(Thérèse Boudreaux, The Center Square) The Republican budget resolution, which among other things would extend the expiring 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, has sparked concerns over the resulting trillions of dollars in federal revenue loss.
But if the One Big Beautiful Bill Act fails to pass, the average taxpayer will face a 22% tax hike and 91% of American taxpayers will see their guaranteed income deduction slashed by nearly half.
While Democrats have accused Republicans of crafting an overly expensive bill that only benefits the wealthy, most GOP lawmakers have pushed back. The TCJA lowered tax rates for six of the seven tax brackets and left the lowest bracket at 10%.
Unless lawmakers craft separate legislation, tanking the OBBBA will return rates to pre-2017 levels. A family of four making $80,610 annually, the median U.S. income, would see a $1,695 tax increase.
About 40 million families would also see their Child Tax Credit – currently capped at $2,000 under the TCJA – halved, while the paid family leave tax credit initiated in 2017 would expire completely.
Two million family farmers impacted by the Estate Tax would have to pay a whopping 40%, double the existing 20%.
American businesses would also take a major hit. A business tax credit allowing companies to get full reimbursement for new capital investments, an expanded deduction for corporations’ interest on debt, and immediate deductions for companies’ research costs would all end.
Additionally, the 20% Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction would end, impacting approximately 26 million small businesses who would see a 43.4% top tax rate
Millions of Americans, particularly blue-collar workers, would likely lose their jobs as well. According to a study by the National Association of Manufacturers, letting the tax cuts expire could lead to 5.9 million jobs lost and a $540 billion reduction in employee compensation nationwide.
“This bill is going to protect Americans from a $4.3 trillion tax increase, most of which, $2.6 trillion of which, goes on people who are not millionaires,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, told KBOI Radio Friday.
Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, disagreed.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Republicans’ big, beautiful betrayal bill will hurt millions of hard-working Americans, not to mention, add trillions to the deficit,” Hirono said Friday on X.
Republican leaders are hoping to pass the OBBBA by July 4. Currently, the House-passed version authorizes a 10-year TCJA extension, while the Senate committee-amended version calls for a permanent extension. Budget organizations say either option will add trillions to the federal debt and deficit, even accounting for projected growth.
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The man accused of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses reportedly wrote in a letter to the FBI that Gov. Tim Walz also wanted him to assassinate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, according to a bombshell report from theMinnesota Star Tribune. A Walz spokesperson did not deny the allegation when commenting on the report.
Citing two people familiar with letter’s contents, the Star Tribune reported Friday that Boelter claimed “Gov. Tim Walz instructed him to kill U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar so that Walz could run for the U.S. Senate.”
Boelter does have a loose link to Walz, who ran for Vice President last year on Kamala Harris’s ticket. Boelter was appointed to the workforce development board by then-Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton in 2016 and then reappointed in 2019 by Walz to a four-year term that expired in 2023.
MINNESOTA MAN: According to dicuments found in the Tim Walz-appointed assassin’s car, Vance Boelter was secretly trained by the military and instructed by Tim Walz himself to assassinate Rep. Amy Klobuchar so Walz could claim her Senate seat. pic.twitter.com/R6r8D26Jt2
However, the Star Tribune reported that Boelter’s letter reflected the ramblings of a mentally ill man, downplaying the likelihood that what he says about Walz is true.
“The letter is the clearest evidence yet of Boelter’s mindset after the targeted violence against Minnesota politicians last week. It is incoherent, one and a half pages long, confusing and hard to read, according to two people familiar with the letter’s contents,” the newspaper reported. “It includes Boelter alleging he had been trained by the U.S. military off the books, and that Walz, who is not running for Senate, had asked him to kill Klobuchar and others.”
Hennepin County Attorney spokesperson Daniel Borgertpoepping reportedly responded to the letter, saying that “due to the seriousness of the allegations it contains, we will state only that we have seen no evidence that the allegations regarding Governor Walz are based in fact.”
