WASHINGTON—The Department of Justice has secured the return of alleged human trafficker Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and will prosecute and imprison him in the United States, Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a press conference Friday.
“Abrego Garcia has landed in the United States to face justice,” Bondi told reporters. “This is what American justice looks like,” Bondi said. The attorney general went on to thank various other agencies that aided in the Justice Department’s investigation, as well as El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
“On May 21st, a grand jury in the Middle District of Tennessee returned a sealed indictment, charging Abrego Garcia with alien smuggling and conspiracy to commit alien smuggling,” Bondi said. “Our government presented El Salvador with an arrest warrant, and they agreed to return him to our country. We&#8217;re grateful to President Bukele for agreeing to return him to our country to face these very serious charges.”
Abrego Garcia became a cause célèbre after his deportation, with Democrat politicians and members of the mainstream media dubbing him a “Maryland man” and insisting that he had been incorrectly deported. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen (D) even flew to El Salvador to visit the illegal alien, despite mounting evidence that he had been engaged in transnational criminal activity.
Now, Bondi says, there is no longer any doubt that Abrego Garcia was a criminal.
“The grand jury found that over the past nine years, Abrego Garcia has played a significant role in an alien smuggling ring,” she said, noting that he made over 100 trips back and forth from the United States to smuggle violent gang members and terrorists, as well as “thousands of illegal aliens.”
“This is especially disturbing, because Abrego Garcia is also alleged to have transported minor children,” Bondi said. “The defendant traded the innocence of minor children for profit.”
The attorney general then revealed “even more disturbing facts the grand jury uncovered,” including that Abrego Garcia worked with the smuggling ring “responsible for the death of more than 50 migrants in 2021” following a tractor-trailer accident in Mexico.
Bondi also revealed that co-conspirators allege Abrego Garcia “abused undocumented alien females” and &#8220;solicited nude photographs and videos of a minor.”
The grand jury investigation also revealed that Abrego Garcia used SUVs with false bottoms to smuggle firearms and narcotics into the country.
“These facts demonstrate Abrego Garcia is a danger to our community,” Bondi said.
The Supreme Court ruled after Abrego Garcia’s deportation in March that the United States had to “facilitate” the illegal alien’s return to the country despite him being a Salvadoran national. Now that he’s been returned, Bondi said, he will be charged and imprisoned in the United States. The attorney general says she suspects Abrego Garcia will be returned to El Salvador “upon completion of the sentence.”
In April, authorities began investigating a 2022 traffic stop in which Abrego Garcia was pulled over, but not detained. Asked by a reporter on Friday what changed between that traffic stop and today, Bondi had a simple answer.
“What has changed is that Donald Trump is now president of the United States, and our borders are now secure.”

Bondi Says US DOJ Has Sued New York Over Immigration Case

Bondi Reveals ‘Disturbing Facts’ About Dem Darling Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Human Trafficking Scheme

