Activists Trying to Swamp GOP Senate Offices Get Stymied by Busy Signals, Full Voicemail

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Activists Trying to Swamp GOP Senate Offices Get Stymied by Busy Signals, Full Voicemail

(Headline USA) For the past four years, Democrats shrugged off the fact that President Joe Biden seemed to be perpetually unavailable for media interviews or any other sort of public access apart from heavily scripted scenarios. 

But with their party having been fully displaced from the seat of power, left-wing activists were suddenly seething over the non-response to a coordinated campaign—including prewritten scripts—to harass GOP lawmakers.

Callers were getting busy signals and voicemail inboxes are full at many U.S. Senate offices amid efforts to complain about President Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, executive orders and moves to dismantle various federal programs.

A memo distributed to Senate staff on Tuesday said there was a higher number of calls than usual and that some callers were having trouble getting through.

“The Senate is experiencing an unusually high volume of inbound calls. External callers may receive a temporary busy signal when phoning a Senate office,” according to the memo obtained by the Associated Press.

One popular post circulating in the left-wing echo chamber urged opponents of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to call their lawmakers six times a day, every day — two calls each to their two senators and two to their House member. “You should NOT be bothering with online petitions or emailing,” it said.

The post urged use of a smartphone app that would make the task of making multiple calls per day easier.

Caitlin Christman, an institutional support contractor in Wisconsin furloughed last week from the U.S. Agency for International Development, said it took her four attempts over five days to successfully leave a message for her Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., after dealing with an overloaded voicemail box, grainy recorded greetings and a busy signal.

“I wanted to express my concern with dismantling USAID without any sort of review, and to relay my experience with its work, which I believe has been in our country’s best interest,” she claimed, noting that she expects to be fired later this week.

Meryl Neiman of Ohio Progressive Action Leaders and others within her network sought to draw attention to the fact that they were having trouble reaching both her state’s senators—Republicans Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted—by phone or in person at their field offices.

Both senators are close with Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, and were with him as recently as Monday, during a tour of the 2023 derailment site in East Palestine.

Moreno’s spokesperson, Reagan McCarthy, said helping Ohioans in need is his top priority.

“While the Senate has been dealing with an exceptionally high volume of calls, our office is committed to responding to each and every Ohioan in need of assistance and working through all requests as quickly as possible,” she said in a statement.

In sharp contrast with Trump’s first term, when the businessman and political neophyte was caught flatfooted by seditious conspiracies designed to undermine his agenda—and question his legitimacy—Trump entered into his current term with a clear course of action, which he has pursued unrelentingly in his first three weeks.

Democrats have, by and large, struggled to come up with a response this time around to what some have termed a “shock and awe” method of government reform, overwhelming media critics with a deluge of breaking-news stories that prevented them from carping on any one thing.

A coordinated left-wing protest Wednesday was aimed at lashing out against Trump and Project 2025—the set of policy blueprints that Democrats used as a boogeyman during the leadup to last year’s election.

However, the failure to unify around a specific objection left it appearing to be little more than another leftist venting session, all too familiar following the 2020 race riots in which leftists seemed to demonstrate little self-awareness over the contradictory and hypocritical nature of their complaints.

Those frustrated by Trump’s actions shared similar stories with the AP of being unable to reach their lawmakers. They seemed to be experiencing particular barriers to connecting with the Senate offices of Trump’s fellow Republicans, who may be more inundated than Democrats because Republicans hold the chamber’s majority and are more likely to have the president’s ear.

Lawmakers were frustrated, too, as they seek to maintain operations amid the interference efforts. Senate voicemail boxes only hold about 1,000 messages before becoming full and needing to be catalogued and emptied.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

First Military Flight Lands in Guantanamo Bay w/ Newly Deported Illegals

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First Military Flight Lands in Guantanamo Bay w/ Newly Deported Illegals

(Headline USA) The first U.S. military flight deporting migrants from the United States to Guantanamo Bay landed in Cuba on Tuesday evening, according to a U.S. official.

It was the first step in an expected surge in the number of migrants sent to the U.S. naval base, which for decades was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

President Donald Trump has eyed the facility as a holding center and said it has the capacity to hold as many as 30,000.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was assigned to Guantanamo Bay when he was on active duty, has called it a “perfect place” to house migrants. Additional U.S. troops have arrived at the facility in the past few days to help prepare.

