Eric Swalwell’s Chief of Staff Gives Stinging Nine-Word Message amid Rape Scandal

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The former chief of staff to Eric Swalwell responded to the rape allegations against his former boss with a brutal rebuke about how no one is working for the congressman anymore.

Benjamin Burnett replied to a request for comment from the Hill about the swarm of sexual abuse and sexual misconduct allegations against the embattled former congressman.

“As of 2 PM (ET) today neither Cassie [Baloue] nor I work for or report to the former Congressman,” the post on X read.

“We will not be commenting on his behalf, relaying your request to him, or contact/coordinating with him in anyway.”

The message added, “He rightfully has no one working for him anymore.”

The comment came just hours after another alleged victim came forward with accusations on Tuesday of horrific claims that the married congressman drugged and raped her in a hotel room in 2018. (Read more from “Eric Swalwell’s Chief of Staff Gives Stinging Nine-Word Message amid Rape Scandal” HERE)

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Biden Gaffe with Syracuse University Trustee Who ‘Looks Like’ Obama Deemed ‘Racist:’ ‘Barack, what are you doing?’

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. . .Former President Joe Biden spotted a familiar face on stage during his portrait unveiling at Syracuse University School of Law Tuesday and demanded the man join him at the podium in an awkward exchange.

“I always want to turn around to one guy and say … ‘Barack, what are you doing?’” Biden joked during the event at his alma mater.

The 83-year-old former president was referring to Jeffrey Scruggs, who is black and the chairman of the school’s Board of Trustees, and apparently reminds Biden of the 44th president, Barack Obama.

Biden awkwardly put the spotlight on Scruggs and called for him to come up to the podium, despite the chairman’s apparent reluctance.

“Come here, come here, come here, come here … come here,” Biden repeatedly demanded, motioning for Scruggs.

“I feel like he should be standing on the right and I should be standing on the left,” Biden said, after the trustee finally walked over laughing. (Read more from “Biden Gaffe with Syracuse University Trustee Who ‘Looks Like’ Obama Deemed ‘Racist:’ ‘Barack, what are you doing?’” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Trump Reforms Cut Legal Immigration by 50 percent

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The number of migrants approved for citizenship dropped by roughly 50 percent amid the pro-America review process set by Donald Trump’s agents at the Department of Homeland Security.

The reduced inflow of migrants will pressure companies to raise wages and increase investment in productivity-boosting workplace technology. The decline will also cut housing costs, helping Americans to get married and raise kids.

There were big fluctuations in applications for naturalization during 2025, yet overall, there was a steep drop in citizenship requests compared to 2024, which was Biden’s final year in office, according to the latest data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), NPR reported.

“During the first few months of Trump’s second term, the administration approved a record-high number of naturalizations. At the peak of 2025, 88,488 applications were approved in one month — the largest number since USCIS began tracking month-by-month naturalization data in 2022,” NPR added.

However, by January of this year, that number fell to only 32,862, which is the lowest number USCIS ever tracked.

(Read more from “Trump Reforms Cut Legal Immigration by 50 percent” HERE)

Trump Admin Moves To Vacate Jan. 6 Proud Boy Convictions

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The Justice Department moved Tuesday to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of former Proud Boys leaders who led hundreds of supporters to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

In a consolidated appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the DOJ asked judges to wipe out the convictions of former Proud Boys leaders Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola and send the case back to the trial court so prosecutors can formally move to dismiss the indictment with prejudice. Federal prosecutors argued that vacating the convictions would allow the DOJ to exercise its discretion and end the case entirely under Rule 48(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

They told the court that dismissal serves the interests of justice and aligns with the executive branch’s current position on the prosecutions. The filing comes after President Donald Trump commuted the defendants’ sentences on Jan. 20, 2025, reducing their punishment to time served but stopping short of issuing full pardons. That decision left their convictions intact even as it cleared the defendants from prison.

The DOJ is seeking to go a step further by eliminating the convictions themselves. Prosecutors told the court that the government no longer considers continued prosecution appropriate, citing a broader reassessment of similarly situated cases tied to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. (Read more from “Trump Admin Moves To Vacate Jan. 6 Proud Boy Convictions” HERE)

Trump Admin Agrees to Fly Pride Flag at Stonewall National Monument

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The Trump administration on Monday agreed to fly the rainbow pride flag on federal grounds at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City after the National Park Service’s removal of the flag was challenged in a federal lawsuit filed by a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.

The Department of the Interior, which oversees NPS, agreed to fly the flag at the site as part of a resolution to the lawsuit filed on Feb. 17 by the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Village Preservation and Equality New York.

The site became the first federal monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights in 2016. The pride flag was permanently installed at the site during the Biden administration in 2021, but was removed by NPS in early February.

The move drew sharp criticism from a group of local lawmakers, officials and LGBTQ+ advocates, who rallied at the site on Feb. 12 and installed their own pride flag there to replace the one removed by the government. As the lawsuit moved forward, NPS did not remove the flag that was installed by advocates.

According to court documents, NPS agreed that the pride flag will fly at the site alongside the American flag and the NPS flag. (Read more from “Trump Admin Agrees to Fly Pride Flag at Stonewall National Monument” HERE)

Trump Family Crypto Project Rocked by Raging Investor Revolt

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Investors are fuming at the Trump family’s crypto operation over a move they say secretly set them up to potentially get ripped off.

World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency venture co-founded by members of President Trump’s family and his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has been accused of secretly building controls that let insiders freeze investors’ funds.

Billionaire backer Justin Sun, who poured tens of millions of dollars into World Liberty in its infancy, called the project “a trap masquerading as a door” in a post on X on Sunday.

Sun has led the growing backlash over the project’s decision to use its own WLFI tokens as collateral on a lending platform to secure a $75 million loan. Critics argue the move could allow World Liberty to extract cash ahead of a major token unlock, potentially flooding the market with new supply and pushing the prices down.

The WLFI token has already lost more than half its value since a portion of its supply was freed up for trading last year. The token price has collapsed by around 80 percent from its all-time high price as a result of the collateral saga. (Read more from “Trump Family Crypto Project Rocked by Raging Investor Revolt” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Biden ‘Had to Choose’ Harris as VP — but He Had Someone Else He Actually ‘Wanted’: Report

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Former President Joe Biden reportedly wanted Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to be his vice president but “had to choose” former Vice President Kamala Harris.

An Atlantic article profiled the Democratic governor and potential 2028 presidential candidate on Sunday and reported how Biden considered Whitmer for his running mate in 2020, particularly after her pushback against President Trump.

Though Whitmer was ultimately not chosen, the Atlantic claimed that Biden “wanted it to be Whitmer” and was pushed into picking Harris after the Black Lives Matter protests.

“All of this attention seemed like it might add up to something, and by summer 2020, Whitmer was being vetted for vice president,” the report read.

“She wasn’t sure about it at first, people familiar with her thinking at the time told me; she struggled to imagine herself as a creature of Washington, DC. (Read more from “Biden ‘Had to Choose’ Harris as VP — but He Had Someone Else He Actually ‘Wanted’: Report” HERE)

Severe Weather Threatens Millions from Midwest to New York this Week — with Some States Already Getting Tornadoes

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Parts of the Midwest and the Plains are once again in the bull’s-eye of an expansive severe weather threat that covers more than 130 million people from Texas to New York.

There’s an increased risk of tornadoes Tuesday spanning a corridor from eastern Iowa into southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, which is under a Level 3 out of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms, according to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC).

Strong EF-2 tornadoes are possible across a wider area Tuesday afternoon covering Chicago, Milwaukee and Des Moines, as well as parts of southern Michigan, including Detroit, which were added to the threat area Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, parts of the Southern Plains from Central Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City, to portions of North Texas including Wichita Falls, are also under a tornado and large hail risk where a dryline — the boundary between dry air from the west and warm, moist air from the Gulf — is forecast to set up Tuesday afternoon.

This all comes after severe storms on Monday dropped damaging tornadoes and hail across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas. (Read more from “Severe Weather Threatens Millions from Midwest to New York this Week — with Some States Already Getting Tornadoes” HERE)

Eric Swalwell Accuser: the Congressman ‘Raped Me and Choked Me’ and ‘I Thought I Died’

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One of the women accusing Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) of sexual misconduct said in a press conference that she believes the congressman drugged her and “raped” and “choked” her to the point she lost consciousness and thought she died.

Holding a press conference alongside her attorneys in Beverly Hills, California, Lonna Drewes detailed her allegations against the Democrat congressman. She said she was working as a model in Beverly Hills in 2018 and owned a fashion software company. She said she met Swalwell socially, and he offered connections to “further” her company.

“I had contact with Eric Swalwell on three separate occasions. After meeting him socially, he offered me connections to further my software company, and I also had an interest in local politics,” she said, explaining that he invited her to two public events.

“I knew he was married at the time and that his wife was pregnant,” she said. “He was my friend.”

She detailed what allegedly happened on the “third” occasion she was with him, stating her belief that he drugged her. (Read more from “Eric Swalwell Accuser: the Congressman ‘Raped Me and Choked Me’ and ‘I Thought I Died’” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Iran Issues Dire Warning about President Trump’s Strait of Hormuz Blockade: ‘Forceful Response’

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By New York Post. Iran warned Sunday that military vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz would be a violation of the fragile cease-fire and face a “strong and forceful response” — following President Trump’s announcement of a blockade on the critical oil chokepoint.

Trump announced plans earlier Sunday to stop “any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave” the waterway until there’s a point where all oil is allowed to go in and out without obstruction from Iran.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy hit back, insisting it has “full control” of the Strait and that the waterway remains open for non-military vessels.

“Contrary to the false claims of certain enemy officials, the Strait of Hormuz is open for the passage of non-military vessels under smart control and management, in accordance with specific regulations,” the naval forces said in a statement, according to two semi-official Iranian news agencies.

The IRGC warned that any approach by military vessels toward the Strait would be treated as a violation of a cease-fire agreement. (Read more from “Iran Issues Dire Warning about President Trump’s Strait of Hormuz Blockade: ‘Forceful Response’” HERE)

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Trump announces blockade of Strait of Hormuz as prez blasts Iran for ‘WORLD EXTORTION’

By New York Post. The US will begin a sweeping blockade of the Strait of Hormuz at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday, with President Trump vowing to fight back against Iran’s “WORLD EXTORTION” and ensure that no one paying tolls to the regime will get through the critical oil chokepoint.

US Central Command announced the halt to “all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports” would be enforced “impartially” against all nations, no matter the point of origin.

“CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports,” the combatant command said in a statement.

Trump said that the negotiations with Iran that concluded Saturday without a deal “went well,” but faulted the Islamic Republic for refusing to budge on its nuclear program, which he described as “the only point that really mattered.”

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump declared on Truth Social Sunday. (Read more from “Trump announces blockade of Strait of Hormuz as prez blasts Iran for ‘WORLD EXTORTION’” HERE)