Friday, April 24, 2026

Chump's bad week continues

Our Convicted Felon Donald Chump ends the week on a low note.  Julia Ornedo (THE DAILY BEAST) reports


President Donald Trump’s reality show has faced another week of glitches.

From protesters crashing his lavish Washington, D.C. dinner with billionaire pal David Ellison to Joe Rogan calling himself “politically homeless” even after getting invited to the White House, the 79-year-old president’s powerful cultural and media alliances are showing cracks.

But the reality TV president of The Apprentice fame may be too isolated to even notice—or is outright refusing to acknowledge reality, Daily Beast executive editor Hugh Dougherty and political correspondent Sarah Ewall-Wice said in an episode of The Daily Beast Podcast.

On Thursday night, as the presidential motorcade pulled up to the Institute for Peace for Trump’s dinner with the Paramount Skydance CEO, protesters gathered to speak out against the media giant’s impending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

“We’re gathered here together tonight [because] in the building behind us, David Ellison is hosting a dinner to honor President Trump, a dinner that’s designed to cement the Ellisons to the president in their years-running corrupt merger scheme,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin told the crowd.

“That really shows where things go wrong for Donald Trump when it comes to reality, versus what Donald Trump—the reality TV president and the reality TV star of many years—actually gets,” Ewall-Wice said.


He is a failure who only gets worse with each passing day.  Charl Wright (IRISH STAR) notes:


Donald Trump has been dealt a crushing blow after his most trusted network turned against him, with the president being issued a stern warning, being told that "they definitely can't wait much longer", with regard to him delivering on his promises.

Fox News humiliated the 79-year-old on April 22 after veteran broadcaster Stuart Varney unveiled POTUS's latest approval ratings live on-air. During his Fox Business show, Varney & Co, while the chyron, "Virginia passes redistricting referendum sat at the bottom of the screen, the British-American anchor told viewers, "There's a new poll, it's from the Associated Press, and it shows President Trump's approval on the economy at just 30%. 

"Overall, his approval isn't that much better. He's at 33%. Can Trump turn things around before the midterms, which are six months away?" 


Even FOX "NEWS" questions Mr. Chump's abilities.   In other news, Mr. Chump is facing problems with one of his many lawsuits.  Peter Charalambous (ABC NEWS) reports:

A federal judge is raising concerns about whether Donald Trump's attempt to sue the IRS for $10 billion can proceed, signaling she could throw out the case because the president oversees the government entities he is suing. 

Judge Kathleen Williams raised the issue in an order on Friday denying a request to delay the case amid possible settlement talks. 

She noted that Trump and the defendants -- the Treasury Department and IRS -- may not be "sufficiently adverse" to one another for the case to proceed. 

A federal judge is raising concerns about whether Donald Trump's attempt to sue the IRS for $10 billion can proceed, signaling she could throw out the case because the president oversees the government entities he is suing. 

Judge Kathleen Williams raised the issue in an order on Friday denying a request to delay the case amid possible settlement talks. 

She noted that Trump and the defendants -- the Treasury Department and IRS -- may not be "sufficiently adverse" to one another for the case to proceed. 


This is a case that should not be allowed to proceed while Mr. Chump is president.  

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:

Friday, April 24, 2026.  Chump tries to claim that the Iran War has only gone on for five and a half weeks, everyone in the administration appears to be leaking, The Epstein Scandal continues and gets a watchdog, Howard Lutnick faces questions regarding his own ever changing story of him and Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell wants a pardon, Senator Elizabeth Warren gives an update on the Democrats year long battle to save Social Security, and much more. 


The Iran War continues as Ben notes this morning on MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.



 
Finn Hartnett (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes Chump's claim that he remains on schedule with regards to the war:

Donald Trump would get around to ending the bloody conflict in Iran, but come on—we all deserve a break once in a while!

That was essentially what the president told reporters on Thursday when asked about the ongoing war. After Trump falsely claimed the United States had been involved with Iran for only “five and a half weeks,” a reporter piped up.

“It’s [been] eight weeks that the U.S. now has been involved with Iran,” the reporter said. “You initially had said it would be four to six weeks and it would be over.”

“Well, I hoped that, but I took a little break,” Trump retorted. “I gave them a break.”

If true, the idea that Trump took a two-week-long break from dealing with the war is pretty insane. What was he doing during that period? Watching TV? Brushing up on his figure drawing? DoorDashing McDonalds to the White House? (He actually did do that last one.)


He just lies and lies and the war drags on.  And drags the economy with it.  


We noted Chump's cabinet yesterday.  A lot of people are talking to the press, some of them may be current or former cabinet members.  Let's start with a non-Cabinet member.  Tom Latchem (THE DAILY BEAST) reports:


President Donald Trump has been privately venting his anger over FBI Director Kash Patel’s embarrassing boozy Olympics antics, according to a new report.

The president, 79, is said to be fuming about the parade of bad headlines triggered by viral footage of his hockey-mad FBI chief celebrating Team USA’s gold medal win over Canada in Milan by slamming beers in the men’s locker room.

While Trump has publicly defended Patel, 46, behind the scenes, he has been griping to confidants about both the locker-room performance itself and the embarrassing coverage that followed, sources familiar with the conversations told CNN.
The Daily Beast had previously reported that the president had also raised the controversy with Patel directly.



But it's not just Ka$h who has stepped in it.  Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports:

With three Cabinet members ousted by Donald Trump since March 5, a handful of Republican senators are growing anxious for several reasons that the firing hammer is about to drop on more, in part because the president is in a “bad mood” with his administration flailing.

According to a report from Politico’s Jordain Carney, four GOP lawmakers are anticipating a purge in part because the midterms are coming up and, should the GOP lose control of the Senate, confirmation hearings under a Democratic majority would be problematic at best.
Add to that, Trump appears to be in a firing mood.

The timeline is becoming critical. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer's departure this week follows Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi out the door — a pattern that has GOP lawmakers reconsidering the Senate's already compressed legislative calendar.

Senate Republicans face an impossible arithmetic. "The number of working days are very limited," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said. "You just do the math. It's a very compressed schedule."

Tillis is urging Trump to move quickly on any remaining Cabinet changes. A group of Republican senators believes the president should make further personnel moves sooner rather than later — before the midterms potentially shift Senate control to Democrats. Waiting, they fear, could mean confirmation delays or complete obstruction if Democrats take over.

