Navarro to Fed: ‘Don’t even think about’ rate hikes
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Peter Navarro, a senior adviser to President Trump, cautioned the Federal Reserve against raising interest rates on Wednesday. “The message I want to send squarely to the Federal Reserve is don’t even think about raising interest rates now,” Navarro told Betty Liu at The Hill’s second annual Invest In America Summit. In late April, the…
After widespread bipartisan outcry, the Justice Department says it is permanently abandoning plans for a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. Widely branded as a “slush fund,” it was expected to reward President Donald Trump’s supporters, including those who attacked the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The fund was announced in May as part of a settlement in Trump’s personal lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax data. That case was recently reopened, after dozens of former federal judges filed a motion alleging that Trump’s actions were “collusive.” As Nancy Gertner, one of the judges who joined the motion, explains, “What happened in this case was, essentially, Trump was suing himself. There was no question that Trump was on both sides of the 'v.'” Gertner and her fellow judges are represented by attorney Matt Platkin, who says, “It is illegal for the president to ask for any IRS audit to be opened or closed. That is a federal crime.”
While Tuesday marks Election Day in California, the results for races across the state may not come in for days, or even weeks. In the Golden State, mail-in ballots are valid so long as they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive to county election offices by June 9. Voters in California can also return…
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced that Bill Pulte, a “home-building heir” who currently oversees the Federal Housing Finance Agency, would step in as acting Director of National Intelligence to replace Tulsi Gabbard. The decision has drawn swift bipartisan criticism over Pulte’s total lack of experience and what is viewed as an effort to “weaponize” the U.S. intelligence apparatus. "We don't need a weaponized DNI, we need professionals there," declared Senator Majority Leader John Thune (R-SC). “If he's somebody we want in that position permanently, he's got a lengthy road ahead of him.”Fears over weaponization stem from Pulte’s previous efforts to target Trump’s enemies. As the head of the FHFA, he used his position to suggest criminal charges for mortgage fraud against the likes of New York Attorney General Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook — all of whom drew the president’s ire over various incidents.With all this in mind, Senator Mark Warner, a top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, shared Thune’s sentiments, blasting at length: “This appointment speaks volumes about what this president expects from the nation's top intelligence official. Rather than selecting a respected national security professional capable of delivering independent judgments, the president has chosen an official who has demonstrated not just willingness but eagerness to use the authorities of government to pursue political retribution.”“Americans have already seen Mr. Pulte use the powers of his office at the Federal Housing Finance Agency to pursue the president's grievances and lend credibility to dubious prosecutions of President Trump's perceived political opponents,” Warner continued. “Elevating him to oversee the Intelligence Community makes clear that this president is not looking for an intelligence leader who will follow the facts or speak truth to power, but rather someone who will be willing to shape intelligence around the president's wishes, regardless of the cost to the American people.”What’s more, Warner took issue with Pulte’s bona fides, or lack thereof, arguing, "The concern is not only that Mr. Pulte lacks the ‘extensive national security experience' required by statute for the job, which was created after intelligence failures led to the deaths of thousands of Americans on 9/11. It is that he appears to have been selected precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need. Americans have every reason to worry about what happens when the official charged with overseeing everything from counterterrorism to foreign election threats is chosen for his willingness to advance the president's political agenda rather than his experience. That is how intelligence becomes politicized, how inconvenient facts disappear, how agencies charged with protecting our democracy instead become tools to manipulate it, and how Americans are left more vulnerable to a terrorist attack."Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) put it more simply: “I see no evidence of any qualifications for that job.” And Senator Angus King (Independent-ME), who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, rounded things out, “By any objective assessment — in terms of experience, expertise, background — this appointment makes no sense.”Journalist Chris Hayes summed up the collective assessment well, posting, “This is so utterly insane I’m at a loss. But it makes sense if you want to turn the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus into a tool for domestic persecution and domination.”
The hits keep coming for Graham Platner, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination in the race for one of Maine's U.S. Senate seats.On Monday the women of "The View" trashed Platner's campaign and said he has no business being anywhere near Congress after grappling with so many scandals.'You’ve shown me who you are, and I heard you. This man should be nowhere near Congress.'The most recent revelation that Platner, who is married, sent sexually explicit messages to at least half a dozen women in recent years is just the latest sting for his campaign."On the heels of apologizing for a tattoo associated with Nazis, the offensive posts about a wounded U.S. soldier. Now his wife, Amy Gertner, is responding to reports that she gave his campaign a heads-up about her husband sending sexually explicit texts to several different women," said Whoopi Goldberg."Horrible. There is no doubt that this guy, Platner, is flawed, flawed, flawed in many ways," added Ana Navarro. "It is disturbing, and it is horrible. And why can't we do better? Why can't we have better candidates?""This guy just seems like a guy of not very good character," said former Trump staffer Alyssa Farah Griffin. "Don't die on the hill of a guy who's going to be a headache for you for years to come."Sara Haines took special offense to Platner previously saying a U.S. soldier should have died on the battlefield."If you are capable of saying that at any time in your life, you’ve shown me who you are, and I heard you. This man should be nowhere near Congress. We’ve already got a wealth of people we need out. We’re not sending one like this in.""So he's a cheater," added Sunny Hostin. "He's an anti-Semite — because the fact that he had that tattoo for 20 years and didn't know what it was is a lie. So he's a liar, a racist, an anti-Semite; he's a homophobe. So he's all the things. And character does matter."Hostin also did not accept Platner's excuse that his racist comments were caused by post-traumatic stress disorder from his experiences in combat as a Marine."I know a lot of soldiers that have PTSD that aren't racist," she said.However, despite all of the problems they cited with Platner, Hostin went on to say they needed the victory in Maine to take control of the Senate away from Republicans. The Republican Party in Maine posted clips of the most critical comments in a video that was widely circulated on social media. RELATED: Trans-identifying 15-year-old plotted to kill classmate in order to resurrect Newtown shooter In response to the sexting scandal, Platner's wife put out a video calling the story "gossip" and trying to downplay it. Many described her video as uncomfortable to watch.Platner is presumed to be the Democratic nominee to run against incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has been criticized by many in her own party for being moderate and centrist. Platner's main Democratic rival, Gov. Janet Mills, suspended her campaign in late April.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
