(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) The Kremlin said on Monday that Moscow welcomed statements from US officials that ruled out Ukrainian entry into NATO.
“We have heard statements made at various levels in Washington that Ukraine’s NATO membership is ruled out. This is something that brings us satisfaction and aligns with our stance,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to TASS.
Several high-level Trump administration officials, including President Trump himself, have said that any peace deal to end the war in Ukraine would not involve Ukrainian membership in NATO.
Bloomberg has reported that the US has presented a potential peace proposal for the war in Ukraine that would involve ruling out Ukrainian entry into NATO and easing sanctions on Russia. The report said the possible deal would effectively freeze the war, with Russia keeping the territory it currently controls, but other details are unclear.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday said that the US would decide in the coming days if a peace deal was possible in Ukraine. “We’re not going to continue with this endeavor for weeks and months on end. So we need to determine very quickly now, and I’m talking about a matter of days, whether or not this is doable in the next few weeks,” he said.
President Trump also said the US would “take a pass” on negotiating an end to the war if a deal isn’t reached soon. “Now, if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say: ‘You’re foolish. You’re fools. You’re horrible people’ – and we’re going to just take a pass,” he said. “But hopefully we won’t have to do that.”
In the meantime, the fighting in Ukraine continues. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a 30-hour Easter truce, although both sides accused the other of violations, and Russia announced it resumed attacks on Monday.
(Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com) Mike Huckabee, the US’s new ambassador to Israel, responded to the World Health Organization (WHO) asking him to pressure Israel to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza by shifting the blame to Hamas, backing Israel’s collective punishment of the civilian population of Gaza.
“What I would like to suggest is that we work together on putting the pressure where it really belongs — on Hamas,” Huckabee said in a video statement released on his X account.
Huckabee called for Hamas to “sign an agreement” so humanitarian aid could go to the people of Gaza. He said when that happens, and the Israeli hostages are released, “then we hope that that humanitarian aid will flow and flow freely, knowing that it will be done without Hamas.”
Hamas has been offering to release all Israeli hostages in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, but Israel has refused. Israel also refused to implement the full truce deal that was signed in January, which required humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. On March 2, Israel imposed a total blockade on all goods entering the Strip.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said last week that no humanitarian aid would be entering Gaza and called the blockade on aid one of Israel’s “central pressure tools” against Hamas. Katz also vowed an indefinite Israeli occupation of the territory the IDF has captured in Gaza.
Huckabee was expected to staunchly back Israel’s crimes against Palestinians in his role as US ambassador due to his history of pushing for the Israeli annexation of the West Bank, which he calls Judea and Samaria. He is a Christian Zionist who believes the occupied Palestinian territory was given to the modern state of Israel by God.
While visiting an Israeli settlement in the West Bank in 2017, Huckabee claimed the territory was not under Israeli occupation. “I think Israel has title deed to Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told CNN. “There are certain words I refuse to use. There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”
Back in 2008, Huckabee said that there’s “no such thing as a Palestinian” and argued the Palestinians should be expelled to other Arab states.
(Jesse Colombo, Money Metals News Service) There are numerous signs that the U.S. dollar is on the cusp of a new bear market—a development that is very bullish for commodities, especially gold and silver.
Last week, I published a piece titled “The U.S. Dollar Stands at a Major Crossroads,” where I explained that the U.S. Dollar Index—a key gauge of the dollar’s value against a basket of major world currencies—was sitting right on a critical long-term support level at 100.
This level had held firm for years and sparked multiple sharp rebounds in the past. I warned, however, that a decisive break below it would confirm a deeper dollar bear market—an event that would be highly bullish for commodities like gold and silver.
Well, that breakdown finally happened today—driven by a combination of factors. Chief among them is growing market anxiety that President Donald Trump may still be exploring ways to remove Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, a move that would spark a serious crisis of confidence.
At the same time, fresh signs of economic weakness emerged as the U.S. Leading Economic Index posted a sharp decline in March. Together, these developments have heightened expectations of Fed rate cuts—an outlook that’s inherently bearish for the dollar.
