An energy watchdog group reported to Breitbart News after an investigation that it found evidence of "criminal" impersonation of the president in how the autopen was used to approve legislation and executive actions.
Energy expert Daniel Turner, founder of Power the Future released a report last week alleging that at least eight major actions by Biden were signed with the autopen, including several bans on offshore drilling.
“You know, I get so angry when I have these conversations about this because I deal with the people whose livelihoods were destroyed. It takes a lot of effort to not curse and be profane because what they did to the American people is not just criminal, it’s evil,” Turner told radio show host Matt Boyle. “It’s genuinely morally reprehensible. The damage that we did, that we continue to do, to the American people, all because we’re ‘worried about Donald Trump.'”
Turner wondered whether the staffers who used the autopen in this way had presidential immunity against prosecution but argued that "people died" from the actions of those who used Biden's autopen.
"People died as a result of this, quite literally," he said, connecting some of the actions to the war in Ukraine. "So there is no hiding behind presidential privilege. There is no saying, ‘Well, I was working for the president, and you can’t subpoena me.’"
"These are really criminal, criminal, allegedly criminal acts that are worthy of investigation," he argued. "You can’t act in Persona Presidente, right? You can’t commandeer the president’s autopen and put forward policies."
He used some of what was presented in the new book "Original Sin" about Biden's cognitive decline and how staffers dealt with it to explain what happened.
“As they said in the book, when they’re willing to do undemocratic things to protect democracy, those people are admitting they’re willing to do undemocratic things to stay in power. And that’s what they did the last four years with the auto pen," he said.
The group noted that Biden never spoke of or acknowledged the actions they allege were autopenned without his knowledge.
Group leadership said this proves he didn't know about them.
Last week, Power the Future wrote letters to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of the Interior (DOI), and the Department of Energy (DOE) asking the agencies to investigate the autopen usage.
Turner said on Fox News that letters were also sent to the House and Senate Oversight committees.
"When you have an executive order to ban offshore oil and gas drilling … That’s a pretty damn big ban,
Turner said to Boyle. "When you have that and you sign it by autopen, there are process crimes.”
"The chief of staff had to know what was going on," he accused. "The staff secretary — every time Donald Trump signs an executive order, we see the staff secretary hand him that order, explain it, the president signs it. There are personnel involved in processes.”
The Trump administration has withdrawn the nomination of Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator in a move that surprised many.
Liz Huston, a spokesperson for the White House, issued a statement explaining that it was "essential that the next leader of NASA” be completely onboard with President Donald Trump's America First agenda.
This explanation suggests that there was some sort of disagreement between Isaacman and the Trump administration on how NASA was going to participate in the MAGA agenda.
Huston's statement explained, "The Administrator of NASA will help lead humanity into space and execute President Trump’s bold mission of planting the American flag on the planet Mars. It’s essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump’s American First agenda and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon.”
There is little to no information in this statement that hints at the real reason behind Isaacman's nomination, and many Congressional Republicans are not happy.
Isaacman was on pace to be confirmed by Congress without trouble, as he had previously testified before the Senate Commerce Committee in April, which ended in him being “advanced out of committee in a 19-9 vote."
Furthermore, Isaacman was a good candidate to help NASA work with the private sector as he has previously worked alongside SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is seen as a trailblazer of the aerospace industry.
So it is no surprise to see the dismissal of Isaacman be greeted with both confusion and anger from some Republicans who were sold on confirming him as NASA's next administrator.
Senator Tim Sheehy (R-MT) took to X to say, "Astronaut and successful businessman @RookIsaacman was a strong choice by President Trump to lead NASA. I was proud to introduce Jared at his hearing and strongly oppose efforts to derail his nomination."
Conservative activist Robby Starbuck also weighed in on the decision by saying, "The White House just pulled Jared Isaacman’s nomination to lead NASA. A big mistake to keep the acting Administrator (Janet Petro) in charge of NASA. She’s a true believer in DEI. Keeping her in charge is inexcusable and @rookisaacman was a tremendous pick lead our space agency."
Starbucks' tweet only further clouds the waters on what is happening with NASA as Petro ended NASA's DEI programs in January following Trump's inauguration. By all accounts, Petro has been vigilant in stamping out leftist DEI programs.