Department of Justice

Human Trafficking

Illegal Immigation

Pam Bondi

Southern Border

WASHINGTON—NPR announced last week that it’s suing the Trump administration over an executive order slashing its congressionally appropriated funding — a case that could have serious ramifications for the future of publicly-funded media.
But if Kat Cammack has her way, it won’t really matter.
The Florida congresswoman joined Senator Jim Banks to <a href="https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hr1595/BILLS-119hr1595ih.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">introduce</a> the Defund NPR Act, which, if passed would codify Trump’s executive order, and ensure that “no Federal funds may, directly or indirectly, be made available to” outlets like NPR and PBS. Taxpayers spend around <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/npr-ceo-implodes">$535 million</a> annually on NPR and PBS through federal funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Speaking to The Daily Wire this week, Cammack noted the absurdity of forcing taxpayers to fund public media outlets whose news content is “one giant editorial.”
“They&#8217;re not just biased — it&#8217;s effectively state-funded propaganda at this point, for the progressive left,” Cammack told The Daily Wire in a wide-ranging interview. “At the end of the day, taxpayers should not be funding propaganda, particularly one that has such an obvious political slant.”
Cammack’s bill is one part of the Republican Study Committee’s <a href="https://rsc-pfluger.house.gov/media/press-releases/republican-study-committee-launches-set-stone-initiative-cement-trumps-legacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Set In Stone Initiative</a>, an effort to “to transform President Trump&#8217;s executive victories into permanent legislation.” Three of Cammack’s fellow committee members — Reps. <a href="https://tenney.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-tenney-introduces-defund-government-sponsored-propaganda-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Claudia Tenney</a> (NY), <a href="https://jackson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2301" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ronny Jackson</a> (TX), and <a href="https://strong.house.gov/media/press-releases/congressman-strong-introduces-bill-prohibit-federal-funding-biased-national" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Dale Strong</a> (AL) have also introduced bills that would defund NPR and PBS.
Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-defunds-npr-and-pbs-no-media-outlet-has-a-constitutional-right-to-taxpayer-subsidies">defunded</a> NPR and PBS earlier this month, writing that &#8220;government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence.&#8221; The president&#8217;s executive order followed the April release of a White House report <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/04/the-npr-pbs-grift-has-ripped-us-off-for-too-long/">cataloguing</a> the &#8220;radical, woke propaganda disguised as &#8216;news,'&#8221; that NPR and PBS produce.
The White House&#8217;s efforts to defund public media were turbocharged by NPR CEO Katherine Maher&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/in-classic-liberal-white-lady-moment-npr-ceo-mocked-for-old-tweets-how-white-of-me">disastrous testimony</a> at a March congressional hearing, during which lawmakers grilled her on past social media posts exposing the executive&#8217;s liberal bias.
Now, NPR is fighting back, claiming in its lawsuit that Trump’s executive order is tantamount to “the government [acting] with a retaliatory purpose in violation of the First Amendment.” Cammack isn’t buying it.
“Spare me! You are the very same people who just said that the First Amendment is the largest impediment to censorship that they are trying to push. I mean, do they hear themselves?”
Cammack isn’t pulling punches — but that doesn’t mean she’s happy to see what’s become of American public broadcasting.
“I&#8217;m a millennial,” she says. “We grew up with Sesame Street, and it didn&#8217;t use to be this way where everything had a political slant.&#8221;
“It makes me sad,” Cammack adds. “You know, I&#8217;m seven months pregnant and I&#8217;m like, man, I&#8217;m gonna have to bust out old VHS tapes of Sesame Street or back when Sesame Street wasn&#8217;t so political.”
Ultimately though, it’s not so much the politics as the taxpayer-funded politics that irks Cammack. Taxpayer funding, she notes, “only accounts for such a small portion of [NPR and PBS’s] total overall budget, but that’s still too much, from a taxpayer standpoint.”
“They&#8217;re not gonna go straight off the air. And if they did, that would just be another ploy to try to gin up the public interest in this,” Cammack says.
“When we have $37 trillion in national debt, when Americans are struggling at the grocery store and the gas pump, we shouldn&#8217;t be on the hook” for public outlets that “want to push their continuous narrative and virtue signaling and make everyone feel like they&#8217;re a bunch of idiots.”
To Cammack, it all comes back to respecting and defending the taxpayers. Like any fiscal hawk worth their salt, she recoils at the notion that bureaucrats are held to different standards than the American people.
“I will always remember when I had to go get my first credit card,” Cammack says. “I was so religiously like, ‘I gotta pay this. I gotta pay it in full. I gotta do this.’”
Not so the federal government, who, Cammack notes, has “more credit cards and software licenses that are being used by government employees than there are government employees.”
“The math isn&#8217;t mathing!” she says.
“These are the unelected, nameless, faceless bureaucrats that basically run our government, like a shadow government,” she adds. “The scary part though, isn&#8217;t that that was happening. The scary part is that people are gonna fight us on cutting this out.”
People, perhaps — but not necessarily the American people. Even the most anti-Trump people she encounters in her district, she says, on some level admits “that there has just been rampant abuse across the board.”
“I still think at people&#8217;s core there&#8217;s a little bit of common sense,” she says. “I mean, the fact that you&#8217;re finding people on social security that are 167 — get me their nutritional plan!”
That core of common sense, she says, is why she has high hopes that the Department of Government Efficiency will continue to succeed long after Elon Musk’s departure.
“I think he has done a tremendous service to the country,” she says of Musk. “I mean, he really did it as a patriot.”
As a Special Government Employee, Musk was required to step down from his government perch after 130 days, which he did this week. Cammack has as high hopes for the Tesla founder as she does for DOGE after this federally-mandated parting of ways.
“He loves this country. But, let&#8217;s be real: the man wants to colonize Mars,” she says. “He started something. It&#8217;s now our job to finish it.”
It won’t be easy. Shortly before Cammack spoke to The Daily Wire, the United States Court of International Trade ruled that Trump’s “Liberation Day” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/worlds-stock-markets-react-to-court-ruling-against-trumps-tariffs?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=19&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=World%E2%80%99s+Stock+Markets+React+To+Court+Ruling+Against+Trump%E2%80%99s+Tariffs">tariffs were illegal</a>. The White House and its congressional allies have a long battle ahead.
But Cammack is no stranger to a fight. Perched behind a laptop emblazoned with a Gadsden Flag, Cammack uses her time on the House floor to take Democrats to task — forcing Biden administration officials to confront the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-lawmaker-confronts-biden-official-with-jar-of-wristbands-showing-grim-reality-at-border?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=GOP+Lawmaker+Confronts+Biden+Official+With+Jar+Of+Wristbands+Showing+%E2%80%98Grim%E2%80%99+Reality+At+Border">brutal reality</a> of human trafficking at the southern border, and introducing a bill to ban lawmakers from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/republican-proposes-banning-foreign-flags-on-house-floor?author=Daniel+Chaitin&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Republican+Proposes+Banning+Foreign+Flags+On+House+Floor">displaying foreign flags</a>, a rebuke of her Democratic colleagues waving Ukrainian flags to support foreign aid.
<div id="attachment_594169" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-594169" class="size-large wp-image-594169" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1257352558-e1690410555140-864x576.jpg" alt="Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., attends the House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government to &quot;examine abuses seen at the Bureau and how the FBI has retaliated against whistleblowers,&quot; in Rayburn Building on Thursday, May 18, 2023." width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1257352558-e1690410555140-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1257352558-e1690410555140-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1257352558-e1690410555140-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/07/GettyImages-1257352558-e1690410555140.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)</div>
Once you&#8217;ve <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gop-rep-who-showed-baby-formula-stocked-at-border-for-illegals-calls-buttigieg-a-liar?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=GOP+Rep.+Who+Showed+Baby+Formula+Stocked+At+Border+For+Illegals+Calls+Buttigieg+A+Liar">called Pete Buttigieg a liar</a> on Face The Nation, calling out the federal judiciary is nothing.
“If we wanted judges to continually make all these decisions on behalf of the American people, we could just do away at that point with Congress and the presidency,” Cammack says, adding that the ability to levy tariffs is well within the president’s authority.
“The thing about judicial activism is it&#8217;s gotten more brazen over the years,” she adds. “And now you see it in full force.”
It’s serious stuff, and Cammack takes it seriously. But even she has to laugh at some of the reactions to Trump and his policies. Like the fact that Democrats and members of the media celebrating the tariff decision “never had anything to say when the Supreme Court ruled that Joe Biden couldn&#8217;t unilaterally forgive student loans.”
“This is what&#8217;s crazy to me: Joe Biden was spending money. Donald Trump is trying to save money. And so the courts are totally fine when you&#8217;re spending other people&#8217;s money.”
“But heaven forbid you get someone who&#8217;s actually trying to right the ship and save taxpayer money,” she laughs.
“Oh my gosh, the sky is falling!”
Shortly after the interview wrapped, a federal appeals court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/appeals-court-puts-trumps-sweeping-liberation-day-tariffs-back-in-place?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=7&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Appeals+Court+Puts+Trump%E2%80%99s+Sweeping+%E2%80%98Liberation+Day%E2%80%99+Tariffs+Back+In+Place">reinstated</a> Trump&#8217;s tariffs.

