This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

The 20-year-old sniper who tried to assassinate President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last month, now dead at the hands of police, was using a multitude of overseas messaging apps – all encrypted, according to a new report.

The Daily Wire said it was Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who is on a congressional committee investigating that planned violence, who reported the unusual aspect of the online life of Thomas Matthew Crooks.

"Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted platforms not even based in the United States, but based abroad, where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into? That's a question I've had since day one," he explained to reporters at the time.

The report noted the retired Green Beret then "ripped the FBI and Secret Service for not releasing more information from the investigations into the attempted assassination."

Crooks, from the roof of an unguarded building adjacent to Trump's rally, actually got off multiple shots at Trump, with one grazing his ear.

Trump was blanketed by the Secret Service but immediately got up, raising his fist in the air and shouting, "Fight, fight, fight," in what almost certainly will become one of the most recognized photographic images of the decade.

Waltz explained the investigators have not "learned that much" about Crooks' accounts, but he did reveal they were based in Belgium, Germany, and New Zealand.

The New York Post said the apps allow for text messages to travel through and be encrypted so that only can be read on a recipient's device.

"They need to be releasing information as they come across it because this wasn't an isolated incident," he said. "The threats are continually Iran's threats."

There have been confirmed reports that Iran was trying to orchestrate an attempt on Trump's life just at the Time Crooks' fired his shots.

The congressional committee has 13 members, including seven Republicans, and already has questioned leaders of the Secret Service and the FBI over the security failures that day.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Legacy wire service the Associated Press has admitted it lied about Republican candidate President Donald Trump's agenda for a second term if he's elected in November, issuing a massive correction to its report.

The original was a statement that aligned with the Democrat talking points being used to try to promote Kamala Harris, the candidate the party's elite picked to replace Joe Biden, whose public appearances of late have delivered to the American people evidence of his mental decline.

It was AP's description of a second-term agenda as "Republican" when, in fact, the agenda at issue, "Project 2025" was assembled and released by the Heritage Foundation.

Trump has denied being affiliated with it and has criticized some of its points.

The AP got triggered by a Democrat National Convention stunt by Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who appeared at the convention with a mockup of the Heritage Foundation's plan and claimed that the "Republican" agenda would have a President Trump replacing the entire federal government with an army of "loyalists," a claim that isn't supported by the facts.

AP said, on social media," Michigan Sen. Mallory McMorrow brought out a copy of Project 2025, a blueprint created by the Heritage Foundation for a second Trump term. She then slammed it on the podium. This corrects an earlier post that was deleted because it misidentified the blueprint as Republican."

The earlier linking of the document to "Republican" Trump had aligned with false messaging repeatedly used by Democrats to try to attack Trump.

A report at the Twitchy site explained, "The memo went out to Democrats the first week of July: mention the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 as much as possible while presenting as an expanded version of 'The Handmaid's Tale.' President Joe Biden even put on his aviators and shot a five-second video with a link to look up Project 2025, which CBS News and others called a 'blueprint' for a second Trump term."

The report noted, with just a bit of sarcasm, that Trump has a website with policies that are published and available to the American people, "unlike Kamala Harris."

It said, "The Republicans laid out their party platform at the Recent Republican National Convention – the AP might have reported on it."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Eugene Vindman, the onetime military officer whose claim to fame is that he listened to complaints from his brother, Alex, about President Donald Trump's telephone conversation with Ukrainian officials and then worked in the Washington, D.C., system to make the claim that the conversation was an abuse of power, now is running for Congress.

He's attracted support from some of the extremists in Congress, like Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.

And he's accused in a Free Beacon report of violating the law.

The brothers Vindman were the impetus behind the unfounded claims that Trump was abusing the system by asking Ukraine for an investigation of the hanky-panky going on with Hunter Biden's million-dollar payments from Burisma as well as Joe Biden's threat he would withhold a billion dollars of American help if officials didn't fire a Ukrainian prosecutor investigating that company.

Ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi based one of her failed impeach-and-remove attempts against President Trump on their statements.

