In this day and age children are being taught that their race is the problem-especially if they’re White. The unfortunate truth is easy to see but that doesn’t make it any less disturbing.
Watch Amanda break it down below.
President Donald Trump appears to be weighing a pardon for former Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Ind.), a one-time congressman convicted of insider trading, after sharing multiple pardon requests on his Truth Social account.
On Tuesday, Trump posted a letter from former Republican National Committee Chairman Robert James Nicholson urging him to grant Buyer a “full and unconditional pardon.” The letter, dated April 22, 2025, marks the second public appeal Trump has shared in recent days on Buyer’s behalf.
Trump offered no commentary alongside the post, but his decision to amplify the request has fueled speculation that he may be seriously considering clemency for the former lawmaker.
In the letter, Nicholson praised Buyer’s military and congressional service, describing him as “an honorable man and an extraordinary American.” Nicholson argued that Buyer had been targeted by a “politically weaponized federal and state judiciary” and claimed the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission pursued him as an act of political retribution.
Nicholson, who served as Secretary of Veterans Affairs under President George W. Bush, highlighted Buyer’s work as chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and credited him with helping improve veterans’ healthcare, information technology systems, and treatment programs for wounded service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. He also noted that Buyer served on Trump’s 2016 presidential transition team and contributed to policy recommendations that later influenced the VA Mission Act.
The former RNC chairman concluded by asking Trump to issue a pardon and to seek dismissal of an SEC civil case against Buyer, writing that the former congressman “should have never been a political prisoner in America.”
The post follows a similar move by Trump on Sunday, when he shared another letter signed by several Republican officials requesting clemency for Buyer. That letter likewise alleged that Democratic political figures and government officials sought revenge against the former congressman because of his role in high-profile Republican efforts against President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.
Buyer was sentenced in 2023 to 22 months in federal prison after being convicted of insider trading. According to the Department of Justice, prosecutors proved that Buyer participated in two insider-trading schemes in 2018 and 2019, using confidential information obtained through consulting work to make profitable securities trades before the information became public.
Trump’s public promotion of the pardon requests comes as he faces scrutiny over stock trading activity linked to major policy announcements during his presidency, adding another layer of attention to any potential clemency decision involving a lawmaker convicted of financial crimes.
Read the full letter below:
Dear Mr. President,
Without any reservation, I strongly endorse a full and unconditional pardon for Congressman Stephen Buyer, Ret. He served Indiana for 18 years in Congress before announcing his retirement when his wife was diagnosed with an incurable disease. He also served our nation in the US Army during war and peace in both active and reserve components for 30 years before retiring as a Colonel.
Congressman Buyer is an honorable man and an extraordinary American guided by his faith and committed to values and beliefs that I have personally witnessed. Like you, however, he has suffered the consequences of a politically weaponized federal and state judiciary.
Prior to the election of President George W. Bush, I served as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee. During the Administration of President Bush, I had the honor and privilege to represent our country as Ambassador to the Vatican and served as Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. As a young Army officer, I served in Vietnam.
During my tenure as Secretary of the VA, it was a distinct honor to work with Congressman Buyer when he was in Congress serving as Chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. As a veteran of the first Gulf War, he took his service to veterans and their needs most seriously. He strived to increase the quality of veteran healthcare and benefits, promote IT security, and bring efficiencies to the VA’s health enterprise.
I worked with Chairman Buyer to centralize the VA IT architecture in line and budget authority to promote security, commonality, efficiency, and savings through strategic sourcing. These accomplishments were inordinately important as our nation began to respond to the increase in wounded servicemembers who experienced traumatic brain injuries from Improvised Explosive Devices during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As the number of wounded, ill and injured were returning from those wars, we also worked together with the Senate to create and fund for poly-trauma centers in the VA.
Congressman Buyer served on your 2016 Presidential Transition Team, where he assisted in drafting the roadmap for the VA that your administration followed when it created the Mission Act.
Additionally, during his tenure as Chairman he contributed to the initial path for VA leadership to fulfill the goal of a seamless electronic health record between the VA and DOD by seeking a new electronic health record operating system for the VHA.
