Charlie Kirk outlines '10 immediate credible action items' Pam Bondi can take on Epstein case



President Donald Trump continues to deliver on campaign promises and to surmount obstacles thrown before him by radical Democrats and activist judges. His accomplishments in recent weeks, however, while impactful, have been overshadowed by his Justice Department's conclusion that child sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein did not have a client list that could implicate deep-pocketed elites.

Amid mounting criticism over the lack of substantial insights from the DOJ, Turning Point USA founder and President Charlie Kirk — whom Trump reportedly called on Saturday to express support for Attorney General Pam Bondi — noted on his show Monday, "I'm going to trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done, solve it; ball's in their hands."

'Anything that's credible, I would say, let them have it.'

Kirk subsequently outlined "10 immediate credible action items" Bondi could take that might satisfy Americans' hunger for answers and help the president move on to other matters with the reinvigorated support of his base.

Backlash, persistent curiosity

The backlash over the DOJ's conclusion was particularly severe in part because of Trump's campaign promise that he would "be inclined" to release Epstein's list of clients, saying, "I'd have no problem with it."

It certainly did not help that after telling cable news on Feb. 21 that the Epstein client list was "sitting on [her] desk right now," Bondi handed out to Trump-supporting podcasters binders titled "Epstein Files: Phase 1," loaded with publicly available information and documents devoid of significant revelations. She then failed to deliver the promised second phase of possibly substantial documents.

It also didn't help that the FBI's Epstein prison video is reportedly missing nearly three minutes of footage from one of two stitched-together clips.

Trump appears keen for the scandal "over a guy who never dies" to blow over.

"Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration, who conned the World with the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, 51 'Intelligence' Agents, 'THE LAPTOP FROM HELL,' and more?" Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Saturday. "They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me, and now my so-called 'friends' are playing right into their hands."

RELATED: The White House will need to do plenty more to get past Epstein

 Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Recent polling indicates that public interest in the alleged Epstein list isn't going anywhere.

A Rasmussen Reports poll revealed on Tuesday that only 21% of likely U.S. voters believe the FBI and the DOJ are telling the truth about Epstein; 56% don't think they're telling the truth; and 23% aren't sure. Sixty-eight percent of Democrats, 66% of Republicans, and 69% of unaffiliated voters reject the idea that the Epstein case is closed "and instead believe that there are dozens of powerful and wealthy offenders who need to face justice," reported Rasmussen.

10 action items

"I don't understand why the Jeffrey Epstein case would be of interest to anybody," Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews on Tuesday.

"I think really only pretty bad people, including fake news, want to keep something like that going. But credible information? Let them give it. Anything that's credible, I would say, let them have it."

Responding to Trump's remarks, Charlie Kirk identified 10 immediate action items that could result in the production of "credible" information for the American public. Here are the 10 items in his list, summarized.

  1. Release the DOJ's 2020 Office of Professional Responsibility report that evaluated Epstein's 2008 plea deal.
  2. Unseal all of Ghislaine Maxwell's grand jury testimony.
  3. Press Alexander Acosta about what he knew about Epstein working for foreign intelligence. Acosta was the secretary of labor during Trump's first term and oversaw Epstein's 2008 plea agreement.
  4. Release underlying facts concerning Epstein's indictment in 2019, except child sexual abuse material.
  5. Release a full report concerning the "butchered" Bush-era federal investigation into Epstein.
  6. "Green-light Maxwell to speak freely and learn what she knows."
  7. Establish how exactly Epstein made his money and source relevant "bank records and financial statements."
  8. Overrule privacy rules and release the names of prisoners on the floor of the Metropolitan Correctional Center on the night Epstein died.
  9. "Get the missing minutes of the prison footage."
  10. Hold a press conference as soon as possible to remedy any remaining confusion.
— (@)  
 

Action items one and three are related, as they both center largely on the insights of Acosta, who, while serving as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, approved the plea deal that enabled Epstein to plead guilty to a single charge of solicitation in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement — what the Miami Herald called the "deal of a lifetime."

'He'd cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein's attorneys because he had "been told" to back off.'

The deal that Acosta arranged reportedly scuttled the federal probe into a possible international sex-trafficking operation and prevented both the victims and the judge from knowing how many girls Epstein may have sexually abused between 2001 and 2005.

RELATED: Why MAGA wants the Epstein list — and won’t settle for less

 Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

Bradley Edwards, a former state prosecutor who represented some of Epstein's victims, told the Miami Herald, "How in the world do you, the U.S. attorney, engage in a negotiation with a criminal defendant, basically allowing that criminal defendant to write up the agreement?"

Mike Benz, the founder of the Foundation for Freedom Online, recently told Kirk, "In the process of that [DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility] investigation, they interviewed everyone at Justice who was involved in that 2008 plea deal and sought to put the story to bed by collecting transcribed interviews, audio, and basically reams of files."

Benz indicated that the OPR report referred to an interview with Acosta in which he apparently discussed Epstein's intelligence ties.

The Daily Beast reported in 2019 that when being interviewed for the job of labor secretary in the first Trump administration, Acosta was allegedly asked whether the Epstein case was going to cause a problem for his confirmation hearings.

RELATED: The Epstein files may be Trump’s biggest liability yet

 Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell (Photo by Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

According to the Daily Beast, "Acosta had explained, breezily, apparently, that back in the day he'd had just one meeting on the Epstein case. He'd cut the non-prosecution deal with one of Epstein's attorneys because he had 'been told' to back off, that Epstein was above his pay grade."

