Donald Trump's return to the presidency has prompted discussion about accountability for the members of the FBI who conspired to undermine him during his first White House term.
One of the key players in that effort, Andrew McCabe, went to extraordinary lengths to obstruct Trump - opening a counterintelligence probe of the president's alleged Russian ties that was based on information the FBI knew was unreliable.
According to FBI documents, McCabe sought information from Christopher Steele on May 12, 2017, six months after the FBI had already fired Steele as a source.
McCabe became acting FBI director after Trump fired James Comey in May 2017. One of McCabe's first moves was to order investigations of Trump for espionage and obstruction.
As McCabe put it at the time, he was eager to make the Trump-Russia investigation stick after Trump fired Comey.
"I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground, in an indelible fashion," McCabe told CBS in a 2019 interview. "That were I removed quickly, or reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace."
What McCabe did not say is that he turned to a discredited source to shore up the Russia probe.
A top DOJ official, Bruce Ohr, had warned McCabe about Christopher Steele's anti-Trump political bias as far back as August 2016. Steele, a former British spy, had compiled his infamous dossier alleging ties between Trump and Russia on behalf of the Clinton campaign through opposition research firm Fusion GPS.
Without divulging his ties to Clinton, the FBI repeatedly used Steele's unverified work to convince the FISA court to authorize surveillance on Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The FBI even fired Steele in November 2016 for credibility problems.
Still, McCabe's FBI reached out to Steele again to get more dirt on Trump in May 2017, according to RealClearInvestigations. Ohr confirmed to Congress that he reconnected Steele and the FBI and continued to relay information between them until November 2017.
With shocking hubris, McCabe later admitted in a 2019 CBS interview that there had been talks at the top levels of the FBI about removing Trump under the 25h Amendment. McCabe justified the drastic, and likely illegal, moves he took against Trump as a response to fears that Trump was working with Russia.
"I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and just won the election for the presidency. And who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage," McCabe said. "And that was something that troubled me greatly."
The Trump administration fired McCabe in 2018, hours before his retirement, after he was caught leaking to reporters and then lying about it. McCabe later sued to get his full pension back.
After leaving the FBI, McCabe joined CNN as a contributor, where he has continued to regularly criticize Trump and his alleged plans to use the FBI for retribution.
McCabe has ripped Trump's FBI director nominee, Kash Patel, as dangerous and unqualified.
“If you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, there is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do,” he said.
Jimmy Carter's doctor is sharing the ex-president's final moments after his death at age 100 - as former presidents and members of the public prepare to pay their respects.
There will be several days of mourning in Georgia and Washington D.C., which will allow members of the public to pay their respects before Carter is finally laid to rest on January 9th.
Carter drew his last breaths at his home in Plains, Georgia after nearly two years in hospice care.
His death on December 29 came "peacefully," Dr. Michael Raines said, with his family at his bedside.
“For the last couple of weeks he had been very fatigued and tired,” he said. “He didn’t have any episodes of that we had to treat. He died very peacefully and I’m glad that his family was at his bedside when he did go.”
Carter served only four years as president, but he lived longer than any president in the nation's history. He was predeceased by his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, who died last November. Her funeral was one of Carter's last public appearances.
“It was just mostly being 100 years old and finally he just reached the end and he was very peaceful going,” Raines said of Carter's passing.
The funeral services will run from January 4 to January 9 and will include motorcades, public visitations in Atlanta and Washington D.C and a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral.
"The Carter Family invites the public to honor and celebrate the life of former President Carter by paying their respects during either of the public viewings; the funeral procession in Washington; in the downtown area of Plains, Georgia; or along the motorcade routes in Georgia and Washington,” the Carter Center's website states.
Carter's motorcade will stop in front of his boyhood farm and the Georgia State Capitol before he is brought to the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta for a service and public viewing.
President Carter will then be transported to Washington D.C. to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, before a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral attended by ex-presidents, including President-elect Donald Trump.