Congressman Buyer prosecuted President Bill Clinton in his Impeachment trial, sought an indictment against then first lady Hillary Clinton for obstruction of justice for hiding the infamous Rose Law Firm billing records, and defended the military overseas vote that was disenfranchised during the Florida recount of 2000 Presidential Election. The Clinton-Obama-Biden political surrogates never forgot his contributions to our country. The SEC and DOJ were weaponized against Congressman Buyer as political retribution and prosecuted him in criminal and civil courts without any direct evidence by testimony or document.
I am most hopeful Mr. President, you will be able to restore the integrity of the DOJ and SEC into serving the interest of justice in a manner that re-establishes the trust of the American people in our systems of government.
I respectfully request for you to give a full and unconditional pardon to Steve Buyer and to dismiss the
SEC civil suit against him. Steve Buyer should have never been a political prisoner in America. As our leader of the Republican Party and America, please send the message of fairness and justice to our fellow patriotic citizens and the observing world.
Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino is reportedly preparing to leave the Bureau in the coming weeks, fueling speculation that he may soon return to the conservative media landscape where he built a powerful national following. According to The New York Times, several individuals familiar with the situation say Bongino is already packing up his office and sending personal items back to Florida—an indication that an official announcement may be imminent.
These sources told the Times that Bongino could depart “as soon as this week or as late as mid-January,” though he has not yet publicly confirmed his plans. The former Secret Service agent and best-selling author was appointed to the FBI leadership team earlier this year by President Donald Trump, who tasked him with bringing greater transparency, accountability, and ideological clarity to an agency long accused by conservatives of political bias.
Other reports offer mixed signals. Fox News Digital, citing its own sources, noted Monday that Bongino has “not made a final decision” and disputed claims that his office was already empty. However, Fox’s sources did acknowledge that he is expected to clarify his future “in the coming weeks.”
If Bongino does leave the Bureau, many expect him to reenter the conservative media sphere in time for the 2026 midterm elections, when Republican strategists anticipate a major national referendum on the direction of the country.
According to the Times, Bongino has privately floated the idea of aligning his departure with a major law-enforcement development—specifically a press conference connected to the long-running federal investigation into the pipe bombs planted near the DNC and RNC headquarters on January 5, 2021.
The incident, still unsolved after nearly four years, remains a source of public frustration. Conservatives argue the lack of progress underscores deep institutional failures at the FBI—failures Bongino has long criticized both before and during his time at the agency.
Behind the scenes, Bongino is also said to be smoothing tensions with Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom he sharply criticized earlier this year. In July, Bondi’s office released a memo stating that the much-discussed “Epstein client list” did not exist, contradicting years of speculation amplified in part through Bongino’s own podcast prior to his government service.
The Times reports that Bongino was so dissatisfied with Bondi’s handling of that matter that he threatened to resign at the time. Since then, he has reportedly worked to repair the relationship—an indication that he may be trying to ensure a clean exit from the Bureau, should he choose to move on.
Bongino’s potential departure comes at a pivotal moment for federal law enforcement. Republicans continue to push for sweeping reforms at the FBI, citing concerns about political motivations behind high-profile investigations dating back to the Russia probe. Bongino, viewed by many grassroots conservatives as a no-nonsense reformer, entered the FBI leadership at a time when trust in federal agencies has been sharply divided along partisan lines.
A return to broadcasting would position him once again as one of the most influential voices in conservative politics—a role he previously used to energize Republican voters, challenge media narratives, and champion pro-Trump policy priorities.
For now, the timeline remains unclear. But by all accounts, Bongino’s next move—whether announced this week or early in the new year—will be closely watched
Donald Trump said he’d consider exempting police officers, firefighters, active duty military and veterans from paying taxes, the Republican nominee’s latest campaign trail idea to deliver tax breaks to key groups of supporters.
“It’s something I would think about,” Trump said in response to a question about excluding first responders and military members from tax bills on an online show Maintaining with Tyrus that aired Friday.
