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CORRUPTION

Trump Cabinet Member Running for Congress Lied and Repeatedly Broke Ethics Rules Inspector General Report Finds

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Ethical violations that occurred during the Trump administration were revealed in a new federal report released on Wednesday.

“While serving as Interior Department secretary under Donald Trump, Ryan Zinke broke federal ethics rules repeatedly by improperly participating in real estate negotiations with the chairman of the energy giant Halliburton at the time and other developers, the department’s internal watchdog found in a report released Wednesday. Interior Department Inspector General Mark Greenblatt found that while Zinke was in office, he sent dozens of emails and text messages, held phone calls and met in his office with developers to discuss the design of a large commercial and residential development in his hometown of Whitefish, Montana,” The Washington Post reported.

When Zinke resigned in 2018, the same newspaper reported he was “facing intense pressure to step down because of multiple probes tied to his real estate dealings in his home state of Montana and his conduct in office.”

Zinke is seeking a political comeback, running in Montana’s western congressional district, although he was reportedly caught listing a hotel as his address amid reports he lives in Santa Barbara, California.

READ: School shuts down after teacher tells toddlers to wear blackface masks for Black History Month

“Now a leading Republican candidate to win a newly drawn congressional seat in Montana this fall, Zinke also lied to an agency ethics official who questioned him about his involvement in the negotiations, according to the report. Zinke told the staffer that his participation in the project was minimal and limited to tax preparation, saying he no longer represented the foundation,” The Post reported Wednesday. “Investigators also concluded in the 32-page report that Zinke misused his official position by directing some of his staff to set up a meeting with the developers and print out documents related to the project. Federal officials are generally prohibited from assigning their employees tasks related to their private business.”

Trump endorsed Zinke’s campaign in July.

“As Montana’s Congressman for the new 2nd District, Ryan will fight against the Radical Left Democrats who continually block the America First policies we put in place. He will be a strong leader for the great Patriots of Montana. Ryan has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Congress!” Trump wrote.

Zinke is facing former state Sen. Al Olszewski among others in the GOP primary. Democrats seeking the seat include Cora Neumann, Monica Tranel, and former state Rep. Tom Winter.

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CORRUPTION

‘My Friends Will Get Hurt’: MTG Says Trump Told Her Why He Doesn’t Want to Reveal Epstein Conspirators’ Names

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said that President Donald Trump was reticent to reveal the identities of any of the men accused of abusing children in the Epstein files was because “My friends will get hurt.”

Greene made the allegation in a new interview with The New York Times published Monday morning. She said that Trump told her the reason while on a call after a press conference where Greene said she may expose the names of some of those listed in the files related to disgraced financier and convicted sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein.

Trump had called Greene in her office, and a staff member told the Times that the entire office could hear the president shouting at Greene over a speakerphone. The article alleges that she was confused why Trump was so upset, and her question led to the remark.

READ MORE: DOJ Issues ‘Bizarre’ Disclaimer Defending Trump in Latest Epstein Files Dump

Greene also alleges that she asked Trump to invite some of Epstein’s victims to the White House, but he balked at the suggestion. Trump reportedly told her that the women abused by Epstein hadn’t done anything to warrant a White House invitation. Greene says this is the last time she talked with the president.

She says the outburst blindsided her as previously she had believed Trump’s assertions that he was not in the Epstein files.

“The story to me was that I’d seen pictures of Epstein with all these people. And Trump is just one of several. And then, for me, I’d seen that Bill Clinton is on the flight logs for his plane like 20-something times. So, for people like me, it wasn’t suspicious. And then we’d heard the general stories of how Epstein used to be a member of Mar-a-Lago, but Trump kicked him out. Why would I think he’s done anything wrong, right?” Greene told the Times about her beliefs prior to the phone call.

Though Greene was formerly a staunch ally of Trump, her interest in the Epstein files caused Trump to turn on her. She joined with Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) to force a House vote compelling the Department of Justice to release all of its files on the Epstein case, with the only redactions to protect victims’ names.

The bill ultimately passed both House and Senate and was signed by Trump, giving the DOJ a December 19 deadline to release the information, But when the date rolled around, only a portion of the files were released. What was available was heavily redacted, with names of co-conspirators and others blacked out.

Shortly after Trump called her a “traitor” on his Truth Social platform over her calls to release the Epstein files, Greene announced that she would be resigning from the House January 5, midway through her term.

Image via Reuters

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CORRUPTION

ICE Agents Appear To Detain Man on Christmas Eve, Steal His Groceries: Video

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ice agents appear to rob from detained man

A new video appears to show ICE agents detain a man in a Walmart parking lot, and then steal his groceries on Christmas Eve.

The video, originally posted to TikTok by the anti-ICE organization People Over Papers on Christmas Day went viral across platforms. The account @LongTimeHistory shared the clip on X, where it received over 1.5 million views.

The incident took place at a Walmart parking lot in Yakima, Washington, about two hours away from Seattle. In the video, ICE agents appear to arrest and detain a man. The woman recording the video asks the man repeatedly for his name and phone number so she can let his family know what’s happened. He identifies himself as Emilio Moreno before he’s put in an unmarked ICE vehicle.

READ MORE: Sotomayor Slams SCOTUS Over Ruling ‘Declaring All Latinos Fair Game to Be Seized’ by ICE

The woman then asks one of the ICE agents for the man’s number. He refuses the request, telling her Moreno will be allowed to call his family from the facility.

“No, you don’t. You didn’t let my husband call. He’s in f*ckin’ Mexico right now,” she replies.

The agent then accuses her husband of fighting back—which she says he wasn’t. She asks the agent if he was the one who arrested her husband, and he confirms he is. While this conversation is going on, other ICE agents can be seen removing things from Moreno’s shopping cart; though it is unclear where the agents are placing the purchased food, @LongTimeHistory alleges they took the groceries for themselves.

The video was shot by volunteers documenting ICE activity in parking lots for Walmart and WinCo stores, according to the Yakima Herald. One of the activists, Ezequiel Morfin Jr., a board member of the activist organization Latino Votes, said that he was nearly run over in the Walmart parking lot.

“Our main goal today was that someone does not have to get picked up and separated from their families on Christmas Eve,” Morfin told the Herald.

“Are these guys Christians? Do they believe in God, or are they Christian Nationalists?” Morfin added. “Couldn’t they just pause for a day or two?”

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CORRUPTION

Despite Jeffrey Epstein ‘Hoax’ Comments, Speaker Claims Trump ‘Wants Everything To Come Out’

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In an attempt to walk back his previous claim that President Donald Trump had been an FBI informant in the case against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that Trump wants to see all the files released. This runs counter to many statements from Trump calling the files’ release “foolish” and that the files themselves are a “hoax.”

On Friday, video of Johnson telling CNN’s Manu Raju that Trump had been an FBI informant in the Epstein case went viral. Over the weekend, Johnson’s office released a statement clarifying that he meant Trump “was the only one more than a decade ago willing to help prosecutors expose Epstein for being a disgusting child predator.”

In a new video, Raju asks Johnson again about the claim. Though Johnson said he didn’t know if he “used the right terminology,” the fact that Trump was willing to assist prosecutors and had previously ejected Epstein from Mar-a-Lago was “common knowledge.” Raju asked if Trump had been “asked to wear a wire,” but Johnson said he had no knowledge of that, only that Trump “was helpful in trying to get Epstein for law enforcement.”

READ MORE: Trump Launches Bizarre Epstein Files ‘Scam’ Rant When Asked About Russiagate

“The President and I have talked about the Epstein evils many times. He’s disgusted by it as everybody else. He has long had a history of acknowledging that, and he has said repeatedly he wants everything to come out, all credible information, everything for the American public to decide,” Johnson added.

Despite Johnson’s statement, Trump has had varied reactions to the Epstein files. While many in his orbit said his administration would release the Epstein files in full during his 2024 campaign, Trump himself was less keen on the idea, according to Time. While Trump suggested he may release the files, he also warned of inaccuracies in the data.

In a June 2, 2004 appearance on Fox & Friends, Trump said, “I guess I would [declassify the Epstein files. I think that less so, because you don’t know—you don’t want to  affect people’s lives if there’s phony stuff in there, because there’s a lot of phony stuff in that whole world. But I think I would.”  A few months later, Trump told Lex Fridman that he’d “certainly take a look” at releasing the client list.

On the other hand, Vice President JD Vance, during the campaign told comedian and podcaster Theo Von, “Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. That is an important thing.” FBI Director Kash Patel also repeatedly called for “ALL of it to be released” during the campaign. Former advisor Elon Musk called for Trump to beat former Vice President Kamala Harris, because if he won “that Epstein client list is going to become public. And some of those billionaires behind Kamala are terrified of that outcome.”

Trump’s own son also demanded the release of the client list during the campaign.

“Everyone knows Bill Clinton was on Jeffrey Epstein’s plane and island a lot. Literally no one is at all surprised that he’s all over the release. What we want to know is ALL THE OTHER NAMES that the government has been hiding & running cover for. That will actually be revealing!” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on X (formerly Twitter) in January 2024.

But after Trump’s election, his administration released a portion of the Epstein files—though most of the files released had already been publicly available. Trump had also dismissed calls from fellow Republicans to release the rest of the files.

“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bullsh*t,’ hook, line, and sinker,” he wrote on Truth Social this July.

Around the same time, he called Republicans still interested in the Epstein files “former supporters” who had been “duped by the Democrats.”

On Monday, Politico reported that the House Oversight Committee had received additional files from the Epstein estate. The committee is led by James Comer (R-Ky.). It is yet unclear what from these latest files will be released publicly and when.

Comer’s fellow Kentucky Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie, has been behind a push to compel the Department of Justice to release all information on Epstein publicly. Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Ca.) say they have the votes to force the DOJ to release the information.

Image via Reuters

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