In addition, the U.S. flew Indian immigrants back to India on Monday, a second U.S. official said. Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public.

There had previously been seven deportation flights, to Ecuador, Guam, Honduras and Peru. In addition, Colombian officials flew to the U.S. and took two flights of migrants back to their country.

There are approximately 300 service members supporting the holding operations at Guantanamo Bay, and the numbers will fluctuate based on the requirements of the Department of Homeland Security, which is the lead federal agency. At least 230 of those service members are U.S. Marines from the 6th Marine Regiment, who began deploying on Friday.

There are more than 725,000 immigrants from India living in the U.S. without authorization, the third most of any country after Mexico and El Salvador, according to the Pew Research Center.

Recent years have also seen a jump in the number of Indians attempting to enter the country along the U.S.-Canada border. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending Sept. 30, which amounted to 60% of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Sorry, Kilmeade Fans: Fox News Hires Lara Trump for New Saturday Primetime Show

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Sorry, Kilmeade Fans: Fox News Hires Lara Trump for New Saturday Primetime Show

(Headline USA) Fox News Channel has hired former Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, to be host of a new weekend show that will debut later this month.

“I’m thrilled to bring my voice back to Fox News, talk directly with the American people, and highlight what makes this country so great,” Lara Trump said in a statement released by Fox. “As I cover the success of the golden age of America, I look forward to where this time will lead our country and where this opportunity will lead me in the future.”

Trump, the wife of first son Eric Trump, was a contributor who made appearances on Fox in 2021 and 2022.

Her hourlong show, My View with Lara Trump, will air at 9 p.m. on Saturday nights, Fox announced on Wednesday. She’s scheduled to start her show on Feb. 22.

In a statement, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott called Lara Trump “a gifted communicator who knows how to connect to the viewers, successful entrepreneur and working mother.”

It was unclear how Lara Trump’s show came together. Married to Donald Trump’s son Eric, she said in December that she would consider running for a Senate seat in Florida in 2026.

Her new show will displace one hosted by journeyman anchor Brian Kilmeade, which is moving to Sunday nights.

The network’s Saturday primetime lineup also currently includes its Big Weekend Show, as well as talk shows hosted by former Reagan staffer Mark Levin and cab-driver-turned-comedian Jimmy Failla.

Fox said in its announcement that Trump’s show “will focus on the return of common sense to all corners of American life as the country ushers in a new era of practicality.”

Political relatives and those with close ties to presidential administrations are no stranger to television.

Former President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna has been a longtime host on NBC’s “Today” show. Chelsea Clinton also worked as a reporter for NBC News while her mother Hillary was secretary of state. Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, was a host on ABC’s daytime talk show The View.

Press secretaries and former White House advisers also dot the lineups of several networks. Notably, Biden press secretary Jen Psaki has her own show on MSNBC, and George Stephanopoulos, a former campaign adviser for Bill Clinton, has had a prominent role for years on ABC News.

However, Trump’s RNC predecessor (and another political scion) Ronna Romney McDaniel was less successful when she attempted to secure an NBC deal—prompting outbursts and other protests from personalities such as former Meet the Press host Chuck Todd.

Lara Trump’s father-in-law has had a complicated relationship with Fox News, even as many of its personalities support his policies. He’s known to complain on social media if he sees something on the network that he considers disloyal.

Meanwhile, the president has staffed his new administration with several former Fox employees—19, by a recent count in the New York Times—headlined by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Fox’s prime-time lineup is largely filled with opinion shows. Sean Hannity spoke frequently with Trump during his first term and has interviewed the president since his return to office.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Tulsi Gabbard Advances to Full Senate after Party-Line Vote in Intel Committee

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Tulsi Gabbard Advances to Full Senate after Party-Line Vote in Intel Committee

(Headline USA) Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence cleared a key Senate committee Tuesday despite opposition from her former party that focused largely on bogus—and all too familiar—claims that she was a Russian spy.

The Senate Intelligence Committee advanced the former Democratic congresswoman’s nomination in a closed-door 9-8 vote, with the all of the committee’s Democrats voting no.

Gabbard’s nomination now heads to the full Senate for consideration. A vote has not been scheduled yet.

During a contentious confirmation hearing last week, some Republican senators questioned Gabbard. However, GOP support for her fell into place following a pressure campaign over the weekend unleashed by Trump supporters and allies, including Elon Musk.

