Pro-Trump Prankster Seems Like He Was Sent to Re-Education Camp

Ken Silva
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Pro-Trump Prankster Seems Like He Was Sent to Re-Education Camp

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Douglass Mackey’s sentencing memorandum reads like he’s been sent to re-education camp.

Mackey, an internet troll who was known by his alias “Ricky Vaughn,” was railroaded in federal court earlier this year, with a jury convicting him of election interference for posting a meme in 2016 about voting for then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton via text message.

Despite the pro-Trump prankster being a victim of a weaponized Justice Department, Mackey threw himself on the mercy of the court Tuesday, pleading for a judge to not send him to jail. In his sentencing memorandum, Mackey claimed that he’s a new man and that his days as the internet troll “Ricky Vaughn” are long gone.

“Three years before the government arrested Douglass Mackey for the charge in this case, he moved to Florida to check himself into an intensive inpatient course of psychotherapy followed by outpatient psychotherapy,” Mackey’s memorandum said.

“The Douglass Mackey who stands before the Court for sentencing is not Ricky Vaughn of seven years ago, but a role model to friends he met in therapy, a brother in faith in his Church, and a devoted husband to his wife, who is expected to give birth to the couple’s first child in November,” the memorandum said.

“The Court most effectively encourages others to follow Mr. Mackey’s example by imposing a non-custodial sentence.”

Mackey’s memorandum cited letters of support written by his friends and family.

His mother wrote that she saw “Doug slip away from society, look unwell and detached” seven years ago, when he was lighting the internet on fire with his Trump memes.

His father also said he “knew that he seemed unhappy, had become withdrawn from his family, and was spending an excessive amount of time online. We were very concerned that he was suffering from depression and tried to get him to seek counseling.”

Mackey still has an appeal pending against his conviction. The Justice Department has yet to file its own sentencing memorandum, but earlier filings suggest that the DOJ will seek imprisonment for him.

Mackey’s lawyer, Andrew Frisch, has said that the case “presents an unusual array of compelling appellate issues. I am optimistic that the conviction will be vacated.”

During the trial, one of the government’s testifying witnesses was an FBI informant who still actively operates anonymous right-wing Twitter accounts. According to prosecutors, the informant operates accounts similar to the Ricky Vaughn account. They claimed that the two worked in tandem to spread “misinformation.”

The informant plead guilty to the same charge that Mackey has been found guilty of. His identity has been protected because he is allegedly still working with the FBI in respect to other Twitter users.

“The [informant] is presently involved in multiple, ongoing investigations and other activities in which he or she is using assumed internet names and ‘handles’ that do not reveal his or her true identity,” prosecutors said.

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

SHOCK: S.F. to Require Drug Screening, Treatment for County-Funded Welfare

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SHOCK: S.F. to Require Drug Screening, Treatment for County-Funded Welfare

(Kenneth Schrupp, The Center Square) San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Matt Dorsey announced a new initiative to require individuals who wish to make use of county-funded cash welfare programs to be screened for substance abuse disorders and be enrolled in substance abuse treatment to receive welfare payments.

“We fund a wide range of services, and we want to help people get the care they need but under current state law, local government lacks tools to compel people into treatment,” said Breed in a public statement. “This initiative aims to create more accountability and help get people to accept the treatment and services they need.”

It marked the latest flip-flop of a blue city official to policies long advocated by conservatives and once aggressively derided and condemned by the Left as heartless and callous in the face of a humanitarian crisis.

Yet, San Francisco is now reaping the unintended consequences of its short-sighted permissiveness in allowing rampant crime and homelessness during much of the Trump era and early Biden administration as it seeks to rein in an ever-growing problem.

Meanwhile, in New York, both the governor and New York City mayor have recently taken a hard line—even xenophobic—stance on the Biden administration’s open-border immigration policies; and in Dallas, former Democrat mayor Eric Johnson actually switched parties last week in a dispute over tax cuts.

