New Jersey City Faces Curfew after Violent Anti-ICE Demonstrations

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New Jersey City Faces Curfew after Violent Anti-ICE Demonstrations

(Chris Wade, The Center Square) A nighttime curfew remains in effect outside of a New Jersey ICE detention center Monday after days of violent confrontations with demonstrators that prompted Gov. Mikie Sherrill to deploy state police to restore order.

Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka enacted the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew early Sunday after protesters and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers clashed outside the Newark facility, one of 25 ICE Enforcement and Removal Operation facilities nationwide. 

But New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said a group of people “armed with helmets, shields, or gas masks” ignored the state police order Sunday night and were arrested. She didn’t say how many people were taken into custody, but local media reported dozens were arrested. 

“A group of individuals who had come to the protest armed with helmets, shields, or gas masks deliberately refused to comply with repeated orders to leave the area and were arrested,” Davenport said. “Their actions put the public at risk, and I am grateful to law enforcement for de-escalating the situation.”

The Justice Department said it has charged a New Jersey man with assaulting federal officers and causing bodily injury after he allegedly kicked and “savagely bit” an ICE officer during the demonstrations. 

“Assaulting law enforcement officers is unacceptable. Period,” U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer for the District of New Jersey said in a statement. “Federal officers must be able to carry out their responsibilities without being subjected to violence, intimidation, or obstruction.” 

The Delaney Hall ICE facility has become the latest flashpoint in opposition to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration since a group of detainees allegedly went on a hunger strike to protest conditions inside the facility. 

The privately-run 1,000-bed facility has been rocked by more than a week of protests as Sherrill refused to send in state police to intervene in the violent clashes, prompting criticism from the Trump administration. 

Late Friday, Sherill relented, announcing that state authorities would take over policing outside the ICE facility and set up a perimeter of gates for a “protected speech zone” to contain the demonstrations. The Democrat said ICE has also agreed to resume visitations following demands from state officials to improve conditions inside the facility and improve transparency.

But the Department of Homeland Security disputed claims that the agency caved into Sherrill’s demands, saying visitation was suspended “because the violent riots outside the facility made it unsafe for our officers, detainee’s families and lawyers to visit the facility.” 

“We did not cave to the governor’s demands,” a DHS spokesperson said. “With Delaney Hall secure, ICE operations continue as normal. To be clear: Visitation was only suspended because of violent riots. Now that we have a secure perimeter, visitation can resume.” 

DHS officials have previously pushed back on allegations of mistreatment and substandard conditions in the New Jersey facility, calling the claims “a political stunt by New Jersey sanctuary politicians for fundraising clicks” and 

The agency said about 300 detainees currently being held at the Newark facility are “provided with 3 meals a day, clean water, clothing, bedding, showers, soap, and toiletries. It also provides medical, dental, and mental health services, as well as 24-hour emergency care. 

“No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been better treated than illegal aliens,” Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement.

Almost 25,000 Immigration Arrests Made in Florida

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Almost 25,000 Immigration Arrests Made in Florida

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) Since Florida launched its immigration enforcement effort, Operation Tidal Wave, in February, nearly 25,000 arrests have been made statewide.

“Florida will continue to use every available resource to identify dangerous individuals, support federal immigration enforcement and keep our citizens safe,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “No state has moved faster or done more to combat illegal immigration than Florida, and we will continue to lead the charge in protecting our communities.”

Operation Tidal Wave was launched as Florida leads the country with the most 287(g) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreements of any state, The Center Square reported. The program is named after a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1996 and authorizes ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration functions under its supervision.

The Trump administration expanded the program to include three models: the Jail Enforcement Model (JEM), Task Force Model (TFM) and Warrant Service Officer (WSO) model, The Center Square reported. Florida is the only state to have all of its sheriffs participating in 287(g), with most participating in the TFM and or all three models. Nearly 200 police departments, 12 state agencies and 15 state universities and colleges, as well as county commissioner detention facilities and correctional facilities, are participating in 287(g). No other state has as many agencies participating in 287(g), and primarily in the TFM, as Florida does, according to ICE data.

During the first week of Operation Tidal Wave, Florida law enforcement arrested more than 1,100 criminal illegal foreign nationals, a record for Florida. The only state with more arrests in a single week is in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star is underway. While these arrests are not solely through 287(g) partnerships, Texas law enforcement through OLS have made more than half a million arrests over the last five years, The Center Square reported. OLS is ongoing.

Key 287(g) partnership arrests were made in Florida through three recent multi-agency immigration enforcement operations: Operation Sandhill Sentinel, Operation LOCATE and Operation Criminal Return.

In south Florida, Operation Sandhill Sentinel led to the arrest of 250 illegal foreign nationals, including those with extensive criminal histories ranging from domestic violence to drug offenses, DUI and assault, among other violent crimes. Those arrested also had final orders of removal and repeat immigration violations, ICE found.

The Florida Highway Patrol (FDLE), Broward Sheriff’s Office, ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, Florida National Guard and Florida State Guard were involved in the operation.

Another key arrest earlier this month was of a Honduran national and known MS-13 gang member illegally residing in Palm Beach County. A multi-agency operation led to the arrest of Luis Merary Peralta-Sevilla, who illegally entered the country in 2013 in Texas. He was never deported until the second Trump administration, which also designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization. MS-13 members are also being prosecuted nationwide.

In Operation Criminal Return, FDLE and ICE sought to identify criminal foreign nationals who are registered sex offenders and sexual predators. In a 10-day targeted operation they arrested 230 people statewide, including sexual predators and sex offenders, convicted felons, a convicted drug trafficker, and convicted murderers, according to FDLE and ICE.

In Operation LOCATE, the FDLE partnered with Homeland Security in an intelligence-led initiative focused on identifying and locating unaccompanied alien children (UACs).

They located more than 400 UACs statewide and outside of Florida, verifying their safety and living conditions “while uncovering cases involving trafficking concerns, missing children, and other high-risk situations,” the governor’s office said.

UACs are foreign national children under age 18 who arrive in the U.S. without their parents or family members. They are primarily smuggled into the country and once in the U.S., the federal government doesn’t deport them but sends them to live with so-called sponsors. Florida has historically received the most UACs behind Texas and California, The Center Square reported.

As the border crisis worsened under the Biden administration, sponsors in 29 counties in Florida received more than 10,000 UACs, The Center Square reported.

In response to reports of abuse and neglect of UACs in Florida, DeSantis called for a state grand jury to launch an investigation. It found “horrible atrocities inflicted on immigrant children in Florida” including allegations of human trafficking and child abuse. It also found that the federal government lost track of more than 20,000 children in Florida and performed no background checks on the sponsors the UACs were sent to, among other issues, The Center Square reported.

Last year, the Trump administration launched an initiative to conduct welfare checks on UACs after President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said more than 350,000 UACs were unaccounted for.

US Strike on an Alleged Drug Boat Kills 3 in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in Fourth Attack this Week

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US Strike on an Alleged Drug Boat Kills 3 in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in Fourth Attack this Week

(Headline USA) The U.S. military said it carried out another strike Saturday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men in the fourth attack this week and putting the total death toll at 205.

U.S. Southern Command announced the strike with its usual language that the vessel was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and operated by a designated terrorist organization. It provided no evidence for the allegation.

It’s the latest in a monthslong campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.

Video released by the military on social media shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it’s hit and engulfed in a fireball.

The attack brings the death toll to 205 in a series of U.S. strikes that began in early September, with other attacks announced on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. The Trump administration has declared that the U.S. is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.

U.S. Southern Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press. 

Congress Returns to Backlog of Must-Pass Legislation

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Congress Returns to Backlog of Must-Pass Legislation

(, The Center Square) After leaving town for a week without sending a key immigration enforcement funding package to President Donald Trump’s desk, Congress returns Monday to a backlog of responsibilities.

Republicans’ $72 billion budget reconciliation bill, providing three years of advance annual funding for ICE and U.S. Border Patrol, failed to even receive a Senate floor vote last Friday, all but guaranteeing the legislation won’t make it to Trump’s desk by his June 21 deadline.

Senate Republicans ultimately deadlocked over whether to include restrictions on the Department of Justice’s controversial new “anti-weaponization fund” within the filibuster-proof bill.

Ironically, however, a Democrat-appointed federal judge may have just given congressional Republicans an out.

In response to a lawsuit filed over the $1.77 billion fund, Virginia-based Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a temporary restraining order that bars the DOJ from creating it, at least until June 12.

If Republican leaders in the Senate are able to convince politically vulnerable holdouts that legal challenges will ultimately prevent the fund’s creation, they might reclaim the Republican votes necessary for their $72 billion bill to advance.

But both Republican and Democratic leaders face interparty rebellion on many more upcoming legislative issues, particularly the looming expiration date of a controversial federal spying authority.

Unable to agree on whether to include privacy protections within a reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Congress punted on the issue and authorized a short-term extension.

That extension ends June 12, and lawmakers opposed to a clean reauthorization have not budged in their belief that FISA 702 effectively allows the government to violate Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.

FISA 702 allows federal intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance on foreign nationals under suspicion.

But the electronic data of American citizens – including emails, text messages, and phone calls – are routinely collected as well, and federal intelligence agents will routinely search through that database without obtaining a warrant.

Other major, time-sensitive legislation embroiled in debate includes the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, which initially passed the Senate but now heads back as an amended version after the House changed it.

The lower chamber weakened the bill’s restrictions on private equity buying up single-family homes and turning them into permanent rentals. House lawmakers backing the amendment bill argued that forcing institutional investors to eventually sell properties could displace renters, disrupt markets and inhibit growth.

All but ten senators had opposed the passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, making it likely that the House’s amendment will face a chilly reception.

Congress will also attempt to make progress on the long-overdue bipartisan Farm Bill and $580 billion federal highway bill, as well as the SECURE Data Act – nominally a data privacy protection bill.

Despite the massive legislative backlog, the House does not plan to hold any votes until Wednesday.

As of May 30, 2026, both chambers of the 119th Congress have spent more than double their legislative workdays on recess or vacation than they have in session, according to the Congress.gov schedule.

U.S. House members have so far spent a total of 74 days in session and nearly 170 weekdays in recess. U.S. senators have so far spent a total of 79 days in session and nearly 160 weekdays in recess.

Newark Mayor Imposes Curfew after Riots at Immigration Detention Center

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Newark Mayor Imposes Curfew after Riots at Immigration Detention Center

(Headline USA) The mayor of Newark imposed a curfew early Sunday around an immigration detention center in New Jersey after protestors attacked law enforcement.

The curfew around Delaney Hall will be in place between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. until further notice, Mayor Ras Baraka said in a statement.

The move came after another night of standoffs between law enforcement and demonstrators at the facility, as protestors could be seen in photographs and videos fighting over barricades as police used riot shields to push them back. A video posted on social media showed police on horseback marching into crowds attempting to break up groups of protestors.

The high-profile demonstrations at Delaney Hall began earlier this month after advocates said detainees inside launched a hunger strike over poor living conditions at the 1,000-bed facility, the latest hotbed of opposition over the federal government’s immigration crackdown.

New Jersey state police on Friday relieved federal immigration enforcement agents who had been facing off against protestors at the facility for days.

In a statement Sunday morning, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said masked individuals attacked a barrier in a designated protest area set up by state police and were “throwing projectiles, utilizing the barriers as weapons, and lighting tires on fire in the street.”

“These actions put both peaceful protestors and law enforcement in danger,” Sherrill said, urging calm to focus on advocating for “better conditions for the detainees, for their families, and ultimately, for the closure of Delaney Hall.”

Sherrill also said that the federal government has reopened family visits at Delaney Hall starting Sunday.

Asked about visitations resuming, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security provided a statement that said “To be clear: Visitation was only suspended because of violent riots. Now that we have a secure perimeter, visitation can resume.”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

FBI Scientist Indicted for Possessing Child Abuse Material

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FBI Scientist Indicted for Possessing Child Abuse Material

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) An FBI scientist was indicted Thursday on a slew of child-pornography related charges, including for the advertisement, transportation, distribution, receipt and possession of such heinous material.

The FBI scientist, microbiologist Cary Andre Rue, was first put under investigation after Google submitted multiple tips last September about his email account to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. According to charging documents, Google reported that Rue had uploaded more than 50 files of suspected child pornography to his Google Drive account.

In April of this year, the FBI executed search warrants on more than 25 electronic devices owned by Rue—allegedly finding more than 3,000 sexually explicit videos depicting minors as young as babies. Agents also allegedly found Rue talking about finding teenage prostitutes the next time he goes overseas, and insinuating that he had sex with minors in Bulgaria.

He was arrested on May 4 and indicted Thursday. His arraignment is set for this Tuesday in Alexandria federal court.

Rue resides in Stafford, Virginia, maintains an office at the FBI lab in Quantico, and has a top secret security clearance, according to court records.

He’s the second Virginia-based FBI official to be charged with a sex crime in May. Earlier this month, FBI supervisor Timothy Healy was reportedly charged with felony sexual battery in Indiana. Healy lives in Virginia and was reportedly visiting someone he knew in Indianapolis when the alleged crime took place. Further details aren’t public yet.

The FBI still lists Healy on its website—listing him as a supervisory agent who serves with the bureau’s Crisis Negotiation Unit in Quantico, Virginia.

Healy also had a bio on Georgetown University’s website, but that has been removed. According to an archived version of the deleted page, Healy has some 23 years of federal service under his belt.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

US Says It Fired Hellfire Missile at Cargo Ship Attempting To Reach Iran

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US Says It Fired Hellfire Missile at Cargo Ship Attempting To Reach Iran

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) US Central Command said on Saturday that its forces fired a Hellfire missile at a Gambia-flagged commercial vessel to prevent it from reaching an Iranian port as the US continues to attack civilian ships in its enforcement of a blockade on Iran.

“US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces observed M/V Lian Star transiting international waters toward an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman and issued more than 20 warnings while informing the vessel it was in violation of the US blockade,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

“A US aircraft disabled the vessel by firing a Hellfire missile into the ship’s engine room after Lian Star’s crew failed to comply. The ship is no longer transiting to Iran,” the command added. Hellfire missiles are typically launched from US military drones, such as the MQ-9 Reaper, and helicopters, including the MH-60 Seahawk and the AH-64 Apache.

An MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter lifts off from the flight deck of USS Tripoli as it enforces the US blockade of Iranian ports (CENTCOM photo)

CENTCOM said that its forces have “disabled five commercial vessels and redirected 116 to fully enforce the blockade as a ceasefire with Iran remains in effect.”

The command said the attack occurred on Friday, May 29, the same day President Trump suggested in a post on Truth Social that he may lift the blockade on Iran, but US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Saturday that the blockade is still “very much in place.”

On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said that its forces shot down a US MQ-1 Predator drone over Iran’s territorial waters. “An aggressive MQ-1 drone belonging to the US military, which entered Iranian airspace over territorial waters with the aim of carrying out a hostile operation, was identified and destroyed by the IRGC’s modern air defense missiles at dawn today,” the IRGC said.

The IRGC also said on Sunday that it allowed 28 ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz over the previous 24-hour period. Iran has been allowing more vessels to transit the strait under its newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority, which the US targeted with sanctions.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

Senate Candidate’s Wife Defends Her Cheating Husband

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Senate Candidate’s Wife Defends Her Cheating Husband

(Headline USA) Graham Platner’s wife called reports that her husband had previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women “shameful” over the weekend, the latest controversy to hit the Maine Democrat’s whirlwind campaign.

Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran, posted a video taken by his wife, Amy Gertner, who reportedly told his campaign of the text messages last year. In the five minute video, Gertner avoided speaking directly about her husband’s reported texts, dubbing the broader coverage as “gossip” and saying that “being married is hard.”

“I find it really shameful that there’s a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip,” she said in the informal, selfie-style video where she walked along a road. “No marriage is perfect, and I don’t want a perfect marriage. I want my marriage.”