Read more from Zero Hedge:
“You’re like my tax person there, but yeah. I mean something has to be done,” he said. “It’s almost an incentive to where you can get people interested.”
The idea to exempt members of the military and first responders from taxation is the latest in a long list of tax proposals Trump has talked about while campaigning against Kamala Harris. He’s pledged to i) eliminate taxes on tipped wages, ii) taxes on overtime pay and iii) taxes on Social Security benefits.
The no-taxes-on-military-and-first-responders idea could be among the largest new tax cuts he’s discussed to date, exempting more than 20 million people from federal tax payments. According to Bloomberg, there are about 18 million living veterans in the US, roughly 1.3 million active duty troops, approximately 1 million police offers in the US and more than 300,000 professional firefighters, according to several estimates. The US does offer some broad tax exemption to military members, but that is largely limited to people who are serving in active combat zones.
In the Friday interview, Trump also suggested military members should become teachers when asked about measures to secure schools.
“So what about teachers that are in the military and they’re teachers, they leave the military, they become history teachers,” Trump said. “They’re in the room and they get to know the students and they know how to use a gun. You can’t have people that don’t have any idea about what to do with guns.”
Other states including Iowa and Tennessee, have passed laws allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons on school campuses.
On Monday, the Colorado judge overseeing a challenge to keep Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot refused to step down from the case after donating to numerous anti-Republican PACs.
The lawsuit, filed by the left-wing donor backed organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), seeks to remove Trump from the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, alleging he took an oath to the Constitution and then engaged in “insurrection” by encouraging the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace, an appointee of Democrat Gov. Jared Polis, began the trial Monday saying that she has “no specific memory” of the donations.
“Prior to yesterday, I was not cognizant of this organization or its mission,” Wallace said. “It has always been my practice, whether I was entirely successful or not, to make contributions to individuals, not PACs.”
She assured litigants that she has “formed no opinion whether the events of Jan. 6 constituted an insurrection.”
Wallace donated $100 on Oct. 15, 2022 to the Colorado Turnout Project, a PAC that was formed to oppose Republicans who “refused to condemn the political extremists who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” according to Federal Election Commission data.
Wallace also has earmarked close to $1,500 in other ActBlue donations for Democrats since 2016, including $100 to Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock’s campaign on Nov. 10, 2022, per FEC data.
Trump’s lawyer, former Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, said during his opening statement Monday that the lawsuit was “anti-democratic” and a “case of lawfare that seeks to interfere with the presidential election.”
Last week, Wallace tossed Trump’s effort to have the case dismissed, rejecting his claim that Congress determines ballot eligibility, not the courts. She also rejected an earlier effort to have the case dismissed on First Amendment grounds.
President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that Democrats would waste no time pursuing impeachment if they manage to retake the House of Representatives in November, arguing that their opposition is driven more by hostility than policy disagreements.
“They’ll find something. There’ll be something,” Trump said during an exclusive interview on “The Will Cain Show.”
“I made the wrong turn at an exit, and let’s impeach him. They did that before. They impeached me on a perfect phone call, turned out. They impeached me twice and, by the way, I won the impeachments very easily and quickly, but they impeach. They’re very nasty people [and] they have bad policy.”
Trump’s comments reflect long-standing frustration among Republicans with what they view as Democrats’ reliance on investigations and impeachment rather than legislative solutions. During his first term, Trump became the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice—once over a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and later over events surrounding January 6. In both cases, the Senate declined to convict, outcomes Trump and his supporters cite as vindication.
The president joined Will Cain live from Iowa, where he kicked off a push toward the 2026 midterm elections. The visit included interactions with voters and culminated in a campaign-style event in Clive, underscoring the administration’s early focus on maintaining Republican momentum and defending narrow congressional margins.
Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, with 218 seats to Democrats’ 213. That slim advantage has heightened concerns within the GOP about historical trends that tend to favor the out-of-power party during midterm elections.
History suggests Trump and Republicans face an uphill battle heading into November. Since the 1930s, midterm elections have almost always resulted in the president’s party losing House seats—and frequently losing control of the chamber altogether. Political analysts often attribute the pattern to voter complacency among the president’s supporters and heightened motivation among the opposition.
