President Donald Trump's administration is considering allowing tax cuts to expire for high-income earners to overcome possible shortfalls without cuts, Axios reported. The outlet claimed an unnamed senior White House official said that Trump would be forced to do so as a concession to Democrats in exchange for the tax cut extensions.
Axios called this an amazing "scoop" but did not name inside sources who allegedly dished this information. However, the report made it clear that the sources also claimed this was still in the works and not "set in stone."
The top tax rate for individuals earning more than $609,351 and married couples earning $731,201 is 35% with Trump's tax cuts still in effect. With this concession, the top tax rate will go back to 39.6% with a lower income threshold, just as it was before 2018.
This would defang Democrats' main arguments, including slamming Trump for looking to cut Medicaid while cutting taxes for the rich. "If we renew tax cuts for the rich paid for by throwing people off Medicaid, we're gonna get f--king slaughtered," the White House official reportedly claimed.
Democrats have used class warfare as a major party platform point for decades. Part of their appeal has always been to make the rich pay their "fair share" to redistribute wealth to lower earners, which is exactly what the punishingly high top tax rate has done.
Republicans have historically opposed such a strategy and have run and won on precisely that. For example, President Ronald Reagan left office with the top tax rate at 28%, down from 70% when he was sworn in in 1981 which lead to another GOP victory in 1988.
President George W. Bush also lowered the 39.6% top marginal tax rate under President Bill Clinton down to 35% during his administration. If Trump reverses that trend, it would be a break from conventional Republican governance.
Although Trump has not been much of a fiscal conservative in his spending, he has championed his tax cuts and the positive economic impact they have. Meanwhile, some have claimed that his imposition of tariffs is the same thing as a tax increase, NPR reported.
Since taking office, Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada and 10% to 20% on goods from China. Trump sees this as a way of forcing companies to make products in the U.S., while his detractors claim it will simply be another cost passed on to consumers.
The chatter from unnamed officials about a tax hike comes as Republicans worry about the serious ramifications of such a move. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned of "economic calamity" if lawmakers fail to extend the cuts.
During his confirmation hearing, Bessent said they must extend the cuts to avoid imposing a "crushing $4 trillion tax hike" on the nation. He made his case to the Senate Finance Committee before ultimately being confirmed.
"Today, I believe that President Trump has a generational opportunity to unleash a new economic golden age that will create more jobs, wealth, and prosperity for all Americans. We must make permanent the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and implement new pro-growth policies to reduce the tax burden on American manufacturers, service workers and seniors," Bessent said.
"This is the single most important economic issue of the day. If we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity and, as always with financial instability, that falls on the middle and working class people," Bessent added.
Even if Trump is in discussions about allowing the higher earners to pay more taxes, it doesn't mean it will happen. These kinds of reports are meant to demoralize supporters and give ammo to his opposition, but only time will tell whether any of this is true.
In a heartfelt revelation, figure skater Maxim Naumov has shared the profound impact of the sudden loss of his parents, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, in a tragic plane crash. The accident, which involved an American Airlines jet and an army helicopter on January 29 in Washington, D.C., has left an indelible mark on Naumov.
Maxim Naumov is channeling his grief and honoring his late parents through his figure skating performances, forever altering his outlook on life and his career.
The ill-fated plane crash caused extreme changes for Maxim Naumov, who recently competed in the U.S. Championships, securing a respectable fourth place. Shishkova and Naumov, both former world champion figure skaters, were passengers on the American Airlines flight involved in the collision. The couple, instrumental in shaping young skaters, had resided in the United States as coaches since 1998.
Maxim Naumov recalls the last interaction he had with his mother, Evgenia Shishkova when she informed him of a change in their flight plans. She requested he pick them up upon arrival. However, the expected jubilant message of their safe landing never came, replaced instead by devastating news.
Expressing deep admiration for his parents, Naumov describes how they were always supportive, going so far as to say, "Their love and care was evident in each stage of my life. They were always like superheroes to me." Maxim's mother consistently texted and called him immediately upon landing, which made their silence during the tragedy even more alarming.
In his own words, Naumov explained the shift in his feelings following his parent's passing. He expressed: “I just want you to know that we love you and we’re proud of you.” His tribute to them on March 2 at the Legacy on Ice U.S. Figure Skating Benefit in D.C. was marked by emotion. He skated with a deep sense of love, which was unfamiliar and overwhelming.
