Category: Blaze Media
‘Completely false’: Bill Gates fires back after Russian prostitute-STD accusation released in Epstein files
The millions of pages from the Epstein files released on Friday include a salacious accusation against billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.
An email released by the DOJ includes claims that Gates begged Epstein to provide him with antibiotics to secretly dose his wife to conceal STDs he had contracted from “Russian girls.”
‘From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilictating his illicit trysts, with married women.’
“During the past few weeks I have been caught up in a severe marital dispute between Melinda and Bill,” reads the email in Epstein’s account from July 2013.
It appears to be sent from and to Epstein’s own account as a way of documenting the claims and is reportedly written on behalf of Boris Nikolic, a science adviser to Gates.
“In my role as his right hand I had been asked on mulitple occasion[s] and in hindsight, wrongly acquiesced into participating in things that have ranged from the morally inappropriate,” the email continues, “to the ethically unsound and had been repeatedly asked to do other things that get near and potentially over the line into the illegal. … From helping Bill to get drugs, in order to deal with consequences of sex with Russian girls, to facilictating his illicit trysts, with married women, to being asked to provide Adderall [for] bridge [tournaments].”
In another draft email, Epstein writes as Nikolic accusing Gates of coordinating a “cover up [sic] so that you can maintain the reputation that you have worked so hard to achieve.”
The email went on to say, “[You] implore me to please delete the emails regarding your std [sic], your request that I provide you antibiotics that you can surreptitiously give to Melinda, and the description of your penis.”
The Gates Foundation denied the accusations in an email statement to Blaze News.
“These claims are absolutely absurd and completely false. The only thing these documents demonstrate is Epstein’s frustration that he did not have an ongoing relationship with Gates and the lengths he would go to entrap and defame,” said a spokesperson for Bill Gates.
Melinda Gates later divorced Bill Gates and admitted in 2022 that his relationship with Epstein was one of the reasons for the split.
“He was abhorrent, evil personified,” she said of Epstein after meeting him once. “I had nightmares about it afterwards. That’s why my heart breaks for these young women. That’s how I felt, and I am an older woman. He was awful.”
Gates has previously said that his friendship with Epstein was a “huge mistake.”
Melinda Gates went on to suggest that her billionaire ex-husband cheated on her numerous times during their 27-year marriage.
Blaze News reached out to Nikolic for comment.
The Justice Dept. released more than 3.5 million pages from the Epstein files Friday, including 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
‘USADF is garbage’: Senior US foreign aid official will plead guilty to taking kickbacks, lying to feds
The U.S. African Development Foundation, a foreign aid agency that poured millions of taxpayer dollars into African initiatives over the past four decades, desperately fought the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency and audit its finances.
It’s now painfully obvious why there was so much resistance to transparency at the U.S. Agency for International Development-adjacent outfit.
Months after government watchdog Judicial Watch sued the USADF for records regarding its expenditures and in the wake of allegations that agency officials were abusing their positions and misusing funds, the USADF’s director of financial management, Mathieu Zahui, is now admitting wrongdoing.
‘The USADF Director of Financial Management’s fraudulent acts betrayed the trust of the American people.’
Zahui, an official who denied DOGE access to the agency’s financial records last year, has agreed to plead guilty to taking secret payments and lying to federal law enforcement officers about those payments.
“Mathieu Zahui is charged with accepting payments from a government contractor and then abusing his position by directing USADF funds to that contractor for little-to-no work,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement on Friday. “Corruption by senior officials representing the United States cheats American taxpayers and rigs the system against honest work.”
RELATED: ‘STOP THE SCAMS!’ Trump announces new office in DOJ dedicated to investigating fraud
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The Justice Department indicated in court documents obtained by Rikki Ratliff-Fellman, chief content officer for Glenn Beck, and shared with Blaze News that Zahui, 59, arranged for the USADF to pay vendors and contractors through a Kenya-based company owned by a government contractor Zahui has known since 1999.
“Zahui arranged for ADF to pay certain vendors and contractors through Company-1 rather than pay them directly,” the DOJ noted in the filing. “Zahui then approved invoices for Company-1 and CC-1 that included mark-ups ranging from 17% to 66% on these pass-through invoices, even when Company-1 did no work justifying the mark-up.”
The company belonging to Zahui’s associate submitted over 20 pass-through invoices for the African Development Foundation for which Zahui had USADF shell out at least $617,625.49. His associate’s company allegedly kept $134,886.34 of that sum as a mark-up for “logistical support.”
