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Marjorie Taylor Greene Tapped To Serve Alongside Elon Musk, Ramaswamy On DOGE Subcommittee

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Marjorie Taylor Greene -Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, via Wikimedia Commons

House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer is expected to establish a subcommittee that will work with the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and will select Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene as its director.

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., will chair the Delivering on Government Efficiency Subcommittee, which will focus on rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. 

The subcommittee is expected to investigate wasteful spending, examine ways to reorganize federal agencies to improve efficiency and identify solutions to eliminate bureaucratic red tape.

A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Comer had a meeting with Ramaswamy and his incoming DOGE team. Ramaswamy confirmed the meeting with Comer and Greene to Fox News Digital. 

“A key step to driving greater efficiency in government is exposing the problem to the public—we are grateful that the House Oversight Committee has created a subcommittee to focus on this work,” a spokesperson for Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital. “We look forward to working together.” 

Comer told Fox News Digital that the new Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency “will align with the Trump administration’s priorities to eliminate government waste, streamline the federal government’s operations and cut red tape that’s stifling jobs and increasing costs for the American people.” 

“I look forward to working with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to deliver on these goals to Make America Great Again,” Comer said.

Greene told Fox News Digital that the House Oversight Committee “is the perfect place to support the DOGE mission.”

“I’m excited to chair this new subcommittee designed to work hand in hand with President Trump, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy and the entire DOGE team,” Greene said. “We will identify and investigate the waste, corruption and absolutely useless parts of our federal government.”

Greene said the subcommittee will provide “transparency and truth to the American people through hearings.”

“No topic will be off the table,” she said. “The goal of DOGE is to bring accountability and GUT useless government agencies.” 

Greene said she expects the subcommittee’s work “will expose people who need to be fired.”

“The bureaucrats who don’t do their job, fail audits like in the Pentagon and don’t know where billions of dollars are going, will be getting a pink slip,” Greene said. “Chairman Comer and I are focused on delivering the mandate voters sent on Nov. 5th, and I can’t wait to get to work.”

Earlier this month, Trump tapped Musk and Ramaswamy to lead DOGE.

Trump said last week he hopes DOGE will become the “Manhattan Project of our time,” in reference to J. Robert Oppenheimer’s secretive atom bomb endeavor during World War II.

Special Counsel Moves To Dismiss Trump Election Interference Case

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On Monday, Special Counsel Jack Smith asked a judge to dismiss all charges against President-elect Donald Trump stemming from Smith’s investigation into the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.

Judge Tanya Chutkan will need to approve the request before the case is dismissed.

After Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election earlier this month, Smith signaled he would begin winding down the case against Trump. The filing went live on the Department of Justice docket on Monday afternoon.

Smith had already filed a motion to vacate all deadlines in the 2020 election interference case against Trump in Washington, D.C. – a widely expected move, but one that stopped short of dropping the case against Trump completely. Smith had said his team planned to give an updated report on the official status of the case against Trump on Dec. 2.

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in the case.

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Republican Holdout Opts To Support Sec. Of Defense Nominee

By Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America - Pete Hegseth, CC BY-SA 2.0

A significant win…

On Tuesday, Pete Hegseth, President-elect Trump’s nominee to lead the Pentagon, scored a significant endorsement after a grueling hearing with the Senate Armed Services Committee.

According to Fox News, Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst — who previously declared herself being on the fence regarding Hegseth — said Tuesday evening that she was on board with the appointment.

That speaks volumes because Ernst was the only GOP holdout making her reservations public on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“After four years of weakness in the White House, Americans deserve a strong Secretary of Defense,” Ernst told Fox News via a statement.

“Our next commander in chief selected Pete Hegseth to serve in this role, and after our conversations, hearing from Iowans, and doing my job as a United States Senator, I will support President Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense,” she added.

“As I serve on the Armed Services Committee, I will work with Pete to create the most lethal fighting force and hold him to his commitments of auditing the Pentagon, ensuring opportunity for women in combat while maintaining high standards, and selecting a senior official to address and prevent sexual assault in the ranks.”

The endorsement is critical, as Ernst had first told the media she was skeptical of Trump’s pick and subsequently issued a statement vaguely supportive of him.

In December Ernst, a combat veteran, told Fox News that she had a “very long, lengthy discussion” with Hegseth in early December and added that “we will continue with the vetting process. I think that is incredibly important.”

