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    Report: Marco Rubio Impostor Is Using AI Voice To Call High-level Officials

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    0

    A disturbing new scam…

    Someone posing as Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been contacting U.S. officials using AI-generated voice and text.

    The Washington Post’s John Hudson and Hannah Natanson reported this week, citing a State Department cable and a “senior U.S. official,” that the imposter Rubio contacted foreign ministers, a governor, and a member of Congress. The cable from Rubio’s office reportedly theorizes that the imposter is trying to gain “access to information or accounts.”

    The impersonation campaign began in mid-June when the impostor created a Signal account using the display name “[email protected]” to contact unsuspecting foreign and domestic diplomats and politicians, said the cable. The display name is not his real email address.

    “The actor left voicemails on Signal for at least two targeted individuals and in one instance, sent a text message inviting the individual to communicate on Signal,” said the cable. It also noted that other State Department personnel were impersonated using email.

    When asked about the cable, the State Department responded that it would “carry out a thorough investigation and continue to implement safeguards to prevent this from happening in the future.” Officials declined to discuss the contents of the messages or the names of the diplomats and officials who were targeted.

    This is not the first time someone has tried posing as a high-level official. President Donald Trump said in May that an imposter posed as White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in calls to other officials.

    “I’ve heard they breached her phone and tried to impersonate her,” the president said at the time. “Nobody can impersonate Susie. There’s only one Susie.”

    Signal was at the center of recent controversy with Mike Waltz leaving his post as White House National Security advisor after a reporter was accidentally invited into a group discussing attack plans. Waltz was then nominated to be the ambassador of the United Nations, while Rubio was appointed interim National Security advisor.

    In May, the FBI issued a warning that “malicious actors” were impersonating senior U.S. officials in an “ongoing malicious text and voice messaging campaign” intended to target other senior government leaders and their contacts. The campaign relied on AI-generated voice messages, according to the FBI, and was likely meant to “elicit information or funds.”

    “If you receive a message claiming to be from a senior U.S. official,” the FBI warned at the time, “do not assume it is authentic.”

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    Iranian Grand Ayatollah Issues Fatwa Targeting Trump

    By
    Patrick Houck
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    4
    The White House, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    A senior Iranian cleric has called for the assassination of U.S. President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and other Israeli officials, calling them “Enemies of God.”

    Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a leading Shiite cleric in Iran with authority to issue legal rulings under Islamic law, has issued a fatwa — an Islamic legal decree — escalating regional tensions and offering religious justification for violence against Western and Israeli leaders.

    As Newsweek rightly notes, the development highlights the Islamic Republic’s ongoing use of religious decrees as political tools — a strategy Iran has long used to project power beyond its borders.

    While a fatwa is not legally enforceable, it can influence judicial decisions in countries with Sharia-based legal systems.

    Khosro K. Isfahani, senior research analyst at the National Union for Democracy in Iran wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the fatwa issued by Shirazi against Trump was similar to the murder fatwa issued against the author Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses which led to a number of assassination attempts.

    Fatwa Targets U.S. and Israeli Leadership

    Shirazi’s ruling singles out Trump, Netanyahu, and senior Israeli officials for death, framing the call as a divine imperative. While fatwas lack direct enforcement mechanisms outside of Islamic law, they carry significant weight among hardline elements and militias aligned with Tehran.

    The fatwa comes on the heels of a fragile U.S.-brokered ceasefire that followed a 12-day conflict involving Israel, Iran, and the United States.

    At the height of the fighting, President Trump declared that the U.S. knew the whereabouts of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, calling him an “easy target” — though he added Khamenei was safe “for now.” Around the same time, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz issued his own threat, saying that Khamenei should be assassinated.

    As Newsweek reporters Brendan Cole and Shane Croucher add, “Shirazi said anyone who threatens the Leader or Marja is considered ‘an enemy of God’ and reminded Muslims and Islamic states that it would be ‘haram’ (forbidden) to stand in support of the enemy.”