Until three GOP members seen as swing votes announced their support, it wasn’t clear her nomination would advance beyond the Intelligence Committee. Given strong Democratic opposition and thin Republican margins, Gabbard will need almost all GOP senators to vote yes to win confirmation to the top intelligence job.

Though some Republicans have questioned Gabbard’s past views, they support her calls to overhaul the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which coordinates the work of 18 federal agencies focused on intelligence collection and analysis. GOP lawmakers have also taken aim at the office, saying it’s grown too large and politicized.

Senate Intelligence Chairman Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said Tuesday that he looked forward to working with Gabbard to “bring badly needed reforms” to ODNI.

Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020.

Gabbard’s past praise of deep-state whistleblower Edward Snowden drew particularly harsh questions during the nomination hearing. The former National Security Agency contractor fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about surveillance programs.

Gabbard said that while Snowden revealed important facts about surveillance programs she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

USAID Workers Worldwide Put on Recall Notice as Agency’s Corruption Is Exposed

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USAID Workers Worldwide Put on Recall Notice as Agency’s Corruption Is Exposed

(Headline USA) The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is pulling almost all U.S. Agency for International Development workers off the job and out of the field worldwide, moving to all but end a six-decade money-laundering scheme to funnel funding and support to the CIA and other government agencies for the purposes of destabilizing foreign governments—and potentially engaging in covert, illegal activity that would never be appropriated by Congress under normal circumstances.

The administration notified USAID workers in emails and a notice posted online, the latest in a sudden dismantling of the agency by returning political appointees from President Donald Trump’s first term and billionaire Elon Musk’s government-efficiency teams who call much of the spending on programs overseas wasteful and corrupt.

The news drew a range of reactions, from conservative social-media influencers who celebrated and mocked the demise of the shadowy agency, to leftist critics who lashed out—with some even calling for violence in the streets.

It was unclear whether the protests were organic, however, or may have been the last gasp of the dying deep-state apparatus, which was likely the driving force behind color revolutions such as Ukraine’s 2014 revolt. The Obama-era coup forced out the country’s Russia-friendly regime in favor of one that was more supportive of America’s left-wing oligarchs, including George Soros, who set up his European base of operations there.

USAID also may have provided funding for CIA black sites and biolabs at the Ukraine–Russia border, some of which have been openly acknowledged, although the government largely continues to deny both their presence and role in fomenting the ongoing tensions between the two eastern European nations.

Some also accused the agency of being complicit in the foreign sex-trade of children through its funding to countries like Guatemala.

The Trump executive order takes effect just before midnight Friday and gives direct hires of the agency overseas—many of whom have been frantically packing up households in expectation of the announcement—30 days to return home unless they are deemed essential. Contractors not determined to be essential also would be fired, the notice said.

It was the most severe of several proposals considered for consolidating the agency into the State Department. Other options had included closures of smaller USAID missions and partial closures of larger ones.

The move—following efforts by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to gain access to USAID offices only to be met with obstruction—had been rumored for several days.

Lawmakers said the agency’s computer servers were carted away.

“Spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk boasted on X.

Thousands of USAID employees already had been laid off, and programs worldwide shut down after Trump imposed a sweeping freeze on foreign assistance.

The mass removal of thousands of staffers overseas and in Washington would doom billions of dollars in projects in some 120 countries, including security assistance to partners such as Ukraine. It spends less than 1% of its budget on foreign assistance, a smaller share of its budget than some countries.

Democratic lawmakers insisted USAID is enshrined in legislation as an independent agency, and cannot be shut down without congressional approval. Supporters said its work overseas was essential to countering the influence of Russia, China and other adversaries and rivals abroad, and to cementing alliances and partnerships.

But detractors said it was actively working to undermine the interests of the Trump administration—and the will of voters unwittingly forced to foot the massive bill for purposes that have heretofore been largely shrouded in mystery.

The American Foreign Service Association, the union which represents U.S. diplomats, sent a notice to its members denouncing the decision and saying it was preparing legal action to counter or halt Trump’s order.

Locally employed USAID staff, however, do not have much recourse and were excluded from the federal government’s voluntary buyout offer.

Tuesday’s notice said it would consider case-by-case exceptions for those needing more time. But with most of the agency’s staff soon off the job, it was unclear who would process such claims or other paperwork needed for the mass removal of thousands of overseas staffers.

