Musk unleashes wild Epstein claim against Trump after being booted from DOGE
Billionaire Elon Musk dropped a serious bomb on social media on Thursday when he made allegations that President Donald Trump was in the Jeffrey Epstein file. “@RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files,” Musk wrote on X on Thursday afternoon. “That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Musk followed the post with another, saying, “Mark this post for the future. The truth will come out.” PRESIDENT TRUMP TEASES ‘LAST DAY, BUT NOT REALLY’ FOR ELON MUSK AT DOGE: OVAL OFFICE PRESSER SET FOR FRIDAY The former First Buddy dropped the allegation in response to a back-and-forth series of social media messages between him and Trump. Trump lambasted Musk on Thursday afternoon, saying he asked the former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) head to leave. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Elon was ‘wearing thin,’ I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY!” Trump said on Truth Social. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
GOP bill takes aim at Congress’ ‘no rules apply’ emergency spending
FIRST ON FOX: A House fiscal hawk wants to create a payment plan for congressional emergency spending to create accountability for the “no rules apply” funding stream. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., is set to introduce the Emergency Spending Accountability Act that would add guardrails to last-minute funding meant for national emergencies, like natural disasters, the COVID-19 pandemic or other spending meant to fill the gaps in the appropriations process. SENATE WEIGHS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ AS POLICY GROUP BACKS CBO, PROJECTS $3 TRILLION DEBT INCREASE Stutzman told Fox News Digital that lawmakers will go about the usual budgeting process, passing stopgap spending bills or colossal, omnibus spending packages, but that “somewhere in between” there’s always extra money pushed out the door for emergencies. “Whenever there’s an emergency, Congress always overreacts,” he said. “And I believe they pass these big spending bills under the guise of an emergency, national emergency, and spend money that we don’t take into consideration through our budget process.” WHITE HOUSE INSISTS FEMA IS TAKING HURRICANE SEASON ‘SERIOUSLY,’ BLASTS ‘SLOPPY’ REPORTING He said that when he first came to Washington in 2010, the national debt was $9 trillion. After leaving the House and returning during last year’s election cycle, that number has since ballooned to more than $36 trillion. And since the early 1990s, more than $12 trillion in emergency spending has added to the ever-growing deficit. The lawmaker said that the money dedicated for emergency use was rarely ever paid back, and he argued that the taxpayer dollars were sometimes not used for actual emergencies. ‘HE’S NOT A BIG FACTOR’: TRUMP’S SENATE ALLIES DISMISS ELON MUSK’S CALLS TO ‘KILL THE BILL’ Stutzman’s legislation, which so far has seven House Republican co-sponsors, would require the federal government to pay off the balance of future emergency spending by 20% each year for five years after an emergency following a green-light from lawmakers to open up the cash flow. His bill would also stipulate that any emergency spending would have to comport with the criteria laid out by the Balance Budget and Emergency Control Act of 1985, which laid out a five-point roadmap to justify that emergency spending be necessary, sudden, urgent, unforeseen and not permanent. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He understood that there is always a need for emergency spending, giving the examples of the pandemic and of Hurricane Sandy, which blasted through the East Coast more than a decade ago, but he noted there should be offset cuts to account for the spending and better planning on how the taxpayer dollars would be used. “Most companies and family budgets, they always have a rainy-day fund or an emergency fund that they can tap into if they need it for unexpected costs and expenses, but that’s not the way Washington works,” Stutzman said. “So that’s the idea.”