    They continue:

    “It is necessary for all Muslims around the world to make these enemies regret their words and mistakes,” the fatwa said.

    Isfahani said on X that the fatwa had been signed and sealed responding to an Estefta (formal query) and was significant because it directly named Trump and that “unlike the nonexistent Fatwa against nukes, this one is real.”

    Not Shirazi’s First Outrageous Decree

    Shirazi, known for issuing rulings against smoking and even banning women from attending soccer matches, has a long record of using his clerical position to shape Iranian social and political norms.

    Critics say the fatwa resembles Iran’s infamous 1989 ruling against author Salman Rushdie, which led to a decades-long threat on Rushdie’s life and culminated in a violent stabbing in 2022 that left the writer blind in one eye.

    Elena Ternovaja, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Comes Amid Pattern of Threats Against U.S. Officials

    This latest fatwa doesn’t come in a vacuum. It follows reported Iranian-backed plots targeting Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — both of whom played key roles in the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and the targeted killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qasem Soleimani in 2020.

    While the White House has not yet responded to Shirazi’s declaration, U.S. officials have previously acknowledged ongoing threats from Iranian actors against Trump-era leaders.

    What This Means Going Forward

    Even if symbolic, Shirazi’s call could inspire real-world violence — and it’s likely to complicate diplomatic efforts in the region, particularly as Tehran faces renewed scrutiny over its nuclear ambitions and destabilizing activity across the Middle East.

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    Karoline Leavitt Says Trump Won’t Give Security Details Back to Ex-Officials Amid Iran Tensions

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    Karoline Leavitt speaking with attendees at the 2022 Student Action Summit at the Tampa Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. [Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore ]

    In a bold reaffirmation of his America First leadership style, President Donald J. Trump is standing firm in his decision not to reinstate security details for former officials—even amid rising tensions with the Iranian regime.

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made it clear on Thursday that the issue isn’t even up for debate. “That’s not in consideration,” she said when asked if Secret Service protection would be restored to former National Security Adviser John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley.

    This refusal reflects Trump’s long-standing belief that federal security resources should be allocated wisely and not squandered as political favors for former insiders who may no longer reflect his administration’s priorities.

    John Bolton, a self-styled foreign policy hawk who distanced himself from Trump after leaving the administration, went public in January claiming he was “disappointed but not surprised” when his Secret Service detail was revoked. But critics of Bolton note that his policy stances often ran counter to Trump’s vision of restraint abroad and strength at home.

    Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his top aide Brian Hook also had their security details pulled shortly after Bolton’s. Both men were instrumental in enforcing sanctions and confronting Iranian aggression. But as Leavitt and others close to Trump suggest, their job was to serve the country during his presidency—not to become lifetime beneficiaries of the national security apparatus.

    Pompeo and Hook are reportedly still under threat from Tehran, but many MAGA supporters argue that American taxpayers shouldn’t be expected to foot the bill indefinitely, especially for those now spending more time on book tours and speaking engagements than protecting the Republic.

    Perhaps the most controversial figure in the mix is Gen. Mark Milley, who lost his protection by the end of January. Milley, who had a strained relationship with President Trump following the 2020 election, was provided security after Trump took decisive action to eliminate Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani.

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    This Trump Cabinet Member Is On ‘Thin Ice’

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    4
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    The tides are turning against this Trump Cabinet member…

    Michael Wolff, the Trump biographer who has long studied the president, revealed on The Daily Beast Podcast this week that the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is getting increasingly close to being fired.

    Over the weekend, the U.S. launched an attack on three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran. Despite Trump’s declared victory, however, early intelligence assessments suggest that the strikes did not destroy the facilities at all.

    “It’s always important in the Trump script, the fallback is always who to blame, who to blame,” Wolff told The Daily Beast’s Joanna Coles. “Just have to have someone to blame. Tulsi is in the line of fire.”

