U.S. Secret Service Boats Stopped Working When Obama Chef Was Drowning

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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U.S. Secret Service Boats Stopped Working When Obama Chef Was Drowning

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) It was revealed by Judicial Watch that the U.S. Secret Service boats mysteriously stopped working while Barack Obama’s chef Tafari Campbell was drowning earlier this year.

The 31 pages of records that were obtained by Judicial Watch identified the identity of Campbell’s companion as a woman named “Ms. Taylor,” who reported that “[Campbell] fell in the water and struggled for a couple of seconds before giving up and sinking underwater.” 

The SS could not get the first two boats they tried to use to search for Campbell to function and had to use the groundskeeper’s boat, according to the records.

A July 24, 2023, report from an SS agent whose name was redacted was included in the records. The interview details — including the name — of Campbell’s paddle boarding companion were revealed in the report.

“Ms. Taylor stated that Mr. Campbell was not wearing a life jacket and had no personal flotation devices aboard the paddleboard at the time of the incident,” the report said.

Another report stated that Campbell’s companion “collapsed on the ground” and Campbell sank underwater after “struggling for a couple of seconds.”

“[A supervisory agent and another agent] attempted to start one of the boats but had difficulties lowering the motor… I sprinted to the CP [Command Post], grabbed the keys and sprinted back towards the boats. A similar issue occurred with the motor on the second boat. We jumped into a third boat belonging to the groundskeeper and it worked without issue,” the report said.

Obama came to the incident scene and the search was paused so he could speak to the eyewitness, the same report noted.

“We continued our search with flashlights. Shortly thereafter we were called to Wilson’s Landing as FPOTUS Obama was there and the local Fire Department in conjunction with the Massachusetts Police Department and other local agencies were setting up an Incident Command Post. He had wanted to talk with [redacted],” the report said.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton commented on the recent discovery.

“It is disturbing that Secret Service boats did not work for this emergency. This new information perhaps explains why the Secret Service is still hiding video related to the tragic drowning,” he said.

Leftist Mob Confronts Alec Baldwin over Israel Stance; Shouting Match Ensues

Molly Bruns
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Leftist Mob Confronts Alec Baldwin over Israel Stance; Shouting Match Ensues

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Hotheadded leftist actor Alec Baldwin fired some live rounds of expletives in a verbal exchange Monday with a group of pro-Hamas rioters in New York City, telling them that they “ask stupid questions” and should “shut the f**k up.”

Baldwin, 65, was on his way to teach an acting class when he encountered the unruly riot, according to a report from Page Six.

Police officers acted as security for Baldwin as he attempted to pass through the crowd, which demanded to know whether or not he supported Israel.

“I support peace for Gaza,” he said in an attempt to appease the mob.

This angered the protestors, who started shouting profanities at the actor and attempted to reach him.

“Shut your f**kig mouth, you have no f**king shame,” one person yelled.

Another clip showed a protestor asking Baldwin to articulate his stance on the conflict.

“Because I’m in Hollywood?” he replied, pushing the questioner. “You ask stupid questions. Ask me a smart question.”

When the protestor insisted, the interaction became heated.

“Shut the f**k up,” Baldwin shouted as he was escorted away by police.

It was a rare moment of alignment for the controversial actor—who has rarely shied away from spouting his political views and famously ridiculed former President Donald Trump regularly on Saturday Night Live—with those on the Right who have largely stood behind Israel in asserting its right to self-defense, even though Baldwin stopped short of expressing his explicit support for the Jewish nation.

The clash also underscored, yet again, the uncomfortably precarious line that many on the Left must walk as they seek to placate two conflicting identity groups who are unwilling to compromise.

The tension recently forced the president of the University of Pennsylvania to resign after she provided inadequate responses during congressional testimony for why Jewish students at her school were being harassed and intimidated with anti-Semitic threats of violence.

Baldwin, who has faced a litany of legal problems for his mercurial temper, as well as his reckless handling of a “prop” firearm on the set of the forthcoming movie Rust, did not seem all to happy to be in the midst of the mob.

“He had no intention of going to the protest and was not involved in any way,” a source said, according to HuffPost reporter Yashar Ali.

“He was approached aggressively and repeatedly,” added the source. “The police stepped in to avoid further confrontation so he could make his way to the class safely.”

One protestor pointed out that Baldwin faced charges for involuntary manslaughter of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, accusing him of murder.

Baldwin did go to court, but the charges were dropped in April. Prosecutors have signaled as recently as October that they may refile them, citing new evidence.