White House highlights Pelosi hypocrisy after Schiff demands Trump admin financial, ethics docs
Sen. Adam Schiff faced pushback after calling on White House counsel David Warrington to release financial disclosures for senior officials—prompting a Trump aide to suggest he start by requesting the same from longtime Rep. Nancy Pelosi. “The American people remain highly concerned about Nancy Pelosi’s long, documented history of insider trading and eagerly await Adam Schiff refocusing his political stunt on serious issues, like Pelosi’s portfolio,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told ABC News after it inquired about Schiff’s letter. In a letter to Warrington and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Schiff, D-Calif., expressed “continued and growing concern regarding … failure to submit any financial disclosure reports for senior White House officials to the Office of Government Ethics within the statutorily mandated period.” Schiff demanded the White House turn over a list of officials required to file “new entrant” reports, an explanation for “failure to transmit” such reports for certification and any late-filing fees imposed for “delinquent filings.” ‘WATERMELON HEAD’: TRUMP TROLLS DEMOCRATIC SEN. ADAM SCHIFF He noted that he had signed on to a bicameral April letter that included fellow Californian Rep. Mike Levin, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and several other Democrats asking for similar information. In comments to Fox News Digital on Thursday, the White House pushed back again on Schiff, saying that all officials there who are required to file public reports continue to comply with their obligations. “… including the obligation to file periodic transaction reports disclosing the purchase or sale of certain securities,” said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman. “For decades, administrations of both parties, including the first Trump Administration, have fulfilled this obligation, recognizing that public trust in government depends on robust, enforceable transparency standards,” Schiff said in a statement. KASH PATEL ENRAGES ADAM SCHIFF IN CLINTONIAN BATTLE OVER THE WORD ‘WE’ “However, senior officials in this administration have repeatedly failed to disclose assets and business entanglements, as well as potentially misused their official positions for personal gain.” “Transparency and compliance with ethics laws are essential.” In that regard, Desai’s initial response highlighted ongoing criticisms of Pelosi, whose net worth is reportedly north of $120 million, and who has been accused of wrongful financial transactions over her 38 years in the House. Pelosi, a California Democrat, did not respond to a request for comment, and the Speaker Emerita kept walking when asked on the Hill about the matter last month by a Fox News Digital reporter. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced the PELOSI– Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments – Act in 2023, and fellow Missourian Rep. Mark Alford crafted a similar bill in the House, alluding to allegations against her over the years. Trump has said he would support such legislation this term, telling Time he had purportedly “watched Nancy Pelosi get rich through insider information, and I would be OK with it. If they send that to me, I would do it.” Fox News Digital found no record of Schiff making similar requests to the Biden administration and received no response from the Burbank lawmaker when asked for comment. Fox News Digital’s Peter Pinedo and Remy Numa contributed to this report.
‘KILL BILL’: Elon Musk’s conservative evolution puts him at odds with Trump on key legislation
Tech tycoon and former DOGE chief Elon Musk‘s political evolution has shifted to the right after he jumped into the election fray as a staunch ally of President Donald Trump on the campaign trail and ultimately as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk’s conservative genesis on the public stage has put him at odds with the president as he rails against the One Big Beautiful Bill, which Trump has touted as legislation that would translate into big tax breaks for Americans across the pay brackets and subsequently called on Republican lawmakers to swiftly pass it. Musk, who is considered America’s wealthiest resident, is publicly criticizing the sweeping legislation just days after his departure from DOGE and the federal government. The “big beautiful bill” is currently making its way through the Senate and would fund Trump’s agenda, including strengthening border policies and ending taxes on overtime and tips. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore,” Musk posted to X Tuesday. “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.” ELON MUSK WARNS EXCESSIVE SPENDING WILL PLUNGE US ‘INTO DEBT SLAVERY’ He added the next day that the bill’s “immense level of overspending will drive America into debt slavery!” This was followed by a stream of X posts calling on Americans to encourage their lawmakers to “kill the bill” as well as a “KILL BILL” meme of the 2003 movie with the same name. Musk has found himself aligned with members of the House Freedom Caucus, which is considered the most conservative voting bloc within the lower chamber, as well as staunch fiscal conservatives in the Senate, such as Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Sen. Ron. Johnson, who have publicly rebuked the legislation. ELON MUSK ‘DISAPPOINTED’ BY TRUMP’S SPENDING BILL, SAYS IT UNDERMINES WHAT DOGE IS DOING Paul said Monday that its potential passage would increase the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, calling the bill a “terrible idea” that bucks conservative ideas. The national debt currently stands at about $36 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office, an independent government agency, published a June report that the bill would increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion throughout the next decade. “I want the tax cuts to be permanent. But at the same time, I don’t wanna raise the debt ceiling five trillion,” Paul told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “The GOP will own the debt once they vote for this.” Trump has admonished the criticism from fiscally conservative Republicans, arguing that Paul, for example, was on the verge of siding with the “Radical Left Democrats” and encouraging a 68% tax hike on Americans if he votes against the legislation. “Rand will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, and the GREAT people of Kentucky will never forgive him! The GROWTH we are experiencing, plus some cost cutting later on, will solve ALL problems. America will be greater than ever before!” Trump posted to Truth Social Saturday of Paul. Musk, in an earlier public rebuke of the bill, remarked that he was “disappointed” it passed the House in May as it “undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Trump is aware of Musk’s views on the bill, but that the legislation still has the president’s full endorsement, when asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy about Musk’s X post claiming the bill was a “disgusting abomination.” “The president already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill,” Leavitt said. “It doesn’t change the president’s opinion. This is one big, beautiful bill and he’s sticking to it.” Leavitt also pushed back in the briefing Tuesday that the Congressional Budget Office’s prognostication for the bill is likely wrong, citing a history of missing the mark on budget predictions. “The Congressional Budget Office has been historically wrong,” Leavitt said. “In fact, they predicted the Trump tax cuts from the president’s first term in 2017. Their prediction was wrong by half a trillion. Those tax cuts had nearly a half trillion dollars more of revenue than the Congressional Budget Office scored. And I would also point out, I don’t think many people know this, there hasn’t been a single staffer in the entire Congressional Budget Office that has contributed to a Republican since the year 2000. But guess what? There have been many staffers within the Congressional Budget Office who have contributed to Democrat candidates and politicians every single cycle.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also slammed the report for employing static scoring as opposed to dynamic scoring, which in “layman’s terms is they don’t give us any credit for the extraordinary economic growth that will be spurred along by this bill.” Static scoring evaluates the fiscal impact of a policy change without considering how the change will affect the economy overall, while dynamic scoring broadens the scope of a study to include how a policy change would affect the economy. A White House official told Fox News Digital that Musk and Trump have historically seen eye-to-eye on political issues more than they differ, adding they continue to share many political views when asked if Musk has gone further to the right than Trump since his work within the administration. Trump spoke publicly about Musk’s criticisms Thursday from the Oval Office during a meeting with the chancellor of Germany, remarking he was “disappointed” with Musk’s rebukes. “I’m very disappointed, because Elon knew the inner workings of this bill better than almost anybody sitting here, better than you people,” Trump said in the Oval Office. “He knew everything about it. He had no problem with it. All of a sudden he had a problem, and he only developed the problem when he found out that we’re going to have to cut the EV mandate, because that’s billions and billions of dollars, and it really is unfair.” “Elon and I had a
ICE breaks arrest record two days in a row under Trump’s new immigration directives
Immigration and Customs Enforcement made a record-setting 2,368 arrests of illegal aliens in a single day on Wednesday, a senior ICE official told Fox News. This broke the record from just one day prior, as there were 2,267 ICE arrests on Tuesday. The increase comes after an average of roughly 1,600 arrests last week, as the White House pursues a goal of 3,000 arrests daily. “Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller told “Hannity” on at the end of May, indicting that the goal could go even higher. TRUMP ADMINISTRATION SETS NEW GOAL OF 3,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS DAILY Homan also previously said “The numbers are good, but I’m not satisfied. I haven’t been satisfied all year long,” in an “America’s Newsroom” interview in May. The uptick in arrests can be attributed to a surge in worksite enforcement and immigration court arrests. In addition, ICE is using collateral, like arresting individuals who are not initial targets but are with a target at the time of an arrest. ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ARRESTS SKYROCKET UNDER TRUMP ICE COMPARED TO BIDEN LEVELS LAST YEAR: ‘WORST OF THE WORST’ ICE sources tell Fox News if the reconciliation bill passes with funding for 10,000 additional ICE personnel and tens of thousands more ICE beds, numbers will be “supercharged and shoot through the roof.” CLICK HERE FOR MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE As a debate about the bill continues in the Senate, the White House reaffirmed the bill’s border and immigration-related provisions on Thursday. “Did you know The Big Beautiful Bill doubles ICE detention capacity, increases ICE personnel by 50%, finishes the border wall, and taxes money illegals send to their home country?” Deputy Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy Communications Director Alex Pfeiffer posted to X. ICE CRACKDOWN SEES 7,400 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS ARRESTED IN 9 DAYS “It’s a once-in-a generation opportunity to crack down on illegal immigration,” he continued. The ICE arrests come amid widespread policy changes by the Trump administration from the Biden-era. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem approved more waivers for border wall construction in Arizona and New Mexico this week, and the president instituted a travel ban on several countries following the anti-Semitic Boulder terrorist attack, in which the suspect overstayed his visa.
