Massachusetts politics was rocked this week after state Democratic lawmaker was charged and arrested for fraud.
According to Fox News, Massachusetts state Rep. Christopher Flanagan, 37, now faces five counts of wire fraud and one count of falsification of records according to a bombshell press release from the Department of Justice.
Flanagan allegedly stole tens of thousands of dollars from a local trade association that he used to fund various personal expenses and political expenses.
He allegedly began stealing funds from the trade organization after experiencing difficult financial issues, according to the charges.
Flanagan's alleged illegal activities were committed through the Cape Cod-based Home Builders Association.
Fox News noted:
Flanagan served as the executive officer of the Home Builders Association in Cape Cod and received a salary and benefits ranging from $65,800 to $81,600 from 2019 to 2024, when he was working there. Flanagan also received $97,546 and $100,945 in 2023 and 2024, from his position as a legislator.
Flanagan reportedly began facing financial troubles in late 2021, which is when he allegedly stole 36,000 from the organization through a series of wire transfers.
Fox News added:
From Nov. 18, 2021 and Jan. 28, 2023, Flanagan wired anywhere from $1,500 and $10,000 on several separate occasions. The Justice Department said Flanagan used the funds to pay mortgage bills, pay down debt, and even used it to pay for personal psychic services.
Receipts show that Flanagan spent the money for personal and political reasons, including shopping trips to Best Buy and several other stores using the alleged stolen funds.
He was also accused of obstructing an investigation by the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance "when he attributed the source of a campaign mailer to 'Jeanne Louise,' a false persona that he allegedly created," the outlet added.
Christopher Flanagan, a 37-year-old Democratic State Rep from Massachusetts representing Cape Cod, was arrested on April 11, 2025, on federal charges of fraud. He faces 5 counts of wire fraud & 1 count of falsifying records, each carrying a potential 20yr sentence. 1 out of 250đ pic.twitter.com/iwWEhFLMoh
â Meisha Tele (@frnnkdlxx) April 11, 2025
Users across social media reacted to the news of Flanagan's arrest.
"Massachusetts politicians should be preemptively thrown in jail upon election and only released after heavy consideration," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "Maybe in the future, report on a Mass Dem thatâs not a corrupt scum bag."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making waves due to his stance on eliminating junk food from the American diet, and specifically the ability to purchase such food and drink on welfare programs such as the food stamp program.
According to Live Now Fox, Kennedy recently announced at a Martinsburg, West Virginia event that states will now have the authority to ban people from buying sugary soft drinks on the food stamp program, otherwise known as SNAP.Â
The effort to give states the power to make the decision comes as part of his "Make America Healthy Again" mission, which has been both widely celebrated and criticized from all angles.
However, he's not the only one calling for the ban, as several members of Congress already have bills in the works to accomplish similar outcomes.
Kennedy, who was chosen by President Donald Trump to lead the Health and Human Services department, made his stance on the issue clear in an X post.
"I commend the 24 states pushing MAHA bills to clean up our food system, improve school lunches, submit waivers to SNAP, and promote patient choice," Kennedy said on X.
"This state leadership adds leverage to the Trump administrationâs drive to Make America Healthy Again. I urge every Governor to follow West Virginiaâs lead and submit a waiver to the USDA to remove soda from SNAP. If thereâs one thing we can agree on, it should be eliminating taxpayer-funded soda subsidies for lower income kids. I look forward to inviting every Governor who submits a waiver to come celebrate with me at the White House this fall."
Thank you @WVGovernor Morrisey and legislators for leading the nation in passing a bill to clean up our food supply and submitting a waiver to remove soda from SNAP. I commend the 24 states pushing MAHA bills to clean up our food system, improve school lunches, submit waivers toâŠ
â Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) March 28, 2025
Oklahoma Republican Rep. Josh Breechan agrees, saying that taxpayers shouldn't be on the hook for the unhealth lifestyles of those on food stamp programs.