Baldwin dodged punishment despite an FBI report indicating that the gun did not accidentally fire—as the actor’s lawyers claimed—and he had pulled the trigger.

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

Biden’s Own Aides Admit He Struggles to Keep Up w/the Job

Contributing Author
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Biden’s Own Aides Admit He Struggles to Keep Up w/the Job

(Headline USA) Even the White House is admitting that President Joe Biden, who turned 81 years old last month, is incapable of keeping up with the demands of the job.

Aides close to the president acknowledged that Biden’s age is a growing concern among his team as he struggles to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of the White House and campaign for reelection. 

“He is his own worst enemy when it comes to his schedule,” a former Biden aide told Axios.

First lady Jill Biden has also grown concerned, allegedly pushing her husband to eat healthier and helping him manage his schedule. 

When asked whether Jill Biden has grown more involved, a White House official said Joe and Jill keep “an eye on one another’s schedules for the sake of balance—and they are far from the only couple in the administration who does that.”

Joe Biden has also downplayed concerns about his age and mental acuity, both outside and inside the White House. He frequently tells his aides some version of, “I feel so much younger than my age,” Axios reported.

The White House’s public statements have also minimized concerns about Biden’s health.

“Since he first ran for Senate, President Biden has always been a hard worker who is eager to do more than any schedule could accommodate,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said.

“Like when he became the first president to visit two war zones not controlled by the U.S. military, [his] late-night discussions with members of Congress as he passed the most groundbreaking legislative agenda in modern history, or this past week as he continued to work around the clock on critical national security priorities long after House Republicans stopped trying to keep up and left Washington on vacation,” Bates added.

Biden has far ecliped all other presidents in modern history for the most time spent on vacation, with calculations from September revealing that nearly 40% of his presidency had been spent on R&R.

He has drawn sharp criticism at times for appearing to ignore major crises, such as a devastating fire in Hawaii, while instead lounging on the beach at his Delaware vacation home.

Voters, meanwhile, said Biden’s age was a top concern for them. More than 70% said in a recent poll that they don’t think Biden should serve a second term because of his age.

“His age is clearly something voters are worried about, fairly or not, and yelling, ‘Nuh-uh’ isn’t cutting it,” a former Biden official said.

Mass Protests Announced for Julian Assange’s Final Extradition Appeal Date

Ken Silva
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Mass Protests Announced for Julian Assange’s Final Extradition Appeal Date

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) On Feb. 20, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has what will likely be his final appeal hearing to oppose extradition from the UK to the U.S. to stand trial for allegedly violating the Espionage Act—charges that stem from him publishing leaked records about U.S. war crimes.

“The two-day hearing may be the final chance for Julian Assange to prevent his extradition to the United States,” Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, said Thursday on Twitter.

“If extradited, Assange faces a sentence of 175 years for exposing war crimes committed by the United States in the Afghan and Iraq wars.”

Stella called for all of Assange’s supporters—which range from libertarians and conservatives such as Kentucky legislators Sen. Rand Paul and Thomas Massie to left-wing politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—to organize protests around the globe in support of the embattled journalist.

“Day X is here,” she said. “Gather outside the court at 8:30am on both days. It’s now or never.”

Assange has been confined in the high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was arrested on a U.S. extradition request on April 11, 2019.

Meanwhile, the FBI is reportedly still investigating Assange.

Journalist James Ball wrote in Rolling Stone in July that Biden’s Justice Department and the FBI are pursing “vague threats and pressure tactics” to pressure British journalists to cooperate with their prosecution of Assange.

Also in July, Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejected the Australian government’s calls to release Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is Australian.

“Mr. Assange was charged with very serious criminal conduct in the United States in connection with his alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of our country,” Blinken said at the time.

Assange was largely supported by liberals until around 2016, when Wikileaks published more than 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails, exposing corruption in the Hillary Clinton campaign. Because this was perceived to be helpful to Trump, liberals turned on Assange and supported his prosecution.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Eric Adams Bizarrely Touts 9/11 Terrorist Attack as Reason NYC Is ‘Great’

Contributing Author
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Eric Adams Bizarrely Touts 9/11 Terrorist Attack as Reason NYC Is ‘Great’

(Headline USA) New York City Mayor Eric Adams bizarrely claimed this week that his city is the “greatest” in the world because it could be targeted by terrorists at any point.

During an interview with WPIX-TV, Adams was asked to sum up 2023 with one word. Adams replied: “New York.”