‘Sick puppy’ Tim Walz should never have been on Dems’ 2024 ticket, Trump says
President Donald Trump called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz a “sick puppy” who should not have landed on the Democrats’ 2024 presidential ticket. “He’s a sick puppy, that guy, that poor guy. I feel sorry for him,” Trump said Thursday from the Oval Office while meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “But, they made a bad choice with him.” Trump’s comments followed a reporter asking Trump about his relationship with Elon Musk after the former Department of Government Efficiency chief repeatedly assailed the “big beautiful bill,” the sweeping legislation that will fund the Trump administration’s agenda and touted by the president as key legislation that demands GOP unity for passage. Musk was a key ally of Trump’s during the campaign cycle, holding rallies in the top seven battleground states to rally support, including in Pennsylvania. WALZ REVEALS THE MISSTEPS HE SAW WITH HARRIS CAMPAIGN AMID POSTMORTEM MEDIA BLITZ Trump remarked that the Democrat Party should have tapped Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to join former Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate on the presidential ticket, but instead chose Walz. “Elon endorsed me very strongly. He actually went up and campaigned for me. I think I would have won. Susie would say I would have won Pennsylvania easily anyway, even if the governor had the real governor, not the governor, for a Minnesota,” Trump said before calling Walz a “sick puppy.” FAILED VP CANDIDATE TIM WALZ SKEWERED AFTER HINTING AT POTENTIAL 2028 PRESIDENTIAL RUN “But if you picked Shapiro or anybody else, I spoke to him recently about his, you know, his house being set on fire, which was terrible. But if they picked him, I would have won Pennsylvania,” he added, referring to how Shapiro’s home was targeted by arson while his family slept back in April. Walz joined Harris on the Democrat ticket in August 2024, just days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July 2024 amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity, giving way to Harris at the top of the ticket. The Harris campaign had just more than 100 days between Biden dropping out and rallying support for the Harris-Walz ticket before Election Day on Nov. 5. After the election, Walz revealed he would run for president in 2028 if the opportunity presented itself. “Well, I had a friend tell me, ‘Never turn down a job you haven’t been offered,’” Walz told the New Yorker in March when asked if he would run for president. TIM WALZ SAYS LOSING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IS ‘PURE HELL,’ ADMITS DEMS ARE ‘FATIGUED’ IN MSNBC INTERVIEW “If I think I could offer something … I would certainly consider that,” he said. “I’m also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there’s a lot of people that can do this.” He said that under the correct circumstances and if he had the right “skill set” for the 2028 race, “I’ll do it.” “You might do it?” the New Yorker asked. “I’ll do whatever it takes,” Walz said. “I certainly wouldn’t be arrogant enough to think that it needs to be me.”
Federal judge orders Trump to restore funding to Clinton-era agency gutted by DOGE
A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to restore millions of dollars in grant funding for AmeriCorps and to reemploy thousands of employees, ruling that the administration’s abrupt dismantling of the organization violated federal law. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman agreed to reinstate thousands of terminated AmeriCorps employees across 24 U.S. states and D.C., which sued the administration earlier this year over the steep cuts to the agency ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. She also ordered the Trump administration to restore hundreds of millions of dollars in congressionally approved funding for AmeriCorps programs, which were also slashed by DOGE earlier this year. Boardman sided with plaintiffs in ruling that the Trump administration likely violated administrative procedures by ordering the abrupt cancellations and terminations, without a proper notice or comment period. SUPREME COURT RULES WISCONSIN UNCONSTITUTIONALLY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST CHRISTIAN CHARITY While the decision does not require the Trump administration to keep the jobs in place indefinitely, it does require it to provide adequate notice before doing so. AmeriCorps, an agency created by Congress more than two decades ago, had an operating budget of roughly $1 billion prior to this year, when it found itself squarely in the crosshairs of DOGE, the agency previously headed up by Elon Musk and tasked with eliminating wasteful spending. In granting the preliminary injunction Thursday, Boardman said the 24 states have adequately demonstrated they are likely to suffer “irreparable harm” from the gutting of AmeriCorps, absent court intervention, and that the balance of equities “heavily favors” plaintiffs seeking injunctive relief. “Any harm the defendants might face if the agency actions are enjoined pales in comparison to the concrete harms that the States and the communities served by AmeriCorps programs have suffered and will continue to suffer,” she said in the ruling. 