Between 2019 and 2022, Zahui personally and directly received $12,000 in cash payments, the DOJ alleged.
Zahui and his associate’s company unsurprisingly failed to disclose the details of their little arrangement to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, which oversaw and authorized USADF’s payment to external parties.
Adding insult to injury, Zahui told federal agents when interviewed in 2024 that he had never received any kickback from his friend’s company.
The USADF financial director has, however, since agreed to plead guilty to one count of accepting gratuities from his associate’s company and one count of making a false statement to a federal law enforcement officer. He faces a maximum of two years in prison for the first charge and five years in prison for the second.
Peter Marocco, former director of the Office of Foreign Assistance and USAID deputy administrator, wrote in response to the agreement, “USADF is garbage. A culture of defiant fraud, waste and abuse that must come to an end. This is only scratching the surface. Abolish it!”
“The USADF Director of Financial Management’s fraudulent acts betrayed the trust of the American people,” said Sean Bottary, the acting assistant inspector general at the USAID’s Office of Inspector General.
Zahui’s guilty plea apparently will not be the end of the crackdown on USADF.
“There are active investigations as we dig deeper into the African Development Foundation’s egregious and systemic fraud, waste, and abuse,” Marocco told Blaze News. “After battling obstructionist efforts to block the president’s executive order, the more we dig, we find evidence of intimidating whistleblowers and other outrageous conduct.”
“This rogue agency is rotten waste to the core, and it needs to be defunded,” added Marocco.
The USADF was one of the agencies President Donald Trump ordered the elimination of “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law” in February 2025.
Blaze News has reached out to USADF for comment.
Editor’s note: This story has been edited after publication to clarify how Blaze News obtained the documents and to add comment from Peter Marocco.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Elderly man who falsely confessed to shooting Charlie Kirk sentenced to prison
The elderly man who was caught on video screaming, “Shoot me!” after falsely confessing to shooting Charlie Kirk has pleaded no contest to a third-degree charge of obstruction of justice.
71-year-old George Zinn added to the chaos on Sept. 10 when Kirk was killed at Utah Valley University by claiming to have been the shooter. He was dragged away while his pants slipped to his ankles.
‘I want to put the past behind me and move forward.’
After Zinn was questioned by police, they said they discovered child sex abuse material on his cell phone, which led to more charges.
On Thursday he also pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, but denied in a statement to the court that he was a threat to children.
Utah Fourth District Court Judge Thomas Low sentenced Zinn to up to 15 years for all of the charges. A parole board will ultimately decide how much time he spends in prison.
Zinn helped incite conspiracy theories about the shooting, but he was known for being a nuisance at high-profile political and cultural events in Utah. He had more than two dozen previous arrests, the most serious one involving an alleged bomb threat made to the Salt Lake City Marathon by email.
Police said that he admitted to trying to divert “the attention of multiple law enforcement officers from their efforts to secure the scene and find the actual shooter.”
22-year-old Tyler James Robinson was charged for the murder of Kirk based on a trove of evidence that included a confession note and extensive physical evidence.
RELATED: Panel explodes into chaos after leftist influencer defends mocking Charlie Kirk’s widow
Zinn did not mention Charlie Kirk in his statement to the court asking for mercy.
“I want to put the past behind me and move forward,” he said as he became emotional.
Zinn’s defense attorney, Carly Madsen, told the court that he never fit in and didn’t get the help he needed.
“Never really got the love or attention he deserved,” she added. “And never got the help he needed, resources that would that helped him years ago.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
‘Looksmaxxing’ and the war on male self-improvement
If you’ve been anywhere near social media lately, you have probably heard of the latest oddly named lifestyle: looksmaxxing.
It’s laughed at, pathologized, and treated as a digital disease. It is filed under narcissism, extremism, or maladaptation — anything that avoids taking it seriously.
What really offends critics isn’t the vanity but the accountability. Looksmaxxing puts the burden back on the individual in a culture addicted to external blame.
But what is it?
Checklist for Chads
At its most basic, looksmaxxing refers to a loose online movement encouraging men to improve their physical appearance through deliberate, practical self-improvement rather than passive acceptance. In practice, this usually means mundane, unglamorous changes: losing excess weight, lifting weights consistently, grooming properly, dressing with intention, fixing posture, and presenting oneself as a capable human being. It is not a philosophy so much as a checklist.
There are, inevitably, outliers — internet backwaters where bone-breaking routines are discussed without irony, extreme facial surgeries are contemplated, and pseudoscientific measurements of skull angles are treated as destiny.