President Biden, who is now the oldest living president, is expected to give a eulogy. Carter will then be flown back home on a military plane to Georgia, where he will be buried alongside his wife Rosalynn.
Donald Trump's border czar has confirmed that the U.S. military will assist with removing millions of illegal aliens living in the country.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Tom Homan discussed the second Trump administration's ambitious mass deportation plans.
The Trump administration will use the military as a "force multiplier" to aid with the massive undertaking, Homan said, adding the details depend on what resources Congress will provide.
While Trump's mass deportations pledge has conjured up images of a draconian, militarized crackdown, Homan suggested there is a less dramatic role for the troops to play as logistical support.
This could extend to using military bases to house migrants facing deportation or flying aliens back to their homes with military aircraft. The troops could also assist with building short-term housing infrastructure, Homan said.
“It’s something that’s certainly on the table,” Homan said Friday. “We’re waiting to see what Congress is going to give us for funding.”
Trump will declare the immigration crisis a national emergency on day one of his presidency, which will enable him to divert Pentagon funds to support the deportation effort.
The scale of Trump's deportation plan is unprecedented, but the military has been used before to house immigrants. Both Presidents Obama and Joe Biden used military bases to house unaccompanied migrant children before releasing them into the country, for example.
Besides logistical challenges like finding enough holding space, Trump is facing the possibility of public backlash, especially if deportations result in families being separated.
Homan has said the administration will give families of illegal aliens the choice to be deported together. Illegal aliens are not "immune from our laws" if they happen to have children born in the U.S., he told NewsNation.
"We can’t send that message,” he said. “Because if we do, you’re never going to solve the border crisis.”
Homan said the mass deportation effort could cost taxpayers $86 billion, but the benefits will outweigh the expense.
"What price do you put on the thousands of American moms and dads who buried their children?" he asked.
"You want to talk about family separation; they buried their children because their children were murdered by illegal aliens that weren’t supposed to be here. I don’t put a price on that. I don’t put a price on national security. I don’t put a price on American lives," he said.
A majority of Americans do not want more guest workers coming to America on H-1B visas, a poll found, as President-elect Trump weighs in on a contentious debate on the legal immigration program.
A new poll from Rasmussen Reports found a widespread rejection of the core argument for H-1B labor, with 60% of likely voters saying there is enough talent in the domestic workforce to fill skilled positions. A mere 26% said Congress should increase the number of visas available for those jobs.
72% of Republicans, 63% of swing voters, and 47% percent of Democrats say there is enough talent at home to fill those jobs, Breitbart reported.
Each year, 65,000 new H-1Bs are allotted, with an additional 20,000 available for non-citizens who graduate from American universities with advanced degrees. At any given time, there are hundreds of thousands of H-1B workers in the U.S., mainly Indian nationals.
Critics of H-1B argue the program undercuts American workers by providing companies - particularly in the tech world - with access to cheap, foreign labor. Defenders of the visa say it is necessary to fill talent shortages in the U.S.
A fiery debate on the issue erupted over the Christmas holiday, with Trump ally and X owner Elon Musk declaring "war" on "contemptible fools" opposed to the visa program. Musk later appeared to soften his tone, as he suggested making it more expensive to hire foreign workers.
"Easily fixed by raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically,” he wrote.
Trump restricted H-1B visas towards the end of his first term, but curtailing legal immigration was not a major focus of his 2024 campaign, which was directed mainly at deporting millions of non-citizens living in America illegally.
While Trump is enjoying newfound popularity compared to his first term, the H-1B debate has placed him at odds with some of his supporters.
In an interview Saturday, Trump maintained that he has "always" been in favor of the H-1B visa.
"I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas,” Trump told the New York Post. “That’s why we have them.”
“I have many H-1B visas on my properties. I’ve been a believer in H-1B,” Trump continued. “I have used it many times. It’s a great program.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) doesn't seem to be ending his year on a high note, and that was especially the case in the opinion of many Republicans, given how he handled the spending bill debacle.
