This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Xaver Becerra, when he was pulled out of the position of attorney general for California to become Joe Biden's Health and Human Services chief, widely was known for one thing: his ardent advocacy for abortion for all.
Now the choice Biden made in appointing someone with the qualifications of Becerra is coming back to sting, as a congressional report is warning that billions of dollars of federal biomedical and public health research funding could be jeopardized because of his technical failure.
It seems that, the report said, 14 directors of some of the largest of the National Institutes of Healths' 27 individual organizations and centers needed to be reappointed to their positions by Dec. 12, 2021, under requirements of the law and the appointments clause of the Constitution.
Only they weren't.
The Washington Examiner explained the report said a two-year investigation by the House Energy and Commerce Committee found no evidence that Becerra signed the required paperwork by that deadline to "fulfill the legal requirements to legitimize the respective directors of the 14 institutes and centers."
Without a legitimacy in their positions, anything they adopted or voted for could be in jeopardy. Including programs they funded and grants they approved.
The report explained, "The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It is one of 13 subcabinet agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), with an annual budget of more than $40 billion. As noted by the National Academies of Science (NAS), 'Founded in the late 1870s, NIH has produced extraordinary advances in the treatment of common and rare diseases and leads the world in biomedical research. It is a critical national resource that plays an important role in supporting national security.'"
The report continued, "No component of HHS 'is subject to greater statutory control with respect to its internal organization than the NIH.' The NIH was established by the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), which specifies the statutorily named national research institutes and national centers. Title IV of the PHSA sets forth in detail the mission, programs, and grant authority of each of the institutes and centers of NIH. It also provides that the director of the National Cancer Institute shall be appointed by the President (no advice and consent) and the directors of the remaining institutes shall be appointed by the HHS secretary, acting through the NIH director. Selecting and retaining the leadership of the NIH's institutes and centers is vital to the success of the NIH. Since at least 1985, the Secretary of HHS has had the statutory responsibility, in accordance with the Appointments Clause power, to appoint these leaders."
The report warned, "Based on various documents and responses produced in response to congressional inquiries, it is apparent that HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra failed to re-appoint the Institute and Center Directors in a timely fashion and then engaged in a campaign of misinformation and obstruction in an attempt to cover it up."
The report noted that Republicans, during Becerra's confirmation, questioned whether he was, in fact, even qualified for the position.
"Skeptics were concerned about his lack of health care experience as well as his ability to manage a sprawling Department responding to the then-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," the report said.
In fact, the report said, "Secretary Becerra's first visit to the NIH, an agency prominent in the pandemic response, came eight months into the job. In light of these press reports, Republican leaders raised concerns in January 2022 about Secretary Becerra's visibility and availability during the administration's response to the COVID-19 response and requested that the secretary voluntarily provide his calendar and work schedule."
"Secretary Becerra, an attorney by trade, failed to sign the basic legal documents and follow the process required by the Constitution and federal law necessary to reappoint key NIH officials, putting their jobs, the decisions they've made, and the billions in funding they've approved in legal jeopardy," charged Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., Subcommittee on Health Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chairman Morgan Griffith, R-Va.
The report said improper reappointments "could expose the actions of the directors to substantial legal challenges, ranging from the administration of research funds to personnel changes or decisions. Some of the largest individual branches of the NIH, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, are in jeopardy."
The report said it wasn't until June 2023 when Becerra signed affidavits for the reappointments of institute and center directors, more than a year after the committee began the initial inquiry in March 2022.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The full repercussions of a decision by San Jose State to allow a male to participate on a women's volleyball team over the last year still haven't hit.
But the next wave is just developing, as a long list of players on that team have confirmed they are planning to transfer to other schools.
Fox News reports that a "wave" of players announced their exodus from San Jose State's team after a "controversy-riddled" season.
"Student athletes have the ability to make decisions about their college athletic careers, and we have the utmost respect for that," the school conceded in a statement.
The report said the San Francisco Chronicle confirmed that already seven of the players are leaving, after a season that provoked some reality-defying circumstances, such as the New York Times description of biological women on the women's team as "non-transgender women."
The San Jose season was marred by eight forfeited matches by teams whose players refused to subject themselves to possible injury from the volleyball slams of a stronger, male, opponent.
There also was regular police presence for the team and fights among players and coaches.
The team ended its season with a loss in the conference final to Colorado State, and at the time head coach Todd Kress called it "one of the most difficult seasons" he'd ever had.