NASA has an important role to play in the future, as space travel is a growing priority that has seen immense leaps thanks to Elon Musk and SpaceX.
While it is important that NASA's next administrator is in line with the Trump administration's agenda, it is also important that this situation gets sorted in an efficient and timely manner.
The opposite seems to be happening right now, as this revocation of the nomination comes just ahead of an expected easy confirmation.
Hopefully, more information will be released in the coming days if the Trump administration wants to avoid spreading confusion.
The FBI is investigating a mysterious series of text messages from an unknown individual that appears to be impersonating White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
According to the Wall Street Journal, this unidentified person has been posing as Wiles, sending text messages and making phone calls to Republican lawmakers, governors, and business executives for the past few weeks.
This individual is using Artificial Intelligence to impersonate Wiles in phone calls, but what has investigators flummoxed is the lack of a cohesive motive outside of a one-time request for a cash transfer.
Investigators were first tipped off about the possibility of an impersonator because of texts from a different number claiming to be Wiles going to lawmakers and White House staffers.
A combination of broken English and bizarre questions that Wiles should have known further cemented the reality that someone was impersonating an extremely important figure in the Trump administration.
In response to a request for comment from the WSJ, the White House issued a statement saying, "The White House takes the cybersecurity of all staff very seriously, and this matter continues to be investigated."
This impersonation episode comes after the FBI issued a warning on “an ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign” targeting current or former senior US federal or state government officials and their contacts.
A statement from the FBI explained, "The malicious actors have sent text messages and AI-generated voice messages — techniques known as smishing and vishing, respectively — that claim to come from a senior US official in an effort to establish rapport before gaining access to personal accounts."
FBI Director Kash Patel commented on the Wiles case, saying that the FBI "takes all threats against the president, his staff, and our cybersecurity with the utmost seriousness. Safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the president’s mission is a top priority.'
With all of that in mind, the FBI has supposedly determined that whoever is impersonating Wiles is not acting on behalf of a foreign nation.
To add more intrigue to this situation, one text to an unnamed lawmaker asked for a list of people who could be pardoned by President Trump. This points to the possibility that the impersonator is searching for politically damaging information in relation to Trump's use of the pardon power.
Information security has been a top priority for the Trump administration, and Susie Wiles has been one of Trump's chief enforcers in preventing politically damaging leaks and controlling staffers to minimize information getting out of the White House.
Wiles has been the target of cyberattacks previously, as Iranian hackers broke into her devices last year in an effort to damage Trump's presidential campaign.
As the Trump agenda continues to roll out, information security is paramount, and the Trump administration cannot afford more damaging leaks that create unnecessary political drama.
Hopefully, the FBI can find out who is behind this impersonation campaign quickly. However, it will likely take time for Kash Patel and his agents to get to the bottom of this situation.
President Donald Trump isn't satisfied with a $15 million settlement offer from CBS over the network's alleged bias against him and in favor of his rival, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, on a "60 Minutes" broadcast before the election.
Trump rejected the settlement offer from CBS parent Paramount Global during arbitration of his $20 million lawsuit, saying he wanted $25 million and an apology for the bias.
The original lawsuit was for $10 billion, but after a judge said the suit had merit and didn't dismiss it, it went to $20 billion.
Trump's ire was raised after it came out that CBS selectively edited an interview answer by Harris, replacing it with another answer that sounded less like the original "word salad" answer.
Trump and others in the GOP called the action "interfering" in the 2024 election, and the outrage was on full blast.
CBS News still says it didn't do anything wrong, and wants Trump to take the settlement without admitting wrongdoing.
The "60 Minutes" executive editor and the president of CBS News resigned after the widespread backlash over the edits, which certainly belies the assertion that the show and network didn't do anything wrong.
Sure, executive producer Bill Owens is claiming he resigned because he was being denied editorial independence, but that is face-saving at best.
Trump is also threatening to file another suit against CBS over the most recent "60 Minutes" episode, in which Trump was compared to a mob boss.
Complicating matters even more is the ongoing attempt by Paramount Global to merge with Skydance Media.
The price tag of that merger is $8 billion, but Skydance understandably wants nothing to do with a merger until the lawsuit is resolved.
