President Donald Trump has made it clear that he would support a law forbidding members of Congress from trading stocks. He specifically pointed to Nancy Pelosi's past financial activities as a case in point of why such legislation is necessary.
Despite bipartisan backing, attempts to pass a bill prohibiting congressional stock trading have not successfully cleared both legislative chambers, The Hill reported.
Trump's willingness to endorse this kind of restriction comes amid a broader discussion about the financial dealings of elected officials. During his initial 100 days as President, Trump remarked that if such legislation reached his desk, he would "absolutely" sign it into law. He justified his stance by citing instances where former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and others allegedly benefited financially from insider knowledge.
Nancy Pelosi, who has faced scrutiny over her and her husband's stock trading activities, dropped her opposition to this type of legislation in 2022. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, is noted for having accumulated significant wealth through trades in the stock market. These actions have resulted in public and political calls for increased transparency and accountability among elected officials.
The concerns over trading are not limited to one political party. Allegations have been directed at Republicans, accusing them of manipulating market information to financially benefit presidential allies. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene recently attracted attention for purchasing stocks shortly before a Trump announcement led to a market rally.
Greene defended her actions by stating her financial dealings are managed by an advisor. However, her situation underlined the need for cautious consideration of how insider information could be misused by those in power.
There has been a concerted push in both political parties to enforce tighter restrictions on stock trading by members of Congress. The Ending Trading and Holdings in Congressional Stocks Act saw some movement when it was advanced by the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. Nevertheless, the proposal stalled in the Senate, and a full vote did not occur.
Timing may also play a crucial role in the legislative dynamics, as the control of the Senate has shifted from Democratic to Republican since the act was passed in committee. This shift could reshape the priorities and prospects for such a bill moving forward.
Efforts to curtail insider trading at the congressional level have been discussed for years but have yet to achieve legislative success. Proponents argue that outlawing stock trading among legislators is essential to maintaining public trust and ensuring that officials act in the public's best interest rather than their financial gain.
Trump's recent remarks have rekindled interest in the topic, potentially adding momentum to these legislative measures. By explicitly stating his openness to sign the legislation, he could incentivize lawmakers to revisit previously stalled proposals.
While the idea enjoys support across party lines, tangible progress remains to be seen. For now, members of Congress continue to operate under existing rules that critics argue are insufficient to prevent conflicts of interest.
This dichotomy between support and action has frustrated advocates who believe legislation is long overdue. By continuing to spotlight individual cases of alleged insider trading, they hope to underscore the urgency of reform.
While Trump's commitment to the cause may add weight to calls for legislative change, it remains to be seen whether his stance will lead to actionable outcomes. However, the public discourse indicates a growing appetite for concrete measures to address potential abuses.
If such legislation were to pass, it would mark a significant shift in the ethical standards applied to congressional members. Legislators would face new limitations, potentially reshaping how they engage with financial markets and investment opportunities.
A new autopsy report is filling in the picture of Gene Hackman's grim last days at his New Mexico home, where he and his wife both died days apart in February.
While his main cause of death was heart failure, the 95-year-old Hackman had not eaten for days before he died, according to the medical examiner. A toxicology analysis found a trace amount of acetone in Hackman's system, indicating a prolonged period of fasting.
The celebrated actor, who had Alzheimer's, likely spent his final days unaware that his 64-year-old wife and caregiver, Betsy Arakawa, was dead.
Hackman tested negative for hantavirus, the rare rat-borne respiratory illness that killed his wife. His carbon monoxide levels were normal.
The report makes note of Hackman's history of heart problems, including congestive heart failure, an aortic valve replacement and an irregular heartbeat.
The autopsy also identified "neurodegenerative features consistent with Alzheimer's Disease" and “severe chronic hypertensive changes” to his kidneys.
"Autopsy showed severe atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease, with placement of coronary artery stents and a bypass graft, as well as a previous aortic valve replacement," the report states.
“Remote myocardial infarctions were present involving the left ventricular free wall and the septum, which were significantly large," the medical examiner wrote.
Investigators believe Hackman died on February 18, which is the last day cardiac activity was recorded on his pacemaker. His wife died roughly one week before on February 11.
The couple's property was later found to be infested with rats, which likely caused Arakawa to contract hantavirus, a rare but fatal pulmonary disease that spreads through rodent droppings.