Trump acknowledged that reality while speaking to Cain.
“Whether it’s Republican or Democrat, when they win, it doesn’t make any difference. They seem to lose the midterms, so that’s the only thing I worry about,” he said.
“Maybe they [voters] want to put up a guard fence. You just don’t know. It doesn’t make sense. Even if a president did well, they seemed to lose the midterms, but hopefully we’re going to change that around.”
Republicans argue that the stakes of the upcoming midterms are especially high, pointing to Democratic calls for renewed investigations, aggressive regulatory policies, and expanded government spending. Trump’s message to voters in Iowa centered on the need for unified Republican turnout to prevent what he described as partisan gridlock and politically motivated impeachment efforts from resurfacing.
A New York City Congressman had a less-than-kind response to a proposal to feature President Donald Trump on a commemorative coin for the 250th anniversary of the United States’ Independence.
The Treasury Department said it is working on a $1 coin featuring President Trump’s image to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence next year, although the design isn’t final.
A U.S. Treasury official on Friday shared a preliminary design of the coin featuring Mr. Trump.
“No fake news here. These first drafts honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS are real,” U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach wrote in a social media post on Friday, which included drawings of the coin. “Looking forward to sharing more soon, once the obstructionist shutdown of the United States government is over.”
The obverse, or heads, side of the coin features Mr. Trump’s profile, while the tails side depicts the president with his fist raised and a U.S. flag flying behind him, which is reminiscent of the photo taken after a failed assassination attempt on the president in Pennsylvania last year. The tails side also has the words “fight fight fight” emblazoned over Mr. Trump’s image.
In a statement to CBS News, a Treasury spokesperson said the mockup of the coin shared in Beach’s post reflects a draft and that the design isn’t final. The White House didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
“While a final $1 dollar coin design has not yet been selected to commemorate the United States’ semiquincentennial, this first draft reflects well the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles,” the spokesperson said. “We look forward to sharing more soon.”
While federal law prohibits the U.S. Treasury from issuing currency with the image of either a living former or current president, there may be more leeway with commemorative coins produced by the U.S. Mint. Currency is produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, while commemorative coins are produced by the U.S. Mint, which is part of the Treasury Department.
Under a 2021 law, the Treasury is authorized to issue $1 commemorative coins to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres (D-NY) said on Friday that he plans to introduce the TRUMP Act in hopes of blocking the proposal.
The TRUMP Act, which stands for The Restrict Ugly Money Portraits Act, aims to prohibit any president from issuing currency with their own likeness and requires U.S. currency to only feature deceased individuals.
“America’s money should only feature big, beautiful faces — not big, ugly faces,” said Rep. Torres in a statement.
A new report indicates that former Fox News star and current U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro declined President Donald Trump’s invitation to serve under FBI Director Kash Patel.
The New York Times’ Glenn Thrush reported that “Late last year, after Mr. Trump tapped Kash Patel, a podcaster with scant law enforcement experience, to be F.B.I. director, his aides approached Ms. Pirro about becoming his deputy,” citing two sources familiar with the exchange.
But Pirro, whose legal experience includes serving as a prosecutor and judge in New York’s Westchester County, turned down the role, even though she had “tried and failed to secure a top Justice Department job” during Trump’s first term.
The reason, according to Thrush, was Pirro had “no interest” in working for Patel.
The job ultimately went to former Fox News contributor and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino.
On Monday, the Justice Department announced Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey will step into the Trump administration as co-deputy director of the FBI.
Bailey, who stepped down from his role as attorney general effective September 8, will hold his newly-created position alongside current FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino and serve under FBI Director Kash Patel.
Pirro went on to take over the U.S. attorney’s office in the District of Columbia, even though she “has not run a prosecutor’s office in the iPhone era,” Thrush wrote, adding that Pirro has not made it known whether she “hopes to ascend” to a bigger role in the DOJ.
“Like many big-shot outsiders who take on medium-shot government jobs, Ms. Pirro has been aggravated by red tape, particularly requirements that she obtain approval of other officials before taking actions she would have done unilaterally as Westchester County district attorney two decades ago,” Thrush wrote.
