Elon Musk and the DOGE Team Talk About Why Fraud Happens So Easily in the Federal Government

Fox News Senior Correspondent and host of "Special Report" Bret Baier

 sat down with Elon Musk and the entire DOGE team on Thursday. This is a step up from the individual interviews done with Musk and one or two of the members. While their work overlaps all of the government agencies, each DOGE member spoke to the findings at particular agencies like the Social Security Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Health, the Department of the Treasury, and the Department of the Interior. 

Baier kicked off his questioning with Musk, asking what are the DOGE budgetary savings goals and what he thinks he's achieved thus far? 

MUSK: Our goal is to reduce the deficit by a trillion dollars. So, from a nominal deficit of two trillion to try to cut the deficit in half to one trillion. Or looked at in total federal spending, to drop the federal spending from seven trillion to six trillion. We want to reduce the spending by eliminating waste and fraud and reduce the spending by 15 percent. Which seems really quite achievable. The government is not efficient and there's a lot of waste and fraud, so, we feel confident that a 15 percent reduction can be done without affecting any of the critical government services. In fact, making it better. 

Baier asked, "What's the most astonishing thing you've found out in this process?"

MUSK: The sheer amount of waste and fraud in the government. It's astonishing, it's mind-blowing. We routinely encounter waste of a billion dollars or more. Casually.

While the American people had no concept of the details, many of us have known for decades that this was the case. Worse, that prior administrations and lawmakers have given lip service to cutting fraud and waste for decades but did not give a rat's heinie about actually doing anything. Musk and the DOGE team gave full credit to President Donald Trump and to his Cabinet for allowing this exploration and correction to happen.

Now that DOGE is posting all this for everyone to see, we are receiving the confirmation. Musk and the DOGE team all confirmed that some of the reasons why the waste is so prevalent and fraud is so easily executed are aged government systems that have multiple redundancies, varying computer systems from agency to agency that do not talk with each other, and the lack of accountability and safeguards within the agencies.

ELON MUSK: The ways that the government is defrauded is that the computer systems don't talk to each other. So, if the computer systems don't talk to each other, then you can exploit that gap. And fraudsters exploit that gap and take advantage. 

DOGE software engineer Aram Moghaddassi

 pointed out a gap in the Social Security Administration function that has been exploited by fraudsters and has received much press thanks to the hue and cry from the Democrats: the ability to change banking information over the phone.

Moghaddassi said that the Social Security Administration gets phone calls every day from people trying to get them to change their banking information. DOGE has discovered that 40 percent of those calls are from fraudsters.

MOGHADDASSI: They steal people's Social Security. They pretend to be a retiree and they convince the Social Security person to change where the money is going.

As a result of the work of DOGE and this change, grandma's benefits have a greater layer of protection from being stolen. 

Musk said: 

MUSK: What we're doing will help their benefits. Legitimate people, as a result of the work of DOGE, will receive more Social Security, not less. I want to emphasize that: as a result of the work of DOGE, legitimate recipients of Social Security will receive more money, not less money.  

Musk doubled down: Let the record show that I said this, and it will be proven out to be true. Musk asked Baier to check back on this in the future.

Another manipulation of the fraud gap discovered by engineer Steve Davis

 is over $300 million in Small Business Administration loans had been given out to people under the age of 11 and over $300 million distributed to people over the age of 120. Musk discussed how this gap occurred, lamenting how fraudsters exploit the Social Security numbers of newborn babies.

MUSK: They do terrible things. They will see that a kid has been born, they will steal that kid's Social Security number, take out a loan and leave that kid with a bad credit rating. That's literally a baby. Terrible things are being done is what we're saying.

DOGE's Anthony Armstrong,

 who is working within OPM, pinpointed how this happens.

ARMSTRONG: The reason this is happening is that the two systems are not talking to each other. Right? So, you don't know at the Small Business Administration that you're giving a loan to a nine-month old, which happened in one case, because you're not cross-referencing that with the Social Security Administration data that has birth dates. So, that very, very simple fix eliminates tremendous fraud. There are multiple systems across the government where the systems are not speaking with one another, and if you just solve that simple problem, you would solve a huge amount of fraud.