Instead of denying the allegation, a Walz spokesman reportedly gave a rambling non-answer.
“This tragedy continues to be deeply disturbing for all Minnesotans,” said the spokesperson, Teddy Tschann
“Governor Walz is grateful to law enforcement who apprehended the shooter, and he’s grateful to the prosecutors who will ensure justice is swiftly served,” Tschann said.
I'm no PR expert, but if someone accused me of conspiring to assassinate a sitting Senator — and if that accusation was going wildly viral — I would actually DENY THE ACCUSATION instead of issuing a BS non-response. pic.twitter.com/z9Dza6N34G
Klobuchar, for her part, reportedly said that “Boelter is a very dangerous man and I am deeply grateful that law enforcement got him behind bars before he killed other people.”
While Boelter may indeed be mentally ill, he does have a bizarre resume that includes experience in the security industry.
Corporate records show Boelter’s wife filed to create a company called Praetorian Guard Security Services LLC with the same Green Isle mailing address listed for the couple. Boelter’s wife is listed as president and CEO and he is listed as director of security patrols on the company’s website.
The website says the company provides armed security for property and events and features a photo of an SUV painted in a two-tone black and silver pattern similar to a police vehicle. Another photo shows a man in black tactical gear with a military-style helmet and a ballistic vest.
Geolocation data from his electronic devices also indicates that Boelter travelled to Africa, Nepal, Turkey, India, and other international destinations in recent years.
🚨Tracking Connections to MN Assassin We geofenced Boelter’s family farm and found a unique device. We followed that device for the last 3 years – located in places like Africa, Nepal, and Washington, DC.
Boelter is accused of killing former House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, in their Brooklyn Park home last Saturday, before travelling to also shoot and injure Sen. John Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, at their Champlin address about nine miles away. Police responded to reports of gunfire at the Hoffmans’ home shortly after 2 a.m., Champlin police said, and found the lawmaker and his wife, Yvette, with multiple gunshot wounds.
Boelter remained on the lam for over the next 24 hours before he crawled to officers in surrender Sunday after they located him in the woods near his home.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
Tucker Carlson faces accusations of acting as a Qatari propagandist as he pushes against U.S. support for Israel’s war in Iran. Carlson vehemently denies the allegations, and his supporters have noted that there’s no proof to them.
The accusations were amplified after his interview with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, earlier this week, where he pressed the Texas senator on his support for a U.S. attack on Iran — a move perceived as being beneficial for the state of Israel.
As a result of this interview, establishment conservatives and pro-Zionist fellow travelers have launched attacks against Carlson.
On Thursday, Vocal Trump ally and right-wing activist Laura Loomer pounced on Tucker, citing his high-profile March interview with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani as evidence that he is being paid to serve the geopolitical interests of Qatar.
Do you really think a mainstream media pundit would be contacted by a lobbyist for Qatar about setting up an interview overseas with the prime minister of Qatar and fly to Qatar on his own dime with his staff and pay for…
Tucker’s interview with the Qatari leader was an event that drew millions of views and was widely perceived as friendly to Qatar’s positions, especially regarding tensions with Iran.
Loomer claimed, citing Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings and media reports, that Carlson had received as much as $200,000 from Qatari sources for the interview, alleging he was “controlled by Muslims” and was pushing “pro-Islamist, anti-American and anti-Israel talking points to undermine President Trump.”
She argued that the arrangement amounted to foreign propaganda and called on other conservative figures, including Steve Bannon, to publicly correct the record and denounce Carlson’s alleged ties to Qatar.
Central to Loomer’s accusations was the role of Lumen8 Advisors, a U.S.-based consulting firm receiving $180,000 per month from the Qatari embassy to provide media and communication services, according to a report by The Washington Examiner.
FARA records confirmed that Lumen8 facilitated Carlson’s interview with the Qatari Prime Minister, but there was no direct evidence in the filings that Carlson or his network received payments from Qatar. Despite this, Loomer and others circulated screenshots and interpretations of the documents to support their claims.