The Democrat went on to explain that New York has dominated the headlines this year, but then made a cryptic reference to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in 2001.

“This is a place where every day you wake up, you could experience everything from a plane crashing into our Trade Center to a person who’s celebrating a new business that’s open,” Adams said. “This is a very, very complicated city, and that’s why it’s the greatest city on the globe.”

The internet quickly piled on Adams, arguing his was the “worst answer” of 2023.

“How do we continue to elect people this freaking stupid? What a disgrace,” ESPN’s Jake Asman tweeted.

Washington Post reporter Josh Dawsey agreed: “I’m not sure that selling New York as a place where you can experience 9/11 is the best argument that can be made for the world’s greatest city…”

Elsewhere in the interview, Adams was asked what needs to improve in 2024.

“Probably communications,” he said.

Adams also spoke about the continuing immigration crisis affecting New York, which has had to make significant budget cuts to provide food and housing for the tens of thousands of illegals traveling to the city.

Adams warned additional budget cuts will be necessary if President Joe Biden doesn’t provide additional aid.

“Well, let’s be clear. What we’re going to have to do is extremely painful,” Adams said. “We’re going to have to see how do we deliver services to our agencies all without the resources we normally have.”

Records: U.S. COVID Researchers Concealed Links to Wuhan Lab from Pentagon

Ken Silva
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Records: U.S. COVID Researchers Concealed Links to Wuhan Lab from Pentagon

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Newly released records have been released about controversial gain-of-function research that may have led to the COVID-19 pandemic, showing that U.S. scientists downplayed their connections to the Wuhan Institute of Virology—where many suspect the pandemic originated—when they sought funding from the Pentagon.

The scientists named in the records include Ralph Baric and Peter Daszak, who have argued vociferously that COVID was a natural disease and not man-made. Their grant application sought to synthesize spike proteins with furin cleavage sites—“the same feature that supercharged SARS-CoV-2 into the most infectious pandemic pathogen in a century,” said U.S. Right To Know, the group that obtained the records.

Even though the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, ultimately rejected the grant application, U.S. Right To Know argued that Baric and Daszak’s attempt to conceal their links to Wuhan further destroys their credibility. The group also noted that Baric and Daszak may have secured alternative funding for their proposal, which would further implicate them in being responsible for the pandemic.

“New documents obtained by U.S. Right to Know now show that these experiments were proposed to occur in part in Wuhan with fewer safety precautions than required in the U.S. — apparently to save on costs. American scientists at the center of the ‘lab leak theory’ controversy appear to have concealed this from their desired funder [DARPA],” the group said in an article Monday.

“The documents call into question the credibility of these scientists’ assurances that the pandemic could not have sprung out of their collaboration on coronavirus engineering research with the lab in Wuhan.”

The records obtained by U.S. Right to Know include emails from Daszak to Baric and Wuhan Institute of Virology Senior Scientist Zhengli Shi.

“Ralph, Zhengli. If we win this contract, I do not propose that all of this work will necessarily be conducted by Ralph, but I do want to stress the US side of this proposal so that DARPA are comfortable with our team,” Daszak wrote in one email. “Once we get the funds, we can then allocate who does what exact work, and I believe that a lot of these assays can be done in Wuhan as well…”

Other records include comments made by the scientists on early drafts of their grant proposal—what’s since been referred to commonly as the DARPA DEFUSE proposal.

In one comment, Baric acknowledged that U.S. researchers would “freak out” if they knew the novel coronavirus engineering and testing work would be conducted in a BSL-2 lab, according to U.S. Right to Know.

Despite the scientists’ apparent attempts to downplay safety concerns about their proposal, DARPA did not give them the grant. But U.S. Right to Know noted argued Monday that questions remain about whether the work was subsequently completed without the DARPA funding.

Daszak has reportedly insisted that the experiments proposed to DARPA were never carried out.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

WATCH: SUV Flips While Doing Donuts in Colorado Springs, Trapping Passengers

Jacob Bruns
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WATCH: SUV Flips While Doing Donuts in Colorado Springs, Trapping Passengers

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) Five people were crushed and severely injured after they were hanging out of an sport-utility vehicle while the driver did donuts and eventually flipped the car onto them in a Colorado Springs parking lot, the Daily Mail reported.

Police arrived at the strip-mall parking lot scene late Saturday night, soon after the car flipped, and found all five people in dire condition. They were sent to the hospital, and their status remained unknown as of Tuesday morning.