Musk concurred:

MUSK: When I say our job is tech support, I really mean it. We have to fix the computers. If the computers can't talk to each other, you can't get research done. If the computers can't stay online, people won't receive their Social Security. So, what we have here are a bunch of failing computer systems that are preventing people from receiving their benefits, that are preventing research from happening, that are extremely vulnerable to fraud, and we're fixing it.

Chief DOGE engineer Steve Davis said that the number of issues with the Social Security system:

Are enormous. As an example, there are over 15 million people that are over the age of 120 that are marked as alive in the Social Security system. 

BAIER: And that's an accurate figure? 

DAVIS: Correct. Correct. This is something that has been identified as a problem, a pre-existing problem since 2008, at least from an IG report. So, there are some great people working at the Social Security Administration that found this, 2008, and nothing was done about it. And so, 15 to 20 million Social Security numbers that were clearly fraudulent were floating around that could be used only for bad intentions, there would be no way to use those for good intentions. So one of the things the DOGE team is doing is carefully, and very methodically, looking at those and making sure that any fraudulent ones are eliminated.  

Engineer Tom Krause

 is part of DOGE in the Treasury Department. He pointed to the attitude and culture within the government, which perpetuates the lack of oversight and fraud. 

Why is this allowed to happen at a financial level? Well, it's actually quite simple but alarming[...] 

It really is the taxpayer's money. One, we're changing the culture, the culture has been not a lot of caring, and not a lot of commitment to do what's right relative to financial operations. There's $500 billion of fraud every year. There's hundreds of billions of dollars in improper payments and we can't pass an audit. 

The DOGE team consistently pointed out that a private company with this lack of financial controls would have gone under a long time ago.

MUSK: We're talking about elementary financial controls, that are necessary for any company to function. If a commercial company operated the way the federal government does, then it would immediately go bankrupt, it would be delisted, the officers would be arrested. The changes we're putting in place will enable the federal government to pass an audit, it will enable taxpayers to know where the money is going and know that their hard-earned tax dollars are being spent well.

Baier asked Musk about the pushback DOGE was receiving and what his response was. Musk declared:

MUSK: Well, this is a revolution. And I think it might be the biggest revolution in government since the original revolution. But at the end of the day, America is going to be in much better shape. America will be solvent. The critical programs that people depend upon will work, and it's gonna to be a fantastic future. Are we going to get a lot of complaints along the way? Absolutely. One of the things I learned at PayPal: You know who complains the loudest? What the most amount of fake righteous indignation? The fraudsters. Isn't that crazy?

Musk further warned:

MUSK: The reason we're doing this, is because if we don't do it, America's going to be insolvent. It's going to go bankrupt, and nobody is going to get anything.

If we don't do this, we're sunk. Unless this exercise is successful, the ship of America will sink. That's why we're doing it.

Baier posted the entire interview on his X account. 

Editor's Note: Elon Musk and DOGE are bringing much-needed accountability to our out-of-control bureaucracy as they take a chainsaw to rampant waste, fraud, and abuse.

 

I Think There Is a Plan for Jasmine Crockett

Fred Thompson had a line in the 1990 movie "The Hunt For Red October": "The Russians don't take a dump, son, without a plan." It's a great movie, and coming from Thompson, this line is completely believable. I miss that guy.

Anyway, I immediately thought of this line (because I've seen the movie nine thousand times even though I can't stand Alec Baldwin anymore) because of Jasmine Crockett's wonderfully considerate thoughts on Gov. Abbott's paralysis and the loss of his legs. It was an incredibly mean swipe at the crippled. And leading back from that, you have a veritable Cookie Aisle of the other obnoxious thoughts she has actually verbalized outside of her own head. It's really pretty amazing to watch as she becomes more and more animated and spiteful in her efforts to offend with each week's sideshow antics outdoing last week's sideshow antics.

At her present rate, those antics will become her entire show. They'll simply be all that she is, just like Will Sommers. And while pathetic and sad for American politics in that it permits this, I don't believe the entire polity will fall apart because of one single clown. It's in danger of falling apart because of an entire party of them. Hearkening back to Thompson's memorable line about dumps, I think that this behavior is planned by whoever is running the DNC these days. And I think this because the Democrats always walk in lockstep and punish those who don't. 

