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Hundreds of Venezuelans swept up in Donald Trump’s immigration dragnet were abruptly freed from a maximum security Salvadoran jail and sent home as part of a prisoner swap Friday, ending a months-long high-profile ordeal. The 252 men were accused — without evidence — of being gang members and flown to the notorious CECOT “anti-terror” jail last March.There, they were shackled, shorn and paraded before cameras — becoming emblematic of Trump’s immigration crackdown and drawing howls of protest.On Friday, after months of legal challenges and political stonewalling, the men arrived at an airport near Caracas.The Trump administration said they were released in exchange for 10 Americans or US residents held in Venezuela, and an undefined number of “political prisoners.””Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on social media.The migrants’ return to Venezuela sparked tearful celebrations from family members who had heard nothing from them in months.”I don’t have words to explain how I feel!” said Juan Yamarte. “My brother (Mervin) is back home, back in Venezuela.”Mervin’s mother told AFP she could not contain her happiness. “I arranged a party and I’m making a soup,” she said.The men had been deported from the United States under rarely used wartime powers and denied court hearings. Exiled Salvadoran rights group Cristosal believes that just seven of the 252 men had criminal records.Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro thanked Trump for “the decision to rectify this totally irregular situation.”- ‘High price’ -In the United States, families were also excited to see their loved ones return. One had been imprisoned for nearly a year.Global Reach, an NGO that works for wrongly detained Americans, said one of the men freed was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, held since he was “kidnapped” by Venezuelan border guards while vacationing in Colombia in January.”We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal,” it quoted his younger sister Sophie Hunter as saying.Uruguay said one of its citizens, resident in the United States, was among those liberated after nine months in Venezuelan detention.Another plane arrived at Maiquetia airport earlier Friday from Houston with 244 Venezuelans deported from the United States and seven children who Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said had been “rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected.”The children were among 30 who Caracas says remained in the US after their Venezuelan parents were deported.Clamping down on migrants is a flagship pursuit of Trump’s administration, which has ramped up raids and deportations.It has agreed with Maduro to send undocumented Venezuelans back home, and flights have been arriving near daily also from Mexico, where many got stuck trying to enter the United States.Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico, including some 1,000 children.The Venezuelans detained in El Salvador had no right to phone calls or visits, and their relatives unsuccessfully requested proof of life.Bukele had CECOT built as part of his war on criminal gangs, but he agreed to receive millions of dollars from the United States to house the Venezuelans there.Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have denounced the detentions as a violation of human rights.burs-arb/mlm

US President Donald Trump sued media magnate Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal for at least $10 billion Friday over publication of a bombshell article on his friendship with the infamous alleged sex trafficker of underage girls, Jeffrey Epstein.The defamation lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, saw the 79-year-old Republican hitting back at a scandal threatening to cause serious political damage.”We have just filed a POWERHOUSE Lawsuit against everyone involved in publishing the false, malicious, defamatory, FAKE NEWS ‘article’ in the useless ‘rag’ that is, The Wall Street Journal,” Trump posted on Truth Social late Friday.The Journal reported Thursday that in 2003, the then-real estate magnate wrote a suggestive birthday letter to Epstein, illustrated with a naked woman and alluding to a shared “secret.”The lawsuit, which also names two reporters, the Dow Jones corporation, and Murdoch’s parent company News Corp. as defendants, claims that no such letter exists and that the paper intended to malign Trump with a story that has now been viewed by hundreds of millions of people.”And given the timing of the Defendants’ article, which shows their malicious intent behind it, the overwhelming financial and reputational harm suffered by President Trump will continue to multiply,” it said.Dow Jones, the Journal’s longtime publisher, responded to Trump’s libel suit Friday saying it is standing by the story.”We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting, and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit,” a Dow Jones spokesperson said in a statement.- Alleged cover-up -In another bid to dampen outrage among his own supporters about an alleged government cover-up of Epstein’s activities and 2019 death, Trump ordered US Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the unsealing of grand jury testimony from the prosecution against the disgraced financier.In a filing in New York, Bondi cited “extensive public interest” for the unusual request to release what is typically secret testimony.Epstein, a longtime friend of Trump and multiple high-profile men, was found hanging dead in a New York prison cell while awaiting trial on charges that he sexually exploited dozens of underage girls at his homes in New York and Florida.The case sparked conspiracy theories, especially among Trump’s far-right voters, about an alleged international cabal of wealthy pedophiles. Epstein’s death — declared a suicide — before he could face trial supercharged the narrative.When Trump returned to power for a second term this January, his supporters clamored for revelations about Epstein’s supposed list of clients. But Bondi issued an official memo this month declaring there was no such list.The discontent in Trump’s “Make America Great Again” base poses a rare challenge to the Republican’s control of the political narrative in the United States.It remained unclear whether a court would authorize the unsealing of the grand jury testimony.But even if such material were made public, there is no assurance it would shed much, if any, light on the main questions raised in the conspiracy theories — particularly the existence and possible contents of an Epstein client list.Asked Friday by reporters if he would pursue the broader release of information related to the case, Trump did not answer.