In June 2019, Susan Gordon stood on a stage at the Washington Convention Center. Behind her loomed three giant letters, “AWS,” the abbreviation for Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing division of the giant Internet retailer. After three decades at the Central Intelligence Agency, Gordon had risen to one of the top jobs in the cloak-and-dagger world: principal deputy director of national intelligence. From that perch she publicly extolled the virtues of Amazon Web Services and the cloud services the tech giant provides the CIA.
Read MoreTag: Trump administration
Trump National Security Official Says Evidence for Wuhan Lab Error ‘Far Outweighs’ Other Theories
Matt Pottinger, who served as deputy national security adviser under former President Donald Trump, said Sunday that the evidence that the coronavirus resulted from human error in a Chinese lab “far outweighs” other theories about the origins of the pandemic.
“If you weigh the circumstantial evidence, the ledger on the side of an explanation that says that this resulted from some kind of human error, it far outweighs the side of the scale that says this was some natural outbreak,” Pottinger said in an interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
Read MoreJanuary Border Arrests Reach Highest Level in a Decade as Some Migrants Expect Softer Treatment Under Biden
Over 75,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended for crossing the border into the U.S. last month, breaking record numbers for the highest number of January apprehensions in over a decade, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The majority of illegal immigrants who were apprehended in January 2021 were single adults, though Border Patrol agents detained 7,260 migrants traveling as family units, nearly 3,000 more than in December 2020, the WSJ reported. Some of the migrants said they are illegally crossing the border with the hope that the Biden administration will be more forgiving than the Trump administration.
Read MoreTrump Turns Down Nikki Haley Meeting Request
Donald Trump this week refused to meet his former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Politico’s Playbook reported details of the meeting requested by the prospective 2024 presidential candidate, citing a “source familiar” with the incident, according to Breitbart.
Read MoreLincoln Project Co-Founder Rick Wilson Paid off $200K Mortgage After Weaver Allegations Surfaced
Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson paid off the massive mortgage on his Florida home only days after the New York Times reported on sexual misconduct allegations against co-founder John Weaver, public records show.
Wilson’s $200,000, 30-year-mortgage originated in 2007 and JPMorgan Chase Bank recently issued a certificate of satisfaction on the mortgage, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Read MoreCommentary: How Mail-In Voting Affected the 2020 Election
What factors propelled Joe Biden to victory in the November 2020 election? Did voters abandon Donald Trump in droves? Are liberals, socialists, and statists gaining ground in the United States of America?
I don’t think so, but I don’t have a definitive answer for you. Neither, so far as I know, does anyone else. After diligently examining the numbers and reviewing news reports from each state east of the Mississippi River, all I can say with confidence is that mail-in voting had something to do with why Biden prevailed. If some pundit or politician claims it was due to this or that cohort of “swing voter,” or to some malfeasance on the part of Donald Trump, or because voters wanted a return to “decency” under “nice guy” Joe, well … be skeptical.
Read MoreSupport Grows for 9/11-Style Commission into Capitol Riot Following Trump Acquittal
More lawmakers are backing an independent 9/11-style commission into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 following the Senate’s acquittal of former President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting the deadly insurrection that took place.
Congressional investigations were already scheduled after this week’s recess, but lawmakers from both parties have called for a holistic investigation following Trump’s acquittal on Saturday afternoon. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also asked retired Army Gen. Russel Honoré in January to lead oversee a thorough review of the Capitol’s security in order to prevent something similar from occurring in the future.
Read MoreLincoln Project Leaders Reportedly Padded Pockets from Anti-Trump Donations While Ignoring Allegations Against Cofounder
The Lincoln Project was reportedly aware of allegations against co-founder John Weaver as early as June 2020, but pushed ahead with raising massive donations — and $50 million of these donations has gone to firms controlled by the Lincoln Project’s leaders.
Lincoln Project members were made aware of at least 10 allegations of harassment against Weaver in June 2020, the Associated Press reported. The group did not take action against Weaver as it continued its high-profile work combatting the re-election of former President Donald Trump and expressed shock in January over the allegations against its cofounder.
Read MoreTwitter CFO: Trump’s Ban Will Continue Even If He’s Reelected
Twitter CFO Ned Segal announced on Wednesday that former President Donald Trump would remain banned from his company’s platform even if he was reelected in the future.
