New Washington law forces priests to break confessional seal, sparking Catholic outrage



On May 2, Washington state Governor Bob Ferguson (D) signed Senate Bill 5375 into law, mandating that clergy, including Catholic priests, report suspected child abuse or neglect to law enforcement or state authorities, even if the information is disclosed during the sacrament of confession.

This means priests must break the seal of confession, a sacred Catholic practice, or face legal consequences. However, to abide by the law means priests will face automatic excommunication under Canon Law, which deems violating the confessional seal a grave offense.

The Catholic Church has come out in strong opposition of the law, claiming it violates First Amendment protections for religious freedom and unfairly targets clergy, as other privileged communications (e.g., attorney-client, doctor-patient) remain exempt.

“Blaze News Tonight’s” Jill Savage, Matthew Peterson, and Christopher Bedford — all practicing Catholics — say it’s an egregious law.

Confession is how “people bring their sins before God and ask for forgiveness and penance. It’s as important as marriage; it’s as important as last rites; it's as important to salvation as baptism. It's something that is essential in the spiritual life of Catholics,” says Bedford. “People have to unburden themselves with some darkness, and they only can do that and have that access to the sacrament if they know that the priests, that the seal of confession is legit.”

Further, the law is just “a red herring” that distracts from the real problem: abusive priests who have been historically protected by the Church.

Reflecting on his childhood, Bedford says, “We had family friends who killed themselves after the awfulness that they were subjected to by some satanic priests.”

The issue of child abuse as it relates to the Catholic Church has never been that admissions “were whispered in confession” but rather that the criminal actions of abusive priests “were know to the higher-ups of the church and covered over,” he explains.

“This is an actual attack on the Church, on the sacraments, and it's a great thing that the bishops are coming up against it,” Bedford says, adding that “I'm really excited to see that the federal Department of Justice is now investigating this law for the obvious — obvious — civil rights violations that it entails.”

Peterson agrees, suspecting that the push for these laws isn’t really fueled by a desire to protect children, as supporters claim, but rather by an “anti-religious fervor.”

There is “a massive and increasing anti-Catholic animus across the West,” says Bedford, citing the 2021 “spate of church burnings across Canada done by activists.”

“A priest who deals a lot with the demonic once told me …’the devil is no longer hiding in the shadows. The devil is very much out in the open.”’

To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.

Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Make college great again: Trump ‘has the spine’ to declare war on woke universities



Taxpayers have been financing woke, anti-American indoctrination at private institutions for far too long, and the Trump administration is finally putting a stop to it.

Inez Stepman, senior policy and legal analyst for the Independent Women’s Forum, tells Jill Savage and Matthew Peterson on “Blaze News Tonight” that Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania are some of the worst offenders.

“Universities have made their money, for decades and decades and decades, relying on the generosity of taxpayers, and one of the strings that came with all of those federal billions was that they were going to adhere to the federal Civil Rights Act,” Stepman explains.


“Now, we see an administration that has the spine, frankly, to actually look at the text where it says "You cannot discriminate on the basis of race" and apply it to universities where they’re very clearly discriminating on the basis of race. Whether it’s in admissions, whether it’s in hiring, whether it’s by preventing, for example, Jewish students from egressing the quad, which is a very clear violation,” she continues.

“So, my question,” Savage asks, “are they going to actually see an end to the federal funding, or are they just going to get a slap on the wrist like we’ve done so many times before?”

“I absolutely think the Trump administration is going to see this through,” Stepman responds. “I think what you are really seeing is, again, the kicking and screaming phase. I think universities will either have to go fully private, which a few of them can — maybe Harvard can because it has an endowment the size of a small country’s GDP.”

“But most universities will not be able to do that, and you will see especially, I think, universities in that sort of second tier under the Ivy League start to look at the way that they’re operating and how they can or can’t attract those kinds of federal grants,” she continues.

“I think it’s really going to transform the higher ed system,” she says, adding, “I’m very optimistic about this.”

Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Trump bans dangerous gain-of-function research, but will Congress follow through?



Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order banning federal funding for gain-of-function research abroad, particularly in countries like China and Iran, deemed to have insufficient research oversight. The order also pauses certain domestic research involving infectious pathogens and toxins until a safer, more transparent policy is developed. It aims to reduce the risk of lab-related incidents, like those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, but doesn’t hinder U.S. innovation in biotechnology.

