(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue is once again under legal scrutiny after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a damning lawsuit accusing the group of deceptive practices and lax safeguards around foreign donations.
Paxton, who is running for the Republican nomination for Senate, announced the lawsuit Monday, calling it a landmark case.
The suit centers on longstanding accusations that ActBlue misled consumers and investigators about its efforts to block foreign donations.
“The radical left has relied on ActBlue as a way to funnel foreign donations and dark money into their political campaigns to subvert our laws and compromise the integrity of our elections,” Paxton said in a statement.
“ActBlue lied to Congress and to the American people, and I will ensure justice is served,” he added. “It has blatantly ignored state law that prohibits deceptive practices, and it must pay for its illegal conduct.”
Paxton’s lawsuit seeks $1 million in monetary relief, along with additional unspecified remedies.
Spanning 31 pages, the suit cites internal communications in which ActBlue employees reportedly discussed concerns about foreign donations.
It accuses ActBlue of one count of engaging in false, misleading or deceptive trade practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce; one count of causing confusion or misunderstanding as to the source, sponsorship, approval, or certification of goods or services; among other allegations.
Paxton’s accusations must be proven before a Texas court.
The lawsuit coincides with a federal investigation into similar allegations against ActBlue. It also follows reporting by the left-wing New York Times that ActBlue’s counsel warned of potential legal issues related to the fundraising platform CEO’s congressional testimony on foreign donation safeguards.
The attorneys reportedly warned that some statements may have been false or misleading, noting that foreign donations have entered the system.
ActBlue spokesperson De’Andra Roberts-LaBoo dismissed the accusations, telling Fox News that the lawsuit is “a thinly veiled attempt to distract from Ken Paxton’s numerous legal and ethical issues ahead of next month’s runoff.”
(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Chinese gold imports surged in the first two months of the year, underpinned by strong demand.
China ranks as the largest gold market in the world.
According to the latest data released by China Customs, the country imported a net 77 tonnes of gold in January. That compares to just 6 tonnes in January 2025.
The import pace picked up speed in February, with China bringing in 96 tonnes of gold, a 63-tonne year-on-year increase.
Continued strong demand was also evident in March as banks, jewelers, and refiners withdrew 134 tonnes of gold from the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE). SGE activity reflects wholesale demand.
SGE gold withdrawals were up 57 percent month-on-month and 12 percent higher than the same period last year.
According to the World Gold Council, the month-on-month gain was primarily seasonal as wholesalers restocked inventory in the wake of the Chinese New Year holiday.
A strong March drove Q1 wholesale demand to 345 tonnes. That was a 3 percent increase over Q1 2025, but still 23 percent below the 10-year average.
Overall, gold demand in China continues to be a tale of two sectors, with strong investment demand offsetting persistent weakness in jewelry sales.
Coin and bar sales have continued the strong upward trend we saw throughout most of last year. Global coin and bar demand hit a 12-year high in 2025, and more than half of it came from two countries – China and India.
Inflows of gold into Chinese ETFs also reflect strong investor interest. While North American funds were shedding gold as the price dipped in the initial phase of the Iran conflict, Chinese funds were still adding metal.
In fact, China-based ETFs have reported an increase in gold holdings for seven straight months. In March, Chinese fund gold inflows totaled 8.4 tonnes.
As the World Gold Council explained, the falling gold price did not deter Chinese investors.
“In March, the CSI300 stock index fell 6 percent and the local currency depreciated by 0.8 percent against the dollar; these factors, combined with safe-haven demand prompted by the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, and continued regional geopolitical tensions, supported local gold ETF buying. We also witnessed some dip buying during the first half of the month.”
Thanks to a combination of rising prices and gold inflows, assets under management (AUM) by Chinese ETFs rose 26 percent to ¥304 billion ($44 billion) and total gold holdings climbed to 298 tonnes in Q1.
A gold ETF is backed by a trust company that holds metal owned and stored by the trust. In most cases, investing in an ETF does not entitle you to any amount of physical gold. You own a share of the ETF, not gold itself. ETFs are a convenient way for investors to play the gold market, but owning ETF shares is not the same as holding physical gold.
Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.
(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Since the Federal Reserve announced the resumption of quantitative easing (QE) in December, the central bank has expanded its balance sheet by over $200 billion.