According to Breitbart, the results of a straw poll at AmericaFest, which was recently held in Phoenix, Arizona, revealed that Johnson's popularity within the conservative movement has plummeted.
Results of the poll were posted by Charlie Kirk, founder and CEO of Turning Point USA, and they were definitely not the results Johnson and his office were hoping for.
Johnson clearly hurt his reputation in his perceived failure to negotiate a good spending bill while trying to pass one that was packed with excessive spending for pet projects and pork.
The people at AmericaFest certainly spoke, and according to the poll, they did not speak highly of Johnson, as the current Speaker only received 22% support.
EXCLUSIVE — Every year, we conduct a straw poll of attendees at AmericaFest to check the pulse of the conservative grassroots. We just got the results of this year's straw poll, and here are the highlights:
-71% of respondents STRONGLY support primary challenges to Republican… pic.twitter.com/T16yo2CJD0
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) December 27, 2024
Most attendees, at 62%, disapproved of his performance as House Speaker -- a position he's held now for roughly a year. Johnson was the last one standing after the ouster of Kevin McCarthy, and early on, was cheered on by most of the party.
Breitbart noted:
The straw poll also asked attendees, “Do you think Mike Johnson should remain Speaker of the U.S. House?”
Most, 58.8 percent, said that he should not remain Speaker, and only 13.7 percent believe he should remain Speaker. Over one-quarter, 27.5 percent, remain unsure:
The results of the straw poll lined up with recent results of formal polls that show Johnson's popularity as Speaker is in the ditch.
His numbers have steadily declined since taking the gavel, which happened as a result of his bad decisions with certain bills.
There was no shortage of opinions on Johnson's performance as Speaker across social media.
"This reflects the sentiment of all real Americans," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "Weak Mike has got to go. He negotiated a rotten deal, and defended it."
It'll be interesting to see if Johnson is able to maintain his grip on the leadership come the next Speaker election. Doubtful, many say.
President-elect Donald Trump has generated mountains of headlines regarding his Cabinet picks, and his incoming team has quite a bit to brag about.
According to the Daily Mail, Trump has picked at least a dozen billionaires to fill out his administration, who have combined net worth of a staggering $500 billion.
Not surprisingly, the outlet's piece regarding the success of Trump's selections was negative, mocking Trump for saying he'd make America wealthy again and stocking his Cabinet with people who "know what it's like to be comfortable."
The outlet then compared the net worth of Trump's incoming Cabinet to President Joe Biden's, which comes in at about $100 million, as if it's relevant, whatsoever.
The Daily Mail, obviously triggered by Trump's selection of smart, wealthy individuals, called his relationship with billionaire Elon Musk a "bromance."
The outlet acknowledged that Musk already has measurable influence on policy, as Musk reportedly helped torpedo a previous version of the congressional spending bill that was passed last week.
The Daily Mail noted:
The advisor with the biggest checkbook is also the one with the most sway, at least in the early going. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who used his X platform to help power Trump's win and to torpedo a government funding bill, is worth more than $400 billion, according to Forbes.
The president-elect also hired a billionaire to run his Commerce Department. Howard Lutnick, the CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, will head up the ultra-important government agency.
Lutnick is worth about $1.5 billion, according to the outlet. Trump was applauded for hiring him, as he'll likely be able to undo the damage caused by President Joe Biden's lackeys.
Tiffany Trump's father-in-law, Massad Boulos, was tapped as a Senior Adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs, and while he's reportedly worth billions, his exact wealth isn't publicly known.
Trump also tapped World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon, who's worth around $3 billion, was hired to run the Department of Education.
President-elect Trump also picked Charles Kushner as his U.S. ambassador to France. Charles Kushner is the father of Jared Kushner, the husband of Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump.
There are many others who have ultra-high net worths that Trump picked to lead his administration in various capacities.
While the establishment media continues to attack them, most Americans are relieved that we'll finally have smart, successful, competent people at the helm.
Republican senator Rand Paul (Ky.) is continuing his Christmas tradition of bemoaning government waste.
The Republican's annual "Festivus Report" tallied up $1 trillion in spending on questionable projects across the federal government, as the national debt soars ever higher.
The report is named after a fictional holiday in the sitcom Seinfeld that invites celebrants to an "airing of grievances." The government's spending habits leave Paul, a fiscal conservative, with plenty to grump about each year.
This year, taxpayers spent nearly $5 million on pro-Ukrainian social media influencers and $12 million on a pickleball court in Las Vegas. $10,000 went to a climate change-themed "cabaret" involving drag queens in ice skates.
The government spent another $10 billion to maintain mostly empty office buildings and shoveled $330,000 to a liberal non-profit that tracks "disinformation," among other dubious expenditures.
Throughout his single term in office, President Biden signed several expensive spending bills that added trillions to the debt and drove inflation. Biden also worked around courts to forgive $180 billion in student loan debt, at taxpayer expense, and sent billions more to Ukraine even as a historic influx of people poured across the porous U.S. southern border.
But wasteful spending is a bi-partisan tradition, Paul noted in his report.
"Who’s to blame for our crushing national debt? Everybody," Paul writes in the new report. "This year, members of both political parties in Congress voted for massive spending bills, filled with subsidies for underperforming industries, continued military aid to Ukraine, and controversial climate initiatives. As Congress spends to reward its favored pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay through high prices and crippling interest rates."
Government waste has become a hot topic as President-elect Trump prepares for a second White House term with a promise to radically cut bloat.
His Department on Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has set an ambitious target of slashing $2 trillion in spending.
The majority of federal spending goes toward the military and spending on entitlement programs like Social Security, which few politicians are willing to touch.
Paul was among 20 Republican senators who voted against a $200 billion bill to boost Social Security benefits last week. He called to offset the expense by raising the retirement age to 70, but his amendment was shot down.
“If we give new people more money, we have to take it from somewhere. We have to either borrow it or print it, but it has to come from somewhere,” Paul said.
Bill Bergey, the former NFL linebacker known for his tough play with the 1970s Philadelphia Eagles, has died after a battle with jaw cancer. He was 79.
The South Dayton, New York native's death was announced by his son Jake Bergey.
"After a long hard 3 year battle, Dad lost his fight with Cancer," he wrote on X. "The best father, friend, grand father, football player and out right great person in this world. I will truly miss him. Love you dad."
Bergey played college football at Arkansas State before getting drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969. His career reached new heights with the Eagles, where he recorded nearly 1,200 tackles and four of his five career Pro Bowls.
He helped the Eagles get to their first Super Bowl in 1981, under coach Dick Vermeil. The Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders in what proved to be Bergey's last game.
On the field, Bergey became known for a rugged blue-collar work ethic that won him respect across the league, the Eagles said in a tribute.
The Eagles Hall of Famer died "peacefully" with his family by his side on Christmas morning, the team said.
"We are saddened to learn of the passing of Bill Bergey. An Eagles all-time great, Bill was a legendary linebacker who gained the respect of players and coaches across the league for his blue-collar work ethic and hard-nosed play," said Eagles Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie.
"He was rightfully inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame in 1988. Bill exemplified what it meant to be an Eagle in every way, and proudly represented the team in the community well after his playing days were over. We will all miss him dearly and extend our deepest condolences to the entire Bergey family."
Bergey stayed close to Eagles fans as a color commentator after his retirement in 1981.
In a 2023 interview, Bergey said he took the most pride in knowing he always gave it his all.
"Personally, I think the thing that makes me the proudest is I know that I left everything on the field. I played as hard as I could all the time," he said.
"I wasn't one of those players that takes plays off or anything like that. I've had an awful lot of pats on the back and a lot of awards and all of that, but just knowing that I gave everything I had every play that I had, that's pretty rewarding."