Acosta allegedly told his interviewers, "I was told Epstein 'belonged to intelligence' and to leave it alone."

'No one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows.'

While evidence of an intelligence link might not get the American public any closer to a client list, it could help explain why such a list may have been developed over time and was then suppressed.

As for action item six, Maxwell — whose father the Telegraph indicated was a newspaper baron who had "known links with MI6, the KGB, and the Israeli intelligence service Mossad" — might be able to shed some light on the operations she ran with her former lover and boss.

Maxwell was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison for her role in a scheme to sexually exploit and abuse minor girls as young as 14 with Epstein, going all the way back to the early 1990s.

A source close to Maxwell recently told the Daily Mail that the convicted groomer "would be more than happy to sit before Congress and tell her story."

"No one from the government has ever asked her to share what she knows," said the unnamed source. "She remains the only person to be jailed in connection to Epstein, and she would welcome the chance to tell the American public the truth."

When asked about Maxwell possibly testifying, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters, "I'm for transparency. We're intellectually consistent in this," reported CBS News.

The steps outlined by Kirk might help Bondi satisfy the American people's desire for truth about the "guy who never dies" and possibly also his clients.

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Exclusive: Oversight Project refers former FBI Director Wray to DOJ for criminal charges



FBI Director Kash Patel announced earlier this month that the bureau located an intelligence report from August 2020 that detailed "alarming allegations" regarding an apparent Chinese communist plot to interfere in the presidential election for the benefit of then-candidate Joe Biden.

Such allegations, if brought to light at the time, would have vindicated the concerns about voter fraud and foreign election interference then expressed by President Donald Trump and former Attorney General Bill Barr, which were written off by election officials, Democrats, and the liberal media as "unfounded" and "preposterous."

Instead, elements of the intelligence community apparently covered up the alleged foreign election interference campaign.

"Former FBI leadership withheld the facts and misled the public on China's 2020 election interference," Patel stated on Thursday. "And they did so for political gain."

Patel noted in a separate message, "We're restoring trust — through transparency, not politics."

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project, sent a criminal referral for former FBI Director Christopher Wray to the Department of Justice on Thursday, seeking accountability not only for Wray's alleged role in the apparent cover-up but for his alleged false or misleading statements to Congress regarding the infamous FBI memo targeting traditional Catholics.

Election interference cover-up

The referral obtained by Blaze News, which was also sent to Director Patel's office on Thursday, alleges that Wray violated federal law by giving false and misleading testimony to Congress on the topic of known voter fraud efforts.

On Sept. 24, 2020, Wray told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that the FBI had "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise."

On March 2, 2021, Wray suggested to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the FBI was "not aware of any widespread evidence of voter fraud, much less that would have affected the outcome of the presidential election."

RELATED: Vindicated? Patel's FBI uncovers apparent Chinese communist plot to rig 2020 mail-in vote for Biden

 Photo by LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

The trouble with both statements is that they fly in the face of what the FBI apparently knew about the alleged Chinese communist attempt to swing the election for Biden.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced on July 27, 2020, that between Jan. 1 and June 30 of that election year, CBP officers at the International Mail Facility at Chicago O'Hare International Airport had seized 1,513 shipments containing fraudulent documents, including 19,888 counterfeit U.S. driver's licenses.

"The majority of these shipments were arriving from China and Hong Kong, with other seized shipments arriving from Great Britain and South Korea," noted CBP.

Blaze News previously reported that the bulk of the licenses were intended for college-age students across numerous states and in many cases had functional barcodes.

The August 2020 FBI intelligence report helped make sense of this sudden glut of fake IDs, suggesting that the Chinese communist regime was mass-producing fake American driver's licenses in order to create voter identities for Chinese nationals so that they could vote with fake mail-in ballots.

'Accountability for the bad actors in government would be practically a case of first impression.'

Patel told Just the News that while substantiated, the allegations in the intelligence report "were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public."

The Oversight Project made abundantly clear in its referral that it was highly unlikely Wray was unaware of this report and the allegations therein when he testified before Congress in 2020 and 2021.

After all, Wray apparently received routine briefings about threats to the integrity of the 2020 election from Nikki Floris, the FBI deputy assistant director for counterterrorism at the time, who had raised the alarm in October 2019 about China "aggressively pursuing foreign influence operations."

RELATED: 1,004 days of betrayal for suspended FBI Special Agent Garret O’Boyle

 Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Weaponization against Catholics

The House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government indicated in a December 2023 report that the FBI:

  • "abused its counterterrorism tools to target Catholic Americans as potential domestic terrorists";
  • "relied on at least one undercover agent to develop its assessment";
  • "proposed developing sources among the Catholic clergy and church leadership"; and
  • would likely still be "violating the religious liberties of millions of Catholic Americans" were it not for former FBI special agent Kyle Seraphin's disclosure.

Congressional investigators began looking closely at the bureau's anti-Catholic animus after a memo from the bureau's Richmond field office was leaked earlier that year, tying adherents of the Catholic faith to violent extremist views.

RELATED: The FBI was completely correct to keep an eye on Catholics

 Nes/Getty Images

While Wray previously testified to Congress that the Richmond field office produced only a "single product," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has demonstrated that not to have been the case.

Grassley revealed earlier this month both that the memo was distributed to over 1,000 FBI employees across the country and that the FBI produced "at least 13 additional documents and five attachments that used anti-Catholic terminology and relied on information from the radical far-left Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)."

