will testify before the House Judiciary Committee in a public hearing to explain why he indicted President Trump, countering the president’s baseless assertion that the indictments were politically motivated. In response, Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:
“Today, Jack Smith will have a chance to tell the public what he has told lawmakers in private— namely how a jury would have found Trump guilty of a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, if the evidence from his time as special counsel was utilized. Republicans are only now allowing this hearing simply because Judge Cannon’s injunction keeping the second volume of Jack Smith’s report private is about to expire. Keeping the truth locked away is an assault on the rule of law and on the transparency owed to the American people.
“Today will give the American people an opportunity to hear the facts that were collected against the authoritarian President Donald Trump, and why he was lawfully indicted due to violations of federal law; ones that did incredible damage to our democracy.”
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
(202) 588-1000LATEST NEWS
'New Gaza' Plan by Far-Right Zionist Jared Kushner Decried as 'Ethnic Extermination'
"Not anchored in law, nor in facts. Just glossy real estate pitch decks dreamt up by Jared Kushner."
Jan 22, 2026
The presentation on the future of Gaza given by President Donald Trump's son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner, inyelloe Davos on Thursday, offered what one journalist called "a sanitized, cosmetic image" of an exclave that, due largely to US policy, is actually "a place that needs immediate help and support for people who are on the verge of collapse."
Kushner presented a four-phase "master plan" illustrated by CGI-generated images of luxury apartments, data centers, and futuristic-looking skyscrapers.
In the "New Rafah," built over the southern town that the Israel Defense Forces razed last year and forced hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to leave, Trump's so-called "Board of Peace" plans to build more than 200 education centers and over 180 cultural, religious, and vocational buildings.
The "New Gaza" plan seeks to build 100,000 permanent housing units in all as well as 75 medical facilities. A map presented by Kushner shows yellow "residential areas," bright pink zones set aside for what Kushner called "coastal tourism," sections of land dedicated to industrial data centers and "advanced manufacturing," and green sections for “parks, agriculture, and sports facilities."
The presentation showed that "the ethnic extermination plan is two-pronged: Kill as many as possible, then gentrify the rest out," said entrepreneur David Haddad.
Before Israel began its US-backed destruction of Gaza in 2023, which has killed more than 71,000 people, and destroyed more than 90% of housing units, the exclave's healthcare system included 36 hospitals, fewer than 14 of which were still partially functional as of October, when a "ceasefire" was agreed to and Trump began moving forward with his 20-point "peace plan."
The presentation Kushner gave Thursday was part of that plan, with four phases of transformation beginning with the opening of the Rafah crossing and moving northward through Khan Younis and Gaza City, with a seaport and airport also being built.
The master plan, said Kushner, is projected to cost $25 billion, and would ultimately result in "peace and prosperity" in Gaza.
“People ask us what our plan B is, we do not have a plan B. We have a plan, we signed an agreement, we are committed to making that agreement work,” Kushner said. “There’s a master plan. We’ll be doing it in phasing. In the Middle East, they build cities like this, in, uh, you know, 2, 3 million people. They build this in three years. And so stuff like this is very doable if we make it happen.”
International lawyer Itay Epshtain said that as with the "'peace to prosperity' fantasy," the so-called master plan "won't come to pass."
The proposal, he said, is "not anchored in law, nor in facts. Just glossy real estate pitch decks dreamt up by Jared Kushner. Meanwhile, real humanitarian relief, recovery, and peace for Palestinians are sidelined—sacrificed to delusions of grandeur and war profiteering."
At the "signing ceremony" for the Board of Peace—which includes no Palestinians and has no support from the United States' major longtime European allies—Trump said he approached the development of Gaza as "a real estate person at heart."
"It’s all about location, and I said, look at this location on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property, what it could be for so many people,” Trump said. “It’ll be so, so great. People that are living so poorly are going to be living so well."
That outlook, said Hani Mahmoud of Al Jazeera, is one that views Gaza as a "future investment project."
"That’s the problem," said Mahmoud. "It is not being dealt with as a place where people are being killed and starved, and being pretty much cornered in every way possible by the acts that the Israeli military is conducting on the ground. The danger stems from the fact that Gaza is being discussed as an investment and a planning site, rather than as a place where people are being killed on a daily basis—largely ignoring the displacement, the genocidal acts, the starvation, and the misery."
Dilly Hussain of the UK-based news outlet 5 Pillars, said Kushner had proudly presented a plan for a "mega city built on the mass graves of Palestinians after a two-year genocide sponsored by the US."
"No accountability, just business as usual," said Hussain, "with the chief genocider [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu sitting on the 'Board of Peace.'"
Keep ReadingShow Less
Netanyahu Skips Signing of 'Board of Peace' Charter Because He's Wanted for War Crimes In Switzerland
One UN expert said it shows "why the ICC and the Rome Statute are so important, even if Israel and the US work to undermine it."
