Two former White House aides testified about then-President Joe Biden's mental decline in front of the GOP-led House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform this week, Breitbart reported. Former Biden counselor Steve Ricchetti and former senior adviser Mike Donilon have agreed to appear before the committee voluntarily.
The committee, headed by Rep. James Comer (R-KY), is investigating whether there was a concerted effort to keep Biden's cognitive problems under wraps. Now that he's left office, Democrats are stunned that journalists are willing to admit what they saw and how Biden's staffers closed ranks to protect him.
If his problems were this obvious to the public, it's nearly impossible for his closest advisers to deny that they knew what was happening. The committee has called some of them as witnesses, but has had a hard time getting them to testify, including Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who was the White House physician under Biden.
The committee was forced to subpoena O'Connor to get him to speak about Biden's condition. Others, including Biden's former special assistant, Annie Tomasini, and first lady Jill Biden's former senior advisor, Anthony Bernal, have asserted their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Meanwhile, Biden's former chief of staff, Ron Klain, said that the president was mentally sharp during his time in the White House.
During his testimony Wednesday, Ricchetti claimed that Biden was "fully capable of exercising his presidential duties" while in office, The Hill reported. The news outlet had obtained prepared remarks Ricchetti used for his transcribed interview with the committee. Ricchetti seemed to deny the obvious fact that Biden was deteriorating in front of everyone's eyes.
"Let me be clear: At all times during his presidency, I believed that President Biden was fully capable of exercising his Presidential duties and responsibilities, and that he did so. Neither I, nor anyone else, usurped President Biden’s constitutional duties, which he faithfully and fully carried out each and every day," Ricchetti claimed, according to the transcription.
The former counselor to Biden said there was "certainly no conspiracy to hide the President’s mental condition from the American people" and that he was "not aware of any effort by any member of the White House staff to usurp the President’s authority to make decisions or to sign important documents without his knowledge." Ricchetti did concede that Biden had some problems but minimized their impact.
"Did he stumble? Occasionally. Make mistakes? Get up on the wrong side of the bed? He did — we all did. But I always believed — every day — that he had the capability, character, and judgment to be president of the United States," Ricchetti claimed.
Predictably, Ricchetti railed against Republicans for orchestrating a witch hunt. He claimed the committee's investigation "is part of a concerted effort by the Administration and its congressional allies to diminish the record of the former president by advancing the false narrative that President Biden was mentally unable to perform his constitutional duties and that members of his staff usurped the president’s Article 2 powers."
According to Fox News, Donilon was expected to appear before the committee after arriving on Thursday morning. In the past, Donilon defended Biden, including his campaign-ending debate performance in July 2024. "Now, lots of people have terrible debates," Donilon said at the time.
"Lots of people have terrible debates. Usually, the party doesn't lose its mind, but that's what happened here. It melted down," Donilon claimed. Biden stepped down from the presidential race shortly after the botched debate, where he appeared confused, tired, and unable to string together coherent thoughts.
This defense drew criticism even from rabid leftists like David Axelrod, a CNN contributor and former Obama adviser. Axelrod shared the clip of Donilon's remarks defending Biden at a Harvard University event, which he simply captioned, "Delusional."
Delusional https://t.co/7zWQ7liINN
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) February 22, 2025
Biden's mental deterioration was increasingly difficult to hide, even before the debate performance that caused the problem to become undeniable. Still, all of the people who were around Biden shielded him and continue to do so even after the truth is stunningly apparent.
A landmark decision came from a Senate committee, advocating for a prohibition on stock trading by lawmakers and top executives.
This crucial milestone addresses public calls for increased ethical standards and accountability for high-ranking officials.
The bill, initially garnering attention with its provocative name referencing Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was introduced by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).
Hawley and Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) collaborated on a revision that extends the ban to future presidents and vice presidents, aiming to curb conflicts of interest across all federal branches.
The committee's decision was sharply divided, with Hawley being the sole Republican supporting the proposal amidst an 8-7 vote.
Many Republicans expressed concerns, suggesting the bill might deter wealthy professionals from public service due to its financial implications.
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) emphasized the enforcement role of the Senate Ethics Committee, which he chairs, underscoring the legislation's serious implications.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) criticized the process as overly hurried and labeled the legislation as a simple publicity stunt, reflecting ongoing partisan debates over the bill's necessity and design.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) defended wealth generation, challenging the negative perception of profitable endeavors in the U.S.
In discussions about the bill's fairness, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) advocated for including the current President Donald Trump to avoid perceptions of bias, although ultimately, Trump was exempted.