Yes, it will be much harder after mid-terms to get Chump's picks through the rubber stamp Republicans who have refused to vote anyone down -- anyone who's made it to a vote.  Matthew Rozsa notes one who didn't make it to a vote:


President Donald Trump’s pick to lead a top US security agency withdrew his nomination on Wednesday after more than a year of controversy — including from his own Republican Party.

Sean Plankey, Trump's pick to lead the government’s civilian cyber defense agency, withdrew himself from consideration after his candidacy languished in the Senate, wrote Politico's John Sakellariadis and Dana Nickel on Wednesday, adding that Plankey informed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and confirmed the information to POLITICO.”
Trump tapped Plankey last year in March. Although Plankey was initially viewed as a non-controversial choice, but he quickly ruffled feathers. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) reportedly objected to Plankey’s policies regarding a Coast Guard shipbuilding project and resisted advancing Plankey’s renomination earlier this year.

“During Trump’s first term, Plankey served in cybersecurity roles on the National Security Council and the Energy Department,” Sakellariadis and Nickel reported. “Plankey’s withdrawal is the latest leadership shakeup at the top cyber defense agency, which has lost around one-third of its personnel since Trump returned to office. The agency has also cycled through interim leadership, with former acting CISA Director Madhu Gottumukkala reassigned in late February after a series of mishaps that alarmed current and former agency officials.”




Alana Loftus (THE MIRROR) notes, "This week, four GOP senators anonymously spoke to Politico about who they believe will be fired from the Trump administration next. Three top Trump officials stood out: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, and FBI Director Kash Patel."  Tulsi Gabbard?  Alana Loftus (THE MIRROR) reports:


Trump has urged the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, to resign before the midterm elections later this year, according to reports.

Trump’s cabinet has been undergoing a serious purge this year. Some of the most notable figures have been ousted in shock exits, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. According to two sources who spoke to Sherwood News in recent weeks, the White House has made it clear to Gabbard, who once got a sickening compliment from Trump in a room full of people, that they want her gone before the midterms.
At this point, her departure remains unconfirmed and the timing of any potential exit from Trump’s cabinet remains vague.


And the leaks continue.  Why?  Because people are angry.  Some are angry because they've been let go, some are angry because of talk that they'll be let go, some are just fed up with all the nonsense that has been Chump's second administration.  After awhile, the corruption becomes too much for even some insiders to take, the lawlessness grates on even those who support it to a degree.  And they talk to reporters.  Ewan Gleadow (RAW STORY) notes:


Heather Delaney Reese claims that Trump's team is slowly but surely leaking information to cover themselves as cabinet members and White House insiders worry for their future.
Reese wrote, "The cabinet he promised would be the tightest, most loyal operation in history, is hemorrhaging. Kash Patel is now suing The Atlantic over a deeply reported story about his excessive drinking, which claims his staff has trouble waking him up when he was seemingly intoxicated.

"In the past couple of months, three cabinet members have been fired or forced out: Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, and Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Every single one of them a woman.
"Every one of those leaks came from someone who is scared. People do not risk their careers and their clearances to talk to reporters because things are going well. They talk because they cannot stay quiet anymore. Because the fear of staying silent has finally overtaken the fear of him.
"And once that starts, it does not stop. Because what they are seeing is serious enough that the fear of staying silent has finally overtaken the fear of him. That is a shift. A real, documentable shift. And once it starts, it does not stop."

 

Thomas Kika notes one of the Chumpsters employed at Homeland Security:

A deputy assistant secretary in President Donald Trump's Homeland Security Department finds herself embroiled in a messy new debacle, according to new reports, with allegations surfacing that she has been using a "sugar daddy" website to pick up men.

The story, originating in the Daily Mail, concerns 29-year-old Julia Varvaro, a deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism, who has allegedly maintained a profile on Seeking.com. The Daily Beast described the site as one "that is often used by young, attractive singles looking for older, wealthier partners to help fund their luxury lifestyles."
The profile, listed under the name "Alessia," used the same profile photo as Varvaro's Instagram account and boasted about working for a U.S. government agency, while also promising prospective partners "seductive sophistication." The account also described her as "flirty, fun, and fond of sultry spaces,” as well as “drawn to a masculine man who’s attentive, protective and quietly playful for mutually beneficial experiences.”

The Daily Mail cited accusations from a man, "Robert B.," whom the report described as an "executive." Robert B., a divorced father, claimed to have dated Varvaro after finding her profile on a different site, Hinge. He further claimed to have "spent $40,000 on her over the course of three months, including first-class trips to Aruba and Italy."

Homeland Security.  The most unhinged and corrupt of departments. Kristi Noem set the example at the top and continues to do so even though she's no longer Secretary of Homeland Security.  Marianne LeVine, Tarini Parti and Michelle Hackman (WALL STREET JOURNAL) report:

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has continued using a waterfront house on a military base in Washington, D.C., that she took over as a cabinet member, according to people familiar with the matter.

A black Suburban SUV typically used by Noem was seen parked in front of the house earlier this week, those people said, and U.S. Coast Guard officials have spotted Noem on the base in recent days.

Noem moved into the house on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, which is typically designated for the commandant of the Coast Guard, after President Trump last year fired Linda Fagan, the commandant at the time. The Coast Guard generally falls under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security.

Noem has continued to use the house since Trump ousted her from DHS in early March. She officially left the job after Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as the new secretary.

Noem is now serving as Trump’s special envoy for the Shield of the Americas—Western Hemisphere, a security initiative created by the administration at the State Department.




Turning to Chump's pal Jeffrey Epstein.  Yesterday's snapshot noted James Comer Pyle, Chair of the House Oversight Committee, insisting his Committee was split on  a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell -- Epstein's accomplice.  The fact that Comer Pyle and the other Republicans on his Committee are apparently wasting time on this discussion (Congress can't pardon anyone) goes to how Comer Pyle will do anything to avoid addressing Pam Bondi's refusal to be deposed by the Committee -- a committee, please remember, that deposed former Attorney General Bill Barr.  ATLANTA BLACK STAR NEWS notes:


Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the committee, rejected the idea outright, saying there is no internal debate on his side of the group.