House GOP 3/11/25

Kat Cammack Isn’t Falling For NPR’s Crocodile Tears

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Donald Trump

Elon Musk

Florida

Tariffs

WASHINGTON—Internal documents obtained by The Daily Wire reveal the extent of the deficit spending that occurred at The Kennedy Center under the Biden administration — a scheme that left the performing arts center deep in debt and could open leaders up to potential legal action.
Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell this week told the organization’s board of directors that, under the direction of recently departed president Debra Rutter, the group “found $26 million in phantom revenue, fake revenue.”
“It’s criminal,” Grenell said, adding that “We’re going to refer this to the U.S. attorney’s office.”
Rutter denied the allegations, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/05/20/trump-kennedy-center-claims-financial-mismanagement/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telling</a> the Washington Post that she and her leadership team prepared a budget each year that was approved by the board of directors. But in a letter to Grenell obtained by The Daily Wire, Kennedy Center Chief Financial Officer Donna Arduin says that Rutter’s budget claim is irrelevant.
“Budgets and audits are on vastly different timetables and audits do not review the budgeting process,” Arduin wrote. “Audits are released up to a half year after the conclusion of the fiscal year, whereas budgets are approved well in advance of the fiscal year.”
Arduin, known as one of the <a href="https://alec.org/person/donna-arduin/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">nation’s leading budget experts</a>, came to the Kennedy Center after stints in top roles across the country. She’s been brought in to right the budgets of California under Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York under George Pataki, and Florida under Jeb Bush.
In her months at the Kennedy Center, she determined that Kennedy Center leadership “veiled the fiscal year 2025 budget with $26 million in fictitious revenue and did not properly disclose such to the Board,” according to a letter to Grenell. In short, Arduin writes in the letter, “the Board believed that they were in good faith passing a balanced budget.&#8221;
Additionally, Arduin notes in her letter to Grenell that “under Rutter&#8217;s watch, the Center&#8217;s leadership team changed the name of the debt reserve fund that held $54 million of donor contributions for the retirement of our bank loan to the ‘sustainability fund,’ apparently to appear that new funds had been raised for budget sustainability, and spent it to mask deficits.”
This is the latest revelation of trouble at the Kennedy Center, which has become a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-kennedy-center-is-40-million-in-debt-will-make-major-cuts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">flashpoint</a> in the second Trump administration. Trump has pledged to make serious improvements to the performing arts center, repairing its outdated facilities and purging its repertoire of drag shows and other “woke” programming.
Program offerings under former Kennedy Center leadership may have contributed to its dire financial straits. Sources with knowledge of the Center’s financial situation tell The Daily Wire that its programming has a net margin of negative $72 million. Under Grenell, The Kennedy Center is focusing on shows that will sell tickets and appeal to a wider audience.
The Kennedy Center operates on a $230 million annual budget. A portion of its revenue, allocated by Congress, is earmarked for capital costs and facilities maintenance. The remainder of the Center’s money comes from donors.
Sources with knowledge of the Center’s financial situation tell The Daily Wire that, under Rutter’s leadership, the organization raised $250 million and took out a $72 million loan to construct The REACH, a multipurpose space that includes rehearsal rooms, studios, and more.  President Donald Trump has criticized the project, which sources described as the &#8220;passion project&#8221; of Rutter and former Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein, whose portrait adorns the front door of the REACH.
That the Kennedy Center raised and borrowed more than $300 million and did not use it to pay down its debt suggests that previous leadership teams were misguided in their financial priorities.
&#8220;The former leadership built a broken budget with an operating deficit of 100 million dollars and a bottom-line deficit of $26 million,” Arduin told The Daily Wire. “We have now truly balanced the budget.”
In March, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-kennedy-center-is-40-million-in-debt-will-make-major-cuts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that Arduin informed staff the Kennedy Center had “no cash to pay our bills.” At the time, Grenell announced that he planned to make staff reductions and slash executive salaries.

The Kennedy Center

Former Kennedy Center Execs Fabricated Financials To Hide Deficit Spending, Internal Docs Show

Kennedy Center

Richard Grenell

Washington D.C.

Editor’s Note: Last week was all about 100 days of President Donald Trump. But what if he lost on November 5, 2024? We spent the week thinking about this Bizarro World alternate universe.
&#8212;
Just over one hundred days ago, President Kamala Harris placed her hand on a signed copy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s memoir and took the Oath of Office.
It’s been a tumultuous few months since America’s first black-Indian-female president moved her power suits and boxes of unsold “I’m Speaking” t-shirts into the Oval Office. The Daily Wire has done its best to keep up with the firehose of news coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and while we appreciate you joining us on this journey, we understand if you’ve had a hard time keeping up.
So, to mark this milestone of the Harris administration, let’s take stock of where we are.
The Harris-Walz administration has some pretty major problems, both at home and abroad. But you wouldn’t know based on the smiling faces at the White House Easter Egg Roll, which this year was dually billed as the Transgender Day of Visibility Parade.
First Gentleman Doug Emhoff was all smiles dancing to Katy Perry. In lieu of a traditional Easter bunny, children posed with Emhoff’s daughter, Ella, who donned bunny ears and dyed her armpit hair festive pastels for the occasion. Second Lady Gwen Walz was set to hold court at the Planned Parenthood Storybook Corner, but her delivery of “Pat The Bunny” was reportedly so disconcerting that most children fled in tears.
Not present at the event was Harris&#8217;s predecessor, Joe Biden, who you&#8217;ll remember was granted a full and unconditional pardon from Harris just hours after being sworn in. Harris also pardoned Hunter Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and the members of the House January 6 Committee. All the pardons date back to 2014, an unprecedented sweep that had even some of Harris’s allies shocked. Legal experts say the only thing more shocking would have been for Biden to issue the pardons himself on his last day in office.
From there, it was off to the races. A group of red state attorneys general challenged Biden’s 11th-hour executive order declaring the Equal Rights Amendment “the law of the land.” The case made its way to the Supreme Court, where Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the liberals in a surprise 5-4 ruling, which held that public assertions of gender binaries were a violation of federal law.
Despite an almost complete lack of judicial challenges to her executive orders, President Harris’s agenda has not moved the needle on most of the issues facing Americans today. Nowhere is this clearer than the economy, where the Harris administration’s efforts to pull the country out of Biden’s economic mess have been hampered by her refusal to admit her predecessor’s mistakes or in any way deviate from his playbook.
Rather than cut taxes or play hardball with American trading partners, Harris has taken to giving pep talks. The latest, from an address marking her 100th day in office, shows that she’s not making much use of the White House speechwriting staff.
“Who saw that video from a couple weeks ago, the one of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo during the earthquake?” Harris asked the crowd at Emerge, a gala dedicated to honoring Democratic women. “Here those elephants were, and as soon as they felt the earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle and stood next to each other to protect the most vulnerable. Think about it. What a powerful metaphor.”
An unedited video of the speech posted by The Daily Wire was removed from Facebook, which has doubled down on censorship since Harris won the election. The newly formed Hate Speech Commission, co-chaired by Al Sharpton and Robin DiAngelo, said criticizing Harris&#8217;s speech was &#8220;bigoted.&#8221;
Harris’s commitment to “the most vulnerable” doesn&#8217;t seem to extend to the countless Americans murdered by illegal aliens, as illegal border crossings continue to beat previous records. Some 480,000 illegals have entered the country over the past 100 days. Like Biden did for Harris when she was vice president, Harris anointed Vice President Walz her border czar. Walz has done little to strengthen the border or keep criminal aliens from entering our country. Instead, the vice president spends most of his time wining and dining transgender athletes at White House ceremonies.
Things don’t look much better abroad. Hamas has not released a single hostage, and the bloody stalemate in Gaza seems destined to drag on as Harris and Secretary of State Pete Buttigieg issue nothing stronger than warnings for both sides to abide by international law.
Iran-backed Houthi terrorists continue their assaults on American and European ships, and Tehran, emboldened by its progress on developing a nuclear weapon, is becoming more and more brazen about funding the terrorists.
And Russia’s attacks on Ukraine continue apace, with Kyiv showing no signs that the latest $10 billion in American aid is doing much to win the war. Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky — whose rude performance in a February Oval Office meeting was met with further groveling from Harris and Walz — seems undeterred in his demands. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda machine has ceaselessly mocked Harris and Walz for their weakness on the world stage.
It’s unclear what will come from the next 100 days. Health and Human Services Secretary Vivek Murthy seems hellbent on following his tobacco ban by making red meat illegal, and Attorney General Cory Booker will almost certainly hold another press conference where he compares library fines to segregation. For our sake, let’s hope Secretary of State Buttigieg doesn’t have another gaffe like he had in Riyadh.
Press Secretary Harry Sisson did not respond to a request for comment.
To buoy their spirits, Republicans have jumped the gun on 2028 speculation. Senator JD Vance, resettling in the upper chamber, has demurred whenever approached about a potential campaign. And while former president Donald Trump has stoked 2028 speculation on Truth Social, it remains to be seen whether he’ll mount a third campaign.
As of this writing, Trump was last seen returning to Mar-A-Lago after a round of golf. Video shows the former president shaking hands and posing for pictures with guests, occasionally turning to the crowd to ask: “Miss me yet?”