Her final phone calls, internet searches and e-mails indicate she was seeking medical care around the time she died. She researched flu-like symptoms online and ordered supplemental oxygen canisters to help with breathing.
An autopsy for Arakawa has not been released yet.
The details from Hackman's autopsy paint a grim picture of his last hours alive. Left without his wife and caregiver, the celebrated actor died hungry and alone.
One of the couple's dogs was also found dead in his cage, likely due to starvation.
Police have shared bodycam video showing how they found the couple's remains, which were partly mummified, inside their squalid home.
In a heartbreaking display of affection, one of their surviving German Shepherds was found standing over Arakawa's body.
Two illegal immigrants have been arrested for stealing Kristi Noem's luxury handbag at a restaurant where she shared an Easter meal with her family.
Cristian Rodrigo Montecino-Sanzana was charged in Miami, one day after Mario Bustamante-Leiva was arrested in Washington D.C. for the brazen theft at Capital Burger.
Noem's bag contained $3,000 in cash, her passport, and her DHS badge. In a recent interview with podcaster Vince Coglianese, Noem said the "professionally done" theft involved some careful footwork.
“It was kind of shocking, actually, because it was sitting right by my feet. I actually felt my purse — he hooked with his foot and drug it a few steps away and dropped a coat over it and took it,” Noem recounted.
Surveillance video of the brazen theft shows a masked man walk past Secret Service agents who were seated at a bar inside the Washington D.C. restaurant. The suspect then sits down next to Noem's table and uses his feet to grab the purse.
Bustamante-Leiva later used Noem's stolen credit card to buy $200 of food and alcohol at another restaurant. He was charged Monday with aggravated identity theft, robbery and fraud.
The man was also charged over two past robberies in which "a suspect approached the victim as they ate in a restaurant, stole their purse from the back of their seat, and fled the scene."
Noem called Bustamante-Leiva a "career criminal" as she thanked the authorities for their swift response.
Thank you to @SecretService @ICEgov and our law enforcement partners for finding and arresting the criminal who stole my bag on Easter Sunday as I shared a meal with my family at a Washington DC restaurant.
This individual is a career criminal who has been in our country…
— Secretary Kristi Noem (@Sec_Noem) April 27, 2025
His accomplice, Montecino-Sanzana, was charged with driver’s license/possession of stolen or fictitious identification in Florida.
He is "implicated in a pattern of thefts and robberies with the primary defendant," according to Secret Service. Both men are from Chile.
According to the New York Post, Montecino-Sanzana was released into the U.S. in January 2021 despite being issued a notice of "expedited removal."
While both suspects are illegal aliens, the U.S. attorney in D.C., Eric Martin, says this was a crime of opportunity and does not appear to be related to Noem's government role.
"There is no indication it was because of that. It was frankly, it was a nice looking purse,” Martin told NBC News.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Those "Pride" events held all across America periodically to promote the alternative sexual lifestyle choices of the LGBT agenda are looking less and less like the excesses of yesteryear when public nudity was common and featured was "deviant revelry," before the agenda "inserted itself into grade schools."
A plunge in corporate funding is impacting their outlooks, in a major way.
That's happening as DEI, those "diversity, equity and inclusion" ideologies, are losing their attractiveness for companies facing White House opposition, public exposure and stockholder and customer criticism.
A commentary at PJMedia pointed out, "In 2025, it's all trending in the right direction. New York City and Seattle's Pride organizations each say they're suffering a $350k deficit this year. Pride St. Louis is short $150k. Twin Cities Pride is about $200k short for its June Pride bacchanalia. So is the infamous San Francisco festival."
The report even noted that San Francisco Pride Executive Director Suzanne Ford noted, "Will we be able to keep the doors open? You know, that's what I'm most concerned about now."
The plunge in funding for the ideology has been documented by Bloomberg, which pointed out in a report organizers of those events "are scrambling to make up hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost corporate sponsorships."
It noted the entitlement that the leftist event promoters feel, as Andi Otto, of Twin Cities Pride, said, "We spend our money as a community in these corporations and I want them to give back. They should give back."
The report documented a survey of dozens of corporate executives confirming 40% are scaling back their "Pride" month involvements.
"That includes both internal engagement like promoting workplace equity and public-facing participation like sponsoring or appearing in Pride events," the report said.
"Conservative scrutiny is really the top driver of change," Luke Hartig, of Gravity Research, told Bloomberg.