Jan 22, 2026
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on President Donald Trump's so-called "Board of Peace" for Gaza. But he couldn't attend the ceremony in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday because he'd likely be arrested for war crimes if he set foot in the country.
In 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and then-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel’s genocidal military assault in Gaza.
At least 71,000 Palestinians—the majority of whom were women and children—have been killed by Israeli forces, and at least 169,000 more have been injured during the military campaign, according to official numbers.
Other estimates suggest the real death toll is much higher when taking into account the results of Israel’s crushing blockade of humanitarian aid and its destruction of infrastructure that has made the Gaza Strip virtually unlivable, and which has continued despite a "ceasefire" reached in October.
These deaths are the result of what the ICC said has been a systematic campaign by Netanyahu to use starvation as a method of warfare and enact collective punishment against the strip's civilian population.
Switzerland is one of 125 nations that have ratified the Rome Statute, which established the ICC in 1998 as an international body to prosecute leaders who commit genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
Prior to Davos, the Swiss government stated a firm commitment to arresting Netanyahu if he ever sets foot in its territory.
"As a party to the Rome Statute, Switzerland is obliged to cooperate with the International Criminal Court," the nation's Federal Office of Justice told Haaretz. "Switzerland would in principle be required to arrest accused persons if they were to enter Switzerland at this time, provided that a corresponding arrest warrant or an arrest request based on it had been issued by the ICC, and to initiate the surrender proceedings to the International Criminal Court."
Several other countries, including the Netherlands—where the ICC is based—as well as Spain, Ireland, and Australia, have also said they'd comply with the warrants if Netanyahu were to visit.
While the US and Israel itself have not ratified the statute, many of Israel's other allies—including the United Kingdom, France, and Canada—are also party to the agreement and obligated to arrest Netanyahu, though he has thus far not tested their willingness to do so, and many have not stated clearly whether they'd follow through on the obligation.
The only ICC nation Netanyahu has entered since the warrants were issued is Hungary, whose far-right leader Viktor Orban defied the mandate to arrest him and later withdrew from the ICC.
Meanwhile, the US has placed sanctions on the ICC and its chief justice, Karim Khan, and several judges who participated in issuing the warrants, while threatening to do so against any other entity that cooperates with the court.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who appeared at Davos in Netanyahu’s stead on Wednesday, called the ICC’s warrants “illegitimate” and said it was “unacceptable and shameful” for Netanyahu to be excluded from “a conference that aims to shape the future of the world and the Middle East.”
While the ICC's inability to act on its warrants unilaterally has led some to dismiss them as impotent, Beatrice Fihn, a Swedish senior fellow at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research, said blocking Netanyahu from events like Davos shows "why the ICC and the Rome Statute are so important, even if Israel and the US work to undermine it."
"The arrest warrant," she said, "is making Netanyahu's work harder."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Greg Bovino Throws Gas Grenade at Lawful Protesters After Court Lifts Restrictions on ICE Use of Force
The Minnesota Star-Tribune described "plumes of green and gray smoke" that "burst over the crowd."
Jan 22, 2026
US Customs and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino on Tuesday was caught on video throwing a gas grenade at lawful protesters in Minneapolis on the same day that a court temporarily lifted restrictions on federal immigration agents' use of force in the Twin Cities.
As reported by the Minnesota Star-Tribune, Bovino hurled a gas canister at protesters who had gathered at Mueller Park in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Whittier.
After Bovino threw the can, the Star-Tribune wrote, "plumes of green and gray smoke burst over the crowd," causing protesters and observers to flee the scene.
According to NBC News' Maggie Vespa, the attack on the protesters began shortly after Bovino and other immigration agents were denied service at a local Speedway gas station. As they exited the station, they were "swarmed" by demonstrators, and the situation "devolved" from there.
In addition to lobbing gas at protesters, immigration agents were also seen deploying chemical spray on protesters and observers. In one case, an agent was caught on video spraying a person directly in their eyes even after they had already been brought to the ground and restrained by fellow officers.
The ICE agents' use of gas and chemical spray on protesters came shortly after the 8th Circuit US Court of Appeals froze an earlier ruling from US District Judge Katherine Menendez that had barred federal agents from using such forms of force on peaceful protesters.
According to Twin Cities-based local news station Fox 9, Menendez's restraining order also prohibited federal officials from arresting observers who were following them from a safe distance in their cars.
Minnesota has been under siege from federal immigration agents over the last three weeks, and tensions between officers and local residents spiked after a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot Minneapolis resident Renee Good on January 7.
Vice President JD Vance, who has vehemently defended the shooting despite video evidence calling into question the claim that it was in self-defense, is scheduled to visit Minneapolis on Thursday to express further support for ICE.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular