Federal Judge Blocks New Mexico’s Disturbing Gun Ban w/ Temporary Restraining Order

Luis Cornelio
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Federal Judge Blocks New Mexico’s Disturbing Gun Ban w/ Temporary Restraining Order

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A federal judge has temporarily blocked a stringent mandate in New Mexico that prohibited American citizens from carrying concealed and open firearms in public within the state’s largest metropolitan area.

The order, issued on Monday, puts a temporary halt to a contentious executive order issued by Democrat Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham that drew bipartisan criticism from across the country. 

U.S. District Judge David Urias delivered a temporary rebuke to the order, stating, “They just want the right to carry their guns,” referring to the individuals who initiated the lawsuit against the executive order. 

Grisham had implemented this controversial order in response to an alleged increase in gun-related violence in the county. “I don’t blame her for wanting to take action in the face of terrible acts,” Uris added, acknowledging he faced a narrow question on the constitutional rights of New Mexicans.

Shortly after Grisham issued the order, critics mobilized with strong condemnation. Mayor Tim Keller and Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen were both prominent figures leading the opposition to the order. 

“The temporary ban challenges the foundations of our Constitution, but most importantly, it is unconstitutional,” Allen said during a press conference on Monday. “My oath was to protect the Constitution, and that is what I will do.” 

Grisham’s order mandated law enforcement to impose $5,000 fines on anyone who dared to oppose the executive order. 

The Firearms Policy Coalition initiated the lawsuit and hinted that Urias could issue a final ruling on Thursday, but the injunction went into effect immediately, according to the Washington Examiner. 

“We’re thrilled that the Court has ruled in our favor and upheld the Second Amendment, the U.S. Constitution, and Supreme Court precedent,” said Cody Wisniewski, a vice president of legal affairs at the FPC. 

In response to her loss, Grisham issued an unhinged statement, claiming, “I refuse to be resigned to the status quo” and hinting at future action. “I will never stop fighting to prevent other families from enduring these tragedies,” she added. 

Air Force Crashes Recruitment, Misses Goal for 1st Time in 20+ Yrs

Dmytro "Henry" Aleksandrov
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Air Force Crashes Recruitment, Misses Goal for 1st Time in 20+ Yrs

(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) The U.S. Air Force, which is now captured by the woke ideologues, missed its active-duty recruiting goal for 2024 by about 10% — the first time in more than 20 years.

On Monday, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said that this is the first time the military branch wasn’t able to meet the quota since 1999, Military.com reported.

The latest available data from the Department of Defense indicated that, as of July of this year, with two months left in the fiscal year, the military branch achieved 19,413 new active duty recruits out of a goal of 22,660, or about 86%.

The news source reported that the reason why the numbers turned out to be so low was because of COVID-19, strong private sector competition and fewer young Americans applying either because they are not eligible or not interested in joining the military.

“We’re almost to the end of the fiscal year, and the expectation is we’re going to come in short about 10%. I’m overall encouraged by where we are in recruiting, but we still have a lot of work,” Kendall said.

As shown by the Air Force Recruitment Service, the year 1999, the time when Millennials began to reach the age of service, was the last time the Air Force came short of its recruiting goals. Something similar happened in 1979 as Generation X was coming of age, as was reported in the internal research paper from 2002.

Despite the low recruitment numbers, the military branch said that it believes recruiting for the fiscal year 2024 will produce more positive outcomes, with Air Force Recruiting Service spokeswoman Leslie Brown saying that she is “cautiously optimistic.”

However, the reasons to be even “cautiously” optimistic are not clear, since the military branch recently needed to use different tactics to attract recruits.

Among those tactics were offering promotions and awards for airmen who convinced others to join, giving out $10,000 bonuses for prior-service airmen who agree to a three-year Reserves commitment, raising body fat standards, offering up to $65,000 in college loan repayments and relaxing its tattoo policy.

Additionally, the Air Force created a smartphone app feature that allowed anyone to submit another person’s information to the Air Force recruiting office.

The problems with recruitment didn’t come out of nowhere. In recent years — and during the Biden regime, in particular — the Air Force became very woke by pushing DEI, making Critical Race Theory its top priority and even organizing drag shows at its bases.

The situation with the Air Force — and the military, in general — became so bad that even American veterans started warning family members to avoid serving in the military.

Sen. Mitt Romney Announces He Won’t Seek Another Term

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Sen. Mitt Romney Announces He Won’t Seek Another Term

(Brett Rowland | The Center Square) Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said Wednesday he will not run for a second term after 25 years of public service.

“It’s time for a new generation of leaders,” he said in an announcement on Twitter. “They are the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.”

Romney, 76, served as governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. He was a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination and Republican nominee for president in 2012. He lost to Barack Obama.

Before entering politics, Romney was the co-founder of Bain Capital, an investment company. He was also the CEO of Bain & Company, an international management consulting firm.

Romney said the nation faces challenges ahead.

“Now we face critical challenges: Mounting national debt, climate change and the ambitious authoritarians of Russia and China,” he said.

“Neither President Biden nor former President Trump are leading their party to confront those issues,” he added. “On deficits and debt, both men refuse to address entitlements even though they know this represents two-thirds of federal spending.”

Entitlement programs include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance, among other programs.

“Political motivations too often impede the solutions that these challenges demand,” Romney said.

Romney’s Senate term ends in 2025.

He called serving Utah “a profound honor.”

Romney was the only Senate Republican to vote twice to convict former President Trump after separate impeachment trials. Trump was acquitted twice by the Senate.

White House Issues Talking Points Telling Media to Gaslight on Impeachment Evidence

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White House Issues Talking Points Telling Media to Gaslight on Impeachment Evidence

(Headline USA) In true banana-republic form, the White House sent propagandist talking points to top media executives Wednesday, urging them to thwart House Republicans’ planned impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden by spuriously denying the validity—if not the existence—of evidence that GOP leaders have spent months gathering to build their case for corruption.

“It’s time for the media to ramp up its scrutiny of House Republicans for opening an impeachment inquiry based on lies,” the letter said, according to CNN.

The letter was reportedly written by Ian Sams, a special assistant to the president and spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s office.

“After nearly 9 months of investigating, House Republicans haven’t been able to turn up any evidence of the President doing anything wrong,” Sams falsely claimed.

“But House Republicans led by Marjorie Taylor Greene are nonetheless opening a baseless impeachment inquiry of President Biden—despite many House Republicans openly admitting there is no evidence on which to support it,” he added.

Sams then cited a number of GOP lawmakers who have been publicly hesitant to launch an impeachment effort against Biden—not because they doubt the Biden family’s corruption but because they doubt a smoking gun exists that would compel their Democrat colleagues across the aisle to cast aside political self-interest in favor of a greater sense of duty.

“I believe that President Biden and his family are corrupt,” Rep. Virginia Foxx, a member of the House Oversight Committee, told Headline USA in an exclusive interview last week.

However, “we have to prove that to the American people,” she added. “I do not think that it is right for us to prematurely go into an impeachment vote.”

Sams’s letter seemed to underscore the message that Biden expected both Democrats and their media allies to circle the wagon and form an impenetrable barrier to protect the president and his son Hunter, regardless of how foolish they may eventually look for doing so.

It showed no signs of self-awareness of the fact that Democrats themselves had already lowered the threshold for impeachment after twice attempting to ram through politically motivated attacks on former President Donald Trump—including one to prevent him from legitimately investigating the Biden family’s corruption in Ukraine.

“Impeachment is grave, rare, and historic,” Sams wrote.

“The Constitution requires ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors,’” he continued. “But House Republicans are publicly stating they have uncovered none of these things.”

Contrary to the White House’s claims, House Republicans have found ample evidence connecting Joe Biden to his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings, including testimony from one of Hunter Biden’s former business associates, Devon Archer; and an FBI letter from a highly credible source alleging Joe and Hunter Biden were paid $5 million each in bribes from Burisma executive Mykola Zlochevsky.

The impeachment inquiry is intended to help congressional Republicans circumvent the Biden administration’s continued stonewalling, according to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

“House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct,” McCarthy said on Tuesday.

“Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption,” he added. “They warrant further investigation by the House of Representatives.”

Maui’s Emergency Budget Ballooned to $10M Before Wildfires

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Maui’s Emergency Budget Ballooned to $10M Before Wildfires

(Adam Andrzejewski, RealClear Wire) From 2021 to 2022, Maui’s Emergency Management Agency’s budget spiked from $942,860 to $10,237,431, according to the county’s budget records.

After the devastating wildfires that ravaged Maui and left over 100 residents dead, questions have emerged over how prepared Maui’s government was to respond to a common natural disaster like wildfires.

Maui’s Emergency Management Agency is tasked with providing “emergency management services, including training; emergency planning and preparedness; and effective communication.”

Maui wasn’t prepared, however, for even basic communications. Herman Andaya, the administrator of Maui’s Emergency Management Agency, didn’t sound the sirens as the wildfires raged. In fact, in July 2020, Andaya admitted only 58 of the 70 sirens on the island even worked, according to NBC News.

It’s difficult to trace exactly where all the money went, as line item expenditures are not reported. The budget does note, however, that Maui spent $250,000 in 2022 on consultants to “update emergency management plans.” The agency also grew its headcount from seven to nine employees in 2021.

The spike in spending was driven primarily by an increase in spending on special projects. These projects are not defined in the budget, but they presumably had to do with either COVID-19, or severe flooding the island faced in December 2021. The latter is more likely the case, as Maui reportedly received $8 million in grants from FEMA for “the response and recovery of the December 2021 Severe Weather Event.”

While natural disasters are unavoidable, the lax response from the agency tasked with protecting citizens from disasters leaves many questions unanswered. What is clear, however, is that a lack of adequate funding and personnel was not the issue in the botched response.

Republicans Blast National Archives’ Taxpayer-Funded Equity Policies, Trainings

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Republicans Blast National Archives’ Taxpayer-Funded Equity Policies, Trainings

(Casey Harper, The Center Square) The federal archive agency that helped spark former President Donald Trump’s first federal indictment has come under fire from Republicans after reporting showed the agency has embraced far-left diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Republicans blasted the National Archives and Records Administration after The Center Square reported that the agency’s latest 2022 DEI plan pledges to double down on equity training for employees.

The agency’s plan essentially pledges to work to get more minority applicants and leaders and lower the percentage of white Americans in leadership at the agency. The group’s 2012 report defines minorities as “all categories of current and potential employees identified as non-white.”

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, argued the agency’s equity work actually runs contrary to its mission.

“The National Archives’ work to create ‘safe spaces’ directly interferes with its sober mission of preserving our nation’s history,” Cruz told The Center Square. “Federal bureaucrats are already woke enough without having to attend trainings on ‘white privilege’ and ‘systemic racism.’ ”

The lesser-known federal agency, NARA, was thrust into the national spotlight after it tipped off the U.S. Department of Justice over former Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents, eventually leading to his indictment.

In its 2022 budget request, NARA asked Congress for more than $28 million and nearly 150 new staff to “advance racial equity and support underserved communities.”

The NARA Task Force on Racism delivered a report to the agency’s leadership in 2021 recommending more training on things like “white privilege.”

“Address offensive behavior by staff with specific training on white privilege and systemic racism,” the report said.

On NARA’s website, the agency calls itself a “nonpartisan, independent” group.

Cruz called that into question.

“By creating a woke workforce and aligning with radical left-wing ideology, the National Archives is failing to operate as an independent agency,” Cruz said. “This once-great institution should get back to its stated mission of preserving our nation’s treasured documents, including the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

“Instead of putting resources towards ensuring that its bureaucrats are sufficiently woke, the National Archives should start working on compiling Joe Biden’s 5,400 emails he sent from a burner account so that they are ready when the congressional subpoenas come flying in,” he added.