- Naked woman and signature -Trump was close with Epstein for years, and the two were photographed and videoed together at parties, although there has never been evidence of wrongdoing.The Wall Street Journal article published late Thursday was damaging because it indicated a shared interest in sex.The Journal reported that Trump had wished Epstein a happy 50th birthday in 2003 with a “bawdy” letter, part of an album of messages from rich and well-known figures.According to the Journal, the Trump letter contained the outline of a naked woman, apparently drawn with a marker, and had the future president’s signature “Donald” mimicking pubic hair. It ends, according to the newspaper, with “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”Trump reacted in a series of furious social media posts, saying “it’s not my language. It’s not my words.””I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women,” he said.US media has published multiple drawings done by Trump in the past, with several dating to the early 2000s when he used his celebrity status to donate sketches for charity.

Donald Trump has spent six months testing the limits of his authority like no other modern US president, say analysts — browbeating Congress and the courts in a power grab that may come to define his second term.Since January, the Republican leader has repeatedly pushed to secure more power for himself, calling for judges to be axed, firing independent watchdogs and sidestepping the legislative process.Barbara Perry, a University of Virginia professor and an expert on the presidency, called Trump’s successes in shattering the restraints on his office “frightening.”  “All presidents have been subject to Congress’s and the Supreme Court’s checks on their power, as well as splits in their own political parties,” she said. “Trump has faced almost none of these counterpoints in this second term.”It is all a far cry from his first stint in office, when Trump and his supporters believe he was hamstrung by investigations and “deep state” officials seeking to frustrate his agenda.But those guardrails have looked brittle this time around as Trump has fired federal workers, dismantled government departments and sent military troops into the streets to quell protest. He has also sought to exert his influence well beyond traditional presidential reach, ruthlessly targeting universities and the press, and punishing law firms he believes have crossed him.- Checks and balances -The US system of checks and balances — the administration, the courts and Congress as equal but separate branches of government — is designed to ensure no one amasses too much power.But when it comes to Trump’s agenda — whether ending diversity efforts and birthright citizenship or freezing foreign aid — he has largely dodged the hard work of shepherding bills through Congress.Policies have instead been enacted by presidential edict.Six months in, Trump has already announced more second-term executive orders than any American leader since Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.He has even sought to bend the economy to his will, escalating attacks on the chief of the independent central bank in a bid to lower interest rates. Once a robust restraining force against presidential overreach, the Republican-led Congress has largely forsaken its oversight role, foregoing the investigations that previous presidents have faced.That has left the judiciary as the main gatekeeper.But Trump has managed partly to neuter the authority of the federal bench too, winning a Supreme Court opinion that mostly reduces the reach of judges’ rulings to their own states. In his first term the high court made Trump immune from prosecution for actions taken as part of his official duties — no matter how criminal.And almost every time Trump has turned to the country’s highest legal tribunal to rein in the lower courts in his second term, it has obliged.- Sole authority -His long shadow has extended far beyond Washington’s institutions, pushing into private realms his predecessors avoided.Trump has picked fights with elite universities, prestigious law firms and the press — threatening funding or their ability to do business. The arts haven’t escaped his clunking fist either, with the 79-year-old taking over the running of the Kennedy Center in Washington. Trump has claimed falsely that the US Constitution gives him the right to do whatever he wants as the ultimate authority over government activities.This so-called “unitary executive theory” was pushed in the “Project 2025” blueprint for government produced by Trump’s right-wing allies during last year’s election campaign.Although he disavowed “Project 2025″ after it became politically toxic, Trump’s own platform made the same claims for expansive presidential powers.Pessimistic about the other branches’ ability to hold the administration to account, the minority Democrats have largely been limited to handwringing in press conferences.Political strategist Andrew Koneschusky, a former senior Democratic Senate aide, believes the checks on Trump’s authority may ultimately have to be political rather than legal or constitutional. He points to Trump’s tanking polling numbers — especially on his signature issue of immigration following mass deportations of otherwise law-abiding undocumented migrants.”It’s not entirely comforting that politics and public opinion are the primary checks on his power,” Koneschusky said.”It would be better to see Congress flex its muscle as a co-equal branch of government. But it’s at least something.”