The male player, Blaire Fleming, has used up his collegiate eligibility after finishing a fourth season.
The report explained some of the issues that remain: "In September, co-captain Brooke Slusser joined a lawsuit against the NCAA alleging the program withheld knowledge about Fleming's birth gender from her and other players on the team. Slusser alleged she was made to share changing and sleeping spaces with Fleming without knowing that Fleming was a biological male."
Slusser and other Mountain West Conference players also launched a separate lawsuit against the conference and San Jose State, and that has included testimony from former San Jose State volleyball players Alyssa Sugai and Elle Patterson alleging they were passed over for scholarships in favor of Fleming, the report said.
Revealed in court papers was an alleged scheme by Fleming "to have Slusser spiked in the face with a volleyball in a game against Colorado State on Oct. 3. Slusser was not spiked in the face in that game, and an investigation by the Mountain West concluded without finding sufficient evidence of the alleged plot," the report said.
And an assistant coach, Melissa Batie-Smoose, was suspended last month after filing a Title IX complaint against the school for showing favoritism toward Fleming.
WND had reported during the season when teams from many other schools simply refused to play San Jose State because of the presence of Fleming.
Among the schools that simply walked away from matches were Boise State, the University of Wyoming, Southern Utah and Utah State.
Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines, who was among the first to launch a revolt against males on women's sports teams, applauded the latest developments in the social and moral contest over adopting the ideology that men can simply call themselves women, and be on women's teams.
Some of the legal actions already in play charge the NCAA with violating Title IX by allowing men on women's teams.
"The suit asserts that including male-to-female trans players not only disadvantages women but also presents a safety hazard…as highlighted in this video shared by Republican Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn:"
A governor even joined the conversation:
And the Cowboy State Daily reported, "U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican and Wyoming's only delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, voiced support for UW's ultimate decision in a Tuesday statement."
"I am proud of UW volleyball standing up to this nonsense," wrote Hageman. "We must do what it takes to protect our girls! I hope everyone will go support the team this season."
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon also voiced support of the decision, saying, "It is important we stand for integrity and fairness in female athletics."
Lawmakers in that state warned their school: "The Legislature has been very clear that the University of Wyoming, being a publicly funded land grant institution, should not participate in the extremist agenda of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) or propagate the lie that biological sex can be changed. We all know it cannot."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
One of the more salacious messaging tidbits that came out of ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's partisan J6 committee which was set up to investigate the Capitol riot, but actually tried to rearrange evidence to blame President Donald Trump for the events, was that Trump tried to commandeer the presidential limousine.
That claim came from Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who has come under scrutiny for not just the content of her testimony to Pelosi's committee, but changing it, and then allegedly working at the behest of former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., to orchestra her statements.
Hutchinson had claimed at the time Pelosi's committee was holding hearings that Trump had insisted that his Secret Service driver take him to the Capitol that day.
Lacking a positive response, Hutchinson claimed, Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of the limo.
Her claims immediately were refuted by the Secret Service, which pointed out the incident simply did not happen.
Now a report in the Federalist documents how newly released testimony from the Secret Service pushed back on the wild claim.
It was House Administration's subcommittee on Oversight that released the transcripts of a Secret Service driver for President Donald Trump, the report said.
"I did not see him reach. He never grabbed the steering wheel," the driver told Cheney at the time. "I didn't see him, you know, lunge to try to get into the front seat at all."
The Federalist noted that "flew directly in opposition" to Cassidy's claims that an irate president took after agents to try to drive himself to the Capitol.
Hutchinson had testified Trump said something like, "I'm the f'ing president, take me up to the Capitol now."
With her testimony, the report said, "she was celebrated by Trump's opponents as a heroine of the Jan. 6 saga to smear Republicans as complicit in the violence at the Capitol. Lawmakers on the partisan panel appointed by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi aggressively pursued that narrative to the point of releasing select testimony and riot footage with a series of made-for-TV hearings produced by professional broadcasters."
The Federalist noted it months ago had documented how Cheney suppressed evidence "that Trump pressed Democrats to accept 10,000 National Guard troops ahead of Jan. 6, 2021."
He was refused.
House investigators now are calling for the Department of Justice to investigate Cheney's actions for allegedly tampering with a congressional witness.
She is accused of circumventing Hutchinson's lawyer just as Hutchinson was changing her testimony.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Americans were witnesses during Joe Biden's tenure as president to his verbal and mental stumbles, his memory lapses and awkward gaps that moved far beyond his legacy of gaffes and verbal bumbles, even his physical trips and falls.
None of which is out of the ordinary for an octogenarian who now has been described by a federal prosecutor as an "elderly man with a poor memory," who apparently even forgot when he was vice president to Barack Obama.
But the Wall Street Journal has released a report charging that there was an unprecedented conspiracy to hide Biden's failings from the public, even as his shortcomings were evidence at the outset of his presidency.
Republican pundit Scott Jennings has described the situation, of presidential aides withholding press access to Biden, of withholding information from the president, and more, a "scandal of epic proportions."
Reportedly a vocal coach had been hired to try to make Biden's voice better, and aides "scrapped meetings on Biden's 'bad days' and even kept him away from his own Cabinet appointees and congressional Democratic allies," according to a multiple reports.
"It's the biggest scandal in America," Jennings said during an interview this week.
"And the level and volume of people who dedicated themselves to lying to everyone at home about this man's condition for four straight years – up through this summer – is breathtaking."
Fair would be the question, he said, "Who is running this country?"
"And his staff and the White House lied about it and kept it from the American people. It's an absolute scandal what's going on."
The White House has rejected the charge there was a large scale coverup of Biden's failings.
But a report from the Daily Caller News Foundation explained Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky is warning Democrats could face their own "tea party" movement after the revelations about administration appointees concealing the truth about Biden's condition.
The report said the Wall Street Journal reporting charged White House aides "insulated" Biden, even from Cabinet members, from the first year of his presidency. Roginsky said that the "lying" about Biden's health would have consequences for Democrats, the report warned.
"There is a bigger problem here, and that is that I think Democrats are at the point where Republicans might have been right after the Bush election or after the Bush term was up, which is that I think Democrats are starting to mistrust their institutions. And this goes back to a bipartisan effort to lie us into the Iraq war, not just by George Bush, but also by a lot of Democrats."
Roginsky said, "I think you have a lot of Democrats now, me included, who are pretty sick of the institution and trusting people in the institution and this is just one example, the most recent example, I think of people institutionally lying to the American people and what you're ultimately going to see. And I don't have a problem saying this as a Democrat, is that you're going to see a tea party version rise up in the Democratic Party based on the fact that this is yet another marker of people just not trusting our leaders anymore. And I'm sorry to say that, but I think we brought this on ourselves."
Biden's blunders long have been documented in media reports and there's even been a book written about them. But during his presidency he several times claimed to have spoken with people who were dead at the time.
The report said that includes when he claimed "to have spoken with former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017, and former French President Francois Mitterrand, who passed away in 1996. In September 2022, Biden asked for Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski of Indiana at a conference on hunger that took place several weeks after Walorski and two staffers were killed in a car crash."
The real world ramifications now are appearing, too. The Daily Mail said Kamala Harris "abruptly" canceled a scheduled Christmas vacation after the revelations of Biden's decline.
Social media did not miss the connection, as "Her announcement came hours after a bombshell Wall Street Journal investigation exposed how frail the president has been throughout the last four years."
The public saw evidence of Biden's decline when he appeared in a presidential debate with now President-elect Donald Trump last summer. Only days later, Biden dropped out of the race, and endorsed stand-in Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in a landslide in November.
Evidence showed up multiple times over Biden's presidency, including when he was given written instructions by his staff on where and when to sit during a meeting with press, and when to leave. He also was seen wandering around on stages at various times, seemingly unable to find stairs to get down.
The New York Post said the campaign to hide Biden's "apparent mental decline" began on Day 1 of his presidency.
"The lack of access to the nation's oldest-ever president has been well known in Washington — with Biden hosting the fewest large press conferences in modern history and frequently descending into gaffes at the podium when he appeared — but how much the White House made up for the haziness had until now been hidden, according to aides, Democratic lawmakers and donors who spoke with the Wall Street Journal," the report said.
Further, staff members "removed negative reports from Biden's stack of news for the day, misleading him about the public's opinion of his job performance — which reached a 70-year low in 2024," the report said.
He frequently "relied on notecards," was seen carrying "large directions printed for him," and often "missed up the names of foreign dignitaries."