100 DAYS OF INJUNCTIONS, TRIALS AND ‘TEFLON DON’: TRUMP SECOND TERM MEETS ITS BIGGEST TESTS IN COURT The preliminary injunction comes after DOGE in April abruptly announced it would be putting roughly 85% of all AmeriCorps staffers on leave. It also announced mass Reduction of Force, or RIF, for AmeriCorps staff, and sent notice that they were planning to cut $400 million in grants and other funding from the agency. In their lawsuit, attorneys general from the 24 U.S. states and D.C. urged the court to reverse the cuts and terminations across AmeriCorps, citing the risk of irreparable harm, as well as the administration’s failure to properly notify employees of their terminations. Plaintiffs alleged that the Trump administration and DOGE had acted beyond the scope of their authority in gutting AmeriCorps, an agency created by Congress, without proper notice. They also asked the judge to halt the cuts to roughly $557 million in congressionally approved funding. Importantly, the judge said Thursday that the order only applies to the states that joined the lawsuit. The news was praised on social media by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who described it as a victory, noting: “Over 200,000 AmeriCorps staff and volunteers work hard every day to care for our communities.” “This ruling ensures their valuable work can continue,” she said. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the decision to halt the cuts to AmeriCorps will “help communities respond to natural disasters, support seniors and veterans, and keep our trails clean across Pennsylvania.”
Controversial airport watchlist program terminated by DHS amid weaponization concerns
EXCLUSIVE: The Department of Homeland Security is ending the Quiet Skies program, which left some Americans subject to additional screenings at airport security. The department says the agency was overly politicized to either benefit or hurt specific people and ran a bill of roughly $200 million annually. According to DHS, the program kept a watchlist as well as a list of people exempted. The department says Quiet Skies has not prevented any terrorist attacks but will continue to use other methods to assure safe air travel. “It is clear that the Quiet Skies program was used as a political rolodex of the Biden Administration—weaponized against its political foes and exploited to benefit their well-heeled friends. I am calling for a Congressional investigation to unearth further corruption at the expense of the American people and the undermining of US national security,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. GABBARD SLAMS ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’ SURVEILLANCE AS EFFORT TO ‘INTIMIDATE’ HER FOLLOWING CRITICISM OF HARRIS DHS says that the list of exemptions of people who avoid “security policies” included “foreign royal families, political elites, professional athletes, and favored journalists.” The program that started in 2010 was seen as a terror prevention method, and it faced escalating scrutiny from the left and right, including groups like the American Civil Liberties Union. “TSA’s critical aviation and security vetting functions will be maintained, and the Trump Administration will return TSA to its true mission of being laser-focused on the safety and security of traveling public. This includes restoring the integrity, privacy, and equal application of the law for all Americans,” Noem continued. FEDERAL AIR MARSHALS SURVEILLED TRUMP CABINET MEMBER GABBARD IN 2024, RAND PAUL SAYS In 2018, the ACLU asked the Transportation Security Administration for more information about the program. “The TSA is engaging in covert surveillance of travelers and raising a host of disturbing questions in the process. While the program’s existence is now public, the TSA has kept nearly everything else about the program secret,” Hugh Handeyside, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a 2018 news release. “Travelers deserve to know how this surveillance is being implemented, what its consequences are for Americans, and for how long the TSA is retaining the information it gathers. What we’ve seen so far is troubling, which is why we’re demanding that the TSA hand over records it’s been hiding from the public. This is a much needed step towards transparency and accountability for an agency with a track record of using unreliable and unscientific techniques, such as ‘behavior detection,’ to screen and monitor travelers who have done nothing wrong,” he added. REPUBLICANS LOOK TO ABOLISH TSA IN FAVOR OF PRIVATE SECURITY AT AIRPORTS DHS pointed out a specific situation in which William Shaheen, the husband of New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, was removed from the list after reaching out to the former head of TSA during the Biden administration in 2023, according to CBS News. DHS said that he “traveled with a known or suspected terrorist” three times. The senator’s office confirmed to CBS News she had reached out to TSA after her husband dealt with intense security obstacles while flying, but was unaware of any specific lists her husband was or was not on. The outlet reported that he was flying with an attorney was subject of the terrorism flag. The department also cited Tulsi Gabbard’s past placement on the Silent Partner Quiet Skies list. Fox News Digital reached out to Shaheen’s office for comment.