Despite her initial reservations about exemptions, Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) supported the bill, viewing it as a pragmatic compromise necessary for broader legislative support.
The push for restrictions on stock trading is also gaining momentum in the House, highlighted by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna's (R-FL) efforts for a vote.
The House Ethics Committee's recent recommendation for Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) to divest from a steel manufacturer further underscored the need for stringent ethics regulations, despite no proven insider trading.
Hawley highlighted that the proposed ban aligns with long-standing public demands for transparency and fairness, hoping to end profitable insider information exploitations by Congress members.
"We all saw Vance and Trump come out against this publicly, but I think it’s important that we at least make a start," stated Slotkin, pushing forward the agenda for reform despite challenges.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The bad news for taxpayers is that the federal government is paying some 154,000 people to not do any work in their offices.
The good news is that those workers soon will be off the federal payroll entirely.
It's all part of President Donald Trump's plan to cut federal spending, including by reducing the number of government staff members drawing salaries and benefits.
It is the Hill that has reported on the costs, and benefits.
It cited details in the Washington Post that confirmed the government reportedly is cutting payroll checks even now to more than 154,000 workers.
But they don't report to work.
"Thousands have been receiving pay since June and will continue to be compensated until the end of fiscal 2025," the report said.
McLaurine Pinover of the Office of Personnel Management confirmed more than 150,000 employees were offered "a dignified and generous departure" program, a program that also "delivered incredible relief to the American taxpayer. No previous administration has gotten even close to saving American taxpayers this amount of money in such a short amount of time."
The plan came about as part of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, which in fact started efforts that could culminate in hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars being saved.
Democrats, including Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, are demanding an investigation of DOGE, including the layoff program. Blumental claims the government has wasted billions of dollars cutting expenses.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A Louisiana woman is being accused of fraud by investigators who say she was running a multi-million-dollar empire involving several companies and bought a $100,000 Lamborghini but still claimed – and took – Medicaid benefits.
A report from Fox News explains Candace Taylor, 35, from Slidell, is facing felony counts, accused by Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill's office of fraudulently taking Medicaid benefits.
"According to arrest records, the investigation began with a complaint from the Louisiana Department of Health alleging Taylor committed Medicaid recipient fraud by underreporting her income to qualify for benefits," the report explained.
She allegedly applied for Medicaid in 2018 under an alias, but was denied benefits. Then months later, she reapplied using the same alias but different information.
In 2024, two months after purchasing the Lamborghini, Taylor allegedly reapplied for Medicaid benefits — this time reporting a $2,000 monthly income and failing to disclose her ownership of any businesses, the report said.
But on Facebook, investigators found posts showcasing her luxury lifestyle.
A report from WVUE said in 2020 alone nearly $481,000 was deposited into her accounts.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., has proposed legislation in Congress that would give American taxpayers each at least $600 in the form of a rebate, taken from the huge cash haul that is expected during 2025 from President Donald Trump's tariffs on foreign nations.
Trump has been working since taking office to balance the world trade and make it more fair for American consumers and corporations, who long have been subsidizing other nations' incomes.
He's used tariffs as both a stick and carrot to persuade other nations to reach trade agreements, and multiple deals have been inked, the most recent with the European Union which will have those nations paying America a 15% tariff, purchasing more American products and investing $600 billion in the U.S.
The results have been positive, with the nation's trade surplus in June at $27 billion, just what Trump's tariffs brought in. Further, the economy now is assessed to be growing at an annual rate of 3%.
The Washington Examiner noted Hawley's plan would provide for $600 rebates per person, but that number could go higher depending on the actual tariff revenue this year, which now is estimated to be in the range of $200 billion to $250 billion.
"Americans deserve a tax rebate after four years of Biden policies that have devastated families' savings and livelihoods," Hawley said, about his "American Worker Rebate Act."
"Like President Trump proposed, my legislation would allow hard-working Americans to benefit from the wealth that Trump's tariffs are returning to this country."
It does provide for reduced rebates for those individuals with income above $75,000 or couples with income higher than $150,000.
WND reported earlier when Trump confirmed he likes the idea.
Trump said, "We're thinking about that [a rebate], actually. We have so much money coming in we're thinking about a little rebate, but the big thing we want to do is pay down debt. We're thinking about a rebate. That's a very good question. You just made a lot of news."
That drew Hawley's promise:
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The federal Bureau of Economy Analysis says its preliminary assessment shows that the U.S. economy, the Gross Domestic Product, expanded at an annual rate of 3% during the second quarter, giving President Donald Trump "more leeway to pursue his agenda," according to one report.
