Biden Reveals Major Development in Prostate Following Physical Exam

Luis Cornelio
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Biden Reveals Major Development in Prostate Following Physical Exam

(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Disgraced former President Joe Biden disclosed new medical findings from a recent physical exam, just months before leaving office as the oldest president in U.S. history. 

According to a spokesperson, doctors found a “small nodule” in Biden’s prostate. His office declined to provide further details, including whether any tests or treatment were planned. 

“In a routine physical exam a small nodule was found in the prostate which necessitated further evaluation,” the spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday. 

Biden previously had a carcinoma removed from his skin in 2023 following a biopsy.  

The announcement comes as Biden mounts a reputation rehab tour, months after Democratic Party leaders forced him out of the 2024 race over concerns about his age. 

Biden continues to claim—without evidence—that he would have defeated President Donald Trump had he stayed in the race. 

Some of Biden’s own allies disagreed.  

Former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer all urged Biden to step aside and make room for a younger candidate. 

Their concerns began after Biden’s disastrous debate against Trump—confirming what outlets like Headline USA had reported for years: he was mentally unfit to serve. 

Shortly after exiting the race, Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his chosen successor.  

Harris, who spent years dismissing questions about Biden’s decline, went on to lose the election. 

During a soft-ball interview on ABC News’s The View, Biden defended his mental acuity, claiming critics were “wrong” and that “there’s nothing to sustain” their accusations. 

GOP Budget Plan Limits SNAP Work Requirement Waivers, Tells States to Help Pay

Headline USA Editor
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GOP Budget Plan Limits SNAP Work Requirement Waivers, Tells States to Help Pay

(Thérèse Boudreaux, The Center Square) Republican lawmakers are prepared to defend their budget plan that shifts some of the costs of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the states and better enforces SNAP work requirements.

Under the Republican budget reconciliation framework, the House Committee on Agriculture must find savings of at least $230 billion over the next decade through reforms to programs under its jurisdiction, such as SNAP.

Since 2019, the number of SNAP recipients has increased by 17%, going from roughly 36 million beneficiaries monthly to more than 42 million people monthly now.

The committee’s bill draft, which is subject to change and will undergo markup beginning Tuesday, complies with the reconciliation instructions mainly by closing SNAP work requirement loopholes and incentivizing states to crack down on improper payments.

The U.S. government spent $112.8 billion taxpayer dollars on SNAP in 2023, covering 100% of the cost of benefits and 50% of states’ administrative costs. 

Unlike all other federal entitlement programs, including Medicaid, SNAP does not receive any contributions from states. But the committee’s bill would change that, making states cover 5% of their benefit cost share in the SNAP program by fiscal year 2028, with their contribution increasing the higher the state’s payment error rate.

States have an average payment error rate of 11.68% as of 2023. Republicans’ plan would require states with error rates at or above 10% to pay a 25% share of their SNAP benefits cost.

Among other reforms, the proposed bill would also make all noncitizens aside from legal permanent residents ineligible for food stamps and close “waiver gimmicks” used by states to exempt large numbers of able-bodied beneficiaries from work requirements.

Although the SNAP program has included 20 hour per-week work requirements for able-bodied adult beneficiaries without dependents since 1996, dozens of states have effectively waived work requirements for these people by manipulating data.

States will recategorize or manipulate unemployment data to claim that some or all geographic areas do not have a “sufficient number of jobs,” thereby obtaining work requirement waivers for all SNAP recipients in those areas. 

Roughly 128 million people across the nation, or almost a third of the U.S. population, live in areas where SNAP work requirements are waived. California, Illinois, Nevada, and Washington, D.C., have universally waived SNAP work requirements, while 25 other states have waived work requirements in some parts. 

This tactic has resulted in only 16% of the roughly 3.6 million of able-bodied adult beneficiaries without dependents fulfilling SNAP work requirements.

The ‘waiver states’ also have disproportionately more SNAP beneficiaries, and able-bodied ones, than their share in the overall U.S. population, according to the USDA and Economic Policy Innovation Center.

“For far too long, the SNAP program has drifted from a bridge to support American households in need to a permanent destination riddled with bureaucratic inefficiencies, misplaced incentives, and limited accountability,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., said in a statement.

“This portion of the One Big, Beautiful Bill restores the program’s original intent, offering a temporary helping hand while encouraging work, cracking down on loopholes exploited by states, and protecting taxpayer dollars while supporting the hardworking men and women of American agriculture.”

