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Former ABC News Anchor Suggests Replacement For Ousted National Security Official

By
Madeleine Jackson
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By The White House - https://www.flickr.com/photos/202101414@N05/54325633746/, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=159707159

Former ABC News journalist Mark Halperin suggested a replacement for President Trump’s National Security Council after Thursday’s shakeup.

Halperin said Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff was Waltz’s likely replacement.

Trump administration National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and other staffers are out at the National Security Council, sources confirmed to Fox News.

Watch:

Fox News confirmed Waltz and his deputy Alex Wong were purged Thursday. 

Waltz, who previously served as a Florida congressman, has come under fire from Democrats and critics since March, when the Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg published a firsthand account of getting added to a Signal group chat with top national security leaders, including Waltz, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, while they discussed strikes against Yemen terrorists. 

Waltz took responsibility for the inclusion of a journalist in the group chat in April, telling Fox News’ Laura Ingraham: “I take full responsibility. I built the group. … It’s embarrassing. We’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

Alex Wong served as Waltz’s principal deputy national security advisor, who was detailed in the Signal chat leak earlier this year as the staffer charged with “pulling together a tiger team” in Waltz’s initial message sent to the Signal group chat in March, the Atlantic reported at the time. 

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital earlier Monday when asked about reports claiming Waltz and other would be shown the door: “We are not going to respond to reporting from anonymous sources.”

President Donald Trump held a meeting with members of his Cabinet Wednesday, following his 100th day back in office on Tuesday, with Waltz attending the meeting. 

Pentagon Chief Threatens Military Action Against Iran

By
Madeleine Jackson
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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.

Trump Puts Sanctuary Cities On Notice With New Executive Order

By
Madeleine Jackson
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Trump at the border wall via Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this week to crack down on sanctuary jurisdictions impeding federal immigration enforcement.

The directive requires the Justice Department to compile a list of all sanctuary city jurisdictions and then take action to cut off or suspend federal funding to those places. Under Trump, cities across the country, like Boston, have already made it difficult for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to apprehend illegal immigrants.

“This invasion at the southern border requires the Federal Government to take measures to fulfill its obligation to the States,” Trump wrote in the executive order. “Yet some State and local officials nevertheless continue to use their authority to violate, obstruct, and defy the enforcement of Federal immigration laws. This is a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of Federal law and the Federal Government’s obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States.”

After the list of sanctuary jurisdictions is published, those entities would be given the chance to comply with federal law. If they don’t comply, they could lose federal funding.

The executive order also directs the Justice Department and Homeland Security to ensure that federal benefits are not provided to illegals in sanctuary jurisdictions and to “take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable.”

Earlier this month, Trump called sanctuary jurisdictions “death traps” and promised to cut off federal funding.

“No more Sanctuary Cities! They protect the Criminals, not the Victims. They are disgracing our Country and are being mocked all over the World,” he posted on Truth Social. “Working on papers to withhold all Federal Funding for any City or State that allows these Death Traps to exist!!!”

While contrasting the Biden and Trump administrations, border czar Homan said that between 11,000-15,000 people were crossing the border illegally per day this time of the year under Biden, while under Trump, just 178 had crossed in the last 24 hours. During the same time, he said there were 1,800 known “gotaways” under Biden, compared to just 38 under Trump. Homan added that from January 20 to April 1, 2024, Biden released 184,000 illegals out of federal custody into the country. The Trump administration has only released nine total, including four so they could testify in criminal cases and four with extreme medical conditions.

In total, Homan said that there have been 139,000 deportations under Trump. He added that the administration was prioritizing the estimated 700,000 illegals who have been charged with crimes.

Report: Rubio Says State Had Dossier Accusing Trump Cabinet Member Of Disinformation

By
Madeleine Jackson
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(Miami - Flórida, 09/03/2020) Presidente da República Jair Bolsonaro durante encontro com o Senador Marco Rubio..Foto: Alan Santos/PR

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department under President Biden had labeled one of President Trump’s now-cabinet officials as a purveyor of disinformation and had collected a dossier on their social media posts. 

Rubio did not identify the individual, revealing the information during a round-table meeting of Trump’s cabinet officials, but said it was someone at the table. He said he would hand over the information to the person and allow them the decide whether to make it public.

An unidentified person in the room shouted out, “Was it me or Elon?” referring to Elon Musk, owner of the X social media site, who has used his platform to amplify conspiracy theories and promote falsehoods on political, social and foreign policy issues. 