As the daily chart below shows, the U.S. Dollar Index has clearly sliced through the critical 100 support level that many market analysts have been closely watching. This decisive breakdown issues a strong bearish signal, indicating that further declines are likely ahead.
The longer-term weekly chart of the U.S. Dollar Index highlights just how important the 100 level has been in recent years. Several major rebounds have occurred off this level in the past—typically to the detriment of commodities—but not this time. The index has finally broken down.
The next key support level I’m watching is 90, which would represent a 10% decline from here. That’s a very realistic target, especially as we move closer to a recession and bear market.
The even longer-term monthly chart of the U.S. Dollar Index reveals that it has been trading within a rising channel since around 2008.
A decisive breakdown from this channel, in my view, would mark a major turning point—signaling the start of a new dollar bear market reminiscent of the one that unfolded in the early 2000s.
Another strong sign that something big is unfolding in the currency market is the euro’s breakout above a 16-year-old downtrend line against the U.S. dollar.
This is highly significant—it indicates that the euro may be on the verge of entering a new bull market after spending nearly two decades in decline since around 2008.
Because the euro and dollar trade inversely, a rising euro reinforces the bearish case for the dollar.
This development is especially noteworthy given the euro’s historical correlation with commodities. During the early 2000s, for example, the euro’s bull run coincided with a powerful commodities boom and a prolonged dollar bear market. History may be starting to rhyme again.
The Japanese yen is also facing a key downtrend line against the U.S. dollar, and a breakout above it would be a strongly bullish signal for the yen—and another bearish development for the dollar:
Historically, U.S. dollar bear markets—like the one in the early to mid-2000s—have been extremely bullish for commodities.
The chart below, a logarithmic view of the ratio between the GSCI Commodity Index and the S&P 500, highlights just how undervalued commodities remain relative to stocks. This extreme imbalance is likely to reverse once the dollar bear market fully takes hold.
A clear signal that the commodities bull market has begun will come when this ratio breaks above its long-term downtrend line—indicating that commodities are once again outperforming equities.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about so-called “U.S. exceptionalism” in financial markets—referring to how the U.S. stock market has surged over the past decade while most of the world’s markets have languished.
This outperformance has attracted massive inflows of international capital. But that dynamic is likely on the verge of reversing.
With a dollar bear market getting underway and the U.S. stock bubble beginning to burst, the era of U.S. market dominance is coming to an end.
The logarithmic chart below shows the ratio of the VEU—Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-U.S. ETF, which serves as a proxy for non-U.S. stocks—to the U.S.-based S&P 500. Since the early 2010s, during the height of the European debt crisis, non-U.S. stocks have consistently underperformed.
However, that trend is changing: the ratio is now in the process of breaking above its long-term downtrend line.
This nascent breakout—especially when considered alongside similar moves in the euro and other global currencies—adds further weight to the idea that non-U.S. stocks could begin outperforming their U.S. counterparts in the period ahead.
That said, it’s important to clarify that this relative outperformance doesn’t necessarily mean non-U.S. stocks will rise—or are even good investments in absolute terms.
In the kind of global crisis I expect, nearly all stocks will decline. The key point is that U.S. stocks—due to their extreme overvaluation—may simply fall faster and harder than those abroad.
Although I’m steering clear of traditional equity investing ahead of the looming crisis, I can see merit in a strategic pairs trade: long non-U.S. stocks, short U.S. stocks. This way, the goal is to profit from relative outperformance rather than absolute gains.
Yesterday’s breakdown in the U.S. dollar is fascinating, noteworthy—and deeply concerning. It has far-reaching implications across global financial markets, including currencies, commodities, equities, and beyond.
As a fervent bull on precious metals and commodities, this dollar weakness is undeniably bullish for those assets and a welcome tailwind.
But at the same time, it raises serious concerns about the broader U.S. economy. Historically, a major breakdown in the dollar is associated with economic downturns and stock market declines.
I’ll be monitoring this development closely and will continue to keep you all informed as the situation unfolds.
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Jesse Colombo is a financial analyst and investor writing on macro-economics and precious metals markets. Recognized by The Times of London, he has built a reputation for warning about economic bubbles and future financial crises. An advocate for free markets and sound money, Colombo was also named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Economy & Finance. His Substack can be accessed here.