President Biden And Vice President Harris Speak At Democratic National Committee’s Holiday Reception

What If Kamala Won? Imagining 100 Days Of President Kamala Harris

Hamas

Joe Biden

Kamala Harris

Tim Walz

Anyone who went to COVID.gov on Friday hoping to find information about where to get their 10th booster was in for a big shock.
The website, created by the Biden administration to spread information about vaccines and other government COVID policies, now <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/lab-leak-true-origins-of-covid-19/">redirects to a page</a> explaining how the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab.
&#8220;LAB LEAK: The True Origins of COVID-19&#8221; walks readers through the pandemic&#8217;s origins and exposes Dr. Anthony Fauci and other government officials who attempted to discredit the now-vindicated lab leak theory. The website explains how the coronavirus likely originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where a group called EcoHealth &#8220;used U.S. taxpayer dollars to facilitate dangerous gain-of-function research.&#8221;
Democrats and the mainstream media long dismissed this theory as a &#8220;conspiracy&#8221; and actively pushed a different narrative.
“&#8217;The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2&#8242; publication — which was used repeatedly by public health officials and the media to discredit the lab leak theory — was prompted by Dr. Fauci to push the preferred narrative that COVID-19 originated naturally,&#8221; the website says. &#8220;By nearly all measures of science, if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.&#8221;
&#8220;The American people deserve to know the truth about the Covid pandemic and we will always find ways to reach communities with that message,&#8221; a senior Trump administration official told Fox News.
The website makes the case against various government COVID recommendations, including mask mandates, lockdowns, and social distancing.
&#8220;There was no conclusive evidence that masks effectively protected Americans from COVID-19,&#8221; the website states. &#8220;Prolonged lockdowns caused immeasurable harm to not only the American economy, but also to the mental and physical health of Americans, with a particularly negative effect on younger citizens.&#8221;
It devotes an entire section to &#8220;New York Pandemic Failures,&#8221; which explains that then-Governor Andrew Cuomo and his administration &#8220;worked to cover up the tragic aftermath of their policy decisions in an apparent effort to shield themselves from accountability.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_909625" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909625" class="size-large wp-image-909625" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.01.47%E2%80%AFAM-1024x489.png" alt="" width="1024" height="489" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.01.47%E2%80%AFAM-1024x489.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.01.47%E2%80%AFAM-300x143.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.01.47%E2%80%AFAM-768x367.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.01.47%E2%80%AFAM-1536x733.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.01.47%E2%80%AFAM-2048x978.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />White House</div>
In addition to Cuomo, the website singles out Fauci for claiming that the coronavirus &#8220;just sort of appeared,&#8221; and notes that Biden granted Fauci a &#8220;full and unconditional pardon&#8221; shortly before leaving office.
<div id="attachment_909631" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-909631" class="size-large wp-image-909631" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.02.04%E2%80%AFAM-1024x487.png" alt="" width="1024" height="487" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.02.04%E2%80%AFAM-1024x487.png 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.02.04%E2%80%AFAM-300x143.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.02.04%E2%80%AFAM-768x365.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.02.04%E2%80%AFAM-1536x730.png 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Screenshot-2025-04-18-at-11.02.04%E2%80%AFAM-2048x973.png 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />White House</div>
All of the information on the website is &#8220;sourced from the House Oversight Committee website, a Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the U.S. House of Representatives.&#8221;

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Everyone Go To COVID.Gov Right Now. Just Trust Us.