But Democrats have called the budget plan “catastrophic” and pledged to oppose it. 

“With American families feeling anxious about the economy and so much uncertainty in farm country, this is not the time to make reckless cuts to basic needs programs,” Ranking Member Angie Craig, D-Minn., said Monday. “We should make food assistance work better for those it was designed to protect – like children and moms – not cut it so Republicans can fund more tax breaks for those at the very top.”

FDA Moves to Take Kids’ Prescription Fluoride Tablets Off the Market

Headline USA Editor
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FDA Moves to Take Kids’ Prescription Fluoride Tablets Off the Market

(Brett Rowland, The Center Square) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it is going to remove fluoride prescription drug products for children from the market.

Dentists give the fluoride drops and tablets to kids at high risk of developing cavities.

The federal government and some state governments have been cracking down on fluoride use over concerns from dentists and the American Dental Association, who say the benefits of fluoride outweigh potential harms.

The FDA noted Tuesday that unlike toothpaste with fluoride or fluoride rinses, prescription products are meant to be ingested. The federal agency also said such products were never approved by the FDA. The FDA also said ingested fluoride has been shown to alter the gut microbiome, which is of magnified concern given the early development of the gut microbiome in childhood. Other studies have suggested an association between fluoride and thyroid disorders, weight gain and possibly decreased IQ, the FDA said.

“The best way to prevent cavities in children is by avoiding excessive sugar intake and good dental hygiene, not by altering a child’s microbiome. For the same reason that fluoride may kill bacteria on teeth, it may also kill intestinal bacteria important for a child’s health,” FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary said. “I am instructing our Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to evaluate the evidence regarding the risks of systemic fluoride exposure from FDA-regulated pediatric ingestible fluoride prescription drug products to better inform parents and the medical community on this emerging area. When it comes to children, we should err on the side of safety.”

The agency has set a goal date of Oct. 31 for completing a safety review and public comment period and for taking appropriate action regarding removal of these products from the market. In conjunction with this evaluation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services plans to disseminate best practices for dental hygiene in children that are feasible, effective and do not alter gut health.

“Ending the use of ingestible fluoride is long overdue,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr said. “I’m grateful to Commissioner Makary for his leadership on this vital issue – one that directly safeguards the health and development of our children.”

Several states have taken action to stop fluoridation of drinking water, and fluoride is not added to drinking water in most of Europe or other countries of the world. Most recently Utah’s legislature took fluoride out public drinking water, as did Florida. The American Dental Association said 80 years of community water fluoridation at optimal levels has proven safe and effective at reducing tooth decay and maximizing oral health.

“As a father and a dentist, it is disheartening to see that a proven, public health policy, which exists for the greater good of an entire community’s oral health, has been dismantled based on distorted pseudo-science,” Dentists and ADA President Brett Kessler said in March. “The most common chronic childhood disease is cavities. We know that when community water fluoridation stops, it’s the children and the most vulnerable of our communities who suffer. We urge legislators and voters across the country not to make Utah’s significant mistake, and, instead, to trust credible data and science which shows that optimally fluoridating community water is safe, effective and helps prevent dental disease.”

Trump Will Lift All Sanctions on Syria, Will Meet HTS Leader Wednesday

Headline USA Editor
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Trump Will Lift All Sanctions on Syria, Will Meet HTS Leader Wednesday

(Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com) President Trump has announced that he will lift all sanctions the US has against the Syrian government, which he says will “give them a chance at greatness.” He will also meet Syria’s leader, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday.

The US has had sanctions on Syria since 1979, then declaring them a state sponsor of terrorism. They increased those sanctions in 2004 and again in 2011. The sanctions put in place in 2011 forbade all US citizens from investing in Syria in any way or providing services to their petroleum industry.

When the Syrian Civil War was raging, control over Syria’s once substantial oil and gas infrastructure was a big focus. The US helped the Kurdish SDF capture the Conoco gas field in the northeast, for instance. An American company, Conoco withdrew from Syria in 2005, and the field was run by the state-run gas company up until the war.

While the war apparently ended in December with the HTS seizing power, control over the infrastructure is still speculative, and the condition of those sites is uncertain, as many have not operated anywhere near full capacity for many years.