If San Francisco’s program is approved by the County Board of Supervisors, any adult who either refuses substance abuse treatment or does not “successfully engage in treatment” would either have their applications for County Adult Assistance Programs payments denied or their ongoing payments discontinued.

These treatment programs would include a range of interventions from residential treatment, medical detox, medically-assisted treatment, outpatient options, and abstinence-based treatment, among others based on the needs of the client.

Individuals who refuse or do not successfully engage in treatment would not be eligible to receive CAAP cash assistance and their application would be denied, or they would be discontinued from receiving cash assistance.

In the release announcing the policy, three of the county’s 11 supervisors issued statements supporting the policy, including Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Catherine Stefani and Raphael Mandelman.

“In our pursuit to address the opioid crisis, let our message be clear: the City isn’t going to give you money to buy drugs,” Stefani said.

“If you are ready for help, we are ready to help you,” she continued. “I believe that requiring individuals with addiction issues to be in a treatment program to receive county monetary assistance is not just a policy but a compassionate pathway towards recovery and stability.”

According to the San Francisco Human Services Agency, which runs the city and county social services programs, 20% of CAAP recipients self-disclosed in an initial interview with SFHSA staff that they have substance abuse issues.

The 2022 San Francisco homeless county found that 52% of homeless individuals surveyed reported their substance abuse as a “disabling health condition.”

“The incidence of substance use disorders among San Francisco’s CAAP population is significantly higher than among the citywide population generally, especially among our recipients who are experiencing homelessness,” said SFHSA Executive Trent Rhorer.

“This initiative aims to support our clients who have substance use disorders by motivating them to get the help they need, which we hope will lead to ending their drug abuse and their homelessness,” he said.

Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.

AOC Insists She Wants To Sell Her Tesla For a Union-Made EV

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AOC Insists She Wants To Sell Her Tesla For a Union-Made EV

(Headline USA) Rep. Alexandria Ocasio–Cortez, D-N.Y., insisted this week that she plans to trade in her Tesla for a union-made vehicle after being pressed on her support for striking United Auto Workers members this week.

During an interview with CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday, Ocasio–Cortez was asked to reconcile her personal purchase of a Tesla, which is not unionized, with her support for the UAW strike.

“One of the things that’s happening in the auto industry, as you know, is this market shift and transition to electric vehicles,” host Margaret Brennan began.

“You were quoted in July saying you look forward to buying a union made electric vehicle, but you currently have a non-union made Tesla,” she continued. “… Is it a problem with the quality? Is it a problem with the style? Is the market just not there?” 

“No,” Ocasio-Cortez responded.

She went on to claim that she bought a Tesla during the pandemic because it was the “safest way” to travel between New York and Washington at the time.

“But that was prior to some of the new models coming out on the market that had the range available,” Ocasio–Cortez continued. “But we’re actually looking into trading our in our car now. So, we’re looking into it, and hopefully we will soon.” 

This isn’t the first time Ocasio–Cortez has committed to ditching her Tesla. Last May, she similarly claimed her Tesla was the “only EV” that could take her from New York to Washington.

“At the time, it was the only EV that could get me from New York to Washington on like one, or one-and-a-half charges,” she said. “I would love to switch.”

Ocasio–Cortez’s plans to sell her car come after several public spats with Tesla founder Elon Musk.

RFK Jr. Skeptical about Official 9/11 Narrative

Ken Silva
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RFK Jr. Skeptical about Official 9/11 Narrative

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. isn’t just a skeptic of the COVID-19 vaccine. The Democratic presidential spoiler recently questioned the official narrative of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

On a podcast with CNN reporter Peter Bergen, Kennedy reportedly said he doesn’t know what exactly happened on 9/11.

“I mean, I understand what the official explanation is. I understand that there is dissent,” he said. “I have not looked into it. I haven’t examined it. I’m not a good person to talk to about it.”

Kennedy’s remarks prompted Bergen to ask whether he has any doubts al-Qaeda was responsible for the attacks.