Musk’s teams had taken USAID’s website offline over the weekend and it came back online Tuesday night, with the notice of recall or termination for global staffers its sole post.

The announcement came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on a five-nation tour of Central America and met with embassy and USAID staff at two of the region’s largest USAID missions: El Salvador and Guatemala on Monday and Tuesday.

Journalists accompanying Rubio were not allowed to witness the so-called “meet and greet” sessions in those two countries, but had been allowed in for a similar event in Panama on Sunday in which Rubio praised employees, particularly locals, for their dedication and service.

At a news conference earlier Tuesday, Rubio said he has “long supported foreign aid. I continue to support foreign aid. But foreign aid is not charity.”

He noted that every dollar the U.S. spends must advance its national interests.

The online notice says those who will be exempted from leave include staffers responsible for “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specially designated programs” and would be informed by Thursday afternoon.

“Thank you for your service,” the notice concluded.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

‘Day Without Immigrants’ Flops as Many Realize They Are Too Expendable to Protest

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‘Day Without Immigrants’ Flops as Many Realize They Are Too Expendable to Protest

(Headline USA) Several businesses from day cares to grocery stores and hair salons closed Monday across the U.S. in a loosely organized day of protest against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

But instead, the failed effort might perversely have helped proponents of federal immigration-law enforcement in their effort to underscore just how expendable illegal-immigrant workers—millions of whom were let in under the Biden administration’s open-border policies—actually were.

Participation in the “day without immigrants” faced headwinds from employees and business owners who said they need the income—especially as rumors of widespread raids, often false, are leaving many illegal immigrants afraid to venture outside.

President Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, have indicated that those gainfully employed and contributing to their communities faced little threat of deportation as the new administration focus its efforts primarily on violent criminals, drug cartels, street gangs and those who may be exploiting America’s generosity without giving back anything.

Nonetheless, Noel Xavier, organizing director for the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, said that while it was important to remind the country of the value illegals brought to their communities, many workers couldn’t afford to take a day off.

“If I don’t go to work today, that’s one day less that I have, you know, to be able to pay for my next rent,” Xavier said of the prevailing sentiment among the workers he organizes. “I didn’t see this big rallying around being able to do that, or having the luxury to be able to do that.”

Those most likely impacted by this week’s protest, ironically, were sanctuary cities where illegals were preaching to the choir.

Jaime di Paulo, president of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, noted that small restaurants and retailers in Chicago’s biggest Latino neighborhoods closed, but most major employers as well as those in construction and other industries were operating normally.

“This is only hurting our own community,” he said.

In Chicago, as in San Diego, school districts said some students and families were participating in Monday’s protest, forgoing the free education that they came to America to receive in the first place.

“If we don’t have immigrants, we don’t have anything work around here,” claimed Toro, who is from Puerto Rico. “If we’re mute, we’re in silence, then they’re going to do whatever they want.”

El Burrito Mercado, which boomed from a small Latino market in the 1970s to one of the most widely recognized restaurant, catering and grocery businesses in St. Paul, Minnesota, shut for the whole day in 2017—when the latest major such event was held at the beginning of the first Trump administration.

But on Monday, it stayed open for a few hours with a skeleton crew, said co-owner Milissa Silva.

Her parents emigrated from Mexico, and most of the 90 employees have Mexican roots. But many staffers expressed concern about losing a work day and about depriving people in the neighborhood of access to groceries.

Similarly, the Spanish-immersion day care provider Tierra Encantada kept its 14 locations open. But many parents decided to keep their children home Monday in solidarity with the mostly first and second-generation immigrant workforce, said CEO Kristen Denzer.

Families—most of them not immigrants—pulled some 450 children from day care and preschool, about 70% of those enrolled in Minnesota alone, where most of the organization’s centers are, Denzer said. Several staffers who had been on the fence decided to take the day after the show of support.

In Utah, several Latino-owned stores, restaurants and supermarkets closed their doors.

“The movement today, it’s more about being compassionate,” said state Sen. Luz Escamilla, a Democrat and Senate minority leader. “A lot of companies and communities are coming together in the state just to raise awareness of how much this has created a fear.”

Asked about the day of protest at his Monday media availability, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams, a Republican, defended Trump’s immigration policies and said law-abiding immigrants should have nothing to worry about.

“The only people that are being talked about being deported [are] those that are criminals, those that are on probation, those bad people who have committed difficult crimes,” Adams said.