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RELATED: Legacy Media Mostly Turns a Blind Eye to Jasmine Crockett's Vile Insults, Calls to Violence

Trump Hammers Jasmine Crockett for Mocking Greg Abbott: ‘Low-Level Person on the Chart of Intelligence’

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It's been this way for years. There's no room in the collective for independent spirit, and adding in the fact that Jasmine Crockett's authenticity has been completely manufactured (it's like watching My Fair Lady in reverse), I have to believe that her behavior was concocted and then executed by Democrats with intent. For it to be otherwise would just not be in concert with the way these people have operated before. And, as indicated by their doubling down on the things that have earned them a 29 percent approval rate following the election, I don't think they have any plans to change their practices. I know, I know, another conspiracy theorist. I don't mean to sound like one, but Crockett is coloring so far outside the lines of decorum as a member of a political body that demands rigorous obedience from its members that it defies logic to believe she is actually freelancing. Even Alex Marlow, Breitbart editor-in-chief, thinks she's some sort of operative, albeit for Republicans. (Not sure I sign on for that one, though.)

Okay, so that's what I believe. I might be wrong. She just might be a loose cannon running around saying every sort of weird, racist, absurd thing she can think of whenever she gets within 15 feet of a camera. But what if I'm right? What if she's actually a robot doing what she's been programmed to do? What purpose would that serve for the DNC? I admit I'm not sure. Maybe sowing general discord and chaos to bring down a political structure so it can be rebuilt in some socialist fashion? Maybe just to have a loud and obnoxious presence in the media to say what all the other Democrats are thinking but afraid to say in the way Crockett does? Trying to claw back minority voters who helped to elect Donald Trump? Could be any, could be all. What I do think is that there is a plan for Crockett, and it would be prudent to keep an eye on her beyond the just crazy things she says.

Editor's Note: The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

 

Here's When You Knew NPR's CEO Was Going to Get Totally Smoked on the Hill

The Democrats didn’t take this House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing on Wednesday seriously, but that’s to be expected. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who looks and acts like an insufferable tool, mocked the hearing, asking if Elmo was ever a member of the communist party. Of course, he and the rest of his ilk acted like this, as the hearing centered on two major allies of the Democratic Party—PBS and National Public Radio. 

This exchange between Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) and Maher,

 where the Texas congressman corners her on her woke nonsense, is when you knew the latter was going to get totally smoked, and she did: 

Yeah, she tried to deny it but got owned again. It was a disastrous day for the outlet, whose own CEO made an ironclad case for it never to receive another dime in taxpayer money. Only years after everyone and their mother knew the Hunter Biden laptop story was accurate, Maher admitted that NPR failed miserably in covering a significant story. Again, we all know why they didn’t, along with the rest of the liberal media (via NY Post): 

NPR … finally admitted that it made a mistake in failing to promptly cover the Hunter Biden laptop scandal — as the left-leaning broadcaster fights to keep its federal funding. 

The mea culpa by NPR’s chief executive Katherine Maher came during intense questioning from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and other Republican legislators during a congressional subcommittee hearing regarding the broadcaster’s perceived bias in its coverage. 

“I do want to say that NPR acknowledges we were mistaken in failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively or sooner,” Maher told the committee. 

[…] 

Maher’s admission corroborates claims made by former NPR editor Uri Berliner, who left the publicly funded outlet last year and criticized his former bosses for ignoring The Post’s exclusive reporting about Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 election. 

The hearing included testimony from both Maher and PBS CEO Paula Kerger — though Maher was the primary focus of Republican criticism. 

The past remarks of CEO Katherine Maher came back to haunt, like when she said in 2021 that the “truth is a distraction from getting things done.” 

REP JORDAN: "Is NPR biased?"

NPR CEO: "I have never seen any political bias."

JORDAN: "In the DC area, editorial positions at NPR have 87 registered Democrats and 0 Republicans."

NPR CEO: "We do not track the voter registration, but I find that concerning."