Jeffrey Epstein, the abuser at the center of a conspiracy theory creating political headwinds for President Donald Trump, was facing federal charges of sex trafficking underage girls when he was found dead in his New York prison cell.Six years later, the death of the wealthy and well-connected financier continues to reverberate, leaving major questions unanswered.Here is a breakdown of the legal cases and recent developments surrounding Epstein:- Florida case -Epstein’s first serious trouble with the law came in 2006 after the parents of a 14-year-old told police he had molested their daughter at his Florida estate.Epstein avoided federal charges — which could have seen him face life in prison — through a controversial plea deal with prosecutors.In June 2008, he pleaded guilty to state felony charges of procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution and solicitation of prostitution.He was jailed for just under 13 months and required to register as a sex offender.- New York sex trafficking -A federal grand jury in New York charged Epstein on July 2, 2019 with two felony counts: conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minor girls and sex trafficking of minor girls.He was arrested four days later but was found dead in his prison cell on August 10, before the case came to trial. His death was ruled a suicide.The grand jury indictment accused Epstein of having “sexually exploited and abused dozens of minor girls,” some as young as 14, at his Manhattan mansion and Palm Beach estate.Epstein and employees and associates recruited girls “to engage in sex acts with him, after which he would give the victims hundreds of dollars in cash,” it said.Epstein also paid his victims to provide him with other girls, the indictment said, creating a “vast network of underage victims for him to sexually exploit.”The indictment did not name the employees or associates who recruited girls for Epstein.But British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s one-time girlfriend and assistant, was convicted in 2021 in New York with sex trafficking of minors on his behalf.Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence.- The memo -Trump’s conspiracy-minded supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years and Trump, during his latest presidential campaign, said he would “probably” release what have come to be known as the “Epstein files.”They were outraged when the Justice Department and FBI announced on July 7 that Epstein had indeed committed suicide, did not blackmail any prominent figures and did not keep a “client list.”The “exhaustive review” also did not reveal any illegal wrongdoing by “third-parties,” the joint memo said, adding that there would be no further disclosure of information about the case.The memo sparked a fierce backlash from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement — which has long held as an article of faith that “deep state” elites were protecting powerful associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.Right-wing supporters typically did not include former Epstein friend Trump in their conspiracy theories.- Trump and Epstein -The 79-year-old Trump, who was friends with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, has been seeking — unsuccessfully so far — to tamp down the uproar caused by the FBI memo putting a lid on the case.No evidence has emerged of any wrongdoing by Trump, but The Wall Street Journal published details Thursday of a raunchy letter he purportedly sent Epstein in 2003 to mark his 50th birthday.The president on Friday sued Dow Jones, News Corp, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the newspaper’s owner Rupert Murdoch, for libel and slander in relation to the article.He is seeking at least $10 billion in damages in a defamation lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami.Trump also ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of the grand jury testimony in Epstein’s New York case.In a filing in New York, Bondi cited “extensive public interest” for the unusual request to release what is typically secret testimony.

