White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt exposed the Biden administration for driving an egg shortage through the "mass killing" of chickens, as President Trump comes under pressure to lower the cost of groceries.
The price of eggs has increased in part because of a bird flu outbreak that has killed millions of chickens through disease or culling. Leavitt suggested Biden mismanaged the situation at her first press briefing on Tuesday.
In the last quarter of 2024 alone, 20 million chickens died from bird flu. The impact has been felt by shoppers, with the average cost of a dozen Grade A large eggs hitting $4.15 in December.
President Trump made a campaign pledge to tackle inflation that soared under his predecessor, and Democrats aren't letting the president forget his promise. Republicans have fired back that Trump is inheriting a sticky economic problem that will take time to address.
"I would like to point out to each and every one of you that in 2024, when Joe Biden was in the Oval Office -- or upstairs in the residence sleeping, I'm not so sure -- egg prices increased 65% in this country," Leavitt said.
"We also have seen the cost of everything -- not just eggs, bacon, groceries, gasoline -- have increased because of the inflationary policies of the last administration," Leavitt said.
"As far as the egg shortage," she said. "What is also contributing to that is the Biden administration and the Department of Agriculture directed the mass killing of more than 100 million chickens, which has led to a lack of chicken supply in this country, and therefore a lack of egg supply, which is leading to the shortage."
The Department of Agriculture projects future egg price increases in 2025, with costs possibly hitting $5 by the end of the year.
When farmers find bird flu, they are forced to kill their entire flocks. Egg prices have also been attributed to cage-free laws in a handful of liberal states, which ban the sale of eggs from chickens confined in cages.
“Unlike in past years, in 2024, all major production systems experienced significant losses, including conventional caged, cage-free, and certified organic types,” said the USDA.
While it may be true that Biden drove inflation, Americans will eventually expect to see prices come down. Trump has acknowledged that it won't be easy.
"I'd like to bring them down. It's hard to bring things down once they're up. You know, it's very hard," Trump told TIME in December,
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
One U.S. senator has moved quickly to build on the momentum started by President Donald Trump's executive order to prevent federal promotions and payments for transgender "treatments," also described as body mutilations, on children.
Trump on Tuesday signed his executive order titled "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation."
It includes, "It is the policy of the United States that it will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called 'transition' of a child from one sex to another, and it will rigorously enforce all laws that prohibit or limit these destructive and life-altering procedures."
But, as a report in RedState confirmed, "executive orders are, of course, limited, and must eventually be supported by legislation."
That brought Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., into the discussion.
He announced he is reintroducing the "Protecting Kids from Child Abuse Act," which allows victims to sue the doctors who hurt them.
Online, Hawley explained his plan will "create a private right of action for individuals who were harmed by a gender-transition procedure performed on them when they were minors."
The liability would fall on "a pediatric gender clinic where the procedure was performed; a medical practitioner who performed the procedure or was employed by the clinic; and a university or hospital that is affiliated with the clinic."
Further, it was bar "federal funding to any pediatric gender clinic, to any university or hospital that is affiliated with a pediatric gender clinic, and for any gender-transition procedure performed on minors."
It essentially "would enshrine most of President Trump's EO into law," the report said.
"This seems like a no-brainer, a policy statement that should be enshrined in the hallowed halls of the Museum of the Mind-Numbingly Obvious. But the fact is that the rise of 'transgenderism' has made it necessary, especially where children are concerned. There is a reason we don't allow children to make certain decisions; they lack the maturity, the experience, and the wisdom to do so. That's why we don't let children sign contracts, or buy alcohol, tobacco, or firearms," the report explained.
"We don't let them sign consent for medical treatments, even as something as minor as filling a cavity; we don't let them get tattoos. We sure shouldn't allow them to get harmful, permanent, life-changing, and sterilizing treatments and procedures that will require them to have medical intervention for the rest of their lives."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – Middle East/Israel Morning Brief
U.S. State Department ends program that Hamas used for 'explosive condoms'
Secretary of State Marco Rubio's decision to freeze foreign aid over the weekend included pulling millions of dollars-worth of US funding for condoms in Gaza, Fox News Digital reported.
According to Israel Hayom, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the funding pause during her first briefing Tuesday. "That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money. So that's what this pause is focused on, being good stewards of tax dollars," Leavitt said.
Over the past decade, Hamas has used condoms to create IED-carrying balloons that winds would fly into southern Israel, raising the alarm on schoolyards, farmlands, and highways.These improvised explosive devices burned thousands of hectares of land and caused extensive damage.
The State Department's review comes in response to President Donald Trump's executive order, "Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid," issued last week directing a 90-day pause on most U.S. foreign assistance disbursed through the State Department.