    To Trump, he added, she is a “stooge” at this point.

    Reports of the still-existent nuclear sites are at odds with Trump’s repeated claims that the strikes “completely and totally obliterated” the facilities.

    Tulsi Gabbard via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN: “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.”

    But now that the assessment is available for the public to judge for themselves, Wolff said that Trump is in search of someone to throw under the bus.

    “There is an investigation that is going on,“ said Wolff. ”They will try to find someone to blame. Within the White House, within the West Wing, what they are saying as of this morning, who this is being pinned on, is Tulsi.”

    White House staff have confirmed that the leak is already being investigated.

    “President Trump’s Peace through Strength foreign policy is a tried-and-true approach that keeps America safe and deters global threats,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast in a statement. “Efforts by the legacy media to sow internal division are a distraction that will not work. President Trump has full confidence in his entire exceptional national security team. DNI Gabbard is an important member of the President’s team and her work continues to serve him and this country well.”

    Watch:

    Gabbard was awkwardly snubbed by President Donald Trump this week after he dismissed her Congressional testimony that countered the administration’s justification for bombing Iran.

    “The intelligence community continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khomeini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003,” she said in March.

    But this month, Trump publicly slammed Gabbard when her comments resurfaced.

    “I don’t care what she said,” Trump said of Gabbard’s comments. “I think they were very close to having them.”

    Trump later doubled down, telling reporters that Gabbard was “wrong” about the issue.

    Gabbard bowed down to Trump’s assertions, quickly posting on X that the “dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division.”

    Sign Now: Trump, Rubio, and Israel Need You in This Fight

    Former Dem Advisor Blasts ‘Unhinged Calls For Impeachment’

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    5
    President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud at the Royal Court Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

    Some Democrats are defending President Trump against calls for impeachment for launching attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, calling the move the latest example of “trump derangement syndrome.”

    The White House launched “Operation: Midnight Hammer” on Saturday and struck three of Iran’s key nuclear facilities. Many Democrats were quick to call the strike “unconstitutional” and suggested that Trump could be impeached over his decision to attack Iran without congressional authority. 

    Turrentine, who worked under Hillary Clinton when she was a New York senator and former Colorado Gov. Jared Polis when he was in the House of Representatives, wrote on X that Democrats need to back away from talks of impeachment. 

    “It was too depressing to write this last night, after we got off air, so I went to bed. But, it needs to be said by more Democrats: this was not an impeachable offense, and Trump did not need congressional approval for one precision attack under the circumstances, just as Obama did not when striking Bin Laden,” Turrentine wrote.

    He added, “Why can’t our Party just say it’s great we achieved the objective and destroyed Iran’s nuclear sites, god bless the soldiers who carried this out and made it home safely, god bless our country, military, allies, and we look forward to a full intel briefing?”

    He argued that Congress can instead “express concern” over what might come next and assert its authority by insisting any additional steps will require congressional approval. Beyond that, he suggested impeachment calls would be a betrayal of one of the party’s principles.

    “But, for so many in my Party to knee jerk with unhinged calls for impeachment – and sadly omit in their statement support for Iran not having nuclear weapons, which has been a principle of our Party for 40 years -is truly TDS,” Turrentine wrote.

    He also criticized Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer for only putting a statement out to the media while several members of his party were already speaking.

    In his statement, Schumer called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to enforce the War Powers Act, writing “[n]o president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy.”

    Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was one of the more high-profile Democratic voices who openly called for impeachment over the weekend.

    “The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Saturday. “He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”

    Turrentine is hardly the first Democrat to praise Trump’s bold move. Another former top Democratic staffer and self-identified Kamala Harris voter Jamie Metzl on Sunday shook things up on social media when he posted his support and praised the strike on Iran, lauding President Donald Trump for being bold and saying that Harris wouldn’t have had “the courage” to do the same.