"Six in ten companies cite pressure from the Trump administration — which has pushed policies targeting transgender and nonbinary people, while also cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI — as a key reason for their change. Nearly 40% of all companies point to the threat of backlash from conservative activists and consumers, including more than three-quarters of consumer brands," the report noted.
In fact, the report noted some of those companies already had started pulling back as early as 2023.
LGBT activists described the plunge in support as unprecedented, the report said.
"Among the largest of the events is World Pride, a weeks-long celebration that was expected to draw at least 2 million domestic and international visitors to Washington, D.C., beginning May 17. In February, after shutting down its DEI department, the federal contractor Booz Allen Hamilton withdrew its sponsorship from the event. Comcast, Darcars Automotive Group and Deloitte have also decided not to commit any funding, according to Ryan Bos, Executive Director of the Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing the event," the report said.
Dollar General and Nissan both have dropped their sponsorships of events set for Nashville, the report said.
PJMedia, calling the circumstances the "Best pride month ever!" explained, "OF COURSE, corporations shouldn't be funding exotic sexuality extravaganzas (especially for children and youth, for the love of God!) Imagine if they spent this much money and effort promoting wholesome, healthy families. Or go wild and imagine if they spent this kind of time and treasure evangelizing the word of Christ — the greatest faith in history, with a tangible record of bringing emotional health and overall wellbeing to its practitioners, be they gay, straight, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, American or foreign, old or young."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A county judge in Milwaukee has been arrested by the FBI and now is facing two felony charges, including obstruction, for allegedly concealing an illegal alien sought by federal authorities for deportation and helping him escape federal agents, who were waiting at the court to arrest him.
It is Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan who now finds herself on the wrong side of the courtroom desk.
The 65-year-old appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries in the federal courthouse, but made no public comments. Her lawyer, Craig Mastantuono, however, claimed Dugan "wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety."
FBI chief Kash Patel said in a statement that was posted online, deleted, then reposted, "Just NOW, the FBI arrested Judge Hannah Dugan out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin on charges of obstruction — after evidence of Judge Dugan obstructing an immigration arrest operation last week. We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest. Thankfully, our agents chased down the perp on foot, and he's been in custody since, but the Judge's obstruction created increased danger to the public."
A report at Fox News said Dugan allegedly hid the illegal alien "in her jury room in order to stop that person from being arrested by ICE."
The report explained that when Dugan found out that the federal agents were intending to make an arrest, she "demanded that the officers proceed to the chief judge's office. At that point, they say the judge left and that the undocumented individual's hearing concluded and that he had quickly left the building."
The situation developed on April 18 when the illegal was in for a court hearing.
Earlier, Dugan claimed that local reports about her behavior were not accurate.
Fox reported that state Rep. Bob Donovan, a Republican, charged, "In all my years of Milwaukee politics and public safety issues, working with cops, district attorneys, and judges, I have never seen a more irresponsible act by an officer of the court, let alone a judge, if true.
"This borders on obstruction of justice, and I hope the FBI continues a thorough investigation and, if warranted, prosecution to the fullest extent of the law."
The report said Dugan has worked with legal aid organizations over the course of her career.
The Washington Examiner said the U.S. Marshals Service confirmed Dugan was arrested at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Democrats across America have used the talking point "destroying democracy" to describe anything they don't like.
It's Donald Trump. It's identification for voting. It's secured ballot counts.
Now, apparently, it's a majority of Democrats.
That's because a report at Complete Colorado explains how the majority of Democrats in the state are trying to banish citizen comments from the state's "democracy." Democrats hold the majority in both the House and Senate in Colorado, as well as the governor's office.
This is the state where all Democrats on the state Supreme Court tried to ban President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot. This is the state that has gone to the Supreme Court twice, in its attempts to dictate the thoughts and censor the statements of business owners.
And lost twice.
Now the Complete Colorado article confirms, "A new Democrat-backed bill moving rapidly through the Colorado legislature poses a serious threat to one of the most fundamental rights in our state Constitution: the right of citizens to initiate laws through the petition process."
This comes at a time when lawmakers are also attacking the state's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, a constitutional amendment from decades back that requires voter approval for tax increases beyond the growth of the population and inflation.
It's already been undermined by state lawmakers who repeatedly have claimed that their new taxes actually are not taxes but "fees."