Mediaite listed the "five biggest bombshells" from the report on Biden, including that there were concerns even during the first part of his tenure, that Democrats noticed a leadership vacuum, that meetings were strictly scripted, that Biden struggled to prepare his thoughts when interviewed by special counsel Robert Hur and campaign donors were "shocked" by his performance on calls.
But the Daily Mail post a list of dozens of events that should, to an observer, cause alarm about a sitting president.
For example. Biden repeatedly stumbled while walking up steps to Air Force One. And fell off bicycles.
He also mislabeled the Royal Air Force the "RFA." And he fell asleep while listening to speakers at a climate conference.
Several times he mispronounced the names of other nations' officials.
And, the report said, he "tripped as he walked down the stairs of the Itsukushima Shrine in May 2023 in his rush to greet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida."
And he fell while making an appearance at the Air Force Academy.
And he repeated an inaccurate story about a "white supremacist rally" – twice at the same event.
At a meeting with Brazil's president, he walked off the stage and into a flag. And he called the Congressional Hispanic Caucus the "black caucus."
He claimed to have ridden a train over a collapse bridge that never had train tracks, and called Ukraine's president by the name of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.
When Biden forgot the name of his own Defense secretary he simply labeled him a "black man."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
It is the Gateway Pundit that has assembled a list of what innocuously is called "a handful of Joe Biden's accomplishments."
Those include:
And for those accomplishments, Biden says, he has no regrets.
He's asked by an interviewer: "Any other regrets or anything you wished you would have done differently?"
"Well, I guess if I thought a lot about it there'd be something specifically, not generically," Biden said.
Social media commenters weren't at a loss for words:
"I can think of some!" said one.
And, "It is only a disaster from our point of view. From his point of view it was perfect."
And another offered Biden an excuse: "He doesn't remember any of it. Poor guy."
The report explained Biden was being interviewed by Ben Meiselas, whose visit was posted on YouTube:
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) shut down rumors that he's leaving Congress to serve as head of President-elect Donald Trump's Federal Emergency Management Agency, The Hill reported. Media reports earlier this week noted that Moskowitz was on Trump's shortlist for the position.
After the news spread, Moskowitz felt it necessary to get ahead of the chatter. In a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, Moskowitz unequivocally stated he would not be leaving his position.
"I appreciate the speculation but I am staying in Congress and running for re-election. It’s an honor to serve the people of Florida’s 23rd district," Moskowitz wrote. "To be clear, nothing was ever offered," he added.
To be clear, nothing was ever offered.
— Jared Moskowitz (@JaredEMoskowitz) December 17, 2024
If Moskowitz had taken a position with the Trump administration, he would have been the first Florida Democrat to do so. However, he is already one Democrat who is used to working with Republicans.
Under Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, Mosowitz served as the Florida Division of Emergency Management from 2019-2021. He's also the first Democrat on the Department of Government Efficiency Caucus, with Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk's DOGE.
According to the New York Post, Moskowitz was very receptive to the idea of creating such a committee. His priority was moving FEMA from under the Department of Homeland Security because it had "become too big."
Perhaps seeing Moskowitz side with Republicans made it okay for others to join in on DOGE in the Democratic Party. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have expressed interest in joining the mission to cut waste, especially in the military.
Moskowitz has also joined Republicans speaking out against the antisemitism that has crept into his party since the war in Gaza began. Many Democrats are openly criticizing Israel for retaliating against the attacks perpetrated by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Even if Trump didn't tap Moskowitz this time, it's possible he's considering asking other Democrats to fill other positions. Many of his appointments take Republicans out of Congress, which narrows the GOP's already slim majority.
The president-elect has asked House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to become the U.S. ambassador as well as Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) for national security adviser. He also had tapped Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as his attorney general, though the ensuing accusations against him led to Gaetz stepping down from Congress altogether.
With his appointments and the loss of three seats by Republicans since November, the GOP could find itself with just a one-seat majority in the House of Representatives. This will mean a more complicated path to implementing all of his agenda.
Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance have repeatedly expressed their openness to appointing Democrats. With the Republican majority at stake, it would help alleviate that issue.
It seems it was just a rumor that Moskowitz had been asked to join the Trump administration. Even so, there are other signs that Trump is willing to work with whoever will get the most done for the American people, even Democrats.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi managed to participate in a photo session despite suffering a hip injury during her visit to Luxembourg for a World War II commemoration event.
Pelosi endured severe discomfort to be present for the photograph after falling on a marble staircase, the New York Post reported.