On Tuesday, Loomer shared a screenshot showing Carlson’s alleged connections to Qatar.
Do you really think a mainstream media pundit would be contacted by a lobbyist for Qatar about setting up an interview overseas with the prime minister of Qatar and fly to Qatar on his own dime with his staff and pay for…
However, journalist Dan Friedman countered by noting that “FARA documents don’t indicate Carlson was paid by Qatar.”
This is a screenshot from a FARA filing that shows a firm Qatar paid $180,000 a month to do public relations for them arranged for the Qatari PM to be interviewed by Tucker Carlson. The FARA documents don't indicate Carlson was paid by Qatar. https://t.co/kk8NDdQuil
Carlson and his business partners have previously denied the allegations. In an interview with Steve Bannon, Carlson insisted, “I’ve never taken a dime from any foreign country or anybody,” dismissing the accusations as baseless projection from his critics. His network also issued statements categorically denying any foreign funding.
As Headline USA reported last month, pro-Zionist conservatives have mounted what seems like a concerted social media campaign to portray Qatar as a malign actor in Middle Eastern affairs.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
(José Niño, Headline USA) A Utah senator’s plan to sell millions of acres of western public lands has united an unlikely coalition of conservative environmentalists, Trump administration veterans, and Democratic lawmakers in fierce opposition to what they view as an unprecedented threat to America’s natural heritage.
In the middle of this month, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, put forward a proposal as part of the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill, which would mandate the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service to sell between 2 and 3 million acres of federal land over five years in 11 western states, including Utah, Idaho, Colorado, and California.
The stated goal is to address housing affordability by making “underused” federal lands available for development.
The Senate bill does not authorize the sale of national parks, monuments, or wilderness.
It identifies unused, garden-variety federal parcels for potential disposal—nothing more.
Don’t fall for Tracy @StoneManning’s disinformation campaign.@RepHageman sets the record straight…
Lee, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has positioned the plan as a solution to both the housing crisis and local economic development. “We’re opening underused federal land to expand housing, support local development and get Washington, D.C., out of the way for communities that are just trying to grow,” Lee said in a video announcing the bill.
He has repeatedly emphasized that the proposal would allegedly exclude national parks, monuments, and designated wilderness areas, focusing instead on other federal holdings.
The controversy erupted when the legislative language was released last Wednesday after weeks of secrecy.
The scale of the plan, which could make more than 250 million acres eligible for nomination according to The Wilderness Society, shocked conservationists and outdoor groups.
Critics argue the bill would carry out the largest public land sell-off in U.S. history, with little guarantee that the land would actually be used for affordable housing. There are also concerns about the loss of public access to cherished recreation areas and the potential for sales to private interests, including mining and energy companies.
Opposition has been swift and unusually bipartisan, uniting environmentalists, Democrats, and prominent conservatives.
Benji Backer, founder of the conservative environmental group Nature Is Nonpartisan, called Lee a “liar” and accused him of jeopardizing America’s conservation legacy.
Christopher Rufo, a high-profile conservationist activist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, stated that he is “totally opposed” to mass sales of western public lands.
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-MT, former Trump Interior Secretary, who led efforts to strip a similar provision from the House bill, declared, “It’s a no now. It will be a no later. It will be a no forever.”
You could sell all 640M acres of federal land and it would raise less than half what the federal government spends each and every year.
Jeff Crane, the president of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, warned that public lands are a vital part of America’s heritage and should not be sold off through a rushed budget process. “While we are not opposed to the sale of public lands in principle, we do not support the sale of lands through budget reconciliation as there are existing processes in place that we need to leverage to address challenges facing local communities,” Crane said.
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, the ranking Democrat on the Energy Committee, questioned whether the plan would actually deliver housing and warned of lost public access. He stated, “I don’t think it’s clear that we would even get substantial housing as a result of this. What I know would happen is people would lose access to places they know and care about and that drive our Western economies.”