For example, there are road and bridge "fees" that apply only to Colorado-registered vehicles, whose owners must pay to use roads and bridges. Of course, travelers using the same roads and bridges pay no such "fees."
Leftist courts in the state have agreed that those taxes, in fact, are "fees."
The report noted the legislation has already passed the House and a Senate committee.
It would "significantly restrict the ability of Coloradans to bring citizen initiatives forward. Among other provisions, it shortens an already tight timeline for title-setting, imposes new procedural hurdles, and adds new fines of up to $1,500 on petition organizers for non-compliance with reporting requirements," the report said.
"What makes this particularly alarming is the inclusion of the 'safety clause' — legislative language that declares the bill is necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, or safety. The practical effect? Voters are prohibited from filing a referendum to challenge the law at the ballot box. It's an ironic — and telling — twist that a bill restricting petition rights also blocks any citizen-led challenge of its own passage."
The report noted that both Republicans and Democrats have previously used the initiative process.
The moves in Colorado, the report warned, "reflect a troubling trend: elected officials using their power not to expand democratic engagement, but to restrict it. Colorado voters have repeatedly voiced support for transparency, fiscal limits, and the right to challenge government action through the initiative process. Yet here we are again — with those same rights back on the chopping block."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Democrats long have let their rhetoric move at full speed into dangerous territory, where they actually are seen as advocating for violence, even criminal violence.
Now Illinois Gov. JB Pritzer, a Democrat billionaire, has joined the ranks of those making suspicious comments.
The Federalist reports at a special Democrat assembly, he said, "Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on a soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box."
He then called out his party, the "do-nothing Democrats" who "want to blame our losses on our defense of black people, of trans kids, of immigrants…"
"We will never join so many Republicans in the special place in hell reserved for quislings and cowards," Pritzker said, the report revealed. "We will relegate their portraits to the museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors."
The Federalist explained, "The language is all too familiar and can only be described as assassination prep – carefully cloaked in moral outrage – designed to incite the most egregious acts of political violence. His words follow the same formula of other leftists: frame the political opposition as not merely wrong, but evil and tyrannical, then justify any means to defeat them. Such language is meant to dehumanize their opponents and provide moral permission for violence."
In fact, there have been two assassination attempts on President Donald Trump in the last year.
The report also noted that the Democrats long have been laying the foundation for such advocacy for violence, such as the call by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., in 2021 for protesters to be "confrontational," a follow to her demand that people harass Trump administration members.
"Let's make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. . ..And you push back on them. And you tell them they're not welcome anymore, anywhere."
Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, at one point stood at the Supreme Court and threatened Justice Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh: "You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you."
Just last year, Joe Biden complained to donors on a private call it was "time to put Trump in the bull's-eye," the report said.
And, it confirmed, Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said Trump "has to be eliminated."
The Federalist documented such rhetoric is "part of a broader pattern of political conditioning. This language primes support for confrontation and, in the minds of the most unstable, legitimizes violence. When Democrats talk about 'fighting back' they increasingly mean it literally — and the results have been both tragic and undeniable."
WND reported last year that Kamala Harris had joined the rhetoric.
She had claimed in multiple ways that Trump would be a dictator if elected.
And other Democrats long have been parcel of the campaign.
For instance, Del. Stacey Plaskett, the Democrat non-voting delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands, said, "He needs to be shot … stopped."
And a video has assembled more than two minutes of direct threats, often from politicians, entertainers and other public figures:
Among the comments:
"I'd like to punch him in the face."
"If we were in high school I'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him," from Joe Biden
"When was the last time an actor assassinated a president?"
"They're still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump. That's a fact."
"Where is John Wilkes Booth when you need him?"
"I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House."
The Trump campaign itself released a compilation of some of the threats, and identified those making the threats. They mostly are political or media figures or political operatives:
Kamala Harris: "Trump is a threat to our democracy and fundamental freedoms."
Harris: "It's on us to recognize the threat (Trump) poses."
Harris: "Does one of us have to come out alive? Ha ha ha ha!"
Joe Biden: "It's time to put Trump in a bull's-eye."
Biden: "I mean this from the bottom of my heart: Trump is a threat to this nation!"
Biden: "There is one existential threat: It's Donald Trump."
Biden: "Trump is a genuine threat to his nation … He's literally a threat to everything America stands for."
Biden : "Trump and MAGA Republicans are a threat to the very soul of this country."