Pirro’s focus so far has been on stamping out violent crime in Washington, D.C.
On Monday, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Nathalie Jones, 50, of Lafayette, Indiana, was arrested in the District of Columbia on Saturday in connection with making a series of threats on social media in which she threatened to kill President Trump.
“Hi everyone, it’s Judge Jeanine. I just wanted to let you know here from the United States Attorney’s Office in D.C. that an individual by the name of Nathalie Rose Jones is now in custody, charged with two federal crimes for knowingly and willfully threatening to take the life of the President of the United States,” Pirro said in a clip she released on social media.
“She did come from New York to Washington, D.C. and she has been threatening and calling for the removal of the president and even worse as she got to D.C. Her threats were on Facebook and Instagram and she continued to call the president a terrorist and was working to have him eliminated. She is now in custody. She will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Make no mistake about that,” Pirro said with a hint of a smile.
President Trump has signed the Medal of Honor Act, a bipartisan measure that delivers the first pension increase for Medal of Honor recipients in a quarter-century. The law lifts annual compensation from $16,880 to $67,500, a major boost aimed at honoring the 61 living Americans who earned the nation’s highest award for valor.
The bill, led by Rep. Troy Nehls and Sen. Ted Cruz, cleared the Senate unanimously last month. Lawmakers from both parties backed the increase, calling it a long-overdue adjustment for service members who put everything on the line in combat.
Supporters say the upgrade brings the benefit in line with the significance of the medal itself. Medal of Honor recipients have long carried symbolic weight in American culture, yet their compensation has not kept pace with inflation or the modern cost of living.
After the bill passed, Sen. Ted Cruz’s office put out a statement saying: “Medal of Honor recipients are often not retired from the U.S. military and often receive no compensation for the costs of their public engagements. Through these appearances, they share stories of heroism that inspire Americans, strengthen national pride, and support military recruiting and retention. Increasing their monthly pensions is essential to easing the financial burden on their families and ensuring they can continue representing the best of our nation’s values.”
With the new law in place, recipients will see the higher rate take effect immediately. For veterans groups, this represents a major win and a signal that Congress and the White House can still unite behind issues tied to military service and national honor.
After chaotic rounds of voting last year to select a House Speaker, Republican firebrand Marjorie Taylor Greene is hoping this year is a little smoother.
Rep. Greene (Ga.) who unsuccessfully sought to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson from the speakership last year, said that she will vote on Friday for Johnson to retain the gavel.
Last year, the congresswoman lambasted Johnson as “the Uniparty Speaker,” asserting that he “is exactly what is wrong with the Republican establishment” and had “done nothing for conservatives and given everything to Joe Biden and Democrats.”
But she now plans to vote on Friday for Johnson to remain in the leadership post.
“Let’s put aside our pride, let’s put aside our egos, and let’s put aside the infighting,” she said in a video, adding that it is time for the GOP to join together and “do whatever it takes to make sure that we deliver the mandate that the American people told us to do.”
However, despite the Congresswoman’s newfound support, Johnson’s path to the Speaker’s gavel isn’t clear.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) who supported the effort to oust Johnson last year, has declared that he will not support the speaker’s bid to remain in the role.
“You can pull all my fingernails out, you can shove bamboo up in them, you can start cutting off my fingers, I am not voting for Mike Johnson tomorrow,” Massie declared during an appearance on “The Matt Gaetz Show.”
Watch:
President-elect Donald Trump endorsed Johnson for the job earlier this week.
“Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Trump, in a Truth Social post, praised Johnson as a “fine man of great ability, who is close to having 100% support.”
“A win for Mike today will be a big win for the Republican Party, and yet another acknowledgment of our 129 year most consequential Presidential Election!!” Trump wrote.
Johnson responded to the post and thanked Trump for his support.”Thank you, President Trump! Today is a new day in America,” Johnson wrote in a post on X Friday morning.
“Congressional Republicans must stay united to quickly deliver President Trump’s America First agenda. Let’s get it done.”