“We had an office in the Department of State whose job it was to censor Americans,” Rubio said, referring to previous administrations.

“And by the way, I’m not gonna say who it is, I’ll leave it up to them. There’s at least one person at this table today who had a dossier in that building of social media posts to identify them as purveyors of disinformation,” he added.

“We have these dossiers. We are going to be turning those over to these individuals.”

Rubio appeared to be referring to the now-shuttered Global Engagement Center, initially a bipartisan effort to track foreign disinformation online campaigns abroad, but that Republicans accused of policing Americans’ social media activity.

Tim Walz Says He Was Selected As 2024 Running Mate ‘To Code Talk To White Guys’

By
Madeleine Jackson
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4

The truth comes out…

Former vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) is pulling back the curtain on the reasoning behind Democrats’ disastrous 2024 election decision-making.

The unsuccessful vice presidential candidate who is currently on a self-described “listening tour” across the country at a Harvard Kennedy School forum on Monday night said Harris chose him to be her running mate, in part, because, “I could code talk to White guys watching football, fixing their truck” and “put them at ease.”

Office of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Minnesota governor described himself as the “permission structure” for White men from rural America to vote for Democrats. 

“I think I’ll give you pretty good stuff, but I’ll also give you 10% problematic,” Walz added when pushed by moderator Brittany Shepherd, ABC News national political reporter, about why he didn’t take that message to cable news to reach a larger audience. Walz laughed off criticism over inconsistencies in his background on the 2024 campaign trail, describing himself as a “knucklehead.”

Despite the claim the Walz was chosen by the Harris campaign to relate to White men, he has been unable to escape the nickname “Tampon Tim,” coined by conservatives for his bill providing free menstrual products to “all menstruating students” in school restrooms grades 4 to 12, including the boys’ room. (RELATED: Watch: Veterans Heckle Tim Walz For Stolen Valor Claims, China Ties)

Regardless of the comment or legislation, conservatives find a way to criticize “Tampon Tim,” including when Walz claimed he could fight most Trump supporters earlier this year. (RELATED: Tim Walz Complains About Attacks On His Masculinity)

Earlier this month, Walz confirmed to CNN’s Jake Tapper that he was considering a third bid for Minnesota governor but was not mulling a run for president in 2028.

When asked what he would have done differently in 2024, Walz replied, “We would have won.” While acknowledging that Democrats lost in November, Walz said the party is “better off doing more” in “every forum,” following criticism that Democrats didn’t prioritize media appearances enough in 2024, whether long-form podcasts or traditional network news shows. 

Further reflecting on the Democrats’ 2024 losses, Walz said the party wins on the issues and “competency,” but “we lose the message, and we lose power.”

“Why have we lost the self-identity that the Democratic Party is for personal freedoms, middle-class folks, for labor folks. How did we lose it, where people didn’t self-identify with that? How did we get to a point where people didn’t feel like this was an important enough election to get out and vote?” Walz asked during his speech Monday. 

Does Walz stand any chance of rebuilding his political reputation? Tell us what you think in the comments below!

Report: Paramount Board Clears Possible Path for Settling Trump’s ‘60 Minutes’ Lawsuit

By
Madeleine Jackson
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0

A significant step forward…

A recent report from the New York Times signals that the parent of CBS News, who are set to begin mediation on Wednesday are increasingly inclined to settle the matter.

CBS News’ parent company, Paramount Global, is currently in a legal battle against President Donald Trump, who filed a now-$20 billion lawsuit last year (it was initially $10 billion) alleging election interference over the network’s handling of its “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The New York Times reports:

In an April 18 meeting, the Paramount board outlined acceptable financial terms for a potential settlement with the president, according to three people with knowledge of the internal discussions. The exact dollar amounts remain unclear, but the board’s move clears a path for an out-of-court resolution.

Shari Redstone, the company’s controlling shareholder, has said she favors settling the case. She is set to receive a major payday in a pending sale of Paramount to a Hollywood studio, Skydance, that requires sign-off from the Trump administration. Any settlement would ultimately require the board’s approval, and Ms. Redstone has told the board that she is recusing herself from deliberations related to the lawsuit.

Paramount’s interest in settling has dismayed CBS’s news division, in particular the staff of “60 Minutes,” the country’s most popular weekly news program. Four days after the April 18 board meeting, the show’s executive producer, Bill Owens, abruptly announced he would resign, citing encroachment on its journalistic independence and saying Paramount “is done with me.”