Segal made the announcement during an appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box when the show’s host asked if the former president would be allowed back on the platform if he was reelected.
Read MoreCommentary: The Republican Ship of Fools Sails On
In what CNN’s Chris Cillizza accurately described as a “gut punch” to the GOP’s Trumpian faction, the House Republican Conference decided against removing Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) for her vote to impeach former President Donald Trump. Republicans voted 145-61 on a secret ballot in Cheney’s favor.
Cillizza zeroed in on Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, an ardent defender of the former president. “Make no mistake,” he wrote, “Gaetz, Trump, and the rest of that crowd wanted to make an example of Cheney. They, rightly, viewed her impeachment vote—and the ensuing controversy—as the first major battle for control of the post-Trump Republican Party.” He also notes that “Trump had released a poll last month purporting to show Cheney in trouble in Wyoming for her impeachment vote.” And according to The Dispatch’s Stephen Hayes, Trump was “calling R House members to encourage them to sack Cheney.”
Read MoreChinese Tech CEO ‘Would Welcome’ Discussion with Biden, Hopes U.S. Takes Softer Approach Toward China
The CEO of Chinese tech company Huawei said he would welcome a phone call with president Joe Biden after years of being targeted as a national security threat.
Ren Zhengfei, the founder and CEO of Huawei, said he hoped President Joe Biden’s administration would take a softer approach toward his company than President Donald Trump did, NBC News reported. The Trump administration labeled Huawei a national security threat in June, cutting off the company’s ability to receive federal funds.
Read MoreBiden Quietly Nixes Trump-era Rule Combating Chinese Communist-Funded ‘Propaganda’ Centers
The Trump administration attempted to enact a policy that would force American universities to reveal cooperation with chapters of the Confucius Institute. President Joe Biden quietly revoked the policy a few days after his inauguration.
Axios reported that in the final days of his presidency, Trump enacted a policy that would compel primary, secondary, and postsecondary institutions to disclose all contracts and transactions with the Confucius Institute. Under the policy, schools that do not report information would lose certification for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
Read MoreCommentary: The Left’s 1960s ‘Animal Farm’ Dream is America’s 2021 Nightmare
George Orwell published Animal Farm in August 1945, in the closing weeks of the Pacific War. Even then, most naïve supporters of the wartime Soviet-British-American alliance were no longer in denial about the contours of Moscow’s impending postwar communist aggression.
The short, allegorical novel’s human-like farm animals replay the transition of supposedly 1917 revolutionary Bolsheviks into cynical 1930s Stalinists. Thereby, they remind us that leftist totalitarianism inevitably becomes far worse than the supposed parasitical capitalists they once toppled.
Read MoreCommentary: Polling and the Truth
The Berlin Tagesspiegel recently went after a young Protestant theologian whom naïve readers might have mistaken for a polite, unassuming scholar. This figure was outed by an academic colleague who discovered that he wrote for “new Right” publications, a term that in the German context should be understood quite broadly.
One of the venues of this putative extremist is Cato, which is a classical liberal magazine known for making fun of political correctness; his other preferred site is Blaue Narzisse, an educational website on which I, too, have discoursed on literary and philosophical topics. One would have to hang out for several years with the squad in order to be inclined to locate either of these literate publications somewhere on the far-Right. But then the German government and German media apply an expansive definition of the enemy—namely anyone not in line with Islamic, feminist, and LGBT activists or who fails to hate the German language and Western culture sufficiently.
Read MoreBiden Expected to Increase Amount of Refugees Admitted into U.S.
The Biden administration plans to announce on Thursday that it will increase the cap on the number of refugees to more than eight times the level at which the Trump administration left it.
President Joe Biden is expected to announce the move during a visit to the State Department. The Trump administration had drastically reduced the refugee admissions cap to only 15,000 for this fiscal year, the lowest since 1980, CNN reports.
Read MoreSen. Rand Paul, 24 Senators Introduce REIN Act to Curtail Federal Spending
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, introduced a bill that would require any new regulation proposed by an executive branch department or agency to be approved by Congress if it is projected to cost $100 million or more to implement.
The bill, “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2021” (REIN), with 24 Republican cosponsors, was introduced after President Joe Biden on his first day in office signed an executive order to repeal deregulation efforts implemented by the previous administration.