"If someone wants to buy junk food on their own dime, thatâs up to them," he said. "But what weâre saying is, âDonât ask the taxpayer to pay for it and then also expect the taxpayer to pick up the tab for the resulting health consequences.'"
Many social media users cheered Kennedy for making the announcement.
"Thank you @SecKennedy for making America healthy again, I never realized how our own food companies and pharmaceutical companies were literally killing U.S. with the crap they put in our foods/medicines until you came along. We appreciate all that you do!!!" one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "A critical milestone achieved in the fight to Make America Healthy Again with West Virginia being the first trail blazing state to pass SNAP reform. Looking forward to seeing more states follow their lead!"
Only time will tell if additional states enact similar policies.
The Senate has confirmed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicare and Medicaid, placing the former TV personality in charge of two health programs used by millions of Americans.
The vote to confirm Oz fell along party lines, with 53 Republicans for and 45 Democrats against. Democrats have criticized Oz as a potential threat to Medicaid as Republicans consider cuts to the program, which provides health insurance at low or no cost to poor people.
Oz has said he plans to tackle waste and fraud in the healthcare system, and he has echoed Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s emphasis on reducing the cost of healthcare by confronting an epidemic of obesity and chronic disease.
âWe have a generational opportunity to fix our health care system and help people stay healthy for longer,â Oz said during his confirmation hearing last month.
President Trump, while nominating Oz, said "there may be no physician more qualified and capable... to make America healthy again."
Trained as a heart surgeon, Oz became a household name as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show before launching his own talk show, which ran from 2009 to 2022. He is known for his advocacy of alternative medicine and a holistic approach to wellness that emphasizes diet and lifestyle.
Democrats have criticized Oz as a quack who has peddled dubious treatments, and they say he will advance an agenda to privatize government health insurance that poor and vulnerable people depend on.
Oz deflected questions about Medicaid cuts when grilled by the Senate last month, but he pledged to tackle insurance fraud in Medicare Advantage, a privately run version of Medicare that Oz had long supported in his career as a TV personality.
The doctor was critical of the use of "upcoding" to jack up the cost of treatment by listing questionable diagnoses. He also suggested using automation to reduce delays and costs tied to prior authorization, which insurance companies require to certify the medical necessity of certain procedures.
"If you're going to have a knee replacement and you can bend your knee more than 120 degrees, you don't get to get the knee replacement -- or whatever number you want to put in there,â he said. âAnd then, if we know those numbers ahead of time, like a credit card -- credit card approval doesn't take you three months â you know immediately whether the transaction's approved or not. We will be able to do something similar so that pre-authorization could happen rapidly.â
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which Oz now leads, has an annual budget of $2.6 trillion and oversees Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare, which collectively provide health coverage to about half of Americans.
Medicaid provides health coverage at low or no cost for poor people, while Medicare covers people above age 65 and younger people who are disabled.
About 300 CMS employees are facing layoffs as part of Secretary Kennedy's restructuring of the Health and Human Services Department, which includes CMS. While thousands of workers have been fired across HHS, Kennedy has said Medicare and Medicaid won't be impacted.
The White House confirmed that Elon Musk will leave the Trump administration in the coming months, once his "incredible work with DOGE is complete."
Musk's cost-cutting work with DOGE has been at the center of controversy during the early months of Trump's second term. Democrats have attacked Musk repeatedly, while accusing Trump of empowering a shadowy "oligarchy" that caters to the super rich.
In fact, Musk's company, Tesla, has suffered from the backlash to his government role.
Both Trump and Musk have said that the Tesla CEO will step down in the near future, when DOGE's work is finished. Musk is a "special government employee," a status that is limited to 130 days.
The president's press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, dismissed a report from Politico that said Musk is considered a "liability" within the Trump administration.
"This 'scoop' is garbage. Elon Musk and President Trump have both *publicly* stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete," Leavitt said.
Musk added, "Yeah, fake news."
Musk previously told Fox News' Brett Baier that 130 days was enough for him to finish his job.