That may be where the meeting with Sharaa comes in. White House officials have confirmed the meeting, though Trump only said he “agreed to say hello” while both of them are in Saudi Arabia. Sharaa is expected to pitch a minerals deal to Trump, reportedly similar to the one agreed to with Ukraine.

This mineral deal proposal was couched as suggesting the mineral deal in return for the sanctions relief. With the sanctions eased, Syria would not only be able to recover frozen assets, but could also contract with US companies for bring the oil and gas industry back to its former capacity. The deal may also have an eye on encouraging the US to support HTS rule into the future for economic reasons. Sharaa has reportedly also offered a Trump Tower to be built in Damascus.

The meeting will likely be controversial, as the HTS is still a designed terrorist group in the US and Sharaa, who was formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, was a key figure in al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), captured by US troops during the Iraq War and held for years in various detention centers.

Sharaa has put a lot of effort into trying to reform his international reputation since taking power in December. Many remain skeptical, as the HTS itself has long historical ties to al-Qaeda, and remains ideologically similar, even though they publicly broke ties with them.

It is also expected that Sharaa will raise the prospect of normalizing ties with Israel. This is something Sharaa has brought up before, both suggesting it before successfully seizing power and more recently during a meeting with US representatives. Sharaa and Israel have recently engaged in secret talks, though Israel is still invading Syria and occupying parts of the southwest.

Meeting with Trump on the matter of normalization with Israel might give Sharaa a chance to move the process forward, though Trump’s own relationship with Israel is reportedly less certain than it once was, and Israelis may spin the meeting as a sign Trump is further moving away from the Netanyahu government.

Trump says he believes this is Syria’s “time to shine,” but exactly what form the US-Syria relationship will take from here is still uncertain.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

Trump Slams ‘Neocons,’ ‘Nation Builders’ in Saudi Speech

Headline USA Editor
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Trump Slams ‘Neocons,’ ‘Nation Builders’ in Saudi Speech

(Kyle Anzalone, Antiwar.com) President Donald Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia for the first foreign trip of his second administration. During an address in the Gulf kingdom, Trump slammed neocons and Iran, while also weighing in on Ukraine and Syria.

“It’s crucial for the wider world to know this great transformation has not come from Western interventionists, or flying people in beautiful planes giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs,” the president said. “In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves.”

Trump added, “No, the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation builders, neocons, or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Baghdad, so many other cities.”

The comparison of the Iraqi and Saudi capitals is notable, as the US spent trillions of dollars fighting a war in Iraq and attempting to rebuild the country as a Western democracy. That project is widely regarded as a failure that led to the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. 

The president also discussed his engagement with Iran during the address. “I want to make a deal with Iran. If I can make a deal with Iran, I’ll be very happy,” Trump added. “We’re going to make your region and the world a safer place. But if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive, maximum pressure.”

Trump has previously stated that Iran must agree to a new nuclear deal or face attacks from the US. Tehran signed a nuclear agreement with the US in 2015, but Trump withdrew from that agreement in 2018.

While discussing Syria, Trump said Washington would lift sanctions on Damascus to give them a “chance at greatness.” The US imposed sanctions on Syria as a part of Washington’s regime change war to remove President Bashar al-Assad. After he was finally driven from Syria and his government collapsed, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani seized power in Damascus.

Jolani, a veteran of the Iraq War and the founder of al-Qaeda in Syria, has been embraced by Western leaders. Jolani’s government has committed horrific violence directed at Syria’s minority sects, leading to thousands of Alawites murdered.

Additionally, the president said that a top American official would travel to Turkey on Thursday for major talks between Russia and Ukraine. “Our people are going to be going there. [Secretary of State Marco Rubio] is going to be going there. Others are going to be going, and we’ll see if we can get it done,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, hosted by Turkey. Initially, Zelensky refused to attend unless Moscow agreed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire. However, after pressure from Trump, Zelensky said he would attend the summit.

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

Guatemalan Photoshopped Picture in Application for Child’s Custody; Biden Administration Accepted It

Ken Silva
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Guatemalan Photoshopped Picture in Application for Child’s Custody; Biden Administration Accepted It

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Justice Department has announced charges against a Guatemalan illegal immigrant who lied about being the father of two unaccompanied children. The Biden administration wound up sending the one of the children to live with the Guatemalan as a result of his fraud.