Read MoreGOP Unleashes Wave of Pro-Life Bills in Democrat-Controlled Congress
Republican lawmakers have unleashed a wave of pro-life bills into the Democrat-controlled Congress this week.
The flood of pro-life legislation occurred the same week that President Joe Biden enacted policy allowing taxpayer dollars to fund abortions abroad. Days earlier, Biden marked the 48th anniversary of Roe v. Wade by promising to both appoint judges who respect the ruling as precedent Friday and to codify Roe v. Wade.
Read MoreBiden State Department Sounds off on Chinese Technology Abuses, but Refuses to Say if it Will Continue Trump’s Fight Against Chinese Telecoms
The State Department refused to say whether President Joe Biden will continue a bipartisan Trump administration initiative that commits American allies to keep Chinese telecoms out of their networks.
Some 60 countries, including 27 of the 30 NATO countries, as well as Japan, Israel, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and India, had signed onto the Clean Network program by the time former President Donald Trump left office. Participants of the program have agreed to prohibit high-risk Chinese vendors such as Huawei from being a part of their 5G mobile infrastructure.
Read MoreNational Security Officials in Trump Admin Say They’re Being Snubbed for Jobs, Compared to ‘Hitler Youth’
National security officials who work for President Donald Trump are being snubbed by potential future employers and compared to “Hitler Youth” days before president-elect Joe Biden will take office, Politico reported.
Seven former and current officials spoke with Politico and detailed their job search heading out of the Trump administration. A number of high ranking Trump administration officials resign over the president’s part in the storming of the United States Capitol building Wednesday.
Read MoreCommentary: President Trump’s Tenure Didn’t Have to End This Way
In the end, almost everyone got what they deserved.
The president’s Achilles’ heel—relying on the wrong people to advance his political interests—led to his final ouster this week. Donald Trump ran out of runway and instead of preparing for a soft landing, he pumped the gas. It’s hard to blame him: His court challenges had been thwarted by the very judges he elevated to the federal bench, his hodgepodge legal team whirred in defeat, and Republican senators he helped elect quickly turned on him.
Read MoreBiden Eyes a Return to the Obama Era Policy to Combat ‘Rape Culture’ on American Campuses
Earlier this year, President Trump’s often embattled Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, established new rules on handling sexual assaults on campus to strengthen protections for accused students, almost all of them men.
Joe Biden, who was the Obama administration’s point man for the policies DeVos upended, has made his displeasure clear.
“The Trump Administration’s Education Department … is trying to shame and silence survivors,” the Biden campaign platform declared. “Instead of protecting women,” it has “given colleges a green light to ignore sexual violence and strip survivors of their civil rights.”
Read MoreTwo Moves Trump HHS Is Taking to Make Government More Accountable
In another Trump administration move to boost transparency and roll back regulations, the Department of Health and Human Services issued two statements of policy on Tuesday that will affect any future imposition of regulations going forward.
The first policy requires the department and its agencies to demonstrate to the public how they reached a conclusion on the economic cost of a regulation.
Read MoreRep. Steve Cohen and Democrats Accuse White House Press Secretary of Violating Hatch Act
Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN) and other Democrats have accused White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany of violating the HATCH Act. Cohen retweeted an article from The New York Times that accused McEnany of breaking the law.
“Kayleigh McEnany’s violations of the #HatchAct would be a scandal in any other administration,” wrote Cohen. “Grifters and miscreants. Utterly appalling. #CultureOfCorruption”
Obama-Biden Administration Denied Only Four Percent of Chinese Acquisitions of U.S. Entities: Report
A report that examined Chinese acquisitions in the U.S. revealed that the Obama-Biden administration only denied four percent of those that were subject to review by federal regulators.
In stark contrast, the Trump administration denied nearly half of the Chinese proposed acquisitions.
Read MoreCourt Ruling Reverses Trump Administration’s SNAP Changes
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Sunday blocked a Trump administration change to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that could have removed eligibility for almost 700,000 unemployed, able-bodied Americans.
A lawsuit filed in January by a multistate coalition alleged a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rule wrongly reversed a decades-old policy that allowed states to waive SNAP work requirements. The previous rules granted waivers for larger geographic areas by lumping certain regions with lower unemployment with locations registering higher unemployment, as well as carryover unused exemptions.
Read MoreSupreme Court Halts Census in Latest Twist of 2020 Count
The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can end census field operations early, batting aside a lawsuit that warned the truncated schedule will lead to minorities being undercounted in the crucial once-a-decade head count.