The backlash has also included nearly 150 conservation and outdoor organizations, who argue the measure would undermine environmental protections and public trust.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
(Money Metals News Service) In a wide-ranging interview on the Money Metals podcast, host Mike Maharrey spoke with Philip Newman, Managing Director and founding partner of Metals Focus, one of the most trusted independent research firms in the global precious metals space.
Founded in 2013, Metals Focus provides data and analysis to major organizations, including the World Gold Council, the Silver Institute, and the World Platinum Investment Council.
Newman emphasized that Metals Focus is unique because it doesn’t trade metals—it simply researches them.
“We don’t trade. We’re not buying and selling. So, our view is truly independent.”
With 31 people working across eight global markets, the firm gathers first-hand intelligence through direct engagement with players in the supply chain—miners, refiners, mints, and dealers alike.
(Interview Starts Around 8:28 Mark)
Gold Prices: Still High, Still Holding
After hitting a record high above $3,500 per ounce in April 2025, gold has cooled but not collapsed. The market has entered a phase of sideways movement, which Newman sees as constructive, not concerning.
Rather than correcting sharply, gold has demonstrated a capacity to hold its ground, despite occasional profit-taking and investor rotation. Newman views this as a sign of durability.
“It’s encouraging that when we have had bouts of liquidations or profit-taking, those dips have been quite solidly bought into.”
While some analysts, including Citibank, have warned of a possible 25 percent drop in prices, Newman sees no deterioration in the underlying fundamentals that would support such a view.
A Thousand Tons: Central Banks Still Buying
The most important pillar holding up the gold market, according to Newman, is unwavering central bank demand. From 2022 to 2024, net purchases averaged around 30 million ounces per year. For 2025, Metals Focus expects a similar figure—roughly 1,000 metric tons.
That level of buying is either a record or close to it. And it’s not just symbolic; it plays an active role in strengthening market sentiment and defending price levels.
“It helps to defend those lows, it helps to support the price, it supports sentiment towards gold.”
This activity isn’t merely reactive or precautionary—it’s part of a broader strategic shift by governments worldwide. Concerns about reserve diversification, currency credibility, and fiscal exposure are all driving this trend.
Trust and Treasuries: What’s Behind the Dollar Doubts
Underpinning much of the bullish case for gold is something far less tangible than ounces and tons: doubt. Specifically, growing concern about the sustainability of U.S. fiscal policy and the long-term credibility of the dollar as a global reserve currency.
Newman pointed to rising government debt and the upcoming expiration of Jerome Powell’s term as Fed Chair in May 2026 as key factors stoking that unease. While the dollar is not imminently threatened, a lingering question mark remains.
“There could be marks over the independence of the new chairman. Doesn’t mean there will be, but again—it’s just some doubt.”
That doubt—about leadership, about consistency, about the future—has real consequences in a market that thrives on confidence. For many investors, gold is not just a hedge against inflation, but a hedge against institutional instability.
Policy Divergence: The Fed Stands Alone
One of the more intriguing dynamics right now is the divergence between U.S. and international monetary policy. Central banks across Europe have already begun easing, and the Swiss National Bank has cut all the way to zero, even suggesting a willingness to dip back into negative territory.
In contrast, the Federal Reserve has held rates steady. Newman believes that decision was both deliberate and prudent. The Fed is attempting to balance inflation concerns against signs of weakness in the broader U.S. economy.
“I would suggest that the bias is much more towards reducing rates,” he said.
The longer the Fed stands pat while others ease, the more room gold has to gain—especially once the U.S. eventually pivots.
Silver Breaks Out—but Is It for Real?
Silver, often viewed as gold’s more volatile cousin, has made headlines of its own in recent weeks. It has surged past key resistance at $35, climbing above $36 and briefly hitting $37 per ounce.
Newman attributes the rally in part to surprise optimism around U.S.-China trade talks. For years, concerns over China’s economy and industrial overcapacity have weighed heavily on silver, which straddles the line between a monetary and an industrial commodity.
“When that news came out about a potential trade deal… that gave a bit of an impetus to silver.”