Biden: "Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic. … and that is a threat to this country."
Tim Walz: "Are (Republicans) a threat to democracy? Yes … Are they going to put peoples' lives in danger? Yes."
Gwen Walz: "Buh-bye, Donald Trump."
Nancy Pelosi: "(Trump) is a threat to our democracy of the kind that we have not seen."
Jasmine Crockett: "MAGA in general – they are threats to us domestically."
Dan Goldeman: "He is destructive to our democracy and … he has to be eliminated."
Disgraced Harris staffer TJ Ducklo: "Trump is an existential, urgent threat to our democracy."
Liz Cheney: "Trump presents a fundamental threat to the republic and we are seeing it on a daily basis."
Steve Cohen: "Trump is an enemy of the United States."
Maxine Waters: "Are (Trump supporters) preparing a civil war against us?"
Waters: "I want to know about all of those right-wing organizations that (Trump) is connected with who are training up in the hills somewhere."
Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Trump is an "existential threat to our democracy."
Adam Schiff: Trump is the "gravest threat to our democracy."
Gregory Meeks: "Trump cannot be president again. He's an existential threat to democracy."
Dan Goldman: "Trump remains the greatest threat to our democracy."
Jake Auchincloss: "What unifies us as a party is knowing that Donald Trump is an existential threat to Democracy."
Abigail Spanberger: "Trump is a threat to our democracy … the threats to our democratic republic are real."
Annie Kuster: "Trump and his extreme right-win followers pose an existential threat to our democracy."
Becca Balint: "We cannot underestimate the threat (Trump) poses to American democracy."
Jason Crow: "Trump is an extreme danger to our democracy."
Michael Bennet: Trump is "a threat to our democracy."
Steven Horsford: "Trump Republicans are a dangerous threat to our state."
Gave Vasquez: "Remove the national threat from office."
And more….
Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz had continued praise for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth amid continued controversy including alleged leaks, security lapses and reports of chaos in the Defense Department under his leadership.
Fox News's Maria Bartiromo asked Waltz Sunday whether the Trump administration would be able to accomplish its foreign policy goals under "what appears to be a chaotic, weakened Defense Department."
"I'll tell you about a weakened Pentagon," Waltz fired back promptly. "That was one that had a Defense Secretary that disappeared for two weeks just last year, and nobody knew about it."
Waltz pointed out that Hegseth is "leading from the front" in contrast to his predecessor and praised early reform efforts at the Pentagon.
"He is leading the charge, and he has no tolerance for leaking," Waltz said, denying the reports of chaos as a "media narrative" that they would "power through."
Waltz also had a more positive take on the recent departure of top aides including Hegseth's Chief of Staff Joe Kasper last week.
"Maria, there’s 20,000 people in the Pentagon," Waltz said. "There is a record number of generals."
"And the other piece— there is accountability," he added. "We have had several general officers who weren’t getting the job done, and admirals get fired and get replaced… That’s what the Pentagon needs."
"Whether it’s leaks, or not getting the job done, or failures in terms of procurement acquisition, now you have a leader that’s in charge," Waltz said. "And I couldn’t be prouder of Pete Hegseth."
Despite reports of dysfunction, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said several days before Waltz's interview that Trump still strongly supported Hegseth.
"Let me reiterate: The president stands strongly behind Secretary Hegseth and the change that he is bringing to the Pentagon, and the results that he's achieved thus far speak for themselves," Leavitt told reporters at a briefing last week, calling the negative reports a "smear campaign."
It has been a little difficult to tell whether things are going poorly in some of Trump's agencies, or whether it's just the press trying to make the administration look bad to dishearten voters and bring down approval ratings.
Trump dismissed the so-called Signal leaks that included an editor from The Atlantic as "fake news."
“I don’t view Signal as important,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday as he flew to attend Pope Francis's funeral service.
Liberals across the country are up in arms over the arrest last week of a Wisconsin judge accused of obstructing the apprehension and arrest of an illegal immigrant.
However, the Trump FBI's decision to take Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan into custody has found at least some degree of support from a seemingly unlikely source, namely, the man who served as acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under former President Barack Obama, as Breitbart reports.
As Fox News explains, Dugan was arrested on Friday morning on allegations that she endeavored to hide an illegal immigrant who had been previously deported in order to thwart his arrest by ICE agents.
Federal officers from a handful of agencies attempted to make the arrest of Eduardo Flores-Ruiz of Mexico after a court appearance before Dugan related to battery charges.