JORDAN: "87-0… pic.twitter.com/AzaWV9BxBm

— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 26, 2025

That explains why NPR has all 87 editorial positions occupied by Democrats. NPR has gone so far off the rails that even self-described liberal Democrats, like Matt Taibbi, have railed against them for being an out-of-touch outlet riddled with content that would make most Americans drive off a bridge to end the incessant drivel aimed at making Acela Corridor elitists feel superior. Their 2021 piece about why Ben Shapiro’s Facebook use is a problem perfectly captured how NPR is just state-funded media. It was an open secret, and now they shove it in our faces (via Racket News):

Is the complaint that Shapiro peddles misinformation? No: “The articles The Daily Wire publishes don't normally include falsehoods.” Are they worried about the stoking of Trumpism, or belief that the 2020 election was stolen? No, because Shapiro “publicly denounced the alt-right and other people in Trump's orbit,” as well as “the conspiracy theory that Trump is the rightful winner of the 2020 election.” Are they mad that the site is opinion disguised as news? No, because, “publicly the site does not purport to be a traditional news source.” 

The main complaint, instead, is that: 

By only covering specific stories that bolster the conservative agenda (such as… polarizing ones about race and sexuality issues)… readers still come away from The Daily Wire's content with the impression that Republican politicians can do little wrong and cancel culture is among the nation's greatest threats. 

NPR has not run a piece critical of Democrats since Christ was a boy. Moreover, much like the New York Times editorial page (but somehow worse), the public news leader’s monomaniacal focus on “race and sexuality issues” has become an industry in-joke. For at least a year especially, listening to NPR has been like being pinned in wrestling beyond the three-count. Everything is about race or gender, and you can’t make it stop.

 Conservatives have always hated NPR, but in the last year I hear more and more politically progressive people, in the media, talking about the station as a kind of mass torture experiment, one that makes the most patient and sensible people want to drive off the road in anguish. 

I know NPR only receives a small amount of its budget from the government but it really doesn’t make sense for taxpayers to give a dime to an openly partisan — and sometimes anti-American (why parrot Iranian propaganda??) — outlet. pic.twitter.com/UIUBOLEtqY

— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) March 27, 2025

In its underbelly, pro-censorship stooges were elevated at NPR as well: 

…a familiar figure was named Chief Operating Officer of National Public Radio. Ryan Merkley, who directed the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder and also appeared in the Twitter Files as Wikimedia’s liaison to “Industry Meetings” with federal law enforcement, was elevated to the job by NPR … 

“Throughout his career Ryan has demonstrated a commitment to the public trust, leading organizations that prioritize universal access to the common good,” said Maher, perhaps best known for describing the First Amendment as the “number one challenge” that makes it “tricky” to remove content. 

Merkley’s name figured in several high-profile efforts to control “disinformation” through aggressive content moderation. In 2021, the Aspen Institute created a Commission on Information Disorder, whose big-name participants included Katie Couric, “Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex,” and DHS official Chris Krebs. Merkley was the Commission’s Director. 

It's time to gut this outlet.

You can read Guy's post on the hearing here. 

 

A Reporter Asked AG Bondi About the Signal Story During an MS-13 Presser. He Didn't Expect This Answer.

Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel oversaw a successful law enforcement raid that captured one of the nation’s top leaders of the gang MS-13. This person, 24 years old, had been in the gang for ten years and quickly sharked his way to the top. Based on the documents recovered upon his arrest, he was one of the prominent leaders of this criminal operation. This individual was arrested by federal agents yesterday morning in Northern Virginia.

During a press conference, however, Attorney General Bondi was asked about the Signa story involving top Trump officials, including CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. The latter accidentally added The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, who claims this chat on the encrypted messenger app that’s government-approved discussed top-secret war plans against Houthi terrorists. 

Why Bondi asked this question during an MS-13 presser is anyone’s guess—you already know why, though. It was to get a soundbite, maybe knock her off message, but she’s seasoned liberal media. You’re not going to stump her. Bondi noted rightly that the information in those chats was not classified, that we should be celebrating the successful strikes against the Houthis, and offered no further comment. 

“If you want to talk about classified information, talk about what was at Hillary Clinton’s home that she was trying to bleach bit, talk about the classified documents in Joe Biden’s garage that Hunter Biden had access to—this was not classified information,” she said before ending the press conference. 

Ms. Bondi rehashing all of the Democrats' egregious breaches and disclosures of classified information, which never led to any charges, was fantastic.

Perfect response, general.

Trending on Townhall Videos

 

Nevada: Man Charged In 'Molotov Cocktail Attack' On Teslas In Vegas

A 36-year-old man in Las Vegas has been arrested and charged in connection to a Molotov cocktail attack that torched several Teslas at a dealership last week.