Still, the decision was not a total loss for the plaintiffs, who managed to get two extra weeks of counting people as the case challenging the U.S. Census Bureau’s decision to end the census in September made its way through the courts.
Read MoreVoice of Reason: Stephen K. Bannon Encourages Trump and His Administration to Maintain Business as Usual
Friday morning on The John Fredericks Show, host Fredericks welcomed political strategist Stephen K. Bannon back to the show to discuss how the Trump administration should handle the president’s coronavirus situation.
Read MoreJudge Rules Against Trump Administration, Says Census Counting Must Continue Through October
A judge ruled Thursday night that 2020 Census counting can continue through October 31.
The ruling was issued by California district judge Lucy H. Koh against the Trump administration, which sought to stop counting after Sept. 30, a month before its previously scheduled completion.
Read MoreJudge Orders U.S. to Stop Detaining Migrant Children in Hotels
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Friday to stop detaining immigrant children in hotels before expelling them from the United States, saying the much-criticized practice skirted “fundamental humanitarian protections.”
U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee ruled that the use of hotels as long-term detention spaces violates a two-decade-old settlement governing the treatment of immigrant children in custody. She ordered border agencies to stop placing children in hotels by Sept. 15 and to remove children from hotels as soon as possible.
Read MoreTiktok to Fight Trump Over His Pending Order to Ban Its App
Video app TikTok said it will wage a legal fight against the Trump Administration’s efforts to ban the popular, Chinese-owned service over national-security concerns.
TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, insisted Monday that it is not a national-security threat and that the government is acting without evidence or due process. The company said it will file suit against the government later Monday in federal court in California. A copy of the complaint could not be obtained.
Read MoreVirginia Attorney General Joins Amicus Brief Aimed to Block Trump Administration’s New Rules for Asylum Seekers
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring joined an amicus brief Tuesday that disputes the Trump administration’s new rules pertaining to asylum seekers’ employment authorization. The Trump administration announced in June that asylum seekers must wait a year before applying for employment authorization rather than 150 days. Also, the administration eliminated…
Read MoreStates Try Again to Block Coal Sales That Trump Revived
A coalition of states, environmentalists and American Indians on Monday renewed its push to stop the Trump administration from selling coal from public lands after a previous effort to halt the lease sales was dismissed by a federal judge.
Joined by the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and several environmental groups, Democratic attorneys general from California, New York, New Mexico and Washington state filed a lawsuit challenging the administration’s coal program in U.S. District Court in Montana.
Read MoreConservatives Praise Supreme Court for Ruling States Can’t Discriminate Against Religious Schools
The U.S. Supreme Court said Tuesday that states can’t cut religious schools out of programs that send public money to private education in a 5-4 ruling.
Hailed as a victory for religious freedom, the justices upheld a Montana scholarship program that allows state tax credits for private schooling in which almost all the recipients attend religious schools.
Read MorePresident Trump Reportedly Considering Forming Panel to Review Anti-Conservative Bias in Big Tech
President Donald Trump is considering forming a commission to review anti-conservative bias on social media platforms, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the idea.
A potential White House-created commission would examine allegations of online bias and censorship, according to the report. The administration will also encourage the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Election Commission to conduct similar reviews, the sources told the WSJ.
Read MoreJudge Sanctions Trump Admin After Citizenship Question Lawsuit
An Obama-appointed federal judge sanctioned the Trump administration on Thursday, ruling that the White House did not provide sufficient documentation amid its failed attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
Jesse Furman, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, ordered the Trump administration on Thursday to pay attorney fees as punishment.