"I think we will have accomplished most of the work required to reduce the deficit by $1 trillion within that time frame," he said.
Trump expressed regret this week as he acknowledged the coming end of Musk's tenure.
"Well, I think he's ⊠amazing. But I also think he's got a big company to run. And so, at some point he's going to be going back. He wants to," Trump said earlier this week.
"I'd keep him as long as I can keep him," Trump said. "He's a very talented guy. You know, I love very smart people. He's very smart. And he's done a good job," the president added. "DOGE is, we've found numbers that nobody can even believe."
While Musk is soon going to be leaving his government position, Vice president J.D. Vance says the critical work of DOGE will continue - and Musk will remain a "friend and adviser" to the Trump team.
âThe work of DOGE is not even close to done. The work of Elon is not even close to done,â Vance told Fox and Friends. âDOGE has got a lot of work to do ⊠that work is going to continue after Elon leaves."
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 donât 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.Â
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.
âHow do you bring Hegseth into it? He had nothing to do â look, look, itâs all a witch hunt,â 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.
âI 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 donât text him. He wasnât on my phone. And weâre 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.
âToday, 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,â 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.
âBy 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.
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 â shocked! â 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.
The private information of National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and other top national security officials is available online, as the Trump administration faces scrutiny over leaked Signal messages.
The German outlet Der Spiegel identified e-mails, phone numbers, and some passwords belonging to national security adviser Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Some of the data was commercially available, while other information was leaked by hackers online.
The administration's critics say the private data could be leveraged by counterintelligence operatives to spy on the White House, which has been engulfed in controversy after a journalist was inadvertently included in a sensitive conversation about a military strike in Yemen.
The Trump administration has said the situation is being blown out of proportion, with Trump calling it a "witch hunt."
Using commercially available data, Der Spiegel tracked down an email address that was active until a few days ago, and a phone number that was associated with a recently deleted WhatsApp account. The WhatsApp account had a profile picture of Hegseth with his shirt off. The email address was also found, along with its password, in databases containing hacked user data.
Similarly, Der Spiegel got Waltz's phone and e-mail, and some passwords, linking the information with his Microsoft Teams, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Signal accounts.
Gabbard's information was more closely guarded, but her leaked email address was reportedly obtained through WikiLeaks and Reddit.
A spokesperson for Waltz told the outlet that his passwords and accounts were changed before he entered Congress in 2019. A spokesperson for Gabbard similarly said that she has updated her passwords several times since her personal data was compromised 10 years ago.
Der Spiegel sent messages to the Signal and WhatsApp accounts associated with Gabbard and Walz, and they were apparently delivered.
The outlet conceded that it is not clear if the Signal accounts are the same ones that were used in the chat about strikes in Yemen.
Separately, WIRED reported that Waltz's friend list on the mobile payment app Venmo was publicly available.
The account, which has since been made private, listed several journalists and government officials, including Trump's chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Waltz has taken responsibility for the leak of the administration's communications over Signal. Democrats have called on Waltz and Hegseth to resign.
Trump, after defending Waltz, appeared to shift tone on Wednesday as he blamed him for the leak.
"It was Mike, I guess. I donât know, I always thought it was Mike," Trump said, adding the scandal is a "witch hunt."
Tucker Carlson has announced that his father, Richard Warner Carlson, has died.
In an obituary posted on X, Carlson said his father died at home on Monday in Boca Grande, Florida at the age of 84 after six weeks of illness.
"He refused all painkillers to the end and left this world with dignity and clarity, holding the hands of his children with his dogs at his feet," Carlson wrote.
Richard Carlson possessed an "outlaw spirit tempered by decency" that led him on an adventurous career in journalism and government affairs - all while remaining dedicated to two sons he raised on his own, Tucker Carlson wrote.
In his time as an investigative reporter for ABC News in California, Carlson knew the most interesting personalities of the day, including Jim Jones, Patty Hearst, Eric Hoffer, and Jerry Garcia, "as well as Mafia leaders and members of the Manson Family," Tucker Carlson wrote.
