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- ‘The Dumbest Time in American History’: Kinzinger Blasts Trump’s ‘Slush ...
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) ripped President Donald Trump’s plan to set aside upwards of $1.7 billion for supporters the president says were unfairly targeted by the Biden administration. The president sued the IRS in January after a contractor at the agency leaked his tax returns in 2019 and 2020. His sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, who run the Trump Organization, also sued. Based on those leaks, the Times reported in 2020 that the billionaire president paid just $750 in income tax in 2016 and in 2017. The leaks came from Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor who worked for Booz Allen. He pleaded guilty to unauthorized disclosures of tax returns and was sentenced in 2024 to the maximum of five years. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that the Department of Justice, which is representing the IRS in the case, has been holding internal discussions about settling the lawsuit. Then on Thursday, ABC News reported that Trump is poised to drop the suit in exchange for the creation of a fund that will pay up to $1.7 billion to some of his political allies, including those involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Kinzinger appeared on Friday’s Laura Coates Live on CNN, where the host asked for his reaction. “So first, they were pardoned,” Laura Coates said, referring to Trump’s pardon of nearly every person convicted or charged in connection with Jan. 6. “Now we pay them?” “We are gonna look back in 10 years and call this about the dumbest time in American history, I hope, at least,” Kinzinger replied. “$1.7 billion. That’s creepily about $1 million for each January 6th defendant if you actually do the math on that. And then if you look into what’s happening here, the president gets to pick who’s on the board. They ultimately get to make decisions – who gets this money? They’re not accountable to the public. They don’t have to show what they use. They don’t even have to show who got the money and why. And it goes away, of course, when President Trump is out of office. This is clearly a taxpayer-funded slush fund for one reason: to pay off the people that did his bidding.” Watch above via CNN.The post ‘The Dumbest Time in American History’: Kinzinger Blasts Trump’s ‘Slush Fund’ for Political Supporters first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.6 hours ago - DeSantis Approvingly Retweets Post Calling Black Lawmaker a ‘Ghetto Rep’
L: Screenshot via @FBSaunders on X. R: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File After a Black Democratic state representative was arrested at a sit-in protest at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ (R) office, he approvingly shared a tweet referring to her as “ghetto.” The kerfuffle connects back to Florida’s recent congressional redistricting that passed during a special session in late April. The unusual mid-decade redistricting was part of an effort by President Donald Trump to gain advantages for the GOP in November’s upcoming midterm elections, with control of the U.S. House and Senate on the line. Multiple other states, under both Republican and Democratic majority control, have redrawn their maps in various ways under their own laws, sparking partisan rhetorical battles and numerous lawsuits, as the expected impact on November remains to be seen. The calculations for where to put the new district lines were based on the most recent past election and both Trump and the GOP’s popularity have taken significant hits in the polling since his second presidential term began. The immigration policies pushed by Trump and DeSantis have been identified as influencing Hispanic voters souring on Republicans, a potentially election-swinging factor in a state like Florida. The redistricting debate has largely followed along party lines, depending on who is in the majority and who will be disadvantaged by the new lines, and as expected, Florida Democrats vociferously opposed DeSantis’ maps, which has been described as likely to reduce their seats in the state’s congressional delegation by four. State Rep. Angie Nixon (D), who represents a Jacksonville-area district, vocally protested with a bullhorn as the redistricting vote was taken, with the GOP majority easily passing the measure as Nixon admonished them for what she called a “violation of the Constitution” and an “assault on our democracy.” On Friday, Nixon began a sit-in protest at the governor’s office in the state capitol complex in Tallahassee around midday, according to the Tallahassee Democrat (the name of the newspaper based in Florida’s capital city, founded in 1905; it is not an identifier of partisan affiliation). Nixon told the paper “a receptionist told her someone would come speak with her,” but she waited for several hours without having a conversation with the governor or his staffers about the issues she said had inspired her to do this protest. Besides the redistricting issue, Nixon said she was concerned about the the increasing burden of the cost… [TheTopNews] Read More.7 hours ago - ‘Outright Lies’: Congressman Brings Literal Receipts After Eric Trump Makes ...