Bergey is survived by his wife of 55 years, Micky, three sons – Jason, Jake, and Josh, 10 grandkids, and two siblings, Bruce and Sylvia.
A Republican candidate for Congress is facing outrage after voicing support of public executions for illegal aliens who rape or kill American citizens.
Valentina Gomez filmed a mock execution and shared it with her social media following, leaving viewers stunned.
"It's that simple, public executions for any illegal that rapes or kills an American. They don't deserve deportation, they deserve to be ended," she said.
The stunt comes after a Guatemalan man who had previously been deported was arrested for the gruesome murder of a woman in New York City on Sunday.
33-year-old Sebastian Zapeta-Calil is accused of lighting his victim on fire as she slept on a subway car and watching her burn to death. The victim was so horribly burned that police have not yet been able to identify her.
The horrific murder has fueled fresh outrage over the porous southern border and violent crime perpetrated by illegal aliens. The man accused of the murder was deported during the Trump administration but managed to make his way back into the country at some point, leading some, like, Gomez, to conclude that deportations are not a sufficient deterrent.
Her shocking video caused a mixture of reactions, with some labeling her a "psychopath" and others voicing support.
The Colombia native previously grabbed attention for lighting LGBT literature on fire in protest of the indoctrination of children. Her provocative rhetoric has gained her a significant social media following, but it has not translated to success at the ballot box.
She fell short in her race for Missouri Secretary of State this year, losing in a crowded Republican primary. Gomez recently declared she is running for Congress against incumbent Republican Dan Crenshaw.
Her latest video was blocked by X for violating the website's policy on violent speech, which led Gomez to claim she was being targeted.
"My video being restricted & my account getting suspended shows all of you that I am the biggest threat to the establishment because I call it like I see it, I give people hope, and I don’t need their money. Remember, nobody is coming to save us. Stay strapped," she posted.
Immigration was a top issue driving President-elect Donald Trump's victory last month. High-profile murders of American women like Laken Riley brought the consequences of a loose southern border to the fore.
Trump has pledged to carry out the largest deportation in U.S. history - and to pursue the death penalty for illegal aliens who kill Americans.
The man who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course won't face trial until September of next year.
Judge Aileen Cannon agreed to delay Routh's trial over the large body of evidence in the case, but she rejected his request for a postponement until December 2025 as "excessive."
Routh had been scheduled to face a jury in February, but the trial has been pushed back to September 8, 2025, almost a year after Routh tried to kill Trump on September 15, 2024.
A Secret Service agent had spotted Routh lying in wait with a rifle while Trump was golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
The agent fired his gun at Routh, who fled in his car down Interstate 95 before being captured in Martin County.
Routh has pled not guilty to the five federal crimes with which he is charged, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate.
In a court order Monday, Judge Cannon agreed to some delay given the seriousness of the charges Routh faces but rejected his request for a December trial as "excessive."
"Upon review of the full record, and following the status conference held on December 11, 2024, the Court determines that a continuance of trial from the current setting of February 10, 2025, is warranted to accommodate what both parties agree is substantial discovery in this case," Cannon wrote.
Cannon came to national attention while overseeing President Trump's classified documents trial. The judge dismissed the Biden Justice Department's case in July, just days after Trump survived a first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Routh had requested Cannon's recusal, citing her appointment by Trump and his praise of her rulings, but Cannon refused.
“I have never spoken to or met former President Trump except in connection with his required presence at an official judicial proceeding, through counsel,” Cannon wrote. “I have no ‘relationship to the alleged victim’ in any reasonable sense of the phrase.”
The prosecution of Routh has seen a legal feud between the feds and state prosecutors allied with Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R), who have accused the Biden Justice Department of stonewalling.
Florida attorney general Ashley Moody announced state charges of felony murder against Routh last week, accusing him of causing a car crash that left a six-year-old girl gravely injured.
"The basis for the arrest warrant is that Routh committed an enumerated felony—here, domestic terrorism—and that felony seriously injured and could have killed a six-year-old girl," a press release said.