These exist, and they’re easy to mock. But they don’t represent the broader phenomenon. They emerge at the margins, where men believe, rightly or wrongly, that they have exhausted ordinary options. The typical looksmaxxing example is far less exotic. A sedentary man quits junk food, joins a gym, gets a proper haircut, replaces stained hoodies with fitted clothes, and steps out of his mom’s basement.
Scarcity mindset
Looksmaxxing is a response to scarcity: romantic scarcity, social scarcity, economic scarcity. Young men are told relentlessly that confidence matters, that personality wins, that being “yourself” is enough.
Then reality arrives, usually with a swift kick to the nether regions. Faces, frames, height, grooming, fitness, posture — these things open doors long before a sentence is spoken. They decide who gets seen, who gets listened to, who gets to move on to the next round. The lie isn’t that personality matters, but that it matters first.
Critics default to dismissal because it requires no engagement. It costs nothing to tell a struggling man that he should simply “be kind” or “work on his inner self.” It costs nothing to shame him for caring about how he looks, while a culture sells beauty as destiny and desire as status.
The same people who insist looks don’t matter meticulously curate their appearance through filters, lighting, angles, brands, and cosmetic interventions. They publicly reject the rules while privately enforcing them. Everyone else pays for the pretense, most notably the average American man.
And the term average couldn’t be more apt. Overweight. Sedentary. Winded by a flight of stairs, pausing halfway like he’s summiting Everest. He is the product of abundance without discipline, comfort without consequence, a culture of convenience, couches, and calories. And he is told, endlessly, that his problems are emotional rather than physical.
Law of attraction
Looksmaxxing begins where denial ends. It says the body matters; the face matters; presentation matters. It refuses to treat biology as a slur. It doesn’t ask permission to acknowledge that attraction is selective, visual, and often cruel.
In a dating environment dominated by apps, where most singles are judged in a fraction of a second, this isn’t ideology but reality. That honesty unsettles people who have built careers telling men soothing stories about how the world ought to work rather than how it does.
As noted above, looksmaxxing can become obsessive. That pattern is familiar in any movement shaped by exclusion. But remove the extremes, and what remains is entirely reasonable. Lift weights. Lose the gut. Fix posture. Groom properly. Dress like you respect yourself. Sleep. Eat like an adult. Stop looking like you lost a bet with your mirror. None of this is radical. None of it is hateful. It is common sense.
Man up
What really offends critics isn’t the vanity but the accountability. Looksmaxxing puts the burden back on the individual in a culture addicted to external blame. It tells men that improvement is possible, but optional excuses are not. That message is intolerable to systems that profit from passivity. It is far easier to medicalize male dissatisfaction than to admit that a doughy, slumped, self-neglecting body will be judged accordingly.
There is also a class element no one wants to touch. Good looks are increasingly a luxury good: time to train; money for decent food; knowledge of grooming, style, and fitness. These are not evenly distributed. Telling men that looks don’t matter is a convenient way to ignore how much effort the winners quietly invest. Looksmaxxing is, in part, a grassroots attempt to close that gap — crude at times, desperate at others. But earnest.
There is also an undeniable element of misandry at play. When women improve their appearance, it is framed as empowerment, self-care, or self-expression. When men do the same — deliberately, analytically, and without apology — it is framed as an illness requiring immediate intervention. Looksmaxxing, a movement dominated by men, is treated as evidence of a psychological defect. The behavior is identical; the judgment is not. The double standard is structural.
RELATED: You can’t be 50 in Hollywood
Alexandre Guerra/Getty Images
What about both?
And most straight women, if they are honest, aren’t confused about what they find attractive. Who doesn’t want a good-looking man? Who doesn’t respond positively to a strong frame, a defined jawline, a body that signals health and self-command?
This doesn’t negate the need for depth. No one wants a handsome face paired with the emotional range of a vacuum cleaner. But the inverse is no more appealing. Emotional intelligence struggles to shine when it is housed in a body that signals neglect. The idea that a man must choose between substance and appearance is false. It is entirely possible — indeed reasonable — to demand both.
Looksmaxxing doesn’t promise eternal happiness, but it does promise leverage — a chance to be seen before being dismissed. A chance to compete rather than be invisible. For the overweight man incapable of doing a single pull-up, it offers something rare: a clear target and a measurable path.
Looksmaxxing exists because the social contract broke first. When institutions stopped offering stable work, when dating turned into a market, when community receded and screens advanced, men adapted.