During QE, the central bank buys U.S. Treasuries and/or mortgage-backed securities on the open market with money created out of thin air. This represents artificial demand for Treasuries, driving interest rates lower than they would otherwise be, enabling the federal government to borrow more at a lower interest rate than it could if the Fed didn’t have its big fat thumb on the market.
On the other side of the equation, QE is inherently inflationary. The Fed injects newly created money into the financial system as it purchases these assets. An increase in the money supply is, by definition, inflation.
Since the Federal Reserve is effectively turning U.S. government debt into cash, this process is sometimes referred to as debt monetization.
At the December meeting (Dec. 10), the FOMC announced plans to purchase $40 million in Treasury Bills that week (Bills are short-term Treasuries that mature in one year or less). From that point, the FOMC statement said, purchases will “remain elevated for a few months” before they are “significantly reduced.”
Nearly five months later, we’re still waiting for that “significant reduction.”
In the three weeks after the announcement, the Fed expanded the balance sheet by about $100 billion before drawing it back down in the first week of January. Since then, there has been a steady march higher, with the balance sheet now over $6.7 trillion.
Yes! This Is QE
Of course, you will not hear any central banker or mainstream pundit utter the words “quantitative easing.”
In fact, if pushed, they’ll almost certainly deny that they’re doing it. They’ll call it “reserve management,” or tell you they’re engaged in “technical operations” to keep the financial system’s plumbing moving.
However, an expansion of reserves is an expansion of reserves. You can call it QE. You can call it reserve management. You can call it tap dancing with unicorns.
In practice, the Fed plans to start buying Treasury bills with money created out of thin air. This will increase the money supply and put downward pressure on Treasury rates. The balance sheet will grow; liquidity will increase; risk asset bubbles will get more air. This is exactly what QE does. So, call it what you want. If it walks like a duck…
Why QE Now?
When Ben Bernanke launched the first round of quantitative easing during the Great Recession, he framed it as a temporary emergency measure. During a congressional hearing, he insisted that the Fed was not engaged in debt monetization, and when the crisis passed, the Fed would quickly shed the assets from its balance sheet.
That never happened.
When the central bank started QE in late 2008, the balance sheet was around $900 billion. After three rounds of quantitative easing, the balance sheet had exploded to over $4.5 trillion.
The Fed made a half-hearted effort to shrink the balance sheet in 2017, but that economy got wobbly, and the stock market crashed in the fall of 2018. By 2019, the balance sheet was expanding again.
Of course, the balance sheet exploded again during the pandemic, reaching nearly $9 trillion by the time it was all said and done.
QE was conceived of as an emergency measure. So, what’s the emergency today?
The brief spell of QE in 2019 before the pandemic gives us a clue.
The Fed didn’t get around to tightening monetary policy until nearly a decade after the 2008 financial crisis. When it did, the economy threw a temper tantrum. That’s because the central bank hooked the economy on easy money. It incentivized massive levels of debt and blew up multiple asset bubbles. When the pusher tried to take the drug away, the addict went into withdrawal. Instead of letting the addict detox and sober up, the pusher supplied more drugs.
The pandemic gave the central bankers exactly the excuse they needed to inject a massive amount of liquidity into the system and prop up the floundering economy. I’m convinced that had the pandemic not come along, the economy would have tilted into a deep recession and possibly another financial crisis. That’s because an easy-money addicted economy can’t function in anything approaching a normal interest rate environment.
Fast forward to today.
The unprecedented scope and speed of pandemic-era money creation predictably led to price inflation. The Fed had no choice but to respond. It raised interest rates and shrank the balance sheet. But the economy is still addicted to easy money. It still can’t function in a normal interest rate environment.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why the Fed is running QE (while not calling it that) today.
It’s trying to walk a tightrope between taming price inflation with higher rates and avoiding the impact of a massive Debt Black Hole that demands lower interest rates.
This Catch-22 explains why we’re seeing balance sheet expansion despite price inflation still running above the stated 2 percent target. It is trying desperately to maintain the federal government’s ability to service relentless deficits while not triggering another unacceptable wave of price inflation.
Interestingly, the U.S. Treasury is also in on the act. It has bought back a record of $75.6 billion in Treasuries so far this year.