“That would be a huge step backwards, and, quite frankly, so disrespectful to the survivors,” Garcia said. “She is a known abuser. She is a known liar.”


He went further, framing any potential deal as something far more troubling. 

“If the DOJ or Oversight Republicans are out there trying to negotiate some sort of pardon that is … not only a huge slap in the face to this investigation, to anyone, to the American public,” he said. “It’s a part of a massive cover-up.”

Outside Washington, public reaction has already been unforgiving, with many questioning the true motive behind any potential deal. Critics argue the exchange may have less to do with uncovering the truth and more to do with controlling it.

“This is vile,” one critic voiced on X. “She participated and encouraged the girls. She is a predator, and anyone who is okay with pardoning her should be removed from office. Also, there is a 100% chance they are all republicans.”

Another person tagged Comer directly: “@RepJamesComer she would be getting a pardon to keep her mouth shut. Folks, this piece of sh-t thinks the American people are this kind of stupid.”


Ashley Fields (THE HILL) notes one member of Congress has called out the notion of a pardon to the DoJ:


Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) sent a Wednesday letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) strongly opposing the possibility of a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime partner and accomplice of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 

“I am writing to express my disgust at the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) reported willingness to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell,” Krishnamoorthi wrote in the letter. 
“Last week, David Oscar Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, said, ‘There’s a good chance and for good reason that [Maxwell] would get a pardon,’” the Illinois lawmaker added, citing reporting from Politico





Meanwhile, The Epstein Scandal is now receiving a watchful  eye from one person.  Dan Gooding (NEWSWEEK) reports:

The U.S. Department of Justice is facing an audit of its compliance with the law passed by Congress that required it to release the Epstein files.

In an announcement on Thursday, the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said it was initiating an audit to determine whether the Trump administration had complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.




Deputy Inspector General William Blier said in a written statement, “Our preliminary objective is to evaluate the DOJ’s processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the Act.”

“If circumstances warrant, the OIG will consider addressing other issues that may arise during the course of the audit,” Blier said.
The OIG “will issue a public report with the audit’s results when our work is complete,” he concluded.

Republican officials, especially in the White House, have made it abundantly clear that they’re desperate to see the Epstein scandal fade from the news, especially as the midterm elections draw closer. The inspector general’s new investigation suggests, however, that scrutiny into the administration’s handling of the matter is going to last a while longer.





Survivors and lawmakers have commented that the DOJ still has documents it hasn't released but should have, CNN reported in March. These include over 50 pages of FBI interviews and FBI notes taken by agents about one of the accusers of President Donald Trump, NPR reported in February. The young woman, who was a minor at the time, was interviewed by the FBI four times about her story. Of that, only a summary of her interview was made public.

"NPR reviewed multiple sets of unique serial numbers appearing before and after the pages in question, stamped onto documents in the Epstein files database, FBI case records, emails and discovery document logs in the latest tranche of documents published at the end of January," the report said. "NPR's investigation found dozens of pages that appear to be cataloged by the Justice Department but not shared publicly."

[. . .]

It has been less than a month since former Attorney General Pam Bondi was ousted from her post and her deputy, Todd Blanche, took over until a replacement could be confirmed.

Blanche told Fox News, “I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward."


Blanche is a joke and he's Chump's boy, put in place to protect Chump.  Howard Lutnick is the Secretary of Commerce and isn't doing a very good job in that position as evidenced by the US economy; however, Thursday morning he appeared before the House Appropriations Committee and his lies about Epstein were raised.  David Edwards (RAW STORY) reports:



Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) called out Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after he misrepresented his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

During a Thursday hearing before the House Appropriations Committee, Dean noted that Lutnick falsely claimed he had never spoken to Epstein again after a single meeting in which his wife was present.
"After speaking with the survivors, I again went to the Department of Justice to review the unredacted Epstein files to seek accountability and justice for the victims, the more than 1,000 victims and survivors," Dean explained. "And today, Secretary Lutnick, I have some questions for you about what I saw."

"Let's start with your relationship with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein," she continued. "In October, you told the New York Post with colorful narration that the last time you saw Jeffrey Epstein was in 2005 when you took a tour of his house, which happened to be right next door to yours... You swore you would never go back."
Dean pointed out that Lutnick's statement to the Post "was a lie."
"You were forced to admit that you had visited Epstein's private island in 2012," she explained. "Four years after, Epstein pled guilty to soliciting a minor for prostitution and was labeled a sex offender."

Even that wasn't the "whole truth," Dean said.

"It turns out that five days after visiting his island, you and Epstein signed a business deal together as co-investors in a digital advertising company," she remarked. "Secretary Lutnick, why did you lie to the New York Post about your relationship with Jeffrey Epstein?"

For his part, Lutnick declined to answer questions about Epstein because he had agreed to talk to the House Oversight Committee about the matter.

"I do not accept that answer," Dean snapped. "We are our own committee. We have our own reason to test your credibility and veracity. Please answer the question. Why did you lie to the Post?"

Lutnick refused to answer the question.  




Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:


Warren: “We’re keeping up the fight to protect — and expand — Social Security to make sure it’s here for generations of Americans to come.”

Text of Report (PDF)

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), published a new report highlighting how, in its first year, it has fought to protect Americans’ Social Security benefits.

“Since Day One, Donald Trump’s attacks on Social Security have made it harder for Americans to get their benefits. We launched our Social Security War Room a year ago to fight back and stop Trump’s damage, and that’s exactly what we’ve done,” said Senator Warren. “We’re keeping up the fight to protect — and expand — Social Security to make sure it’s here for generations of Americans to come.”

Breaking his campaign promises to “not touch” Social Security, Donald Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the Social Security Administration (SSA), jeopardizing Americans’ access to their hard-earned benefits. President Trump and his SSA Commissioner, Frank Bisignano, have slashed thousands of employees and upended critical services at field offices and on the agency’s customer service phone line — resulting in backdoor benefits cuts for Americans.