While immigration enforcement officers continue to target for deportation migrants considered public safety and national security threats, a big change from the Biden administration is that officers can now arrest people without legal status if they run across them during operations.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

FBI Has Produced Just 2 New Records Per Month in Long-Running OKC Bomb Lawsuit

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FBI Has Produced Just 2 New Records Per Month in Long-Running OKC Bomb Lawsuit

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Last February, Utah attorney Jesse Trentadue sued the FBI for records about an undercover informant who helped fund the Oklahoma City bombing, as well as for records about a neo-Nazi bank-robbery gang also involved in the attack—the deadliest domestic terrorism event in U.S. history.

One year later, the FBI hasn’t produced many records. And according to Trentadue, hardly any of those records have been responsive to his Freedom of Information Act request, which he filed over a decade ago.

Trentadue’s FOIA request seeks pertains to two FBI investigations: BOMBROB, which was an investigation into the Aryan Republican Army, the neo-Nazi group linked to the OKC bombing; and Operation Punchout, which was ostensibly intended to apprehend dealers of stolen military equipment. One of the FBI informants from Operation Punchout went on to befriend OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh.

According to Trentadue, the FBI told the court that it had commenced producing the documents at the rate of 500 pages per month.

“Over the past seven months, however, the FBI has produced just 15 pages of responsive documents, and all of them relate to Plaintiff’s BOMBROB FOIA,” Trentadue said in a Wednesday court filing.

“The FBI has yet to produce a single document in response Plaintiff’s Operation Punchout FOIA. Instead, the FBI has given Plaintiff 2,271 pages of filler having no relevance to the subjects of his FOIA Requests,” Trentadue added.

At the rate the FBI is producing documents, Trentadue said it would take over 2,500 years for him to receive all 69,375 pages of BOMBROB and Operation Punchout documents that he requested in 2015.

“At a production rate of just two responsive documents per month, it will take over 2,500 years for Plaintiff to receive these documents. That is outrageous. It is also, as a matter of law, a denial of Plaintiff’s FOIA Requests,” Trentadue said of the situation.

“More importantly, if by some miracle Plaintiff is still alive 2,500 years from now, he will most likely be in an assisted living facility and unable to understand the significance of the documents that the FBI is so desperately trying to conceal from both him and the American public.”

Trentadue asked the presiding judge to have the FBI “fully comply with its FOIA obligations.”

Trentadue’s Quest for Justice

Trentadue has been suing the U.S. government for OKC bomb-related records for nearly 30 years, ever since his brother was murdered in a federal penitentiary. The complex story of how the death of Trentadue’s brother relates to the OKC bombing can be read in this Mother Jones article.

One of the key players Trentadue seeks info about is a man named Roger Edwin Moore (not the James Bond actor), who was an FBI informant as part of the bureau’s 1980s- and early 90s-era Operation Punchout.  In the early 90s, Moore met McVeigh. The two would become business partners, embarking on the national gun show circuit in 1993.

“According to Terry Nichols, one of McVeigh’s accomplices, not only did Moore provide them with the Kinestik explosives used to detonate the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building, but Moore also told McVeigh that he knew McVeigh ‘would put them [the Kinesteik] to good use,’” Trentadue said in his Wednesday court filing.

Along with Moore, Trentadue also continues to seek info on the ARA.

In 2001, then-Indiana State University criminologist Mark Hamm published a book making the case that the ARA helped carry out the bombing. Hamm’s In Bad Company: America’s Terrorist Underground detailed the movements of McVeigh and the ARA throughout 1993 and ’94, showing that the bomber was often in Arizona, Kansas and Oklahoma at the same time as several other ARA members. McVeigh and ARA members were also both spotted by witnesses at Elohim City, a white nationalist compound in the Ozarks.

Even more shocking, Trentadue later uncovered evidence that the ARA may even have been an FBI front group. Trentadue obtained an email from former FBI agent Don Jarrett—who investigated right-wing terrorism in the 1990s—saying that the Aryan robbers were thoroughly infiltrated by FBI informants.

In his current lawsuit, Trentadue expressed his belief that the ARA was indeed an FBI front group.

“Timothy McVeigh participated in some of those robberies and is reported to have used money obtained from these crimes to help fund the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. Members of the ARA also assisted McVeigh in carrying out the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building,” he said in his complaint last February.