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Last October, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic has sent a criminal referral to the Justice Department, recommending former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo be charged with making false statements to Congress.
Unsurprisingly, the DOJ ignored the referral. Some six months later, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., has asked Trump’s Justice Department to take a look at the matter again.
“To our knowledge, the Biden Administration ignored this referral despite clear facts and evidence. Accordingly, we request you review this referral and take appropriate action,” Comer said Monday in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Andrew Cuomo LIED to Congress about his deadly nursing home scandal.
According to last year’s coronavirus subcommittee report, Cuomo had reviewed, edited, and even drafted portions of a purportedly independent and peer-reviewed New York State Department of Health report, which was used to support his deadly pandemic-era nursing home policies.
However, Cuomo told the subcommittee in his June transcribed interview that he had nothing to do with that report. Cuomo’s lie is why the House GOP wants him criminally charged.
“Andrew Cuomo is a man with a history of corruption and deceit, now caught red-handed lying to Congress during the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into the COVID-19 nursing home tragedy in New York,” Comer said Monday.
“This wasn’t a slip-up—it was a calculated cover-up by a man seeking to shield himself from responsibility for the devastating loss of life in New York’s nursing homes.”
The Cuomo administration came under significant scrutiny for a policy that at first required nursing homes to readmit recovering COVID-19 patients in an effort to avoid hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. That was on top of state fatality figures that significantly undercounted the deaths.
In June, an investigation into New York’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic found former Gov. Cuomo’s “top down” approach of dictating public health policy through his office—rather than coordinating with state and local agencies—sewed confusion during the crisis.
In the state’s nursing homes, where some 15,000 people died, the administration’s lack of communication with agencies and facilities resulted in wasted resources and mistrust — not to mention anxiety for residents’ loved ones, according to the independent probe commissioned by current Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2022.
Cuomo resigned from office in August 2021, amid sexual harassment allegations, which he denies. Hochul, a fellow Democrat who had been Cuomo’s lieutenant, inherited the job and was reelected the follow year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless
(José Niño, Headline USA) A new investigation has uncovered that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s 2021 campaign received over $300,000 in donations raised by a fundraiser with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s intelligence arm.
According to a Daily Caller report published last Monday, Gary Yu, who has documented connections to the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), was responsible for raising the funds. Yu raised the $300,000 in 2021 through his organization, New England Chinese American Alliance.
Yu’s CCP ties raise questions about the extent to which Wu’s 2021 campaign was foreign-funded, experts say.
“The CCP’s United Front Work Department, which contributed to Mayor Wu’s 2021 election campaign, is a Chinese state security entity — a spy agency for Beijing,” Lt. Col. (Ret.) Bob Maginnis, senior fellow for National Security at the Family Research Council, said to The Washington Stand (TWS). “Therefore, the UFWD’s contributions to Wu’s campaign is evidence of a foreign government interfering in a U.S. election, which might be illegal.”
Wu is not the only Democratic official under scrutiny for ties to Beijing. In September 2024, a former senior aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who had also served under former Governor Andrew Cuomo, was arrested alongside her husband for allegedly accepting millions in bribes from the CCP in exchange for acting as agents of the Chinese government.
These developments come as U.S. intelligence agencies issue fresh warnings about foreign recruitment efforts.
Earlier this month, the National Counterintelligence and Security Center cautioned that “foreign intelligence entities, particularly those in China, are targeting current and former U.S. government employees for recruitment by posing as consulting firms, corporate headhunters, think tanks and other entities on social and professional networking sites.”
The FBI echoed this message on X, stating, “China and other foreign intelligence entities are targeting former and current U.S. government employees on social and professional networking sites.”
China and other foreign intelligence entities are targeting former and current U.S. government employees on social and professional networking sites.
China experts, such as author Gordon Chang, are calling on federal authorities to investigate cases like Wu’s.
“The Communist Party’s UFWD never rests,” Chang told The Daily Caller. “There is no ethnic Chinese official in America who is not targeted. It’s time for law enforcement to investigate the CCP’s ties to Gary Yu and Yu’s ties to Mayor Michelle Wu.”