Whether silver has the legs to keep going is less certain. If it breaks above $37.50 with conviction, there’s a possibility of a sharp upward run. But Newman cautioned that silver’s history of unsustainable spikes should give investors pause.
“You run the risk of accelerating… but having really, in a sense, spiking with not much behind it.”
Retail Activity Turns Two-Way
One of the more interesting observations Newman made came from his time at the 2025 International Precious Metals Institute (IPMI) conference. There, he saw a pronounced shift in retail behavior.
During the height of pandemic-era uncertainty, retail demand was largely one-directional—investors were buying and hoarding. But that changed in late 2023 and has continued into 2025.
“Late 2023, we saw a shift. There’s now strong two-way activity.”
This means there’s not just buying but also meaningful selling. For dealers, this opens up more trading opportunities, but it also puts pressure on demand for newly minted bullion products, as recycled inventory flows back into the market.
East Buys, West Waits
Perhaps the most consequential long-term trend isn’t about price at all—it’s about geography. Newman confirmed that gold demand has increasingly shifted from West to East.
Retail and ETF buying has been robust in China, India, Vietnam, and Singapore, while demand in Europe and North America has lagged. Singapore is even developing its own metals exchange to service this expanding market.
“In the likes of South and East Asia, bar demand has been very strong,” Newman said.
Metals Focus has responded accordingly, planting staff throughout the region in recognition of Asia’s rising influence in the global gold trade. This may not be a temporary blip—it could be a generational rebalancing.
London’s Silver Stocks Are Quietly Shrinking
Beyond headlines and charts, one of the more subtle trends may be among the most important: the declining stockpile of unallocated silver in London.
By comparing LBMA vault data to known ETF holdings, Metals Focus has found that the amount of silver not already spoken for has been shrinking.
“At some point, will that create a squeeze in the market? What does that look like?”
The implications aren’t fully clear. It may not lead to a price spike, but it could affect lease rates or physical availability. The key takeaway is that silver’s supply side is tightening, quietly but steadily.
A Tariff Shock and a Transatlantic Airlift
One of the more dramatic episodes of 2025 followed the U.S.’s Liberation Day tariff threats. In response, a sudden dislocation emerged between CME (New York) and LBMA (London) pricing.
What followed was extraordinary: massive volumes of physical gold and silver were air-freighted from Europe to New York to arbitrage the gap.
“For silver to be air-freighted from Europe… we haven’t seen that in at least a generation.”
Lease rates spiked. Market logistics strained. And analysts scrambled to keep up with the velocity of change. For Newman, it was a reminder of how quickly market conditions can transform under geopolitical stress.
Can We Track Silver in Defense Spending?
Defense budgets are rising globally, but how much silver is being consumed in that expansion? According to Newman, we simply don’t know—and we probably never will.
Unlike solar demand, which is well-documented and transparent, defense-related consumption is buried under layers of manufacturing and secrecy.
“We can’t measure the level of defense spending… the final end use is often three or four stages removed.”
Rather than guess at the unknown, Metals Focus focuses on broad industrial trends and aggregate demand. For now, defense is a blind spot in an otherwise data-rich field.
What Analysts Might Be Missing
Newman closed with two under-the-radar dynamics that he believes deserve more attention.
The first is the shrinking pool of unallocated silver in London—a development that, while not yet urgent, could become a structural pressure point. The second is the remarkable volatility triggered by policy uncertainty earlier this year, especially the tariff threat and its ripple effects through global logistics and pricing.
“It was remarkable to watch how the market was functioning in those extreme circumstances.”
Markets don’t just respond to fundamentals—they respond to incentives, perception, and uncertainty. And that, in Newman’s view, is what investors must never forget.
Learn More
To explore research, forecasts, and market data from Philip Newman and his team, visit metalsfocus.com.
As the conversation with Mike Maharrey made clear, gold and silver remain deeply embedded in a world shaped by political uncertainty, shifting global power, and evolving investor behavior. The East is buying. Central banks are stockpiling. And the market, quietly and relentlessly, is changing.