Platner is seeking the Democratic nomination for one of the most closely-watched Senate races as Democrats hope to defeat longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins in the party’s efforts to win control of the closely divided Senate. The Maine primary is June 9.

The texts were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, which wrote that Gertner had told the campaign in August about the messages she had found on Platner’s phone earlier in their marriage. The New York Times, which also published a story Saturday about the texts, named former aide Genevieve McDonald as one of the then-campaign staffers who confirmed the messages.

Both newspapers reported that Gertner wanted to ensure the texts didn’t pose a political liability to the novice candidate. Platner’s campaign team eventually decided that the texts were private and being handled by the couple, who were married in 2023. The two are in counseling, Gertner has said.

Platner’s campaign on Sunday did not specifically confirm the text messages to The Associated Press, but issued a statement from Gertner saying the disclosure of the conversations she had with a campaign aide was a betrayal that “deeply hurt.”

“I trusted this person with the most private chapter of our lives — the early days of our marriage before any campaign was on our mind,” she wrote.

It’s not Platner’s first controversy

Platner, who has never held public office, has a gruff, less buttoned-up approach on the campaign trail, fashioned a platform around economic equality and has already had to navigate statements that surfaced from his past.

The candidate had a tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol, which he said he didn’t realize until he was several weeks into the campaign. There’s also been much attention on his former Reddit posts, which were dismissive of military sexual assaults and used homophobic slurs, for which he has apologized.

Platner’s campaign weathered those earlier revelations in what had been considered one of the most competitive Democratic primaries before Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race in late April due to a lack of campaign funds. Mills, a two-term governor, had been seen as one of the Democrats’ top 2026 recruits when she entered the Senate race before her campaign fizzled out.

Platner has still pulled support from big name Democrats, including Sens. Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Ruben Gallego as well as U.S. House Rep. Ro Khanna. The latter is scheduled to rally with Platner Friday, and so far, it appears he hasn’t lost any endorsements with this latest texting revelation.

Two Democratic senators on Sunday declined to directly address the topic when pressed by reporters. Connecticut’s Sen. Chris Murphy told Face the Nation that Platner had served his country and community, but “also made mistakes and he has admitted that.” Meanwhile, on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, New Jersey’s Sen. Andy Kim sidestepped giving his personal opinions of the reports about Platner.

“With any campaign in the country, the character and the transparency about the different candidates is going to come out,” said Kim, “and the voters are going to decide what they ultimately think.”

Barreling forward Sunday, Platner posted a video on X from an event “happening now” where he entered a room to a standing ovation from ecstatic supporters.

Questions over whether additional controversial information about Platner could still surface have added to some Democrats’ anxiety over his chances in a general election against Collins, who has represented Maine in the Senate since 1997.

In October, after the revelation that he once had a Totenkopf tattoo on his chest and promptly had it covered, the AP asked him if other scandals were on the horizon.

Platner said he was expecting his opponents were “going to keep dragging things up.”

“They’re go to keep making things up,” he said “I fully expect people to just lie about me at this point.”

Voters are familiar with the couple’s struggles, including with infertility and travelling out of the country to afford IVF treatment, which they’ve discussed on the campaign trail.

In late April, Platner shared that Gertner had suffered a miscarriage, and he’s discussed his own mental health struggles and the role of his family and therapist in helping.

Former aide explains why she went public

McDonald initially worked on Platner’s campaign as his political director and resigned a few months later when his now-deleted Reddit posts began surfacing, saying she couldn’t stand behind him as a candidate. She later declined a severance offer from the campaign in exchange for signing a non-disclosure agreement.

On Saturday, McDonald wrote on Facebook that Platner’s campaign had “demanded” she retract her statements she had made to The Wall Street Journal or his team would accuse her of violating the couple’s trust. That’s when she said she made the choice to be publicly named in The New York Times story.

McDonald did not immediately respond to a text and phone call from the AP on Sunday.

“His consultants greatly overestimate how much I do not aspire to be them,” she wrote on Facebook.

