Tag: media

Melania was ‘very involved’ in Epstein’s circle and that’s how she met Trump, claims biographer

Since our original report referenced The Daily Beast podcast and its claims, we want to note that The Daily Beast has since retracted the accompanying article detailing allegations by journalist Michael Wolff.

The story had alleged that Melania Trump was introduced to Donald Trump through a modeling agent connected to Jeffrey Epstein. After receiving a legal challenge from the first lady’s attorneys, The Daily Beast issued the following editor’s note in place of the original article: “Editor’s Note: After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding.”

The original hyperlink now redirects to this retraction notice: https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-this-story-has-been-removed

WASHINGTON, DC: New claims from journalist and longtime Donald Trump biographer Michael Wolff have stirred fresh controversy around Jeffrey Epstein, this time placing first lady Melania Trump at the center of the conversation.

Appearing on ‘The Daily Beast Podcast’ hosted by Joanna Coles, Wolff asserted that Melania was “very involved” in Epstein’s elite social circuit, and even suggested that her introduction to Donald Trump was facilitated through mutual contacts also connected to Epstein.

Keep reading

The Hysterical Media Are Lying About The Forest Service Reorganization

In a ludicrous news story this week, The New Yorker writes about “the gutting of the Forest Service,” and warns that the supposed “gutting” is happening right before wildfire season. If you read the story for yourself, look for numbers: budget reductions, slashed staffing. Spoiler alert: You won’t find any of that. A story about something being “gutted” makes no effort to quantify the claim.

In fact, the Trump administration is reorganizing the Forest Service, starting by moving its national headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Utah, the heart of the Western lands that the service largely manages. The plan also replaces large regional headquarters with state offices, moving the management of public lands closer to the actual forests. You can read a detailed description of the changes, with a list of offices that are closing and a list of the offices that will replace them, here. The reorganization is debatable, and its effects have yet to be seen, but the Forest Service isn’t being “gutted.” It’s being reorganized.

In an example of a good sign, the National Association of State Foresters released a statement last week expressing cautious optimism about the reorganization: “The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) supports the transition to a state-based organizational model that continues to serve all lands. … While the restructuring plan raises many questions, we appreciate that it reflects feedback from State Foresters and other stakeholders.”

Similarly, the Democrat governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, has expressed support for the reorganization: “Colorado is known for our outdoor spaces and nation-leading research institutions that are strengthening our forests and public lands, so it only makes sense that the U.S. Forest Service would include a location in our great state.” The New Yorker warns that the Forest Service is being “gutted,” while the governor of a state with significant National Forest land has warm things to say about the improvement of federal forest management. Go figure.

As for the implied wildfire threat, you can read a detailed line-item description of the federal wildfire budget here. It’s going up, not down: $6.35 billion in FY 2024, $6.7 billion in FY 2026. Firefighter salaries are improving after a long period of stagnation that made it harder to fill federal wildfire jobs. This is not “gutting.”

Keep reading

“Completely Untrue”: Holy See Rejects Fake News Story of Pentagon Threat to Vatican

In a desperate effort to drive a wedge between Catholics and the Trump administration, the fake news circulated a story implying that the Department of War (DOW) threatened the Vatican.

According to the initial report in The Free Press and amplified by outlets such as The Daily Beast, Catholic blogs, and social media, the incident allegedly occurred during a closed-door meeting on January 22, 2026, at the Pentagon.

The report claims that Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby (a Catholic and a Trump administration official) and colleagues supposedly summoned the then-Vatican apostolic nuncio/ambassador to the U.S., Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and delivered a “bitter lecture.”

One official reportedly invoked the Avignon Papacy (a 14th-century historical episode where French kings exerted military/political control over the Pope), which some interpreted as a veiled threat of force or pressure against the Holy See.

The Vatican, however, formally debunked the story.

CruxNow reports:

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni flatly denied the report in a statement Friday, saying that “As confirmed by His Eminence Christophe Pierre…his meeting with Mr. Elbridge Andrew Colby was part of the papal representative’s regular mission and provided the opportunity for an exchange of views on matters of mutual interest.”

“The narrative offered by some media outlets about this meeting is completely untrue,” Bruni said.