Andrew Cuomo

Anthony Fauci

COVID-19

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday that he will challenge Senator John Cornyn in 2026, citing the Texas Republican’s frequent opposition to President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Paxton made the announcement during an appearance on Fox News&#8217; “The Ingraham Angle,&#8221; telling host Laura Ingraham that &#8220;it&#8217;s definitely time for a change in Texas.&#8221;
&#8220;We have a great U.S. Senator, Ted Cruz, and it&#8217;s time we have another great senator that will actually stand up for Republican values, fight for the values of the people of Texas, and also support Donald Trump in the areas he&#8217;s focused on, in a very significant way,&#8221; Paxton said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what I plan on doing.&#8221;
Paxton told Ingraham it was &#8220;hard to think of the things&#8221; Cornyn has &#8220;done good for Texas or for the country,&#8221; slamming the senator for &#8220;things like his gun restrictions, his lack of wanting to fund a border wall, and even opposing President Trump&#8217;s election in 2016 and in the most recent election.&#8221;
&#8220;There&#8217;s certainly many things to focus on that he has not done,&#8221; Paxton added, &#8220;and I think it&#8217;s time that somebody held him accountable for that.&#8221;
The attorney general also railed against Cornyn in a statement announcing his run, in which he pledged to “take a sledgehammer to the D.C. establishment.”
“John Cornyn has been in Washington for over two decades, and he has turned his back on President Trump and the America First Agenda time after time.”
“Texans deserve far better than a senator who thinks it’s ‘naive’ to build a border to protect our citizens,&#8221; Paxton said.
Paxton, who has served three terms as attorney general, has frequently criticized Cornyn. In a March interview with Punchbowl News, Paxton <a href="https://punchbowl.news/article/senate/paxton-plots-to-take-on-cornyn/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slammed</a> Cornyn for pushing gun control legislation and supporting American aid to Ukraine.
“I’m going to start calling him ‘Senator Ukraine,’ because he’s funding Ukraine more than he’s funding our border, and that’s a problem in Texas,” Paxton said.
Paxton has emerged as a leading voice on major issues, using his office to protect <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-texas-ag-investigating-school-officials-who-said-theyd-break-the-law?row=0&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Tim+Rice&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Texas+AG+Launches+Probe+Into+Schools+Scheming+To+Get+Boys+Onto+Girl+Sports+Teams&amp;category=News">women&#8217;s sports,</a> defending Texas A&amp;M&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/exclusive-texas-ag-to-defend-texas-am-over-decision-to-ban-campus-drag-shows?row=0&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;title=EXCLUSIVE%3A+Texas+AG+To+Defend+Texas+A%26M+Over+Decision+To+Ban+Campus+Drag+Shows&amp;category=News">decision</a> to ban a campus drag show, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/texas-arrests-48-year-old-woman-for-performing-illegal-abortions-operating-fake-clinics?row=0&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;title=Texas+Arrests+48-Year-Old+Woman+For+Performing+Illegal+Abortions%2C+Operating+Fake+Clinics&amp;category=News">prosecuting</a> a woman who performed illegal abortions.
Cornyn, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/john-thune-elected-senate-majority-leader?row=0&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;author=Tim+Pearce&amp;title=John+Thune+Elected+Senate+Majority+Leader&amp;category=News" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lost</a> the race to succeed Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell as Majority Leader, is <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/12NQYwfF1_c06LvP2Imx-54dTMjXJxrI2sz7MujKphFg/edit?tab=t.0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serving</a> his fourth term in the upper chamber. A mainstay in Republican politics, he previously served as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and as Senate Majority Whip.
Senate Republican leaders have <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/06/politics/cornyn-texas-senate-primary/index.html">reportedly asked</a> Trump to endorse Cornyn to put a stop to what could be a costly and high-profile primary. Speaking to CNN&#8217;s Manu Raju, Cornyn demurred on the question of Trump&#8217;s endorsement, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/06/politics/video/sen-john-cornyn-gop-texas-primary-donald-trump-manu-raju-digvid">noting</a> that &#8220;his endorsement will be important&#8221; and saying Trump will &#8220;make an endorsement when he&#8217;s ready.&#8221; Cornyn also said that he and the president have &#8220;a very good relationship.&#8221;
But it&#8217;s unclear if Trump — who once <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/20/donald-trump-ken-paxton-attorney-general/">floated</a> the idea of tapping Paxton as U.S. Attorney General — would back Cornyn, whom the president <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4120760-trump-rips-weak-ineffective-cornyn-romney/">once called</a> &#8220;weak [and] ineffective.&#8221;
A recent poll found that Paxton leads Cornyn by 20 points, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/us/politics/paxton-cornyn-senate.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> earlier this month.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Will Challenge Senator John Cornyn

John Cornyn

Ken Paxton

Senate

Texas

The Kennedy Center is $40 million in debt, and will soon begin “reducing expenses” to address its “difficult” financial situation, The Daily Wire has learned.
Kennedy Center Chief Financial Officer Donna Arduin emailed staff at noon Wednesday “in the spirit of transparency” to share “the difficult reality of our current financial situation.&#8221;
“For years, the Kennedy Center has been budgeting to lose money. Instead of balancing our bottom line, we have spent all the funds that were raised on paying off part of The REACH debt, leaving us $40 million in debt with no cash to pay our bills,” she wrote.
REACH is a multipurpose space that includes rehearsal spaces, studios, and more, which President Donald Trump criticized on a recent visit to the site.
“The road out of this economic environment will not be easy and the shift will be felt across the Center,” Arduin added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SCOOP: Kennedy Center’s newly-instated CFO just alerted the entire staff that it’s $40M in debt and has “no cash to pay our bills”
&#8220;The road out of this economic environment will not be easy and the shift will be felt across the Center&#8221;
Here&#8217;s the letter: <a href="https://t.co/fso3wovjaa">pic.twitter.com/fso3wovjaa</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/1904966366949494919?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 
Trump has made it a priority to reform the Kennedy Center, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-dumps-kennedy-center-board-puts-immediate-end-to-drag-shows-for-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">firing</a> its board and installing himself as its chairman. Trump also tapped Special Envoy Rick Grenell to serve as the Center’s interim director.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. , GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote in February. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
But Arduin’s letter makes it clear that the Kennedy Center’s largest problems have little to do with its repertoire.
“We have an operating deficit of over $100 million dollars,” she wrote to staff, “and are roughly $225 million dollars behind on capital maintenance needs, projects which are long overdue.”
Arduin notes that she and other Kennedy Center executives “are on a mission to turn this amazing performing arts center around.”
To get the Center out of the red, Grenell “has hired new Department leaders with lower salaries than those they replaced, including his salary which is dramatically lower than the previous President&#8217;s.”
The CFO also said that the Kennedy Center “will adopt business practices with performance goals to bring accountability to our patrons and philanthropists.”
“Therefore, we are reducing expenses enterprise-wide and will be using Key Performance Indicators to drive business decisions going forward.”
It is unclear exactly what cuts the Kennedy Center will make to rectify its financial situation. But the severity of Arduin’s letter, combined with the Trump administration’s dedication to reducing the scope of the federal workforce, could imply that layoffs are imminent.
Some have already begun. The Center on Tuesday laid off its five-member &#8220;social impact team,&#8221; the Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/03/26/kennedy-center-social-impact-team-trump/?utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=wp_main&amp;utm_source=twitter">reported.</a> The team&#8217;s mission was “to advance justice and equity” through Kennedy Center performances.
This is a developing story, refresh this page for updates.