When Fox News’ Bill Hemmer responded that it sounded like the Senator hadn’t “gotten to a yes” yet, she responded, “I think you are right.”

D.C. Waitress Fired After Vowing To Refuse Service To Trump Officials

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A Washington, D.C.-based server has been fired after proudly saying in an interview that she planned to refuse service to Trump officials.

The server was previously employed by Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill. She took part in a report by Washingtonian magazine about how the service industry would respond to President-elect Donald Trump’s team if they patronized her place of employment.

Most individuals who were interviewed remained anonymous, but Suzannah Van Rooy provided her real name. 

“I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” the server told the outlet, as The Daily Wire previously reported. “It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them.”

“People were a lot more motivated the first time around to do those kinds of shows of passion. This time around, there is kind of a sense of defeat and acceptance,” Van Rooy added. “But I hope that people still do stand up to this administration and tell them their thoughts on their misbehavior.”

Beuchert’s Saloon denounced Van Rooy’s comments and confirmed she was no longer employed there, per Fox News Digital. The neighborhood restaurant and bar called her statements “reprehensible” and “unforgivable.”

“Recent comments made by a member of staff who had no authority to speak on behalf of our entire restaurant have been, quite rightly, flagged as inappropriate, hostile, intolerant, and unacceptable. This staff member does NOT speak for us as a restaurant,” Beuchert’s Saloon said in a statement.

Beuchert’s saloon provided a follow-up after the backlash from the employee’s comments.

“Not only do Ms. Van Rooy’s comments clearly violate our zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, but her decision to sign into our social media accounts in the middle of the night to post her own rhetoric in wildly offensive responses to comments is a further breach of conduct and protocol. She has no authority to speak on our behalf, and her comments do not reflect the positions of over twenty other people who make up our staff,” the statement said.

“For these reasons as well as the sheer dismay and disgust we feel at her unforgivable behavior, Ms. Van Rooy has been dismissed immediately. Our staff and families (many of whom are personally offended by Ms. Van Rooy’s comments about them) are still reeling from what Ms. Van Rooy said and did, and we as a restaurant are simply horrified to be associated with base prejudice.”

Report: Top Democrats Hesitant To Commit To Certifying Potential Trump Victory

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Several top Democrats, including House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), have indicated that they may not commit to certifying the 2024 presidential election results if former President Donald Trump secures a victory. This reluctance was revealed during discussions with Axios, raising questions about the party’s stance on the upcoming election certification process.

Per Breitbart:

Raskin denied Trump won the 2016 election when he objected to Trump’s electors in 2017.

If Trump “won a free, fair and honest election, then we would obviously accept it,” Raskin said, assuming the election was free, fair and honest. “I definitely don’t assume that,” he added. “Democrats don’t engage in election fraud and election fabrication.”

A video surfaced in September of a panel discussion in February 2024 in which Raskin speculated that Congress would invalidate a Trump election victory, even though it could be at the risk of “civil war.”

“It is not clear whether Raskin was actually outlining a plan of action, or rather using a hypothetical to argue that the U.S. Supreme Court was placing what he considered an undue burden on Congress to keep Trump out of office,” Breitbart News’s Joel Pollak reported.

House Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) echoed Raskin’s concerns, telling Axios that Democrats would certify a Trump victory “assuming everything goes the way we expect it to … We have to see how it all happens.”

McGovern also objected to Trump’s electors in 2017.

The uncertainty among Democrats comes amid heightened political tension with 24 days until the presidential election. Raskin, who has been an outspoken critic of Trump, previously called the former president’s legacy “American carnage.”

In response to Thursday’s development, former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark criticized the Democrats’ position. Taking to X, Clark expressed frustration with what he sees as a double standard in how objections to election certifications are perceived:

Do you see how this works? If you’re a Republican in Congress and you object to certifying a President, you’re called an insurrectionist. But if you’re a Democrat like Jamie Raskin, you can object all you want, and it’s “protecting our democracy.”

Election certification has been a contentious issue since the unfounded claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential race, with Democrats consistently emphasizing the need to safeguard democracy. However, their reluctance to fully commit to certifying a potential Trump win could deepen mistrust on both sides of the political aisle.