The Vatican nunciature in Washington had previously distributed a statement to the press also denying the portrayal of the meeting, confirming the Jan. 22 meeting at the Pentagon to discuss “current affairs,” but characterizing the interaction as “routine.”

“The Apostolic Nunciature is grateful for the opportunities to meet and dialogue with government officials and others in Washington to discuss areas of mutual concern,” the nunciature said.

“As confirmed by His Excellency Christophe Pierre, former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, his meeting with Mr. Elbridge Andrew Colby was part of the Pontifical Representative’s regular mission and provided an opportunity for an exchange of views on matters of mutual interest. The narrative presented by certain media outlets regarding this meeting does not correspond to the truth at all.”

Keep reading

New York Times Downplays Savage Hammer Murder of Mother to Attack Trump, Doesn’t Include That Killer Was an Illegal Alien from Haiti

The New York Times is under fire for its coverage of the savage hammer murder of a mother in Florida by a Haitian illegal alien, downplaying the heinous crime, shielding his immigration status, and complaining about President Donald Trump’s reaction instead.

The article, while blasting Trump for “disparaging comments about Haitian immigrants,” used softened language to describe the crime and did not mention the killer’s illegal status even once.

On April 3, 40-year-old Rolbert Joachin, a Haitian national who entered the United States illegally, brutally murdered 51-year-old Nilufar Yasmin outside a Chevron gas station in Fort Myers, Florida, where she worked as a clerk.

Surveillance video captured Joachin smashing the windshield of Yasmin’s car with a hammer before she confronted him. He then repeatedly struck her in the head with the weapon, bludgeoning her to death in broad daylight.

Authorities said the attack was calculated, and Joachin later told detectives he went to the gas station specifically to kill her.

Keep reading

Vaccine Amnesia: Why Did The Media Stop Covering Vaccine Disasters?

A key theme I’ve tried to highlight in this publication is that the same medical catastrophes keep repeating (because those responsible are never held accountable), so by understanding what happened in the past, you can see and understand what is happening now and what will likely happen in the future.

For example, because vaccines are “risky but necessary,” the medical profession and government, again and again, concluded that they needed to tell the public all vaccines were “safe and effective” as the potential injuries a mass vaccination campaign would cause were outweighed by “necessary” benefit the vaccines could offer. As such, examples can be found again and again of severe injuries being systematically covered up for the “greater good” (e.g., the earliest documented example I know of this happened in 1874 with the smallpox vaccine) and health authorities concocting the same set of excuses we’ve seen since smallpox as to why those vaccines failed to prevent the diseases they were supposed to.

Since the risks outweigh the benefits for most vaccines (detailed here), a mass vaccination paradigm can only be sustained by censoring all evidence of harm, and then using that absence of evidence as proof the vaccines are safe. As such, over the decades, we’ve seen more and more be done to conceal those harms.

Keep reading

Far-left CBS News Runs Desperate Story to Shield Eric Swalwell

CBS News embarrassed itself Thursday by running a laughably desperate story to shield the creepy, fang-fanging, serial lying Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) from a whisper campaign about sexual misconduct allegations that are supposedly coming soon.

First, some background…

Several left-wing activists, led by Gen-Z for Change’s Cheyenne Hunt,  have spent the better part of a week claiming that a number of women are about to come forward to accuse California gubernatorial candidate Swalwell of various forms of sexual misconduct.

“The number of credible women who have come forward since I posted my video is pretty shocking, and connecting them with the investigative reporting teams who have been working on breaking this for years has greatly expedited this process,” Hunt claims. “I am confident this story will break soon.”

An important point here is that, according to Hunt, Swalwell’s office requires staffers to sign nondisclosure agreements, or  NDAs…

“It appears that others may have stayed quiet due to a belief that non-disclosure agreements required them to keep this secret,” Hunt wrote. “While it is true that most NDAs would be unenforceable under these circumstances, most people don’t know that until they speak to a lawyer.”

Other left-wing activists have chimed in to back up the allegation that allegations will soon be alleging these alleged allegations…

Keep reading

Clinton Judge Rips Hegseth, Orders Pentagon to Restore Press Access

US District Judge Paul Friedman, a Clinton appointee on Thursday once again sided with The New York Times and ordered the Pentagon to restore press access.

Last month Judge Friedman ruled that the Pentagon’s new press policy restricting press credential of reporters is unconstitutional.