The DOJ charged Luciano Tinuar Quino, also known as “Luciano Tinuar Guino,” 57, a citizen and resident of Guatemala, with two counts of making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement.

The charges stem from 2022, when Tinuar Quino submitted applications to  the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement to obtain custody of two male Guatemalan children.

Tinuar Quino, who unlawfully entered the U.S. in 2016 and resided in the Orange, New Jersey area, allegedly used aliases, presented identity cards of other individuals, and falsely stated he was each child’s father.

As a result of his fraud, the ORR sent one of the children to live with him. The ORR didn’t send the other child to live with him, partly because the application “raised concerns about his identity and relationship with the [child],” the DOJ said in a Monday press release.

Court records show how sloppy Tinuar Quino’s applications were. In one of the applications, he submitted a poorly photoshopped picture of what he said was him and one of the migrant child’s mothers.

Tinuar Quino’s application included a photo-shopped image of him standing next to a floating woman with a partially cropped head and feet. Still, the ORR accepted the application and sent that child to live with the man.

Tinuar Qunio’s alleged fraud represents one of an untold number of incidents where unaccompanied minors were improperly sent to “guardians.” HHS whistleblower disclosures from last year included shocking allegations that the HHS sent at least two unaccompanied migrant children to homes with ties to the El Salvadoran gang, La Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13.

According to a report last August from the DHS Inspector General, ICE has apprehended 448,820 unaccompanied migrant children since 2019.

Once ICE apprehends those children, the agency transfers them to the Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement. The HHS ORR is then supposed to find shelter for those children as they go through immigration court proceedings.

However, more than 32,000 unaccompanied minors have failed to show up to their court dates—and ICE can’t account for all of them, according to the DHS IG’s report from last August. The DHS IG also found that ICE hasn’t served notices for more than 291,000 unaccompanied minors to appear for court—meaning that many of them could be unaccounted for, too.

The Trump administration has said that it aims to account for all the children lost track of under Biden’s rule.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Capitol Police Insurrection? Officers Reportedly Blocked New Trump Appointees from Entering Their Office

Ken Silva
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Capitol Police Insurrection? Officers Reportedly Blocked New Trump Appointees from Entering Their Office

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Tech publication WIRED reported Monday that Capitol Police blocked two newly appointed Trump administration officials from entering the U.S. Copyright Office, where they’re supposed to work.

“The two men who tried to enter the Copyright Office showed security at the building a document stating that they had been appointed by the White House to new roles within the office. The source identified the men as Brian Nieves, who claimed he was the new deputy librarian, and Paul Perkins, who said he was the new acting director of the Copyright Office, as well as acting register,” WIRED reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

“Capitol Police prevented the men from entering the copyright office, but a spokesperson for the law enforcement agency denied that officers escorted anyone out or denied them entry.”

The Capitol Police’s bizarre move to reportedly block Nieves and Perkins from their office comes on the heels of Trump firing Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who was the first woman and the first black person to hold the position, as well as Shira Perlmutter, who was the copyright office director since 2020.

Critics have argued that Trump didn’t have the power to fire Perlmutter because the Librarian of Congress, not the executive branch, is responsible for appointing the Copyright Register.

“The president has as much legal power to fire the Register of Copyrights as I do, which is to say: none,” Meredith Rose, legal counsel for intellectual property nonprofit Public Knowledge, said in a statement, as reported by WIRED.

The DOJ reportedly confirmed to WIRED that Nieves and Perkins had been appointed to lead the Copyright Office, but declined to comment about the purported incident with Capitol Police. The White House also didn’t respond to WIRED’s request for comment.

Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

Money Metals Exchange Announces International Sound Money Scholarship For 10th Straight Year

Money Metals News Service
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Money Metals Exchange Announces International Sound Money Scholarship For 10th Straight Year

(Sound Money Defense League, Money Metals News Service) For the tenth straight year, a leading U.S. precious-metals dealer has teamed up with the nation’s preeminent sound money policy groups to help students pay for the ever-increasing costs associated with continuing education.

Money Metals Exchange, Sound Money Defense League, and the Sound Money Foundation are proud to present the 2025 Sound Money Scholarship — the first gold-backed scholarship of the modern era.

Starting in 2016, these organizations set aside 100 ounces of physical gold to fund scholarships, at the time valued around $120,000. Today, as a result of excessive money printing and deficit spending, 100 ounces of gold is worth more than $330,000. Using this fund, the groups seek to reward outstanding students who display a thorough understanding of economics, monetary policy, and sound money.