He said, “I know there’s strange things that happened” on 9/11. When pressed further about exactly what he meant, Kennedy then cited Building 7—one of the World Trade Center structures that collapsed along with the main two towers.

The U.S. government’s official narrative is that Building 7 was destroyed by fires caused by the main two towers collapsing, while dissident researchers have been arguing for years that Building 7 collapsed at free-fall speeds—which they say suggests a controlled demolition.

But Bergen responded to Kennedy by spewing misinformation that doesn’t even fit government’s narrative. According to Bergen, Building 7 fell “because two of the world’s biggest buildings collapsed on top of it.”

Kennedy tore into Bergen for his mischaracterization.

“There’s pictures of it collapsing. There’s nothing collapsing on top of it. I mean, listen, I don’t want to argue any theories about this because all I’ve heard is questions. I have no explanation. I have no knowledge of it,” he said.

“But what you’re repeating now, I know not to be true.”

To Kennedy’s point about Building 7, a new paper in the Journal of 9/11 Studies this year further made the case that it was destroyed via controlled demolition.

But while the mystery of Building 7 may never be solved, new information is still dripping out about how some of the 9/11 hijackers were intelligence assets.

In March, veteran national security reporter Seth Hettena published a government document citing two unnamed FBI agents who allegedly said that the CIA was monitoring and attempting to recruit two of the airplane hijackers in the lead-up to the attack.

The government document is a sworn statement from Office of Military Commissions investigator Don Canestraro, who summarized the inteviews he conducted with FBI agents about the 9/11 case.

According to Canestraro, at least two FBI agents told him that the CIA had attempted to recruit two of the hijackers—Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.

Kennedy isn’t the only presidential candidate to question the 9/11 official narrative.

GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy recently came under fire for doubting the 9/11 Commission’s findings.

“What I’ve seen in the last several years is we have to be skeptical of what the government does tell us. I haven’t seen evidence to the contrary, but do I believe everything the government told us about it? Absolutely not,” Ramaswamy said in an interview last month. “Do I believe the 9/11 commission? Absolutely not.”

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

Former Teacher Says Online Credit-Recovery Courses Invite Cheating

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Former Teacher Says Online Credit-Recovery Courses Invite Cheating

(Brendan Clarey, Chalkboard News) When government officials and school leaders closed classrooms because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many students switched to virtual learning.

Some schools, however, have continued to utilize virtual options for students, including courseware that critics say allows students to cheat.

A former Atlanta-area public school teacher wrote last month in an op-ed that course assessments from ed-tech company Edmentum could be gamed using search engines, allowing students to receive credit by cheating at home.

In an emailed statement to Chalkboard, Edmentum said its products are offered at over 6,200 public school districts nationwide, some of which relied on its online courseware services during the pandemic-related school closures.

Jeremy Noonan—a former teacher at Paulding County School District in Dallas, Georgia— wrote last month in an op-ed for the Fordham Institute that he personally saw indications students were gaming answers on Edmentum’s online credit recovery courseware.

In a video uploaded to Vimeo, Noonan says he observed how students working on credit recovery courses at home could use Google or other search engines to copy assessment questions and quickly find the answers.

Noonan demonstrates in the video how students could go through course material quickly, citing an example of a student completing a 33-question Algebra pretest in under 18 minutes while getting a 97% on the assessment. That same student completed the entire math course in about 15 hours.

Noonan describes in the video how answers appear on Google or other websites simply by searching the text of the question. Noonan says he discovered the loophole after seeing a student cheat in class.

Noonan said when he told Paulding administrators about Edmentum’s alleged vulnerabilities, they responded that they supported allowing students to take tests at home and that they can monitor the tests and deal with cheating.

Noonan described the problems with the assessments as a systemic issue and a way for school administrators to boost the school district’s graduation rates by not cracking down on it.

“Not knowing what they’re doing is the problem,” Noonan said. “You have a professional, moral obligation to make sure they’re doing it legitimately.”