Senate Democrats launched the Social Security War Room one year ago to fight for seniors, draw attention to this customer service chaos President Trump and Commissioner Frank Bisignano have caused at SSA, and counter their relentless attacks on the agency and Americans’ benefits. One year later, the War Room has succeeded in stopping many of President Trump’s harmful policies in their tracks, including:

  • Launched Investigations Revealing True Metrics: Since its launch, the Social Security War Room has exposed the Trump Administration’s attacks on Social Security and initiated nearly two dozen investigations and reports – some of which forced the Administration to reverse course on harmful policies. When Americans reported waiting hours on the phone to talk to a SSA representative while the agency listed conflicting metrics online, Democrats conducted an investigation that revealed the truth about long wait times. The investigation found the average call wait time was over ten times higher than what the SSA claimed online – if the call was even answered at all.
  • Debunking Myths and Misinformation: When the administration put out inaccurate statements that misled the public about the state of Social Security, the War Room was quick to respond, fact-checking the administration’s statements and debunking its myths. This included the Trump administration’s baseless claims of rampant fraud, along with its outright lies about the impact of Trump and Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill on Social Security benefits.
  • Secured Key Commitments from Social Security Head: After a personal meeting with Senator Warren, the Social Security War Room secured key commitments from Commissioner Bisignano to better protect Americans’ benefits, including that he would not make it easier to fire SSA workers by shifting them to Schedule F, would ensure Americans who can only access benefits through paper checks would still be able to get them, and importantly, would cooperate with an independent Inspector General investigation of Social Security data and metrics. During the meeting, the Commissioner also admitted he was responsible for a blast email that went out to all SSA beneficiaries inaccurately describing how President Trump’s OBBBA would affect benefits.
  • Introduced Bills to Support and Expand Social Security: Members of the Social Security War Room have led the charge to introduce legislation to safeguard Social Security and reverse the Trump administration’s disastrous cuts, including introducing the Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act. Protecting Social Security also means ensuring future generations can access the program and expanding benefits for seniors and people with disabilities. In the fall, Democratic senators in the War Room also introduced the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act, which would temporarily expand Social Security benefits to ensure they can meet the moment and cover the increased cost of living older Americans are facing under the Trump administration. Later, Social Security War Room leaders reintroduced the Supplement Security Income Restoration (SSI) Act, which would make long-needed updates to the program to ensure beneficiaries can live with dignity and are not trapped in poverty.

President Trump’s policies and Commissioner Bisignano’s disastrous leadership continues to threaten Americans’ benefits, including by haphazardly shifting employees and limiting field office services to cover over the administration’s catastrophic staff cuts. And Trump administration officials and Republicans in Congress have floated alarming proposals that would weaken Social Security – including raising the retirement age.

As the Trump administration, Commissioner Bisignano, and Republicans in Congress continue to undermine Social Security, the War Room will sound the alarm and fight back, preventing the administration from gutting the agency and working to increase Social Security benefits and ensure the program is here for generations to come.

###



And we'll close with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:

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Thursday, April 23, 2026

Chump fudges the number of wounded in his war and other cover ups

Our Convicted Felon Donald Chump is losing his mental faculties and, as a result, his vocabulary is becoming increasingly smaller.  Ed Mazza (HUFFINGTON POST) reports:


President Donald Trump on Wednesday fired off a lengthy rant attacking the Virginia redistricting referendum that’s expected to send up to 10 Democrats to Congress.

But two words in particular stood out, which came as he described himself: “extraordinarily brilliant.”

Trump, as he often does in votes that don’t go his way, complained without evidence that the referendum was “rigged.” He railed against mail-in votes. And he griped that the language on the ballot was “purposefully unintelligible and deceptive.” 

"Rigged elections."  For those who have forgotten, a "rigged election" is any election that Mr. Chump does not win.  In his demented mind, that is how it works.  

One wonders what Mr. Chump would call a cover up he carried out.  Per Nick Hilden, his administration is carrying one out currently:

As of Wednesday, official figures released by the Department of Defense on casualties in Iran place the number of American service members wounded and killed at 411. But according to a new report from the Intercept, that number “erases” 15 wounded from the count, amounting to the very “definition of a cover-up.”
On the first day of the ceasefire, the Pentagon listed American casualties at 385, and though fighting was theoretically suspended, that gradually climbed to 428 by Monday. But the following day, that number dropped to 413 without explanation. The Pentagon has maintained that number since then, though a DOD count places it two lower.

When asked about the discrepancy, two Pentagon officials were unable to account for the change, with one claiming, “As soon as the duty officer comes back to their desk,” an explanation would be provided. But “a day, and multiple follow-ups, later, The Intercept has yet to receive an explanation of why 15 wounded personnel were scrubbed from the War Department’s casualty rolls.”

One U.S. official was blunt about their assessment of what they called a “casualty cover-up.”

“These numbers, it is obvious, are important. That they don’t want the public to have them says something,” said the official. “That’s the definition of a cover-up.”


Mr. Chump is fudging the numbers of the wounded.  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is fudging the number of the wounded.  This is a disgrace and it ought to be illegal. 

Mr. Chump refuses to spend time on ending the war on Iran.  He refuses to do anything to help the economy.  But he makes time to golf and to seek revenge.  On the latter, Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) reports:

President Donald Trump is preparing to throw a scripted tantrum at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year, reported The Daily Beast on Wednesday.

"Donald Trump will launch a 'revenge' attack on the White House media when he confronts them in person at a Washington dinner on Saturday night — then flee before there can be revenge," said the report. "He is expected to target publications that he has accused of writing negatively about his administration and his war with Iran, in particular, according to sources."
This would track with his recent rants on Truth Social, where he has accused of the media of rigging reports about the Iran war to make it look like it's going worse than it actually is.

After he is done with his speech, said the report, he is skipping on the rest of the ceremony — in large part because he doesn't want to stick around for an award being given to a story that revealed his closeness to deceased financier and accused child trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

In this morning's snapshot (posted in full at the bottom of my post), C.I. took on Mr. Chump's disaster cabinet and the Republican senators who voted these unqualified incompetents in.  Alex Henderson notes that two columnists for THE NEW YORK TIMES also weighed in on the cabinet:

During a conversation published in the New York Times' opinion section on April 23, columnists Bret Stephens and Frank Bruni examined the many controversies surrounding Trump's appointees. Bruni stressed that Trump got exactly the type of administration he wanted — and now, his presidency is suffering badly because of it.