But, in Eugene Vindman's campaign as a Democrat in Virginia's 7th congressional district, his campaign recently referred questions to an outside organization, in what the report explains is a violation of campaign law.

"Something funny happened when the Washington Free Beacon contacted the campaign of Trump whistleblower turned congressional candidate Eugene Vindman last week. Vindman, a 24-year Army veteran, says he 'served our nation in combat.' A 2019 Daily Mail piece said he 'has not seen combat.' The Free Beacon asked the campaign to explain the discrepancy," the report said.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A judge hearing a defamation lawsuit brought against CNN for mischaracterizing a company helping with the evacuation of victims when Joe Biden pulled America's troops out of Afghanistan and gave the country to the Taliban is allowing network show host Jake Tapper to be grilled in a deposition.

This after the judge expressly doubted Tapper's truthfulness.

WND previously reported when the declining network attempted to justify its description as a criminal of Navy veteran Zachary Young, whose company worked to get people out of Afghanistan when Biden's retreat – and abandonment of billions of dollars worth of American war machinery – came out of the White House.

It supported its description of Young as a criminal because he would be considered criminal under Shariah law – that set of codes imposed by Islam.

The rules are known for their extremism, such as a call for the amputation of a thief's hands, for killing people for criticizing the Quran, for killing people who deny Muhammad was a prophet, for killing people who lead a Muslim away from Islam, for killing a non-Muslim man who marries a Muslim woman, for killing homosexuals (although sodomizing young boys is allowed), and for "taqiyya" or lying to non-Muslims.

A Revolver report had explained, "They're legitimizing (and defending) Sharia Law, which routinely abuses women, sometimes to death, to try and win that billion-dollar lawsuit. In the process, they're also branding the Navy Vet at the center of the defamation suit a 'criminal' for trying to save women's lives."

Now constitutional expert and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley notes that the fight is over CNN's agenda to cast Young in a bad light through a report about "Afghans trying to get out of the country face a black market full of promises, demands of exorbitant fees, and no guarantee of safety or success."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A new legal war is looming over a series of attacks by officials in a Massachusetts town on a pastor who wanted to arrange a time and location for some of his church's members to meet for a Bible study.

Many of the details, including the town, the names of the officials, and the pastor, are not being released immediately because the American Center for Law and Justice explains it has written a demand letter in the hope that the dispute can be resolved short of formal court action.

But the ACLJ charged that some of the town's actions were "utterly unthinkable."

Including officials' demand that a local newspaper remove an ad promoting a meeting time and place in a park for the study.

The ACLJ explained the local government not only "blocked a church from using a public library's community meeting room" but also ordered the newspaper to drop a church ad promoting a Bible study.

"Our client is a pastor. He requested the use of the community meeting room of his town's library to conduct Bible studies for his church and to hold gatherings for grief support. The Massachusetts town policy for the meeting room makes clear that the meeting room is open for the public for informational, educational, cultural, and civic benefit. The meeting room rules also allow people to reserve the room for regular use, for example, a monthly reservation," the ACLJ documented.

At first, the library director agreed to a pastor's request for biweekly meetings, but then abruptly reversed course in an email, insisting that "legal counsel" said the rooms were NOT available for "recurring" events.

"Her statement directly contradicted library policy. Our client sent follow-up letters trying to reserve the room and to figure out whether the library would let him use it at all. But he received no response. At this time, he has still not received any confirmation of any ability to use the space, whether for occasional use or recurring events," the legal team explained.

So the pastor wanted to meet with five or six others for a Bible study in an open area of a local public park, a meeting that does not require a fee for a formal "social function" in the park.

"Our client sent an informational ad to the local newspaper, which agreed to publish the ad about his Bible study in the grass. His ad made clear that this Bible study would not be inside a building like a park gazebo that required a reservation; rather, it asked people to bring chairs and indicated that the regular Bible study would only occur if the weather permitted."

Town officials then ordered the newspaper to pull the ad.