    Metzl, who served on the National Security Council under President Bill Clinton and as deputy staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee under then-Chairman Joe Biden began by saying “The world will be a better place if Iran’s nuclear bomb development capacities have been degraded or destroyed.”

    “I served on the National Security Council under President Clinton. I was Joe Biden’s Deputy Staff Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” he wrote. “I voted for Kamala Harris and have been a vocal critic of many dangerous and undemocratic actions taken by President Trump.”

    “But,” he said. “I’m not a blind tribalist and am perfectly comfortable praising President Trump for bold and courageous actions in support of America’s core national interests, as he took last night.”

    Metzl wrote: “Iran has been at war with the United States for 46 years. Its regime has murdered thousands of American citizens. Its slogan “death to America“ was not window dressing but core ideology. It was racing toward a nuclear weapon with every intention of using it to threaten America, our allies, and the Middle East region as a whole.”

    “No actions like this come without risks,” he continued. “I imagine the story will get more complicated over time, but that’s why these types of decisions are complicated.”

    The Left wants to erase the Electoral College — will you speak up?

    Pentagon Official Removed From Joint Chiefs Of Staff

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    A Pentagon official has been removed from his role with the Joint Chiefs of Staff after his anti-Israel social media posts were brought to light

    Colonel Nathan McCormack, who was tasked with helping advise the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Israel-related matters, was immediately fired after his anti-Israel posts were uncovered.

    McCormack, who was the Levant and Egypt branch chief at the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s J5 planning directorate, according to his LinkedIn, posted several controversial tweets on his X account. He called Israel a “death cult” and referred to the Israeli government as “Netanyahu and his Judeo-supremacist cronies,” among other things, Jewish News Syndicate reported.

    A Joint Staff official told The Daily Wire that the Department of Defense said McCormack was removed from his position with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and that the matter is being handed over to the U.S. Army for further action.

    “Our global alliances and partnerships are vital to our national security, enhancing our collective defense, deterrence, and operational reach,” the official said.

    McCormack’s semi-anonymous account has been deleted following JNS’s report.

    The J5 directorate of the Joint Chiefs of Staff advises the chairman of the Joint Chiefs on military strategy, planning, and policy across a wide range of national security issues. McCormack’s role tasked him with preparing senior leadership to speak with partner nations —including Israel.

    McCormack made the posts on an X account where he calls himself “Nate,” but has posted several times about his job and even shared a photo of his Meritorious Service Medal certificate.

    Since assuming his position — which his LinkedIn says he began in June 2024 — McCormack has posted numerous times about his views on the Jewish state, especially after Hamas’s October 7 massacre of Israeli civilians.

    “The Western states go to great lengths to avoid criticism of Israel, much out of Holocaust guilt,” McCormack tweeted in April.

    In May, he posted that “Netanyahu and his Judeo-supremacist cronies are determined to prolong the conflict for their own goals: either to remain in power or to annex the land.”

    In April 2024, McCormack questioned if the United States was a proxy of Israel.

    “I’ve lately been considering whether we might be Israel’s proxy and not realized it yet,” he posted. “Our worst ‘ally.’ We get literally nothing out of the ‘partnership’ other than the enmity of millions of people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.”

    McCormack has also disclosed details about his official duties on the account, claiming in August 2024 that “we” warned Israel it would be “fuxked” if it escalated into an offensive against Lebanon. Despite the warning, Israel launched an invasion two months later and decimated the terrorist group Hezbollah. He also shared information about his conversations and briefings with Israeli Defense Forces officers.

    McCormack’s account also shared information about his movements and work trips being canceled, according to JNS.

    The Department of Defense has strict social media guidelines, including telling service members to “avoid use of Department of Defense titles, insignia, uniforms or symbols in a way that could imply DoD sanction or endorsement of content on your personal page.”

    The Left wants to erase the Electoral College — will you speak up?