Skating has now taken on a new dimension for Naumov. Dedicated to his late parents, he conveyed, "It’s three people," indicating that his drive and motivation now stem from what his parents would have wanted. During his benefit performance, he laid two white roses near the rink, a poignant gesture to honor their memory.
Maxim Naumov's parents were recognized for their immense talent and accomplishments in the world of figure skating. Married to each other, Shishkova and Naumov claimed the pairs world title in 1994. Their journey began as children under the guidance of Ludmila Velikova, who considered them her own.
Velikova, commenting on their tragic passing, expressed profound sorrow, stating, "They were my favorite sportspeople. They were like my own children. What’s happened is awful. The best people have been taken away from us."
As coaches in the United States, Shishkova and Naumov made significant contributions to the figure skating community, pivoting in nurturing upcoming talent. Maxim's parents' presence marked his experience at the U.S. Championships. Although his mother was too nervous to watch him live, his father, Vadim, was present to cherish his son’s performance.
According to Doug Zeghibe, the CEO of the Skating Club of Boston, Maxim was competing in the senior men’s event and had his parents with him. The family flew back soon after, with Maxim returning home just before the accident took place. Zeghibe remarked, "Max was competing at the U.S. Championships in the senior men’s event, championship men. He placed fourth, which is a medalling spot."
This tragedy has deeply affected the young skater, reshaping his future aspirations and driving him to honor the legacy of his parents through his craft. With his personal journey altered forever, Maxim Naumov continues to perform not just for himself, but for his beloved parents who instilled in him the passion and skill he now carries forward.
President Trump put his national security adviser Mike Waltz on the spot, blaming him for the Signal leak that has led to criticism of the president's national security team.
"It was Mike, I guess. I don’t know, I always thought it was Mike," Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.
Still, Trump maintained that the controversy over the leaked chats is a "witch hunt" and he offered no indication he wants Waltz to resign.
Trump's latest comments mark a shift in tone after he fulsomely defended Waltz and blamed a staffer for the situation. Waltz has taken responsibility for accidentally adding a liberal journalist to a Signal chat about military strikes in Yemen.
The chat group included Waltz, Vice President J.D. Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and other top officials. Also included was Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the anti-Trump magazine The Atlantic.
Democrats have demanded that Waltz and Hegseth resign, but Trump and his top allies have said the criticism of the leak is overblown, pointing to the success of the mission against Houthi rebels.
“How do you bring Hegseth into it? He had nothing to do — look, look, it’s all a witch hunt,” Trump said Wednesday.
The leak has placed Waltz's relationship with Goldberg under scrutiny. Golberg has played a significant role in spreading anti-Trump narratives, such as the sticky claim that Trump called soldiers "suckers and losers," which continued to dog Trump in 2024, four years after Goldberg first shared it.
A photo that resurfaced this week shows Waltz and Goldberg at the same event at the French Embassy in 2021. But Waltz has said he never met Goldberg, suggesting the "loser" journalist somehow broke into the chat.
“I know him by his horrible reputation, and he really is the bottom scum of journalists. And I know him in the sense that he hates the president, but I don’t text him. He wasn’t on my phone. And we’re going to figure out how this happened," Waltz told Fox News' Laura Ingraham.
According to reports, Trump is angry that Waltz had Goldberg in his phone, but the president is reluctant to fire Waltz and hand a victory to The Atlantic, which publishes articles attacking the president on a daily basis.
Trump defended Waltz as a "very good man" and called Goldberg a "total sleazebag" when asked about the Signal leak Tuesday.
The House voted to end President Biden's energy standards for refrigerators and freezers on Thursday.
The vote is part of a wider effort by Republicans and President Trump to roll back Biden-era regulations that targeted common household appliances. The rules would have imposed more strict energy efficiency standards for commercial refrigerators and freezers.
The House voted 214-192 to overturn energy efficiency regulations for commercial refrigerators and freezers and also voted 203 to 182 to get rid of energy regulations on walk-in freezers and coolers.
Both resolutions passed through the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to overturn a recent federal regulation with a simple majority.
The Senate still needs to vote on reversing the refrigerator standards, which were finalized at the end of Biden's term. The Biden administration said the regulations would benefit the climate and save consumers money on their utility bills.
Republicans say the regulations would make products more expensive while limiting choice for consumers.
“Today, House Republicans acted to overturn more last-minute environmental regulations from the Biden Administration. Walk-in coolers and freezers are essential for pharmacies, convenience stores, food processing facilities, food banks, restaurants, and many other establishments nationwide,” said Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-Ok), who sponsored the bill on walk-in coolers and freezers.
