Tag: politics

Jack Smith’s Team Exposed Classified Materials, Senator Finds

Prosecutors with the office of former special counsel Jack Smith left classified materials unsecured and provided materials to at least one person without confirming that person needed to see them, a senator said on July 8.

A set of messages from Smith’s team showed that in 2024, the team left a facility designated for the review of sensitive information open overnight, and potentially longer.

“Who opened the [facility] yesterday?” one member of the team asked in a message.

“No one opened it yesterday because no one closed it the day before,” another member replied.

A second set of messages from 2024 outlined how the team provided classified materials to an unidentified person despite not having confirmation that the person needed to see the materials.

The incidents took place as Smith’s team, which was part of the Department of Justice (DOJ), was prosecuting then-presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump for allegedly mishandling classified materials during his first term as president.

“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black,” Grassley said in a statement.

“According to these messages, Biden DOJ personnel may have committed the very offense for which Jack Smith was prosecuting President Trump. These records expose yet another double standard of justice.”

Grassley also wrote in a post on X that the messages “indicate hypocritical [and] careless behavior” and “merit further investigation.”

He pointed to how some former officials, such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, mishandled classified information but were not charged.

Grassley asked Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, for more records, including whether the facility that was left unlocked contained any material that was part of Smith’s prosecution of Trump, and whether the DOJ investigated Smith’s team for giving classified information without the need-to-know confirmation.

“The Department is aware of the concerns raised in Senator Grassley’s letter and takes the safeguarding of classified information very seriously. Every official entrusted with sensitive materials must follow strict security protocols without exception — a standard Jack Smith’s team apparently failed to meet as they pursued a politically weaponized prosecution of President Trump,” a DOJ spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

“As with any alleged security lapse, the Department reviews such matters through established internal processes to determine whether protocols were followed, whether classified information was compromised, and whether any corrective steps are warranted. The Department will continue to apply those procedures rigorously, consistent with our longstanding commitment to protecting national security and maintaining the integrity of our operations.”

Smith, who has said his investigation was proper, was appointed in November 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to manage investigations into Trump, who at the time was out of office.

Federal prosecutors later charged Trump with violations of federal law governing the handling of classified information, as well as other charges such as illegally interfering in the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors dropped the cases after Trump won the 2024 election, noting that he would soon be president.

Part of Smith’s final report was released to the public prior to the start of Trump’s second term, outlining how Smith believed the evidence against Trump would have resulted in a conviction. A federal judge later ruled that the other part shall never be made public.

Keep reading

Outrage after woke NYC mayor publishes map of ethnic neighborhoods that ERASES iconic Little Italy and much-loved ‘Little Ireland’

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ignited a firestorm after releasing a map of immigrant enclaves that excluded the city’s Little Italy and historic Little Ireland neighborhoods.

The democratic socialist’s office unveiled a map identifying 30 immigrant enclaves across the Big Apple’s five boroughs, including Koreatown, Little Palestine in Brooklyn, Little Bangladesh in Queens and Little Africa in Staten Island. 

Little Italy, the iconic stretch around Mulberry Street and long considered one of Manhattan’s most recognizable neighborhoods, was missing from the design.

Furious replies followed, with one X comment reading: ‘This aggression will not stand, man. New York isn’t New York without the Italian heritage that brought it to life and BUILT IT.’

‘Pissing off the Italians in New York may just be the dumbest thing he’s done yet,’ another said.

A third critic wrote: ‘Has he not seen The Sopranos? What the hell is he thinking?’ 

Also absent was Little Ireland, the tiny Irish enclave spanning across Woodlawn and Yonkers, where Gaelic football jerseys are as much a part of daily life as Yankees caps.

‘The Irish also built it. Just saying. Mamdani is scum,’ one comment added.

The map, reportedly released in May and sourced from the New York City Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, pinpoints three dozen immigrant neighborhoods and the subway lines serving each one, according to JNS News.