Maginnis agreed.
“The Chinese communist regime has a robust presence and influence inside the U.S.,” he said to TWS.
Wu’s political career began with her election to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at the age of 28, making her the first Asian-American woman to serve on the Council. She quickly rose to leadership, being unanimously elected President of the City Council in January 2016, becoming the first non-White woman to hold that position.
She served as Council President until Jan. 1, 2018, while continuing her role as City Councilor until Nov. 16, 2021, when she assumed the mayor’s office.
In 2021, Wu made history by winning the mayoral election in Boston, becoming the first woman and first non-White person elected to lead the city.
The spotlight now turns to lawmakers and law enforcement to determine what steps will be taken to address potential breaches of campaign finance law and national security.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
Nadine Menendez, the wife of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, was convicted Monday of teaming up with her husband to accept bribes of cash, gold bars and a luxury car from three New Jersey men looking for help with their business dealings or legal troubles.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all counts in the same federal courthouse in Manhattan where a different jury convicted Bob Menendez of many of the same charges last year. The Democrat is supposed to begin serving an 11-year prison term in June.
Nadine Menendez, who stood but did not appear to react as the verdict was delivered by the jury foreperson, was scheduled to be sentenced on June 12, six days after her husband is expected to report to prison.
Outside the courthouse, she wore a pink mask as she stood next to her lawyer, Barry Coburn, said he was “devastated by the verdict.”
“We fought hard and it hurts,” he said. “This is a very rough day for us.”
The evidence shown to jurors over a three-week trial followed the timeline of the whirlwind romance between the couple that began in early 2018 and continued after criminal charges were brought against them in September 2023. Repeatedly during the trial, prosecutors said they were “partners in crime.”
During a 2022 raid on the couple’s Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, home, FBI agents found nearly $150,000 worth of gold bars and $480,000 in cash stuffed in boots, shoeboxes and jackets. In the garage was a Mercedes-Benz convertible, also an alleged bribe.
Both Nadine and Bob Menendez said they are innocent and never took bribes.
Initially, they were to be tried together, along with the three businessmen, but Nadine Menendez’s trial was postponed a year ago after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent surgery.
Bob Menendez, 71, resigned from the Senate last August following his conviction. Before the charges were brought he had been chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Prosecutors accused Nadine Menendez of starting to facilitating bribes to the senator around the time that they began dating, before they married in the fall of 2020.
At the time, she was in danger of losing her home in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, after missing nearly $20,000 in mortgage payments, trial testimony showed. A longtime friend, Wael Hana, provided cash to save the home — and prosecutors said that in return, the senator began helping Hana preserve a business monopoly he had arranged with the Egyptian government to certify that imported meat met religious requirements.
Nadine Menendez also needed a new car after her old one was destroyed when she struck and killed a man crossing a street. (She did not face charges in the crash). Prosecutors said a businessman, Jose Uribe, gave her a Mercedes-Benz, and in return Bob Menendez used his clout to pressure the New Jersey attorney general’s office to stop investigating some of Uribe’s associates.
Prosecutor said more cash and gold bribes were paid to the couple by Fred Daibes, a prominent real estate developer who prosecutors said wanted the senator to protect him from a criminal case he was facing in New Jersey. Prosecutors said Bob Menendez also helped Daibes secure a $95 million investment from a Qatari investment fund.
Nadine Menendez, 58, was described by prosecutors at her trial as crucial to the scheme, enabling the senator to communicate with the businessmen and Egyptian government officials.
Besides his conviction on bribery charges, Bob Menendez also was convicted of acting as an agent for the Egyptian government. Prosecutors said that in return for some of the bribes, he ghostwrote a letter for Egyptian officials to give to his fellow senators to calm their concerns about human rights abuses and encourage them to lift a hold on $300 million in military aid.
Coburn had argued during his closing arguments to the jury that the evidence was insufficient for a conviction.
“These things we’re talking about here are unproven,” he said.
He said the dealings the senator had with the businessmen were just what a politician is supposed to do for his constituents.
In a rebuttal argument , Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Richenthal urged the jury to convict Nadine Menendez, calling the evidence against her “consistent and overwhelming.”