Mock looksmaxxing if you want. Call it vain. Call it sad. But don’t call it irrational. It isn’t the sickness but the symptom. And until we are willing to tell the truth about attraction, status, and the price of neglect, young men will keep gravitating toward the only strategy that abandons pretense.
‘It’s way too manipulated’: Whitlock bashes NFL after Bill Belichick snubbed as first-ballot Hall of Famer
In a major shock to the football world, eight-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick is not a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
While the Hall of Famers were being voted on earlier this month, Belichick fell short of the 40 out of 50 votes needed in order to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility.
“There’s two, like, first-ballot Hall of Fame guys,” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says on “Fearless,” referencing Larry Fitzgerald and Drew Brees.
“If I were them, I would consider, like, ‘No, I’m good. Put me in with Bill next year,’ because going in this year, everything is going to be about, ‘Y’all left Bill out,’” he continues.
“The actual players, Drew Brees, Larry, they’re going to be overshadowed and would be better served going in with Bill Belichick next year,” he adds.
And Whitlock believes this is a deeper issue.
“The whole process has been headed this direction for years. The writers have egos. … It’s way too manipulated,” Whitlock says, pointing out that voters include women like Lisa Salters, who “doesn’t watch football.”
“She stands on the sidelines after games and says, ‘Hey, in the third quarter you threw for 300 yards, and in the fourth quarter you only threw for 150. What changed?’” he explains.
“It’s just a quota box at this point. Do you fit a quota,” he adds.
“The National Football League, the people that write about the National Football League, the people that coach in the National Football League, the front office folks, it’s not for everyone,” BlazeTV contributor Matt McChesney chimes in.
“The NFL is a very specific niche … and to assume that everybody belongs is not the right way to do this. So, I just don’t understand how they can put themselves in this position,” he adds.
Want more from Jason Whitlock?
To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Exclusive: Republicans pen OMAR Act, targeting lawmakers who have ‘blurred’ ethical lines
Republican lawmakers are pushing new legislation on Capitol Hill aimed at reining in members of Congress who take advantage of campaign finances for personal gain.
Wisconsin Republican Reps. Tom Tiffany and Tony Wied introduced the Oversight for Members And Relatives Act on Friday, known as the OMAR Act, which would prevent candidates’ campaign funds from benefiting their spouses. The legislation would also mandate the disclosure of campaign-related payments made to their immediate family members, according to the bill text obtained exclusively by Blaze News.
‘The American people are sick of it.’
“Public office should never be used to pad a family’s bank account,” Tiffany told Blaze News. “For years, members of both parties have blurred ethical lines by paying their spouses with campaign funds and labeling it ‘campaign work.'”
“The OMAR Act ends this practice and restores integrity to a system that’s been abused for far too long.”
RELATED: Exclusive: SAVE Act hangs in the balance as Republican Study Committee pushes for Senate passage
Exclusive: GOP lawmaker Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
A prime example of these “blurred ethical lines” is none other than Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who reportedly paid nearly $2.8 million to her husband’s political consulting firm during the 2019-2020 election cycle.
According to Fox News, these payments accounted for nearly 70% of her disbursements during her third quarter, exceeding the total amount all congressional candidates combined paid their immediate relatives during the 2012 election cycle.
“Members of Congress are sent to Washington to represent the interests of their constituents — not to line their spouses’ pockets with campaign funds,” Wied told Blaze News.
RELATED: Biden DOJ’s probe into Ilhan Omar’s finances dropped same year her net worth surged
Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images
“We’ve seen far too many egregious examples of politicians exploiting loopholes for personal gain, and the American people are sick of it,” Wied added. “I’m proud to stand with Rep. Tiffany to introduce the OMAR Act and put a stop to these shady practices once and for all.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Woke nurse who allegedly vowed to deny treatment to MAGA patients is no longer licensed in Florida
A nurse in Florida who allegedly said he would refuse to administer anesthesia to conservative patients is no longer registered in the state.
Erik Martindale appeared to post on his Facebook account, “I will not perform anesthesia for any surgeries or procedures for MAGA. It is my right, it is my ethical oath, and I stand behind my education. I own all of my businesses and I can refuse anyone!”
‘Healthcare is not contingent on political beliefs, and we have zero tolerance for partisans who put politics above their ethical duty.’
Libs of TikTok shared a screenshot of the comments in a post on X, calling for him to be immediately fired and stripped of his license.
After facing backlash online, Martindale claimed that his Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Instagram accounts had been “hacked.” Libs of TikTok disputed his claim, sharing another screenshot of a post Martindale apparently made on his Threads account.