Article Published With The Permission of American Liberty News.

Gaetz Will Not Rejoin Congress: Report

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He’s out for good…

Ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) will not rejoin Congress after resigning from the current Congress after President-elect Donald Trump nominated him to be attorney general.

Gaetz was reelected to the next Congress and many speculated he may rescind his resignation after dropping his bid to become attorney general on Thursday.

CNN’s Kristen Holmes broke the news on-air.

“Yeah, there had been a lot of speculation as to what exactly Matt Gaetz was going to do. Was there some kind of loophole in the sense that he had just been reelected? Would he go back to Congress? He is now saying in an interview with Charlie Kirk that he does not intend to go back,” Holmes reported, adding:

That he’s going to continue trying to do things for Donald Trump, but not in the capacity of a congressman. This obviously comes as we know that there are still questions about whether or not that ethics report is going to be released. But in this interview, he also talked about what happened when some of those meetings up on Capitol Hill, he downplayed the any kind of impact that the ethics report had, but instead said that while he had some momentum with senators, he felt he had to explain himself quite a bit.

Holmes then played a clip from the Kirk interview, in which Gaetz said “And again, while our discussions were going well, I found myself having to do two jobs at one time.”

“Charlie, And you got a front-row seat to this. I had a full-time job explaining to senators that maybe a tweet I sent about them was rash and not reflective of how I would serve as attorney general. And at the same time, I was having to build out the Department of Justice with the right human talent, the right policy infrastructure. And Pam Bondi’s confirmation won’t have some of the sharp edges that I would have,” Gaetz added of Trump’s replacement for Gaetz as AG.

Republican Congressman To Retire After 20 Years On Capitol Hill

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On Sunday, Republican Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas) announced he will not seek another term.

McCaul, 63, has represented Texas’ 10th Congressional District, which spans from the Houston suburbs to Austin, since 2005. He also chaired the House Homeland Security and House Foreign Affairs Committees from January 2013 to January 2019 and from January 2023 to January of this year, respectively. 

“It’s been an honor to serve for over two decades in the Congress,” McCaul told Martha Raddatz on ABC News’ This Week. “I’m looking now for a new challenge. I’m going to serve the remainder of my term. But I’m looking for a new challenge in the same space that would be national security, foreign policy, but just in a different realm.”

McCaul was elected to the House for the first time in 2004. He went on to be re-elected to his seat 10 times, with his narrowest victory occurring in 2018, when he garnered 51.1 percent of the vote to Democratic candidate Mike Siegel’s 46.8 percent. 

McCaul did not specify what his next steps would be after his term ends. 

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to represent the people of central Texas and to chair the prestigious Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees,” McCaul said in a post on X. “My father’s service in World War II inspired me to pursue a life of public service, with a focus on defending our great nation against global threats, and I have been proud to carry out that mission in Congress for more than two decades.”

A fair number of House Republicans have announced they will not run again (or retire early) heading into the 2026 elections. For example, Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) recently announced an early retirement, stepping down after the passage of a major budget/tax bill and citing a private sector opportunity.

In some cases, Republicans are leaving not because they want to retire entirely but because they are running for other offices (governor or Senate) or want to vacate for private sector roles. According to Ballotpedia, as of mid-2025, there are thirteen Republicans in the U.S. House who announced they will not seek re-election in 2026.

On the Democratic side, there are also retirements (or folks not seeking re-election) but somewhat fewer, or in less vulnerable districts. For example, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) has announced he will not seek re-election. Some retirements are strategic for Democrats as well, but the key point is that many open seats will be up for grabs, and Republicans appear to be making more moves in this space.

The GOP has a narrow majority in the House now, so even a small number of seat losses could flip control. That means each retirement — especially in competitive or swing districts — matters a lot. Analysts are pointing out that Democrats will challenge many of those open seats, and that Republicans will need to defend not just incumbents but maintain strength in districts where GOP retirements create open seats.

To preserve control, Republicans will likely lean on a few advantages: favorable redistricting in some states, maintaining strong turnout in rural and suburban areas, and messaging that emphasizes border security, inflation, or other issues where GOP polling tends to do well. But there are headwinds: historically, the party in control of the White House tends to lose seats in midterms, public dissatisfaction with national issues could tilt momentum the other way, and some of the retirements are in districts where Democrats showed strength already.