U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., who has introduced several bills to push back on equity and Critical Race Theory policies in schools, blasted NARA as well.

“The very institution in charge of preserving our founding documents is now forcing employees to undergo radical DEI ‘training,’” Good told The Center Square. “The Biden Administration should focus on promoting the freedoms acknowledged within the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution instead of indoctrinating federal employees with woke, anti-American ideologies.”

Notably, that same agency worked to get classified documents back from both President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, neither of whom were charged, though NARA did reportedly inform the DOJ about both.

As The Center Square previously reported, NARA has also reportedly been hesitant to hand over some records of President Joe Biden to Congressional investigators.

House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has led the Congressional investigation into Hunter Biden’s allegedly criminal overseas business dealings and the president’s alleged role in them.

Comer has also raised questions about political motivation at the agency and blasted the agency for saying it would potentially withhold some Biden records from investigators if it deems them to be “personal.”

NARA did not respond to a request for comment about its equity policies, but a spokesperson told The Center Square it would respond to Comer’s requests for more information.

Plan in Place To Mass Release Illegal Border Crossers from Crowded Facilities

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Plan in Place To Mass Release Illegal Border Crossers from Crowded Facilities

(Bethany Blankley, The Center Square) Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody on Tuesday published an internal Border Patrol email her office obtained that provides guidelines to release foreign nationals being held at Customs and Border Patrol processing centers because they are at near full capacity, at full capacity or are already over capacity.

President Joe Biden and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “have become so brazen that they are now implementing mass-release quotas for immigrants surging into our country,” Moody said. “As a federal judge already recognized, these releases are unlawful, yet the Biden administration is ordering Border Patrol to release even more immigrants into the interior.” Moody is referring to a lawsuit Florida brought against the administration and won.

Despite Mayorkas claiming that the border is closed and secure, a record number of people are being processed through ports of entry using the new CBP One App. As a result, processing centers, where individuals, some families, and unaccompanied minors are held within a certain timeframe, as they are processed to be released into or removed from the country by federal agents, are at capacity.

With the majority of agents pulled from the field tasked with processing record numbers of people, officials have expressed concerns to The Center Square that an unknown number of criminals are illegally entering undetected between ports of entry. This also could be why significantly fewer gotaways are being reported than in previous months.

With nearly 20,000 people currently in custody at CBP processing centers in the nine southwest sectors, Border Patrol agents were given a new directive on how to release even more people into the U.S., according to an email sent to agents obtained by Moody’s office.

The redacted email states it is from the Acting Deputy Chief, Law Enforcement Operations Directorate, at U.S. Border Patrol Headquarters. The name on the letter is redacted, but the acting deputy director of this office is Ricardo Moreno, according to official records.

The email was sent Aug. 8, 2023, to all Border Patrol field chiefs and field deputies as a follow up to a call to discuss how to “bring in-custody numbers to manageable levels.”

“Unfortunately, after leveraging all consequences to include referrals to ERO [Enforcement and Removal Operations], the rate of daily encounters continues to surpass the daily permanent bookouts and the in-custody numbers continue to rise creating significant risks to agents and detainees. This level of detention numbers has also resulted in increased manpower requirements impacting border security efforts,” the email states.

In addition to this, as of Sept. 11, “BP agents were instructed to reward and release over 6,500 illegal aliens who had committed a crime and crashed our lawless border. 6,500 in one day. Do the math. Joe Biden is destroying this country,” the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing Border Patrol agents, said on X.

This is also in addition to CBP ERO agents continuing to apprehend and process for removal violent criminals, including murderers, rapists, child sex offenders and others.

According to preliminary data The Center Square obtained from a Border Patrol agent, over 215,000 illegal foreign nationals were apprehended or reported evading capture at the southwest border alone last month. The data only includes what is reported by Border Patrol agents. It excludes Office of Field Operations data. So far this month, according to preliminary data, Border Patrol agents have apprehended nearly 76,000 illegal border crossers and reported over 12,300 gotaways.