“The ARA was actually a front group created by the FBI in which the Bureau had embedded at least one informant.”

Meanwhile, Trentadue still has another lawsuit against the FBI for records about the OKC bombing.

That lawsuit, which has been ongoing for decades, seeks surveillance footage of the blast. The FBI has denied that such footage exists, but Trentadue has evidence to the contrary—including a Secret Service investigative memo that describes the surveillance footage.

Trentadue’s lawsuit went to trial in 2014.

There, he was to have FBI informant-turned-whistleblower John Matthews testify on his behalf about how the bureau was monitoring McVeigh in the lead-up to the attack. However, Matthews changed his mind about testifying the night before he was supposed to take the stand, leading to Trentadue alleging that the FBI engaged in witness tampering and threatened Matthews.

Trentadue’s allegations have been subject of a court-appointed investigation for the last nearly eight years. The investigation has been conducted behind closed doors, with gag orders on all parties.

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

SHOCKER: DeepSeek Linked to China’s State-Run Telecoms, Raising Major Security Concerns

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SHOCKER: DeepSeek Linked to China’s State-Run Telecoms, Raising Major Security Concerns

(Headline USA) The website of the Chinese artificial intelligence company DeepSeek, whose chatbot became the most downloaded app in the United States, has computer code that could send some user login information to a Chinese state-owned telecommunications company that has been barred from operating in the United States, security researchers say.

Word of the app’s U.S. release sent stocks tumbling last week, with AI-forward tech companies including Nvidia, dampening a Trump economy that has been largely ascendant since the fall.

The web login page of DeepSeek’s chatbot contains heavily obfuscated computer script that, when deciphered, shows connections to computer infrastructure owned by China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications company. The code appears to be part of the account creation and user login process for DeepSeek.

In its privacy policy, DeepSeek acknowledged storing data on servers inside the People’s Republic of China. But its chatbot appears more directly tied to the Chinese state than previously known through the link revealed by researchers to China Mobile.

The U.S. has argued there are close ties between China Mobile and the Chinese military as justification for placing limited sanctions on the company. DeepSeek and China Mobile did not respond to emails seeking comment.

The growth of Chinese-controlled digital services has become a major topic of concern for U.S. national security officials. Lawmakers in Congress last year on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis voted to force the Chinese parent company of the popular video-sharing app TikTok to divest or face a nationwide ban though the app has since received a 75-day reprieve from President Donald Trump, who is hoping to work out a sale.

The code linking DeepSeek to one of China’s leading mobile phone providers was first discovered by Feroot Security, a Canadian cybersecurity company, which shared its findings with the Associated Press. The AP took Feroot’s findings to a second set of computer experts, who independently confirmed that China Mobile code is present.

Neither Feroot nor the other researchers observed data transferred to China Mobile when testing logins in North America, but they could not rule out that data for some users was being transferred to the Chinese telecom.

The analysis only applies to the web version of DeepSeek. They did not analyze the mobile version, which remains one of the most downloaded pieces of software on both the Apple and the Google app stores.

The Federal Communications Commission unanimously denied China Mobile authority to operate in the United States in 2019, citing “substantial” national security concerns about links between the company and the Chinese state. In 2021, the Biden administration also issued sanctions limiting the ability of Americans to invest in China Mobile after the Pentagon linked it to the Chinese military.

“It’s mindboggling that we are unknowingly allowing China to survey Americans and we’re doing nothing about it,” said Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of Feroot.

“It’s hard to believe that something like this was accidental,” Tsarynny added. “There are so many unusual things to this. You know that saying ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire’? In this instance, there’s a lot of smoke.”

Stewart Baker, a Washington, D.C.-based lawyer and consultant who has previously served as a top official at the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency, said DeepSeek “raises all of the TikTok concerns plus you’re talking about information that is highly likely to be of more national security and personal significance than anything people do on TikTok,” one of the world’s most popular social media platforms.

Users are increasingly putting sensitive data into generative AI systems—everything from confidential business information to highly personal details about themselves. People are using generative AI systems for spell-checking, research and even highly personal queries and conversations. The data security risks of such technology are magnified when the platform is owned by a geopolitical adversary and could represent an intelligence goldmine for a country, experts warn.

“The implications of this are significantly larger because personal and proprietary information could be exposed,” Tsarynny said.

“It’s like TikTok but at a much grander scale and with more precision,” he added. “It’s not just sharing entertainment videos. It’s sharing queries and information that could include highly personal and sensitive business information.”