“I will not perform anesthesia on any surgeries for registered Republicans,” the Threads post read.
“Erik is now claiming his FB and IG were hacked. There’s a slight problem. It was on threads too. Was your threads also hacked Erik?? Lmao,” Libs of TikTok wrote. “Nobody is buying this Erik. We have all the receipts!”
Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
As of Friday morning, all of Martindale’s social media accounts appeared to be deactivated.
On Thursday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced, “Effective today, Erik Martindale is no longer a registered nurse in Florida.”
“Healthcare is not contingent on political beliefs, and we have zero tolerance for partisans who put politics above their ethical duty to treat patients with the respect and dignity they deserve,” Uthmeier added.
James Uthmeier. Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
The Florida Department of Health website shows that Martindale’s license was voluntarily relinquished. The department notes that such action “does not constitute discipline.”
The Department of Health did not respond to a request for comment regarding whether Martindale’s license was surrendered or revoked. Blaze News was unable to contact Martindale for a statement.
Last week, Uthmeier announced that Florida had revoked Lexie Lawler’s ability to practice nursing in the state after she posted a video on social media wishing a life-altering birth injury on White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Church invasion suspect arrested by feds is woke Minneapolis prosecutor’s right-hand man
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Friday morning the arrests of several radicals who allegedly stormed Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.
One of Don Lemon’s fellow arrestees, Jamael Lydell Lundy, is a newly announced Democratic candidate for the Minnesota Senate who previously worked for Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum and now serves as the right-hand man for Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County’s Soros-backed prosecutor.
Moments prior to the church invasion, Lundy told Lemon on camera, “I’m here to support our community activists,” reported the New York Post.
‘They are troublemakers who should be thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country.’
“I’m currently a candidate for Minnesota state Senate District 65,” Lundy told the former CNN talking head. “I feel like it’s important if you’re going to be representing people in office, that you’re out here with the people as well.”
“We all we got,” continued Lundy. “I’m actually married to an elected official; I work closely with elected officials, but direct action from the community, certainly within the lines of the law, is so important to show that we have one voice.”
In footage of the subsequent church invasion, Lundy appears fully engaged in the mob’s disruption of the Christian service and the parishioners’ worship, pumping his fist in the air and shouting near the altar.
RELATED: Don Lemon ARRESTED over apparent involvement in church invasion; Jim Acosta whines
Photo by Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
According to Lundy’s campaign website, he is married to St. Paul City Councilwoman Anika Bowie, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s former political director.
In his role as Moriarty’s intergovernmental relations manager, Lundy — who supported the “bananas with rice” Somali accused this week of spitting on federal agents — is responsible for interfacing with the federal government, reported the Daily Wire.
Lundy’s radicalism is in keeping with that practiced by his anti-ICE boss, who launched a project with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and other woke prosecutors on Wednesday aimed at “collaborating to ensure federal officials are held accountable when they exceed their lawful authority.”
The non-straight prosecutor has been one of the more unhinged critics of federal agents’ enforcement of federal immigration law in Minneapolis, claiming earlier this month, for instance, “If you do not have white skin, you are in danger of being approached by ICE.”
President Donald Trump suggested those who stormed the church were “agitators and insurrectionists.”
“These people are professionals! No person acts the way they act,” continued Trump. “They are highly trained to scream, rant, and rave, like lunatics, in a certain manner, just like they are doing. They are troublemakers who should be thrown in jail, or thrown out of the Country.”
Blaze News has reached out to Moriarty’s office for comment.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Democrats panic at sight of Tulsi Gabbard at FBI raid of Fulton County election office
The FBI raided the Fulton County, Georgia, elections office on Wednesday as part of an apparent investigation into possible violations of federal laws related to the preservation of election records and intimidation or defrauding of voters.
Georgia Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff were among the Democrats who rushed to condemn the raid, which took place just days after President Donald Trump stated that the 2020 U.S. presidential election “was a rigged election” and “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.”
‘A US election can never, ever be rigged again.’
Although generally critical of the raid that Warnock suggested was a political errand “for a vengeful president,” some Democrats appeared particularly rattled by the presence of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Referencing a Reuters photo placing Gabbard at the site of the search on Wednesday, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner (D) asked, “Why is Tulsi Gabbard at an FBI raid on an election office in Fulton County?”