Bruni told Stephens, "I have come to realize that normal language is inadequate and precedents are irrelevant when it comes to appraising Trump's Cabinet and other senior administration officials. Trump didn't just hire incompetent people. He didn't just hire lickspittles. He visited some perverse preserve of the morally degenerate — some superstore of grifters and goons — and said, 'I'll take the worst of the worst. A baker's dozen, please!' And on this score, the self-proclaimed master dealer got exactly the goods he wanted."
Facing allegations of having an affair with a subordinate and drinking on the job,

Trump's labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, resigned on April 20. Chavez-DeRemer's resignation comes after the firings of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and ex-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Stephens said of Chavez-DeRemer, "Text messages reviewed by The Times 'suggested that the secretary was drinking during the workday.' Her husband, Shawn DeRemer, was 'barred from the department's headquarters, after female staff members accused him of making unwanted sexual advances, including filing a police report.' With a résumé like this, Frank, she could be our next secretary of homeland security. Or war!"


He did not want the best and the brightest and he did not get them.  

This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for today:


Thursday, April 23, 2026.  Chump destroys the country and its economy and does so with the help of one of the most dishonest, crooked and unqualified cabinets the country has ever seen.



Over the span of four days earlier this month, President Donald Trump posted to his Truth Social account about his proposed triumphal arch, ballroom construction, the Iran war, a UFC fight at the White House and Bruce Springsteen’s alleged plastic surgery.

He also posted (and later deleted) an AI-generated photo of himself as Jesus, on the heels of a screed aimed at Pope Leo XIV, who Trump said “should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician.”

What’s absent for long stretches in the president’s social media presence and from his discourse more generally of late is the economy — an issue Trump rode to the White House in 2016 and 2024.

“Trump’s original deal with the American people was ‘I’m a boorish lout and kind of embarrassing, but I know how to run the economy.’ And they believed that because they remember the economy being good in 2016,” said Mike Murphy, an anti-Trump former Republican strategist and co-host of the “Hacks on Tap” podcast with David Axelrod.

Critics and concerned Republicans say Trump isn’t making the economy enough of a priority with this year’s election just over six months away, though he has attempted to shift the focus back to cost-of-living issues in the last week.

But even when Trump does bring up the economy, his words often don’t reflect the reality many Americans are feeling. He recently said gas prices — which are 27% higher than a year earlier according to AAA — are “not very high,” and he has called affordability a “Democratic hoax.” 


Chump's run the American economy into the ditch and seems oblivious when it comes to that reality.  And voters are noticing this face.  Kathryn Palmer (USA TODAY) reports:

A new national poll found the country's youngest eligible voters are heading into the 2026 midterm elections burdened by deep economic anxiety and grappling with a growing belief that they are unable to effect change.

The Harvard Youth Poll, conducted among 18- to 29-year-olds by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, concluded that economic pressure is a defining concern for young Americans. It's a sentiment reflected in months of national polls that surveyed voters across age groups, who have similarly identified cost-of-living concerns, economic mobility and inflation as their North Star issues.

Roughly half of young Americans said that they are affected “a lot” by inflation, and 45% said they are struggling to make ends meet. And over the last five years, fewer young Americans believe they will be better off financially than their parents. In 2021, 38% said they expect to be better off than their parents. In the recent spring poll, 29% said that.


This morning, Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones covers a new Gallup poll:


Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index dropped to -38 this month from -27 in March, as Americans grew more negative about both current economic conditions and the economy’s direction. This is the lowest index reading since November 2023 (-40), though still above the recent low of -58 in June 2022 during a period of high inflation and record gas prices.

The April 1-15 poll was conducted amid ongoing tensions between Iran and the U.S. and Israel, which have been at war since Feb. 28. The conflict has interrupted commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, driving global oil prices and U.S. fuel costs higher.

Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index has a theoretical range of -100, if all Americans rate current economic conditions as poor and thought the economy was getting worse, to +100, if all Americans rate current conditions as excellent or good and believed the economy was getting better. The all-time-high reading was +56 in January 2000, while the record low was -72 in October 2008.

Americans More Negative About Current Economy and Its Trajectory

Nearly half of U.S. adults, 47%, describe current economic conditions as “poor,” up from 40% in March. Meanwhile, 21% believe the economy is “excellent” or “good,” not meaningfully changed from 23% last month. The last time evaluations were worse was in November 2023, when half rated conditions as poor.


Chump has done this and he's done it with the help of his embarrassing and unqualified cabinet.


Friday, THE ATLANTIC published Sarah Fitzpatrick's "The FBI Director Is MIA: Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences."  Ka$h is suing over the article.  This is not the first time he's sued the press.  This week, news emerged on his previous lawsuit.  Dan Mangan (CNBC) reports:


A Houston federal court judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit by FBI Director Kash Patel alleging that former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi defamed him by saying Patel last year had “been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of” the bureau’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

“The Court finds that Figliuzzi’s statement is rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation,” U.S. District Court Judge George Hanks Jr. wrote in his decision. “Accordingly, Dir. Patel has failed to state a claim against Figliuzzi, and his lawsuit must be dismissed.”

The dismissal came a day after Patel filed an unrelated $250 million defamation lawsuit in D.C. federal court against The Atlantic magazine over a new article that alleged he has abused alcohol.



The case he lost was against ex-MSNBC analyst and columnist Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI. While appearing last year on MSNBC’s (now MS NOW’s) “Morning Joe,” Figliuzzi said Patel had “been visible at nightclubs far more than he has been on the seventh floor of the Hoover building.”

Patel argued Figliuzzi’s statement was defamatory, while Figliuzzi argued a reasonable viewer would have seen it as a “sarcastic, hyperbolic quip about the media narrative surrounding” Patel at the time. The FBI director countered that a reasonable viewer would have understood the remarks to be factual.

Rejecting Patel on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge George Hanks called Figliuzzi’s statement “rhetorical hyperbole that cannot constitute defamation.” In his opinion dismissing the FBI director’s suit, the Obama-appointed judge in Texas wrote that a person of reasonable intelligence and learning “would not have taken his statement literally: that Dir. Patel has actually spent more hours physically in a nightclub than he has spent physically in his office building.”