— (@)  
 

The Oversight Project's criminal referral alleges that Wray repeatedly gave false testimony about the Richmond anti-Catholic memo, noting that his "testimony was inaccurate not only because it failed to reveal the scope of the memo’s production and dissemination, but also because it failed to reveal the existence of a second draft product on the same topic intended for external distribution to the whole FBI."

"Furthermore, a query of Sentinel (the FBI’s case management system) identified 13 documents and 5 attachments that included the term, 'radical traditionalist catholic' or 'Radical-Traditionalist Catholic' in the FBI systems," said the watchdog's criminal referral. "The Intelligence Memo itself states on page 24 of the PDF — '(U) Prepared by the Richmond Division and the Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit; coordinated with FBI Milwaukee and FBI Portland Divisions.'"

Between his statements to Congress about election interference and his statements about the FBI's anti-Catholic memorandum, the Oversight Project figures that Wray committed several criminal violations, including obstruction of proceedings before Congress; corrupt conduct; and making false statements.

When asked to comment on whether he expects Wray to be held accountable for his alleged violations, Howell told Blaze News, "I don't expect accountability, but we certainly deserve accountability."

"Accountability for the bad actors in government would be practically a case of first impression," continued Howell. "To expect it would be unrealistic optimism, but it should and could happen, and that's why the Oversight Project is making the case publicly and doing everything we can to make it more likely to happen."

Mike Howell is a contributor to Blaze News.

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FBI launches criminal probes into 3 children's hospitals over child sex changes: Report



The medical advocacy group Do No Harm has in recent years worked with health care professionals, hospital administrators, patients, and policymakers to combat DEI-branded racism and gender ideology in the field of medicine.

In order to better tackle the second of these two scourges, the organization launched the Stop the Harm Database in October, identifying hospitals and medical facilities around the country that were subjecting vulnerable children to sex-change mutilations and sterilizing chemical treatments.

The FBI has launched criminal probes into three of the apparent worst offenders in the database — Boston Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, and Children's Hospital Los Angeles — a source familiar with the investigations told Fox News Digital this week.

FBI Director Kash Patel appeared to signal that the anonymous source's claim was legitimate by retweeting a post on X regarding the investigations.

The Stop the Harm Database indicated that Boston Children's Hospital has offered sex-change treatments to patients ages 3 to 25 through its Gender Multispeciality Service; performed 204 sex-change surgeries between 2017 and 2020; offered vaginoplasty surgeries to 17-year-old patients without parental consent; and dished out sterilizing hormone and puberty blocker drugs to hundreds of patients.

Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora has long offered puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to minors. The hospital also allegedly billed for sex-change surgeries in previous years but announced in 2023 that its practice of genital mutilation was coming to an end. However, the hospital's practice of dishing out sterilizing chemicals continued.

RELATED: Sacrificing body parts and informed consent to the sex-change regime

 Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Kash Patel. Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

The Colorado hospital temporarily paused its nonsurgical child-related "gender-affirming medical treatments" earlier this year in the wake of President Donald Trump's Jan. 28 executive order directing all federal agencies to ensure that medical institutions receiving federal funding "end the chemical and surgical mutilation of children." However, it subsequently resumed the practice after the president's order was challenged in court.

The Colorado hospital's TRUE Center for Gender Diversity does not identify a minimum age for sex-change treatments on its website, instead claiming that "gender-affirming care does not look the same for everyone."

'Each of them is listed on our Dirty Dozen list of worst-offending children's hospitals promoting sex-change treatments for minors.'

According to the Stop the Harm Database, the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children's Hospital Los Angeles boasted patients as old as 25 and as young as 3 and billed millions of dollars for hormone therapy, puberty blockers, and sex-change mutilations for minors.

The Los Angeles Times recently indicated that the center currently has over 3,000 patients.

The L.A. center's medical director, Johanna Olson-Kennedy, is a gender ideologue who publicly argued against the need for psychological assessments for sex-change mutilations; allegedly provided sex-change hormones to kids as young as 12 and referred little girls as young as 13 for double mastectomies; and covered up the results of a years-long study concerning the efficacy of puberty blockers, which revealed kids' depression symptoms and emotional health "did not change significantly over 24 months" of being on puberty blockers.

Thanks in large part to Trump's executive order, the Children's Hospital Los Angeles is shuttering its sex-change center, effective July 22.

RELATED: Trump claims another scalp in war on gender ideology: Children's Hospital LA to shutter child sex-change center

  Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The FBI is looking at the hospitals for possible violations of 18 U.S.C. § 116, which prohibits female genital mutilation on minors.

Attorney General Pam Bondi noted in an April 22 memo that pursuant to Trump's executive order "Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation," she was directing all Department of Justice employees "to enforce rigorous protections and hold accountable those who prey on vulnerable children and their parents."

"I am putting medical practitioners, hospitals, and clinics on notice: In the United States, it is a felony to perform, attempt to perform, or conspire to perform female genital mutilation on any person under the age of 18. That crime carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years per count," wrote Bondi. "I am directing all U.S. Attorneys to investigate all suspected cases of FGM — under the banner of so-called 'gender-affirming care' or otherwise — and to prosecute all FGM offenses to the fullest extent possible."

It's abundantly clear from the documents leaked last year from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the landmark Cass Review in the United Kingdom, and other penetrating studies that so-called gender-affirming care is a ruinous practice based on bogus claims that does not help but rather harms vulnerable patients.

Hospitals still suggesting otherwise could also find themselves in trouble. After all, Bondi indicated in her memo that the DOJ would investigate medical providers that "mislead the public about the long-term side effects of chemical and surgical mutilations."

Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman at Do No Harm, told Blaze News in a statement, "We applaud Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI for launching criminal investigations into these hospitals. Children's hospitals should be places where sick children can receive high-quality and evidence-based care, not laboratories where activist doctors experiment on kids. Sadly, this is what we have seen at many medical centers around the country."

"Boston Children's Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, and Children's Hospital Los Angeles are ripe targets for investigation, which is why each of them is listed on our Dirty Dozen list of worst-offending children's hospitals promoting sex-change treatments for minors," continued Goldfarb. "We look forward to working with the Justice Department and its new Coalition Against Child Mutilation to identify and hold accountable other children's hospitals that are inflicting irreversible harm on minors."

Fox News Digital indicated that Children's Hospital Los Angeles did not respond to its requests for comment; that Boston Children's said it has yet to receive notice from the FBI concerning alleged criminal violations; that Children's Hospital Colorado claimed it "never" provided sex-change surgeries to patients under 18; and that the FBI noted that as a matter of policy, it "declines to confirm or comment on investigations."

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Declassified memo reveals how Biden admin set stage for feds to hound Americans over 'non-criminal behavior'



Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced last month the formation of the Director's Initiatives Group, a new task force dedicated to ending the weaponization of the federal government.

In addition to declassifying and releasing the John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. assassination files, Gabbard indicated that the DIG had set about reviewing other documents for potential declassification, including information related to "the Biden administration's domestic surveillance and censorship actions against Americans."

One of the documents declassified under this initiative has provided critical insights into how the stage was set in 2021 for the Biden administration's subsequent treatment of traditional Catholics and concerned parents who spoke out at school board meetings as potential terrorists.

A memo titled "Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism" assigned the FBI, the Department of Justice, and other agencies various tasks with the overarching aim of countering perceived domestic terrorism and violent extremism. The memo was reportedly developed by the FBI, the DOJ, and Biden's National Security Council.

The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center were directed, for example, to provide state and local law enforcement agencies with resources "that cover relevant iconography, symbology, and phraseology used by many domestic terrorists, as well as data-driven guidance on how to recognize potential indicators of DT-related mobilization."

One such "resource" appears to have been the FBI's "Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide," which associated the Betsy Ross flag, the Gadsden flag, the Gonzales cannon with accompanying "Come and Take It" caption, Revolutionary War imagery, and Second Amendment-related imagery with "Militia Violent Extremism."

'A broad brush to start spying on Americans.'

The declassified memo also tasked the Domestic Policy Council with driving "executive and legislative action, including banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines"; reining in the "proliferation of 'ghost guns'"; mitigating "xenophobia and bias" in COVID-19 responses; and supporting "interventions to foster resiliency to disinformation."

Lawmakers and legal experts suggested to Just the News that the more concerning element of the memo was its apparent loosening of the requirements for opening criminal and national security investigations — a drop in standards that may have helped pave the way for fishing expeditions into groups disfavored and/or critical of the Biden administration.

Whereas for decades FBI agents needed "an articulable factual basis" that "reasonably indicates" a crime or a threat has or will occur in order to launch an investigation, experts told Just the News that the memo substantially lowered that standard such that behavior deemed "concerning" was sufficient to begin probing.

The memo tasked the DOJ and the FBI with DHS to "enhance public understanding of the role of federal law enforcement in responding to incidents of concerning non-criminal behavior."

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told Just the News that the memo amounted to "merely a broad brush to start spying on Americans."

'The types of tools and responses that they have been making for people who are engaged in some type of violence actually applied to non-violent individuals.'

"It doesn't have to be criminal, for sure. But it doesn't have to be heterodox," said Biggs. "It just has to be something that some agent, or some local agent, says, 'Oh, we got a beef about this. We're going to check it out.'"

"It's spying on Americans," added Biggs, "violating the Fourth Amendment."

John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, told "John Solomon Reports" that "back in June 2021, the Biden administration put out its plan for dealing with domestic terrorists. The one that they put out at that time talked about how they were going after criminal activity. And of course, everybody, anybody who's espousing violence or trying to or committing violence, one wants the government to get a handle on that."

"What Tulsi Gabbard declassified was the rest of the document that was there," continued Lott. "What was shocking to me is that the types of tools and responses that they have been making for people who are engaged in some type of violence actually applied to non-violent individuals, non-criminal activity."

The FBI's scrutiny of conservative Catholics appears to have been prompted not by past or anticipated crimes but by "concerns" regarding "non-criminal behavior."

The House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government revealed in a 2023 report titled "The FBI's Breach of Religious Freedom: The Weaponization of Law Enforcement Against Catholic Americans" that the FBI field office circulated an internal memo in January 2023 warning that violent extremists are attracted to "radical traditionalist Catholic ideology."

The committee report stated, "Under the guise of tackling the threat of domestic terrorism, the memorandum painted certain 'radical-traditionalist Catholics' (RTCs) as violent extremists and proposed opportunities for the FBI to infiltrate Catholic churches as a form of 'threat mitigation.'"

"There was no legitimate basis for the memorandum to insert federal law enforcement into Catholic houses of worship," said the committee's report. Nevertheless, "this single investigation became the basis for an FBI-wide memorandum warning about the dangers of 'radical' Catholics."

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FBI investigating James Comey's alleged off-the-books 'honeypot' operation targeting Trump campaign: Report



The FBI has reportedly launched an investigation into an off-the-books operation predating Crossfire Hurricane that former Director James Comey allegedly ordered with the aim of infiltrating President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign.

