Tag: transparency

Jill Biden’s Press Sec GOES OFF on Bidens For Concealing One Scandal After Another… “Allergic to Transparency”

Jill Biden’s former press secretary Michael LaRosa went off on the Bidens for concealing one scandal after another.

“This was a group in the White House who were allergic to transparency, and I’m talking about just in the East Wing. The very first day walking into the White House, the usher was fired, and I couldn’t get reporters straight answers, because nobody would give me straight answers,” LaRosa said on Fox & Friends.

Michael LaRosa said the Bidens lied about everything from the dogs biting secret service agents to wedding arrangements.

“They took days and months to be deliberative, and I’m talking about the small things, about when the dog bites occurred,” Michael LaRosa said.

“Or about the wedding with the grandkids,” he added. “They got caught lying to the press about press coverage, because they were so scared to be transparent about anything.”

“I said to myself at some point, ‘If it’s this hard to get them to just be transparent and disclose things and to just be upfront from the beginning about anything, even the small things… My God, what would happen if there were big things?’” he said.

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FBI Director Patel Says Transparency on Russia Collusion Claim in ‘a Week or Two’ — ‘The Biggest D.C. Deception Game We Have Ever Seen’

During this week’s broadcast of FNC’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” FBI Director Kash Patel discussed the 2017 claim that President Donald Trump’s first presidential election win resulted from Russian collusion.

Despite the statute of limitations having expired on prosecuting any criminality, Patel told host Maria Bartiromo to expect a “wave of transparency” in a week or two.

Partial transcript as follows:

BARTIROMO: I watched it with you and Devin Nunes, when you were truth-tellers on all of this, and you were as well, Dan, throughout the Russia collusion story and the rest.

PATEL: Look, I can speak to the folks that were in our seats, our predecessors, and they intentionally failed the American public by putting on the biggest D.C. deception game we have ever seen. They said the FBI was the most storied institution for law enforcement, and it was. And it will be again very soon.

But when the likes of Comey and McCabe and Strzok and company came in here with the James Bakers of the world and intentionally lied to a federal court, only to rig a presidential election by lying to the American public and using taxpayer dollars, likely illegally, to fund this entire operation, and then withholds sculptor information from a federal court that I used to appear before to manhunt terrorists, that’s what broke the FBI.

And then, when they were caught, they lied about it. And you and a few others like Dan and others were brave enough to cover it six, seven, eight years ago. And we’re still talking about it today, because, as Congress is working rigorously with us, the Crossfire Hurricane documents are coming fast and hard. And they’re being sent there unredacted, so we can have full accountability.

And that’s how you restore what the — the trust that was lost to the American public when it comes to the FBI.

BARTIROMO: Yes, but, come on, Director. With all due respect, we have been talking about this for a long time, and I have been demanding accountability for many, many years.

One of the — you mentioned Comey, Strzok and the rest. They have got TV shows. They have got media platforms. They’re fine. There’s been no accountability.

PATEL: Well, look, it’s a fair criticism. But what I will tell people is, we weren’t here in the FBI in the last five years, when we had statute of limitations that were still in play, where we could have investigated criminal conduct. Most of these statute of limitations are 5 years old.

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Iran Offers More Nuclear Transparency In Exchange For Lifting Sanctions

Iran says that ready to make its nuclear program more transparent at a moment it is preparing to send representatives for a third round of talks with the United States, set for April 26.

Iranian government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Tuesday that Tehran in return for this greater transparency wants US-led sanctions lifted.

“We will try to create more transparency and more trust [in the nuclear program] in exchange for lifting sanctions. In other words, in exchange for lifting sanctions — I emphasize, in a way that is effective and has a [positive] effect on people’s lives — Iran is ready to create more trust in its nuclear program and more transparency,” Mohajerani told reporters.

Mohajerani made clear that Tehran is ready to reach “good agreement” with the United States on nuclear issue. “We are confident that reaching a good agreement in a short time while respecting our national interests is realistic,” she said, calling the prior two rounds “good” amid a “constructive” atmosphere.

The day prior to these optimistic remarks, Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned that Israel was seeking to “undermine” the ongoing nuclear talks with Washington, amid reports in Israeli media that leaders are mulling a ‘limited’ attack on the Islamic Republic.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that a “kind of coalition is forming… to undermine and disrupt the diplomatic process” and that the “Zionist regime is at the center of this effort.”

Alluding to reports from last week of an internal US administration split on Iran, Baghaei further warned that hawks in the US are also involved in the effort to sabotage the talks. “Alongside it are a series of warmongering currents in the United States and figures from different factions,” he said.