Owens’ abrupt resignation has sent shockwaves through the industry.

CBS News staffers have been “on edge” since the abrupt departure of “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens, according to a network insider. 

“Everyone is talking about it, even today,” the CBS staffer told Fox News Digital on Monday, nearly a week after Owens announced his departure. 

In a memo sent to colleagues, Owens suggested his decision was brought upon by corporate overreach he said impacted his ability to maintain an independent newsroom. 

“Over the past months, it has also become clear that I would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it. To make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience,” Owens wrote in the memo. “So, having defended this show – and what we stand for – from every angle, over time with everything I could, I am stepping aside so the show can move forward.”

Former First Lady Reveals The Trump Policy That ‘Keeps Her Awake At Night’

By
Madeleine Jackson
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FLOTUS at Fayetteville, N.C. -The Arts Center speech Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian

Former first lady Michelle Obama expressed fear over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, saying they have kept her up at night. 

“Now that we have leadership that is sort of indiscriminately determining who belongs and who doesn’t,” the former first lady said Monday during an appearance on the podcast “On Purpose with Jay Shetty,” adding that such deportation decisions “aren’t being made with courts and with due process.” 

“I worry for people of color all over this country, and I don’t know that we will have the advocates to protect everybody,” she continued. “And that makes me … that frightens me. It keeps me up at night.” 

“And I and I see that when I’m driving around LA. I’m just looking in the faces of folks who could be a victim and I’m wondering, how are you feeling, how do you feel standing on the bus stop,” she said. 

“In this current climate, for me it’s what’s happening to immigrants,” Obama said when asked about “recent tests of fear” related to individuals facing discrimination over the color of their skin. 

Obama noted that the “fear” does not personally impact her as a former first lady who has police protection. 

“It’s not the fear for myself anymore,” she continued. “I drive around in a four-car motorcade with a police escort. I’m Michelle Obama. I do still worry about my daughters in the world, even though they are somewhat recognizable.”

“My fears are for what I know is happening out there in streets all over the city,” she added, referring to her hometown of Chicago. 

During a Monday White House briefing to discuss border enforcement during President Donald Trump’s first hundred days border czar Tom Homan said that under Trump, unlawful crossings were “historically low” and that the border was the most secure it has ever been. Homan drew a sharp contrast to the record number of illegal immigrants that entered the United States under the Biden administration.

“Every president I ever worked for took border security seriously because you can’t have national security if you don’t have strong border security,” Homan said. “Even President Obama and President Clinton took some steps to secure the border because they understood national security was important. Joe Biden is the first president in the history of this nation who came into office and unsecured a border on purpose. That’s just a fact.”

Homan accused the Biden administration of weaponizing its immigration policies, motivated by the desire that a future Democrat president would give illegal immigrants released into the country amnesty, saying Biden was “selling this country off for future political power.”

Watch:

Contrasting Biden and Trump, Homan said that between 11,000-15,000 people were crossing the border illegally per day this time of the year under Biden, while under Trump, just 178 had crossed in the last 24 hours. During the same time, he said there were 1,800 known “gotaways” under Biden, compared to just 38 under Trump. Homan added that from January 20 to April 1, 2024, Biden released 184,000 illegals out of federal custody into the country. The Trump administration has only released nine total, including four so they could testify in criminal cases and four with extreme medical conditions.

In total, Homan said that there have been 139,000 deportations under Trump. He added that the administration was prioritizing the estimated 700,000 illegals who have been charged with crimes.

Canadian Conservative Poised To Lose Seat After 20 Years In Stunning Fall From Grace

By
Madeleine Jackson
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2

A stunning loss for Canadian conservatives…

Canadian Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is projected to lose the parliamentary seat he has held for more than 20 years in a stunning defeat to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), a state-owned outlet, projected the loss on Tuesday morning following Monday’s federal election.

However, Elections Canada’s decision to pause the counting of special ballots means it remains unclear whether the Liberals, led by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, will walk away with a minority or majority mandate.

Fanjoy, who is projected to take Poilievre’s seat in Parliament, worked in business and marketing and lives in a carbon-neutral house in Manotick, a suburb of Ottawa, according to CBC.

“We have to look out for ourselves, and we have to take care of each other. Let’s get to work,” Fanjoy wrote in a post on X.

In his victory speech, Carney appeared to criticize the U.S. for President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, which he called a “betrayal.”