Read MorePresident Trump’s New Rule Aims to Expand Health Coverage and Lower Costs
by Robert Moffit The Trump administration just announced a major regulatory change, effective Jan. 1, 2020, that could significantly expand access to affordable health coverage and increase the choice of health plans, particularly among workers and their families in small businesses. The proposed rule, jointly developed by the Department…
Read MoreMattis Dismisses Reports He May Be Leaving Trump Administration
Reuters U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday flatly dismissed reports suggesting he may be leaving President Donald Trump’s administration in the coming months, saying flatly: “I wouldn’t take it seriously at all.” “How many times have we been through this, now, just since I’ve been here? It will…
Read MoreAttorney General Jeff Sessions Welcomes 44 New US Immigration Judges
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions welcomed 44 new immigration judges, the largest class of immigration judges in U.S. history according to the Justice Department. The event took place as the Trump administration struggles to reunite families separated at the border after its “zero tolerance policy” resulted in unprecedented numbers of…
Read MoreWhite House Chief of Staff John Kelly Commits to Stay Through 2020
by Steve Herman Providing some stability amid a high rate of turnover of key personnel, the White House chief of staff has agreed to stick around for at least a couple of more years. Retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, at the request of President Donald Trump, has committed…
Read MoreDisgraced Former FBI Director James Comey ‘Meddles’ in the 2018 Elections
Former FBI Director James Comey said that “all who believe in this country’s values must vote for Democrats” and that Republicans have been “incapable” in a Tuesday tweet.
Read MoreTrump Administration Proposes Privatizing the Postal System
by Brittany Hunter Last week, the Trump administration unveiled a proposal to privatize the United States Postal Service (USPS). The plan comes as part of a broader initiative to trim and reorganize the federal government. And given its track record of waste and inefficiency, the USPS is a great place to…
Read MorePresident Trump’s Fuel-Efficiency Reality Check Revs Up the American Economy
by Derrick Hollie Despite rampant speculation that President Donald Trump’s trade policy might increase some car prices, how his regulatory relief agenda may lower sticker prices and increase safety goes largely ignored. How did this happen? The Trump administration is revising the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards imposed on automakers…
Read MoreAmid Investigations, Embattled EPA Chief Scott Pruitt Blames ‘Unrelenting Attacks’ Against Him, His Family In Resignation Letter
by Michael Bastach Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt cited “unrelenting attacks” against himself and his family in his resignation letter that was delivered to President Donald Trump on Thursday. Pruitt thanked Trump for allowing him to serve at EPA, but says “the unrelenting attacks on me personally, my…
Read MoreREPORT: Trump Administration Will End Obama Era Race-Based University Admission Practices
The Trump administration is preparing to abolish policies that direct colleges and universities to increase diversity by considering race in college admissions, according to U.S. officials. Media reports say Trump administration officials intend to argue against guidelines issued by president Barack Obama’s administration that offered legal recommendations for schools seeking…
Read MoreAs a Tax Accountant, I Can Tell You Tax Reform Is Helping Small Businesses
by Kalena Bruce As we enter the summer, Republicans and Democrats continue to debate the merits of the tax cuts. Lost in this partisan bickering is the genuine and long-overdue relief the tax cuts offer small businesses. Sadly, the media reporting on small business tax cuts has been heavily…
Read MorePresident Trump Will Sign an Executive Order to Suspend the Separation of Minors from the Illegal Alien Adults Who Accompany Them
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he is signing an executive order that would end the policy of separating migrant children from their parents as they illegally crossed the southern border with Mexico into the United States. In perhaps the biggest policy reversal of his 17-month presidency, Trump said, “We want…
Read MoreCommentary: The Answer Is Don’t Bring Your Kid Here Illegally
by CHQ Staff Have you noticed that every time establishment Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill try to ram through an amnesty for illegal aliens there’s a new immigration “crisis” to add a bit of pathos to their calls for open borders? The latest phony crisis is the plight…
Read MoreCommentary: 500 Days of Trump and He’s Just Getting Started
by Jeffery Rendall Donald Trump isn’t known to brag…but then again, yes, he is. America’s supremely confident commander in chief is quite fond of touting his own accomplishments and most of the time doesn’t appear to notice setbacks. Trump’s perpetually forward-facing orientation represents a refreshing new outlook for a Washington…
Read MoreEXCLUSIVE: Emails Cast Doubt On House Democrats’ Latest Claim Against Scott Pruitt
by Michael Bastasch Democrats mischaracterized emails between top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials to claim Administrator Scott Pruitt wanted “misuse” of taxpayer dollars by creating a new agency office in his hometown. Pruitt directed his staff “to establish a new EPA office in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma,” sparking a…
Read MoreKnives Out For Kelly: Leaky White House Staffers Target Chief Of Staff
by Peter Hasson White House chief of staff John Kelly is on the receiving end of more damaging leaks from unnamed West Wing staffers. NBC News quoted eight current and former White House staffers in a story that described Kelly complaining about President Donald Trump. Kelly frequently portrays himself as saving…
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