The confirmation also reduced concern that there could be a coming recession, especially after the nation reported a $27 billion trade advantage during the month of June, coincidentally, the same amount that Trump's tariffs produced in income.
Since taking office, Trump has used tariffs, and the threat of higher tariffs, to generate a long list of trade agreements with other countries, the latest being the days-old agreement with the European Union for those members to pay a 15% tariff to America, as well as purchase more products and invest $600 billion.
Trump's goal is to make trade more fair for American corporations and consumers, who long have been subsidizing other nations' revenues.
Analysts had suggested that the growth would be only 2.3%.
The economy had contracted during the first quarter, when Joe Biden left office and Trump's agenda took over.
The surge was pushed by that turnaround in the trade imbalance and upward movement in consumer confidence.
"WAY BETTER THAN EXPECTED," Trump praised on social media.
He also has been pushing for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, a move that is expected to give the economy another boost.
"MUST NOW LOWER THE RATE. No Inflation! Let people buy, and refinance, their homes!" the president said.
It was the Washington Examiner that said the economy's performance "allays fears about a possible recession" and also "gives President Donald Trump more leeway to pursue his agenda."
During the first quarter, the GDP fell 0.5%.
The "tsunami wave of imports receded in the second quarter lifting economic growth spectacularly and keeping the U.S. well away from the threat of recession," FWDBONDS chief economist Chris Rupkey said in the report.
An area still needing to improve, however, he said, includes housing construction.,
The report also noted the economy again beat expectations in June and added 147,000 jobs, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics said unemployment was down to 4.2%. It had exploded past the 9% mark during Biden's tenure.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
As expected, Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve board of governors, on Wednesday left the interest rate unchanged, keeping the 4.25%-4.5% goal he's demanded since the first of the year.
President Donald Trump has been calling for him to lower it.
And the pressure for a reduction, which likely would give the Trump economy another boost, grew earlier in the day when the government announced the second quarter GDP was 3%, "way better than expected."
There have been pressure campaigns for Powell to quit as well as pushes for Trump to fire him.
But Powell no longer has a stranglehold on the board, as two governors, Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, voted for a quarter-point cut.
That dissent had not appeared in the Fed's decisions in decades.
Powell also has been under fire for a renovation project at the agency's headquarters that was supposed to cost $1.8 billion, but now is estimated to hit taxpayers for $3.1 billion.
All other economic indicators, job creation, inflation, trade, and more, have been greatly better during the Trump economy than during Joe Biden's administration, when inflation reached past 9%.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
As President Trump's efforts to preserve the integrity of women's sports continues, the World Athletics Council announced Wednesday it would require a test for all athletes wishing to compete in female categories at the upcoming track and field World Championships.
As Fox News reported, the test will be for the SRY gene, "a reliable proxy for determining biological sex" with a cheek swab or blood test, the organization said in a release.
"The philosophy that we hold dear in World Athletics is the protection and the promotion of the integrity of women's sport. It is really important in a sport that is permanently trying to attract more women that they enter a sport believing there is no biological glass ceiling. The test to confirm biological sex is a very important step in ensuring this is the case," World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said.
"We are saying, at elite level, for you to compete in the female category, you have to be biologically female. It was always very clear to me and the World Athletics Council that gender cannot trump biology."
Fox reports that the specific gene "provides instructions for making a protein called the sex-determining region Y protein. This protein is involved in male-typical sex development, which usually follows a certain pattern based on an individual's chromosomes," according to Medline Plus.
World Athletics announced in March that it would institute a test and now is providing information about the specific requirements going forward.
The next World Championships open Sept. 13 in Tokyo, while Sept. 1 is "the closing date for entries and the date the regulations come into effect," the organization said.
Prince Harry is now "desperate" to make amends with the royal family as his father, King Charles III, battles cancer, Fox News reported. Tension between the Sussexes and the rest of the royal family continued to simmer long after they stepped down from their official roles in 2020.
Harry made the first move towards reconciliation by sharing his daily itinerary of engagements with the royal family. This has been interpreted as a way for the "Spare" author to win back the king's favor after he and his wife, Meghan Markle, left the royal family in 2020 and headed for California.
"Harry is now desperate. While this self-serving gesture is notable, it won’t do much to mitigate suspicion and caution on the royal side," Hilary Fordwich, an expert on the British royal family, said to Fox News Digital.
"King Charles III is now more guarded than ever, indeed somewhat traumatized by a string of betrayals," Fordwich added. Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan's once-promising foray into American entertainment has fallen flat with audiences and arguably squandered any goodwill for the pair.