The incident took place at the Grand Ducal Palace, where Pelosi while wearing "very high" heels, tripped and fell due to the absence of a railing on the marble staircase. This unfortunate event was witnessed by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, who provided immediate assistance.
Despite her injury, Pelosi demonstrated considerable tenacity by participating in the delegation's photo session, visibly leaning on McCaul for support. This occurrence was noted by many who observed her firm grip on McCaul during the session.
After the photograph, Pelosi was promptly evacuated to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center near the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany. There, it was determined she needed hip replacement surgery which was conducted shortly after her arrival at the facility.
Post-surgery, Michael McCaul shared updates on Pelosi's condition, noting her energetic disposition despite the circumstances. He relayed her eagerness to recover swiftly and return home to the United States, highlighting her resilient spirit.
Even as a former House Speaker, Pelosi's trip to Luxembourg along with a bipartisan delegation for the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge showcased her profound dedication to marking historical milestones and engaging in international diplomacy.
The resolve Pelosi displayed following her injury serves as a noteworthy reflection of her steadfast commitment and influence within her party. Her actions continue to underline her position as a significant figure in American politics.
This incident coincides with a forthcoming change in the House Foreign Affairs Committee leadership, as Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) is set to take over from McCaul due to term limits.
The transition highlights a significant period of change in one of the key congressional committees.
The fortitude Pelosi displayed in the face of personal physical adversity underscores the challenges and rigor associated with her role in U.S. political and international engagement spheres.
Her contributions and her current condition are expected to remain key points of interest in U.S. political discourse.
McCaul's recount of the events and Pelosi's condition post-surgery bring to light not only her personal challenge but also the unwavering support and attentiveness from her colleagues during this testing time.
It is clear that Pelosi's influence and respect extend well beyond her front-line political duties.
President-elect Donald Trump is warming up to the Senate filibuster after calling for the procedural rule to be abolished in his first term.
In his interview with TIME, which named him Person of the Year, Trump said he has "respect" for the filibuster after it blocked progressives' push for a Supreme Court overhaul.
“You know, it makes it very difficult in the Senate. It makes it very, very difficult to overturn things. Now, in one way, that’s good. In another way, maybe you'd say it’s bad," he said.
"They were going to do a number on our Supreme Court that now it's not going to happen."
The Senate filibuster requires 60 votes to pass most legislation. Its supporters have called it a defense against majoritarian tyranny that encourages compromise, while others have criticized it as anti-democratic.
Partisan stances on the filibuster have tended to shift with the political winds. Ending or weakening the filibuster was a priority for Democrats during much of President Biden's term, as Biden called for carveouts in the filibuster to pass sweeping election reforms and to protect abortion after the repeal of Roe v. Wade.
The push for filibuster reform was blocked by former Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who became targets of left-wing outrage.
At times, left-wing criticism of the filibuster has been racially charged: former President Obama called it a "Jim Crow relic" in 2020. But with Trump returning to Washington after a stunning re-election victory, Democrats are embracing the filibuster once again, and they don't care how hypocritical it looks.
“I’d be lying if I said we’d be in a better position without the filibuster,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. “We have a responsibility to stop autocratic and long-headed abuse of power or policy, and we’ll use whatever tools we have available. We’re not going to fight this battle with one hand tied behind our back.”
It isn't just Democrats changing position. Trump called to end the filibuster during his first term, but his demands were opposed by Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
The difference, though, is that Trump is embracing the filibuster on principle, while Democrats are doing so out of expediency, to block Trump's agenda.
Trump will begin his second term with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, but the filibuster will remain an obstacle. He also has to contend with the unreliable support of some Senate Republicans, who have been slow to embrace his Cabinet.
While the filibuster remains in place for most Senate bills, it is a thing of the past when it comes to the president's nominees. Former Democratic Senator Harry Reid infamously invoked the "nuclear option" in 2013 to lower the threshold for Cabinet nominees and federal judges to 51 votes. Years later, McConnell extended the same principle to push through Trump's Supreme Court picks.
The father of JonBenet Ramsey received a letter from a woman who says her ex-husband killed the child beauty queen, as a new Netflix series brings new interest in the cold case.
"Based on all this publicity, recently I got a letter from a lady saying, 'My ex-husband's the killer, and I've kept this inside for as long as I can – please, please call me," John Ramsey told the Daily Mail.
In a devastating twist, the woman has not answered back after John Ramsey, who is now 81, called her to follow up.