A City Hall spokesman told the New York Post that it was designed to help tourists explore the Big Apple’s vibrant cultural communities, but acknowledged it was not a complete list of ‘all the rich diversity across the city.’ 

But the map was thrust back into the spotlight Wednesday after writer Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt resurfaced it on X.

‘The Mayor’s Office made a map of NYC’s immigrant enclaves: Little Africa, Little Poland, Little Palestine,’ Chizhik-Goldschmidt wrote.

‘But they just couldn’t figure out how to represent 11 percent of the city,’ she added. ‘Couldn’t decipher where the Jews are from.’

‘Huge riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.’

Italian-Americans slammed Mamdani for leaving out the city’s ‘original Little,’ where generations of Italian immigrants first put down roots in the late 19th century. 

At its peak, the community housed about 10,000 Italian immigrants escaping severe poverty, failed crops and natural disasters – the majority coming from Southern Italy and Sicily.

Keep reading

Elite Judge Sets Tiny Fine for Elite Judge Who Helped Illegal Immigrant Escape ICE

The Democrat-nominated judge who helped an illegal migrant escape from her Wisconsin courtroom has been given a wet-kiss penalty by a judge who used to be a top Democratic politician in the state.

District Judge Lynn Adelman fined Judge Hannah Dugan just $5,000 as he excused her April 2025 crime: “An otherwise good person, upset by immigration enforcement in this country — a view widely shared — made a bad decision in the moment.”

The slap-on-the-wrist penalty comes amid a wave of murder by illegal migrants, and amid the massive economic dislocation to American families caused by migrants’ willingness to work for very low wages.

The “punishment should fit the offender and not merely the crime,” Adelman, the former Democratic Speaker in the state legislature, told the courtroom.

The judge’s statement also rejects the electoral mandate for immigration enforcement earned by populist President Donald Trump from the citizens of the United States in the 2024 general election.

Dugan — a former advocate for more migration — was unapologetic about the crime, saying: “I have been cast as both a scofflaw and as a hero… I am a public servant who was just trying to do my job,” according to the UrbanMilwaukee.com report. The report added:

Dugan told the court that she intends to return to serving the public and her community. She explained her motivation to serve by quoting President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, calling for citizens to take action to preserve and further democracy: “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work.”

“For someone who has dedicated her life to the law, this [trial] amounts to significant punishment regardless of what I do today,” Adelman told Dugan and the court.

Keep reading

“We’re Gonna Win Someday”: Graham Platner Suspends His Senate Campaign

Graham Platner, the Democratic Party nominee for U.S. Senate in Maine, announced Wednesday that he’s suspending his campaign. The move comes two days after Politico reported allegations of rape against him by a former girlfriend. He posted an emotional video explaining his decision.

“And I just want to make it clear this is all false,” Platner said.

“The things that have been claimed did not happen; it’s not real.”

He described the past few days as an ordeal no regular person should have to survive, a normal guy suddenly thrust into a spotlight he says he never wanted. He accused the media and the political establishment of skipping the investigation entirely and jumping straight to a verdict.

“I learned about this through press inquiries with no time to truly respond, no time for investigations before a corporate media system and the political establishment got to act as judge, jury and executioner,” he said.

“Accusations are supposed to be the beginning of things, not the end.”

Platner claimed the allegations surfaced now for a specific reason. His official nomination locks in on July 13, and he says this was the last window anyone had to knock him off the ballot before that happened.

“I only have until July 13th until I am officially the nominee. This was the last week to try to get me off of the ballot, and that’s why this is occurring,” he said.

He argued the real threat was never the allegations themselves, but what the political establishment plans to do with them. Cut off his fundraising. Cut off his voter data. Starve the campaign of everything it needs simply to function. He made his read on their real preference painfully clear.

“They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine,” he said.

He leaned heavily on his June 9 primary win, in which he pulled in more votes than any primary candidate in Maine’s history, to argue that whatever happens next should be decided by voters, not party insiders in Washington.