American high-school coach hangs Palestinian flag, refuses to shake hands during basketball game against Jewish school
A Colorado high school is facing backlash after its basketball coach reportedly hung up a Palestinian flag during a game against a Jewish school and then refused to shake hands with the opposing coaches.
A boys basketball game between Lotus School For Excellence and Denver Academy of Torah last Wednesday showed flashes of anti-Semitism, particularly over the non-handshake postgame, Brandon Rattiner of the Jewish Community Relations Council said in an interview.
Rattiner, who was talking on behalf of the Denver Academy of Torah, called the actions disappointing and shocking.
"I think everybody in the Jewish community is very aware that there's been a rising tide of antisemitism since Oct. 7," he said in reference to Hamas' terror attack on Israel.
"And we've seen it in schools here and all throughout the country on many different occasions."
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to relocate Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to other nations, countering with the suggestion Israelis should be resettled in Greenland, Iran International reported.
"My suggestion is different. Instead of Palestinians, expel Israelis and send them to Greenland so they can kill two birds with one stone," Araghchi said in an exclusive interview with Sky News.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – In an effort to get some kind of grip on the anti-Semitism, which has swept the U.S., especially since the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 onslaught on Israel, President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order Wednesday which will instruct all federal agencies to take decisive action, including identifying legal avenues to punish and deport individuals engaging in anti-Jewish activities – in particular, foreign students on visas.
A document describing the order requires agency and department leaders to provide the White House with recommendations within 60 days and outlines plans for the Justice Department to investigate pro-Hamas graffiti and intimidation, including on college campuses, according to a New York Post exclusive.
Among those to be targeted in the executive order are resident aliens – including those on student visas – who broke laws as part of the anti-Israel protests following the Oct. 7, terrorist attack, which sparked Israel's invasion of Gaza.
Some of the protests began before the IDF's entry into the Strip had begun. The Department of Justice will also intensify its investigations into pro-Hamas graffiti, harassment, and intimidation.
Last month, six House Republicans called on the government to more to address the rising tide of anti-Semitism, including the conditioning of federal aid to colleges – such as Columbia, which has become a hotbed of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist agitation – to enforce stricter policies to counter it. The college reportedly took in more than $2 billion in federal funds in the 2023 fiscal year.
The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department allegedly stonewalled on releasing key records on the matter, reinforcing Republican claims the Biden administration had been slow – at best – to address anti-Semitic threats.
For his part, Trump is keeping yet another campaign promise, following up on remarks he made calling for the expulsion of foreign students openly supporting Hamas. Last week, he signed another executive order hinting at broader measures to prevent non-citizens from supporting designated terrorist organizations within U.S. borders.
While so-called "hate speech" is protected under the First Amendment, the same House GOP report released last month argues federal law bars recipients of taxpayer funds from tolerating discrimination, under the rubric of which preventing Jewish students – and only Jewish students – from certain areas would presumably fall.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein has handed a sobbing former Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat, 11 years in prison for convictions of bribery and corruption.
Prosecutors had asked for a 15-year term for the 71-year-old, and his lawyers initially asked for a two-year sentence, revising their request to eight years after the judge sentenced co-conspirators to terms of that length.
Reports said Menendez was sobbing as he was sentenced.
A report at the Gateway Pundit noted Menendez resigned in August after Chuck Schumer, then the Senate majority leader, and other Democrats pressured him.
At the time, Menendez claimed he would be appealing his conviction "all the way and including to the Supreme Court."
He also said he was "proud of the many accomplishments I've had on behalf of New Jersey, such as leading the federal effort for Superstorm Sandy recovery, preserving and funding Gateway and leading the federal efforts to help save our hospitals, State and municipalities, as well as New Jersey families through a once in a century COVID pandemic."
He was accused in a superseding indictment of acting as a foreign agent, with allegations he gave "sensitive U.S. government" details to Egypt.
He and his wife also were accused of obstruction of justice.
Investigators found $500,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes and gold bars in the couple's home.
"This case has always been about shocking levels of corruption, hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, a Mercedes Benz. This wasn't politics as usual, this was politics for profit. And now that a jury has convicted Bob Menendez, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end," Damian Williams, U.S. attorney, said earlier in the case.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared in Washington for a Senate hearing on his confirmation to be President Donald Trump's Health and Human Services secretary and came face-to-face with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who went bonkers over onesies being sold to parents for their infants.
It's because the clothing items, sold by an organization that Kennedy no longer has an affiliation with, express vaccine-skeptical messages.
One message stated, "Unvaxxed. Unafraid," while the other indicated: "No Vax, No Problem."
Sanders was described as going "unhinged" and demanding whether Kennedy was going to do something about the sales of the clothing by the outside organization.
"Are you supportive of these onesies?" Sanders demanded, over and over.