On Wednesday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police arrested Paul Hyon Kim, 36, after he allegedly set at least five Tesla cars on fire on March 18^th — at a local Tesla Collision Center.

According to police records, he has now been charged with multiple crimes following the incident — ranging from destruction of property, arson, and possessing an incendiary device. “Incendiary” means capable of causing fire, or tending to stir up strife or rebellion. It can also refer to weapons designed to start fires. 

Spencer Evans, the FBI agent-in-charge of the bureau’s Las Vegas branch, told reporters that Kim will also be facing federal charges as well.

“There’s nothing courageous or noble about firebombing private property and terrorizing your local community,” Evans stated. “The self-righteous mob that’s cheering you on today to commit acts of violence on their behalf will leave you high and dry and forget about you tomorrow. And at the end of the day, you and you alone will be held responsible and face the prospect of a lengthy prison sentence.”

According to police, Kim arrived near the scene in a black Hyundai Elantra, before walking over to the Tesla show room. He then purportedly “concealed his face” with gloves and black clothing — Fox News reported.

Police claim that he also used a rifle to “damage” surveillance cameras.

The word “Resist” was spray-painted over the Tesla center’s front doors by Kim, and officers told the media that they discovered an unlit Molotov cocktail in one of the automobiles — presuming that Kim placed it inside.

According to authorities, Kim’s DNA matched samples taken at the scene of the attack.

Las Vegas investigators later searched two vehicles that were linked to Kim and his residence, discovering numerous weapons — which included “rifles, shotguns, handguns, gun parts, and ammo.”

This is one of the most recent cases of civilians-turned-criminals after damaging private property, amongst other crimes, in protest of Special Government Employee (SGE) Elon Musk ‘s work in the Trump administration. Other attacks on Tesla vehicles, dealerships, and factories have been reported in recent weeks as well.

Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, who goes by the name “Allison Tesla,” was taken into custody in connection to a February 19^th shooting and firebombing of a Tesla dealership in Salem, Oregon. Lansky, a transgender cross dresser, was arrested after throwing around eight Molotov cocktails at the Tesla location, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has since accused Lansky of unlawfully possessing an unregistered destructive device.

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Declassified CIA Documents Claim The Bible's 'Ark Of The Covenant' Was Verified Through 'Remote Viewing'

Tourists stand on October 16, 2014 at the Mount of Olives, next to a model of the Ark of the Covenant.

According to a recently rediscovered declassified document, the CIA claimed to have utilized remote viewing, often known as extrasensory perception or ESP, to affirm the existence of the Bible’s Ark of the Covenant.

The Ark of the Covenant is a sacred, gold-covered wooden chest described in the Old Testament of the Bible as containing the Ten Commandments and other items, serving as a symbol of God’s presence and covenant with the Israelites.

Jeremiah 3:16 states “And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.”

The documents noted that the enigmatic and sacred treasure is allegedly protected by “entities” with an “unknown” power — though it doesn’t go into much more detail other than that in relation to the “guardians” of it.

One such example of a CIA remote viewing subject is Paul H. Smith. Although he is now retired, Smith was a Major in the U.S. Army who served for seven years in the U.S. government’s remote viewing program at Fort Meade.

“For seven years, Smith took part in a congressionally-funded program focused on training officers in “remote viewing,” or a paranormal skill that supposedly allows a person to see a target despite the restrictions of space or time… And though the program was shut down in the mid-1990s after 20 years, stories of it and other allegedly paranormal military activities are at the heart of the George Clooney movie “The Men Who Stare at Goats,” and the Jon Ronson book upon which it was based,” ABC News reported in 2009.

Smith explained that the program trained roughly 25 remote viewers over the course of 20 years after being launched by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1972. The program was later transferred to the Defense Intelligence Agency. Smith and the other program participants were chosen since they excelled in the fine arts, music, and other “right-brained” pursuits, in addition to the analytical, left-brain abilities that most military commanders are required to have.

According to a document that was declassified on August 8^th, 2000, which has only recently been “making the rounds” on social media, remote viewer #32 was assigned to identify a target during a remote viewing session on December 5^th, 1988 — which allegedly turned out to be the legendary Ark of the Covenant, the CIA claims.

Logistically, the target is written down on paper and placed in an envelope when a remote viewer is instructed to look for it. According to retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Joe McMoneagle, the remote viewer is led through the procedure by someone else and is unaware of what is written.