The car was seen driving at high speeds through the parking lot, with some people hanging out the SUV’s sunroof and others out the side windows.

Then, the car abruptly slowed down and turned, causing it to tip and crushing two people who were hanging out the side with the full weight of the vehicle.

The other three were thrown from the car.

In the aftermath, groups of people rushed up to try to help get some out from underneath the vehicle.

As onlookers frantically tried to roll the vehicle back to its upright position, one person on the other side called out, “There’s someone on the other side, don’t flip it!”

Instead they tried to raise the entire vehicle, likely weighing anywhere between 2 and 3 tons.

“Lift it, lift it, lift, it,” one person said, while another added, “push up.”

In another harrowing moment, someone says that the car appears to be leaking fluids, although, thankfully, there was no explosion reported.

The SUV driver, Marisol Wentling, sustained no serious injuries and was taken to jail Sunday night on a count of reckless driving. She has been released on bond.

According to police, the incident remains under investigation, and they are urging anyone who knows what was going on to come forward.

The incident may or may not have been connected to a series of “street takeovers” that occurred throughout the nation over the weekend, including one in Colorado Springs.

In Connecticut, one street takeover culminated in fireworks being thrown at police officers. Street takeovers were orchestrated in both Derby and New Haven, and police suggested that they were coordinated by the same group, which brought in cars with out-of-state licenses.

However, Francis Barclay, who works for Jolly Christmas Trees, selling Christmas trees in the same parking lot where the crash took place, said that similar incidents had occurred in the past, and the problem appeared to be getting worse, KRDO reported.

“It seems to me, since I’ve been doing this for five years, it’s getting more and more frequent,” Barclay said.

“It’s been like every third or fourth night out here, there’s somebody out here squealing tires,” he added. “I see a lot of activity.”

Mitch McConnell Has 6% Approval Rating, Net -54 among American Public

Jacob Bruns
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Mitch McConnell Has 6% Approval Rating, Net -54 among American Public

(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) In a new survey conducted by New Jersey’s Monmouth University, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., secured a record-low approval rating of a mere 6% American the general American public, The Federalist reported.

Monmouth polled 803 Americans adults from across the nation using landlines, cell phones and online surveys via invitation link.

Out of those, a whopping 60% actively disapproved of McConnell. Only 6% approved, and 34% said they had no opinion of him at all.

The poll conducted has a built-in 4.8% margin of error—which means, in this case, McConnell’s actual public support could be as low as 1.2%.

McConnell has made enemies on both the Right and the Left through his long political career.

From helping former President Donald Trump appoint a large number of judges to federal courts to siding with Democrat after the stolen 2020 election, the senator has done little to satisfy anyone.

Some in the Republican Party also believe that the career politician bungled the 2022 election, prioritizing spending in intra-party races, like Alaska, rather than focusing on helping Senate candidates in key swing states, like Arizona.

Ultimately, his strategy helped contribute to the failure of the “red wave” and was in part a cause of the Republican failure to take the majority of the Senate.

Now at the twilight of his political career, it also appears that the 81-year-old McConnell’s health is breaking down, culminating in a bizarre series of freeze-ups in public settings that have, in turn, led to public calls for him to step down.

The survey also gathered data about another mentally-deranged career politician, President Joe Biden.

Biden’s approval rating hit an “all-time low,” 17%, scoring very poorly in particular on his handling of the border crisis and monetary inflation.

“Only 3 in 10 Americans say the incumbent is giving enough attention to the issues most important to them, which is worse than for his predecessor,” the Monmouth report said.

Although McConnell’s net disapproval rating was, by far, the highest of the top-four congressional leaders, none were in the positive zone.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., had a 21% approval and a 41% disapproval for a net -20.

Perhaps reflecting the poll’s overall leftward tilt, newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who came into his position as a relative unknown, has already accrued a -14 net approval.

Meanwhile, firebrand radical House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who has done little except to use divisive rhetoric to attack Republicans, had a mere -1 net approval.

With the exception of McConnell, all three of the other congressional leaders had positive net favorability ratings among their own party members, as did Biden.

Federal Reserve’s ‘Doomsday Book’ Reveals Vast Power Claimed by Central Bank

Ken Silva
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Federal Reserve’s ‘Doomsday Book’ Reveals Vast Power Claimed by Central Bank

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) After years of speculation, the Federal Reserve has released its so-called “Doomsday Book”—an internal document that outlines the vast power the central bank can claim during times of financial emergency.