This debt buyback is a backdoor way for the government to suppress yields. It’s something of a Ponzi scheme. In practice, the Treasury issues new short-duration debt and uses proceeds to buy back longer-term debt. This shortens the average maturity of outstanding debt and puts downward pressure on the long end of the yield curve.
This strategy comes with its own set of risks. When the shorter-term debt comes due, it will have to be rolled over at the current interest rate. With yields generally rising, the new debt will likely carry a higher interest rate price tag than the maturing bonds. In essence, the Treasury is playing kick the can down the road, hoping the lower end of the yield curve doesn’t spike and that they can hold their overall interest expense down.
Keep in mind, the government is already paying more than $1 trillion per year just to service its massive debt. It has become the second-largest spending category for the federal government behind only Social Security.
The fact that the Fed is running QE (but not calling it that) reveals a dirty little secret. Political posturing aside, the central bank will pick inflation over allowing the economy to crash under the weight of its debt burden. One should plan accordingly.
Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.
(Headline USA) The Southern Poverty Law Center says it’s the subject of a criminal investigation by the Justice Department and faces possible charges over its past use of paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups.
The civil rights group made the announcement on Tuesday, saying President Donald Trump’s administration appears to be preparing legal action against it or some of its employees.
“Although we don’t know all the details, the focus appears to be on the SPLC’s prior use of paid confidential informants to gather credible intelligence on extremely violent groups,” CEO Bryan Fair said in a statement.
The Justice Department had no immediate comment.
The SPLC previously paid informants to infiltrate extremist groups and gather information on their activities, often sharing it with local and federal law enforcement, Fair said. It was used to monitor threats of violence, he said, adding that the program was kept quiet to protect the safety of informants.
“When we began working with informants, we were living in the shadow of the height of the Civil Rights Movement, which had seen bombings at churches, state-sponsored violence against demonstrators, and the murders of activists that went unanswered by the justice system,” Fair said. “There is no question that what we learned from informants saved lives.”
However, critics have noted that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have used the SPLC’s informant network to skirt constitutional restrictions on domestic surveillance.
The SPLC had informants embedded in Elohim City, where the OKC bombing is suspected to have been planned by McVeigh and others who were never charged. https://t.co/gQY09S4hq5pic.twitter.com/r6dntHNKTR
For instance, about eight years after the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing, a leaked FBI memo revealed in 2003 that the SPLC had its own informants operating in an Oklahoman white supremacist compound called Elohim City, where OKC bomber Tim McVeigh was suspected to have visited.
The leaked January 1996 FBI memo said: “Information has also been received through the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that [NAME REDACTED] telephone call from [Oklahoma City bomber] Timothy McVeigh on or about 4/17/95, two days prior to the OKBOMB attack, when [NAME REDACTED], per a source of the SPLC, was in the white supremacist compound at [Elohim City].”
Citing a “highly placed confidential source in the DOJ,” the journalists who obtained the memo reported in 2005 that the FBI had been using the SPLC as a surveillance cutout. The journalists, J.D. Cash and Roger Charles, said the FBI was using a spy network operated by the SPLC to do what many in the bureau were afraid to do because of guidelines in place during the Clinton administration.
“Attorney General Janet Reno would not allow the FBI much latitude in developing intelligence inside the far-right due to concerns that such activities might violate existing departmental guidelines on ‘domestic spying,’” J.D. Cash and Roger Charles wrote in July 2005 for the McCurtain Daily Gazette.
“To skirt Reno’s policies, the FBI developed a relationship with cutouts such as the SPLC that could use their own spies to do what the FBI could not. These non-government agents then passed their intelligence products back to the bureau.”
Because the OKC bombing suspects who had resided at Elohim City were never arrested in relation to the attack—as Headline USA reported here—Cash and Charles wondered whether the SPLC was helping the FBI conceal information about the case. Cash and Charles—the latter who worked a brief stint on McVeigh’s defense team—were developing the theory that the FBI was trying to conceal the fact that one of its informants had gone rogue and helped carry out the bombing.
The two investigators confronted SPLC founder Morris Dees with their suspicions, but Dees reportedly declined to divulge information.