    Trump Rips Into ‘Kooky’ Tucker Carlson Over Opposition To Israeli Strikes On Iran

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    President Trump responded to Tucker Carlson on Monday after the former Fox News host criticized the president’s handling of Iran and the conflict in the Middle East.

    Last week in a newsletter, Carlson accused Trump of being “complicit” in Israel’s strikes against Iran that sparked the current days-long exchange between the two Middle Eastern powers. The newsletter arrived in the inboxes of Carlson’s readers under the headline: “This Could Be the Final Newsletter Before All-Out War.”

    “Earlier this week, unnamed Washington sources expressed concern over Israel’s ability to fend off Iran’s retaliation, which would inevitably lead to Benjamin Netanyahu ordering the American military to step in and fight on his country’s behalf,” Carlson wrote. “On Thursday, Iran’s president threatened to ‘destroy’ any country that eliminates his government’s nuclear facilities. Now, the world will learn what that looks like.”

    Trump responded to Carlson’s criticisms while attending the Group of Seven Summit in Canada.

    “Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, ‘IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!’” Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday evening.

    Earlier in the day, Trump dismissed a question from a reporter on Carlson’s concerns.

    “I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen,” said Trump, appearing to jab at Carlson over his exit from Fox News. Carlson now runs his own media business, the Tucker Carlson Network, and hosts a popular interview podcast.

    Greene, a staunch Trump supporter, pushed back on the president’s criticism of the former Fox News host.

    “Tucker Carlson is one of my favorite people. He fiercely loves his wife, children, and our country,” Greene wrote on the social platform X. “He unapologetically believes the same things I do. That if we don’t fight for our own country and our own people then we will no longer have a country for our children and our grandchildren.”

    “And foreign wars/intervention/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction,” she added.

    On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that President Trump was leaving the G7 Summit early due to the conflict between Israel and Iran. Leavitt said Trump had planned to stay at the economic summit longer, but returned to Washington Monday night “because of what’s going on in the Middle East.” Trump left Washington for Canada this week to meet with world leaders at the Group of Seven Summit.

    “President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Much was accomplished, but because of what’s going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State,” said Leavitt.

    The change in the president’s plans came as he posted a warning to residents in Tehran to leave the city immediately. The Iranian capital has been bombarded for days by Israel in targeted strikes on military and other key locations.

    President Donald Trump said Tuesday morning that he has not reached out to Iran for peace talks.

    “I have not reached out to Iran for ‘Peace Talks’ in any way, shape, or form. This is just more HIGHLY FABRICATED, FAKE NEWS! If they want to talk, they know how to reach me,” Trump posted. “They should have taken the deal that was on the table — Would have saved a lot of lives!!!”

    “Publicity seeking President Emmanuel Macron, of France, mistakenly said that I left the G7 Summit, in Canada, to go back to D.C. to work on a ‘cease fire’ between Israel and Iran,” Trump wrote. “Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire. Much bigger than that. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong. Stay Tuned!”

    When asked on board Air Force One what he meant by promising something more than a ceasefire, Trump said he wanted, “An end. A real end. Not a ceasefire.” He added that “giving up entirely” would also be an option. 

    The Left wants to erase the Electoral College — will you speak up?

    Netanyahu Confirms Iran Targeted Trump As ‘Enemy Number One’ With Assassination Plot

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    2
    President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during their joint press conference, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. (Official White House Photo by Leslie N. Emory)

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed during a recent interview that Iran viewed President Donald Trump as a threat to its nuclear program and actively worked to assassinate him.

    “They want to kill him. He’s enemy number one. He’s a decisive leader. He never took the path that others took to try to bargain with them in a way that is weak, giving them basically a pathway to enrich uranium, which means a pathway to the bomb, padding it with billions and billions of dollars,” the prime minister told Fox News’ Bret Baier during a special Sunday edition of “Special Report.”