According to the Washington Times, the bureau under the leadership of Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino is looking for a pair of once-undercover female employees who were allegedly directed to worm their way into the Trump camp as "honeypots" when traveling with the then-presidential candidate and his campaign team.

An agency whistleblower revealed in a protected disclosure to the House Judiciary Committee last year that shortly after Trump announced his bid for the presidency in June 2015, Comey — an Obama appointee — allegedly deployed two undercover FBI agents to compromise the campaign at senior levels, gaining access and intelligence.

The whistleblower report suggested that the operation was effectively a fishing expedition, as it did not appear to be targeting any specific crime; was intentionally hidden from Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz during his review of possible FBI misconduct; was ultimately abandoned after one of the infiltrators had her cover blown; and served as possible evidence of institutional bias against Trump.

'Dirty cops. Bad people.'

"The case had no predicated foundation, so Comey personally directed the investigation without creating an official case file in Sentinel or any other FBI system," said the whistleblower's disclosure, obtained by the Times. "The FBI has multiple methods of protecting highly sensitive investigations, so Comey did not have a legitimate reason not to officially create an official investigation file or have a file number."

Comey has made no secret of his willingness to draw outside the lines. He bragged in 2018, for instance, about giving directions to agents — with the apparent aim of sabotaging the Trump administration — that he "probably wouldn't have done or maybe gotten away with in a more organized investigation, a more organized administration."

The whistleblower further alleged that one of the two "honeypot" agents was transferred to the CIA to avoid being brought in as a possible witness. The other agent reportedly received a significant promotion and now operates as a high-level bureau executive in a major field office.

'James Comey belongs in prison.'

Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker previously told the Times that if the whistleblower's allegations are true, "it's an unpredicated infiltration of a presidential campaign, which is sensitive."

The Times said the FBI has declined to comment.

If the former undercover agents are found and ultimately confirm the veracity of the whistleblower's claims, then Trump will once again be vindicated for his sense that the "witch hunt" started "from the day we came down the elevator."

"It was evil. It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars. And this should never, ever happen to another president ever," Trump said in early 2020.

"Had I not fired James Comey — who was a disaster, by the way — it's possible I wouldn't even be standing here right now. We caught him in the act. Dirty cops. Bad people."

Steve Friend, a 12-year FBI veteran who blew the whistle about potential violations of citizens' Sixth and Eighth Amendment rights in the bureau's Jan. 6 investigations, said the alleged honeypot scheme "is the stuff of spy novels and communist dictatorships. James Comey belongs in prison."

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Adam Schiff cries 'constitutional crisis' after failing to spike Kash Patel confirmation



California Sen. Adam Schiff (D) spent weeks pearl-clutching over the possibility that Kash Patel might become the first FBI director of Indian descent. To Schiff's chagrin, the U.S. Senate confirmed Trump's pick Thursday.

After democratic processes that Schiff recently vowed to defend produced another result he didn't like, the Democrat went on MSNBC to vent, claiming that the confirmation of the popular president's choice was evidence America is in a "constitutional crisis."

Earlier in the day, Schiff, Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), and a particularly thin crowd of fellow travelers met outside the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., to make one last pitch for why Patel should not be confirmed.

Schiff, who misled the nation about the FBI's use of a FISA warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and championed the Russian collusion hoax, characterized Patel as a "political hack [who] does not deserve to be in this building" and "lacks the character to do this job."

'We find ourselves in really uncharted waters.'

Prior to the majority of the California Democrat's peers indicating they believed otherwise and confirming Patel in a 51-49 vote, Schiff told MSNBC talking head Lawrence O'Donnell — who set the stage by claiming that Patel "was absolutely unimaginable as being qualified for any form of federal service prior to Donald Trump winning the presidency" — that Americans are now living in an "upside-down, terrible world."

"We find ourselves in really uncharted waters," added Schiff, later adding that he believes the nation is in a "constitutional crisis" that "can get worse if they start ignoring court opinions."

Schiff, fresh off condemning Trump for firing various inspectors general and federal employees, stressed that if the next administration is Democratic, it must ensure Patel does not complete his 10-year term.

Patel previously called Schiff "the worst criminal in Congress in the last 250 years," accusing the Democrat of lying and seeding false information to set up a presidential impeachment where he ultimately served as a lead manager for the prosecution in the House.

Schiff was among the congressional Jan. 6 inquisitors who received a pre-emptive pardon from former President Joe Biden; however, those pardons cover them only for their involvement in the Jan. 6 investigation.

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Liberal establishment throws conniption over Trump's FBI director announcement; Patel speaks out



Establishmentarians hostile to President-elect Donald Trump have spent weeks characterizing former National Security Council official Kash Patel as a threat to their dysfunctional status quo.

Former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner told CNN last month that "putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous." Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director who undermined the Trump presidency with Crossfire Hurricane, said, "There is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do."

Following many such unintentional endorsements, Trump announced Saturday that he will nominate Patel as FBI director Christopher Wray's replacement.

Although Patel wasted no time indicating what he intends to achieve at the FBI, elements of the liberal establishment and intelligence community signaled a desire to instead rely on their own slapdash dystopian fiction for insights into what might happen next.

'I think the best-case scenario for everybody is that Kash Patel and this talk of Kash Patel ends.'

David Frum, the former George W. Bush speechwriter and Atlantic editor who suggested days after Trump was shot in Pennsylvania that the gunman and his target were "common enemies of law and democracy," tweeted, "We are headed toward a US constitutional crisis vastly bigger than Watergate."