Ka$h remains disgraced publicly.  The video footage of him with the US men's hockey team clearly showed a frenzied Ka$h -- not a person applauding a victory but a crazed and drunken fool who confused himself with a member of the team itself.  He was out of control.  The reports of his drinking indicate that this is a normal phase for him.  He wasn't qualified to be the FBI Director.  At some point, in the near future, Republicans will have to answer for how they approved Chump's nominees, how they voted for this group of unhinged and unqualified losers and of how they then covered for them month after month.


Take Trashy Garbage aka Tulsi Gabbard.  The unqualified Tulsi was made Director of National Intelligence.  From that post, she does nothing with regards to the Iran War because Chump has shut her out there.  Instead, she wastes her time and out intelligence resources on 'investigations' into things that took place over ten years ago as she tries to prove Chump's crazed conspiracies for him.  David Corn (MOTHER JONES) reports:


Last summer, she did this by releasing highly classified intelligence documents that she claimed proved that President Barack Obama, his CIA chief John Brennan, and other Deep Staters had committed “treason”—a crime punishable by death. She accused them of falsifying intelligence to show that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had covertly intervened in the 2016 election in part to help Trump. The memos clearly did not show that. (Investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller, the Justice Department, and the bipartisan Senate intelligence committee have confirmed Putin attacked that election to boost Trump.)

Gabbard’s stunt was a despicable act of immense gaslighting. And she and Trump each called for Obama, Brennan, and others to be prosecuted. Trump went so far as to post an AI-generated video of FBI agents violently handcuffing and arresting Obama and tossing him into a prison cell. In the video, Obama is on his knees before Trump. Never has intelligence been so abused by an administration for purely political purposes. Gabbard’s move led the Justice Department to mount a criminal investigation of Brennan and others that is ongoing.

At the time, Gabbard also declassified and made public a secret report that cited Russian intelligence material from 2016 that claimed Hillary Clinton suffered from “intensified psycho-emotional problems,” was on a daily regimen of “heavy tranquilizers,” and had schemed to set up the Trump-Russia scandal to distract from her email controversy. But US intelligence analysts and FBI agents had previously judged this Russian material to be unreliable and possibly disinformation. So here was the top US intelligence official deploying unsubstantiated or phony Russian material—over the objections of CIA officials who worried its disclosure could compromise sources and methods—to smear an American politician. It was disgraceful.

[. . .]

Last week, she released a handful of documents that she asserted exposed “a coordinated effort by elements within the Intelligence Community (IC), including a former Inspector General (IG), to manufacture a conspiracy that was used as the basis to impeach President Trump in 2019.” She insisted these records show that Atkinson “did not follow standard IG procedures and relied upon politicized, manufactured narratives” and that he took “actions to weaponize the Whistleblower process and exceed his statutory jurisdiction.”

Once more, she insisted that Trump was the victim of a nefarious cabal: Deep state actors within the Intelligence Community concocted a false narrative that was used by Congress to usurp the will of the American people and impeach the duly-elected President of the United States.”

Yet again, Gabbard is pulling a big con. The materials she released do not back up the charge that Atkinson mishandled this case, and they certainly don’t prove a narrative was manufactured. In fact, the whistleblower’s complaint was largely confirmed when the Trump White House, under pressure, released a summary of his call with Zelenskyy. And that summary played a more critical role in the impeachment proceedings than the whistleblower’s complaint. During the Trump-Ukraine controversy, Maguire testified that the whistleblower “did the right thing.” Maguire also testified that Atkinson’s handling of the whistleblower complaint was done “by the book” and consistent with the law.  


While Trashy Garbage wastes her time on these conspiracy threads, who is doing her job?  Who is going through the international information and protecting the country from perceived and from real threats?  

We are in the midst of a war, after all.  And then there's Pete Hegseth.  The Secretary of Defense keeps running through staff in the midst of a war.  Army Chief of Staff Randy George was only the most recent until yesterday.  Adam Mockler weighed in on yesterday's departure.




Greg Jaffe, Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper (NEW YORK TIMES) report:


Navy Secretary John Phelan was fired on Wednesday after months of infighting with senior Pentagon leaders and disagreements over how to revive the Navy’s struggling shipbuilding program.

Mr. Phelan is leaving the Pentagon and the Trump administration effective immediately, wrote Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, in a terse statement.

In his role leading the Navy, Mr. Phelan had championed the “Golden Fleet,” a major investment in new ships including a “Trump-class” battleship. But Mr. Phelan’s leadership was marred by feuds with senior leaders in the Pentagon, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg, Pentagon and congressional officials said.

Mr. Phelan is the first service secretary to leave the administration, though he is the second one to clash with the defense secretary. Mr. Hegseth also has butted heads with Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll over promotions and a host of other issues. Mr. Hegseth fired the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, earlier this month.


Any of the firings are eye brow raising but to fire the Secretary of the Navy when the US is battling over the Strait of Hormuz is especially shocking. 


Hegseth is out of control.  Again, the Republicans who voted for these nominees -- which also include the now departed Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi and Lori Chavez-DeRemer  -- will have to answer for what they did.  They didn't confirm qualified nominees.  They confirmed unqualified people for posts that were beyond their abilities and experience and did so because these were MAGA wack jobs. These were people like Robert Kennedy Junior who should be nowhere near a Health and Human Services cabinet let alone the Secretary of it. 


At THE NEW REPUBLIC, Laura Weiss observes:


It’s hard to overstate the damage that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done to the public health infrastructure of the United States in his first year as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. An exhaustive list of these crimes could—and likely will—fill books. 

Though he promised otherwise in his confirmation hearings, Kennedy has decimated the country’s vaccine and public health infrastructure. Last June, amid a historic measles outbreak that he has consistently downplayed, Kennedy abruptly fired all 17 expert members from the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, days before the panel was set to meet, only to stack it with vaccine skeptics largely without expertise in the subject matter. He went on to restrict access to vaccines for Covid-19 and other diseases.

Under his leadership, HHS has cut millions of dollars from mRNA vaccine research. He has also defunded research into cancer, a bird flu vaccine, and future pandemic threats. He has spread misinformation and stigma about autism and reduced the number of childhood vaccine recommendations from 17 to 11. He tried to conduct a highly unethical study in Guinea-Bissau that would put the tiny country’s population—which has among the highest rates of hepatitis B in the world—at a much higher risk of contracting the disease.