Richard Carlson later took on government roles, moving to Washington in 1985 to work in the Reagan administration as director of Voice of America and then as U.S. ambassador to Seychelles under the George H. W. Bush administration. In the 1990s, Carlson became CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and also led a division of King World television.
Obituary for my father.
Richard Warner Carlson died at 84 on March 24, 2025 at home in Boca Grande, Florida after six weeks of illness. He refused all painkillers to the end and left this world with dignity and clarity, holding the hands of his children with his dogs at his⊠pic.twitter.com/4lMygMkSIT
â Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 26, 2025
In his later years, Carlson traveled the world and got involved in "countless intrigues" in dozens of countries, his work remaining a mystery to his own family.
"He spoke to his sons every day and had lunch with them once a week for thirty years at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, always prefaced by a dice game. Throughout his life he fervently loved dogs," the obituary read.
Born February 10, 1941, Richard Carlson was left at an orphanage in Boston, where he developed rickets. His adoptive father, a tannery manager, died when he was 12.
After a volatile youth that saw him jailed for car theft, he set out for California in 1962, where he worked as a merchant seaman for one year before entering journalism as a copyboy at the Los Angeles Times, later becoming a wire service reporter for UPI and an investigative reporter and anchor for ABC News.
In 1975, Carlson became a single father to his two sons, Tucker and Buckley, after splitting from their mother, artist Lisa McNear Lombardi. She left for Europe, never to return, and Carlson raised the boys in San Diego, California.
"He threw himself into raising his boys, whom he often brought with him on reporting trips," Tucker Carlson wrote.
Richard Carlson married frozen dinner heiress Patricia Swanson in 1979, and they were happily married until her death sixteen months before Carlson's own, according to the obituary.
He is survived by his sons, Tucker and Buckley, his beloved daughter-in-law Susie, and five grandchildren.
"He was the toughest human being anyone in his family ever knew, and also the kindest and most loyal. RIP," Tucker Carlson wrote.
Political intrigue is hardly a new phenomenon, but D.C. Beltway drama takes on a new color when politicians find themselves in post-election relationships.
Such is the case with one Republican lawmaker who has dissolved his marriage and is now reportedly in a relationship with a FOX News reporter covering politics.
Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.) 41, is dating FOX News digital correspondent Brook Singham, 32, as was confirmed to DailyMail.com.
According to a recent report by the outlet, the influential Republican from Pennsylvania has split with his few and is dating the up-and-comer.
The pair, whose paths would naturally cross in their Washington D.C.-centric work environments, have been spotted around town, according to a number of sources who confrimed as much to Page Six.
"The dynamic looked romantic in nature," one of the sources told the outlet, confirming what was said by others who observed the pair.
In addition to outside of the capitol building, Reschenthaler and Singman have also been seen together at an event at the Library of Congress and had dinner together at the event.
The Pennsylvania Republican is the chief deputy whip for House Republicans and is rising through the party's ranks, despite his seeming ignorance of the group's family values.
As for Singman, who began her career as an assistant to Fox News President Jay Wallace, she later became a reporter for the online edition of the nation's most popular news outlet.
In addition to the run-of-the-mill reporting that many take part in within the digital space, Singman was able to land herself an exclusive interview with President Donald Trump. Since that career coup, Singman now appears frequently on-air for the TV news station.
Based on what a source told DailyMail.com, the connection does not pose a conflict of interest since Singman does not cover Congress, which is where Reschenthaler works.  However, at one time, Singman interviewed Reschenthaler for an article titled "Kamala harris 'has become toxic' for Pennsylvania, top Keystone State lawmaker says.'
Two sources told Page Six that the reporter from Fox News and the lawmaker met for the first time while Singman was following Trump's campaign.
They met at a Pennsylvania McDonald's during Trump's campaign stop in October. The Republican served burgers and fries to a small group of hungry patrons
Singman shared pictures of her at a fast food joint where she was campaigning. The pictures show her with the president and the lawmaker.