Tag: fake news

Trump DOJ Admits Venezuela’s ‘Cartel De Los Soles’ Isn’t An Actual Organization

A major plank in the Trump administration’s case for military intervention in Venezuela is looking thinner today, as the Department of Justice has retreated from the notion that captured President Nicolas Maduro was the head of an organized drug cartel called Cartel de los Soles. The DOJ now says the term “Cartel de los Soles” is merely descriptive of a “culture of corruption” fueled by the illegal drug trade.

This isn’t semantics: Both the Treasury and State Departments had officially designated the non-existent group as a terrorist organization. The latest development seems to at least partially confirm doubts raised by outside observers and lend credence to denials by the Venezuelan government. In November, the country’s foreign minister said he “absolutely rejects the new and ridiculous fabrication” by which Secretary of State Marco Rubio had “designated the non-existent Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization.”

The retreat from the idea that Cartel de los Soles is an actual organization was apparent in the DOJ’s filing of a superseding (updated) indictment. The previous indictment referred to the supposed cartel 32 times, naming Maduro as its chief. The new one only mentions the term twice, and says it’s only descriptive of a “patronage system” and a “culture of corruption” propelled by drug money. That’s consistent with the fact that the DEA’s annual National Drug Threat Assessment has never mentioned any “Cartel de los Soles” in its cataloguing of major traffickers.  

In July, the Treasury sanctioned Cartel de los Soles as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist,” claiming it was a “criminal group headed by…Maduro.” The “cartel” was accused of providing material support to two groups already on U.S. terrorist lists: Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua. Of course, those terrorist designations are themselves controversial, with critics saying the government is purposefully conflating criminality and terrorism. The latter term has long been understood to describe violence directed at civilians with the goal of achieving a political or ideological goal. Historically, exaggerated use of the term has largely been confined to the left. 

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False refugee study used by Dems to justify open borders — and massive spending

Even as massive fraud schemes are uncovered in Minnesota, orchestrated primarily by Somali refugees, Democrats are circling the wagons.

Refugees and asylum seekers provide a substantial net benefit to the United States, they claim, generating more wealth than they take from the government.

But that talking point is based on a federal study that was rejected in 2017 by the first Trump administration as methodologically unsound and preposterous in its conclusions. The study was resurrected and expanded by the Biden administration in 2024.

Today, 73% of Somali households have at least one member enrolled in Medicaid, and 89% of Somali families with children participate in at least one welfare program.

These realities stand in stark contrast to the glowing conclusions of the Biden report, which claims refugees and asylees add a net $8.25 billion annually to federal coffers.

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No, Don Jr. Did Not Get a $620 Million Government Loan for Rare Earths

A conspiracy theory being perpetuated by Democrats claims that Donald Trump Jr. owns a rare earth mineral company that received a $620 million loan from the Department of Defense, supposedly representing corruption by the Trump administration. As is often the case with attacks on the current administration, this narrative is false. Here is the truth.

Vulcan Elements, a firm neither owned nor operated by Donald Trump Jr., received a $620 million loan from the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital in November 2025. This is the largest loan ever issued by OSC, which was established in December 2022 under the Biden administration. The loan is part of a broader Pentagon initiative to expand domestic production of rare earth magnets. ReElement Technologies, another firm neither owned nor operated by Donald Trump Jr., received an $80 million loan from OSC as part of the same effort.

Donald Trump Jr.’s involvement is limited and indirect. He is a partner at 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm that made a minority equity investment in Vulcan Elements in August 2025, approximately three months before the Department of Defense loan was announced. That investment was part of Vulcan’s Series A funding round, which raised $65 million and was led by Altimeter Capital, a firm unrelated to Trump Jr. 1789 Capital was one of several investors participating in the round.

So, to recap, Trump Jr. does not own Vulcan Elements, does not run the company, has no direct equity stake in Vulcan Elements based on public records, and does not serve on Vulcan’s board or in any advisory capacity. He does work as a partner at 1789 Capital, participates in investment decisions at the firm, has indirect exposure through 1789’s portfolio, and would benefit financially if 1789’s investments appreciate.

The Pentagon explicitly stated Trump Jr. was not involved in any aspect of the conditional loan commitment discussions. Both Commerce Department and Vulcan officials denied Trump Jr. played any role in securing the loan.

Media reports have characterized Vulcan as being “backed by” Trump Jr.’s firm. This language is used to intentionally misrepresent the relationship by suggesting a primary financial supporter, controlling interest, or main sponsor role. In reality, 1789 Capital was one investor among several, was not the lead investor, holds a minority stake, and has no indication of board seats or operational control.

Breaking U.S. dependence on China for rare earth minerals is explicitly documented as a national security priority across multiple administrations and policy documents. The Biden-era 2024 National Defense Industrial Strategy set a DOD goal to develop a complete mine-to-magnet rare earth supply chain by 2027. Since 2020, DOD has committed over $439 million toward building domestic rare earth supply chains. The Biden Administration issued multiple executive orders and fact sheets identifying rare earth elements as critical for national security and economic prosperity.

China currently controls 60-70% of rare earth mining, 85-90% of processing capacity, and 90-93% of magnet manufacturing. The country also controls 77% of cobalt processing, 92% of rare earth elements processing, and 91% of graphite processing. Rare earths are essential for F-35 fighter jets, Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines, Tomahawk missiles, radar systems, and smart bombs and guided munitions. Each gas-powered car contains 40 rare earth magnets. Electric vehicles require even more.

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‘A Lie And Propaganda’: Gabbard Fact-Checks Reuters’ Russia Scaremongering In Real Time

On Saturday afternoon, Reuters posted an anonymously-sourced story pushing the idea that Russia is bent on reconstituting the Soviet Union. Before the metaphorical ink had dried, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard pounced, condemning the story as “a lie and propaganda” on behalf of “warmongers” seeking to derail President Trump’s drive to end the long and bloody Ukraine war.  

From selling the Iraq invasion to achieving a news and social media lockdown on Hunter Biden’s laptop, the Deep State has long used major media outlets like Reuters, the New York Times and Washington Post to inject their agenda-advancing narratives into America’s town square. Displaying the typical modus operandi with its Saturday night story, Reuters vaguely attributed the purported US intelligence conclusions about Russia to “six sources familiar with US intelligence.” 

According to those sources, “US intelligence reports” are warning that, despite Putin’s outwardly earnest claims that he wants to end the Ukraine war — claims credited by Trump — Russia not only wants to conquer all of Ukraine but also other European territories that were part of the Soviet Union. “The reports present a starkly different picture from that painted by…Trump and his Ukraine peace negotiators,” wrote Reuters journalists Jonathan Landay, Erin Banco and John Irish. Shortly after Banco promoted the story on X, Gabbard lashed out: 

“No, this is a lie and propaganda Reuters is willingly pushing on behalf of warmongers who want to undermine President Trump’s tireless efforts to end this bloody war that has resulted in more than a million casualties on both sides. Dangerously, you are promoting this false narrative to block President Trump’s peace effort, and fomenting hysteria and fear among the people to get them to support the escalation of war, which is what NATO and the EU really want in order to pull the United States military directly into war with Russia.

The truth is the US intelligence community has briefed policymakers, including the Democrat HPSCI member quoted by Reuters, that US Intelligence assesses that Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with NATO. It also assesses that, as the last few years have shown, Russia’s battlefield performance indicates it does not currently have the capability to conquer and occupy all of Ukraine, let alone Europe.”

The “Democratic HPSCI member” (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) is Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, who told Reuters that intelligence has “always” said “Putin wants more…The Europeans are convinced of it. The Poles are absolutely convinced of it. The Baltics think they’re first.”

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BBC Vows to Fight Trump’s $10 BILLION Defamation Lawsuit After Splicing J6 Speech to Depict Trump Calling for Violence

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has vowed to fight Trump’s $10 million lawsuit against the broadcaster for defamation and violations of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act after they were caught deceptively editing Trump’s January 6 speech to make it appear he was calling for violence. 

As The Gateway Pundit reported, President Trump told reporters on Monday that he would imminently be filing a defamation lawsuit against the BBC after announcing his intention to do so last month.

“In a little while, you’ll be seeing, I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

“They actually have me speaking with words that I never said, and they got caught because I believe somebody at BBC said this is so bad it has to be reported. That’s called fake news.

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Rep. Grijalva Whines in Interview After She’s Caught Lying About Being Pepper Sprayed by ICE – Comes Out with New Lie: “WE WERE SHOT AT”

Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) appeared on MS Now, formerly MSNBC, on Saturday after claiming she was shoved and pepper-sprayed “in the face” by ICE agents, and she recounted the incident.

Grijalva joined radical leftist ICE obstructionists who were attacking agents during a law enforcement operation on Friday, where she claimed she was “pushed aside and pepper-sprayed” after identifying herself as a member of Congress.

Like all the Democrats before her, who purport to be conducting oversight duties, she claimed that she was just “trying to understand what’s happening” during the “very frightening and very jarring” incident.

“One agent said, ‘I don’t care who you are, you need to get out of the way,’” she whined before coming out with a brand new whopper.

She’s now claiming that she was “shot at!”

Host Jen Psaki acted very concerned for Grijalva’s condition during the appearance on Saturday morning.

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CNN’s Jake Tapper Forced to Apologize After Identifying Black Pipe Bomb Suspect as “White Man”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper spent part of his Friday broadcast cleaning up a mess entirely of his own making, issuing a correction after confidently identifying the newly arrested January 6 pipe bomb suspect as a “White man.”

On Thursday, Tapper told the nation that the FBI had arrested “a 30-year-old White man” in connection with the infamous pipe bombs planted outside the RNC and DNC headquarters on the eve of January 6.

Moments later, CNN aired the suspect’s photo, revealing what anyone could see plainly: the suspect, Brian Cole Jr., is Black.

Tapper told his audience:

“Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old white man from the D.C. suburbs, is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with malicious destruction by means of explosion.”

He continued, attempting to bolster the network’s reporting:

“CNN observed local and federal law enforcement outside his home in Woodbridge, Virginia, this morning.”

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Jake Tapper Misidentifies D.C. Pipe Bomb Suspect as a ’30-Year-Old White Man’

CNN host Jake Tapper misidentified Washington, DC, pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. as a “30-year-old white man” just before airing photos revealing him to be a black man.

“Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old white man from the D.C. suburbs, is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with malicious destruction by means of explosion,” Tapper said on his show The Lead.

Several minutes later, Tapper’s own program aired photos of Brian Cole Jr., a black man.

As Breitbart News reported on Thursday, Brian Cole Jr. was “arrested and charged with placing the pipe bombs at the RNC and the DNC on January 5, 2021.”

“He was also charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and the attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials, with more charges likely to result from the ongoing investigation,” the report added.

The FBI placed Cole at the scene of the crime nearly five years later through license plate readers and cell tower data.

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The Daily Beast Quietly Admits the Real Reason RFK Jr.’s Ex-CDC Director Was Fired

The Daily Beast just quietly confirmed a “conspiracy theory” about why RFK Jr.’s ex-CDC director was fired.

“Susan Monarez, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked CDC appointee, was privately assuring health officials that she would reverse her own boss’s directives, according to agency staffers,” the outlet wrote.

This theory was previously mocked as “baseless” and “unfounded,” but now leftist outlets confirm it to be true.

Monarez was actively working against RFK Jr. and made promises to “make changes” to appease CDC staff who were not aligned with RFK Jr.

“Please wait… When I come, I will make changes,” Monarez reportedly promised CDC’s former chief medical officer, Debra Houry, urging her not to resign.

“Monarez has said that Kennedy then issued her an ultimatum: obey or resign. Just 29 days after her Senate confirmation, she was ousted. Houry quickly followed her out the door,” The Daily Beast reported.

Read the full story here.

Monarez also believed COVID vaccines were medically indicated in children — a belief that is aging worse than rotten milk after a leaked FDA memo confirmed at least 10 children died from the shots.

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Race To The Bottom: White House Launches ‘Media Offenders’ Leaderboard

The Trump White House unveiled a scathing new website Friday, “Media Offenders,” complete with a “race to the bottom” leaderboard ranking outlets like The Washington Post as the worst for “false and misleading stories”—flagging everything from exaggerated Trump “sedition” claims to immigrant horror tales as “heinous” manipulations.

The interactive page features an “Offender Hall of Shame” logging repeat offenders and a weekly spotlight, like the current “Media Misrepresents and Exaggerates President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability,” where Democrats and “Fake News” implied Trump issued “illegal orders” to the military—contrasted with “THE TRUTH”: “Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful.”

The site pits outlets like The Washington Post (worst for bias), MSNBC, CNN, CBS News, The New York Times, and Politico in a humiliating tally of “false and misleading stories flagged by The White House.”

Users can sign up for “Offender Alerts” delivered weekly, promising “Scroll for the Truth” on each entry.

The “Offender Hall of Shame” catalogs hits like “L.A. mother says she was taken to U.S. border, being held until she self-deports” and “Trump’s new wall: His push to oust immigrants legally in the U.S.,” debunking them with White House counters.

The spotlight today falls on “Media Misrepresents and Exaggerates President Trump’s Calls for Democrat Accountability,” where outlets like the Boston Globe and The Independent twisted Trump’s push for accountability on Democrats’ military mutiny calls into “execution” threats.

From the site:

“THE OFFENSE”: “The media misrepresented President Trump’s call for Members of Congress to be held accountable for inciting sedition by saying that he called for their ‘execution.’”

“THE TRUTH”: “Democrats released a video calling for service members to disobey their chain of command, and in turn, implied President Trump had issued illegal orders. Every order President Trump has issued has been lawful. It is dangerous for sitting Members of Congress to incite insubordination in the United States’ military, and President Trump called for them to be held accountable.”

This counteroffensive directly exposes MSM’s scripted “talking point” directives amid the info war, where CNN, MSNBC, and NYT puppets cordinate “balanced” spins on Trump’s policies. The leaderboard’s “false and misleading stories” section catalogs such distortions, from immigrant “horror” tales to “Trump wall” exaggerations, proving the “enemies of the people” script is real.

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