“It needs to be open, transparent, and Democratic,” he said.

“Party apparatchiks are not the ones to make these decisions.”

Then, the announcement itself.

“We are suspending campaign operations,” Platner said, adding that he intends to file paperwork to formally withdraw from the race.

He framed the decision as anything but an admission of guilt; instead, he blamed outside forces for making it impossible for the campaign to continue functioning, even after beating what he called one of the most entrenched political systems in the world just weeks earlier.

“We went toe-to-toe with one of the most entrenched political systems in the history of the world, and we won,” Platner said.

“We beat them on June 9th in overwhelming numbers.”

Before signing off, he insisted the movement, and the ballot line his name currently occupies, still belongs to the voters who built it, not to party leadership in Washington.

“But now the ball is in the court of the democratic establishment,” Platner said.

“My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine.”

Platner closed by thanking his supporters.

“From the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Platner said. “Thank all of you and keep fighting. We’re gonna win someday.”

Keep reading

The Commies Are Coming! The Israel Factor Behind the New Red Scare

In June, a slew of progressive Democrats won primaries in some cases upending incumbents with long careers in Washington. Following in the footsteps Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory in New York City in 2025, Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier bested their opponents and in the case of Lander and a Chevalier, defeated sitting House members.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, 29-year-old Merat Kiros beat 30-year House incumbent Dianne DeGette in their Democratic primary. So what is the through line here? Israel. All have criticized the war in Gaza and pledged not to take money from AIPAC or vote for more military aid for Israel.

These current political events encapsulate a party enmeshed in inner turmoil. While party leaders and the consultant class want to ignore it, ordinary voters, especially Democrats, have been turning against Israel over its war in Gaza, the annexation and settler violence in the West Bank and its expansionist policies in Lebanon and Syria. This, many say, cost them the presidency in 2024.

On the other hand, while the progressive wing, many of whom are carrying the mantle of the Democratic Socialists of America, are gaining traction, the MAGA movement is struggling to reconcile President Trump’s war and the fraught economy at home. Many on the Right, too, are blaming the Israeli government’s zeal for conflict and its grip on Trump’s foreign policy and say this is far from “America First.”

To keep these two factions from working together, Trump and the Republicans have exhumed the Cold War era “Red Scare” against the upstart progressives. It’s an age old wedge — the Commies are coming! Will it work?

Here to talk about it this week are Annelle Sheline, a research fellow at the Quincy Institute, who resigned the State Department in 2024 in protest of the Biden Administration’s Gaza policy. Also joining us is Erik Sperling, Executive Director of Just Foreign Policy and former staffer to Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna and John Conyers.

Keep reading

Ex-Girlfriend of Graham Platner Calls Out NYT’s Claim They ‘Could Not Corroborate’ Allegations: Victim Says They Ignored Her Evidence and Witnesses

Scandals surrounding Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner continue to unfold.

On Monday, The Gateway Pundit reported that rumors are swirling that he will drop out of the race after he abruptly canceled multiple town hall events ahead of a new damaging hit piece.

Later Monday, Politico released the latest Platner sex scandal regarding a woman who said that he raped her.

Following the latest scandal, some of his prior backers, including Democrat Senator Ruben Gallego and Democrat Rep Ro Khanna, withdrew their endorsements.

One of his prior girlfriends, 40-year-old Lyndsey Fifield, a Virginia conservative who dated Platner between 2013 and 2015, called him “cavalierly contemptuous of women’s emotions, of our ‘weakness.’

On Tuesday, Fifield addressed questionable reporting by The New York Times in their coverage of Platner and their claim that they “could not corroborate” the allegations, at least where she was concerned.

Fifield describes, in detail, the multiple contacts she provided to the outlet that could corroborate her timeline, as well as specific incidents detailing disturbing behavior.  She provided friends, former roommates, and even other men she dated.