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Republicans Debut Transparency Bill After Uncovering Millions Of Secret Spending On China

The Biden administration funneled $18 million in U.S. tax dollars — approximately $4 million of which Republican Sen. Joni Ernst’s staff found buried or absent from the federal government’s funding database — to causes in Communist China.

The majority of the payments were funneled through the U.S. Departments of State and Health and Human Services to various Chinese entities and China-based projects for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility trainings (including some at the U.S. consulate), “art billboards,” a bicycle parking cover, pro-LGBT events, various climate change initiatives, and rat research and reported on USAspending.gov.

Buried in that federal spending database, however, is more of Americans’ hard-earned money that the National Institutes of Health handed to at least one Chinese university.

In one example, the NIH grant database and USAspending.gov show Peking University in Beijing raked in approximately $4.8 million in U.S. tax dollars from 2021 to 2024. A cursory search shows that the only project grant Peking University received U.S. funding for between 2021 and 2024 was a “China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.” Ernst’s office, however, uncovered another $1.08 million to Peking researchers concealed as a subaward under a grant to the University of Southern California for sensors designed to provide imaging of “neuromodulators” that “regulate addiction attention, cognition, mood, memory, motivation, sleep and more through their influence on brain circuits.” The subaward’s purpose and amount are not associated with the university’s profile on USAspending.gov.

An April 2023 Government Accountability Office audit confirmed that projects and programs in China often receive American funding through subawards but noted the “full extent of these subawards is unknown because of limitations in the completeness and accuracy of subaward data reported in government systems.”

“Limitations in subaward data is a government-wide issue and not unique to U.S. funding to entities in China,” the report added.

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Massie Bill Demands Federal Candidates Reveal Dual Citizenship

Seeking to spotlight federal office-seekers who may have a conflict of interest, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie has introduced a bill that would require candidates for federal office to disclose any non-American citizenships they hold.  

“Personally, I don’t think dual citizens should serve in Congress, but I ultimately decided to introduce a transparency bill requiring full disclosure of citizenship,” said Massie in a Monday Fox News interview with Will Cain. “Voters can then make the decision.” So far, Massie’s Dual Loyalty Disclosure Act (HR 2356) has attracted four co-sponsors, all of them Republicans: Andy Biggs (AZ-5), Clay Higgins (LA-3), Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA-14) and Nicholas Begich (AK at-large).

While it’s not a provision of his transparency-focused bill that would amend the Federal Election Campaign Act, Massie thinks dual citizens in Congress “should… abstain from votes specifically benefitting those countries,” the libertarian-minded MIT grad said in a press release accompanying the introduction of his bill. “We swear an oath to the Constitution, and the question is, if you’re a citizen of two countries, which oath are you taking more seriously, or can you take them both seriously?” Massie told Fox’s Cain. 

Underscoring the mystery that Massie is seeking to end, it’s unclear how many current members of Congress have citizenship in a foreign country. Indeed, ZeroHedge wasn’t able to identify any members who have disclosed dual citizenships on their own. According to Pew Research, there are 19 foreign-born members of the 119th Congress, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to holding citizenship abroad. Among those 19, the countries of birth are Mexico (4 members), India (3), South Korea (2) Ukraine (2), Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Japan, Peru, Somalia and Taiwan.    

“I’m not picking on any particular country,” said Massie. However, American social media and other discourse regarding US officials’ potential dual citizenship has overwhelmingly focused on Israel, which receives billions of dollars in US military aid every year, in a relationship that foments intense foreign resentments against the United States, and terrorism against Americans. 

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Attorney General Pam Bondi Provides Major Update on Epstein Files — Promises Only Minimal Redactions to Protect Victims

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a major update on the long-awaited release of Jeffrey Epstein case files — and made it clear that only minimal redactions will be made, strictly to protect the privacy and safety of the victims.

Appearing on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Bondi addressed the tidal wave of speculation and concern surrounding the Epstein files, following reports that up to 1,000 FBI agents and civilians have been pulled from vital national security duties to comb through mountains of evidence related to Epstein’s international sex trafficking ring.

Maria Bartiromo:
A lot of conversation about the Epstein files. And I recognize that when you’re dealing with children, it takes much more time. You’ve got to ensure that what you’re sending out publicly is not revealing any personal information. But can you give us a sense of those two items and whether or not we’ll learn more about them?