“We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” Carney said in his victory speech. “America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never … ever happen.”

In late 2024, just before Trudeau’s resignation, Poilievre was up 25 points over the unpopular then-prime minister, according to Politico. However, Trump’s tariffs and comments about making Canada the 51st state took over the Great White North’s election cycle, likely fueling Carney and the Liberals’ victory. 

President Trump has repeated remarks referencing Canada potentially becoming the 51st state.

“What I’d like to see — Canada become our 51st state,” Trump said in February in the Oval Office when asked what concessions Canada could offer to stave off tariffs.

Despite Canada being one of the United States’ top trade partners Trump asserted the U.S. did not need Canada’s lumber or automobile production.

The president suggested it’s unlikely the U.S. will annex Canada, partly because neither side would be willing to put up with the economic pain that would be required for that to happen.

“We don’t need them. As a state, it’s different. As a state it’s much different. And there are no tariffs,” Trump said. “So I’d love to see that. Some people say that would be a longshot. If people wanted to play the game right, it would be 100 percent certain that they’d become a state. But a lot of people don’t like to play the game. Because they don’t have a threshold of pain.”

Bernie Sanders Addressed Claims He And AOC Are Trying To Launch Third Party

By
Madeleine Jackson
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By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & Bernie Sanders, CC BY-SA 2.0,

Self-proclaimed Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) recently aired his grievances with the Democrat Party saying the party lacks a vision for the future but denied claims he’s planning to launch a new political party with the help of progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Sanders recently told the New York Times one of the goals of his tour of rallies across the country with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was to encourage progressive candidates to run as independents and not as Democrats – denied that he was attempting to start a third party when asked by NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker. 

“We’re not trying to start a third party. What we are trying to do is strengthen American Democracy where faith in both the Democratic and Republican Parties is extremely low,” Sanders said.

“You want to run as a Democrat? Great. You want to run as an independent? That’s great, but you’ve got to get involved in the political process,” he added. 

Sanders continued, “What Democrats lack right now is a vision for the future… The two-party system is failing the working class of this country.” 

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have been barnstorming the country on what they call their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. The duo have attracted large crowds at their rallies, which have been held in Arizona, Utah, California and other states, but have also attracted criticism. 

Fox News noted that the pair of progressive lawmakers were spotted exiting a private jet costing a staggering $15,000 an hour in Sacramento, California on April 17. The self-identified Democratic Socialists chartered the jet to transport them to several West Coast stops on the tour.

An April Fox News poll found that Democrats are at their lowest favorability rating ever, with just 41% of those surveyed having a favorable view of the party and 56% of respondents having an unfavorable view, leaving the party at a negative 15% rating. Democrats are still favored over the Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections, however. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has been rumored as a potential 2028 primary opponent to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer but has yet to make any announcement.

However, a government accountability nonprofit is calling on the House to launch a probe into whether Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., misappropriated her taxpayer-funded member allowance.

Americans for Public Trust, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, sent a letter to the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) on Tuesday, questioning “several troubling expenses” from AOC’s disbursements, which they claim are “in contravention of federal law and the standards of the House of Representatives.”

Each member of Congess receives a Member Representational Allowance (“MRA”), a budget for official duties that “may not be used for personal or campaign purposes,” according to the Congressional Research Service. However, the “Squad” member is being accused of using these funds for “campaign purposes.”

AOC reportedly made a payment of $3,700 to a “Juan D Gonzalez” and another for $850 to “Bombazo Dance Co Inc.,” with both expenditures described as being used for “training.”

Congressman Issues Articles of Impeachment Against Trump

    By
    Madeleine Jackson
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    3
    Photo via Gage Skidmore Flickr

    Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) has introduced articles of impeachment against President Trump.

    The Democrat Congressman claimed that President Trump should be impeached after defying the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling requiring the facilitation of the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia calling it a “direct defiance of the U.S. Constitution.” 

    Thanedar’s impeachment announcement came hours after a Michigan state House member launched a left-wing primary challenge seeking to oust the two-term House member with the support of the progressive Justice Democrats. 

    State Rep. Donavan McKinney (D) specifically called out Thanedar in his announcement video on Monday, depicting him as out of touch with his constituents as a multimillionaire while his district is one of the poorest in the country. 

    “People like our congressman, Shri Thanedar, are the problem,” he said. “A multimillionaire who spent millions to buy a seat in Congress, who has more in common with Donald Trump and Elon Musk than people like us.” 

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

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