EXCLUSIVE: Kennedy Center Is $40 Million In Debt, Will Make Major Cuts

Satanists who plan to perform a &#8220;black mass&#8221; in the Kansas Statehouse are undeterred by an attempt to move the event by Democrat Governor Laura Kelly, who critics say isn&#8217;t doing enough to make sure the event doesn&#8217;t happen.
The leader of the Kansas Satanic Grotto told The Daily Wire that he will defy Kelly&#8217;s attempt to move the event out of the government building. Michael Stewart, who calls himself “The Devil of Kansas,” said Kelly “caved” to pressure from Republicans and Catholics on Wednesday when she ordered the planned March 28 “black mass” moved to the steps outside the statehouse.
“I will be performing that black mass in our State Capitol,” Stewart said. “If they have to arrest me, then they have to arrest me. I will be putting the call out to every satanist within three hours of Kansas City or Topeka and saying, ‘Who wants to march into the Capitol with me?’ We&#8217;ll see how many show up.”
An explicit parody of the Catholic Mass, satanic black masses have <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262621/kansas-bishops-call-for-prayers-plan-legal-response-to-planned-black-mass" target="_blank" rel="noopener">historically involved</a> the desecration of consecrated Communion Hosts, which Catholics believe to be the body, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ. In a statement, the Catholic Bishops of Kansas said that any planned desecration of the Eucharist would “be an insult to not only Catholics but all people of goodwill.”
During the event, the Satanic Grotto <a href="https://www.kwch.com/2025/03/12/gov-kelly-responds-plans-black-mass-event-kansas-statehouse/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> it will “dedicate the grounds and our legislature to the glory of Satan” by “indulging in sacrilegious blaspheme.”
“We have wafers,” Stewart told The Daily Wire. “I don&#8217;t want to comment on whether they&#8217;re consecrated or not because that would ruin the mystery.”
Stewart said he did “not believe anyone in our group has obtained a consecrated wafer through illegal or fraudulent means.” Pressed if those “illegal or fraudulent means” included a member of the Satanic Grotto receiving Communion in a Catholic Church, Stewart said, “The Catholics have informed me that that&#8217;s all their property, so as far as I know, there is no legal way to grab it.”
Chuck Weber, Executive Director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, says Kelly isn&#8217;t doing nearly enough to stop the black mass.
“Make no mistake, it’s going to be a vile and despicable satanic worship ritual,” Weber told The Daily Wire, adding that Kelly’s decision to move the event from inside to the statehouse steps is “a distinction without a difference,” akin to moving something from your living room to the front porch.
Weber expressed frustration with Kelly’s statement, noting that while she emphasized Kansans&#8217; rights to “free expression,” she failed to exercise her “duty to express her condemnation of this provocative hatred and anti-Catholic bigotry.”
“There are more constructive ways to protest and express disagreements without insulting or denigrating sacred religious symbols,” Kelly <a href="https://www.governor.ks.gov/Home/Components/News/News/573/56" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “However, as governor, I also have a duty to protect protesters’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression, regardless of how offensive or distasteful I might find the content to be.”
Kelly’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Former Kansas congressman Tim Huelskamp, a Republican, told The Daily Wire that this issue transcends politics.
“Every politician, whether they’re Catholic or not, should do everything within their power to make certain this event doesn’t happen,” he said. “There should be no black mass ever held on state property in Kansas, and I think it’s within the right and responsibility of the attorney general and the governor of Kansas to make sure this doesn’t happen.”
Ironically, the satanist Stewart is also disappointed in Kelly’s statement. He says he’s “supported the Democratic Party in the past” because he believes that “no human is illegal,” and tries “to be anti-racist.” But “in the wake of Biden” and “the way everything&#8217;s turned out” with the black mass, he says he’s “sick of” Democrats.
“Hell, I&#8217;ll run for governor in 2026,” Stewart said. “The Devil of Kansas for Governor.”
In 2014, the Archdiocese of Oklahoma <a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/30380/successful-okla-lawsuit-could-stop-future-black-masses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued</a> to stop an occult group that claimed to be in possession of a consecrated Host from holding a black mass. The Archdiocese successfully argued that the Host was stolen property, and the organizers were forced to turn it over to a Catholic priest. If the Kansas Satanic Grotto is found to be in possession of a consecrated Host, the Archdiocese of Kansas and its allies could rely on the Oklahoma case to launch a similar suit.
Stewart told The Daily Wire that the point of the black mass “is not to mock the Catholic Church,” but to engage in a kind of “therapeutic blasphemy” wherein satanists “express some of the anger, and the pain and the sorrow” they feel from their Catholic or other religious upbringings.
Weber echoed the Kansas bishops in calling for Catholics to pray for Stewart’s conversion “during this season of Lent,” when Catholics prepare for Easter with fasting and penitence. Weber observed that the story of Satan tempting Jesus in the desert — which Catholics hear each year on the first Sunday of Lent — offers a model for how to respond to the Kansas satanists.
“Jesus doesn’t ignore the devil,” Weber noted, “but He doesn’t give him that much more oxygen, either.”

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Kansas Gov Not Doing Enough To Stop Satanists From Performing ‘Black Mass’ At Capitol, Critics Say

Catholic Church

Kansas

satanic

WASHINGTON—Vice President JD Vance on Friday hailed the Trump administration’s foreign policy as an effort to protect “Christian rights all over the world,” hours before the president is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House.
“Where I think President Trump’s policy is the most in accord with Christian social teaching and with the Catholic faith, is that more than any president of my lifetime, President Trump has pursued a path of peace,” Vance said at the 20th annual National Catholic Prayer Breakfast.
“One of the things that I am most ashamed about is that in the United States of America, sometimes it is our foreign misadventures that lead to the eradication of historical Christian communities all over the world,” Vance added.
“When President Trump talks about the need to bring peace, whether it’s in Russia and Ukraine, whether it’s in the Middle East, we of course have to recognize that as a policy oriented towards saving lives and carrying out one of Christ’s most important commandments.”
&#8220;That is, in my view, perhaps the most important way in which Donald Trump has been a defender of Christian rights all over the world, as he has a foreign policy that is oriented towards peace.&#8221;
Vance’s comments come just hours before Trump and Zelensky meet at the White House for a highly-anticipated conversation on the future of American aid to Ukraine. Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-russia-ukraine-deal-will-happen-fairly-soon-or-it-wont-happen-at-all?topStoryPosition=undefined" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raised the stakes</a> ahead of the meeting, saying that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine will “either be fairly soon or it won’t be at all.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Trump administration officials met with a Russian delegation to begin negotiations earlier this month, without any Ukrainian representatives present. In response, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/you-couldve-made-a-deal-trump-blames-ukraine-for-ongoing-war-with-russia" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zelensky said</a> that he “will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine.”
After touching on foreign policy, Vance largely focused on the role of Christian faith in public life. The vice president joked about his recent conversion to Catholicism, calling himself a “Baby Catholic” and noting that “sometimes, the bishops get mad at me.”
“If you ever hear me pontificating about the Catholic faith, please recognize it comes from a place of deep belief, but it also comes from a place of not always knowing everything all the time,” he said.
Vance briefly touched on Pope Francis’s criticisms of the Trump administration’s immigration policy, gently but firmly holding his ground in the face of papal rebuke.
“You obviously know my views, and I will speak to them consistently because I think that I have to do it because it serves the best interest in the American people,” Vance said. But rather than launch into a lengthy defense of the White House’s immigration policies, the vice president urged American Catholics to avoid fighting about the Pope’s exhortation.
“I think that sometimes a lot of conservative Catholics are too preoccupied with the political criticisms of a particular clergy member or the leader of the Catholic Church,” Vance said. “It&#8217;s not in the best interests of any of us to treat the religious leaders of our faith as just another social media influencer.”
“Frankly, that goes in both ways, if I could be so bold,” Vance added, saying it was “incumbent upon our religious leaders to recognize that in the era of social media, people will hang on every single word that they utter, even if that wasn&#8217;t their intention, and even if a given declaration wasn&#8217;t meant for consumption in the social media age.”
Vance stressed that, for all their disagreements, he believes that “the pope is fundamentally a person who cares about the flock of Christians under his leadership.” He recalled fondly Pope Francis’s speech during the height of the COVID pandemic, praising him “as a great pastor, as a man who can speak the truth of the faith in a very profound way at a moment of great crisis.”
The vice president then led the crowd in a prayer for the Holy Father’s health.
Around 1,400 people attended the 20th annual breakfast, the theme of which was “hope.” Among the guests were newly-confirmed Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
Philanthropist Terry Kaster and Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker were also briefly honored, though they did not deliver any remarks.
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) was honored with the “Christifideles Laici Award,” given every year to honor a Catholic layman who has served the Church. Smith was hailed for his work fighting the global AIDS pandemic and advancing pro-life policies in the United States.
“More people are alive today, more people live with a greater sense of dignity today…because of the work of Chris Smith,” National Catholic Prayer Breakfast board member Tim Saccoccia said in his introduction.
During his speech, Smith praised Trump for appointing the judges who helped overturn Roe v. Wade and taking steps to defend the pro-life movement during his second term.
“We are moving towards a culture of life: coming to America, and coming to the world,” Smith said.