Under federal law, the Energy Department must periodically review existing energy standards and may only make changes that are "technologically feasible and economically justified and would result in significant energy savings."
The Biden administration focused on using energy regulations to advance a climate agenda, targeting common household products including water heaters, washers and dryers, and, most notably, gas stoves.
Under Trump, the Energy Department is prioritizing freedom of choice. This week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright postponed a trio of energy standards for home appliances, including walk-in coolers and freezers.
“By removing burdensome regulations put in place by the Biden administration, we are returning freedom of choice to the American people, ensuring consumers can choose the home appliances that work best for their lives and budgets," Wright added. "This power should not belong to the federal government."
The House voted last month to overturn Biden's ban on certain types of tankless water heaters. Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) has proposed a bill in the Senate to overturn Biden's ban on gas-powered, non-condensing tankless heaters, which are typically cheaper but less energy efficient than other models.
The issue has led to intense lobbying from water heater companies like Japanese manufacturer Rinnai, which makes the kind of water heaters facing a ban. A.O. Smith, the largest water heater manufacturer in the United States, is in favor of Biden's ban. According to the Washington Free Beacon, the company received $25 million from the Biden administration to invest in climate-conscious electric heat pumps.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump delivered on his promise, granting clemency to hundreds of January 6 prisoners and defendants via an executive order on Day One of his new administration, offering survivors of Biden's weaponized Justice Department a second chance.
But for Proud Boys leaders – Marine Corps veteran Zachary Rehl, decorated Army veteran Joseph Biggs and Marine Corps veteran Dominic Pezzola – the fight for justice continues.
With their sentences commuted to time served, but not being fully pardoned like all the others, these men remain branded insurrectionists and even terrorists, saddled with nearly a dozen felony convictions each.
In bombshell court filings awaiting U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly's ruling, the trio alleges federal prosecutors and the FBI broke laws to frame them with "seditious conspiracy" during their six-month trial.
Their attorney, Roger Roots, claims the Biden-led government knew the Proud Boys had no plan to "overthrow the U.S." on Jan. 6, 2021, yet it orchestrated an informant-driven entrapment operation to "impose a one-party, slave-plantation-style government wherein political dissidents would be jailed, tormented and silenced" with wrongful convictions for merely trespassing while walking through the U.S. Capitol building.
His 19-page motion to dismiss accuses the feds of planting undercover agents among the group – some even within the group's defense team – and barring any trial mention of them.
Not only did the undercover informants influence protesters to commit crimes during the riot, but the government embedded them within the Proud Boys' defense counsel, like the confidential human source, or CHS, named "J.K." who used the alias "Aaron" when he took the stand.
"It was FBI informant 'Aaron' himself who placed furniture in a doorway area to keep the entry open for demonstrators to stream into the Capitol," the filing states. "'Aaron' also admitted that it was he – a paid undercover FBI CHS – who invited the scariest and most heavily armored marcher (Robert Geiswein) to join the Proud Boy march on the morning of January 6."
Each informant repeatedly confirmed with law enforcement officials that no plan had ever been devised by Rehl, Biggs, Pezzola, or any member of the Proud Boys organization to carry out a terror attack or violently overthrow the government.
Yet, the intel from the spooks deployed by the government to entrap the group did not stop prosecutors from advancing a fictitious conspiracy narrative, Roots says.
"[Aaron] texted his FBI handlers in real-time informing them that the Proud Boy defendants had no plan or intention of breaching the Capitol Grounds," the defense argued. "Thus, the FBI knew through the entire case that there was no plan, no seditious conspiracy, and no organized effort to riot or unlawfully obstruct the proceedings of January 6."
In addition, during the FBI's bid to attempt to entrap "Trump's army" with allegations of sedition, the Metropolitan Police Department deployed more than two dozen undercover plainclothes officers among the Proud Boys on Jan. 6, 2021.
"One of these [undercover] officers is heard on camera urging protestors to 'Go! Go! Go!' and 'Push forward!' up the steps toward the Capitol building. The defendants still have not been provided with all the body-worn camera footage of all these undercover MPD officers," the motion states. "Even with entire squadrons of informants among the defendants and the Proud Boy organization, not a single informant was able to report any plans of sedition being made by Proud Boys."