Homeland Security says Boston’s mayor comparing ICE agents to neo-Nazis is ‘sickening’
The Department of Homeland Security says Boston’s Democrat mayor comparing ICE agents to neo-Nazis is “sickening.” The reaction Thursday came in response to a video posted by an account affiliated with the White House, during which Michelle Wu said, “I don’t know of any police department that routinely wears masks. “We know that there are other groups that routinely wear masks. NSC-131 routinely wears masks,” Wu added, in reference to a New England-based neo-Nazi group. “Mayor Wu comparing ICE agents to neo-Nazis is SICKENING,” Homeland Security wrote on X. “When our heroic law enforcement officers conduct operations, they clearly identify themselves as law enforcement while wearing masks to protect themselves from being targeted by known and suspected gang members, murders, and rapists.” FALSE RUMORS OF MINNEAPOLIS ICE RAID SPARK PROTEST AS POLICE DECRY ‘IRREPONSIBLE’ INFORMATION FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS “Attacks and demonization of our brave law enforcement is WRONG. ICE officers are now facing a 413% increase in assaults,” Homeland Security added. The Anti-Defamation League said members of NSC-131 “consider themselves soldiers at war with a hostile, Jewish-controlled system that is deliberately plotting the extinction of the White race.” Wu also recently said in an interview with WBUR that “People are terrified for their lives and for their neighbors” and “folks [are] getting snatched off the street by secret police who are wearing masks, who can offer no justification for why certain people are being taken and then detained.” DEMOCRATS VYING FOR NYC MAYOR SPAR OVER DEFUNDING POLICE, COMBATING ICE ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, in a message to Wu on Wednesday, said “these are real people with real families you’re hurting with your ridiculous rhetoric and inflammatory comments and it’s time to remember that.” Leah Foley, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, also released a video message saying “federal agents in marked jackets and vests are masking their faces because people like Mayor Wu have created false narratives about their mission. “Federal agents and their children are being threatened, doxxed and assaulted. That is why they must hide their faces,” she added.
Ex-Biden adviser calls Jean-Pierre ‘kinda dumb,’ deletes tweet, says she’s not a ‘genius-level Black woman’
As criticism mounts from within Biden’s world against former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and her new book, one ex-aide lambasted the now-Independent ombudswoman as “kinda dumb” — a tweet he deleted but later stood by. Timothy Wu, now a Columbia Law professor, was former President Joe Biden’s “architect” of antitrust policy whose faculty bio claims he also coined the progressive term “net neutrality” in 2002. In a now-deleted tweet, Wu wrote: “from a [White House] staff perspective, the real problem with Karine Jean-Pierre was that she was kinda dumb.” “[She had n]o interest in understanding harder topics. Just gave random incoherent answers on policy,” Wu added in the trashed tweet. FORMER BIDEN OFFICIALS RIDICULE KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S BOOK AS ‘BIZARRE CASH GRAB’ The X account “I work with my word” replied to the original tweet, calling it “pretty racist,” and the tweet was later deleted, but the reply remained. Below the reply, Wu added a new line of commentary, saying the Biden White House was “full of genius-level Black women. [Jean-Pierre] was not one of them.” In response to another X user asking Wu whether Trump White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt understands executive policy, the professor said a good ombudsperson will “meet with policy staff and try and understand what the administration is doing and why.” BIDEN-ERA WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS EXPRESS DISBELIEF ON KARINE JEAN-PIERRE’S SUDDEN PARTY SWITCH Fox News Digital reached out to Wu via his Columbia faculty office, where he has taught since 2006. The former Biden adviser was also a Democratic primary candidate for New York’s lieutenant governorship in 2014, and also worked in the Obama administration and at the Federal Trade Commission. Jean-Pierre announced Wednesday that she left the Democratic Party and has become an Independent while revealing her upcoming book: “Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines.” She was mocked and criticized by several people in Biden’s orbit besides Wu, including one who said, “I wouldn’t ignore what Karine has to say, but it’s not an account in which much weight will be invested — just like her briefings.” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “At noon on that day [that Biden left office], I became a private citizen who, like all Americans and many of our allies around the world, had to contend with what was to come next for our country. I determined that the danger we face as a country requires freeing ourselves of boxes. We need to be willing to exercise the ability to think creatively and plan strategically,” Jean-Pierre said of her new Independent streak. Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood and The Associated Press contributed to this report.