The station with the heaviest traffic is in Eagle Pass, Texas, with nearly 10,000 people apprehended so far this month. Ajo, Arizona, is not far behind with over 7,700 people apprehended. Brownsville, Texas, Tucson, Arizona, and Santa Teresa, New Mexico are also among the busiest stations this month. Santa Teresa’s station, located roughly 30 miles west of El Paso, Texas, reported more gotaways than apprehensions, nearly 4,300 compared to over 3,700, respectively.

The Border Patrol email “is further proof of the disastrous cycle created by [President] Biden’s intentional destruction of our border with Mexico,” Moody said. “Biden cuts resources, opens the border, and then releases detainees while claiming there is not enough detention capacity to prevent the unprecedented flood of migrants entering the country because of his terrible policies. With every passing day it is becoming more obvious that the border crisis is being intentionally orchestrated by the Biden administration. We will continue to do everything in our power to push back and let the American people know what Biden is doing.”

The email Moody obtained from CBP redacted the actual release quotas “for unexplained reasons.”

James Comer Admits Getting Hunter Biden to Testify Is Proving ‘Very Difficult’

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James Comer Admits Getting Hunter Biden to Testify Is Proving ‘Very Difficult’

(Headline USA) House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., admitted this week that getting Hunter Biden to testify in Congress’s investigation of the Biden family’s business dealings is proving “very difficult.”

“He could fight the subpoena in court. It’s very difficult. I think if it were easy to get a president or their son in front of a House committee that the January 6 committee probably would have done that with Donald Trump,” Comer told Newsmax on Tuesday.

The Jan. 6 congressional committee did, in fact, subpoena former President Donald Trump, but he refused it and the committee refused to pursue it further.

Comer’s committee has largely relied on voluntary cooperation from witnesses, such as Devon Archer, one of Hunter Biden’s former associates, the New York Post reported. He said Hunter Biden is likewise welcome to voluntarily appear before the committee and “clear his name.”

“Hunter Biden is more than welcome to come to the committee,” Comer said. “If he wants to clear his good name, if he wants to come and say, ‘You know, these were 20 shell companies, they actually did stuff,’ he’s invited.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., directed House committees this week to open a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over the president’s alleged role in Hunter Biden’s business deals. The impeachment authority will give Comer and other House investigators much more latitude in their investigation, McCarthy said.

Comer pointed out that the impeachment inquiry wouldn’t be necessary if the Biden administration would simply cooperate with his committee’s investigation.

“[T]hey wouldn’t have to set up a war room if they would just provide the information that we’ve requested. I don’t think we’ve requested anything out of the ordinary,” the congressman said.

“We want to know the correspondence that Joe Biden used with the pseudonyms between the government and himself pertaining to Ukrainian policy,” Comer said. “We ought to know any emails that had Hunter Biden copied-on from the government.”

Fetterman Appears to Have Another Stroke While Reacting to Biden Impeachment Inquiry

Corine Gatti
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Fetterman Appears to Have Another Stroke While Reacting to Biden Impeachment Inquiry

(Corine Gatti, Headline USA) After a string of debilitating health issues that impacted his cognitive function, emotional well-being and self-esteem, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., fueled concern that he may have been experiencing another medical crisis Tuesday with a bizarre outburst following a question about the House’s impending impeachment probe into President Joe Biden.

Fetterman appeared to have a mental meltdown after Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced he was ordering House Republicans to move forward with the inquiry, which follows weeks of stonewalling from the White House and various government agencies under its authority, the Daily Caller reported.

“House Republicans have uncovered serious and credible allegations into President Biden’s conduct” in foreign business dealings involving his family, including son Hunter, McCarthy said. “Taken together, these allegations paint a picture of a culture of corruption.”

Fetterman—wearing a black button-down shirt with his trademarked gym shorts—was walking alongside an assistant in the underbelly of the Senate when a reporter asked off-camera about McCarthy’s announcement.