(Headline USA) Researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews say that billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals “unprecedented access” to accounts consumers use each day.
According to a report published this week, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login information — amounting to a total of 16 billion compromised credentials. That includes user passwords for a range of popular platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple.
Sixteen billion is roughly double the amount of people on Earth today, signaling that impacted consumers may have had credentials for more than one account leaked. Cybernews notes that there are most certainly duplicates in the data and so “it’s impossible to tell how many people or accounts were actually exposed.”
It’s also important to note that the leaked login information doesn’t span from a single source, such as one breach targeting a company. Instead, it appears that the data was stolen through multiple events over time, and then compiled and briefly exposed publicly, which is when Cybernews reports that its researchers discovered it.
Various infostealers are most likely the culprit, Cybernews noted. Infostealers are a form of malicious software that breaches a victim’s device or systems to take sensitive information.
Many questions remain about these leaked credentials, including whose hands the login credentials are in now. But, as data breaches become more and more common in today’s world, experts continue to stress the importance of maintaining key “cyber hygiene.”
If you’re worried about your account data potentially being exposed in a recent breach, the first thing you can do is change your password — and avoid using the same or similar login credentials on multiple sites. If you find it too hard to memorize all your different passwords, consider a password manager or passkey. And also add multifactor authentication, which can serve as a second layer of verification through your phone, email or USB authenticator key.
(Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar.com) Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard accused the media of misrepresenting her statement in March that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. The shift followed attacks on America’s top intelligence official by President Donald Trump.
On Friday, Gabbard posted a clip of her March Senate testimony to X, claiming, “The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division.”
The dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division. America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the… pic.twitter.com/mYxjpJY2ud
In the clip, Gabbard says that “the Intelligence Community continues to assess Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and the Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized a nuclear weapons program.”
Gabbard’s remarks to the Senate have been presented by opponents of US military intervention in Iran to argue that the country’s nuclear program does not present a threat, as Tehran is not seeking nuclear weapons.
In recent days, it has become clear that President Trump and other top US officials do not agree with that assessment and believe Iran could develop a bomb within a few weeks. The assessment that Iran could have nuclear weapons in as little as 15 days appears to have originated with Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Officials speaking with the New York Times said the Mossad findings may be a political effort to lure President Trump into supporting the offensive war Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched against Iran earlier this month.
Twice in the past week, Trump publicly criticized his top intelligence official over her March statement. When asked about the intelligence community assessment and Gabbard’s remarks on Friday, Trump said, “She’s wrong.”
NBC News reports that Gabbard has been sidelined in the White House debate on Iran. In her X post, the intelligence chief appeared to attempt to align her view with the president’s. “Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly,” she wrote. “President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree.”
Many users on X are comparing Gabbard’s post to former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s 2003 address to the UN Security Council. During the speech, Powell infamously presented false information that hardened beliefs among Americans that Iraq was seeking weapons of mass destruction, and that dictator Saddam Hussein had ties to al-Qaeda.
Wow, Tulsi is now the Colin Powell of this administration. She knows better but has chosen to lie through her teeth to sell a war. She’s worse than the others because she spent her career pretending to be against regime change war in Iran. What an utter disgrace!
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Newly released emails reveal the Biden administration’s hunger to stack criminal charges against President Donald Trump—even over his purported ties to a Jan. 6 defendants’ choir.
The 2023-era emails—obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee—showed anti-Trump prosecutors discussing ways to link Trump to the choir based on a single Forbes article.
According to the New York Post, this desperate long-shot attempt served as an “example of the nitpicking malice of anti-Trump lawfare that tainted special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation, during Joe Biden’s presidency.”
One of the emails showed former DOJ prosecutor JP Cooney asking colleagues if they could do “some work to nail down on Trump’s role” in the choir.
The subject line read, “J6 Prisoner Choir/DJT,” and included a link to the Forbes story headlined, “Trump Collaborates On Song With Jan. 6 Defendants.”
