Bessent Defends Proposal for Trump’s Face on Special $250 Bill

Group working on Trump's 'war on fraud' is run by accused fraudsters: report

The Trump administration's supposed "war on fraud" is benefiting from the support of a group of alleged fraudsters, according to new reporting. Cuts to Medicaid and raids on daycare centers are part of the president's stated crackdown on fraud, which has been backed by a nonprofit called the State Financial Officers Foundation, according to reporting by The Lever. State auditors and treasurers are part of the State Financial Officers Foundation, which throws its support behind Trump with reports and statements touting the war on fraud's success, The Lever reported. However, the nonprofit's board president, Seth Metcalf, is facing corruption allegations, according to The Lever. Metcalf, a former Ohio deputy treasurer, allegedly colluded with board members of the state's teachers' pension fund to direct $65 billion to his investment firm, according to whistleblowers. An Ohio judge wrote in a February ruling that the pension board members were "mere puppets" of Metcalf, The Lever noted. He reportedly penned documents accusing the pension board of "committing fraud" to pressure them, The Lever added. Metcalf is also being sued for fraud and mismanagement related to an AI start-up's money, according to The Lever. Meanwhile, the State Financial Officers Foundation's vice chair, Adam Crum, allegedly misused state funds while working as Alaska's revenue commissioner. Crum allegedly tried to take $75 million from state reserve funds and invest it in a private equity fund, which a lawmaker described as "gross incompetence" because of the move's high risk, according to The Lever. He also reportedly gave $8.5 million worth of contracts to a consulting firm that sponsored a glacier cruise for the State Financial Officers Foundation, according to reporting by the Juneau Independent. Red states have called out the group for exaggerating fraud numbers, too. An independent auditor found that one of the nonprofit's members, who was Florida's chief financial officer, used a DOGE formula to misrepresent hurricane recovery efforts as massive misspending. Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said one of the nonprofit's claims of fraud was "wildly inflated."

Under Spanberger, Illegal Aliens Face Less Scrutiny Than Law-Abiding Virginians Buying Guns

The state is now overburdening Virginians who conduct private gun sales while protecting violent illegal aliens from arrest and deportation.

Ex-Nuclear Negotiator Criticizes Trump’s Push for Abraham Accords in Iran Deal

Trump threatened to blow up Oman and said Gulf states “owe” it to the US to normalize relations with Israel.

Vile: Texas Man Threatens to Bomb Erika Kirk and TPUSA, Now He's Facing a Felony

Trump Vows to Protect the Family Businesses: Crypto and Prediction Markets

In a Truth Social post Wednesday, President Trump typed out a lengthy paragraph on the necessity of protecting the prediction and crypto markets, taking the opportunity to label a slew of Democrats “scum,” call the US the crypto capital of the world, and claim prediction markets are a new form of financial market. He didn’t […]

NOW: US and Iran Reportedly Reach Agreement on 60-Day Ceasefire Extension Pending Trump’s Approval

A reported breakthrough in negotiations. The post NOW: US and Iran Reportedly Reach Agreement on 60-Day Ceasefire Extension Pending Trump’s Approval appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Oman pledged not to toll Strait of Hormuz following Trump’s threat to ‘blow them up’: Bessent

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed Thursday that Oman won't be going along with Iran's scheme to toll the Strait of Hormuz -- after a chilling threat from President Trump.

'Imaginative' plan to kill Trump's slush fund gets applause

Few events in President Donald Trump’s second term have prompted as much outrage as the announcement that the DOJ will create a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate those “harmed” by the Biden administration, which has been broadly denounced as a “slush fund” for convicted J6 criminals. There has been bipartisan discussion of how to block the fund, and now famed Esquire political commentator Charles P. Pierce is applauding one “imaginative” idea. Earlier this week, New York Democratic state assemblymember and House candidate Alex Bores unveiled legislation that would level a 100 percent tax against payouts from the fund. Then on Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom gave even greater visibility to the idea, telling reporters, “Anyone from California that receives any of those funds, we want to tax 100 percent of those proceeds.” Other congressional Democrats have gotten behind similar efforts.“I love this,” said Pierce. “This is the kind of imaginative grassroots pushback the national Democratic party needs. The more that this incredibly corrupt bargain is subjected to public scorn and ridicule, the better.”While the concept may have a hard time catching on among Republicans who are famously antagonistic toward enacting new taxes, conservative lawmakers have been so angered by the fund that they may be willing to take dramatic steps to oppose it. Even congressional Republicans who are usually hesitant to break with the president have blasted the move, with former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declaring, “So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — take your pick.” The tax idea hasn’t been the only effort to stymie the fund. Shortly after it was announced, the Bipartisan Transparency for American Taxpayers Act was introduced by Representatives Tom Suozzi (D-NY) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), which declared simply that “no federal funds may be used for the payment of any claim submitted to the Anti-Weaponization Fund, established by the Department of Justice on May 18, 2026.” If enacted, it would essentially kill the fund. Representative Jamie Raskin (D-CA) introduced the No Taxpayer-Funded Settlement Slush Funds Act, which would similarly deny federal cash to the fund.Interestingly enough, in February, a slate of Republican lawmakers began pushing the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2026, which has so far failed to gain traction. If enacted, it would prohibit government officials from entering into settlement agreements that divert funds to third-party organizations, with the intention of preventing the Executive Branch from circumventing Congress and steering settlement money to its preferred recipients — an exact description of the circumstances surrounding the J6 slush fund.