The government's key evidence, the "1776 Returns/Winter Palace" document outlining a Capitol takeover, was a fraud, Roots asserts.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Elon Musk, the owner of Tesla, Space X, and X, has a fourth job as the chief of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, tasked with finding corruption, fraud, waste, and criminal behavior in the federal government's spending programs and eliminating it.
He and his team members were interviewed by Bret Baier on Fox News, and he revealed that he believes the effort will be able to save taxpayers $1 trillion within the first 130 days of its work.
At the Federalist, a summary of the interview explained he revealed the "6 unbelievably scammy federal practices" that have been uncovered so far.
The report, from Joy Pullman, executive editor of the publication, explained Musk said if a commercial company operated the way the federal government has been spending money, it would go bankrupt, and "the officers would be arrested."
Among the revelations was that the federal government was paying nearly $1 billion for an "online national parks survey."
The problem? It "resulted in no changes or other outcomes as a result of giving the survey."
Musk said a realistic charge for such a result would be $10,000.
"It is astonishing," Musk said of the "waste and fraud in the government."
Also uncovered have been more than 15 million Social Security numbers for people older than 120.
Those all are fraud, according to DOGE's Steve Davis, since the oldest American is now 114.
Also, found have been two government credit cards, or more, for each of the nation's 2.3 million federal government workers.
Team member Tom Krause called that nothing less than "alarming."
"There's $500 billion of fraud every year, there's hundreds of billions of dollars of improper payments, and we can't pass an audit," he said. "If I was a public company CFO, I would effectively be removed."
Joe Gebbia, a team member, who launched AirBnB, condemned the process required by the government in order for federal employees to retire.
He said the paperwork involved is stored in 22,000 filing cabinets – a total of 400 million pieces of paper – in a "giant cave."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Death toll estimated to be in the thousands
A catastrophic 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, on Friday, leaving behind a landscape of rubble from collapsed buildings and a death toll feared to be in the thousands.
The quake, also was felt in Thailand and China, was measured by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Officials in nearby Naypyidaw hospital declared their area to be a "mass casualty area."
"I haven't seen (something) like this before. We are trying to handle the situation. I'm so exhausted now," a physician on duty explained the AFP.
Ian Main, a professor in seismology at the University of Edinburgh, told the Daily Mail, "The damage is likely to be very severe near the epicenter- based on the estimated intensity of ground shaking above, and maps of population density and vulnerability of buildings.
"The USGS 'PAGER' forecast loss is, sadly, most likely to be in the range 10,000-100,000 fatalities," he said.
A 30-story building under construction in Bangkok collapsed.
Reports of fatalities were trickling in and hundreds of people were missing.
"I heard people calling for help, saying 'help me,'" Worapat Sukthai, deputy police chief of Bang Sue district, told AFP.
"I fear many lives have been lost. We have never experienced an earthquake with such a devastating impact before."
The quake struck about 1:30 p.m. local time.
Kelly Rhodes, a tourist on Bangkok, told MailOnline of being evacuated 24 flights of steps down.
Water splashed out and cascaded down the sides of highrises with rooftop pools.
"All of a sudden the whole building began to move, immediately there was screaming and a lot of panic," Fraser Morton, a tourist from Scotland, told the Daily Mail. "I just started walking calmly at first but then the building started really moving, yeah, a lot of screaming, a lot of panic, people running the wrong way down the escalators, lots of banging and crashing inside the mall."
Rows of people were lined up at emergency rooms.
The Red Cross issued a warning about the threat that remained to large dams in the area, offering the potential for major flooding.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Signal chat group about Middle East planning included reporter
Hillary Clinton is scolding the administration of President Donald Trump for allowing a scandal to happen.
It developed when an executive at the Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, was added to a Signal chat group that the administration was using to chat about its dealings, including possible attacks, regarding terrorists in Yemen.
The administration has said there was no classified information shared, while Trump's critics say there was.
"You have got to be kidding me," Clinton claimed.
Exactly what she meant isn't clear, but her experience with scandals in government runs long and deep.
Even leftists online noted, "Clinton's use of a private email server at the State Department and accusations she mishandled classified information dogged her unsuccessful 2016 presidential campaign."
In fact, that campaign was the second time voters had rejected her agenda to install herself in the White House as president. Years earlier, even Democrats had picked upstart Barack Obama over Clinton.
But Clinton's history also includes the Whitewater scandal in Arkansas, the followup to a real estate investment scandal that saw Hillary Clinton the first spouse of a U.S. president to be subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury.