“This could be one of the most consequential things that Donald Trump will do in his entire presidency,” “Blaze News Tonight” host Jill Savage says.

“This is something that’s just pure justice that needed to be done to save this country from all the crap that we’ve been through in the last few years,” adds Blaze News editor in chief and co-host Matthew Peterson.

He notes that even President Obama, in response to concerns about biosafety risks following lab incidents, paused federal funding for certain gain-of-function research. Fauci, however, “thwarted Obama” and took his research abroad.

“Fauci was able to weasel his way out and continue this dangerous research throughout the world,” Peterson says. “This has to end,” and Trump’s executive order “is a great beginning.”

While it is certainly a good start, Jill points out the obvious next step: “We need people in Congress to step up to the plate.”

“In order to implement the mandate, you need Congress,” Peterson agrees, adding that sadly, “there isn’t a sense of urgency with a lot of these people.”

“Congress isn’t used to getting the job done,” he says. They like to “wait out the executive” and “slow roll things.”

That’s why it’s “vital that everyone out there start calling them and putting pressure on your congressmen.”

To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.

Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

‘Maryland Man’ bodycam footage reveals potential criminal activity



Tennessee state law enforcement has released bodycam footage from a November 2022 traffic stop involving the left’s darling, illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

While the traffic stop report doesn’t mention anything about human trafficking, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Trisha McLaughlin believes otherwise.

“This is textbook human trafficking,” McLaughlin said in a segment on Fox News. “I’ll remind viewers that there were eight other individuals in this car that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was driving. They were driving allegedly from Texas to Maryland. That’s a three-day journey, not a single piece of luggage in that vehicle.”


“That screams of human trafficking,” she continued. “I also want to remind viewers that in 2019, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was arrested. He was arrested with multiple other members of MS-13. He was decked out in MS-13 symbols — ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,’ which is MS-13’s logo and slogan.”

But that’s not all. According to McLaughlin, Abrego Garcia allegedly had “drugs and rolls of cash on him” and in the past was accused by his wife of detaining and abusing her, as well as psychologically abusing her and her children.

“How is this the story that Democrats are willing to fight for? How is this the one thing that has captivated all of their attention in all of these media headlines right now?” Jill Savage asks independent journalist Breanna Morello.

“It’s pretty strange because one would think this would not be the person they’re putting on a pedestal when it comes to this immigration topic. Obviously, they’re trying to win over their voter base so that they feel a little bit more passionate about this argument because many people are on the fence, or they’re swinging with President Trump these days,” Morello tells Savage and Matthew Peterson.

“We’ve seen it based on the polls when it comes to immigration,” she continues, “And I just think it’s so crazy that they’re picking this person to go out there and throw their whole support behind. It makes me wonder, did they actually understand what he was doing or what he was accused of in the past? Or did they just find one person, think that they could win over the American people with him, and didn’t do any research?”

Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

The deadly trucker crisis — and why mass migration is to blame



Mass immigration has had a profound impact on many industries in America, and one of them is the trucking industry — which the Trump administration is tackling with an executive order.

According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, the executive order “will be an order directing the Department of Transportation to include English literacy tests for our truckers.”

“This is a big problem in the trucking community, that unless you’re in that community, you might not know. But there’s a lot of communication problems between truckers on the road with federal officials and local officials as well, which obviously is a public safety risk,” Leavitt explained in a recent press conference.

“So we’re going to ensure that our truckers, who are the backbone of our economy, are all able to speak English,” she continued.


Gord Magill, trucker and author of “End of the Road,” has warned that it’s not just benign communication issues occurring — but that they can and have turned deadly.

“We have all these extra drivers on the roads who do not speak English, and that’s sort of a problem given that the language of the road is English. All your highway signs are in English, all your weather reports are in English, all of your enforcement officers are in English,” Magill tells Jill Savage and Matthew Peterson of “Blaze News Tonight.”

“What happened is that the accident statistics for trucks started to increase, so you started seeing more collisions and more people involved in fatal collisions,” Magill continues, noting that it all began after Biden’s “trucking action plan.”