Given all that, Republican control of the House is not guaranteed but is plausible — if the party runs good campaigns, holds together its coalition, and defends seats well, especially in light of several vulnerable open seats caused by retirements. If you like, I can pull up a list of those Republican districts most at risk and what the forecasts are showing.

Report: House Panel Holds Secret Vote To Release Gaetz Ethics Findings

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Ted Eytan from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The House Ethics Committee voted secretly to release the investigatory report on former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).

According to reports from CNN, the committee has voted to release the ethics report despite Gaetz’s resignation from Congress last month.

CNN reports:

The vote, which has not previously been reported, amounts to a stark reversal for the panel after it had voted along party lines in late November not to release the results of the investigation. The decision to release the report suggests that some Republicans ultimately decided to side with Democrats on the matter, and it is unclear if the committee will once again change course now that it has voted.

When the committee voted last month to shelve the report, Gaetz was President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be attorney general. Since then, Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the Senate-confirmed post, though he maintains frosty relations with many in his party and is still active in GOP politics.

It is exceedingly rare for an ethics report to be released after a member has left Congress, though it has happened on a couple of occasions in the past. The committee revisited the issue behind closed doors earlier this month after a feud over the report spilled into public view before Thanksgiving.

The Ethics Committee’s report concludes a years-long probe into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer.

Gaetz has denied all wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes.

Gaetz, in a statement posted on the social platform X, pointed to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) decision not to charge him after investigating allegations of a sexual encounter with a 17-year-old, claiming he was “FULLY EXONERATED.” He did, however, admit to an “embarrassing” past.

“In my single days, I often sent funds to women I dated – even some I never dated but who asked. I dated several of these women for years. I NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18.  Any claim that I have would be destroyed in court – which is why no such claim was ever made in court,” Gaetz wrote. “My 30’s were an era of working very hard – and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life.  I live a different life now.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has spoken out against releasing the report due to Gaetz’s sudden resignation once Trump announced him as his initial attorney general choice. Johnson has acknowledged he has no role on the operations of the panel, which has traditionally operated separately from leadership.

Gaetz, who was reelected to the seat last month prior to his resignation, has said he has no plans of returning to Congress next year.

“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” he told Charlie Kirk in an interview last month.

Gaetz is also reportedly planning to join One America News Network (OANN) next month.

House Democrats Release Emails Linking Epstein and Trump in Ongoing Oversight Probe

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By The White House - https://www.flickr.com/photos/202101414@N05/54581054338/, Public Domain,

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday released a new batch of emails connected to Jeffrey Epstein that reference President Donald Trump.

The correspondence, which includes messages between Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, and author Michael Wolff, was reportedly obtained from Epstein’s estate as part of an ongoing congressional review of more than 23,000 documents.

By Ralph Alswang, White House photographer – https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/clinton-epstein-maxwell/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=143417695

In a 2011 email to Maxwell, Epstein wrote that Mr. Trump “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s alleged victims, whose name was redacted. “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. [Victim 1] spent hours at my house with him, he has never once been mentioned,” Epstein wrote. Maxwell responded, “I have been thinking about that…”

Another message, dated January 31, 2019, appears to show Epstein corresponding with Wolff about Mr. Trump and Mar-a-Lago. “Trump said he asked me to resign, never a member ever. of course he knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop,” Epstein wrote.

A third exchange between Epstein and Wolff, dated December 15, 2015, discusses how then-candidate Trump might respond to media questions about his connection to Epstein. Wolff wrote, “I hear CNN planning to ask Trump tonight about his relationship with you—either on air or in scrum afterwards.” Epstein replied, “if we were able to craft an answer for him, what do you think it should be?” Wolff responded, “I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency… Of course, it is possible that, when asked, he’ll say Jeffrey is a great guy and has gotten a raw deal and is a victim of political correctness, which is to be outlawed in a Trump regime.”

Mr. Trump announced his first presidential campaign in June 2015. Wolff later wrote Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, published in 2018.

Epstein and Mr. Trump were social acquaintances in New York and Florida from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. The President has said he cut ties with Epstein in 2004, long before Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges. Mr. Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan federal jail in 2019 while awaiting trial. Maxwell was later convicted of conspiring in Epstein’s sex trafficking operation and is serving a 20-year sentence.

Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said in a statement that the Justice Department should release its full Epstein files “immediately.”

He added, “The more Donald Trump tries to cover up the Epstein files, the more we uncover. These latest emails and correspondence raise glaring questions about what else the White House is hiding and the nature of the relationship between Epstein and the President.”

The email release coincides with a broader congressional push for transparency in the Epstein case. Lawmakers are reviewing materials from Epstein’s estate and have sought information from former officials, including past attorneys general and FBI directors. The committee has also questioned Alex Acosta, the former U.S. attorney who oversaw Epstein’s controversial plea deal in Florida and later served as Labor Secretary under Mr. Trump. Acosta resigned in 2019 amid scrutiny over his handling of the Epstein case.

The House returned to session Wednesday for the first time since mid-September, with Democrats expected to advance a discharge petition to compel the Justice Department to make public its Epstein investigation files. A vote on the measure is not expected until next month.

Grassley Joins Democrats Seeking Answers On FBI Director Kash Patel’s Spending, Travel

The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

WASHINGTON — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is pressing FBI Director Kash Patel for answers about his spending, travel, and use of government resources, giving Democrats an influential Republican ally as lawmakers intensify oversight of the bureau’s finances.

In a letter to Patel, Grassley (R-Iowa) requested records related to the FBI director’s travel, security costs, and vehicle purchases, saying Congress has a duty to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent appropriately.

Grassley Demands Travel Records

Among his requests, Grassley asked Patel to account for any personal use of FBI aircraft.

“For each trip where you used an FBI aircraft for personal travel, have you reimbursed the FBI as required by law? If yes, please provide the records,” Grassley wrote.

The senator also called for an “independent and objective review” of Patel’s travel practices and questioned procurement decisions made under his leadership.

Grassley specifically asked the bureau to explain why it “decided to purchase BMW vehicles instead of Chevy Suburbans,” signaling that his inquiry extends beyond travel expenses to broader spending decisions.

Democrats Raise Similar Concerns

Grassley’s letter follows similar requests from Senate Democrats, who have questioned Patel’s travel, security expenditures, and use of government resources.

As Mediate reports:

Patel’s personal jet travel as the head of the FBI has also raised concern with critics. Officials have said Patel reimburses travel that is personal, which equates to what he would fork over typically for commercial travel.

Democratic lawmakers specifically noted a “VIP snorkel” trip Patel reportedly took. According to a report based on government emails purportedly obtained by the Associated Press, Patel took an “exclusive excursion” around the sunken USS Arizona battleship, a Pearl Harbor memorial during a trip to Hawaii.

“Your VIP snorkeling experience in Hawaii was not an isolated incident,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) wrote in a letter. “You frequently demand special perks on ‘official’ trips around the globe, such as a taxpayer-funded helicopter tour during your multi-country jaunt across East Asia and other recreational activities like jet skiing.”

The lawmakers cited a source who told them Patel told field office personnel in a meeting, “If you have golf, hockey, fishing, or hunting and beautiful sights, you’re going to see a lot of me.”

Democratic lawmakers have sought records detailing official travel costs, transportation expenses, and whether taxpayer-funded assets have been used exclusively for government business.

While they have not accused Patel of criminal wrongdoing, they argue Congress has a responsibility to review the bureau’s spending.

FBI Yet To Respond Publicly

The FBI has not publicly responded to Grassley’s latest requests.

Agency officials have previously maintained that travel by the FBI director is driven by operational and security requirements and that associated costs are consistent with those incurred by previous directors.

It remains unclear when the bureau will provide the documents requested by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Bipartisan Oversight

Grassley’s involvement gives the issue added significance because he has long been one of Congress’ most outspoken Republican advocates for oversight of the FBI and Justice Department.

Throughout his Senate career, Grassley has frequently scrutinized administrations from both parties, arguing that transparency is essential to maintaining public confidence in federal law enforcement.

His latest letter suggests that questions surrounding Patel’s management of the bureau are attracting bipartisan attention.

Pressure Mounts On FBI Leadership

Whether Grassley’s inquiry will uncover any significant issues remains unclear.

But his requests add to the growing scrutiny of Patel’s leadership, as lawmakers in both parties seek a clearer accounting of how the FBI has used taxpayer resources under his tenure.

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