MSNBC talking head Joe Scarborough similarly panicked, saying, "This is not only bad for the men and women who run the FBI. This not only bad for the rule of law. This is not only bad for the First Amendment. This is not only bad for the United States of America. This is bad for Donald Trump. This is bad for the Trump administration. This is not going to end well. So I think the best-case scenario for everybody is that Kash Patel and this talk of Kash Patel ends."

The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus complained, "This is not normal," and urged Republican senators to "stand up to Trump."

Although the GOP won a majority in the U.S. Senate, those nominal Republicans who reportedly refused to support Matt Gaetz's appointment to run the Department of Justice — Sens. Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and John Curtis (Utah) — could help spike Patel's nomination.

McCabe griped to CNN on Sunday, "The installation or the nomination, I guess we should say at this point, of Kash Patel's FBI director can only possibly be a plan to disrupt, to dismantle, to distract the FBI and to possibly use it as a tool for the president's political agenda."

"And, you know, as an organization, we know what that looks like. This country has been there before, right?" continued McCabe, James Comey's former right-hand man who shut down investigations into the Clinton Foundation in 2016.

McCabe quickly made clear that he was not referencing the Biden FBI's targeting of pro-life activists, traditional Christians, political opponents, and outspoken parents, but rather the FBI's former targeting of communists.

"The pre-Watergate FBI, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI struck fear in the hearts of Americans across the spectrum — of politicians, people in entertainment, people in the civil rights community — because the director operated at the direction of presidents to collect political intelligence and to utilize the legal authorities, the investigative authorities of the FBI, to terrorize and intimidate Americans," said McCabe.

Former Bush adviser John Bolton, a key proponent of America's disastrous 2003 invasion of Iraq, similarly criticized Trump's decision, reportedly stating, "Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrenty Beria. Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject this nomination 100-0."

Vice President-elect JD Vance responded, "John Bolton has been wrong about everything so I guess Kash must be pretty awesome."

'You shut down the Hoover building immediately.'

In his announcement on Truth Social Saturday, Trump noted, "Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and 'America First' fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People. He played a pivotal role in uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, standing as an advocate for truth, accountability, and the Constitution."

"Kash did an incredible job during my First Term, where he served as Chief of Staff at the Department of Defense, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, and Senior Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council," continued the president-elect. "Kash has also tried over 60 jury trials. This FBI will end the growing crime epidemic in America, dismantle the migrant criminal gangs, and stop the evil scourge of human and drug trafficking across the Border. Kash will work under our great Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to bring back Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity to the FBI."

After first making an X account, Patel shared the following statement: "It is the honor of a lifetime to be nominated by President Trump to serve as Director of the FBI. Together, we will restore integrity, accountability, and equal justice to our justice system and return the FBI to its rightful mission: protecting the American people."

While Patel has been highly critical of the FBI, he told Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck in December 2023 that the bureau is "fixable" and explained what reform might look like.

"You shut down the Hoover building immediately. I think you literally open it up the next day as a museum of the deep state and you let everybody walk the halls for free, and you leave that behemoth open 365 days a year," said Patel. "You need like 20 people in a skiff to run the FBI. The other 7,000 agents that are sitting in that building should be chasing criminals around America, not distorting statistics about January 6 so Chris Ray can go to Congress and lie and say, 'Domestic violent terrorism is on the rise.'"

 

While various Democrats joined McCabe in throwing tantrums, various Republican lawmakers celebrated Trump's choice.

'He is a man of honor, unquestionable loyalty, and an American Patriot.'

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) wrote, "Kash Patel has extensive experience in national security and intelligence. He is an America First patriot who will bring much-needed change and transparency to the FBI."

Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty (R) told NBC's "Meet the Press," "There are serious problems at the FBI. The American public knows it. They expect to see sweeping change, and Kash Patel is just the type of person to do it."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said, "I look forward to supporting him and pushing this nomination across the finish line."

"Kash will get confirmed by the Senate," tweeted Rep.-elect Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.). "He is a man of honor, unquestionable loyalty, and an American Patriot. Kash is the son of Indian immigrants who escaped Uganda's genocidal dictator, Idi Amin. He WILL restore and uphold the rule of law, and the FBI will be premier again!"

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Andrew McCabe, other deep state mascots want Mike Rogers for FBI director — but Trump adviser says 'it's not happening'



Andrew McCabe, the former FBI deputy director who shut down investigations into the Clinton Foundation in 2016 then undermined the Trump presidency with Crossfire Hurricane, told CNN Thursday that former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers would be a "totally reasonable, logical selection" for President-elect Donald Trump's FBI director.

McCabe said that Rogers' "strongest qualification ... is the respect and awareness and knowledge that he has for the intelligence community, for the work they do, for the seriousness of that work, for how those secrets and that sensitive information needs to be protected."

To the likely displeasure of McCabe and other exponents of the Washington security establishment, Trump has apparently joined Michigan voters in rejecting Rogers.

Trump adviser Dan Scavino indicated Friday morning — shortly after Fox News' Brian Kilmeade sung Rogers' praises — that where FBI Director Christopher Wray's replacement is concerned, Rogers is "not happening."

Scavino quoted President-elect Donald Trump as saying, "I have never even given it a thought."

This came as great news to those alternatively keen to see former National Security Council official Kash Patel named Wray's successor.

"Winning," tweeted Donald Trump Jr.

"Boom," wrote Revolver News editor Darren Beattie.