Kennedy, long known as a vaccine skeptic, has confirmed multiple times that there are good results from some vaccines, but that all vaccines carry with them the possibility of affecting different people in different ways.
Also in the hearing:
Kennedy dismantled claims from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who brought up excerpted comments from Kennedy about his opinion on vaccines.
Kennedy schooled and scolded Wyden:
"Senator, as you know, because it's been repeatedly debunked that statement I made on the Lex Fridman Podcast was a fragment of the statement," Kennedy charged. "He asked me and anyone who goes back and looks at this podcast will see this. He asked me whether there were vaccines that were safe and effective and I said to him some of the live virus vaccines are. And I said there were no vaccines that were safe and effective for every person. Every medicine has people that are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point. I've corrected it MANY TIMES, including on national TV. You know about this, Senator Wyden, so bringing this up right now is dishonest."
The Gateway Pundit commented, "The early award for most unhinged lunatic questioner goes to Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) who set out from the beginning to conduct a massive character assassination on RFK Jr.. But the man at the forefront of Making America Healthy Again (along with President Trump) was more than ready and blew up his lies."
Also, Kennedy called out Democrats and ripped them for burning money.
"I would ask any of the Democrats who were chuckling just now, do you think all that money, the $900 billion that we're sending to Medicaid every year, has made Americans healthy? Do we think it's working for anybody?"
Kennedy also pointed out the failings of the Obamacare plan, the Affordable Care Act, with concerns about its inefficacy and fiscal wastefulness.
"Americans, by and large, do not like the Affordable Care Act. People are on it, they don't like Medicaid, they like Medicare, and they like private insurance," suggesting a huge overhaul is in order.
He explained the president has asked him to work on the chronic disease epidemic in America, and that's his goal.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In what has developed as an obvious strategy on the part of President Donald Trump – announcing new plans even before his detractors can react to a previous strategy – he has confirmed that he's asking for a detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 illegal aliens.
Trump only a day earlier, had announced a freeze on some government spending so those expenditures could be evaluated over whether they were being used for now-discontinued diversity and other racist programs. Then he rescinded the freeze while confirming that the review of those spending programs would continue.
Then he announced a plan for an executive order to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to start readying a detention center.
One prominent Democrat has admitted the Trump administration is moving so quickly on so many fronts members of his party already are "fatigued."
The Washington Examiner described it as a "surprise declaration" that came during the signing of the Laken Riley Act.
Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. holding on the island of Cuba, was used to detain suspected terrorists during the George W. Bush administration. Barack Obama claimed he would close it down within a year but failed. Of late, it has seen a lower and lower population of terror suspects as Joe Biden freed a number of them.
"Today, I'm also signing an executive order to instruct the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to begin preparing the 30,000-person migrant facility at Guantanamo Bay. Most people don't even know about it," the president explained. "We have 30,000 beds in Guantanamo to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens threatening the American people. Some of them are so bad, we don't even trust [their home] countries to hold them because we don't want them coming back. So we're going to send them out to Guantanamo."
The report said immigrant "rights" organizations and Democrats are expected to fight the plan.
"Guantanamo could regain a place in American foreign policy and its public consciousness. Its inmate population dwindled to just 15 people in recent years and now could swell by tens of thousands," the report said.
Trump already has been shipping illegals who are arrested back to their home countries, and won a huge victory just days ago when Colombian officials agreed to his terms after complaining that its citizens weren't being treated respectfully.
Multiple details of the plan haven't been released yet.
Trump's actual order said the detention center should be prepared to handle "full capacity."
"This memorandum is issued in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty," Trump wrote.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is attempting to stall President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, Fox News reported. The strategy has backfired for James, whom some are accusing of disregarding public safety.
At Trump's direction, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have initiated several raids this week on illegal immigrants. James is more worried about the potential criminals being removed than the people of New York who are impacted by their presence.
"My office is aware of the increased presence of ICE across New York City. I am monitoring the situation to ensure our laws are being respected and people's rights are not being violated," James said in a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. She also included guidance from her office for how local officials should handle the raids.
My office is aware of the increased presence of ICE across New York City.
I am monitoring the situation to ensure our laws are being respected and people's rights are not being violated.
We have sent guidance to law enforcement, and it must be followed:https://t.co/B4OGuUj35E
— NY AG James (@NewYorkStateAG) January 28, 2025
Following Tuesday's raids, Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams was eager to cooperate. Adams said he would "not hesitate to partner with federal authorities to bring violent criminals to justice — just as we have done for years" after the raids were conducted.
This is in stark contrast to the stance James took. Part of her guidance included a reminder that local law enforcement officers are "not ordinarily permitted to detain people at the request of federal civil immigration authorities alone without a judicial warrant" in New York.