JD Vance

Hours Before Zelensky Meeting, Vance Praises Trump For Pursuing ‘A Path Of Peace’

Immigration

Pope Francis

Ukraine-Russia War

Volodymyr Zelensky

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is investigating two school districts whose officials were caught on tape saying they would help alter records for male students so they could play girls’ sports, The Daily Wire has learned.
Accuracy In Media last month <a href="https://aim.org/2025/01/13/texas-schools-found-skirting-gender-law-aim-undercover-investigation-reveals/">exposed</a> two school officials in separate districts saying they would violate a Texas law that requires students to play on teams that match their sex. Though the two administrators don’t seem to have had any contact with each other, the similarity of their answers suggests a willingness among Texas public school staff to put their ideological beliefs above the law. 
Now, Paxton is demanding answers from the two school districts to better understand the situation.
“The idea of school district officials turning their backs on female students and sacrificing the integrity of women’s athletics to advance the radical transgender agenda is disgusting,” Paxton told the The Daily Wire. “Any systematic effort by a school district to sidestep state law and allow biological boys to play in girls’ sports in Texas will be rooted out, and my office will explore all avenues to hold those responsible to account.”
Paxton’s investigation could have sweeping consequences. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/surrounded-by-young-female-athletes-donald-trump-bans-men-from-womens-sports?topStoryPosition=undefined">executive order</a> stipulating that the United States will “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”
In January, an Accuracy In Media reporter posing as a parent approached Dallas Independent School District’s LGBT Youth Program Coordinator Mahoganie Gaston, and Reny Lizardo, the executive director of campus operations at the Irving Independent School District.
Asked if there were ways to circumvent Texas’s prohibition on boys playing on girls’ sports teams, both officials were quick to offer “loopholes.”
Gaston said parents could simply “update” the gender on their child’s birth certificate — a violation of Texas law. She claimed that she “would go to jail” to help a transgender-identifying student join a sports team, and <a href="https://wjactv.com/news/nation-world/texas-school-district-official-acknowledges-loopholes-in-trans-sports-law-video-shows-dallas-independent-school-district-lgbtq-coordinatior-accuracy-in-media">boasted</a> that she would have no trouble finding allies if she faced legal trouble.
“If you can get that done, and you turn us a birth certificate that says ‘this gender,’ that&#8217;s the gender we go with,” Lizardo said, adding “it’s not illegal if you don’t get caught.” In a statement, Irving ISD distanced itself from Lizardo, who <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/sports/school-responds-video-admin-telling-parents-alter-trans-kids-birth-certificate-play-girls-sports">resigned</a> in the wake of the Accuracy In Media report.
&#8220;Irving ISD complies with all state and federal laws, and all employees are expected to adhere to any and all legal and ethical standards,” the district said in a statement,” adding that Lizardo “was acting outside of his role as it relates to legal and regulatory expertise.”
It is unclear if Gaston is still employed by Dallas ISD, which did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Supreme Court Hears Expedited Challenges Over Texas Abortion Ban

EXCLUSIVE: Texas AG Launches Probe Into Schools Scheming To Get Boys Onto Girl Sports Teams

Former college swimmer and women&#8217;s rights advocate Riley Gaines is slated to speak at a members&#8217; lunch on Wednesday, The Daily Wire has learned.
Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer, became the face of the fight to save women’s sports after competing against trans-identifying male swimmer Lia Thomas. Wednesday’s event is the latest point of collaboration between Gaines and the committee, whose members have led the charge on protecting women’s sports and spaces.
Gaines was on Capitol Hill last month when the House of Representatives passed the Protection of Women and Girls Act, which was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/house-again-passes-bill-to-protect-womens-sports">introduced</a> by Republican Study Committee member Rep. Greg Steube (FL).
“Americans are united in our belief that men have no place in women’s sports, whether it’s breaking records, entering locker rooms, or stealing scholarship opportunities,” Steube <a href="https://mikejohnson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1526">said at the time</a>. “Denying biological truth erases fairness in sports and puts women’s safety and opportunities at risk.”
Gaines praised House Republicans for passing the bill, which she said brings the country “one step closer to ensuring no more women lose trophies, roster spots, playing time, scholarships, or fair competition to men in their own sport.”
As The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-trump-learned-to-embrace-the-transgender-culture-wars">chronicled</a>, Gaines was one of several activists whose work helped bring President Donald Trump around on the transgender issue. Trump, who shied away from the issue during his 2020 campaign, made it a pillar of his 2024 race — a move that helped <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-exposed-kamalas-radical-stances-on-gender-americans-voted-against-it">propel him</a> to a landslide victory.
Since taking office, Trump has taken several steps to protect biological women. On his first day in office, he signed an executive order stipulating it was the official policy of the United States that there are <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-to-sign-executive-order-defining-sex-as-male-and-female">only two genders</a>. Just days later, he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wire-celebrates-trumps-move-to-ban-child-transgender-medical-transitions">signed an order</a> banning taxpayer-funded gender transitions for minors, a move that has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hospitals-across-u-s-stop-transitioning-children-after-trump-signs-order-protecting-kids">already stopped</a> hospitals from performing these often irreversible procedures.
Gaines made headlines once again this week thanks to her appearance in an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/j-k-rowling-shares-powerful-ad-about-protecting-female-sports-but-theres-more-to-the-story">ad showcasing</a> her and other female athletes who have faced criticism for defending women’s sports.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is the first and likely the last time I’ll retweet an ad, but I love it. <a href="https://t.co/oALpr5c10v">pic.twitter.com/oALpr5c10v</a>
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) <a href="https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1886348443745976525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 
J.K. Rowling, who has also come under fire for her defense of biological women, shared the ad on X, saying, “This is the first and likely the last time I’ll retweet an ad, but I love it.”
The Republican Study Committee is viewed as the policy engine of House Republicans. Its decision to host Gaines signals its continued dedication to leading on gender issues.