After resigning from Platner’s campaign, McDonald moved to help Democrat Jordan Wood’s congressional campaign in Maine’s second district. McDonald submitted her resignation from Wood’s campaign Saturday morning, according to Wood’s campaign.

Wood endorsed Platner after Mills dropped out.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Anti-Trump Billionaire Responds to DOJ Criminal Probe

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Anti-Trump Billionaire Responds to DOJ Criminal Probe

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Liberal billionaire Reid Hoffman issued a seemingly panicked response to reports that the DOJ is investigating the nonprofit organization he used to bankroll E. Jean Carroll’s lawsuits against President Donald Trump.

The reportedly wide-ranging probe centers on whether Carroll misled attorneys during the litigation about her knowledge of Hoffman’s financial backing of the lawsuits.

Another aspect of the investigation reportedly focuses on Hoffman and potential money-laundering violations tied to the nonprofit.

“Trump’s newest accusation of me is absurdly false. The premise of the investigation would be laughable if the subject matter weren’t so serious,” Hoffman wrote, without specifying which allegation he  disputed.

Hoffman also suggested the scrutiny is the product from his financial support of Carroll’s lawsuits against Trump.

According to the leftist  New York Times, Carroll was asked during a 2022 deposition whether “anyone else” was paying her legal fees. Carroll replied no.

The DOJ investigation is being conducted out of Chicago, where American Future Republic is headquartered. The nonprofit, founded by Hoffman, paid the attorneys who represented Carroll in her lawsuits against Trump.

Carroll, an 82-year-old former magazine columnist, accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s. She produced no physical evidence of the purported assault. However, she successfully convinced a New York jury  that the incident likely occurred.

Initial reports suggested that criminal investigators were examining whether Carroll committed perjury during the litigation.

The DOJ later clarified that no such investigation existed. Subsequent reporting, however, indicated that prosecutors were instead examining the Hoffman-backed nonprofit that financed the lawsuits.

Notably, Hoffman’s response did not address the allegations surrounding the nonprofit.

Trump to Headline Nation’s 250th Birthday Bash for after Artists Drop Out

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Trump to Headline Nation’s 250th Birthday Bash for after Artists Drop Out

(Headline USA) An upcoming celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, “The Great American State Fair,” recently had several musical guests back out partly over the event’s ties to President Donald Trump. Now, Trump himself is slated to headline the festivities, the organizers said Saturday.

“I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance,” Trump posted to his social media platform Truth Social Saturday, adding that he was thinking of bringing “the man who some say is the Greatest President in History (THE GOAT!), DONALD J. TRUMP, to take the place of these highly paid, Third Rate ‘Artists.’”

The group organizing the June fair on Washington’s National Mall, Freedom 250, confirmed the billing in a statement, writing, “we are excited to announce that President Trump will personally kick off this historic celebration on Wednesday, June 24.”

Trump’s social media post twice referenced him holding a rally “Wednesday,” without a specific date. The White House did not immediately clarify the discrepancy.

Danielle Alvarez, a spokesperson for Freedom 250, emphasized the broader fair that is scheduled from June 25 through July 10 includes an array of exhibits, family friendly attractions, musical performances, flyovers and more.

Trump was dismissive of the acts that backed out, suggesting in a follow-up post that the solution is to “Cancel it.”

“We should have a giant MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN RALLY, for 250, instead of having overpriced singers, who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring, and yet who do nothing but complain,” Trump said on social media.

Freedom 250 is billed as nonpartisan, but was launched last year by Trump and is led by a former State Department appointee from Trump’s first term. Several artists, including Bret Michaels, the Commodores and Martina McBride dropped out last week.

Michaels and other artists have said that they were misled about the theme of the shows or were otherwise wary of being caught up in a political fight. McBride, in a statement on Instagram, said she had been “presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event but that turned out to be misleading.”

Other artists plan to attend, including Flo Rida, Fab Morvan of Milli Vanilli and Vanilla Ice. The latter’s representative previously said that the “Ice Ice Baby” rapper was “proud to help celebrate America’s 250th Anniversary!”

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

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