Trump has CBS over a barrel, and he's exactly as much of his pound of flesh as he possibly can while the getting is good.
According to the Daily Beast, Trump's lawyers said "mental anguish" was the reason $15 million wasn't enough, but it's really the apology that he wants even more than the money, it seems.
After so many legal situations where he seemed to be at the mercy of an unfriendly judge and prosecutor, Trump is taking full advantage of this one.
It appears that some cabinet officials are forced to step in to make sure that President Donald Trump's orders are carried out, particularly in the area of international trade.
On Wednesday, a federal trade court prevented President Trump from using emergency powers legislation to impose massive tariffs on imports, as Breitbart News reported.
A three-judge panel at the Court of International Trade in New York issued the verdict following many complaints that claimed Trump had overstepped his bounds, made U.S. trade policy subject to his caprices, and caused economic anarchy.
“The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” the court wrote, referring to the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
While the White House didn't immediately offer word to journalists about the next steps, it's expected that the Trump administration will appeal
The taxes, which are central to Trump's trade policies, are the subject of at least seven lawsuits that contest them.
There is some involvement by Congress for tariffs, but Trump claims he can take action due to a national emergency with the nation's trade deficits. The markets were sent into a tailspin when he levied tariffs on the majority of nations with which the United States trades.
The plaintiffs contended that tariffs cannot be authorized by the emergency powers law and that, even if they could, the trade deficit does not constitute a "unusual and extraordinary threat" that would trigger the emergency.
For the past half-century, the United States has maintained a trade deficit relative to its global trading partners.
In an attempt to address the United States' large and persistent trade deficits, Trump levied tariffs on the majority of the world's countries.
To counter the influx of illegal immigration and synthetic narcotics into the United States, he had previously imposed tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China.
His government maintains that the courts upheld Nixon's emergency tariff usage in 1971 and that Congress, and not the courts, has the authority to decide on the "political" matter of whether or not the president's justification for announcing an emergency is lawful.
Trump imposed tariffs that rattled international financial markets and caused analysts to make dire predictions for economic growth in the United States. But thus far, it seems the biggest economy in the world seems unaffected by the tariffs thus far.
V.O.S. Selections, a wine importer whose owner has was vocal about concern that his company might not make it through the tariffs, is one of several small businesses that have joined forces to launch the complaint.
Oregon was the leading state among the twelve that brought suit. "This ruling reaffirms that our laws matter, and that trade decisions can't be made on the president's whim," Assistant Attorney General Dan Rayfield said.
Three high-profile cases that angered some Republicans in Congress have been reopened or given more resources by the FBI, according to Deputy Director Dan Bongino's announcement on Monday.
A 2021 pipe bomber on the evening of January 6, the discovery of cocaine at the Biden White House during the Fourth of July weekend in 2023, and a leaked draft of a historic Supreme Court decision are all part of these cases, as Breitbart News reported.
"Shortly after swearing in, the Director and I evaluated a number of cases of potential public corruption that, understandably, have garnered public interest," Bongino posted on X. "We made the decision to either re-open, or push additional resources and investigative attention, to these cases."
"I receive requested briefings on these cases weekly and we are making progress," he added. "If you have any investigative tips on these matters that may assist us then please contact the FBI."
The Secret Service dropped the case on July 12, 2023, after concluding that it could not identify a suspect, despite the fact that cocaine was discovered at the White House in July 2023, over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
There was, allegedly, no surveillance footage of the drug incident, according to the White House. Investigators claimed that hundreds of people had access to the location where the cocaine was, according to law enforcement at the time.
"Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered," the FBI said in a statement that July.
"At this time, the Secret Service's investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence."
House Republicans voiced their disapproval of the investigation's conclusion, claiming that it put the White House's security at risk.
"This alarming development requires the Committee to assess White House security practices and determine whose failures led to an evacuation of the building and finding of the illegal substance," House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, (R-KY), wrote on July 7 to then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
The leak of the judgment in Dobbs v. Jackson, which sent abortion rights choices to the states after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, is also being investigated by the FBI. After looking into the leak, the investigation authority of the Supreme Court was unable to identify the leaker.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito authored the opinion that was leaked and published by Politico on May 2, 2022.