At SALON, former Governor Howard Dean writes:


In the first three months of 2026, America logged roughly 1,600 measles cases — nearly as many as the total number for all of 2025, which was by far the worst year we’ve seen for the highly infectious virus in decades. In fact, because we’ve had more than 12 straight months of continuous measles spread, the nation should soon lose the measles elimination status we achieved back in 2000.

I say “should” because Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was granted a delay of the April 13 meeting of the Pan American Health Organization, where officials were expected to reach that embarrassing conclusion, until its annual meeting, which is scheduled for after the midterm elections. A coincidence, no doubt.

It’s disgraceful and dangerous that instead of acting to prevent the spread of preventable diseases like measles, the secretary and his cadre of mad scientists are playing politics and spreading misinformation — and putting American lives at risk.

As Kennedy faces rounds of congressional hearings, including before two Senate committees that include four Republican doctors, measles cases are still rising across the country. During an appearance before a House committee on Tuesday, he declined to support the vaccine guidance of Dr. Erica Schwartz, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who is an advocate for immunizations. 

Kennedy also rebuffed Democrats’ claims that he bore responsibility for the country’s ongoing measles outbreak. There have already been 17 separate outbreaks in 2026. South Carolina has reported around 670 cases of the virus that have forced hundreds to quarantine or isolate. In Utah, nearly 600 people, most of whom are children, have been diagnosed since an outbreak began last summer.

Measles cases are spiking because the share of Americans who’ve received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — which protects 97% of people from getting the virus when exposed to it — has declined below the critical threshold recommended for community protection. Under the vaccine skeptic Kennedy’s leadership, vaccination rates for other diseases are also trending downward, and could soon fall below their own respective thresholds, opening the door for all sorts of previously eliminated diseases to make a dangerous comeback.

Our public health system isn’t ready for these infectious diseases. Experts are already sounding alarms about underreporting, inconsistent data collection and delayed responses due to a lack of coordination between government centers and agencies, and weakened surveillance systems. 


Junior's not qualified to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services and his time in the office has harmed the country -- and will continue to harm it for many years to come. 


These are Chump's nominees, his picks, and they are a disaster for this country.  That's before you get to the Howard Lutnicks who hung out with Jeffrey Epstein and before you get to the Linda McMahons accused of their own sexual impropriety (see the Ring Boy Scandal for which is still moving through the courts and for which she is accused of participation).  We've had Kristi Noem and her  boy toy Corey, all of this scandal, non-stop.  And then there's racist Pete Hegseth. 


Jen Psaki addressed him last night on MS NOW. 


The video shows Senator Cory Booker speaking on the floor of the Senate.

Senator Cory Booker:  And what is this body doing?  Nothing.  Republican leadership?  It's called no open hearings, no sufficient accountability, no substantive oversight.  They are kowtowing to a president and allowing him into a reckless war with grave consequences and a shredding of our Constitutional attention by our founders.  


Cory then joins her to speak of the firing of the Navy commander with Cory saying of Hegseth,  "Today is just another testament to his incompetence."


Brad Reed (RAW STORY) notes:

A top United Nations official on Tuesday warned that there is a real risk of a global food crisis if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to shipments of fertilizer.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), said in an interview with UN News that roughly one-third of global fertilizer shipments flow through the Strait of Hormuz, and its closure has caused “a massive disruption in the supply chain of fertilizers,” and “clearly we are seeing a crisis emerging” in the agricultural industry.

The UN official also emphasized the need for a fast resolution to the crisis to prevent catastrophic food shortages as tensions continued to escalate in the strait in recent days, with both the US and Iran seizing vessels in the area.


Chump has spent more time in office trying to bury The Epstein Scandal than he has pondering the needs of the American people.  Chump and Epstein go back to the 80s when they first hooked up.  Epstein of course died in jail awaiting trial for his predatory actions -- this followed his 2008 conviction.  He was Chump's buddy and Chump boasted of him to the press.  Chump also hung around with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's right hand who procured women and girls for him and who engaged in sex with them.  As The Epstein Scandal heated up throughout last year, Chump sent Deputy AG Todd Blanche to speak with Ghislaine Maxwell and, shortly afterwards, she was transferred to a lower level security prison -- a Club Fed of prisons -- in Bryan, Texas.   Chump takes cares of his friends. 


Maxwell thinks her conviction can be overturned and keeps appealing it in the courts.  Farrah Tomazin (DAILY BEAST) reports:

Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell sent a mystery USB drive to the Justice Department days after Melania Trump sought to distance herself from the pair’s heinous sex crimes.

The disgraced former socialite sent the USB on April 16 in a fresh attempt to quash her criminal conviction and 20-year jail sentence for helping Epstein recruit and abuse women and girls.

While the details of the electronic files are not known, the timing of it—seven days after the first lady delivered a surprise statement about Epstein and Maxwell—raised eyebrows across Washington.

In her April 9 statement, Melania Trump denied any ties to Epstein’s crimes and demanded that “lies” being spread about her must end.

Reading from prepared remarks at the White House, she told reporters that she went to the same parties as Epstein “from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common.” 



Melania's spech.  The one she gave apparently to pre-empt revelations from a former friend.  Alexandra Miller (SCRIPPS NEWS) notes:

Just before that news conference earlier this month, former model Amanda Ongaro came forward about her former partner, ID Models owner Paolo Zampoli, who she said she met while underage. Ongaro has since been deported and is accusing Zampoli, who is now a member of the Trump administration, of orchestrating her arrest over custody issues.

Ongaro also alluded in various now-deleted social media posts that she has information on President Donald Trump and Melania Trump relating to Epstein. Both the president and first lady have denied any nefarious involvement with Epstein.

Meanwhile, Epstein's interest in fashion was not in the business itself, but in leveraging the industry to gain access to young women who were hoping to grow their modeling careers.

Lisa Phillips was introduced to Epstein at age 21 while on a modeling shoot near his island. She endured years of abuse that she says she did not fully recognize until she was introduced to other survivors.

"The modeling industry was like, it was like a foundation of Epstein's orbit," Phillips told Scripps News.