Scores of Venezuelans deported from the United States arrived back home from a notorious Salvadoran jail Friday, as a prisoner swap agreement ended a months-long ordeal decried by rights groups.As two planes transporting the men touched down in the evening at the main airport serving Caracas, President Nicolas Maduro thanked his US counterpart Donald Trump for making it happen.”Free, free at last!” the Venezuelan leader rejoiced at a public event.The Trump administration said the men were released in exchange for 10 Americans held in Venezuela, and an unknown number of “political prisoners” in the South American country.The United States had sent a group of 252 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador in March to be locked up in its feared CECOT anti-“terrorism” jail, accused without evidence of belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang.Trump invoked rarely used wartime laws to have the men flown to the Central American nation without any court hearings.”Today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on X.”I can’t contain my happiness,” Mercedes Yamarte, mother of CECOT inmate Mervin Yamarte, told AFP ahead of the aircrafts’ arrival.”I arranged the reception, what am I going to do? I’ll make a soup.”Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and other officials boarded the first plane to land, and passengers could be heard singing the Venezuelan anthem. Maduro thanked Trump for “the decision to rectify this totally irregular situation.”The number of migrants on the two planes has not been confirmed.- ‘High price’ -US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X Friday that “ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela are on their way to freedom” thanks to a deal that also included “the release of Venezuelan political prisoners.”He thanked Bukele “for helping secure an agreement for the release of all of our American detainees.”The US embassy in Caracas published a photo of the individuals with American flags.In the United States, families were also excited to see their loved ones return. One had been imprisoned for nearly a year.Global Reach, an NGO that works for wrongly detained Americans, said one of the men freed was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, held since he was “kidnapped” by Venezuelan border guards while vacationing in Colombia in January.”We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal,” it quoted his younger sister Sophie Hunter as saying.Uruguay said one of its citizens, resident in the United States, was among those liberated after nine months in Venezuelan detention.Venezuela’s government in a statement said it had paid a “high price” to secure the return of its compatriots: “terrorists for innocents,” according to Maduro. Apart from the freeing of the Americans, it said “alternative measures” to imprisonment had been granted to Venezuelans detained for “their involvement in common crimes and offenses against the constitutional order.”The prisoner rights NGO Foro Penal told AFP it was verifying the identities of the people concerned. – ‘Rescued’ – Another plane arrived at Maiquetia airport earlier Friday from Houston with 244 Venezuelans deported from the United States and seven children who Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said had been “rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected.”The children were among 30 who Caracas says remained in the US after their Venezuelan parents were deported.Clamping down on migrants is a flagship pursuit of Trump’s administration, which has ramped up raids and deportations.It has agreed with Maduro to send undocumented Venezuelans back home, and flights have been arriving near daily also from Mexico, where many got stuck trying to enter the United States.Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico, including some 1,000 children.The Venezuelans detained in El Salvador had no right to phone calls or visits, and their relatives unsuccessfully requested proof of life.Bukele had CECOT built as part of his war on criminal gangs, but he agreed to receive millions of dollars from the United States to house the Venezuelans there.Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have denounced the detentions as a violation of human rights.burs-mlr/mlm

El Salvador on Friday freed scores of Venezuelans deported from the United States to a notorious maximum security prison, the outcome of a highly coordinated prisoner swap between Caracas and Washington.The administration of US President Donald Trump said the men were released in exchange for 10 Americans held in Venezuela, and an unknown number of “political prisoners” in the South American country.The move appears to end a months-long detention of migrants that had been decried by rights groups and slammed by Trump’s critics in the United States.After prolonged uncertainty over the fate of more than 250 Venezuelans expelled from the United States in March, two Caracas-bound Venezuelan planes took off from San Salvador on Friday to the immense joy and relief of loved ones back home.”I can’t contain my happiness,” Mercedes Yamarte, mother of CECOT inmate Mervin Yamarte, told AFP.”I arranged the reception, what am I going to do? I’ll make a soup.”Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said on X that “today, we have handed over all the Venezuelan nationals detained in our country.”The United States sent the group of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador in March to be locked up in its feared CECOT anti-“terrorism” jail, accused without evidence of belonging to the Tren de Aragua criminal gang.The Trump administration invoked rarely used wartime laws to fly the men to the Central American nation without any court hearings.Bukele claimed in his post that many of the men “face multiple charges for murder, robbery, rape, and other serious crimes.”