Pam Bondi:
Yes, you’re absolutely right, Maria. You know, tens of thousands of pages of documents and hundreds and hundreds of victims of Jeffrey Epstein. So the FBI — they have been working round the clock, at my directive, at Kash Patel.

Now Dan Bongino is there, who is a great asset for all of us at the FBI as well. But yeah, we have to protect their identity, their personal information, to make sure they’re safe.

But other than that, we are releasing all of these documents as soon as we can get them redacted — to protect the victims of him, of all of these horrific crimes that he committed.

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Burchett calls for government transparency on UAPs, spending: ‘We deserve to know’

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) called for the government to reveal what it’s spending taxpayer money on relating to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) amid growing calls from lawmakers for increased transparency on the issue.

“They’re spending tens of millions of dollars on this subject. And then they turn around tell us they don’t exist,” the Tennessee Republican told NewsNation’s Blake Burman on “The Hill” Friday.

Burchett stressed the need for greater government transparency on extraterrestrial life while discussing the recent hiring of former intelligence officer and UFO whistleblower David Grusch by Rep. Burlison (R-Mo.).

“I think he can help us ask questions that need to be asked, that should be asked, that maybe we’re not asking the right questions because we’re not supposed experts on this,” Burchett said of Grusch.

“I want to know what they’re spending the money on,” he later added.

The topic of UAPs has received greater attention from Congress in recent years, with congressional hearings in 2024 and 2023 diving deeper into whether or not government sectors are withholding evidence from lawmakers.

“They need to they need to disclose everything and do it now,” Burchett said on Friday. “America needs to know. We need to demand that of our elected officials. Quit joking around about little green men and flying saucers. We’re spending tens of millions of dollars on something that, goddamnit, we deserve to know. Give us the information.”

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UK Judges Rule That Docs Revealing Close Ties Between Disgraced Prince Andrew and Alleged Chinese Spy Yang Tengbo Must Be Released in Two Weeks

Another week, another damaging report brought Prince Andrew’s alleged corruption to the forefront of British public opinion.

A London tribunal has ruled that private documents of the correspondence between Andrew’s top adviser and an alleged Chinese spy must be made public in a fortnight.

Dominic Hampshire, an aide and close friend of the Duke, had to submit a witness statement after Chinese businessman Yang Tengbo was expelled and banned from the UK.

The Telegraph reported:

“Mr. Yang was forced to leave the country on national security grounds in March 2023 and unsuccessfully challenged the decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission last year. UK authorities have alleged that he formed an ‘unusual degree of trust’ with the Duke and developed relationships with politicians to be ‘leveraged’ by China.”

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Denver mayor and staff used encryption app to discuss migrant crisis, then auto-deleted messages. Trump policies prompted move, says spokesperson

Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and 14 of his top advisors, appointees and lawyers nicknamed themselves “Strike Force” and communicated about the city’s migrant crisis through an end-to end encryption app, CBS News Colorado has learned. The app, Signal, proceeded to automatically delete their initial conversations.

A spokesperson for Johnston said the Signal messaging was prompted by President Trump and how his administration “could have significant impacts on how Denver operates.”

The use of such messaging apps by government officials has been controversial and viewed as a way to avoid public disclosure of government decision making. In Michigan, after state police leaders were found in 2021 to be using Signal on state-issued phones, state lawmakers outlawed the use of encrypted messaging on state phones.

“It’s unlawful and it’s breaking the law,” said Steven Zansberg, a Denver attorney who specializes in First Amendment and open records law, and reviewed some of the records obtained by CBS News Colorado.

Jeff Roberts, director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, characterized what the CBS investigation found as an intentional effort to undermine Colorado’s open records law.

“This is not transparent,” said Roberts.

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House Republicans demand UFO transparency

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and some of President Trump’s most vocal supporters in the House do not agree on much, but they are in agreement that the government is hiding critical information on UFOs — also known as unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAP — from the American public.

Schumer and key House Republicans say that the government must come clean on what it knows about this decades-long mystery, which has seen 80 years of highly credible, consistent, multi-witness reporting of objects exhibiting extreme performance characteristics.

On Feb. 11, House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) announced the establishment of the Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), a member of the bipartisan UAP Caucus, will lead the effort.

Comer and Luna sent letters to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe requesting a briefing on all UAP-related records in their possession, with the ultimate goal of “deliver[ing] transparency to the American people.”

Notably, Rubio and Ratcliffe, along with National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Trump himself, have made remarkable statements about UAP in recent years.

Ditto for Schumer. Shortly after Trump signed an executive order declassifying all government records on the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., Schumer challenged Trump to extend the same transparency to UAP.

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