The Doomsday Book was recently released by the Fed in response to a Freedom of Information Act filed by finance professor Emre Kuvvet. Bizarrely, the Federal Reserve initially denied Kuvvet’s FOIA request, but its New York branch later provided the document with only names redacted.

The Doomsday Book reportedly shows that the Federal Reserve claims powers that far exceed what’s explicitly authorized by Congress.

“Instead of adhering strictly to clear legislative boundaries to justify its actions during financial crises, the central bank appears to ground many of its decisions in the New York Fed’s belief in the Fed’s discretionary authority,” Kuvvet wrote last week in the Wall Street Journal. “It relies on precedent for many of its actions, without explicit congressional authorization in some instances.”

Indeed, on page 33 of the book, an anonymous author in the book wrote that “the powers of a Federal Reserve Bank are far greater than is commonly supposed.”

For instance, the Doomsday Book documents how the Fed claims to have the power to bail out cities, or even to take ownership of companies, Kuvvet wrote.

The book shows that some at the Federal Reserve take a more conservative viewpoint about the central bank’s powers, but over time it has gradually taken a more activist viewpoint.

Kuvvet wrote that he hopes the Doomsday Book might spur Congress to consider constraining the Fed. But given that the central bank has already claimed so much power, doing so might prove difficult, he said.

“Establishing clear legislative boundaries for the Fed might be a futile endeavor because the central bank—or at least the legal team at its dominant member bank—apparently believes it can rely on precedent to justify virtually any emergency action,” he said.

While the Doomsday Book has been the subject of intrigue, critics of the Federal Reserve said it simply confirms what they already knew.

“The Doomsday Book confirms what many Austrians and libertarians have said about the nature of government in crises. The size and scope of the Fed is stretched, even beyond its own known boundaries, and then it never returns to its pre-crisis state,” wrote economist Jonathan Newman for the Mises Institute. “The precedents are set in an ad hoc way and then codified ex post. We’re left with a Leviathan.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

Judge Orders Identities of Jeffrey Epstein Associates to be Made Public

Ken Silva
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Judge Orders Identities of Jeffrey Epstein Associates to be Made Public

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A U.S. judge has ordered depositions to be unsealed in a lawsuit against convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell—a move that’s expected to reveal the identities more than 150 power brokers named in the civil litigation.

U.S. Judge Loretta Preska handed down her order Monday in the case of Epstein survivor Virginia Giuffre, who sued Maxwell for her role in the sex-trafficking network.

Giuffre (formerly Virginia Roberts) alleged that Maxwell and Epstein groomed her, starting at 16 years old, for Epstein’s “pleasure, including lessons in Epstein’s preferences during oral sex.” Shesettled with Maxwell in 2017, but many records from the case are still sealed.

Judge Preska set a Jan. 1 timeline for the records from the Giuffre/Maxwell case to be unsealed. Parties named in the records can still object.

The judge didn’t order all the records to be unsealed. Some, she said, would reveal the identities of minor victims.

One document, for example, identifies a minor victim who has not spoken publicly about Epstein or Maxwell and who has maintained his or her privacy, according to Judge Preska.

But most of the names have already been discussed in other court cases or media reports, and therefore those documents will be made entirely public.

Those likely named in the records include former President Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Harvard Lawyer Alan Dershowitz—the latter who recently had a lawsuit against him dropped by Giuffre.

Meanwhile, Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence after being found guilty of conspiring with Epstein in 2021. Epstein was reportedly found dead in his prison cell in August 2019—allegeldy of suicide, though Maxwell recently said she doubts that.

“I believe that he was murdered. I was shocked, and I wondered, ‘How did this happen?’ Because I was sure he was going to appeal, and I was sure he was covered by the non-prosecution agreement,” Maxwell told British reporter Jeremy Kyle of TalkTV.

The non-prosecution agreement referenced by Maxwell was a sweetheart deal Epstein signed with the Department of Justice in 2008, in which he pleaded guilty to a state charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18. Epstein was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade, and was reportedly allowed to leave the jail on “work release” for up to 12 hours a day.

After the Miami Herald published an expose on Epstein and his non-prosecution agreement in late 2018, Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York. He was found dead in his jail cell about a month later.

Epstein’s lawyers have contested the claim that he killed himself. Skeptics point to malfunctioning surveillance cameras, sleeping guards, and broken bones in Epstein’s neck as indications that his death was something other than suicide.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.

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