Keep reading

Socialist Congressional Candidate Melat Kiros: We Can’t Tackle White Supremacy Without Reparations

America cannot tackle “white supremacy” without “reparations,” socialist congressional candidate Melat Kiros said during a recent discussion.

Kiros, who unseated 15-term Democrat Rep. Diana DeGette in Colorado’s First Congressional District primary, spoke with Walter Rhein and explained that she believes there is a racism that exists as a “product of growing up in a white supremacist society.”

“One of the things that brought me into starting my PhD program was finally coming to the realization that we were never really going to be able to tackle white supremacy in the way that we need to without reparations,” she said, asserting there is “no way to truly heal” and progress without that.

She said she researched wealth inequality data by race and found that “the gap between poor white people and rich white people and the gap between poor black people and rich black people is actually identical, and the gap between black people, white people in general, can actually be reasonably explained by the failure of the Reconstruction Era and our inability to actually repair the harm that was done.”

From there, she claimed, the “harms just continued to compound on one another, leading to a lot of the wealth inequality that we’re seeing today.”

Americans must understand “where” the harm is, she continued, and they must be able to “quantify racism.” She also believes there must be a new word for “white supremacy.”

“I almost think there needs to be a new word, because there’s racism that is coming from, you know, places of hatred and, you know, true bigotry, and then there’s racism that is just a product of growing up in a white supremacist society,” she said, declaring that America is “objectively a white supremacist society.”

“And I think there are a lot of people that engage in these kind of racist stereotypes without the intention of doing so, and so I think there has to be a little bit of separation in order for people to not be so afraid of being tacked on with this idea of racism, acknowledging that it exists within every single group,” she said, essentially calling on Americans to admit they are racist, even if they are not.

“You know, there’s anti-blackness within the black community as well, and you know, being able to understand all of these things, I think, is going to be the first step that’s necessary before we’re able to actually meaningfully fight for reparations, but I do not think we can’t get any kind of meaningful change without reparations,” she said, later emphasizing, “If we want to really address white supremacy in this country, we have to talk about reparations.”

Keep reading

Florida Officials, Political Operatives Charged in Alleged Counterfeit GOP Voter Guide Plot

Five people, including two St. Johns County commissioners and a St. Augustine Beach commissioner, were charged Monday in connection with an alleged scheme to distribute counterfeit Republican voter guides during the 2024 primary election.

County Commissioners Sarah Arnold and Christian Whitehurst, St. Augustine Beach Commissioner and former Mayor Dylan Rumrell, political consultant Briana Jordan, and Jamie Lynn Johnson were each charged with one count of creating an unauthorized voter guide and one count of conspiracy. Jordan was also charged with felony tampering with physical evidence after prosecutors alleged she destroyed or concealed voter guides while an investigation was pending.

The charges come months after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a confidential executive order assigning the case to an outside prosecutor. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated the case, and 8th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Brian Kramer ultimately filed the charges after prosecutors in both the 7th and 4th Judicial Circuits recused themselves.

According to a sworn FDLE affidavit, investigators allege Jordan organized the scheme after the St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee endorsed a slate of candidates who were not represented by her consulting operation. Prosecutors say she created a counterfeit voter guide using the county GOP’s name and branding without authorization while omitting the disclaimer required under Florida law. Jordan’s bond was set at $12,000, and it is unclear when the defendants will make their first court appearances.

Investigators allege the counterfeit guides were assembled at a St. Augustine campaign headquarters before being mailed to thousands of Republican voters from post offices in Jacksonville and Orlando to conceal their origin. The affidavit alleges Jordan purchased more than 10,000 voter guides and approximately 20,000 postage stamps, while Whitehurst, Arnold and Rumrell helped prepare the mailers by placing labels and stamps on the envelopes.

Prosecutors also allege Jordan later burned remaining voter guides and searched for commercial shredding services after the operation became public. The fake voter guides became one of the biggest controversies of the 2024 Republican primary in St. Johns County. While the official St. Johns County Republican Executive Committee endorsed one slate of candidates, the counterfeit guide promoted a competing slate that included Whitehurst and several other local Republicans.