The school district disagreed with Noonan’s claims and says cheating incidents are uncommon for the relatively small number of fully virtual students. A spokesperson for the school district said Noonan cherry-picked information about specific students and their online class performance.

“The Paulding County School District supports the value of online learning in specific applications, such as the Paulding Virtual Academy and online Credit Recovery courses, for a relatively small population of students,” a spokesperson said.

“While cheating certainly happens, it is not epidemic in Paulding County schools, and it arguably is no worse today than it has ever been,” the district spokesperson continued.

A brochure from the district’s Alternative Learning for Academic Success Program, housed within the New Hope Education Center, acknowledges—and prohibits students from utilizing—the very loopholes pointed out by Noonan.

“Participants are expected to perform all work on their own,” the brochure reads. “‘Googling’ answers is not acceptable.”

Edmentum said its coursework and tests are vetted by outside entities.

“Our programs meet rigorous state and third-party agency approvals, ensuring the quality of our curriculum and assessments,” an Edmentum spokesperson told Chalkboard. “The online Credit Recovery model used by the district referenced is the same as the state Department of Education’s Georgia Virtual Academy, and many other school systems across the state.”

Online credit recovery allows students who have previously failed required classes to make them up at home. This allows students to graduate on time, but researchers have found evidence that online credit recovery programs do not increase student learning.

Several school districts Chalkboard spoke with that use Edmentum said they do not allow students to take assessments virtually so they can be monitored better.

Carolyn Heinrich, a professor of public policy, education and economics in the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, told Chalkboard that what Noonan says occurred at Paulding County School District is not surprising to her.

Heinrich said online credit recovery systems are prevalent in all 50 states and used heavily in the largest school districts. From 2014 to 2020, Heinrich said the use of these credit recovery systems has increased, especially for students who are failing courses.

In most cases, she says, a student’s failing grade is replaced with a new grade. Students are grouped together in computer labs with someone monitoring from the front of the room while students work at terminals.

Heinrich said she has personally observed students doing everything except work on their courses in hundreds of classroom settings on school campuses.

For example, she said students would plug their headphones into their phones and listen to music during video lectures.

They also observed students copying and pasting test questions into a search engine or looking up answers on Wikipedia, according to her published work.

“When Jeremy reached out to me and said what he was seeing, I said, ‘Well, yeah, it’s in our published papers. We talk about what we were seeing,'” Heinrich said. “I’m not surprised.”

When asked about how districts monitor students, Heinrich said students are great at evading detection and schools are strapped for personnel to keep an eye out.

Noonan, who resigned from the district earlier this year over his concerns, claims that what administrators allow students to do is “the opposite of an education.”

“What hit my heart, what makes it a big problem, is that the administrators are cheating, but they’re getting the kids to do it,” Noonan said.

Rosendale Stakes Claim as ‘Peace’ Candidate in Senate Bid vs. Ukraine Hawk Tim Sheehy

Ken Silva
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Rosendale Stakes Claim as ‘Peace’ Candidate in Senate Bid vs. Ukraine Hawk Tim Sheehy

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) During a Tuesday event about the looming federal government shutdown, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., was asked about the upcoming U.S. Senate race in Montana.

Rosendale hasn’t formally announced his candidacy, but he nevertheless gave a rousing explanation for why he’s the preferable Republican to challenge incumbent Democrat Sen. Jon Tester: The populist Rosendale supports peace with Russia, while the other potential challenger to Tester, upstart Tim Sheehy, has expressed support for total war.

“If we don’t replace Jon Tester, this is going to get worse. And if some chance this other individual is able to secure [Tester’s] seat, what we’re going to have is yet another yes-man for Mitch McConnell,” Rosendale said, referring to Sheehy.

“Literally, he believes we should have American troops and planes and bombs in Ukraine. That would be devastating to the United States,” Rosendale said.

Rosendale was referencing hawkish comments made by Sheehy before he announced his candidacy for Senate.