AP Photo/Evan Vucci Eric Trump insisted on Friday that his family’s assets are invested in a “blind trust” that does not buy or sell individual stocks, but his claim was quickly rebutted by a congressman who linked to thousands of transactions indicating otherwise. President Donald Trump disclosed a slew of stock trades from the first quarter, totaling between $220 million and $750 million, according to a filing released by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics on Thursday. The filing shows thousands of individual stock purchases and sales in a wide array of companies. “Trump brought the NVIDIA CEO on his trip to China to lobby Xi Jinping to buy advanced AI chips, even though it would create a U.S. national security threat,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted on Friday, referring to the president’s trip to China, where he was accompanied by Jensen Huang and other U.S. business executives, as well as Eric Trump, who has business ties to the Chinese Communist Party. “It turns out Trump also bought millions in NVIDIA’s stock.” Eric Trump responded to the post by saying all family assets are in a blind trust and are “in broad market indexes,” as opposed to individual stocks: All of our assets are invested in a blind trust by the largest financial institutions in broad market indexes. To suggest that individual stocks are being bought or sold, at the discretion of any member of the Trump family, would be a lie and blatantly false. Using a silly example, if you buy the “Schwab 1000,” you will get some exposure to Nvidia – as well as a 1,000 other U.S. companies large- and mid-cap stocks. It’s completely disingenuous to represent anything to the contrary. Please be better than this… Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) responded by linking to the disclosure signed by Donald Trump himself. “Outright lies,” Beyer said. “Trump’s assets aren’t in a blind trust, and he bought and sold individual Nvidia stock in 15 separate transactions totaling millions of dollars. That’s what Trump’s financial disclosure – which has his signature – says. See for yourself.” The disclosure, which is 113 pages long, shows 2,345 purchases, mostly of individual stocks, and 1,296 sales, mostly of individual stocks. According to Fortune, Donald Trump is the first president since at least Lyndon Johnson to trade individual securities. Since Johnson, every president has placed their assets in a blind trust managed by independent… [TheTopNews] Read More.8 hours ago - C-SPAN Caller Asks GOP Congressman Why Republicans ‘Parrot Trump’s Crazy Fox...A C-SPAN caller expressed major grievances with Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL) during a Friday appearance on the network, asking why Republicans repeat President Donald Trump’s “crazy Fox News talking points.” The caller, identified as “Roger,” an independent from Lawrenceville, GA, said to Haridopolos, “I know you’re a smart guy — a former educator. Why do you guys continue to parrot Trump’s crazy Fox News talking points, when I know you have to know right from wrong? There’s just no way —” “Well, give us an example, Roger,” interjected C-SPAN’s Greta Brawner. “Give us a specific example.” Roger happily obliged, adding: For example, the 9% inflation under [former President Joe] Biden. You know that was COVID. Like, c’mon. Gas prices — presidents don’t affect gas prices unless they’re stupid enough to start a war in the Middle East, okay? So, Trump, Biden — neither one of ’em controlled it. It had to do with starting wars, and that’s why we’re dealing with these gas prices. And you know your own intelligence said there was no way they were close to a nuclear weapon, but yet you come on TV, and you say the same thing. And you guys only find a spine when you’re saying you’re gonna retire. C’mon! I know you have to know better. Brawner said, “Well, let’s get a response.” “Well, it’s always nice to have strong opinions,” responded Haridopolos. “They might not be backed up with facts, but I see he has some strong opinions. Uh, look, all I can say is gas prices went down dramatically because we’re producing more oil, we’re creating those new opportunities around the world. Venezuela is gonna help us in the long term. But the threat of Iran is real.” The congressman went on to say the conflict is a “short-term challenge, but it will be a long-term success for America and the world.” Watch the full clip above via C-SPAN.The post C-SPAN Caller Asks GOP Congressman Why Republicans ‘Parrot Trump’s Crazy Fox News Talking Points?’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.10 hours ago
- Kash Patel Refuses to Say Who Paid for Him and His Girlfriend to See George Stra...