Rumors that Trump was considering Rogers for the position began to circulate last week after the former congressman met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

The prospect of a defense lobbyist associated with censorious groups antagonistic to Trump and historically supportive of mass surveillance programs running the FBI rankled Trump loyalists and other critics of the dysfunctional administrative state, particularly those keen to see Patel nominated.

Mike Benz, the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, told former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon that Rogers' involvement with the Atlantic Council — "probably the number-one apex predator in the entire censorship industry" — and his help advancing Russiagate were disqualifying.

'There is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do.'

Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald tweeted, "There's literally no worse appointment possible than choosing Mike Rogers for FBI Director, or for any government position. He's the single most devoted loyalist to the US Security State and all of its multi-faceted abuses. It doesn't get worse than Mike Rogers."

Wikileaks highlighted that Rogers, favored by Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and John Cornyn (Texas), not only pushed for the suppression of a Republican memo critical of the FBI's spying on the Trump campaign but was involved with the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy initiative and its Hamilton 68 Dashboard. Wikileaks noted that the dashboard's "true purpose appeared to be casting suspicion on Trump supporters and reinforcing claims that his presidency was illegitimate."

McCabe — whom Trump fired in March 2018 after the Justice Department's inspector general concluded McCabe had authorized an information leak to a liberal reporter then lied about it — expressed horror Thursday at the prospect of Patel taking power.

"It's inconceivable to me that an outsider with no experience in the organization, no knowledge of the work and the scope of authority that’s involved there could perform adequately," he told CNN. "If you enter into that position with nothing more than a desire to disrupt and destroy the organization, there is a lot of damage someone like Kash Patel could do."

McCabe is hardly the only establishmentarian fearful of Patel taking over the bureau.

'I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day One.'

Former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner told CNN's Jessica Dean on Sunday, "Putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous."

"He has clearly stated that he wants to exact revenge upon those that have investigated President Trump and those who have investigated those that are around him. He will conduct a massive amount of damage to the interior of the FBI," added Brunner.

The leftist blog New Republic called Patel an "intellectual lightweight" and warned that "if Trump installs Patel at the FBI, it would certainly further Trump and his MAGA allies' goal of purging the federal workforce of disloyal employees."

Patel wrote in his book "Government Gangsters" that "government tyranny" within the FBI must be eliminated and called for the removal of anyone who "in any way abused their authority for political ends."

"The FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken," wrote Patel.

Patel recently told "The Shawn Ryan Show," "I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on Day One and reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state."

Blaze News previously reported that despite his characterization as inexperienced, Patel has served as chief of staff to former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller; as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council; principal deputy to the acting director of national intelligence; as national security adviser for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice; as a public defender; and as a hockey coach.

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Trump's potential pick for FBI director haunted by Russiagate, 'security state' loyalties



FBI Director Christopher Wray's 10-year term does not expire until 2027. President-elect Donald Trump is, however, expected to replace him upon taking office. While Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who Trump said is "a very talented guy," might be in contention, the two men whose names keep popping up in discussions of a potential successor are former National Security Council official Kash Patel and former Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers.

Establishmentarians have piled on Patel, characterizing him as inexperienced, revenge-driven, and "dangerous."

While Rogers, who specialized in organized crime as a special agent at the FBI's Chicago office, has so far avoided similar abuse, Trump loyalists and critics of the American intelligence community have expressed concerns about his past associations with individuals and censorious groups antagonistic to Trump; his historic support for surveillance programs; and the role he apparently played in pushing Russiagate.

Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon asked Mike Benz, the executive director of the Foundation for Freedom Online, this week why the "MAGA right" would be "particularly upset about a guy like Mike Rogers, who in normal times would be looked at as a fine, center-right candidate put up by a Romney-type Republican administration?"

'You can't really have a compromised candidate.'

Benz, keen to see Patel nominated, suggested that Rogers' involvement with the Atlantic Council — "probably the number-one apex predator in the entire censorship industry" — and his help advancing Russiagate were disqualifying.

"The relationship between the Justice Department and the FBI is the same relationship that's shared between the U.S. State Department and the CIA. They need to be constantly in sync," said Benz.

"You can't really have a compromised candidate where one person supports the president and the other person is looking to put a knife in the president's back. That is simply untenable when you're dealing with the kind of special, compartmentalized operations that happen at the FBI level."

The Daily Caller reported that Rogers is not only a member of the Aspen Cybersecurity Institute, a left-leaning think tank, but also served as an adviser to the German Marshall Fund's Alliance for Securing Democracy initiative, spearheaded by a former foreign policy adviser to failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and aimed at tackling supposed Russian interference in the 2016 election.

The ASD launched the Hamilton 68 Dashboard in 2017 to monitor hundreds of then-Twitter accounts allegedly linked to Russian influence efforts online — a project likened by investigative reporter Matt Taibbi to "digital McCarthyism that was repeatedly used by establishment media publications as a source to push the Russian influence and interference narratives that Democrats, in turn, exploited during Trump's first term."

According to Taibbi, when Twitter executives attempted to recreate the group's list of accounts, they determined that the accounts were "neither strongly Russia nor strongly bots," and indicated that "there is no evidence to support their statements that the dashboard is a finger on the pulse of Russian information ops."

When pressed for comment, Rogers' spokesman Chris Gustafon said in a statement to the Caller, "President-elect Trump is once again assembling a fantastic administration to help the American people and Make America Great Again."