“Dees admitted that he had an informant at Elohim City as the [FBI] teletype said. However, the coy attorney refused to elaborate on the situation, except to say he had warned then-attorney general Reno, six months before the attack, that, ‘An attack on the government is planned by members of the far right,’” Cash and Charles wrote in 2005.
“Dees went on to say that after the attack he immediately called Reno to say the media had it wrong. ‘I told her the attack was domestic, not foreign,’ Dees said.”
Dees was reportedly also confronted about the matter during a conference at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 2003, but he also declined to comment at that time.
“If I told you what we were doing there, I would have to kill you,” Dees reportedly said in 2003.
More recently, the SPLC came under fresh scrutiny after the assassination last year of conservative activist Charlie Kirk brought renewed attention to its characterization of the group that Kirk founded and led. The SPLC included a section on that group, Turning Point USA, in a report titled “The Year in Hate and Extremism 2024” that described the group as “A Case Study of the Hard Right in 2024.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said last year that the agency was severing its relationship with the SPLC, which had long provided law enforcement with research on hate crime and domestic extremism. Patel said the SPLC had been turned into a “partisan smear machine,” and he accused it of defaming “mainstream Americans” with its “hate map” that documents alleged anti-government and hate groups inside the United States.
House Republicans hosted a hearing centered on the SPLC in December, saying it coordinated efforts with President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration “to target Christian and conservative Americans and deprive them of their constitutional rights to free speech and free association.”
(José Niño, Headline USA) A Florida International University student is facing felony charges after messages she posted in a WhatsApp group chat were interpreted as a bomb threat against a campus event.
The case has drawn widespread attention online, with many observers characterizing it as an overreach against dark political humor.
The incident unfolded in a group chat of approximately 215 FIU classmates who were discussing an event scheduled at the university’s Ocean Bank Convocation Center. The student, identified as Gabriela Saldana, 23, wrote, “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, if you can hear me, drop some bonbons for us Capstone students in Ocean Bank Convocation Center,” per a report by NDTV. Police interpreted “bonbons” as a thinly veiled reference to bombs.
Florida college student was arrested for making a Netanyahu joke in a Whatsapp group chat.
The message that elevated the case from dark humor to criminal prosecution came next. According to the FIU Police officer who testified at the bond hearing, Saldana followed up with a second message stating, “There is going to be a bomb in the Ocean Bank Convocation Center and it was going to be Jonathan’s fault.” Jonathan was another student in the chat, per a report by WSVN.
Classmates did not treat the messages as jokes. They reported them to authorities. Saldana herself later acknowledged in the chat, “I wrote a dumb joke that should not have been made.”
Per IB Times, Prosecutors charged her under Florida Statute 836.10, which covers written threats to kill or cause bodily harm. The offense is a second-degree felony carrying a potential sentence of up to 15 years. According to WSVN, Judge Mindy S. Glazer found probable cause for the charge but declined to find probable cause for a prejudice enhancement that would have classified it as a hate crime. She set bond at $5,000.
FIU released a statement describing the messages as “a credible and imminent threat of violence at a planned university event” that included “a specific date, time and venue.”
The case unfolds against a backdrop of heightened scrutiny of campus speech about Israel and Palestine. FIU has other students under investigation for anti-ICE protests, and Florida maintains some of the most expansive threat statutes in the nation, per a report by Miami New Times.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
(Headline USA) Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, the White House said Monday, after multiple allegations of abusing her position’s power, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job.
Chavez-DeRemer is the third Trump Cabinet member to leave her post after Trump fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March and ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month.
In a statement posted on social media, Chavez-DeRemer praised Trump and wrote, “I am proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business and labor and always put the American worker first.”
Unlike other recent Cabinet departures, Chavez-DeRemer’s exit was announced by a White House aide, not by the president on his social media account.
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this historic Administration and work for the greatest President of my lifetime.
At the Department of Labor, I am proud that we made significant progress in advancing President Trump’s mission to bridge the gap between business…
— Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (@SecretaryLCD) April 20, 2026
“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said on the social media site X. “She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives.”
He said Keith Sonderling, the current deputy labor secretary, would become acting labor secretary in her place. The news outlet NOTUS was the first to report Chavez-DeRemer’s resignation.
Labor chief, family members faced multiple allegations
Chavez-DeRemer’s departure follows reports that began surfacing in January that she was under a series of investigations.