The Sound Money Scholarship is open to high school seniors, undergraduate, and graduate students with an interest in economics, specifically the free-market tradition. Applicants do not have to be economics majors to be eligible to receive this scholarship.

The coalition of sound money proponents also announced this year’s blue-ribbon panel of judges for the 2025 Sound Money Scholarship:

Michael Maharrey serves as a Market Analyst for Money Metals and is the national communications director for the Tenth Amendment Center. He hosts the Money Metals’ Midweek Memo podcast. Michael is the author of four books and several e-books on the US Constitution and nullification.

Michael earned a degree in Mass Communications from the University of South Florida St. Petersburg and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Kentucky. He speaks at events across the United States and frequently appears as a guest on local, national, and international radio shows, advancing constitutional history and America’s founding principles.

Chris Powell is a journalist in Connecticut, where he worked for the Journal Inquirer, a daily newspaper in Manchester, for 56 years, 44 of them as managing editor. He continues to write three political columns each week for newspapers throughout the state and the Patch internet site in his hometown. He frequently appears on talk radio programs on several Connecticut stations.

Powell is also secretary/treasurer of the Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee Inc. (GATA), which he co-founded in 1999 to expose and oppose the rigging of the gold market by Western central banks and their investment bank agents. He edits the GATA Dispatch, that organization’s daily electronic newsletter, and speaks on behalf of the organization at financial conferences in the United States and abroad. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information and was its state legislative chairman for many years.

Tho Bishop is Outreach Director for the Mises Institute. Prior to joining the Mises Institute team in 2015, he served as Deputy Communications Director for the House Financial Services Committee. His work has been featured in a number of publications, including The Federalist, The Washington Times, and Business Insider.

Dr. Paul F. Cwik is a Professor of Economics and Finance at the University of Mount Olive and a Fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. For nine years, he taught the BB&T classes on the Foundations of Capitalism at North Carolina State University. He earned a BA from Hillsdale College, an MA from Tulane University, and a PhD from Auburn University, where he was a Mises Research Fellow. He has taught at several colleges and universities, including Auburn University, Campbell University, and Walsh College. Dr. Cwik’s book, Austrian Business Cycle Theory: An Introduction, was released in 2024.

The Sound Money Scholarship has received entries from students attending hundreds upon hundreds of high schools and higher learning institutions across nearly 50 states, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and nearly a dozen countries, and across five continents, and nine exceptional students were awarded $11,500 in scholarship money.

Following the intense popularity of the Sound Money Scholarship, the two groups established the Sound Money Fellowship, offering yet another opportunity for students and independent researchers to contribute to our understanding of sound money through written research.

Click the link to read more about the Sound Money Fellowship.

The deadline to submit applications for the Sound Money Scholarship is October 31, 2025.

For more information, please visit moneymetals.com/scholarship or email [email protected].

Contact: Jp Cortez

Phone: 208-258-2528

E-mail: [email protected]

Sound Money Defense League is a non-partisan public policy group working nationally since 2014 to restore gold and silver as sound money – America’s constitutional money. The League, in partnership with Money Metals, also publishes the annual Sound Money Index.

Whistleblowers: ATF Illegally Paid Its Paper-Shufflers as Much as Agents

Jose Nino
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Whistleblowers: ATF Illegally Paid Its Paper-Shufflers as Much as Agents

(José Niño, Headline USA) The ATF improperly classified dozens of administrative positions as law enforcement roles, which allowed paper-shufflers to collect higher salaries and retirement benefits at the taxpayers’ expense, according to a scandal uncovered by Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-IA, and Joni Ernst, R-IA.

On Monday, the two senators sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, ATF Acting Director Daniel Driscoll, and Assistant Attorney General Jolene Ann Lauria. ​ The letter outlines serious misconduct within the ATF and the Justice Department, specifically regarding the illegal misclassification of administrative positions as law enforcement roles. ​

According to the letter, the ATF misclassified human resources and administrative positions as law enforcement roles, allowing employees in these positions to illegally receive enhanced law enforcement pay and benefits. ​

Senior ATF officials, including HR Division Chief Ralph Bittelari and Deputy Assistant Director Lisa Boykin, were accused of knowingly falsifying and fraudulently certifying government records to support the misclassification. ​

The senators alluded to unreleased government audits and internal investigations that found the pair engaged in “gross and substantial waste, fraud and abuse,” including potentially criminal false certification of government records and retaliation against whistleblowers.