On Tuesday morning, the New York Times' Maggie Gallagher reported that President Donald Trump had appointed MAGA loyalist Bill Pulte as acting national intelligence director despite the fact that he "has no known background in intelligence, military or national security." According to journalist Derek Thompson, the Pulte appointment is a glaring example of Trump's willingness to promote his loyalists to key positions that they are woefully unqualified for.Linking to Gallagher's reporting on Pulte on X, formerly Twitter, Thompson (known for his writing for The Atlantic) tweeted, "'Late Kakistocracy' is that phase of democratic decline where the regime starts running out of ppl who will work for it, and so the folks who aren't qualified for their current positions are promoted to even larger positions for which they are even more unqualified."The term "kakistocracy" comes from two Greek words: "kákistos" (worst) and "krátos" (rule). And together, they mean "government by the worst people." Trump's Pulte appointment follows the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman turned MAGA Republican, as national intelligence director. Gabbard said she was stepping down to care for her husband, Abraham Williams, who was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.Pulte's focus in the second Trump administration has been housing. In 2025, he became director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) as well as chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But none of his previous experience in the administration, according to Gallagher, pertained to national security.Gallagher reported, "Mr. Pulte has no known background in intelligence, military or national security, but he is a Trump loyalist who has been among the most aggressive advocates for prosecuting Democrats and others perceived by Mr. Trump as having crossed him…. Mr. Pulte will continue to run the housing agency while taking on the position of director of national intelligence."In order to take over the national security director position permanently, Pulte will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate."On paper, the director of national intelligence, a role created after the September 11 terrorist attacks, is among the most powerful of Cabinet positions, responsible for coordinating the work of the CIA and a host of other agencies," Gallagher noted. "But Mr. Trump has never seen it as an important role, his advisers have said previously, and in his first term, he believed the staff working for that office were leaking information about him."Gallagher added, "The fact that Mr. Pulte will serve in an acting role, as opposed to facing Republican senators during a confirmation hearing for the job, could give him a freer hand in focusing on priorities the president cares about, including looking for evidence that his election loss in 2020 stemmed from fraud, something that Ms. Gabbard was already pursuing."
Republican senators are still unconvinced that President Trump is dropping his $1.8 billion anti-weaponization slush fund—and want assurance that Trump won’t use taxpayer funds to pay off his allies. Without it, their own immigration reconciliation bill may also be in jeopardy. On Monday, the Department of Justice announced that it’d be holding back on its plans for the fund after a federal judge ordered them paused until June 12. While the administration promised to abide, Republican senators are unconvinced it’s a permanent end. “If it means it’s completely pulled, then that would satisfy me, but I haven’t heard anybody say that that is actually what is happening,” Senator Lisa Murkowski told Politico. Senator Shelley Moore Capito called for “more investigation” into the fund, while Senator James Langford urged the Trump administration to “say what they actually mean” regarding the fund. “The reconciliation bill looks like a broken arm with the bones sticking out,” Senator John Kennedy added. “They have to abide by the district court decision—that’s in the Constitution. I’d have to know more about their position on the weaponization fund to know whether it would be enough to dislodge the reconciliation bill.”The continued questions about the slush fund suggest that there is much more internal discord among the GOP Senate than initially thought—and less inherent rallying around President Trump. This all comes as acting Attorney General Todd Blanche prepares to testify before the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday, where he will most surely be asked about the future of the slush fund.
Vice President JD Vance revealed just how much taxpayer money is lost to fraud across America — and it’s more than you think.“We’ve referred over $22 billion in fraudulent small business loans back to the Treasury for collection. We deferred more than $1.3 billion in fraudulent Medicaid reimbursements that were coming from various states, particularly California,” Vance explained.The Trump administration has also “put a six-month hold on enrollments for new hospice and home health care providers” due to a large amount of fraud uncovered in hospices all over the country.“We’ve recovered taxpayer funds from the $135 billion stolen after the floodgates were opened in the immediate aftermath of COVID. We have found $6.3 billion in suspected fraudulent government contracts which were mostly awarded during the last administration, and that has stopped,” Vance continued.“And finally, we’ve blocked $60 million in student aid fraud that should have gone to young people trying to get an education, but instead were going to fraudsters,” he added.“JD Vance is doing his darndest to try to clean up the fraud situation in America,” BlazeTV host Pat Gray comments. “We’ve got all the Somali fraud. We’ve got fraud in California. We’ve got fraud, I’m sure, in every state, but it’s really really rampant in some more than others.”White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller also commented on the huge amount of fraud, explaining that American systems were “set up based on the honor system.”“They’re set up based on the idea that you could trust the average person, through their own morality, to abide by the rules and comply with the law,” he said, before championing Vance’s efforts to tackle fraud.“Because of the vice president’s leadership, you are seeing the most muscular, robust, aggressive, dedicated, determined, and speedy effort to shut down criminal fraud that has not only ever occurred in the history of this country, but in any developed nation,” he said.“Thank you,” Gray comments.Want more from Pat Gray?To enjoy more of Pat's biting analysis and signature wit as he restores common sense to a senseless world, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