A New York Times report last Wednesday revealed that the Labor Department’s inspector general was reviewing material showing Chavez-DeRemer and her top aides and family members routinely sent personal messages and requests to young staff members.
Chavez-DeRemer’s husband and father exchanged text messages with young female staff members, according to the newspaper. Some of the staffers were instructed by the secretary and her former deputy chief of staff to “pay attention” to her family, people familiar with the investigation told the Times.
Those messages were uncovered as part of a broader investigation of Chavez-DeRemer’s leadership that began after the New York Post reported in January that a complaint filed with the Labor Department’s inspector general accused Chavez-DeRemer of a relationship with the subordinate.
She also faced allegations that she drank alcohol on the job and that she tasked aides to plan official trips for primarily personal reasons.
Late Monday, on her personal X account, Chavez-DeRemer posted, “The allegations against me, my family, and my team have been peddled by high-ranked deep state actors who have been coordinating with the one-sided news media and continue to undermine President Trump’s mission.”
Both the White House and the Labor Department initially said the reports of wrongdoing were baseless. But the official denials got less full-throated as more allegations emerged — and when Chavez-DeRemer might be out of a job became something of an open question in Washington.
At least four Labor Department officials have already been forced from their jobs as the investigation progressed, including Chavez-DeRemer’s former chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, as well as a member of her security detail, with whom she was accused of having the affair, The New York Times reported.
“I think the secretary demonstrated a lot of wisdom in resigning,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Monday after her departure was made public.
She enjoyed union support — rare for a Republican
Confirmed to Trump’s Cabinet on a 67-32 vote in March 2025, Chavez-DeRemer is a former House GOP lawmaker who had represented a swing district in Oregon. She enjoyed unusual support from unions as a Republican but lost reelection in November 2024.
In her single term in Congress, Chavez-DeRemer backed legislation that would make it easier to unionize on a federal level, as well as a separate bill aimed at protecting Social Security benefits for public-sector employees.
Some prominent labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, backed Chavez-DeRemer, who is a daughter of a Teamster, for Labor Secretary. Trump’s decision to pick her was viewed by some political observers as a way to appeal to voters who are members of or affiliated with labor organizations.
But other powerful labor leaders were skeptical when she was tapped for the job, unconvinced that Chavez-DeRemer would pursue a union-friendly agenda as a part of the incoming GOP administration. In her Senate confirmation hearing, some senators questioned whether she would be able to uphold that reputation in an administration that fired thousands of federal employees.
She was a key figure in Trump’s deregulatory push
Aside from reports of wrongdoing in recent months, Chavez-DeRemer had been one of Trump’s more lower-profile Cabinet picks, but took key steps to advance the administration’s deregulatory agenda during her tenure.
For instance, the Labor Department last year moved to rewrite or repeal more than 60 workplace regulations it saw as obsolete. The rollbacks included minimum wage requirements for home health care workers and people with disabilities, and rules governing exposure to harmful substances and safety procedures at mines. The effort drew condemnation from union leaders and workplace safety experts.
The proposed changes also included eliminating a requirement that employers provide adequate lighting for construction sites and seat belts for agriculture workers in most employer-provided transportation.
During Chavez-DeRemer’s tenure, the Trump administration canceled millions of dollars in international grants that a Labor Department division administered to combat child labor and slave labor around the world, ending their work that had helped reduce the number of child laborers worldwide by 78 million over the last two decades.
In her statement Monday, Chavez-DeRemer said, “While my time serving in the Administration comes to a conclusion, it doesn’t mean I will stop fighting for American workers.”
The Labor Department has a broad mandate as it relates to the U.S. workforce, including reporting the U.S. unemployment rate, regulating workplace health and safety standards, investigating minimum wage, child labor and overtime pay disputes, and applying laws on union organizing and unlawful terminations.
(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) Given the surging silver price, you might think demand was up significantly last year.
It wasn’t.
Silver was up as much as 147 percent intra-year in 2025, starting the year at 28.84 and surging to over $100. This happened despite a 2 percent drop in silver demand.
This underscores the significance of the physical silver shortage.
According to the final data compiled by Metals Focus, silver demand came in at 1.13 billion ounces. An increase in investment demand helped to offset a 3 percent decline in industrial offtake.
