August 19, 2025, 02:51 PM
wcb6092The Trump Presidency : Year V
Tulsi Gabbard strips 37 of security clearances over Obama-ordered intel report that launched Russiagate
https://nypost.com/2025/08/19/...launched-russiagate/ Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced the revocation of 37 security clearances of current and former officials who “abused public trust by politicizing and manipulating” information — including several who were involved in a controversial, Barack Obama-ordered assessment of Russian influence in the 2016 election.
An ODNI memo dated Monday announced that the more than three dozen intel professionals — including a former top aide to Obama DNI James Clapper — had either politicized or weaponized intelligence, failed to safeguard classified info or not followed tradecraft standards.
“The President has directed that, effective immediately, the security clearances of the following 37 individuals are revoked,” the memo stated.
More at link
August 19, 2025, 06:16 PM
PeteFquote:
Originally posted by smlsig:
Outstanding!
It surprises me that the clearances aren’t automatically revoked after a very short time after working of the .gov.
I had a clearance for 20+ yrs, the day I left my company, my clearance went inactive.
I have absolutely no idea why these political hacks don't likewise have there clearance pulled when they leave their position.
August 20, 2025, 03:10 AM
12131So, what happened to Musk's knee-jerk 3rd Party?
Elon Musk makes major U-Turn after promising to upend US politics with third party… and goes all in on Trump's successorBy STEPHEN M. LEPORE, US SENIOR REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 01:55 EDT, 20 August 2025 | UPDATED: 02:37 EDT, 20 August 2025
Elon Musk has backtracked on plans to remake US politics by launching a third party and instead wants to use his immense wealth to help JD Vance become the next president.
The billionaire Tesla founder intends to shift his focus back to his companies after a tumultuous stint working with President Trump and has become wary of upsetting Republicans, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Musk has decided to join other tech titans and rally behind the person they believe is the likely successor to Trump: Vice President JD Vance, who has made recent moves that suggest he will run in 2028.
The former DOGE head spent nearly $300million helping to elect Trump in 2024, but the duo has a spectacular fallout earlier this year with Musk eventually writing on X that 'Trump is in the Epstein files.'
With Trump term-limited as president, Musk is considering using his financial largesse to help Vance win the next presidential election.
He would join other tech honchos who have doled out money to Vance such as Palantir CEO Peter Thiel, former PayPal COO David Sacks, Roku CEO Anthony Wood and entrepreneur Palmer Luckey.
Recent polls show Vance as a clear front runner for the 2028 Republican nomination.
Musk has been speaking to Vance in recent weeks, the Journal said, and believes launching the so-called 'America Party' for the 2026 midterms might jeopardize their relationship.
Also, many suggest the work has not begun on the basics like getting his America Party on the ballot or organizing with potential supporters.
'So my hope is that by the time of the midterms, he’s kind of come back into the fold,' Vance told The Gateway Pundit in a recent interview.
Billionaire CEO Mark Cuban, who endorsed Musk's attempt to start a third party, has said he's heard nothing, complaints echoed by others who've offered to work with Musk.
'It's almost an eerie silence,' said Libertarian National Committee Chair Steven Nekhaila, whose party has tried to engage and even join forces with Musk.
'It doesn't seem like anything has been in action, neither at the state level or at the ground level.'
Those close to Musk cancelled a July meeting with a group that helps organize third-party campaigns and were told Musk wanted to focus more on business.
Musk's potential backing of Vance despite his feud with Trump is the latest suggestion the VP and former Ohio Senator will attempt to make himself the successor to Trump.
In June, Vance made a secret trip to Rupert Murdoch's Montana ranch, but it wasn't to ride horses or loll about tasting wine.
The vice president spoke with the 94-year-old media mogul, his son Lachlan Murdoch and a group of other Fox News executives at the $280 million estate on June 11, to the talk up Trump agenda.
The specifics of the meeting and Vance's conversation with the group was not disclosed - but it appeared to be brief. Murdoch and other top executives are known for hosting powerful politicians across the summer at their sprawling estates.