Uribe pleaded guilty and testified against the others. Hana and Dabies were convicted along with the senator. Hana has been sentenced to eight years in prison while Daibes got seven years behind bars.
Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement that the verdict “sends the clear message that the power of government officials may not be put up for sale and that all those who facilitate corruption will be held accountable for their actions.”
(Casey Harper, The Center Square) The national debt is rising at a breakneck pace, but what can be done to address the problem?
The national debt is on track to hit $37 trillion. So far the deficit for this fiscal year is already $1.31 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, and the fiscal year doesn’t end until the end of September.
Carolyn Bourdeaux, a former member of Congress and executive Director of Concord Action, spoke with The Center Square in an interview about the national debt.
“The real challenge that we face,” she said. “The closer that we get to the point of crisis, the more difficult it will be to address. And we are already kind of in that zone where it is extremely difficult to address this problem.”
“The President absolutely has confidence in Secretary Hegseth. I spoke to him about it this morning, and he stands strongly behind him,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House.
The New York Times reported Sunday that Hegseth shared sensitive information about planned strikes in Yemen in a private chat on the Signal app, including his wife, brother and personal lawyer.
Trump later made it clear: “We have the highest recruitment numbers I think we’ve had in 28 years. No, he’s doing a great job. It’s just fake news. They just bring up stories. I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. He was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people and that’s what he’s doing so you don’t always have friends when you do that.”
In late March, The Atlantic broke news of how its editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, had mistakenly been included on a text thread between a number of cabinet members and administration higher-ups in the encrypted Signal messaging app. The thread included times of planned attacks against the Yemeni rebel group the Houthis and the weapons involved. The administration said it was a mistake but has said no classified information was shared.
Defense Department’s acting inspector general is investigating the first Signal chat to determine the extent to which Hegseth and other Pentagon officials “complied with DoD policies and procedures for the use of a commercial messaging application for official business” and “compliance with classification and records retention requirements,” according to a letter.
Hegseth, who attended the Easter Egg roll at the White House on Monday, blamed the media.
“This is what the media does,” Hegseth said. “They take anonymous sources from disgruntled former employees and then they try to slash and burn people and ruin their reputations.”
Some were quick to defend the defense secretary, a former Fox News anchor.
U.S. Rep. Abraham Hamadeh, R-Ariz., said he supports Hegseth.
“As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I have full confidence in @PeteHegseth and his team at DoD,” Hamadeh wrote. “The fake news had its sights on him since he was first nominated, yet he’s been moving positive changes at lightning speed.”
Leavitt also blamed the media and those in the Pentagon who oppose Hegseth’s leadership. She said Hegseth was doing a “phenomenal job” leading the Pentagon.
“This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change that you are trying to implement,” Leavitt said.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell took a similar position, saying “Trump-hating media continues to be obsessed with destroying anyone committed to President Trump’s agenda.
Parnell said no classified information was involved.
“There was no classified information in any Signal chat, no matter how many ways they try to write the story,” Parnell said Sunday. “What is true is that the Office of the Secretary of Defense is continuing to become stronger and more efficient in executing President Trump’s agenda.”
“Nine US transport planes carrying bunker-busting bombs and other defensive weapons landed at Nevatim Airbase near Tel Aviv, in central Israel,” the Israeli broadcasting authority KAN reported. The outlet noted that Washington also sent additional interceptors for the THAAD air defense system to Tel Aviv.
The munitions and interceptors would be key to Israel attacking Iran’s nuclear program then countering the predictable Iranian response.
KAN explained the massive weapons shipment comes “in anticipation of a possible joint US-Israeli strike, should nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran fail.”
Under President Donald Trump, a US-supported Israeli strike on Iran has become increasingly likely. The administration is divided on whether to attempt to make a new nuclear pact with Tehran or forego diplomacy and attack Iran’s nuclear program.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also lobbying Trump to aid an Israeli strike on Iran.
Tel Aviv would need significant support from Washington to carry out a major attack on Iran’s nuclear program.
The New York Timesreported on Wednesday that Netanyahu had requested Trump’s assistance in a series of military operations aimed at Tehran. The Times said the American President had denied the Israeli leader’s request.