Demand for silver in electronics fell by 2 percent, driving overall industrial offtake lower. According to the Silver Institute, AI helped boost silver demand, while higher prices led to a decline in the amount of silver used in the solar energy sector.
“Demand continued to benefit from structural growth in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, strong automotive end-use, and healthy power grid investment. However, these gains were offset by weakness in photovoltaic (PV) demand, as intense competition and rising silver raw material costs prompted PV manufacturers to accelerate thrifting and substitution.”
Higher prices also put a drag on jewelry sales. Silver jewelry demand dropped by 8 percent in 2025, driven by a 20 percent decline in Indian sales. China was a bright spot, reporting a 5 percent increase in silver jewelry demand sparked by gold substitution.
Silverware demand also felt the squeeze of higher prices, falling 24 percent to a 4-year low.
Surging investment demand helped offset some of these price-driven declines. Silver coins and bar demand surged by 14 percent in 2025. According to the Silver Institute, the U.S. was the only region that didn’t record significant increases in silver investment demand.
“India led with a 33 percent increase, while Europe posted its first rise in three years. The Middle East and China recorded multi-fold gains, driven by rising investor interest amid higher prices and a low base in prior years. By contrast, the U.S. posted a third consecutive year of losses, as President Trump’s election dampened safe-haven buying. Profit-taking during the price rally, particularly in the first nine months of the year, also weighed on U.S. demand.”
Silver mining supply rose modestly by 3 percent to 846.6 million ounces. Coupled with a 2 percent rise in recycling, which hit a 12-year high, total supply came in at 1.09 billion ounces.
Not Enough Silver
Even with the uptick in supply, it was not enough to meet demand, driving a fifth consecutive market deficit.
Demand outstripped supply by 40.2 million ounces (1,252 tonnes). That drove the 5-year market deficit to 716 million ounces. To put that into perspective, total silver mining output last year was 846 million ounces.
Metals Focus forecasts a 46.3-million-ounce supply deficit this year.
This explains why silver prices surged despite declining overall demand.
When demand outstrips supply, silver users must tap into existing above-ground stocks. This typically requires rising prices to incentivize those holding silver to release it into the market.
This shortage of physical silver has already led to two significant squeezes that drove last year’s price increases.
The Silver Institute projects that market dynamics in 2026 will look similar to those of last year, with declines in industrial and jewelry demand largely offset by surging investment demand.
Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for Money Metals with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed Sunday that arrests tied to the 2016 Russia investigation are imminent, signaling what Republican voters have long described as overdue accountability.
Patel made the comments in an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures while discussing broader efforts to pursue individuals accused of undermining President Donald Trump following his 2017 inauguration.
“I can announce on your show that we’ve got all the information we need,” Patel told host Maria Bartiromo. “We’re working with our prosecutors under Attorney General Todd Blanche, and we are going to be making arrests, and it’s coming. And I promise you, it’s coming soon.”
FBI Director Kash Patel just confirmed that they are folding the stolen election into the entire Grand Conspiracy case and promises that arrests are coming very soon💥
“We’ve got all the evidence. I can announce on your show that we’ve got all the information we need. We’re… pic.twitter.com/keF3rquTm6
Patel’s remarks followed reports that a grand jury could soon return an indictment against former CIA Director John Brennan.
Former senior intelligence and FBI officials were reportedly subpoenaed over the weekend to testify before a Washington, D.C., grand jury examining whether Brennan lied to Congress in 2023.
At the center of the potential case is whether Brennan knowingly made false statements to the House Judiciary Committee regarding his and the CIA’s role in the 2016 intelligence assessment on Russian interference in the presidential election.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan referred Brennan to the Department of Justice for prosecution in October 2025. The referral also alleged Brennan misrepresented the CIA’s handling of the Steele dossier and its role in the 2016 assessment on Russian interference.
Bombshell documents declassified by the Trump administration indicate Brennan brushed aside concerns about flaws in the dossier and demanded its inclusion in the assessment.
Brennan denied wrongdoing, effectively clearing himself in an MSNBC interview in which he said he found no evidence of criminal conduct in his own actions.