It was then that Dugan told the officers to go to the chief judge's office, and when Flores-Ruiz's hearing concluded, she allegedly escorted both him and his lawyer out via a restricted exit away from the public part of the building where agents were waiting to apprehend him.
As a result of her conduct, Dugan was charged with obstruction of an official proceeding and also with concealing an individual to prevent discovery and arrest.
Not surprisingly, the arrest has spurred a host of heated reactions on the left, including from Wisconsin Democrat Gov. Tony Evers, who alleged that the Trump administration is employing “dangerous rhetoric to attack and attempt to undermine our judiciary at every level, including disobeying the highest court in the land.”
However, not every Democrat was so quick to jump to Dugan's defense, as John Sandweg, who served as acting director of ICE during Obama's tenure, outlined his objections to the judge's conduct on Friday.
During an appearance on NewsNation's Cuomo, Sandweg, while expressing concern over the impact on ICE cases such as this may have, noted that Dugan's actions were far from appropriate.
Sandweg said of what unfolded in Wisconsin last week, “I would like to see the ICE agents just pick him up outside the courthouse or pick him up as he leaves the courthouse. During the Obama administration, as you know, during the Biden administration, we had a sensitive location policy.”
“We couldn't arrest people in a courthouse. I think there are good reasons for that,” he added.
With respect to Dugan specifically, Sandweg said, “I'm not here to defend this judge. … I think she overstepped here. I think there are other ways to lodge her objections.”
As Fox News noted separately, Dugan's fellow Wisconsin judge, Monica Isham, threatened not to hold court as a means of protesting what occurred on Friday, saying, “I have no intention of allowing anyone to be taken out of my courtroom by ICE and sent to a concentration camp, especially without due process. … Should I start raising bail money?”
Unfortunately, despite all the liberal exhortations that “nobody is above the law,” articulated endlessly during the campaign of lawfare against Donald Trump, it in fact appears that the lion's share of Democrats do believe that those who sit on the bench are entitled to an exemption from that supposedly foundational principle.
On Friday, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump flew to Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, who passed away last week due to health complications.
According to Newsmax, it was also Melania Trump's 55th birthday, and President Donald Trump admitted that he was too busy to buy her a gift. Instead, he treated her to a fancy dinner aboard Air Force One.
The president showed some humility and admitted that the idea of a romantic dinner aboard an airplane might not be everyone's idea of the perfect birthday date, but assured reporters that it was enjoyable for both him and his wife.
Because of the busy flight schedule that included traveling back and forth to Italy for the funeral, the president said his wife was treated to a "working birthday" to celebrate another trip around the sun for the former supermodel.
President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that between the tariff deals happening, the upcoming marking of his 100th day in office for his second term, and dealing with Ukraine, Iran and Gaza, celebrating her birthday in a traditional manner wasn't realistic.
"I haven't had time to buy presents, it's been pretty busy," Trump admitted, saying Melania had to be fine with a "working birthday" instead.
Newsmax noted:
When asked if he would be taking Melania to dinner to mark her birthday, he replied, "I'm taking her for dinner on the Boeing -- I'm taking her for dinner on Air Force One."
Trump then joked that he would send his wife back into the "lion's den" to talk to reporters herself.
Even with the working birthday aboard the presidential airplane, it was better than last year, as the two spent her birthday apart as he mostly stayed in New York battling several cases against him while Melania stayed in Florida at Mar-a-Lago.
At the time of her birthday last year, Trump told reporters, “It’d be nice to be with her, but I’m at a courthouse for a rigged trial."
While Melania Trump has largely stayed out of the public spotlight for her husband's second term, the two have made a handful of joint appearances together in recent months.
The first lady thanked her supporters for the birthday wishes in an X post.
"Thank you all for the heartfelt birthday wishes. I had the honor of attending Pope Francis' funeral, on this day, where I prayed for the healing of those who are suffering and for peace in the world," she wrote.
Thank you all for the heartfelt birthday wishes.
I had the honor of attending Pope Francis' funeral, on this day, where I prayed for the healing of those who are suffering and for peace in the world. pic.twitter.com/wOiSsxQI1t
— First Lady Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) April 27, 2025
"Happy Birthday to our beautiful First Lady!! I hope you had a special day and am sending much love and many blessings to you and your family!" one X user wrote.