Wikileaks, which has been highly critical of Rogers as an FBI director aspirant, suggested that the ASD was a "central player in efforts to tie President Donald Trump and his supporters to Russian interference in the 2016 election" and that the Hamilton 68 Dashboard's "true purpose appeared to be casting suspicion on Trump supporters and reinforcing claims that his presidency was illegitimate."

Wikileaks also highlighted how in 2018, Rogers advocated for the suppression of a Republican memo critical of the FBI's spying on the Trump campaign.

Rogers told NPR at the time the memo should not be released because

you're only going to get a small part of the picture. And so what they're purportedly alleging is going to come out in the memo today is that there was some misconduct on behalf of FBI agents and some DOJ officials, lawyers at the Department of Justice, in the application for something called the FISA, which is the secret court that does counterintelligence, espionage cases, terrorism cases, where it needs to be in a classified setting.

Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald, responding to a video of Rogers apparently joking with Hunter Biden "intel" letter signatory Michael Hayden about having Edward Snowden assassinated, tweeted, "There's literally no worse appointment possible than choosing Mike Rogers for FBI Director, or for any government position. He's the single most devoted loyalist to the US Security State and all of its multi-faceted abuses. It doesn't get worse than Mike Rogers."

While Rogers' past remarks and associations may serve as red flags for the president-elect, Trump endorsed him in March for his unsuccessful bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Michigan — months after the former congressman and defense lobbyist criticized the Biden Justice Department's "war" against Trump.

Patel endorsed Rogers for Senate in April, saying he would "hold the FBI and DOJ accountable."

"I am a big fan of Mike Rogers, and should there be an opening [for FBI director], he would be my choice," said Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R).

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, "Mike Rogers is a terrific guy. I don't know Kash Patel."

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Former agent unintentionally makes pitch for Kash Patel to run FBI: 'Extremely dangerous'



President-elect Donald Trump's nominations so far have generated significant backlash from establishmentarians, confirming the picks' strategic value as disruptors.

While Trump has yet to disclose who, if anyone, he wants to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray — whose term does not expire until 2027 — the old guard's pre-emptive attacks on former National Security Council official Kash Patel signal that he might be the prospect most threatening to the dysfunctional status quo.

Senior officials at the highly politicized bureau are preparing for a thorough housecleaning. Meanwhile, former FBI Special Agent Daniel Brunner has gone to the liberal media with his concerns, blasting Patel as "dangerous" and insinuating that his housecleaning may prove to be more thorough than that executed by others.

When speaking to CNN's Jessica Dean on Sunday, Brunner parroted the talking points that have been recycled by others in Washington, D.C., in response to each of Trump's appointment announcements: Patel is supposedly inexperienced, revenge-driven, and keen on littering a sacrosanct federal agency with pink slips.

'He will conduct a massive amount of damage to the interior of the FBI.'

"It's really important to understand that the person who is leading the FBI, who is the director and then the deputy director, those are two very important positions," Brunner told Dean. "You're in charge of tens of thousands of employees, both special agents, analysts, everyone that is enforcing the law, federal law that is on the books and supporting the Constitution of the United States. Putting someone like Kash Patel in the position of director of the FBI is, I believe, extremely, extremely dangerous."

Brunner unwittingly continued his commercial for Patel, noting, "His resume isn't traditional. There is nothing on his resume other than three years as a line U.S. attorney at the DOJ."

Patel previously served as chief of staff to former acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller; as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council; principal deputy to the acting director of national intelligence; as national security adviser for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; as a terrorism prosecutor at the Department of Justice; as a public defender; and as a hockey coach.

After downplaying Patel's experience, Brunner highlighted what was apparently his greater concern:

He has clearly stated that he wants to exact revenge upon those that have investigated President Trump and those who have investigated those that are around him. He will conduct a massive amount of damage to the interior of the FBI ... and employees who have put their names on certain documents because they were just working the case. There will be hundreds of employees who will be unjustly fired or have their security clearances removed only because he feels that it’s something he needs to do. So I think he'll be very, very dangerous.

Elements of the liberal media appear to be singing the same tune.

The leftist blog New Republic blasted Patel as an "intellectual lightweight," warning that "if Trump installs Patel at the FBI, it would certainly further Trump and his MAGA allies' goal of purging the federal workforce of disloyal employees."

Another prospect, former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), has not been subject to the kind of attacks that Patel has faced in recent days.

Semafor reported that the "MAGA wing" of the Republican Party is keen to see Patel as FBI director, whereas "more conventional Republicans" are pushing for Rogers, the former chair of the House Intelligence Committee who defended warrantless surveillance of American citizens.

"If they aren't bloody, if they don't have scars from one of the get Trump 'scandals,' then they're for Rogers," an unnamed source close to the transition team told Semafor.

"I am a big fan of Mike Rogers, and should there be an opening, he would be my choice," said Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R).

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said, "Mike Rogers is a terrific guy. I don't know Kash Patel."

While Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Rogers "might be good," he stressed that Patel would "be great."

"Smart, knows a lot about law enforcement," said Tuberville. "He's loyal to the president. And those are pretty much the top requirements."

Toward the end of his first term, Trump considered installing Patel as deputy director at the FBI or CIA, reported the Associated Press. The plan fell apart when then-CIA Director Gina Haspel and former Attorney General Bill Barr made a stink.

In his book "Goverment Gangsters," Patel called for an elimination of "government tyranny" within the FBI and the removal of anyone who "in any way abused their authority for political ends," reported ABC News.

"The FBI has become so thoroughly compromised that it will remain a threat to the people unless drastic measures are taken," wrote Patel.

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