Photo by Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Images FBI Director Kash Patel refused to say who paid for a private luxury suite at a country music concert he attended with his girlfriend last year, according to a report by The New York Times about ongoing criticism of Patel’s travels and use of government resources. Last November, it was reported that Patel’s country singer girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, had been given a security detail made up of elite FBI agents previously assigned to a SWAT team with the FBI field office in Nashville. Patel has defended the security detail for Wilkins as necessary due to threats. This was an unprecedented move, as it was the first time a romantic partner of a high-ranking FBI official was given a full FBI protection detail while not residing with that official, and it came mere weeks after Patel faced criticism for reportedly using a $60 million FBI jet to travel to Penn State University in October to watch Wilkins perform. Before he took office, Patel had repeatedly bashed his predecessor, former FBI director Chris Wray, for “running around on private jets,” but he pushed back against the criticism for his travel as “noise from uninformed internet anarchists and the fake news.” A report Friday by The New York Times dug deeper into some of Patel’s recent travel, noting that “F.B.I. policy requires its directors to use government planes for all air travel, personal as well as professional,” but Patel would have been mandated to reimburse the federal government for his personal travel (at the cost of a coach trip). The FBI has said Patel has complied with the policy. However, the Times noted, questions have been raised about “side trips” Patel has taken, “including to V.I.P. suites for events, leisure activities or nights out with his girlfriend.” These outings included a “previously unreported trip” with Wilkins to Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia to see country music legend George Strait, with Chris Stapleton as the opening act. The couple traveled on “a Gulfstream V government jet and were spotted in a private suite” that a source who has booked that suite in the past told the Times costs between $35,000 and $50,000. An FBI employee “who happened to be at the concert” saw Patel and Wilkins, and three other people “with knowledge of their trip” confirmed it to the Times. The sources also said that the… [TheTopNews] Read More.10 hours ago - Trump Claims ‘Most’ Iranians Have Same First Name: ‘Muhammad Something’During an interview on Fox News’s Special Report that aired on Friday evening, President Donald Trump claimed that “most” Iranians have the same first name — “Muhammad something.” Speaking with Fox News’ Bret Baier about the capabilities of the U.S. Space Force amid the war with Iran, Trump said, “Space Force, which I created, has got cameras — nine different cameras — in space on that site,” referring to the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center, where much of Iran’s near-bomb-grade uranium is believed to have been stored. “We know everybody that moves there,” the president continued. “We can read the name of a person. If his name is Muhammad something — and most of ’em are Muhammad, you can guess about 50% right — we can read his name right on his tag from space. It’s the most amazing thing. Anybody that goes near that space, we have it tagged.” Trump went on: [The Iranians] haven’t done anything there. And if they did, we would hit them very hard. So, two days ago, in speaking to the Iranians, they told me, ‘It was hit so hard [by U.S. strikes]. They actually said, I must say, that there’s only two countries that could get it: us and China. They said us and China, that they don’t have the capability of getting it because it was so obliterated. The term I used was obliterated. The fake news said, ‘Oh, maybe somebody can get it.’ They actually said if they wanted to, they couldn’t. So, uh, that’s not good enough for me. I wanna get it. In the same interview with Baier, Trump also defended his statement from earlier this week, in which he made clear that he was not considering the financial woes of Americans in negotiations with Iran, insisting, “That’s a perfect statement, I’d make it again.” Watch the full clip above via Fox News.The post Trump Claims ‘Most’ Iranians Have Same First Name: ‘Muhammad Something’ first appeared on Mediaite. [TheTopNews] Read More.10 hours ago
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