Per the senators, Boykin and Bittelari approved the reclassification of dozens of administrative positions as law enforcement roles, which allowed employees to collect higher salaries and enhanced retirement benefits.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and ATF Internal Affairs Division confirmed the misconduct, finding that at least 108 positions were improperly classified between 2016 and 2021.

The illegal scheme cost taxpayers approximately $20 million over five years, with whistleblowers alleging the actual cost could be in the hundreds of millions due to relocation expenses and other factors. ​

Throughout this process, whistleblowers who exposed the misconduct faced retaliation, including demotions, damage to their reputations, and career setbacks. ​

Despite evidence of gross misconduct, the letter highlighted that ATF and DOJ leadership failed to take corrective action and instead promoted the officials involved in the scheme. ​

Additionally, the senators argued that the misclassification scheme undermined the ATF’s ability to carry out its law enforcement mission by relocating law enforcement officers to administrative roles. ​

The letter calls for immediate corrective action, accountability for the officials involved, and justice for whistleblowers who faced retaliation. ​ It also requests a comprehensive review of ATF field offices to ensure taxpayer dollars are not wasted on illegally paying enhanced benefits to employees performing administrative duties. ​

 “The Biden administration’s ATF illegally lined employees’ pockets with tens-of-millions of taxpayer dollars,” Grassley said in a statement. “These Washington bureaucrats must answer for their misconduct, and if heads don’t roll, nothing will change.”

Ernst echoed the call for accountability, saying, “It is unacceptable that the Biden administration looked the other way while ATF bureaucrats knowingly defrauded taxpayers to pad their salaries. These desk jockeys pretending to be law enforcement officers are about to get a crash course in the law.”

Grassley and Ernst are demanding that Attorney General Pam Bondi and Acting ATF Director Daniel Driscoll respond by May 23 with a plan for corrective action. “Federal employees are not above the law and stealing tax dollars is a crime,” Ernst declared.

Whether the Justice Department will take action or let the controversy fade remains to be seen, but senators have made it clear that the days of unchecked bureaucratic waste must end.

The ball is now in the Justice Department’s court as the nation waits for answers — and justice — in the wake of this costly scandal.

José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino 

Trump Says He’s ‘Thinking’ About Joining Ukraine-Russia Talks in Turkey

Headline USA Editor
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Trump Says He’s ‘Thinking’ About Joining Ukraine-Russia Talks in Turkey

(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) President Trump said on Monday that he was considering joining talks between Russia and Ukraine that are expected to be held in Istanbul this Thursday.

“I think you may have a good result at the Thursday meeting in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine. I believe the two leaders are going to be there,” the president told reporters.

“I was thinking about flying over. I don’t know where I’m going to be on Thursday, I’ve got so many meetings, but I was thinking about actually flying over there,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin first proposed the talks on Sunday, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially responded by saying the negotiations were conditional on a ceasefire.

Zelensky appeared to back down on his position, saying on Monday that he was “ready” to travel to Turkey, though he still mentioned the idea of a ceasefire. “I am ready to come to Turkey. Unfortunately, the world still has not received a clear response from Russia to the numerous proposals for a ceasefire,” Zelensky said on X.

The Ukrainian leader also welcomed the idea of Trump attending the talks. “It is important that President Trump fully supports the meeting, and we would like him to find an opportunity to come,” Zelensky said.

European leaders are saying that Putin must agree to a ceasefire before the talks, but Trump has called on Ukraine to accept Russia’s proposal for negotiations without preconditions.

So far, the Kremlin has not confirmed that Putin is willing to attend the talks himself. “Moscow has remained silent all day regarding the proposal for a direct meeting,” Zelensky said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Putin’s approach to the talks was “aimed at finding a real diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis, eliminating the root causes of the conflict, and establishing lasting peace.”

The last time Russia and Ukraine held direct peace talks was back in the early days of the Russian invasion, in March and April 2022. At the time, Russia’s main demand was for Ukrainian neutrality. Those efforts were discouraged by the US, and later that year, Russia declared its annexation of four Ukrainian oblasts and added the recognition of that territory as Russia to its demands to end the war

This article originally appeared at Antiwar.com.

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