Feroot, which specializes in identifying threats on the web, identified computer code that is downloaded and triggered when a user logs into DeepSeek. According to the company’s analysis, the code appears to capture detailed information about the device a user logs in from—a process called fingerprinting. Such techniques are widely used by tech companies around the world for security, verification and ad targeting.

The company’s analysis of the code determined that there were links in that code pointing to China Mobile authentication and identity management computer systems, meaning it could be part of the login process for some users accessing DeepSeek.

The AP asked two academic cybersecurity experts—Joel Reardon of the University of Calgary and Serge Egelman of the University of California, Berkeley—to verify Feroot’s findings. In their independent analysis of the DeepSeek code, they confirmed there were links between the chatbot’s login system and China Mobile.

“It’s clear that China Mobile is somehow involved in registering for DeepSeek,” said Reardon.

He didn’t see data being transferred in his testing but concluded that it is likely being activated for some users or in some login methods.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

Trump Signs Exec. Order Banning Trans Athletes in Women’s Sports

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Trump Signs Exec. Order Banning Trans Athletes in Women’s Sports

(Headline USA) President Donald Trump signed an executive order at an afternoon ceremony on Wednesday designed to prevent biological males from participating in women’s or girls’ sporting events.

The president put out a sweeping order on his first day in office last month that called for the federal government to define sex as only male or female and for that to be reflected on official documents such as passports and in policies such as federal prison assignments.

Trump found during the campaign that his pledge to “keep men out of women’s sports” resonated beyond the usual party lines. More than half the voters surveyed by AP VoteCast said support for transgender rights in government and society has gone too far.

He leaned into the rhetoric before the election, pledging to get rid of the “transgender insanity,” though his campaign offered little in the way of details.

Wednesday’s order—which coincides with National Girls and Women in Sports Day—will involve how his administration will interpret Title IX, the law best known for its role in pursuing gender equity in athletics and preventing sexual harassment on campuses.

“This executive order restores fairness, upholds Title IX’s original intent, and defends the rights of female athletes who have worked their whole lives to compete at the highest levels,” said U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican from South Carolina.

Every administration has the authority to issue its own interpretations of the landmark legislation. The last two presidential administrations—including Trump’s first—offer a glimpse at the push-pull involved.

Betsy DeVos, the education secretary during Trump’s first term, issued a Title IX policy in 2020 that narrowed the definition of sexual harassment and required colleges to investigate claims only if they’re reported to certain officials.

Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press

AP, Politico and Reuters Revealed to Be Funded by U.S. Gov’t

Ken Silva
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AP, Politico and Reuters Revealed to Be Funded by U.S. Gov’t

(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Washington DC insider magazine Politico has long been accused of having a liberal bias. That might be because it has received more than $8 million in federal contracts, according to information unearthed Wednesday on Twitter/X.

Politico’s government contracts were discovered after an internal email was leaked, revealing that its staffers didn’t receive their latest paychecks. That sparked jokes that Politico may have had its funding cut off due to the Trump administration moving to close the US Agency for International Development—an agency that essentially acts as a proxy for the CIA.

It turned out, there was some truth underpinning those jokes. While Politico may not be funded by USAID, it has received millions of dollars in contracts from a variety of other federal agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Interior, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Homeland Security.

The contracts appear to be ostensibly for subscriptions to Politco and its various services, including POLITICO PRO, which touts itself as “the leading policy workspace platform for public policy professionals.”

One online sleuth found that HHS apparently gave Politico more than $400,000 for just 37 subscriptions.

Additionally, the data showed that the government has paid Politico using funds such as the Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program. It’s unclear why that is.

Other contract descriptions are more vague—simply saying that Politico was paid for “BOOKS, MAPS, OTHER PUBLICATIONS.”

Politico isn’t the only liberal-leaning news outlet funded by the government. Researchers found that the Associated Press and Reuters have received federal contracts, too: $13.6 million for Reuters and $619,969 for the AP.

News that those media outlets are government-funded prompted numerous examples of their biased coverage.

“The moment my association with @RobertKennedyJr became public, @politico published 13 hit pieces targeting me trying to damage my character & reputation,” said New Jersey assemblyman Jamel Holley. “I have been wrongly treated by this media outlet specifically, all false attacks were funded by the American taxpayers.”

Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.

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