- ‘High price’ -US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X Friday that “ten Americans who were detained in Venezuela are on their way to freedom” thanks to a deal that also included “the release of Venezuelan political prisoners.”He thanked Bukele “for helping secure an agreement for the release of all of our American detainees.”The US embassy in Caracas published a photo of the individuals with American flags.In the United States, families were also excited to see their loved ones return. One had been imprisoned for nearly a year.Global Reach, an NGO that works for wrongly detained Americans, said one of the men freed was 37-year-old Lucas Hunter, held since he was “kidnapped” by Venezuelan border guards while vacationing in Colombia in January.”We cannot wait to see him in person and help him recover from the ordeal,” it quoted his younger sister Sophie Hunter as saying.Uruguay said one of its citizens, resident in the United States, was among those liberated after nine months in Venezuelan detention.Nicolas Maduro’s government in a statement said it had paid a “high price” to secure the return of its compatriots.Apart from the freeing of the Americans, it said “alternative measures” to imprisonment had been granted to Venezuelans detained for “their involvement in common crimes and offenses against the constitutional order.”The prisoner rights NGO Foro Penal told AFP it was verifying the identities of the people concerned. – ‘Rescued’ – Another plane arrived at Maiquetia airport earlier Friday from Houston with 244 Venezuelans deported from the United States and seven children who Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said had been “rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected.”The children were among 30 who Caracas says remained in the United States after their Venezuelan parents were expelled.Clamping down on migrants is a flagship pursuit of Trump’s administration, which has ramped up raids and deportations.It has agreed with Maduro to send undocumented Venezuelans back home, and flights have been arriving near daily also from Mexico, where many got stuck trying to enter the United States.Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico, including some 1,000 children.The Venezuelans detained in El Salvador had no right to phone calls or visits, and their relatives unsuccessfully requested proof of life.Bukele had CECOT built as part of his war on criminal gangs, but he agreed to receive millions of dollars from the United States to house the Venezuelans there.Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have denounced the detentions as a violation of human rights.burs-mlr/mlm

The US Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it was moving ahead with plans to axe its workforce by more than 3,700 employees, as part of sweeping government cuts under President Donald Trump’s second term.In January, the federal agency tasked with ensuring clean air, land and water counted 16,155 employees.Under the third round of “Deferred Resignation Program” cuts, that figure will drop to 12,448, a 22.9 percent reduction.The cuts are made up of employees who took deferred resignation — a program pushed by former Trump administration chief cost-cutter Elon Musk — along with those who opted for early retirement or were laid off.”EPA has taken a close look at our operations to ensure the agency is better equipped than ever to deliver on our core mission of protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement.  “This reduction in force will ensure we can better fulfill that mission while being responsible stewards of your hard-earned tax dollars,” he added.The statement added the cuts would generate $748.8 million in savings.The White House is seeking to slash the EPA’s budget by 54 percent to $4.2 billion for Fiscal Year 2026. Friday’s announcement drops staffing to below the 12,856 full-time positions outlined in the president’s proposed budget.The agency’s scientific research arm — the Office of Research and Development — is also being dismantled, replaced by a smaller Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions.According to the EPA, the new office will work to eliminate backlogs in reviewing hundreds of chemicals and thousands of pesticides, while developing a new strategy to address so-called “forever chemicals,” or PFAS.Zeldin has been at the forefront of Trump’s push to aggressively deregulate pollution protections and “unleash” fossil fuels, drawing fierce backlash from scientists and environment advocates alike.Earlier this month the EPA suspended 139 employees after they signed a scathing open letter accusing Zeldin of pushing policies hazardous to both people and the planet.

Three people died Friday in an explosion at a police training facility in Los Angeles, in what one local official called an accident.”Tragically, they were three sworn members who were fatally killed,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said. “No other department members were injured or transported to any hospitals.”Speaking to reporters hours after the incident, Luna stressed that authorities had yet to determine the cause of the blast, but that there was no threat to the community.”Within the last 30 minutes, the LAPD bomb squad rendered the scene safe,” the sheriff said. “We have to go back and investigate what happened from the very beginning. I don’t have the facts at this point.”Homicide detectives and personnel from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene, along with a bomb disposal unit from the Los Angeles Police Department.An elected city official from the area where the blast took place ruled out terrorism and called it “a tragic accident.””Early on, there were people speculating that this was intentional by, you know, some terrorists, but it was not, is what I’m hearing. It was a tragic accident,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger said.The Los Angeles Times newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying that the facility’s bomb squad was moving explosives following a bomb alert when the blast took place. Law enforcement personnel enforced a large security perimeter around the parking lot where the explosion occurred, an AFP photographer saw.- ‘Horrific incident’ -Sheriff Luna said it was the largest loss of life for his department since 1857 and that the three people killed had served the country for a total of 74 years. Their names have not yet been released. US Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X that there “appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility” and that investigators were on-site “working to learn more.”Mayor Karen Bass said “arson investigators and members of the LAPD bomb squad are assisting” at the scene in the Biscailuz Training Center in the Monterey Park area.”The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” she said on X. California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said he had been briefed, and was “closely monitoring the situation.”Footage from local station KTLA, which helicoptered over the training center, showed a person in bomb disposal gear working around a truck believed to contain explosives, which law enforcement personnel had covered with a large tent.