In it, Cooney wrote that “Trump recorded the Pledge of Allegiance” at Mar-a-Lago with now-FBI Director Kash Patel and former Fox host Ed Henry.
Cooney is no stranger to anti-Trump lawfare, having worked for both Special Counsel Robert Mueller and Jack Smith.
“The profits are routed to an LLC run by Henry, and proceeds are intended for families of incarcerated J6 defendants — but there is apparently a vetting process that excludes families of defendants who assaulted police officers,” Cooney added.
“I asked Ahmed [likely prosecutor Ahmed Baset, who was fired earlier this month] to preserve this last night. I’ll talk to Maria/Erin and Julia about doing some follow up here to nail down Trump’s role,” Cooney continued.
FBI internal emails show HOW OBSESSED Biden's DOJ were with targeting Trump with new criminal charges
They wanted to see if they can charge Trump for January 6th defendants singing a song in prison pic.twitter.com/OkzC9F0HY7
According to the Post, Cooney ordered colleagues to look at “some process on Ed Henry’s LLC,” likely referring to subpoenas or even search warrants.
The email landed on former FBI Agent Walter Giardina, who replied to say he was “working” on the probe and vowed to “put together” his findings.
Giardina’s role was deeply troubling given his blatant hostility toward Trump. Whistleblowers revealed Giardina “openly stated his desire to investigate Trump, even if it meant false predication.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley excoriated the Biden administration’s weaponization of the DOJ and the FBI.
“Instead of focusing on DOJ and FBI’s core law enforcement responsibilities, partisan prosecutors and agents were surfing the web to find any shred of information they could use to spin another baseless case against Trump,” Grassley said in remarks to the Post. “Their actions are a disservice to Americans, who pay their salaries and depend on DOJ and FBI to keep them safe.”
Patel, who himself was targeted by the FBI’s partisan hacks, has been tasked with purging the bureau of corruption.
(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Newly released video of beloved high schooler Austin Metcalf’s killing contradicts the perpetrator’s claim that he acted in self-defense before fatally stabbing Metcalf. The senseless murder has sparked widespread outrage.
The footage, shown on Monday to the Daily Mail and CBS News but not publicly released, revealed no physical confrontation between Metcalf and Karmelo Anthony.
Anthony now faces murder charges for stabbing Metcalf at a high school football game on April 2 in Frisco, Texas. Anthony claims he stabbed Metcalf after a fight and feared for his life.
CRIME: Karmelo Anthony stabbed a Frisco teen in the heart at a track meet. He claimed self-defense but video footage proves he lied to police – there was no physical altercation before he attacked Austin Metcalf. Despite murdering Austin Metcalf in cold blood, Anthony was allowed… pic.twitter.com/RwqqN0ji30
Police said Metcalf had asked Anthony to leave a team tent because Anthony was not part of the team. Officers said a fight broke out shortly afterward, leading to Metcalf’s death. However, the footage does not corroborate such a claim, according to the Mail.
“Initially, Frisco police said an altercation between the teens led to the violent encounter. However, the footage reviewed by the Daily Mail at the Frisco Independent School District’s headquarters shows no obvious physical confrontation between the two prior to the stabbing,” the outlet wrote.
“The Daily Mail did not detect anything that indicated chaos was about to ensue,” it added.
The killing was captured by a high-angle camera used to broadcast the games, the Mail said.
Metcalf, attending with his twin brother, was waiting for the game to start when he asked Anthony to move.
“Then, seemingly out of nowhere, it becomes apparent that the moment has happened when an armed Anthony attacked Metcalf,” the Mail wrote. “The stabbing itself is not visible on camera, but the reaction is immediate: students are seen fleeing from under the tent.”
Anthony fled the scene afterward, though that moment was not caught on camera. Metcalf later succumbed to his injuries.
The case has gone viral, with many individuals fundraising for Anthony’s legal defense despite Metcalf’s tragic death.