The statute of limitations have arguably expired for Brennan’s alleged wrongdoing. However, Patel’s FBI’s broader conspiracy case would allow a special prosecutor more time to connect recent alleged crimes to older events, treating them as part of a continuing conspiracy or racketeering operation.
John Brennan says after a thorough review of his own actions, he’s concluded that “I just don’t see any case against me."
(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) The Strait of Hormuz is best known as a key chokepoint for the global oil supply coming from the Persian Gulf, but it may also be a tourism hub in the making.
During Iran’s short-lived agreement to allow ships to pass through the dangerous waterway, reports indicated that six cruise ships took advantage of the armistice, including the Malta-based Celestyal Discovery.
The ship reportedly had been docked in Dubai for 47 days following Iran’s closure of the strait amid an ongoing clash with the United States and Israel.
I'm not sure what to make of this. A cruise ship is zooming through the Strait of Hormuz pic.twitter.com/ARm6pIsOLZ
Dubai, a popular resort destination in the United Arab Emirates that has generally embraced western tourism, sits just on the opposite side of the strait. It faced bombing attacks from Iran in the immediate aftermath of the U.S.-led strikes that killed longtime Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and many others in February.
President Donald Trump surprised critics last week by announcing that the U.S. had reached terms with Iran to reopen the strait, where the rogue Islamic regime reportedly had placed mines leading to a logjam for vessels and a spike in oil and gas prices globally.
However, Trump’s refusal to lift a naval blockade as precondition led Iranian officials to backpedal on the deal shortly thereafter.
— GrrrGraphics 🇺🇸- Ben & Tina Garrison Cartoons (@GrrrGraphics) April 18, 2026
America’s so-called NATO allies, meanwhile, have been slammed for their reluctance to get involved in the Iranian conflict, despite a near-universal consensus that regime change was necessary due to Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism and other anti-western hostility.
In an awkwardly timed meeting on Saturday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron gathered with much fanfare for a summit to discuss the reopening of the strait, while excluding U.S. representation.
Starmer claims Britain will now lead a “defensive” military mission with France to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has already forced the strait open and done the hard work.
Now Starmer and Macron want to jump in at the last minute and act like they’re the ones… pic.twitter.com/QSiBwW1DHy
With the strait already open at the time, social-media users mocked the Johnny-come-lately performativity, comparing the meeting to other historical situations that had long been resolved.
Keir Starmer, Macron, Merz and Meloni announce they will tear down the Berlin Wall.
(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) A prominent advocate for the Make America Healthy Again movement suggested that 7-Eleven’s closure of 645 underperforming North America locations may be linked to the Trump administration’s cutback of government-subsidies for unhealthy snacks.
“Wait it’s all fraud. Always has been,” said a meme accompanying the post from Heart & Soil, which suggested the once ubiquitous chain of Texas-based convenience stores was being buoyed by the government through food stamps.
Under the stewardship of Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Agriculture Sec. Brooke Rollins, 22 states have been granted waivers to restrict the purchase of items including candy, sweetened drinks and processed foods through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
This week, I joined @SecRollins, @GovBraun, @SarahHuckabee, and @RepJimBaird at a historic waiver signing to remove junk food from SNAP in Arkansas, Idaho, and Utah. President Trump has asked us to Make America Healthy Again, and it starts by promoting healthier behaviors and… pic.twitter.com/sAZXer02Kc
Financial disclosures did not directly address the decision by Seven & i Holdings Co., 7-Eleven’s Japanese parent company, to shutter the locations, many of which will be converted to “wholesale fuel stores,” according to the Associated Press.
The company still oversees some 86,000 7-Eleven stores, including 13,000 branches in North America.
Some of the decline may be attributable to the growth in competitive chains like Sheetz, Wawa and Buc-ees, which have followed 7-Eleven’s business model of round-the-clock convenience while improving the quality and variety of food offerings.
The April 9 report from Seven & i also suggested inflation may be to blame.
“[A]lthough the economy remained robust, personal consumption also began to soften … particularly among low-income households, as inflation continued to weigh on spending,” it said.
New CEO Stephen Hayes Dacus is overseeing efforts to freshen up the chain — literally — by investing in more fresh food offerings and expanding its delivery service, 7NOW.
Ben Sellers is a freelance writer and former editor of Headline USA. Follow him atx.com/realbensellers.