On his LinkedIn page last year, Sheehy reportedly wrote that the U.S. must “stop him now before the price tag for putting Putin down will be a lot higher … Gofund me pages and twitter likes aren’t enough. Soldiers, planes, bombs and bullets will be needed against this Tyrant.”

In a separate post later in the year, Sheehy blasted the Biden administration for not doing enough to help Ukraine.

“Our inaction in the face of unchecked evil is shameful,” he said at the time. “The time to intervene on behalf of a free democracy is now.”

Since declaring his candidacy, Sheehy has backed off his hawkish comments. In July, he reportedly told a Montana talk show that it’s time to end U.S. involvement in Ukraine.

“We are a year into this war and America has done our duty in stopping this vicious and unprovoked attack, and we must now demand a settlement which ends the killing of innocent people and the unlimited supply of arms from the United States,” he reportedly said in July.

But Sheehy’s flip-flop hasn’t been enough to win the support of potential challenger Rosendale, who also blasted him for apparently supporting controversial ESG investing practices, as well as diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Rosendale, who has consistently opposed U.S. intervention in Ukraine from the outset, said that Sheehy has clearly “demonstrated his loyalty to Mitch McConnell.”

If the 37-year-old Sheehy wins Tester’s seat next November, then the establishment RINOs could hold that seat for the next 30 years, Rosendale warned.

The Montana Free Press website reported earlier this month that Sheehy and Rosendale— the latter of whom unsuccessfully ran against Tester in 2018—have slight leads over the incumbent in the polls.

The Senate primary in Montana is scheduled for June 4, 2024.

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

Ford Pauses $3.5B Michigan Electric Vehicle Plant, Despite $1.7B Subsidy

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Ford Pauses $3.5B Michigan Electric Vehicle Plant, Despite $1.7B Subsidy

(Scott McClallen, The Center Square) Despite Michigan’s $1.7B of promised taxpayer incentives for the plant and site readiness, Ford Motor Co. says it’s not confident about its ability to competitively run its Marshall electric vehicle plant.

Lawmakers and Ford said the plant would create 2,500 jobs paying an average wage of $45,136.

“We’re pausing work and limiting spending on construction on the Marshall project until we’re confident that we’ll be able to competitively operate the plant,” Ford spokesman T.R. Reid told the Center Square in an email.

“There are a number of considerations,” he added.” We haven’t made any final decision about the planned investment there. There’s nothing to add, at this point.”

The Detroit News first reported the story.

The $3.5 billion factory aimed to drop the cost of EVs via lithium-iron phosphate batteries and pump out 2 million vehicles globally by 2026. Michigan has 34,380 EVs registered statewide, while Minnesota has 41,417 and Illinois has nearly 80,000.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has touted the Marshal plant as the flagship of her economic development policy.

The Michigan Strategic Fund approved incentives for the BlueOval Battery Park, including a $210 million Critical Industry Program grant from Michigan’s Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund; $772 million in Renaissance Zone property; and a real tax exemption over 15 years; and a $36 million loan.

On top of that, lawmakers approved $750M for site readiness.

Michigan Economic Development Corporation Communications Manager Otie McKinely told the Center Square in an email: “To date, Ford has not received any CIP funding.

All funding thus far has been expended to support the development of the Marshall site, including assemblage of Ford and non-Ford parcels, which would be applicable for any prospective tenant of the site.”

Rep. Sarah Lightner, R-Springport, said Democrat policies including a 100% planned clean energy mandate are hurting businesses.

“Gov. Whitmer threw $1.7 billion in taxpayer dollars at Ford to bring its new EV plant to Marshall, but even that wasn’t enough to make the company turn a blind eye toward the anti-business climate the Democrat majority has created,” Lightner said in a statement.

“Their far-left policies put more red tape and higher costs on businesses. The extreme energy mandate they’re currently pushing will raise costs even further while leaving large manufacturers like Ford worried about blackouts affecting their bottom line.