The court was unable to identify the leaker of the opinion, even though an internal investigation questioned more than a hundred Supreme Court personnel. However, during the course of the investigation, no justices were examined.
"Yesterday's unprecedented leak is an attempt to severely damage the Supreme Court," then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said at the time.
"This clearly coordinated campaign to intimidate and obstruct the Justices of the United States Supreme Court, and its independence in our political system, from upholding the Constitution must be immediately investigated by the court."
A new book released on Tuesday alleges that a small group of advisors known informally as "the politburo" was running the country during the Biden administration, and that former President Joe Biden was no more than a "senior board member."
"Original Sin: " by liberal journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, detailed the inner workings of the administration in an attempt to figure out what was going on behind the scenes and what went wrong with his re-election bid.
The members of the alleged "politburo" included Biden's senior advisors and longtime friends, but also First Lady Jill Biden and son Hunter Biden--neither of whom had anywhere near the experience or the public support to be running the country.
“In terms of who was running the White House, it’s a small group of people that have been around,” author Alex Thompson told PBS’ “Washington Week” on Friday. “Some people within the administration called them the Politburo. That’s the term we used in the book.”
“Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board,” a source close to the White House told the authors.
An unidentified cabinet secretary said about the politburo,, “I’ve never seen a situation like this before, with so few people having so much power. They would make huge economic decisions without calling [Treasury] Secretary Yellen.”
“Many of Biden’s own aides were also kept at arm’s length from the president," the book said.
The reason Biden was put up for another term was because the politburo thought it was getting a lot of good things done, and they (not Biden) deserved four more years.
It's normal for a president to have advisors around and to consider many other opinions before making decisions.
It's not so normal to have the president be an advisor to the group that's really running things.
In many cases, according to the book, Bidne was little more than a mouthpiece for a cabal that's really in charge.
He was akin to a a rubber stamp for what the group wanted to do. The use of the "autopen" was one example of how Biden wasn't really in charge or aware of everything that being carried out by his office.
No doubt he agreed with much of it, but that's not how the presidency is supposed to work.
The public had a sense of this and rejected it soundly. There were many questions asked about who was really running the country that were never answered, and voters didn't stand for it in 2024.
The Supreme Court issued a decision pausing a lower-court ruling that sought to obtain records from the Department of Government Efficiency, otherwise known as DOGE.
A ruling issued on Friday put a pause on an order from a federal judge ordering that DOGE comply with freedom of information requests seeking thousands of pages of material.
Chief Justice John Roberts issued the decision to pause the order as the Supreme Court considers the future of the litigation against the agency created by entrepreneur Elon Musk in order to cut government waste and inefficiency.
This means the Trump administration will no longer be required to respond to FOIA requests from leftist activist groups seeking to stop DOGE from dismantling corrupt government agencies that have been wasting billions.
DOGE administrator Amy Gleason, who has taken over the agency as Musk has returned to the private sector, will also no longer have to stand for a deposition.
The Trump administration has been battling frivolous lawsuits for the past few months as leftist activists and the bureaucratic deep state seek to stop President Donald Trump's radical reforms addressing decades of corruption.
Activist groups claim that DOGE is a federal agency since it has the power to fire government workers, cut federal grants, and reduce government spending.
If DOGE is a federal agency, it would be subject to federal transparency rules and required to respond to FOIA requests for internal documents and records.
The Trump administration has refuted claims that DOGE is a federal agency, pointing to the fact that DOGE is merely advising the Trump administration on making cuts. The true decision-making power still resides with federal agencies and the White House.
U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper ordered DOGE to respond to FOIA requests in March in a decision saying that, "the public would be irreparably harmed by an indefinite delay in unearthing the records CREW seeks.”
However, this discovery process is now on hold due to the Supreme Court's order, and it is highly likely that DOGE will be operating without intervention for some time as the Supreme Court tackles more important issues.
In the five months since Trump assumed power in the White House, DOGE has cut billions in government waste using a relatively small team of trusted individuals.
DOGE's cuts to wasteful federal agencies immediately ignited outrage among Democrats who zealously defended wasteful and corrupt agencies, igniting speculation that powerful politicians were using corrupt agencies to direct taxpayer dollars to themselves.