“Either Director Gabbard believes there was a legitimate foreign intelligence nexus — in which case she is in clear violation of her obligation under the law to keep the intelligence committees ‘fully and currently informed’ of relevant national security concerns,” continued Warner, “or she is once again demonstrating her utter lack of fitness for the office that she holds by injecting the nonpartisan intelligence community she is supposed to be leading into a domestic political stunt designed to legitimize conspiracy theories that undermine our democracy.”
Warner, who also shared a video of his corresponding meltdown, was hardly the only Democrat who panicked over the sight of Gabbard in Fulton County.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-Ct.) joined Warner in penning a letter to Gabbard on Thursday questioning her involvement in an apparent domestic law enforcement operation and demanding an explanation “given the politically fraught nature of elections for federal office.”
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Democrats’ vexation might have something to do with Gabbard’s proven efficacy in blowing up official narratives and exposing bad actors. Last year, for instance, she helped expose the origins of the Russia collusion hoax and corresponding “years-long coup” against Trump.
Evidently the administration’s attention has moved from the 2016 to the 2020 presidential election.
White House officials told the Wall Street Journal that Gabbard has spent months re-examining the supposed results of the 2020 election and looking for potential crimes. This investigation has involved scrutinizing voting machines, analyzing data from swing states, and looking at glaring discrepancies.
Gabbard is expected to prepare a report on her findings.
“President Trump and his entire team are committed to ensuring a U.S. election can never, ever be rigged again,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “Director Gabbard is playing a key lead role in this important effort.”
ODNI press secretary Olivia Coleman told the Journal that Gabbard “has a vital role in identifying vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure and protecting against exploitation.”
“DNI Gabbard has and will continue to take actions within her authorities, alongside our interagency partners, to support ensuring the integrity of our election,” added Coleman.
Trump told reporters that Gabbard is “working very hard to try to keep the election safe, and she’s done a very good job.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Don Lemon ARRESTED over apparent involvement in church invasion; Jim Acosta whines
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon put Don Lemon “on notice” after he allegedly joined other radicals in participating in a so-called “ICE Out Action” by storming Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18.
It appeared, however, that the former CNN talking head might avoid consequence for his alleged involvement in the church invasion when, earlier this month, an activist judge refused to issue a warrant for his arrest.
Evidently, that was a surmountable obstacle.
‘A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest!’
Federal agents arrested Lemon on Thursday night. Sources told CBS News that agents from the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations were reportedly involved in the arrest, which apparently came hours after a grand jury was impaneled.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Friday morning that Lemon was arrested at her direction along with three others involved in the church invasion, namely Trahern Jeen Crews, Georgia Fort, and Jamael Lydell Lundy.
A source told the Washington Examiner’s Christian Datoc that Lemon has been charged with conspiracy to deprive rights and with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act.
Lemon’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, stated that the arrest took place in Los Angeles, where the radical was supposedly covering this weekend’s Grammy Awards.
“Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done,” Lowell said in a statement. “The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work.”
RELATED: ‘This is First Amendment activity’: Democrats give church-storming mobs their stamp of approval
Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
Lemon — who suggested in October that “black people, brown people” should take up arms against ICE — appeared to join other radicals in disrupting a service at Cities Church, video showed. The church was targeted because of a pastor’s reported role at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The leftist interlopers not only screamed and chanted but castigated the pastor and pressed parishioners individually to answer whether they support ICE.
Lemon, who lost his CNN gig amid accusations of sexist comments, seemingly slipped in and out of character as a journalist during the mob action, stating, “There’s nothing in the Constitution that tells you what time you can protest. You can protest at any time. That’s the whole point of it — is to disrupt, is to make uncomfortable. And that’s what they’re doing, and that’s what I believe when I say everyone has to be willing to sacrifice something. You have to make people uncomfortable in these times.”
The former CNN host also lectured lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell after Parnell said the mob action was “unacceptable” and that it was “shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.”
“There’s a Constitution and the First Amendment to freedom of speech and freedom to assemble and protest,” Lemon told Parnell, excusing the mob’s interference and intimidation tactics.
Dhillon later responded to Lemon’s defense of the mob action, noting, “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice!”
Lemon is reportedly scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles on Friday morning.
Liberals who were silent when Blaze News reporter Steve Baker was arrested for covering the Jan. 6 riot are apoplectic over the arrest.
Jemele Hill, a writer for the Atlantic, called the radical’s arrest “horrifying,” adding that “this absolutely cannot stand.”
Jim Acosta, also formerly of CNN, adhered to a similar script, writing, “This is outrageous and cannot stand. The First Amendment is under attack in America!”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