If this keeps up, Michigan workers will pay the price as industries suffer and opportunities vanish.”

Lightner called on the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to claw back money given, if any, to Ford for the plant if it closes permanently.

John Mozena, president of the Center for Economic Accountability, a nonprofit organization for transparent economic development policy, said this is a “perfect example” that businesses locate factories based on business factors instead of one-time government subsidies.

“Michigan’s taxpayers are supposed to be putting more money into this one plant than the legislature appropriates for the state’s public universities in a year, but that’s still not enough to overcome the realities of the automotive industry and Michigan’s broader business climate,” Mozena wrote in an email.

Newsom Signs GOP-Authored Bill to Make Trafficking Minors a Serious Felony

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Newsom Signs GOP-Authored Bill to Make Trafficking Minors a Serious Felony

(Kenneth Schrupp, The Center Square) California’s Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a Republican-authored bill into law that makes trafficking minors a serious felony, marking an end to a saga of a bill that drew national attention when a small group of Democrats in the State Assembly attempted to stop the bill in committee.

“I am grateful for the incredible support from the human trafficking survivors who have bravely shared their story with the hope of making this change, the 64 legislative co-authors of SB 14, and the Governor for signing this important bill,” bill author state Sen. Shannon Grove, R–Bakersfield, said.

“Most of all, I want to thank the thousands of Californians who called or visited legislative offices, signed petitions, and spoke out on social media,” Grove added. “We are here today because of the overwhelming public outrage that propelled this bill through the legislature and ultimately helped protect our children from predators.”

SB 14—which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2024—makes trafficking minors a “serious felony,” which makes the crime eligible under the state’s “three strikes law” increasing criminal penalties for offenders on their third or more round of convictions.

While passed unanimously in the State Senate, the bill was nearly defeated in the State Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, where Assembly Majority Leader Isaac Bryan, D–Los Angeles and rest of the committee’s Democratic majority abstained from voting on the bill.

Progressive Democrats opposed the bill on grounds that it would increase incarceration, which they say does little to deter crime.

“Longer sentences…increase our investment in systems of harm and subjugation at the expense of the investments that the communities need to not have this problem to begin with,” said Bryan in committee.

Bryan was just one of two Democrats to abstain from the bill’s successful July 13 Public Safety Committee vote after abstaining July 12.

In the aftermath of the bill’s failed committee vote, the bill earned national attention, with even the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, taking to Twitter, to ask how trafficking minors is “not already a serious felony.”

Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D–Salinas, and Newsom joined in the backlash, coming out in support of the bill, leading to its successful second vote in the Public Safety Committee the next day.

The bill passed with zero abstentions or no votes before the Assembly and just one abstention in the Senate for its concurrence vote codifying an amendment that would prevent victims of human trafficking from being convicted of human trafficking that could occur while they are being trafficked.

“Human trafficking is a sick crime. With this new law, California is going further to protect kids,” said Newsom in a statement celebrating the bill’s signing.

“I’m grateful for the leadership of Sen. Grove, Speaker Rivas and Pro Tem Atkins in spearheading this bipartisan effort to make our communities and children safer,” he added.

Iranian Covert Infiltration in Biden and Obama Admins Sparks Concerns

Luis Cornelio
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Iranian Covert Infiltration in Biden and Obama Admins Sparks Concerns

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Leaked emails obtained by Semafor have exposed alleged infiltration by individuals tied to the Iranian regime within the Biden and Obama administrations. 

The documents implicate key officials in an alleged clandestine scheme orchestrated by the Iranian Foreign Ministry to manipulate foreign policy decisions in favor of Iran, all while the Obama and Biden administrations negotiated the Iran nuclear deal. Notably, just last week, Biden himself came under fire for funneling $6 billion in unfrozen assets to Iran in exchange for the release of three American citizens.