Venezuela on Friday received seven children who had been left behind in the United States after their parents were deported by the Donald Trump administration.Seven boys and girls have been “rescued from the kidnapping to which they were being subjected,” Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said at Maiquetia International Airport that serves Caracas.Cabello and First Lady Cilia Flores received the flight from Houston that also brought back 244 Venezuelans.Hundreds of people protested in Caracas last week demanding the return of at least 30 children the government says remained in the United States after their Venezuelan parents were expelled.Last month, parliamentary president Jorge Rodriguez said the children were “separated from their mothers, their fathers, their family, their grandparents” and “taken to institutions where they don’t belong.”Cabello said Friday the government was working hard “to bring the children back.”He did not say when the seven were separated from their parents. Official figures show that since February, more than 8,200 people, including many children, have been repatriated to Venezuela from the United States and Mexico. 

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” a staple of late-night US television, will end in 2026, the CBS network said, days after the comedian blasted parent company Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump as “a big fat bribe.”CBS said in a statement the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night,” and was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.””Next year will be our last season,” the host announced on Thursday’s episode, to boos and shouts of disbelief. “The network will be ending the show in May.”Paramount reached the settlement with Trump this month in a lawsuit the entertainment giant had described as meritless.Trump had sued Paramount for $20 billion last year, alleging that CBS News’ “60 Minutes” news program deceptively edited an interview with his 2024 election rival, Kamala Harris, in her favor.Paramount is meanwhile seeking to close its $8 billion merger with the entertainment company Skydance, which needs federal government approval.Colbert said on Thursday the cancellation was not just the end of his show but the end of the decades-old “Late Show” franchise, which has been broadcast continuously on CBS since 1993 and was previously hosted by David Letterman.”I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” Colbert said.-‘America deserves to know’-Trump celebrated the cancellation, writing on his Truth Social platform, “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.”Trump’s political opponents and other critics drew attention to the timing of the decision.”CBS canceled Colbert’s show just THREE DAYS after Colbert called out CBS parent company Paramount for its $16M settlement with Trump — a deal that looks like bribery,” Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said on social media platform X.”America deserves to know if his show was canceled for political reasons,” Warren said.Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, who was a guest on Colbert’s show on Thursday, said: “If Paramount and CBS ended the ‘Late Show’ for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”The Writers Guild of America called on the New York attorney general to investigate whether the move by CBS was intended to improperly curry favor with Trump.”Given Paramount’s recent capitulation to President Trump in the CBS News lawsuit, the Writers Guild of America has significant concerns that The Late Show’s cancelation is a bribe, sacrificing free speech to curry favor with the Trump Administration as the company looks for merger approval,” it said in a statement.Jimmy Fallon, host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” and one of Colbert’s rivals, posted on Instagram that “I’m just as shocked as everyone.””I really thought I’d ride this out with him for years to come,” wrote Fallon, whom Trump had earlier referred to as “the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show.”Late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose program airs on ABC, chimed in: “Love you Stephen.”CBS said in its Thursday statement it was “proud that Stephen called CBS home.””He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television,” its statement said.Colbert, once a regular on Comedy Central, made use of humor in his incisive political commentary and succeeded Letterman as the host of “The Late Show” in 2015.The late-night television landscape has long been dominated by satirical comedy shows that blend entertainment with political commentary. For decades, these programs have served as television touchstones, with hosts like Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Letterman and — more recently — Colbert, Fallon and Kimmel shaping public discourse through humor and celebrity interviews.