    “He took up this fake agreement and basically tore it up. He killed Qasem Soleimani. He made it very clear, including now, ‘You cannot have a nuclear weapon, which means you cannot enrich uranium.’ He’s been very forceful, so for them, he’s enemy number one.”

    Netanyahu revealed he was also a target of the regime after a missile was fired into the bedroom window of his home. He went on to call himself Trump’s “junior partner” in threatening Iran’s ability to weaponize nuclear arms. 

    Netanyahu said his country was facing an “imminent threat” of nuclear destruction and was left with no choice but to act aggressively in the “12th hour.”

    “We were facing an imminent threat, a dual existential threat,” he said.

    “One, the threat of Iran rushing to weaponize their enriched uranium to make atomic bombs with a specific and declared intent to destroy us. Second, a rush to increase their ballistic missile arsenal to the capacity that they would have 3,600 weapons a year…. Within three years, 10,000 ballistic missiles, each one weighing a ton, coming in at mach 6, right into our cities, as you saw today… and then in 26 years, 20,000 [missiles]. No country can sustain that, and certainly not a country the size of Israel, so we had to act.”

    Netanyahu said, by doing so, Israel is not only protecting itself but also protecting the world.

    Iran has since retaliated with a large-scale ballistic missile attack on Israeli cities.

    Netanyahu told Fox News he believes Israel’s offensive measures have set back the Iranian nuclear program “quite a bit,” sharing his belief that negotiations with the terrorism-sponsoring regime were clearly “going nowhere.”

    Netanyahu has described the operation, coined as Operation Rising Lion, as “one of the greatest military operations in history.” Addressing the Iranian people, he said they had been oppressed for 50 years by the same Islamic regime that has long threatened to destroy the State of Israel.

    Government Employee Arrested After Disclosing Classified Info With FBI Agent

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
    -
    3

    Authorities arrested a government employee in Virginia on Thursday over accusations he shared classified information with an officer or agent of a foreign government.

    Nathan Vilas Laatsch, a 28-year-old IT specialist employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) since 2019, has been arrested and charged with attempting to transmit classified national defense information to a foreign government, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

    Laatsch, who held a Top Secret security clearance and worked in the DIA’s Insider Threat Division, was apprehended in northern Virginia after an undercover FBI operation. The investigation after the FBI received a tip that someone was offering to provide classified information to a friendly foreign government. Subsequent communications revealed that Laatsch expressed ideological disagreements with the current U.S. administration and a willingness to share sensitive materials.

    Over several weeks, Laatsch engaged with an FBI agent posing as a foreign government representative. He allegedly transcribed classified information onto a notepad and, on May 1, deposited a thumb drive containing documents marked as Secret and Top Secret at a prearranged location in a northern Virginia park. The drive also included a message indicating his intent to provide a sample of the information he could access.

    Following the initial drop, Laatsch communicated his desire for citizenship in the foreign country, citing concerns about the long-term trajectory of the United States. He also indicated openness to other forms of compensation. Between May 15 and May 27, he continued to transcribe and remove classified information, concealing notes in his clothing. On May 29, at another prearranged drop-off, Laatsch was arrested by the FBI upon delivering additional classified materials.

    FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized the persistent risk of insider threats, stating, “The FBI remains steadfast in protecting our national security and thanks our law enforcement partners for their critical support.”

    Laatsch is scheduled to appear in court in Alexandria, Virginia on Friday.

    Pentagon Chief Threatens Military Action Against Iran

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    1
    David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

    Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth threatened military action against Iran on Wednesday night.

    “We see your LETHAL support to The Houthis. We know exactly what you are doing,” Hegseth said in a post on X. “You know very well what the U.S. Military is capable of — and you were warned. You will pay the CONSEQUENCE at the time and place of our choosing.”

    Hegseth’s post warning of military force is unusual for a defense secretary to make, especially so explicitly, though it appears to be in response to an incident earlier this week in the Red Sea that caused a U.S. fighter jet to fall off an aircraft carrier.