According to Semafor, the leaked emails specifically point to three individuals closely associated with Robert Malley, the embattled Iran envoy of the Biden administration. Pentagon official Ariane Tabatabai, think-tank adviser Dina Esfandiary and Ali Vaez, a protégé of Robert Malley, were reportedly active members of the contentious “Iran Experts Initiative (IEI).” 

As revealed by the bombshell report, the IEI’s efforts were designed to “bolster Tehran’s image and positions on global security issues.”  

The allegations suggest that these individuals maintained continuous communications with the Iranian regime with the aim of safeguarding the regime’s interests. The findings triggered a handful of fiery criticisms against President Joe Biden, who is embroiled in a bribery scandal himself. 

Morgan Ortagus, former Department of State spokesperson, expressed her astonishment on Twitter on Sept. 26. “There’s no two ways around this: top Obama and Biden officials were a part of a foreign influence operation by the Iranian regime, some of who are still in govt holding security clearances,” she remarked. 

Her disbelief did not stop there, adding, “This comes on top of the news that Rob Malley, Biden’s Iran envoy, had to leave his position over his security clearance being revoked.” 

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., demanded answers, highlighting concerns about the Biden administration’s approach to Iran. “Americans have rightly been asking why the Biden administration is so friendly with the Iranian regime, and why Biden administration officials have so single-mindedly enabled Iranian nuclear progress and terrorism,” a fired-up Cruz statement read

“These reports and emails suggest a vast Iranian influence operation that goes to the very top of the administration,” he added. 

Amid the controversy, the Pentagon defended its hiring of Tabataba in statements to the Washington Free Beacon. “Dr. Tabatabai was thoroughly and properly vetted as a condition of her employment with the Department of Defense,” a spokesman claimed. “We are honored to have her serve.”

Hunter Biden Sues Rudy Giuliani Over Infamous Laptop

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Hunter Biden Sues Rudy Giuliani Over Infamous Laptop

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Hunter Biden sued the former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani over his infamous laptop, saying that Giuliani hacked and manipulated data on an external hard drive in a “total annihilation” of Biden’s “digital privacy.”

The suit that was filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Central California accused Giuliani and his former attorney Robert Costello of violating the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act when they accessed Biden’s hard drive, the New York Post reported.

“For the past many months and even years, Defendants have dedicated an extraordinary amount of time and energy toward looking for, hacking into, tampering with, manipulating, copying, disseminating and generally obsessing over data that they were given that was taken or stolen from Plaintiff’s devices or storage platforms, including what Defendants claim to have obtained from Plaintiff’s alleged ‘laptop’ computer,” the filing said.

Biden also previously sued Delaware computer repair store owner John Paul Mac Isaac — the man who found the laptop — and called for criminal proceedings against him, Giuliani, former [Donald] Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon and others.

Mac Isaac became the owner of the laptop in 2019 after Biden left it at the repairman’s shop in April of that year and never came back to pick it up, Mac Isaac’s lawyer said.

After looking at the contents of the laptop that exposed the corruption of both Hunter and his father, Mac Isaac alerted the FBI.

Before the federal agents picked up the laptop in December 2019, the repairman made a copy of the hard drive and gave it to Costello in August 2020. Giuliani then gave a copy of the drive to the Post in October 2020.

Biden’s attorneys wrote that Giuliani and Costello’s actions constituted a violation of both federal and California law, even though it could not possibly be the case because Mac Isaac’s store was in Delaware and Giuliani and Costello kept the hard drive in New York.

“Although Defendants and their allies are entitled to their baseless opinions about Plaintiff and the Biden family… they are not entitled to violate federal and state anti-computer hacking laws to advance their personal and political agendas,” the filing said.

The Post contacted Giuliani’s adviser Ted Goodman so that he would respond to the suit.

“Hunter Biden has previously refused to admit ownership of the laptop. I’m not surprised he’s now falsely claiming his laptop hard drive was manipulated by Mayor Giuliani, considering the sordid material and potential evidence of crimes on that thing,” he said.

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