While Harry may be ready to reconcile, the road is anything but easy after all that has transpired, including thinly-veiled accusations of racism against the royal family and alleged leaks to the press originating with the Sussexes. Fordwich said that Charles "has expressed being 'cautious and wary' regarding fearing further unsavory leaks, [especially] private royal family gatherings being publicized yet again."
There's also the problem of winning back Harry's brother, Prince William. "Also, overall doubt still prevails in Prince William’s camp. He considers any reconciliation at all as a 'grave mistake,'" Fordwich added.
"His senior royal courtiers are understood to be just as wary and immensely protective of the future monarch. They only see [a reconciliation] as creating more bombshells, as well as instability."
The Sussexes have long been accused of competing for attention with the British royal family, including scheduling engagements to coincide with palace dates and events. This happened most recently with Harry's visit to Angola, where his mother, Princess Diana, was dedicated to landmine removal. The visit reportedly overshadowed Queen Camilla's 78th birthday.
Royal watcher Richard Fitzwilliams believes that Harry's move to share his schedule was a signal that he was ready to rectify this problem. "The Sussexes should always respect the royal calendar, where natural care is taken to avoid clashes whenever possible. … This is a practical move that will be appreciated. It appears the Sussexes are getting some good advice," Fitzwilliams said.
In May, Harry said that he was interested in repairing the relationship with his family after all that had transpired over the years. "I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore. I don’t know how much longer my father has," Harry said. Charles has an undisclosed type of cancer and is receiving treatment, though his prognosis is unknown.
While there have been recent talks between staffers for the prince and the king, representatives for Prince William, Harry's brother, were notably absent. "If there is to be any proper reconciliation, the royal family has absolutely no need to move at anything other than a glacial pace," Fordwich noted.
"As for the calendar gesture, it’s not important to the royal family. They share their calendars with the British government and other foreign governments. … It’s up to Harry to plan properly around the royals, not the other way around," Fordwich added.
However, there may be more to the story than family reunification. According to the New York Post, the ex-royals recently lost their $100 million Netflix deal after Meghan Markle’s With Love, Meghan series garnered an abysmal 5.3 million views and was ranked 383rd on the network's watch list. The streaming service will not renew its deal with the Sussexes, and without a connection to the royal family, the pair are at a dead end.
Family reconciliation is always a good thing, even in the worst of feuds. It would be wonderful for Harry and the king to make amends, especially with Charles' illness, but that will take humility and patience on the part of the Sussexes, and so far, they've shown very little of either.
In a reversal, the Trump administration will reinstate Argentina back into the U.S. visa waiver program.
It's a symbolic upgrade in America's relationship with Argentina under its current president Javier Milei, a Trump ally.
Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem announced Argentina's reinstatement while visiting Buenos Aires, Argentina's capital.
Noem cited Argentina's shared commitment to border security, as reflected by Argentina having the lowest visa overstay rate in all of Latin America.
"Under President Javier Milei’s leadership, Argentina is becoming an even stronger friend to the United States—more committed than ever to border security for both of our nations," Noem said. "Argentina now has the lowest visa overstay rate in all of Latin America and 25 percent more Argentines traveled to the U.S. in the first four months of this year compared to last year—the biggest jump of any of the top 20 international arrivals. That is why we are now taking steps to allow Argentina back into the Visa Waiver Program."
Membership in the waiver program allows foreigners to visit the U.S. for up to 90 days without visas. Argentina was removed in 2002 as an economic crisis led many Argentines to use the program to stay in the U.S. illegally.
“This statement of intent I signed alongside Minister Werthein and Minister Bullrich highlights our strong partnership with Argentina and our mutual desire to promote lawful travel while deterring threats. This kind of diplomatic leadership, spearheaded by President Trump, will help increase the safety of both countries," Noem said.
Noem met with Mieli at the president's office, the Casa Rosada, where they posed next to a golden chainsaw, a symbol of Milei's aggressive government reforms.
Milei's election in 2023 shocked the leftist establishment in Argentina, which Milei had blamed for mismanaging Argentina's troubled economy.
The libertarian economist has dramatically reduced inflation with severe cuts to government spending. Milei's efforts have been cited as a model for Trump's DOGE.
Trump and Milei have warm ties, and Milei was one of a handful of world leaders to receive an invitation to Trump's inauguration in January.
Argentina's reinstatement in the visa waiver program will not happen overnight. Noem acknowledged that it would take "no less than a year" before Argentines are able to travel freely to the U.S again.
Noem is the third member of Trump's Cabinet to visit Argentina, after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.