However, on Thursday, Trump explained that he had not ruled out attacking Iran, but added, “I’m not in a rush to do it.”
The US and Iran are currently engaged in indirect talks aimed at creating a new nuclear agreement. In 2015, Tehran agreed to additional limitations and inspections on its civilian nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
In 2018, Trump withdrew from that agreement. While in office, President Joe Biden engaged in some talks with Tehran in an effort to restore the Obama-era nuclear deal. Israel was able to sabotage the diplomacy with a series of assassinations and other attacks inside Iran.
Trump has now reengaged with the Iranian government. While US and Iranian officials appear optimistic after two rounds of talks, Trump has pushed for negotiations to move faster.
Israel will also need assistance in repelling any Iranian retaliatory attack. The US currently has multiple THAAD and Patriot systems deployed to Israel.
(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Last month, a former FBI agent who was once the handler for tech billionaire Peter Thiel, and who later criticized the bureau for allegedly suppressing investigations into ties between Rudy Giuliani and Russian intelligence assets, was arrested on charges of illegally disclosing classified information.
On Thursday, the former agent, Johnathan Buma, was hit with another charge: According to the Justice Department, Buma disclosed the identity of one of his confidential human sources (more commonly known as informants) around November 2023.
NEW: Former FBI agent Jonathan Buma, who was Peter Thiel's handler and who alleged that the bureau suppressed information about Rudy Giuliani's criminality, has been hit with another charge. The DOJ said on Thursday that Buma disclosed the identity of an undercover informant… https://t.co/ow8qx1aztxpic.twitter.com/R5n33gkeR2
“BUMA’s responsibilities included managing FBI Confidential Human Sources (“CHSs”),” the DOJ’s new charge alleges.
“On or about November 2, 2023 … BUMA knowingly published … information obtained by him in the course of his employment and official duties, that is, the identity and personal identifying information of an individual, who is known to the United States Attorney and identified as ‘CHS-1,’ and information provided by CHS-1 to the FBI.”
Not surprisingly, the DOJ didn’t name the informant that Buma allegedly outed. Thiel had already been exposed as an FBI informant in an October 2023 Business Insider article, so it doesn’t seem that this latest charge is referring to him.
Buma, who worked for the FBI for 15 years, was arrested last month at a departure gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York as he was waiting to board an international flight. According to the DOJ, Buma printed copies of confidential FBI documents and messages and later shared the material with associates as part of a draft of a book he was writing on his time in the bureau.
Before his ouster from the FBI, he was the handling agent for Thiel, a billionaire GOP donor and military contractor. Thiel, who co-founded PayPal and Palantir Technologies, was an early Trump supporter for his 2016 campaign, and later bankrolled Vice President JD Vance’s run for U.S. Senate.
Thiel was outed as an FBI informant by Business Insider in October 2023—a month before the FBI raided Buma’s home.
“Thiel began providing information as a ‘confidential human source,’ or CHS, to Johnathan Buma, a Los Angeles-based FBI agent who specializes in investigating political corruption and foreign-influence campaigns,” Business Insider reported at the time.
Citing fellow FBI informant and former Thiel associate Charles Johnson, the Business Insider article said Thiel started working with the feds in the summer of 2021.
Johnson—the man who outed Thiel as a fed—told Business Insider that he’s the informant code-named “Genius” in Buma’s July 2023 whistleblower statement. That statement does not mention Thiel, but Business Insider independently confirmed that Thiel was indeed a registered FBI confidential human source, or CHS.
In a separate statement to reporter Arthur Bloom, Johnson said Thiel’s FBI code-name is the “Philosopher.”
Buma also provided Headline USA with a whistleblower disclosure last year. This publication didn’t report on the disclosure at the time, but published it last month when Buma was arrested. In the disclosure, Buma mentions that the FBI seized a draft of his personal memoir when agents raided his home in November 2023. He acknowledged that the draft contained “sensitive” info, but said he believed he was operating within the bounds of the law.
An attorney representing Buma has not returned an emailed request for comment. Buma is represented by Mark Geragos, who previously worked on Hunter Biden’s defense team.
Ken Silva is the editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