"We reached out to her, but she didn't answer the phone, so I don't know. We've shared at this point with a private investigator," he said.
It was John Ramsey who found his daughter dead in the basement of their home on the day after Christmas in 1996. The girl had been strangled, sexually assaulted and crushed in the head.
From the case's inception, a cloud of suspicion has hung over the Ramsey family, who quickly became the prime suspects in the eyes of police and the media. John's wife, Patsey, died of ovarian cancer in 2006, leaving John to advocate for JonBenet and clear the family name.
John told the Daily Mail that solving the case won't change his life at this stage, "but it'll change my children's lives, my grandchildren's lives."
"They need to have this cloud removed, clarified, and an answer. That's why we're pushing so hard to get an answer."
Public interest in the case has been renewed by the Netflix series Cold Case: Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey, which focuses on police errors, sensational media coverage targeting the Ramseys and the possibility of an intruder being responsible.
The final episode in the three-part series focuses heavily on John Mark Karr, a pedophile and teacher who was extradited from Thailand after he claimed to kill JonBenet. His DNA did not match the crime, however, and graphic details that he shared of the murder were not consistent with the evidence.
Because of past confessions that turned out to be false, John Ramsey is guarded about new leads like the letter he just received - but he maintains that new DNA analysis techniques can help find the culprit.
"Bureaucrats, politicians, are impacted by public pressure bigtime, and we sense that that's happening" with the Netflix series, he said.
The Boulder Police have denied obstructing the investigation.
"We are committed to following up on every lead and we are continuing to work with DNA experts and our law enforcement partners around the country until this tragic case is solved," the police said in a recent update.
A new report from House GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk found that former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney broke "numerous federal laws" while serving as vice chair of the January 6 Select Committee, CNN reported. Trump said Cheney "could be in a lot of trouble" based on this report.
House Republicans are urging the FBI to investigate Cheney for infractions, including witness tampering in the investigation the Jan. 6, 2021, incident at the Capitol. Trump shared the information on his Truth Social Tuesday morning.
"Liz Cheney could be in a lot of trouble based on the evidence obtained by the subcommittee, which states that 'numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, and these violations should be investigated by the FBI,'" Trump wrote. He thanked Loudermilk and Newsmax's Greg Kelly for their digging.
According to Fox News, the report found that Cheney engaged in "potential criminal witness tampering" with Trump's former White House aide, Cassidy Hutchinson. She was the "star witness" for the prosecution who claimed Trump had tried to overpower a Secret Service vehicle to head to the Capitol during the unrest.
Her laughable assertions became the center of the committee's case against Trump. However, Loudermilk found that Cheney was instrumental in convincing Hutchison to fire her counsel and go with "the attorneys Representative Cheney suggested," the report noted.
Hutchinson then "sat for her fourth transcribed interview with the Select Committee under unusual circumstances" not afforded to other witnesses. "It consisted of only four people: Representative Cheney, one attorney from the Select Committee, Hutchinson, and Hutchinson’s new counsel," Loudermilk's report said.
"Additionally, instead of the Select Committee conducting the interview in a conference room or virtually, Representative Cheney used her private hideaway inside of the United States Capitol Building," the report added. Hutchinson's testimony also received unusual gravitas from Cheney.
"Hutchinson is mentioned by name in the Select Committee’s Final Report no fewer than 185 times. Inexplicably, the Select Committee discredited the multitude of legitimate witnesses who, under oath, repeatedly refuted Hutchinson’s testimony. These legitimate witnesses include senior government officials and federal agents," Loudermilk's report said.
Even in light of these accusations about Cheney, CNN still spun its coverage to focus on whether Trump's Justice Department will go after his enemies. The news outlet made a big deal about Trump's surrogates pursuing "retribution" even if the president-elect doesn't direct them to it.
However, the accusations are compelling and seem to check out. Former Republican National Committee Chair Lara Trump, who is also Trump's daughter, indicated that investigations are coming because of this report.
"These people ought to be ashamed of themselves. I know they aren’t, so we’ll go ahead and shame them," Lara Trump said.
"Wait until Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard get in there," Lara Trump said of Donald Trump's pick for FBI head and director of national intelligence, respectively. Considering what the Loudermilk report already found, investigating Cheney's conduct is warranted.
Donald Trump is cheering the opportunity to finally expose his political enemies for what they are. Everything done in darkness will finally come to light whether they like it or not.