It seems James is counting on red tape to keep her so-called "sanctuary state" status. "In accordance with the federal and state constitutions, New York law permits arrest and detention only when law enforcement officials have probable cause to believe that an individual has committed a crime or offense," the guidance said.
"A judicial warrant, signed by an Article III or federal magistrate judge, would demonstrate the necessary probable cause, and justify the arrest and detention. Absent a judicial warrant, however, further detention is permissible only upon a separate showing of probable cause that the individual committed a crime or offense, or that an exception to the probable cause requirement applies," it added.
This demonstrates her displaced concern while the people of her state suffer the ill effects of thousands of unvetted people flooding the state. This is something that hasn't gone unnoticed by people like Sgt. Joseph Imperatrice.
Imperatrice, Blue Lives Matter NYC founder, slammed James for prioritizing illegal immigrants over citizens. "The number one goal of any person in office is the safety of their constituents," Imperatrice told Fox News Digital.
"And I believe that, across the board, our politicians need to get on the same page, work together, understand each other and why we're doing what we're doing. We cannot have people coming into our country committing violent felonies and then speaking out about it when it could have been prevented," he added.
"The second you break our rules or commit a violent felony or any type of felony, your rights should be rescinded. And that's where we all need to get on the same page to work for a safer America and a safer New York City," Imperatrice continued.
"We need to listen to the communities we serve since they're the ones that pay our taxes to be able to pay for the salaries of our first responders, and they're the ones that vote for our politicians. Their voices need to be heard," he said. Imperatrice added that "we need to come together to work on making New York City and America safe."
It's essential to ensure all laws are applied appropriately, including when deporting illegal immigrants. However, James has made it clear that she's on the side of the criminals while the rest of New York suffers from the crimes.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Karoline Leavitt, in her first briefing as press secretary for President Donald Trump's White House, answered questions, over and over, on wasting taxpayer money, transgenderism, wokeness, DEI and much, much more.
She noted that foreign nationals who enter the United States illegally have, in fact, broken the law and are subject to removal:
She addressed the fact that she will tell reporters the truth, and she expects them to meet the same standard:
She pointed out that new media, bloggers and such, will have access to the briefings, along with the traditional corporate media:
Responding to questions about President Trump addressing the cost of living, she pointed out that egg prices exploded under Joe Biden, on whose orders millions and millions of chickens across the U.S. were destroyed.
On spending cuts, she cited the order that tax money stop going to various DEI, green scams, transgenderism, wokeness programs and social engineering, and said this is what voters elected Trump to address.
Under the Biden administration, officials were spending "money like drunken sailors," she said. That's why consumers have been hit by inflation, more than 20% under Biden.
The spending pause, she pointed, already found $37 million "about to go out the door" to the World Health Organization, from which Trump has withdrawn America, as well as $50 million for condoms in Gaza, a "preposterous waste" of tax money.
She said Trump is insisting the world respect America, as evidenced by the decision in Colombia to work with Trump's program regarding illegal immigration.
"This president will not tolerate illegals moving into America's interior," she said. He expects "every nation on this planet to cooperate."
On birthright citizenship, she said state officials, even federal judges, are allowed their opinion that it is constitutional. But the administration believes it is not and intends to pursue its case up to the Supreme Court, which has not decided specifically on the amendment's reference to jurisdiction, if needed.
She said the president is firm is his ending of funding for UNWRA and the designation of the Houthis as terrorists. She said an investigation into why the Biden administration kept money flowing, and left the Houthis undesignated, would be good although she did not know of any such plans.
"It wouldn't be a bad idea," she said.
Leavitt also announced: "After research and study, the drones that were flying over New Jersey in large numbers were authorized to be flown by the FAA for research and various other reasons."
Here are her full responses:
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
President Donald Trump has outlined one plan that would provide America with an income instead of a federal income tax.
And he cites a time period that for decades, it worked.
He said, "America's going to be very rich again and it's going to happen very quickly. It's time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before."
He continued, "You know the United States in 1870 to 1913 all tariffs and that was the richest period in the history of the United States relatively speaking. In other words, relatively, and they set up the great tariff commission of 1887 and this commission had one function. What to do with all the money that we took in.
"It was so enormous that they had no idea, it was a blue ribbon committee set up in 1887, and what to do with all of the money, that we had and again, Teddy Roosevelt was a beneficiary, because when McKinley was killed he took over this vast sum of money, and he did all of those national parks, and all of the other things and I'm not knocking him, but he was given a vast amount of money. And that was all made through tariffs. We had no income tax. The income tax came in in 1913, As I said in my speech last week instead of taxing our citizens to enrich foreign nations, we should be tariffing and taxing foreign nations to enrich our citizens. Does that make sense?"