Category: The Washington Free Beacon
Senate Approves Funding Package Following White House-Schumer Deal
The Senate approved a mammoth government spending package Friday evening funding vast portions of the federal government and a separate stopgap measure temporarily funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Lawmakers voted 71-29 to approve the funding package, which was endorsed by President Donald Trump. Five Republicans — Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of […]
Sydney Sweeney spurns Cosmo girl’s desperate ‘MAGA Barbie’ bait
Feminist glossy “Cosmopolitian” could use a reminder: No means no.
When it comes to the media’s attempts to use Sydney Sweeney as a political pawn, the star has made it clear that she does not consent.
‘I’ve never been here to talk about politics.’
From claims that a jeans ad is a product of white supremacy to outrage over her use of a firearm, the 28-year-old is asked by reporters to reveal her politics nearly every time she is put in front of a camera.
And every time, she refuses.
Private parts
That didn’t stop a pushy writer from Cosmopolitan — single gal lifestyle mag turned leftist propaganda organ — from doing her best to wear Sweeney down.
After discussing body image and Sweeney’s new lingerie line, writer Alexandra Whittaker took an abrupt turn toward politics by bringing up what she called the star’s “charged nickname”: MAGA Barbie.
“I see it in Instagram comments constantly. How do you understand this label, given that you’ve been private about your politics?” Whittaker asked.
“I’ve never been here to talk about politics,” Sweeney plainly replied. “I’ve always been here to make art, so this is just not a conversation I want to be at the forefront of. And I think because of that, people want to take it even further and use me as their own pawn. But it’s somebody else assigning something to me, and I can’t control that.”
RELATED: Sydney Sweeney is rebuilding Americana — one Bronco at a time
Party lines
The reporter then asked why Sweeney would not want to correct any untrue labels.
“Where is the line for you?”
“I haven’t figured it out. I’m not a hateful person. If I say, ‘That’s not true,’ they’ll come at me like, ‘You’re just saying that to look better.’ There’s no winning. There’s never any winning. I just have to continue being who I am, because I know who I am. I can’t make everyone love me. I know what I stand for.”
Trying a different angle, Whittaker — executive director of Cosmopolitan’s website — asked Sweeney to define some of her values, “not party affiliations,” that she wants people to understand.
Sweeney simply described leading with “love” and being “kind to whoever you meet.”
American ogle
Despite Sweeney’s clear lack of interest, the reporter kept on pressing, asking Sweeney about not talking about politics and if she ever will.
“You don’t speak to your fans directly about your political beliefs. … Is there a future in which people will get to see what you believe, politically?”
The Spokane, Washington, native completely shut the idea down.
“No. I’m not a political person. I’m in the arts. I’m not here to speak on politics. That’s not an area I’ve ever even imagined getting into. It’s not why I became who I am.”
Readers will have to check out the full interview to see other attempts to discuss the “culture war” and separate online narratives that Sweeney is asked to answer to.
The actress was consistent in saying she does not have any control over what others print, say, or claim about her for their own gain.
“It’s been a weird thing having to navigate and digest, because it’s not me. None of it is me. And I’m having to watch it happen. I’m online and I see things, but I’m slowly pulling myself away,” she explained.
Trump offers hilarious rebuttal to Tim Walz’s absurd Civil War analogy
President Donald Trump gave a hilarious response to Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s attempt to compare the conflicts in Minnesota to the Civil War.
Blaze News asked Trump to address Walz’s remarks likening the hostilities at Fort Sumter that sparked the Civil War to the heightened tensions seen on the ground in Minneapolis in recent weeks. When asked if he agreed with the characterization, Trump gave Blaze News a viral response.
‘I was elected to do a job.’
“Does he know what Fort Sumter was, or do you think somebody wrote it out for him?”
“I was elected on law and order,” Trump told Blaze News. “I was elected on a strong border. We had a border that allowed 25 million people to come in. Many were murderers. … We had open borders.”
RELATED: Trump’s unusual Cabinet meeting may reveal which officials are on thin ice
Trump brushed off Walz’s remarks, differentiating his tough-on-crime track record from the Democrat governor’s state that is rampant with fraud and violent crime.
“I was elected on a lot of reasons, because when I took over we inherited a mess,” Trump told Blaze News.
“When I was elected, I was elected to do a job, and one of the big things I was elected to do is law and order.”
RELATED: ‘Horrifying situation’: Some Republicans retreat following Minneapolis shooting of anti-ICE agitator
Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Trump criticized Democrats’ refusal to embrace law enforcement, pondering if they really want criminals to remain in their cities.
“If you look at Minnesota, Minneapolis, we have crime down there because we took out thousands of people, despite all the mess and everything else,” Trump told Blaze News.
“But do these people really want to have rapists? Do they really want to have drug dealers and people from prisons and murderers?”
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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.”
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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.
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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.”
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Trump picks ‘numbskull’ Powell’s replacement for Fed chair
President Donald Trump has officially selected Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s successor.
Trump nominated Kevin Warsh for the role, noting the financier’s extensive experience, including his former role as a governor on the board of the Federal Reserve. At the time of Warsh’s appointment to the board in 2006, he was 35, the youngest appointee to serve, Trump claimed.
This announcement comes after a longtime feud between ‘numbskull’ Powell and the president.
Warsh is set to replace Powell in May after Powell’s term officially ends.
“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Friday. “On top of everything else, he is ‘central casting,’ and he will never let you down.”
RELATED: Fed Chairman Jerome Powell fears criminal indictment as Trump-Fed confrontation intensifies
Tierney L. Cross/Bloomberg via Getty Images
This announcement comes after a longtime feud between “numbskull” Powell and the president, with Trump often criticizing Powell’s refusal to cut interest rates.
This conflict came to a fever pitch when Trump’s Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into Powell over his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee in June 2025, when he discussed the ballooning cost of renovation to the Fed headquarters.
In a statement following the subpoena, Powell claimed the investigation was actually a political response to “whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions — nor whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.”
Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Trump was originally considering National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett for the role, but later suggested he would pick someone else because he wanted to keep Hassett in his position.
“[There] was great speculation that highly respected Kevin Hassett was going to be named Chairman of the Fed, and a great Chairman he would have been but, quite honestly, he is doing such an outstanding job working with me and my team at the White House, that I just didn’t want to let him go,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“Kevin is indescribably good so, as the expression goes, ‘if you can’t do better, don’t try to fix it!’ Thank you Kevin for doing such a great job!”
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