“Oh my god, really? Oh my god,” Fetterman said laughing in the 20-second clip, as the concerned handler worked in a frenzy to get his boss away from reporters.

“You know, oh, it’s devastating,” Fetterman continued, sarcastically.  “Ooo, don’t do it. Please, don’t do it. Oh no.”

Fetterman later doubled down on the video, posting from his official account with an emoji of a ghost followed by, “oooOooooooOooo.”

Afterward, it was unclear whether Fetterman, who was continuing to deal with the side effects of a 2022 stroke that severely limited his ability to communicate coherently, or if he was just mocking the impeachment inquiry. 

Considering his gaffes of the past—including a monthslong convalescence for depression that kept him out of the Senate and fueled rumors that he might be clinically brain-dead—Fetterman’s own fitness to serve has been called into question regularly.

Regardless of the reasoning, critics noted that Fetterman’s display was yet another example of him diminishing the dignity of his office.

“This is a sitting US senator,” conservative pundit Gerry Callahan posted on Twitter. “Every Pennsylvanian should hang their heads in shame.”

“We have a compromised man leading our great nation in the oval office—a man whose family has taken tens of millions from our adversaries, and this is the response?” another conservative poster responded.

Despite substantial evidence that links Biden to his son’s corrupt business deals in foreign governments including Ukraine and China, while pointing to abuse of his office while vice president—and potentially carrying over into present-day conflicts of interest involving national security matters—Democrats and their allies in the media have continued to gaslight the public by insisting that no evidence exists.

Last week, Fetterman dismissed the possibility of the impeachment of Biden as a “big circle-jerk on the fringe right,” while daring Republicans to proceed. 

“If you can find the votes, go ahead because you’re going to lose,” he said, using voice-to-text technology to deliver the remarks, according to the Huffington Post.

“It’s a loser,” he continued. “Go ahead. Do it, I dare you.” 

He also said that Republicans had a “fetish for Hunter Biden,” despite the mounds of evidence found on his laptop.

Is AOC Hiding Secret Marriage to Avoid Disclosing Hubby’s Finances?

Molly Bruns
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Is AOC Hiding Secret Marriage to Avoid Disclosing Hubby’s Finances?

(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) Recent reports revealed that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., may be married and hid that fact from the government to avoid disclosing her alleged husband’s finances.

A form filed with the House Ethics Committee this year revealed that AOC listed Riley Roberts, who is publicly-known as her fiancé, as her “spouse,” according to the Washington Free Beacon.

If falsely filed, the forms would qualify for willful misrepresentation and subject the representative to possible criminal prosecution, as AOC neglected to file Roberts’s financials.

The paperwork suggested that AOC and Roberts married on January 13, 2023, barring AOC from taking advantage of the “boyfriend loophole,” as the requirements for married couples are not the same for cohabitating partners.

AOC’s office contradicted the filing, insisting that they only lived together.

“They are not legally married,” AOC spokeswoman Lauren Hitt said. “House Ethics has commonly recognized the term spouse to extend to long-term partners.”

AOC had the opportunity to mark Roberts as her fiancé on the form but neglected to do so. Either the form was marked incorrectly for the purposes of international travel, or AOC may be subject to investigation for opting not to disclose her husband’s finances.

“If Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is going to refer to Mr. Roberts as her spouse in the context of one kind of ethics disclosure, it would be logical and consistent for her to do so in the context of all ethics disclosures, including annual financial disclosures and periodic transaction reports,” said Dylan Hedtler-Gaudette, senior government affairs manager at watchdog group Project on Government Oversight.

Other members of “the squad” also found themselves in similar ethically questionable scenarios.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., hired her husband as her security guard and paid him $60,000 via her campaign for limited work.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., set up a massive contract with her husband’s political consulting firm, resulting in a payout of $3 million via her official campaign.

Watchdog organizations and investigators submitted complaints in all three cases, but the Federal Exchange Commission has yet to take any action.

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