The scandal's conclusion as that there wasn't enough evidence that Hillary, or husband Bill, had engaged in criminal activity.
Yet another scandal involved the White House travel office when Hillary was living there.
It became known as "Travelgate."
Another scandal involved Hillary Clinton's financial involvement with cattle futures.
Some accused her of misbehavior and said her trading records showed a conflict of interest and possibly even bribery.
But there was no formal investigation.
Further, one byproduct of "Travelgate" was "Filegate," when the White House during the Clinton era accessed, improperly according to accusations, hundreds of FBI background reports on former White House employees who are Republican.
There even was a dispute over the furnishings in the White House. While many considered those items to be government property, a number of "gifts" were shipped to the Clinton's private resident before Bill left office.
And there were the Americans killed in Benghazi, under Hillary Clinton's watch.
A report from Fox News explained how now Hillary Clinton is calling the Trump administration "dumb."
Her words come from a "blistering essay" the New York Times gave her space to publish.
She challenged, "It's not the hypocrisy that bothers me; it's the stupidity. We're all shocked — shocked! — that President Trump and his team don't actually care about protecting classified information or federal record retention laws. But we knew that already. What's much worse is that top Trump administration officials put our troops in jeopardy by sharing military plans on a commercial messaging app and unwittingly invited a journalist into the chat. That's dangerous. And it's just dumb."
Hillary Clinton, in fact, also was investigated even as she was running for president for possibly violating the law by running national security secrets into her unsecure computer server she set up in her home.
Her essay appeared to have a theme, as she used descriptives for the Trump administration including "not smart," "dumb power," "dumb," "dumb and dangerous" and more.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S Attorney General Pam Bondi has delivered a stunningly bad bit of news to those criminals who are caught vandalizing Tesla vehicles because they hate Elon Musk, the owner of the corporation.
He's also running the Department of Government Efficiency for President Donald Trump and is working to defund and even eliminate many of the government cash spigots for leftists and their causes.
This has enraged many to the point they pick out the property belonging to another innocent American and vandalize it, just because of Musk's link to the company.
Dozens of cases have been reported, and there even have started being arrests made.
Bondi confirmed, "These people better look out. They better cut it out. We are coming after you and at my direction there will be no negotiations on these people. We are seeking 20 years in prison.
"They are setting off bombs," she said.
The mandatory minimum sentence for a conviction, based on the charges, would be five years, she said.
WND reported only a day earlier on an arrest of a suspect in an attack on Tesla in Las Vegas.
The suspect has been identified as Paul Kim, and he's accused of arson, shooting into an abandoned structure/vehicle, destruction of property and possession of a flammable device.
New cases are being documented daily:
The Gateway Pundit explained that Musk has called the cases terrorism.
One liberal also tried a "brake-check" scheme, which sometimes can cause drivers to crash, and ended up with her own headache instead:
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Gruesomely insists on promoting abortion because live births are 'more expensive'
A prominent lawmaker in the leftist state of Colorado has turned gruesome in her demands that the state promote abortion: She's insisting that the killing of unborn children is better for the state because births are "more expensive."
It is Julie McCluskie, a Colorado Democrat and extremist on abortion, who said, "Births will not occur because abortions happened instead. A birth is more expensive than an abortion. … The savings comes in Medicaid births that will not occur."
She is the speaker of the Colorado House, and continued, "Savings from averted births outweigh the cost of covering reproductive health care for all Coloradans."
A report at the Gateway Pundit took McCluskie to task, explaining the Democrat "has gone so far in supporting abortion, she's reducing the decision to murder babies to a cost-benefit analysis."
McCluskie was promoting her own bill, and agenda, in an attempt to demand that taxpayers cover "abortion care services" in Medicaid and the Child Health Plan Plus. That scheme essentially involves abortion corporations routinely getting huge checks from taxpayers.
Her agenda also demands that public employee insurance plans cover killing the unborn.
The report explained, "She reduced pregnancy and life to a price tag, concluding that those children should just die because it's cheaper. … She was essentially saying that expectant mothers should kill their children rather than give birth, because it would be cheaper for the government."
In fact, McCluskie claimed, "This bill will actually decrease costs for our Healthcare Policy and Financing Department, our Medicaid expenditures in both this year and out years, as the savings from averted births outweigh the cost of covering reproductive health care for all Coloradans."
The Gateway Pundit pointed out, "Anyone who looks at children and childbirth in such cold, calculating terms has truly gone down an evil path."