Riley Gaines and House Republicans Speak Following Vote On The Protection Of Women And Girls In Sports Act

Republican Study Committee Set To Host Riley Gaines

House Republicans

Riley Gaines

Transgender

Women's sports

As I joined the growing number of tuxedoed Washingtonians abandoning their Ubers on 14th Street, choosing to brave the frigid temperatures rather than wait another minute behind a blockade, I tried to ignore the biting wind and focus on my mantra: I have to make it to the TikTok party.
Shuffling down the road, I wondered what to expect. Would the Inauguration Eve shindig be just another DC party full of lobbyists and waiters circulating with chicken skewers? Or would I be plunged headfirst into an unfamiliar scene and spend the night awkwardly mingling with too-cool influencers?
It was a little bit of both. I waited in line with a prominent conservative tweeter and a newly-minted White House staffer. The second we got inside, I saw a platoon of trendy partygoers jostling to get their fur-collared overcoats from coat check as a clip of Matt Walsh played on the screen behind them.
Turning to my left, I saw Chelly, a TikTok influencer who specializes in Vivek Ramaswamy impersonations. That pretty much summed up the vibe at the Power 30 Awards and Inauguration Party.
<div id="attachment_864407" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-864407" class="size-large wp-image-864407" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-200-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-200-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-200-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-200-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-200-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-200-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-200-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-200.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Shindelverse Photography)</div>
Maybe this is how Democrats feel all the time. You show up to a party and see Beyonce doing lemon drops with Janet Yellen. But most of us aren’t used to this seamless intermingling of politics and celebrity. I can safely say that I’ve never been invited to a party where Liz Truss and Conor McGregor were feted in the VIP lounge while people got bottle service downstairs in honor of Walsh, his fellow Daily Wire hosts, and other conservative influencers like Riley Gaines.
<div id="attachment_864413" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-864413" class="size-large wp-image-864413" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-049-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-049-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-049-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-049-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-049-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-049-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-049-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-049.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Shindelverse Photography)</div>
You could argue – and many have – that this party was nothing more than TikTok’s ploy to woo those in Trump’s orbit so the president would save the Chinese-owned app. And that was obviously part of it, as the #SaveTikTok step-and-repeat set up in the lobby suggested.
But there was something else going on here. TikTok didn’t need to spend $50,000 on a party just to lobby the Trump administration — that’s what lobbyists are for. Nor did the party need to be so … cool. The bottle girls with sparklers and signs, like something out of a Miami nightclub; the DJ spinning a set that multiple people described as “like a college party – in a good way!” And of course, the headline event: Waka Flocka Flame, live in person, throwing McDonald’s cheeseburgers to the crowd.
<div id="attachment_864411" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-864411" class="size-large wp-image-864411" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-338-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-338-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-338-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-338-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-338-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-338-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-338-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-338.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Shindelverse Photography)</div>
This isn’t the kind of party you throw because you have to. This is the kind of party you throw because you want to.
By now, I’m probably the 100th writer to comment on the vibe shift that followed Donald Trump back to the White House. Whether it’s Nelly performing at the Inauguration or Kim Kardashian praising Melania Trump’s swearing-in outfit, the most unlikely people are rushing to celebrate Trumpworld.
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Critics – the haters, to put it in TikTok parlance – say these celebrities are just acting out of fear. But we know that’s not true, because they didn’t do it last time. For the past eight years, hating Trump has been as en vogue in Hollywood as Ozempic and cropped sweatshirts. But things are different now. Famous people don’t just want to celebrate conservatives – they want people to know they’re doing it.
Oscar de la Renta didn’t just dress Usha Vance — the label bragged about it. Maybe Kim Kardashian felt like she had to praise Melania to seem polite. But her sister Khloe clearly had something else in mind when she shared a Daily Wire reporter’s tweet criticizing Los Angeles’ Democratic mayor. Clearly, something has shifted in the American consciousness.
Which brings us back to the TikTok party.
<div id="attachment_864433" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-864433" class="size-large wp-image-864433" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-057-384x576.jpg" alt="" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-057-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-057-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-057-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-057-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-057-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/SHINDELVERSE-057.jpg 1365w" sizes="(max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />(Shindelverse Photography)</div>
Watching Taylor Lorenz and her bejeweled mask mingle with content creators and conservative journalists in the VIP lounge, I couldn’t help but think about Joe and Stewart Alsop, brothers whose columns were required reading in midcentury Washington. In 1952, Joe predicted that “Eisenhower’s Washington will, I think, be unbearably boring,” while Stewart dismissed Republicans as “dull fellows who work late and go to bed early.” Years later, Joe cheered the Kennedy administration for reviving DC’s social scene and influencing it with “glamour, which is not a quality usually associated with Washington.”
Since then, Republicans have always been the boring party. When Democrats are in the White House, the media rush to profile where the president dines, what neighborhoods are being made trendy by young staffers, and more. Republican administrations, meanwhile, bring weepy pieces about the death of the district’s cocktail bars or innovative restaurants.
That doesn’t seem to be happening this time. For the first time since the Alsops cheered the fun and freedom that would come with Camelot, the tastemakers and socialites want to hang out with Republicans.
If that’s not a vibe shift, I don’t know what is.

SHINDELVERSE-346

I Went To TikTok’s Inauguration Party. The Trump Vibe Shift Is Real.

TikTok

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Tim Rice