“There was a COVID demand spike, which is why Biden did this trucking action plan, and then that dissipated, and we’ve been in what’s called a freight recession basically for the last three years, and American legacy trucking companies, mom and pops, medium-sized carriers, have been going out of business left, right, and center,” he explains.

“But this number of insource drivers remains the same, and more and more of them are getting in accidents. Like the statistics show an increase year-over-year since 2016 since this loophole was opened and has been going higher since 2021,” he adds.

Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Race Against Time: Stopping the Next Pandemic
play icon

Race Against Time: Stopping the Next Pandemic

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya speaks out on autism and COVID in new interview



Dr. Jay Bhattacharya has landed the coveted role as director of the National Institutes of Health, and those in the Make America Healthy Again movement couldn’t be happier, as getting to the root cause of our nation’s health problems is what Bhattacharya has been working toward his entire career.

“I want to fulfill the mandate that President Trump and Secretary Kennedy gave to me, which is to use the NIH to do the research so we can understand how to make America healthy,” he tells Jill Savage of “Blaze News Tonight.”

And one of the first steps Bhattacharya is taking is launching a major initiative where scientists across the country will be compelled to actually answer the question of why autism has risen so significantly in recent years.

“The problem with autism is that — first, the rise, when you look back, is just meteoric,” Bhattacharya tells Savage.


However, to question the cause of autism or to focus on its rise coincides with a disbelief in vaccines or being “anti-science.”

“Somehow, you’re automatically anti-vaccine if you just notice the fact that there are so many more autistic kids than there were when I was a kid. And you put that together, and what you have is millions of families that don't have an answer to this question,” he explains.

In the coming months, Bhattacharya tells Savage that Americans can expect to see tons of resources thrown at this problem.

“In just a few months, we’ll have a dozen or more research teams, where we chose them competitively from lots of research teams across the country,” he says. “It’ll be a range of methods, so, you know, basic science lab work to epidemiology to you name it, and with no holds barred as to hypothesis.”

As Dr. Bhattacharya was one of the lone voices that was willing to speak out against the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems that we’re in good hands.

“The rest of the industry was saying, ‘No, you’re wrong,’ and, ‘Don’t say the things that you’re saying,’” Savage comments.

“It was a shocking experience for me. I thought scientists had academic freedom, and I’ve learned differently. In fact, probably the biggest problem during COVID was that. Like normally, if you can’t have free speech, then you can’t have science, is what I learned. And I think that’s why we had such bad outcomes with COVID,” he tells Savage.

“We suppressed speech of scientists. The Biden administration suppressed speech of normal Americans who questioned the school closures, the lockdowns, and all the policies that didn’t actually protect anybody, that yet ended up harming so many people at scale,” he continues.

“That’s actually another one of my priorities. I want to restore free speech in science,” he adds.

Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

No peace for Republicans? Democrat fans flames for Summer of Love 2.0



Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who is unsurprisingly a Democrat, called for mass protests against President Donald Trump during a speech in New Hampshire this week.

Pritzker complained in his speech that the president and the individuals "he has elevated" are "an affront to every value this country was founded upon."

"Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption — but I am now," he said, adding, "These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box. They must feel in their bones … that we will relegate their portraits to the museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors."


Blaze Media D.C. correspondent Christopher Bedford isn’t shocked, but he is more than a little disturbed.

“You have folks like Governor Pritzker over in Illinois, who’s just a wild man. I mean, it’s kind of insane to see somebody that wealthy attacking Trump for being wealthy, when he’s a governor himself,” Bedford tells Jill Savage on “Blaze News Tonight.”

“But that’s the way he operates. And he’s out there now saying, ‘We need to have resistance 2.0. There can be no peace for Republicans. They must be investigated. They must be harassed in the streets. They must be impeached,’” he continues.

“I think what we’re starting to see is Democrat frustrations bubbling over, but I don’t see any appetite for it in the streets. I just don’t. It doesn’t seem like the summer of riots that they’ve had in the past,” he adds.

However, that could change.

“As one reporter I was talking to earlier today said, ‘Seems like the United States is always one particularly grizzly police shooting away from that sort of thing changing,’” Bedford says, adding, “but right now those Democrats who are trying to just relive and run a sequel, it’s going straight to home video. It’s not even coming to theaters.”