After the Murdoch meeting, the vice president and his wife, Usha, then took a hike, Montana State Auditor James Brown, who helped plan the trip, told Montana Talks.
Musk's fallout with Trump appears to have simmered down since their blow up, with Trump saying in July that he wants success for the ex-'First Buddy' and his companies.
Trump had previously threatened to take away the billions in government contracts granted to Musk’s various companies including SpaceX, The Boring Company, xAI and Neuralink.
The duo had a very public fallout over Trump’s one big beautiful bill, which resulted in each man making threats against the other.
But the president now says he wants Musk to ‘thrive.’
‘Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon’s companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so!,’ the president wrote on Truth Social.
‘I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before! The better they do, the better the USA does, and that’s good for all of us,’ Trump wrote.
Earlier in July, Trump added an additional threat: turning DOGE - the agency Musk founded - against him.
'I don't know. We'll have to take a look,' the president told Daily Mail when asked about deporting Musk.
'We might have to put DOGE on Elon. You know what DOGE is? DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon,' Trump added.
The America Party's founding came after Musk created an online poll on July 4 asking his followers whether to establish the new party.
The results came back 65.4 percent in favor, leading Musk to make the announcement.
'By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!' Musk wrote. 'When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste & graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy.
He then proclaimed: 'Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.'
But it now appears the party was over before it even started.
August 20, 2025, 10:48 AM
architectquote:
Originally posted by Rawny:
Impulse control is clearly not one of Elon's strengths.
Think about it, if you had his kind of FU money, wouldn't you be inclined to splurge a little?
Besides, I think Musk figured out a long time ago just what Govt. policies and perspectives favor his interests.
August 20, 2025, 11:16 AM
Lefty SigPresident Trump on Wednesday called on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook to resign, intensifying his effort to gain influence over the central bank on the basis of allegations made by one of his allies about mortgages Cook holds in Michigan and Georgia.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte alleged in a post on X earlier on Wednesday that Cook had designated a condo in Atlanta as her primary residence after taking a loan on her home in Michigan, which she also declared as a primary residence.
Loans for a primary residence can carry easier terms than for second homes or investment properties. Pulte said the loans date to mid-2021, before Cook was appointed to the Fed by former President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate the following year.
************************************
I think Trump and his people have found the mother lode of prosecutable corruption with all of these Mortgage fraud cases. Seems lots of politicians lie to get favorable rates and have multiple "primary residences". I'm sure it's an "everyone does it" kind of thing in their circles. But it's still illegal, and the evidence is all in writing and signed by the perpetrator.
They might as well look at every democrat in the federal government and every democrat governor and state AG. They are bound to find a whole lot more of this.
August 20, 2025, 11:18 AM
wcb6092Trump Demands Fed Governor "Must Resign Now" Amid Mortgage Fraud Probe
https://www.zerohedge.com/poli...mortgage-fraud-probehe director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook over a pair of mortgages, the latest in a series of moves by the Trump administration to increase legal scrutiny of Democratic figures and appointees.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte wrote a letter to Bondi and DOJ official Ed Martin on Aug. 15 suggesting that Cook may have committed a criminal offense. The letter alleges that Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.”
Bloomberg reports that Pulte said Cook took a mortgage on a property in Ann Arbor, Michigan, signing a mortgage agreement that stipulated she would use the property as her primary residence for at least a year.
Two weeks later, according to the letter, she took another mortgage on a Georgia property and also declared it would be her primary residence.
Pulte also called on Bondi to look into whether Cook misrepresented her circumstances by later listing the Georgia property for rental.
The letter includes copies of mortgage documents in Cook’s name, as well as an apparent rental listing from 2022, a little over a year after she bought the Georgia property.
Here is the Criminal Referral Letter on Lisa Cook, the current Fed Governor. pic.twitter.com/aG0LGnokei
— Pulte (@pulte) August 20, 2025
And President Trump was swift to respond... demanding that "Cook must resign, now!!!