"Both these acts are egregious constitutional violations, flying in the face of decades-old Supreme Court precedents. The library violated the First Amendment by prohibiting our client from regularly using the library meeting room, even though the library policy expressly allows people to do so. The library told him that the rules only allowed occasional use of the library meeting room, even though the meeting room application itself allowed him to select that the use was not a one-time use. And then, further evidencing animus, the library stopped even responding to our client's requests to reserve a room, whether occasional or not," the ACLJ said.

Regarding the park meeting, "The Supreme Court has emphasized that 'streets and parks, which have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purposes of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions. . . . In these quintessential public forums, the government may not prohibit all communicative activity,'" the legal team said.

"Requiring a permit before a small group gathers on the grass of a public park is antithetical to the First Amendment. And ordering a newspaper to remove an ad for a private event is utterly unthinkable."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Kamala Harris, abruptly picked by the elite in the Democrat party to replace a mentally failing Joe Biden on the presidential ballot this year, long has been an extremist.

On abortion. On censorship. On the border. On transgenderism. On fracking. On many other topics.

And the media is trying to steer voters away from those details as she runs a shortened campaign for president this summer and fall.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Even woke leftists know CNN is anything but an objective broadcaster of news.

During Monday night's broadcast of "The Late Show," host Stephen Colbert was talking with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, and he told her: "I know you guys are objective over there, that you just report the news as it is."

And that's when the studio audience burst into laughter.

"Was that supposed to be a laugh line?" Collins wondered with a smile.

"It wasn't supposed to be, but I guess it is," Colbert responded impishly.

Brent Baker of the Media Research Center tweeted: "Not even NYC lefties buy CNN as objective."

Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA noted: "Even liberals know CNN is functionally a Democrat super PAC."

Other commenters indicated:

"That was hilarious, even the woke crowd knows."

"An actual journalist would be embarrassed by this but not @kaitlancollins, she takes pride in the fact people know she works for a propagandist organization."

"These people like @kaitlancollins need to be laughed out of the room every time they open their mouth… "Was that supposed to be a laugh line?' Your career as a 'journalist' is a laugh line. "

"The fact that 'news anchors' are treated as celebrities, tells you everything you need to know."

"This clip epitomizes the decline of late-night 'comedy' shows: @colbertlateshow trying to make a political argument, and then cringes when his audience laughs! Even his trained seal viewers know that @CNN is fake news."

"Somehow Kaitlan Collins never learned the difference between being a journalist and Democrat fan girl. She may be the very worst of the faux journalists on @CNN. And that's no small feat. CNN having her do the rounds on the late-night talk show to see if they can salvage her failing show. Doubt it will help. Look for her 'departure' from CNN shortly after the election. Maybe Don Lemon has an opening."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

A stunning new video has appeared online and already has collected nearly a million views, of Minnesotans talking about their governor, Tim Walz.

He's the extremist who's been caught in a cloud of accusations about "stolen valor" for lying about a military record and pushing the Midwestern state to the left so far residents have been moving out of state.

He's also Kamala Harris' pick to be her vice presidential candidate.

Their comments?

"I won't forget being forced out of my job at the V.A. for 20 years because of the vaccine mandate."

"I won't forget when you decided which businesses were essential and which ones weren't."

"You shut down stores, malls, zoos, everything and we couldn't even go outside."

"I will remember when you sent COVID-positive patients back to the nursing homes."

And, "I won't forget to vote in November."

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, assigned by the Biden administration to prosecute President Donald Trump on a variety of election interference claims, already has seen one of his cases thrown out because the judge determined he wasn't properly appointed.

He's trying to get an appeals court to overlook his problematic hiring in that dispute.

But now, in his other case against Trump, where he's demanded the need for speed throughout, trying to get a trial and conviction before the election, he's suddenly flipflopped.

Now he wants to slow things down.

This case against Trump claims he engaged in a "criminal scheme" when he pointed out discrepancies and possible problems in the 2020 electoral vote count.

Smith alleges Trump's pursuit of what he considered electoral checks actually were "fake electors." And Smith claims Trump demanded "sham election crime investigations" and more.