Crushing fraud and DEI: Trump’s plan to restore the American dream of homeownership



The U.S. housing market has been a rollercoaster since the pandemic. First, lockdowns and economic uncertainty slowed the market to a crawl, followed by record-low mortgage rates that spurred a buying frenzy. Limited inventory worsened by construction delays and supply chain issues then spiked prices, creating a fierce seller’s market with frequent bidding wars.

In 2021, Biden’s economic policies, later called “Bidenomics,” drove inflation through the roof and prompted the Federal Reserve to spike interest rates, which doubled monthly mortgage payments for a median-priced home and made home ownership impossible for a huge percentage of American families.

Although the market has cooled slightly, affordability issues, elevated prices, and limited inventory continue to put homeownership out of reach for many Americans.

But thankfully, President Trump, as he always does, has a plan to fix what’s been broken.

Matthew Peterson, Blaze News editor in chief and co-host of “Blaze News Tonight,” recently sat down with Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to discuss President Trump’s plans to restore the American dream of homeownership.

The FHFA is in charge of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – two government-sponsored enterprises that keep the housing market running smoothly by making sure banks have money to lend.

“My view on [FHFA] is that we are here to restore the American dream,” says Pulte. “For the last four years under President Biden, there was a significant amount of inflation, and nobody could afford a home, and so what we're really focused on is restoring the American dream of home ownership.”

However, what’s standing in the way of that goal is rampant fraud, waste, and abuse.

“There was a lot of fraud and a lot of waste and abuse that went on in 2008, and as a result, the government had to take over Fannie and Freddie, and so what we're focused on is getting rid of the fraud, getting rid of the waste, getting rid of the abuse to make sure that these entities are stronger than ever before,” says Pulte.

To further these efforts, FHFA has instituted a “tip line” where anyone can report fraud and has terminated employees for “fraudulent or misleading activity.”

Another issue that’s been standing in the way of restoring the American dream of homeownership is DEI. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have “affordable housing mandates” that encourage lenders to provide more loans to low-income borrowers, minority groups, and underserved communities above others.

“Everybody should be treated equally and our policies need to do that, and so we terminated the DEI executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” says Pulte.

While it’s a long and complicated road to rooting out corruption and making homeownership more accessible again, Pulte is confident President Trump is the person to see it done.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be great American icons once again,” he says.

To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above.

Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Hegseth’s team in turmoil: Leak scandal or ideological clash?



On April 17, following a leak investigation into unauthorized disclosures of sensitive military information, three of Pete Hegseth’s top Pentagon officials — Senior Adviser Dan Caldwell, Deputy Chief of Staff Darin Selnick, and Chief of Staff to the Deputy Defense Secretary Colin Carroll – were fired and escorted out of the Pentagon.

“The official line that we got is that they were leaking to the press, and Pete Hegseth even went on Fox News to back that up,” says Jill Savage.

However, Blaze News senior editor of politics and Washington correspondent Christopher Bedford says, “Something is rotten in Denmark.”

Caldwell, Selnick, and Carroll “worked with Pete Hegseth at Concerned Veterans for America; they have been loyal to him; they helped push him across the finish line to become the secretary, and now you've got all of them kicked out,” says Bedford.

However, “Their personal communication devices weren't confiscated; they weren't placed under arrest; they were given access to these secret files until the moment that they were escorted out the door, and Hegseth went on to say, ‘Well, some of them may be exonerated.”’

“There's something weird here,” says Bedford.

He went through several possibilities — “a turf war with Hegseth's chief of staff” or a deep-state plot — but came to the conclusion that those scenarios are unlikely.

But then another thought came to him: “Maybe this is ideological,” and “it's from the secretary.”

Given Caldwell’s skepticism of war with Iran and Hegseth’s "hawkish" stance, perhaps there was a behind-the-scenes clash we don’t know about yet.

What isn’t vague, however, is that “this is starting to make the Pentagon look very shaky,” Bedford says. “Pete Hegseth better start coming up with some answers.”

To hear more of Bedford’s analysis, watch the episode above.

Want more from 'Blaze News Tonight'?

To enjoy more provocative opinions, expert analysis, and breaking stories you won’t see anywhere else, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.