 

The press has followed The Epstein Scandal and has unearthed many details that the Dept of Justice has attempted to hide.  Henry Giardina (QUEERTY) notes the work of Bekah Day:


Since the second Epstein files release in January, we’ve discovered so many bombshells that have exposed sinister networks, powerful figures, and deep corruption across the worlds of finance, politics, modeling, and even retail.

For most citizens, the continuing fallout is exhausting. But for poster Bekah Day, who has been tirelessly sifting through every last file to make sure no details go unnoticed, it’s all in a day’s work.

Day’s peerless detective work around the Epstein files has beaten several major publications to the punch lately, including the story about Brazilian model (and ex-Melania bestie) Amanda Ungaro, whose Paolo Zampoli connection has put Tr*mp in hot water in recent weeks.

But as usual, the mad king has managed to find enough distractions to keep him busy… until now. Day just discovered a set of photos that put Tr*mp at the scene of a very scandalous gathering devoted to celebrating Epstein’s 50th birthday party… which allegedly took place at Mar-a-Lago.

That’s right! Remember last year when the Wall Street Journal discovered a Tr*mp doodle solicited by Ghislaine Maxwell as part of a tribute book for Epstein’s 50th? And remember how Tr*mp denied the whole thing and said that he never draws things and then everyone started sharing Tr*mp’s many, many doodles online? Yeah, well that was apparently just the tip of the iceberg, according to Day’s findings. 

Pulling up a file set labeled “JE 50 Bday” Day shows us a series of photos featuring Epstein surrounded by the usual cadre of young girls, as well as Ghislaine Maxwell and some other big players. As usual, of course, the photos are heavily redacted, in some cases to protect Epstein survivors, in other cases… definitely not for that reason. But we can see plenty of victims on display in these photos, and we can also very clearly see Mar-a-Lago’s gilded interiors in the background.

“If we are to believe that all of the redacted figures are victims,” Day says, “the number of known survivors of [Epstein] that went through Mar-a-Lago…keeps growing.”

Curiouser and curiouser, especially considering that all the photos labeled “JE 50th bday” show Mar-a-Lago’s very recognizable interior. 

 

Harry Sisson covered Maxwell and the House Oversight Committee last night. 



Maxwell's planning a pardon from Chump.  Hailey Fuchs (POLITICO) notes:


Members on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are divided over whether President Donald Trump should pardon Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for her cooperation in the panel’s Epstein investigation, Chair James Comer said in an interview Wednesday.

Maxwell, who was deposed by the Oversight Committee as the sole convicted accomplice in the Epstein sex trafficking scheme, previously invoked her Fifth Amendment right in declining to answer the panel’s questions. Her lawyer has said that she would only speak if granted clemency — a power available solely to Trump, who has not ruled out the prospect of a pardon.

When asked whether he believed it was a favorable deal to issue a pardon in return for Maxwell’s testimony, Comer said, “A lot of people do.”

“My committee’s split on that,” he added, declining to name who on the panel supported granting a pardon. “I don’t speak for my committee.”

[. . .]

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the Oversight panel’s top Democrat, emphasized that committee Democrats unanimously opposed a pardon for Maxwell.

“That would be a huge step backwards, and, quite frankly, so disrespectful to the survivors,” he said in an interview. “She is a known abuser. She is a known liar.”

“If the DOJ or Oversight Republicans are out there trying to negotiate some sort of pardon that is … not only a huge slap in the face to this investigation, to anyone, to the American public,” he added. “It’s a part of a massive cover up.”


Congress can't pardon a convicted felon.  A president can.  Comer Pyle insists he himself isn't for the pardon but he's a known liar and does Chump's bidding.  


Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

Murray: “The budget that was sent to us is not MAGA budget. It is not a MAHA budget. It is a war budget—no one can call it anything other than that.”

ICYMI: Senator Murray on President Trump’s FY27 Budget Request

***WATCH: Senator Murray’s remarks***

Washington, D.C. — Today, at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on the FY27 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the HELP Committee, grilled HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on cuts to important HHS functions, and broken promises and lies to Congress.

[MURRAY SLAMS RFK Jr. FOR GUTTING CDC AND BREAKING PROMISES]

MURRAY: Yesterday when we talked, you went on a very long tangent about how you were just cancelling woke grants. But I want to for the record put the numbers here: you cancelled 17, at least 17 maternal health grants, $4 million—because apparently any research involving women is woke. You cancelled 58 grants for vaccine research, $94 million. 59 for Alzheimer’s research, that was $33 million dollars. And a whopping 108 cancer research grants—$29 million dollars’ worth! 

I just have to say cancer is not woke. Neither is Alzheimer’s, or women who die in childbirth. These are deadly issues, they deserve serious research. I am appalled that it was tossed in the shredder. And meanwhile as I said, we are shoveling money on war spending.

So, I just want to be clear: that the budget that was sent to us is not MAGA budget. It is not a MAHA budget. It is a war budget—no one can call it anything other than that


Why on earth would we take from researchers, and rural health care, and maternal health care. You justified these cuts because of a need to reduce the debt yesterday, this budget actually proposes to increase the debt for more war.

So, we’re shoveling more money at Defense contractors, but we’re slashing NIH by more than five billion dollars, fewer patients getting life-saving treatment. Cutting CDC by a third so we can’t respond to dangerous outbreaks. Slashing investments in mental health and addiction treatment, people will fall through the cracks. And not investing in child care, families will have to decide between child care, and health care, and putting food on the table.

So, I know my time is almost up. And Mr. Chairman, for the record, I am concerned about the promises that have been broken. And I have some items that I do want to submit for the record, and I ask unanimous consent to include these articles:

“RFK Jr. breaks promise to senators, guts CDC vaccine panel of independent experts.”

“RFK Jr. Breaks His Promises About the CDC on Vaccines and Autism.”

“Firing of CDC’s vaccine advisers puts spotlight on RFK Jr.’s promises to Cassidy.”

I have one that is titled: “RFK Jr. Made Promises in Order to Become Health Secretary. He’s Broken Many of Them.”

“Bill Cassidy extracted a promise from RFK Jr. Now he sees what that promise is worth.”

Two more: “A Republican Senator Who Voted for RFK is Airing His Concerns. It’s Too Late Now.”

And an article that is entitled: “GOP Senator Refuses to Face Reality About RFK Jr. After Being ‘Lied’ To.”

I yield back.

###


The following sites updated: