CORRUPTION
JD Vance Says in 2020 He Wouldn’t Certify Election: ‘Let the Country Have the Debate’
Ohio Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, said Monday that if he were in former Vice President Mike Pence’s place, he would not have certified the election on January 6, 2021.
Speaking as part of a panel on the All-In Podcast, Vance told cohost Jason Calacanis the issue wasn’t necessarily Pence deciding not to “overturn the election results,” but rather that “Mike Pence could have done more to sort of surface some problems.”‘
Calacanis replied by asking Vance directly if he would have certified the election.
READ MORE: ‘BadgerPundit’: Top Trump Attorney in Fake Electors Plot Hid Secret Twitter Account
“I happen to think that there were issues back in 2020, particularly in Pennsylvania. Even some of the courts that refused to throw out certified ballots did say that there were ballots that were cast in an illegal way. They just refused to actually decertify the election results in Pennsylvania,” Vance said. “Do I think that we could have had a much more rational conversation about how to ensure that only legal ballots are cast? Yes. And do I think that Mike Pence could have played a better role? Yes.”
Calacanis asked Vance again if he’d have certified the election, and Vance appears to back the plan to send fake electors to cause confusion in the certification process.
“I would have asked the states to submit alternative slates of electors and let the country have the debate about what actually matters and what kind of an election that we have. That’s what I would have done,” Vance said. “The important part is we would have had a big debate. And it doesn’t necessarily mean the results would have been any different, but we would, at least, have had the debate in Pennsylvania and Georgia about how to better have a rational election system where legal ballots are cast.”
Democrats heavily criticized Vance’s statement.
“Donald Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate because he knows that Vance will do what his last vice president wouldn’t—undermine our democracy and help him try to overturn election results. Now, Vance is making it clear: instead of certifying the 2020 election, Vance ‘would have asked the states’ to send slates of fake electors and throw our election into chaos to help Trump stay in power. Vance is clearly laying out the stakes of this election for our democracy and our basic freedoms, and showing voters that if given the chance, he’ll try to replace the rule of law with the rule of Trump,” Alex Floyd, the rapid response director for the DNC, said in a statement.
Vance’s claims of there being illegal ballots in Pennsylvania appears to be based on a claim from former President Donald Trump in 2022. Trump said that a then-recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that ballots sent in undated envelopes will not be counted in that year’s election meant that the 2020 election was “rigged, but they’ll let that result stand.”
The Associated Press debunked Trump’s claim, reporting that not only did Trump misrepresent the court’s ruling, but even if his claim was accurate, throwing out these ballots would not have mattered in the election.
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CORRUPTION
White House Retweets McDonald’s Advertisement, Appears to Take Credit for Bringing Back Apple Pie
The White House used its X account to repost a McDonald’s advertisement alongside a photo of President Donald Trump with three bags of fast food.
On Tuesday, shortly after noon on the East Coast, the official White House X account retweeted a post from the fast food giant advertising that it was bringing back the fried apple pie next week. The White House attached the photo of Trump posing in the Oval Office with bags of food.
“Making America Great Again for real,” it tweeted, alongside the eyes “looking” emoji, appearing as if the president was taking credit for the product’s return.
Making America Great Again for real. 👀 https://t.co/fpAdxEttUT pic.twitter.com/d8uojWNdY3
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 16, 2026
While Trump has frequently shared his affinity for McDonald’s products, this is perhaps the closest the White House has come to an actual commercial endorsement for the brand. Recently he had McDonald’s food delivered to the White House by DoorDash as another photo opportunity, but it was officially to promote his “no tax on tips” policy, rather than the companies themselves.
READ MORE: McDonald’s Tweets to Donald Trump: ‘You Are Actually a Disgusting Excuse of a President’
Previous presidents have refrained from using the position to promote a product like this. Trump is an exception; while most of the time his product promotions have been for his own branded products like the Trump Bible, he has occasionally expanded his presidential endorsement to other products.
His daughter Ivanka posed with Goya black beans after the company’s CEO praised Trump in 2020. Trump himself then took a photo posted to Instagram of himself posing with various Goya products in the Oval Office.
Last year, Trump promoted Elon Musk’s car company Tesla by staging a photo op with a number of Teslas parked on the South Lawn of the White House. CNN’s Brianna Keller pointed out at the time that former President Joe Biden similarly had automobiles parked on the White House lawn for a photo op. In that case, however, it was as part of an “Electric Vehicle Summit,” and featured executives from multiple car manufacturers, rather than an endorsement of a single company.
Legally, those holding public office are barred from endorsing products, services or enterprise. Presidents prior to Trump were expected to divest themselves of their businesses; former president Jimmy Carter famously divested himself from his peanut farm upon taking office.
Carter put his farm into a blind trust, where the trustees have full discretion and beneficiaries have no control over the trust nor receive any reports. However, during his first term, Trump put his assets in a trust controlled by his sons and an additional executive, according to the Washington Post. After being elected to a second term, he has again put his assets in a similar arrangement, according to the Hill.
CORRUPTION
‘My Friends Will Get Hurt’: MTG Says Trump Told Her Why He Doesn’t Want to Reveal Epstein Conspirators’ Names
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
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.
ICE detain father shopping on Christmas Eve—then steal his family's groceries.
3 agents divvy up his already bought food—taking what they want for themselves.
"Can I just get wife's number to call and let her know?" woman asks.
"No, guess he should've complied," agent says.… pic.twitter.com/Z202WqA9GG
— LongTime🤓FirstTime👨💻 (@LongTimeHistory) December 25, 2025
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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