The competing endorsements reflected a broader intraparty fight over growth and development in one of the nation’s fastest-growing counties. The candidates featured on the counterfeit guide largely mirrored those backed by the Trump Club of St. Johns County, while President Donald Trump later endorsed the three incumbent county commissioners on Truth Social during the closing days of the campaign.

Ann-Marie Evans, who narrowly lost the Republican primary to Whitehurst, previously said she was “appalled” and “shocked” by the counterfeit mailers and blamed them for confusing voters during the race. Republican Party of Florida Chairman Evan Power also welcomed the charges, saying the party takes the unauthorized use of its branding seriously.

Keep reading

DISGRACEFUL: Far-Left Virginia Democrat Elaine Luria Dismisses Horrifying Rape Accusation Against Fellow Dem Graham Platner As Just A ‘Shiny New Thing’

The radical left’s “Believe All Women” mantra has officially been exposed as a total fraud yet again.

Former Congresswoman Elaine Luria had the audacity to dismiss explosive sexual assault allegations against Maine Democrat Senate candidate Graham Platner as nothing more than a Republican “boogeyman” and “shiny new thing” designed to scare people.

In an interview, Luria, who is running to reclaim Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District seat, brushed off the bombshell claims against her fellow Democrat while insisting she’s “singularly focused on this district” and her “proven record.”

Here’s what Luria said:

“I’m singularly focused on this district, the message of what’s important to people here in Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. And they’re always going to try to find a boogeyman and tie, you know, the Democrat to whatever shiny new thing is going to scare people. But the truth is, is I have a proven record in Congress and I’m focused on listening to, supporting, and then representing those people across this district.”

Keep reading

The Push For A Robotic Workforce: Chris Murphy Introduces Bill For Massive Minimum Wage Hike

Sen. Chris Murphy has finally found a constituency that truly gets him. Robots and automated systems around the country likely whirled and beeped with approval as he introduced the Senate version of the Living Wage for All Act. At a time when workers are being replaced at record numbers due to the cheaper labor of automated systems and AI programs, Murphy moved to price out millions of more workers by increasing their costs.

The bill would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $25 per hour – a 245 percent increase – over 12 years. The far-left senator is following the lead of states like California, where Democrats dramatically cut jobs through such wage increases.

Murphy went on NBC to insist that he is “not a democratic socialist” but then attacked capitalism:

“[T]he Democratic Party has been historically way too timid in taking on corporate power. I think we have to understand that people do not believe that this version of capitalism has worked. And frankly, it hasn’t worked. … This version of capitalism isn’t working. Now, I make the argument in the book that we should embrace, you know, what I call a common good capitalism.”

He then added:

“And by the way, we can afford it. It’s not like we can’t pay a $25 minimum wage; we just choose not to because we’ve become okay with dozens and dozens of people in this country making hundreds of billions of dollars.”

It is not clear who the “we” is. While securing a law degree, Murphy has never run a business and has spent his life as a politician, spending other people’s money.

I previously wrote about wage hikes and the predictable loss of jobs that followed.

Democratic politicians from New York to California are pushing for a $30 minimum hourly wage for workers. Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and Democratic legislators in California herald their mandatory increases as providing a “living wage” for workers. In Los Angeles, a law requires hourly wages in the hotel and airport industries to rise by $2.50 each year until they reach $30 in 2028.

There is no question that workers are struggling with the high cost of living in California. But blindly raising taxes and minimum wages will exacerbate these problems, not eliminate them.

A recent report by researchers at the University of California-Santa Cruz found evidence of precisely what many economists had warned about in the state’s mandatory wage floors. Stephen Owen, an economics lecturer, explained that they found “a plethora of negative outcomes, such as higher menu prices for consumers, reductions in employee working hours, widespread elimination of overtime, and loss of benefits for employees.”

Keep reading