In October, Pentagon reporters turned in their badges after they refused to sign Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s new security rule.

“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded that reporters agree by 5 p.m. Tuesday to a new policy, under which they would need to pledge to not obtain or use any unauthorized material, even if the information is unclassified — or hand over their press badges in the next 24 hours,” The Hill previously reported.

By that afternoon, Pentagon reporters turned in their badges.

Keep reading

US’s Erosion of the Right to Cartoon Is No Laughing Matter

During World War II, cartoonist Bill Mauldin was summoned to a meeting with Gen. George S. Patton. Mauldin’s Stars and Stripes cartoons drew Patton’s ire over his matter-of-fact depictions of war and American GIs.

To Mauldin, war was no fun adventure. In Up Front, his Willie and Joe were war-weary and disheveled soldiers, not heroes ready for movie stardom. They expressed a darkly comic view of the life of an infantryman. In an exemplary cartoon, one of the duo says to a medic attempting to hand out a medal: “Just gimme th’ aspirin, I already got a Purple Heart.”

Mauldin avoided punishment when Gen. Dwight Eisenhower circulated a letter instructing all officers “not to interfere” with “such things as Mauldin’s cartoons” (Oklahoman, 4/16/82). Mauldin won the Pulitzer twice for his editorial cartooning, once during the war and once afterwards.

Perhaps Donald Trump’s Pentagon saw itself as acting in the Patton tradition when it eliminated comics from Stars and Stripes. As FAIR (3/20/26) previously documented, Pete Hegseth has taken steps to crack down on the independence of the Pentagon’s own newspaper. Among the new guidelines to promote “good order and discipline” is a ban on syndicated material, including comics (Stars and Stripes, 3/13/26). US servicemembers have now been saved from the woke, subversive influences of Doonesbury, Pearls Before Swine and, perhaps worst of all, Beetle Bailey.

Keep reading

Trump Launches Federal Investigation Into “Fraudsters and Charlatans” Pushing FAKE Iran Ceasefire Letters

President Donald Trump just dropped the hammer on a coordinated campaign of fraud and deception surrounding the U.S.-Iran ceasefire negotiations.

President Trump announced a full federal investigation into the flood of phony “agreements,” lists, and letters being circulated by total “fraudsters and charlatans” who have absolutely nothing to do with the real negotiations.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, President Trump announced a double-sided ceasefire just yesterday, agreeing to suspend bombing of Iran for two weeks after negotiations.

And of course, Fake News CNN is right in the middle of it, just like Trump called out. They ran with a bogus “statement” from someone with zero power or involvement.

Trump wrote on Truth Social:

“The alleged Statement put out by CNN World News is a FRAUD, as CNN well knows. The false Statement was linked to a Fake News site (from Nigeria) and, of course, immediately picked up by CNN, and blared out as a “legitimate” headline. The Official Statement by Iran was just released, and posted on TRUTH, below.

“Authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed on the issuance of the Fake CNN World Statement, or was it a sick rogue player? CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this Statement with full apologies for their, as usual, terrible “reporting.” Results of the investigation will be announced in the near future.”

CNN pushed back on President Trump’s claim, asserting that the Iranian statement originated from official regime spokespeople.

“The statement in question was obtained by CNN from Iranian officials and reported on multiple Iranian state media outlets. We received the statement from specific official Iranian spokespeople who are known to us.”

Keep reading

FBI Arrests Former Army Special Operations Employee For Leaking Classified National Defense Information to Media

The FBI arrested a former Special Operations Command employee for leaking classified national defense information to the media.

Courtney Williams, 40, of Wagram, North Carolina, allegedly transmitted classified material to individuals not authorized to see it, including a journalist, the DOJ said.

She was arrested on Tuesday and indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday.

Per FBI Director Kash Patel:

FBI and our partners have arrested a former SOCOM employee, who supported our top-level military warfighters, for allegedly transmitting classified information to a member of the media.

Outstanding work by FBI Charlotte and the FBI Counterintelligence & Espionage Division – as well as our DOJ partners.

Let this serve as a message to any would-be leakers: we’re working these cases, and we’re making arrests. This FBI will not tolerate those who seek to betray our country and put Americans in harm’s way.

Keep reading