“Information collected under this protocol is the only information that can be identified as remote viewing,” McMoneagle said. 

However, the exercise chronicled in the disclosed document does not persuade McMoneagle, also known as remote viewer #1, who was the first to perform the psychic phenomena experiments for the CIA.

The document states that in the vision of remote viewer #32, the object, which they did not know was the Ark, was described as being “protected by entities” in a secret Middle Eastern location.

“Target is a container. This container has another container inside of it. The target is fashioned of wood, gold and silver… similar in shape to a coffin and is decorated with seraphim,” they relayed, according to the files.

“Visuals of surrounding buildings indicated the presence of Mosque domes,” they said, noting that Arabic-speaking men, dressed in all white, populated the area.

“The target is hidden — underground, dark and wet were all aspects of the location of the target,” they continued.

Then, remote viewer #32 discussed the more enigmatic elements of their observations.

“The target is protected by entities and can only be opened by those who are authorized to do so — this container will not/cannot be opened until the time is deemed correct. Once it is time to open the container — the mechanics of the lock system will be found to be fairly simple,” they continued, before adding a warning.

“Individuals opening the container by prying or striking are destroyed by the container’s protectors through the use of a power unknown to us.”

Additionally, the channeler explained what they believed to be a devotional feature of the item.

“The purpose of the target is to bring people together. It has something to do with ceremony, memory, homage, the resurrection. There is an aspect of spirituality, information, lessons and historical knowledge far beyond what we now know,” they stated.

McGoneagle, an admitted skeptic of the Ark of the Covenant, continued — expressing that he does not believe that this remote viewing is worth the paper it’s written on.

“Using remote viewing against any target for which ground truth does not exist or is impossible to obtain… is a waste of time and resources,” McGoneagle told The New York Post.

“If someone claims that remote viewing proves the existence of something, such as the Ark of the Covenant, they must produce the Ark to substantiate their claim.”

Silly internet. It's freaking out over a Ark of the Covenant remote viewing document.

I posted it about 25 years ago online (it was the first time the "Stargate Collection" was released and put on the internet). pic.twitter.com/yDsMkRxDUQ

— John Greenewald, Jr. (@blackvaultcom) March 27, 2025

Skeptical social media users chimed in to express their thoughts on the resurfaced CIA report.

“The CIA didn’t find the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia with the BS ‘science’ of remote viewing. Ethiopian Orthodox have told us that it’s at St. Mary of Zion in Aksum. BTW, Ethiopia’s been an unconquered Christian nation for 2000 years, since Philip met the eunuch in Acts 8,” said one user on X.

“The psychic revealed nothing that wasn’t already theorized or known by historians or religious scholars. It is simply a ‘nothing burger,'” said another user.

You can read the documents here.

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CartoonDems

Trump Blasts 'Witch Hunt' as Yemen Chat Scandal Rages On

President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed a scandal over leaked plans for Yemen air strikes as a "witch hunt" and defended his embattled Pentagon chief amid calls by Democrats for him to quit.

 

Republican Trump lashed out after the Atlantic Magazine published the transcript of messages accidentally shared with its editor in a chat group of senior U.S. officials on Signal, a commercially available messaging app. Earlier in the week, Trump sounded a similar note, saying he was comfortable with the explanation and resolution of the chat matter.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed details in the chat including the times of strikes on Iran-backed Houthi rebels and the type of aircraft, missiles and drones used, before the attacks actually happened, the Atlantic said.

"Hegseth is doing a great job, he had nothing to do with this," Trump said when asked by AFP in the Oval Office whether Hegseth should consider his position over the scandal.

"How do you bring Hegseth into this? Look, look it's all a witch hunt," added Trump, who was taking questions after announcing new tariffs on foreign-made cars.

Trump repeated his insistence that no classified information was shared in the breach, and added that National Security Advisor Mike Waltz "took responsibility" for the error.

It was Waltz who mistakenly added journalist Jeffrey Goldberg to the chat, sparking what has been dubbed "Signalgate" by some administration critics.

- 'Resign in disgrace' -

The magazine initially withheld the details of the attack plans, but finally published them on Thursday after White House had insisted that no classified details were involved and attacked Goldberg as a liar.

The White House and a string of officials involved in the chat lined up to try to downplay the story as the pressure mounted.

Hegseth, visiting Hawaii, himself said the exchange on March 15 involved "no names. No targets."

Vice President JD Vance, who fired a rifle on a shooting range while visiting a Marines base near Washington,

 said the Atlantic had "overplayed" what happened.

Still, Secretary of State Marco Rubio conceded that there had been a "big mistake," while highlighting his own limited role.

Democrats have trained much of their fire on Hegseth, a former Fox News contributor and veteran. In the runup to his confirmation, they had assailed Hegseth for a lack of experience to fill such a high-level post.

"The secretary of defense should be fired immediately if he's not man enough to own up to his mistakes and resign in disgrace," House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries told MSNBC.

Dem Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Trump should sack all the officials in the chat and called Hegseth a "liar" who "could've gotten our pilots killed."

Meanwhile Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was seeking an independent report from the Trump administration.

- 'Anti-Trump hater' -

The Atlantic said the texting was done barely half an hour before the first US warplanes took off to hit the Huthis on March 15 -- and two hours before the first target was expected to be bombed.

"1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)", Hegseth writes, referring to US Navy jet fighters, before adding that "Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME."

"1415: Strike Drones on Target (THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP, pending earlier 'Trigger Based' targets)."

Hegseth wrote also writes about the use of U.S. drones and Tomahawk cruise missiles.

A short time later, Waltz sent real-time intelligence on the aftermath of an attack, writing that U.S. forces had identified the target "walking into his girlfriend's building and it's now collapsed."

Peppered with questions at a daily press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described Goldberg as an "anti-Trump hater."

Elon Musk, the billionaire running a huge government cost-cutting drive for Trump, had offered "technical experts" to find out how he was added to the chat, she added.

Trump's comments came as Houthi

 media said late Wednesday that new U.S. strikes had hit the rebel-held capital Sanaa, after earlier reporting 19 American raids elsewhere in Yemen.

His administration has stepped up attacks on the Houthi rebels in response to constant attempts to sink and disrupt shipping through the strategic Red Sea.

The Houthis claim they are acting in solidarity with Gaza amid Hamas' war on Israel.

 

Moving Target: Kash Patel Says Chinese, Russians Are Now Exploiting a Different Border—'The Enemy Adapts'

President Trump has shown remarkable success in shutting down the southern border, which Joe Biden left open for virtually anyone from anywhere to slip through illegally into our country. Tens of millions of illegal aliens were basically welcomed in by Joe’s failed administration, but Border Czar Tom Homan

 and company put an end to that almost immediately after Trump took over on January 20.

But with success comes new challenges, and FBI Director Kash Patel

 warned on Wednesday that our adversaries are now honing in on a new target: our northern border with Canada.

During testimony in front of the House Intelligence Committee, Patel told lawmakers that the "effective resolution" to the crisis at the southern border has caused adversaries such as China, Russia and Iran to shift their resources to targeting the U.S. northern border.

"The enemy adapts," Patel said.

The Trump administration’s achievements in the south have thoroughly repudiated the lies that Joe Biden told about how all he needed was “legislation.” It was always in his power to put a stop to it, yet he refused for reasons that will be debated for years.

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Dereliction of Duty: Stephen Miller Calls Biden Border Policy 'Pure Evil' As Another Horrific Murder Is Revealed

More Stunning Numbers Come Out From DHS, ICE, Further Humiliating Biden and His Border 'Misinformation'

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But that doesn’t mean the threat is over, as Patel noted:

The sudden silence at the southern border comes after record-setting numbers of illegal crossings during the four years of the Biden administration, a trend that also saw a dramatic increase in attempted crossings from immigrants outside of North and Latin America.

Chinese nationals were among the most likely to attempt illegal crossings, with the number of crossings from citizens of the country rising to over 24,000 in 2023, a more than 5,200% increase from the 450 encounters just a year earlier, according to CBP data.

Overall, Patel told lawmakers that between 2022 and 2025, roughly 178,000 Chinese nationals attempted to cross the southern border.

Patel warned that the new security of the southern border could now open up threats to the north, arguing that U.S. adversaries will use the same tactics they previously used on sectors not receiving as much security attention.

Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) is cognizant of the threat, and noted that the numbers were rising in her neck of the woods:

I asked our Intelligence Community leaders how we can work to ensure terrorists no longer exploit our Northern Border.

She thanked Patel for taking the matter seriously:

The Trump administration’s wins at the southern border are absolutely stunning, but that doesn't mean that our security challenges have suddenly disappeared. The difference this time around: instead of the feckless, gaslighting former Homeland Security boss Alejandro Mayorkas and completely useless former Border Czar Kamala Harris, we actually have folks in charge who we can trust to treat this issue with the attention it deserves.

We won in the south. Now it's time to win in the north.

Thanks to President Trump, illegal immigration into our great country has virtually stopped. Despite the radical left's lies, new legislation wasn't needed to secure our border, just a new president.

 

More Tea Is Spilled on Biden White House's Press Access Rules, and It's Worse Than You Think

Watching alums of the Biden-Harris administration admit to some inconvenient truths well after the fact has in some ways been welcome, refreshing news but has in other ways been infuriating considering they could have (and should have) spoken up at the time but didn't.

Among them has been Michael LaRosa,

 who worked for Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign as Jill Biden's traveling press secretary. After the former veep to ex-President Barack Obama was sworn in, LaRosa became the First Lady's press secretary but resigned in the summer of 2022 after Mrs. Biden's San Antonio "breakfast taco" debacle.

Since then, LaRosa has made some concerning admissions about what he says went on in the Biden White House during his time as the First Lady's spokesman, but it's what he's claimed since the Bidens left office that has raised even more eyebrows and prompted some "toldjah so's."

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SEE ALSO: Jill Biden's Former Press Secretary Rips Team Joe—'Everything Looks and Feels So Choreographed'

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For instance, LaRosa stated in February that "The president’s team was scared to death of impromptu, unscripted, unrehearsed, unpracticed, unchoreographed, anything, they couldn’t compete for the attention economy."

"We were always, from day one, cognizant that age was an issue,” he also admitted at the time, while also confessing that "the gaslighting" people accused Biden's handlers of engaging in regarding questions about his cognitive health was absolutely happening.

In a recent interview with "Young Turks" founder/host Cenk Uygur, however, LaRosa took it even further, detailing for example how many in the lapdog press went along with the demands made of them by Biden's staffers, with some offering up questions they'd ask beforehand just so they could get face time with the POTUS:

“I thought it was weird that they only did interviews for ‘quote approval.’ There was this thing in Biden world about quote approval, everything had to be on quote approval,” LaRosa said, explaining that the practice involved “one person” on Biden’s team deciding “what the reporter can use, what quotes they can use” after an interview with the president. 

LaRosa also claimed that young Biden press staffers were “dog trained” to force reporters to ask certain questions and divulge their questions ahead of interviews. 

“I mean you saw them get caught trying to script questions to radio reporters that summer, summer of 2024. It was very reminiscent to me of being on the campaign in 2020, where these young press staffers in these states like New Hampshire, or Iowa, or Nevada, they were sort of like dog trained to make the questions conditional for interviews,” he said. 

“And I said to them, ‘Please never ask the journalist for the questions ahead of time. You can always ask about the topics, but do not ask them for the questions for Dr. Biden,’” LaRosa explained, claiming that he refused to take part in the practice when handling press for the former first lady.

This dovetails with everything we saw and read about for the four years Biden was in office and the lengths his handlers would go to not only to limit the press's access to him but also the questions they could ask - and the answers they could use. 

One series of incidents that comes to mind was what happened in the aftermath of his disastrous June 2024 debate performance against then-GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, when it was revealed that leftist radio hosts agreed in advance to ask certain White House/Biden campaign-approved questions during "interviews" which were designed to reassure voters and make his nightmarish debate appearance look like a one-off.

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READ MORE:  Milwaukee Radio Station That 'Interviewed' Biden Makes a Rather D***ing Admission

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As independent journalist Glenn Greenwald once observed, "The most significant media scandal of the Biden years was how they did not just hide what the public knew -- Biden's severe cognitive decline to the point he couldn't remotely govern -- but their aggressive attacks on anyone pointing it out as 'disinformation agents.'"

This is one of many reasons why the howling from the MSM and their defenders about Trump's standoffs with certain news outlets like the Associated Press are mostly falling on deaf ears outside of the Acela Media cocktail circuit. It's called reaping and sowing.

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