In fact, that election now is considered tainted because of the $400 million plus Mark Zuckerberg handed to local election officials mostly to recruit Democrat voters – a scheme that multiple states now have outlawed. Further, the FBI interfered in the election by falsely claiming that accurate reporting about Biden family scandals documented in a computer Hunter Biden abandoned were Russian disinformation. A subsequent survey showed that move alone probably cost Trump the election.

Smith has insisted throughout the case, aided by Judge Tanya Chutkan, that things be hurried. He's opposed any sort of appellate review rights, and shoved the case so quickly that a reasonable record wasn't even developed on key points.

But now he wants a delay. "The government continues to assess the new precedent set forth last month in the Supreme Court's decision in Trump v. United States. Although those consultations are well underway, the government has not finalized its position on the most appropriate schedule for the parties to brief issues related to the decision," he said.

That Supreme Court decision, in fact, said presidents have absolute immunity for some actions in office, and no immunity for others.

The problem is that the lower courts never reviewed that dispute before the Supreme Court got the case, so it returned the fight to lower courts to determine that.

Chutkan immediately jumped into action and set an aggressive hearing schedule, a campaign that Trump's lawyers have opposed all along. And now Smith is dragging his feet.

A report from constitutional expert Jonathan Turley explains the faceoff.

He explained, "For over a year, Special Counsel Jack Smith has made one element the overriding priority in his prosecution of former president Donald Trump: speed. Smith repeatedly moved to curtail Trump's appellate rights and demand expedited appeals to try to secure a conviction before the election. In that effort, he found an equally motivated judge in U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, who virtually turned her court into a rocket docket to try Trump. Now, in a neck-breaking change of direction, Smith is trying to slow down Chutkan who appears again ready to pull out the stops in this case."

He said only hours after Chutkan got the case back she was scheduling hearings – now to Smith's dismay.

He wants a three-week delay to consider what's next.

Turley pointedly noted that, "It is not clear if the press and pundits will now charge Smith with 'slow walking' the case," as they earlier accused Trump of doing.

"The question is whether Smith is considering a drastic move in light of the calendar and the ruling. There is, of course, always the possibility that he either throws in the towel or opts for a post-election trial. That would certainly go against the grain of Smith, who has always pushed both the law and the calendar to the breaking point. However, as some of us have been arguing for months, he may no longer view a trial as a plausible objective," Turley said.

"There is also the possibility that Smith will do something that some of us have discussed over the last year: pare down his case. Smith has always been undone by his appetite. As shown in his 8-0 reversal in his conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, Smith has rarely shown moderation as a prosecutor."

He pointed out that Smith's standard is to "load up" a case with charges, and the result is that the cases then get bogged down in various issues because of that.

This story was originally published by the WND News Center.

Trump supporter went online to confirm he'd been offered $1,500 to post one comment supporting Harris and her VP pick: 'Basically what they were asking for … $1,500 for anti-Trump content on TikTok'

American voters are being told by some of those online influencers that they are all for Kamala Harris for president. But those comments likely should be considered politically paid ads, as payments are being made for those comments.

Essentially.

This is evident after one TikTok influencer went online to confirm he'd been offered $1,500 to post one comment supporting Harris, and her VP pick, the radically left and possible "Stolen Valor" offender Tim Walz, whose booking image following a drunken driving arrest now is flooding the Web.

Influencer Michael Doherty explained, "Basically what they were asking for … $1,500 for anti-Trump content on TikTok."

There was a list of requirements along with the instructions to "gloat about Harris and her allies."

He explained, "They're basically creating division and paying for division online," he said.

Joe Biden, with Harris as his VP boasted of being a "uniter" when he campaigned four years ago. Since then, they have promoted division in America on issues of transgenderism, abortion, spending, taxes, the border, the economy and more.

Doherty said he tracked the offer for cash-for-Kamala praise to a SuperPac with hundreds of millions of dollars to spend.

Online reports have documented an explosion in payment offers to influencers online with the requirement that they praise Harris and Walz.