Unfortunately, DOGE's cuts have done little to keep up with the growing debt, thanks to years of out-of-control spending by the Biden administration.
However, the Trump administration had to start somewhere with cutting waste, and DOGE has been doing amazing work saving taxpayer dollars.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been cleaning house at the National Security Council at the direction of President Donald Trump.
Rubio has been on a mission to purge the 'deep state' from important government boards and councils, as well as fundamentally reshape certain government bodies to fight the shadow government that has been running Washington D.C. for decades.
President Trump has made the National Security Council an important target for reform. The Council is a notoriously bureaucratic institution staffed by career officials who oppose Trump's agenda.
One unnamed White House official stated, "The NSC is the ultimate Deep State. It's Marco vs. the Deep State. We're gutting the Deep State."
Of the 350 staff, about half have been cut and moved to other agencies to reduce the influence of the NSC and the bureaucrats who have enjoyed unchallenged rule for years.
In a statement to Axios, Rubio explained, "The right-sizing of the NSC is in line with its original purpose and the president's vision. The NSC will now be better positioned to collaborate with agencies."
Over the past years, the NSC has become instrumental in carrying out policies instead of its original advisory role. Because of the NSC's multi-layered committee system, the organization is completely inefficient in executing policy as opposed to advising.
Another White House official pointed this flaw out by stating, "That's the bottom-to-the-top approach that doesn't work. It's going away. All those things feeding up to principals are the unnecessary piece."
Purging the NSC and reforming it is crucial to President Trump's mission to reshape American foreign policy.
In contrast to past presidents, Trump's foreign policy prioritizes American interests, global peace, and stability. An example of this policy is Trump's decision to lift sanctions on Syria to encourage stability in the region, despite the fact that Syria's leader is classified as a terrorist.
The mission for Rubio is to reshape government to immediately and quickly respond to the orders of President Trump. If Trump wants it done, it needs to be done, instead of being filtered through four layers of committees staffed by career bureaucrats.
Rubio is flexing his power in cleaning up government agencies, and one staffer told Axios, "Marco is the one in charge and calling the shots."
When Trump nominated Rubio to be his Secretary of State, some were concerned that he wouldn't have the fortitude to be ruthless in making cuts. However, it appears that Rubio has proven to be a warrior for Trump's agenda and is determined to dismantle the 'swamp.'
The NSC isn't the only corrupt government body that Rubio has had a hand in dismantling. Rubio has been hard at work for months destroying the corrupt money laundering scheme that was USAID.
Americans who voted for Trump in November ought to be excited by the work that the Trump administration is doing to cut down and burn Washington D.C.'s corrupt bureaucracy.
U.S. District Judge David Joseph of the Western District of Louisiana struck down a Biden-era rule that required employers to give workers time off for abortions on Wednesday, saying that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) overreached its authority when it included abortion with pregnancy-related conditions that receive job protections.
Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) was passed in 2022 with bipartisan support.
The text of the act requires employers with 15 or more employees to provide “reasonable accommodations to a worker’s known limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions."
During the review process, the EEOC got 54,000 comments urging it not to include abortion in the rule, while 40,000 commented in favor of adding it.
The suit was brought by attorneys general of Louisiana and Mississippi, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic University and two Catholic dioceses.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill celebrated the decision: “Victory! A federal court has granted Louisiana’s request to strike down an EEOC rule requiring employers to accommodate employees’ purely elective abortions. This is a win for Louisiana and for life!”
A Better Balance, a legal advocacy group that supported the PWFA, conversely described the ruling as a part of a “broader attack on women’s rights and reproductive freedom.”
While the Trump administration is not likely to appeal the ruling, it has defended the PWFA under other circumstances.
The DOJ has not been super-friendly to life so far, which is odd because Trump had a big part in overturning Roe V. Wade.
Earlier in May, the agency tried to get legal challenges brought by Missouri, Kansas and Idaho to restrict access to the abortion pill dismissed.
Abortion pills account for the vast majority of abortions in the U.S.
Trump has resisted GOP pressure to outlaw abortion on a national level.
He most recently expressed some support for a 15-week abortion ban, which would not prevent most of these early-term, pill abortions.
This dichotomy is difficult to understand, but it seems to be a more nuanced view of abortion than many Republicans want to see.