    On Monday, a Houthi drone forced the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to make an evasive maneuver, which some believe caused an F-18 Super Hornet worth $67 million and a tow tractor to fall off the carrier and into the Red Sea.

    The plane was actively under tow in a hangar bay when the crew lost control of the aircraft. Both the jet and tow went overboard and were lost in the sea, the Navy said.

    Trump elevated a military campaign against the terrorist group on March 15, and airstrikes have been launched against Houthi targets every day since then.

    After his post on Wednesday, Hegseth then retweeted a Truth Social post by President Donald Trump from March 17.

    “Let nobody be fooled! The hundreds of attacks being made by Houthi, the sinister mobsters and thugs based in Yemen, who are hated by the Yemeni people, all emanate from, and are created by, IRAN,” Trump posted. “Any further attack or retaliation by the ‘Houthis’ will be met with great force, and there is no guarantee that the force will stop there.

    “Iran has played the ‘innocent victim’ of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control. They’re dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, ‘Intelligence.’ Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!”

    On Wednesday, President Donald Trump joked that embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is his “least controversial person” during a cabinet meeting at the White House Wednesday.

    The lighthearted moment comes a little over a week after the former Fox News host was embroiled in a second Signalgate scandal.

    “I could start with Pete on the left because he is my least controversial person at the table,” Trump said to laughter as he motioned toward Hegseth. “We all know how good he is.”

    Read the full remarks here per Mediaite:

    DONALD TRUMP: With that, I think we’ll maybe go around and we have some letters where the secretaries and people around the table are making statements about how they are doing and what is happening and I could start with Pete on the left because he is my least controversial person at the table. [Laughter]

    We all know how good he is. We’ll go around the table and you can hear. These are cabinet meetings where they are very open and transparent. I can guarantee you Biden didn’t do this. He didn’t do this. Go ahead Pete.

    PETE HEGSETH: I think we’re controversial because we’re over the target. Like so many things, Mr. President, you inherited a demoralized military that couldn’t recruit, that was perceived as weak in Afghanistan and elsewhere because of Joe Biden. What we have seen since your election and the inauguration has been nothing short of a recruiting renaissance. Decades since we’ve seen this kind of recruiting in the army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force. The men and women of America want to join the United States military led by President Donald Trump.

    TRUMP: And the police, by the way. And fire. I always mention the fire but the police and fire likewise are — I mean, they have waiting lists now. And six months ago, it was a disaster.

    HEGSETH: Truly historic. We can barely absorb the volume and retention as well. Men and women in the military who don’t want to get out now that they have a real commander in chief. We’re reinforcing standards. Gonna be fit, not fat in our formations. Welcome back all the COVID — the folks who were forced out because of the COVID mandate. We ripped wokeness out of the military, sir, DEI, trans and it’s Fort Benning and Fort Bragg again at the DOD. We’re rebuilding the military, sir.

    The Golden Dome is well underway. F-47, reassuring allies and deterring enemies. We found nearly $6 billion in DOGE savings that we’re going to reinvest, including $50 billion from the Biden administration focused on things like climate that have nothing to do with lethality and war fighting. And we will have as you said, sir, the first trillion-dollar budget we plan to spend wisely on behalf of our warfighters.

    From Day one, sir, we have helped get 100% operational control of the border. Come alongside DHS and CBP. We’ve got 11,000 troops on the border who now, because of the new national defense area, sir, can help detain illegals at the border and hand them over to CBP. It used to be if you saw camouflage on the border, they could hold binoculars, and that’s it. Now we can detain and assist and we are.

    We’ll get 100% operational control of the border. Our NATO allies know they have to step up. The Houthis in the Middle East are feeling the weight of American power and we’re deterring communist China. So because of your leadership, sir, I believe we’re making the military great again. Thank you.

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