Editor’s note: This week, we’re reprinting some of our best stories from the past year. This piece, originally published in November, details the Biden administration&#8217;s apparent unwillingness to protect one European nation from the predations of another.
In the final months of 2022, President Joe Biden was dealing with one foreign policy crisis after another.
The crisis dominating headlines and requiring the administration’s immediate attention that year was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But there was another conflict brewing, around 200 miles south of Russia’s border.
In December 2022, Azerbaijan set up environmental protests as a false flag to illegally block the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inside of Azerbaijan that had been the home of ethnic Armenians for thousands of years. In the months that followed, the Azerbaijani regime in Baku ramped up its attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, as Armenian soldiers and civilians were killed in intense fighting.
Azerbaijan also cut off electricity and prevented food and aid from reaching the region, forcing around 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the place they had called home since the 7th century B.C.
One senior Biden administration official appeared to be the ideal person to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and come to the aid of Armenians. Samantha Power, Biden’s Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), spent decades raising awareness for human rights issues, including highlighting the violence that Armenians have faced for decades. Power, a longtime journalist, gained more notoriety after publishing a book titled “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” in which she highlighted the Armenian genocide, among other genocides that she argues the U.S. government failed to stop.
“She was not your average Biden administration official,” Democratic political strategist Eric Hacopian told The Daily Wire. “Because she has this halo over her head about human rights.”
Her human rights activism and writing landed Power a coveted post in the Obama administration when she was tapped to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Power had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yNt7XsV-Dg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thrown her support</a> behind Obama’s 2008 campaign, arguing that he had an “unshakable conscientiousness about human rights on the issue of genocide prevention.” Power also highlighted then-candidate Obama’s support for recognizing the Armenian genocide and “his willingness as president to commemorate it and certainly to call a spade a spade and to speak truth about it.” That recognition never came under Obama, something for which Power <a href="https://x.com/SamanthaJPower/status/856561854520467457" target="_blank" rel="noopener">apologized</a>.
Power then became one of the most influential people within the Biden administration when it came to human rights, especially with Armenia. Then the conflict with Azerbaijan exploded.
Azerbaijan’s attacks in late 2022 and 2023 were not a surprise: President Ilham Aliyev’s regime had long hinted that it would push to take control of the region. Professor Nerses Kopalyan told The Daily Wire that the Biden administration’s “inaction” on preparing for such an attack was “shocking.”
“The fact that the United States&#8217; foreign policy establishment was privy to this information, their general inaction was quite shocking purely from the lens of humanitarianism, considering the fact that Samantha Power and the entire wing in the foreign policy structures in the Biden administration had for such a long time been very vocal and a strong proponent of humanitarian issues,” Kopalyan said.
“When it came time to walk the walk, Samantha Power and that branch of the Biden administration basically disappeared,” Kopalyan added. “So we realized that it was all talk and no action, and the blockade continued until the ethnic cleansing.”
Between November 2022 and September 2023, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken held three rounds of peace talks with Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the Biden administration <a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/6667fb89-a975-4fab-d8b8-e8875312e37e/09%2014%2023%20--%20Assessing%20The%20Crisis%20in%20Nagorno-Karabakh.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming</a> that the talks “yielded results.” But whatever was discussed during the meetings was not enough to stop Azerbaijan from proceeding with its plan to uproot over 100,000 Armenians from their home. Top Biden officials also <a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/6667fb89-a975-4fab-d8b8-e8875312e37e/091423_Kim_Testimony.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signaled</a> that the administration would not tolerate the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, a line that the Aliyev regime crossed without any consequences.
Internally, some officials in the Biden administration urged the White House to draw a red line for Azerbaijan, according to a former government official with knowledge of the situation who spoke to The Daily Wire on the condition of anonymity.
“We were certainly pushing for more fortitude on the part of the White House and the State Department in making it clear to Aliyev that there would be consequences for moving militarily on Nagorno-Karabakh,” the official said. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”
The source said that in the months prior to Azerbaijan’s offensive, “there was a sense” in the Biden administration that Baku would move militarily on Nagorno-Karabakh, adding that “there was outreach from Washington to Baku at a high level to dissuade that kind of action.”
“But that messaging was not married up with real consequences,” the former official added.
Despite Power’s apparent sympathy for the Armenian position, many Armenians believe that she left them out to dry. In the weeks and months leading up to Azerbaijan’s blockade, Power did not visit Armenia or make any major statements on aiding the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Hacopian, who is also an Armenian political commentator, told The Daily Wire that Power and USAID were “entirely insincere” in their efforts “early on in the process” before Azerbaijan launched its major offensive.
“They were never working to get aid into that region during the illegal Azerbaijani blockade,” Hacopian said. “They simply wanted to deal with the effects of the ethnic cleansing.”
He added that it was obvious that the Biden administration wanted to take a hands-off approach to the conflict, and that Power was “not willing to take a stand.”
“She, essentially, cynically went along for the ride, not saying a word,” Hacopian said. “And the moment the ethnic cleansing started, she showed up.”
“She’s wildly reviled here because of that,” he added.
Some of that disdain for Power was captured on camera after she arrived in Armenia in September 2023. During a press conference near the Azerbaijan border, Power was heckled in Armenia by someone who shouted, “Sanction Azerbaijan or go back to your country. You don’t care. Stop the lies.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="US Response to Calls for Sanctions in Azerbaijan: Samantha Power&#039;s Armenia Visit" width="422" height="750" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kk6KTtTh1KA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Power did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this piece.
The former Biden official who spoke to The Daily Wire on the condition of anonymity said that once Azerbaijan had forced the Armenians out of Nagorno-Karabakh, discussions in the administration were “less about how do we punish Azerbaijan right now and more about what do we do to support Armenia in this moment.”
“We could’ve walked and chewed gum at the same time, but we didn’t,” the official said. “But I do think there was an effort to try to show up for Armenia.”

Best Of 2025: The Human Rights Activist Who Couldn’t Save Her Cause: How A Top Biden Official Failed Armenia

Armenia

Biden Administration

Global Politics

Joe Biden

World

The Department of Housing and Urban Development revealed that there were over $5 billion in “potential payment errors” made with rental assistance during the last fiscal year of the Biden administration.
Specifically, the department’s annual financial report found possible “improper payments,” as well as “process gaps” and “material weaknesses” for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, a voucher program, and Project-Based Rental Assistance programs in fiscal year 2024.
“A massive abuse of taxpayer dollars not only occurred under President Biden’s watch, but was effectively incentivized by his administration’s failure to implement strong financial controls resulting in billions’ worth of potential improper payments,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement on Tuesday.
“HUD will continue investigating the shocking results and will take appropriate action to hold bad actors accountable. Additionally, the Department is advancing efforts made under President Trump’s first administration to strengthen program integrity and ensure taxpayer-funded assistance serves the vulnerable communities it was intended for,” Turner continued.
The report also noted $77 million in potential payment errors made for tenants who have died, totaling 29,715 people, and $150.3 million in possible erroneous payments made for those with a Social Security number “that does not meet SSA rules” – just under 9,500 people.
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The report also highlighted payments doled out to over 165,000 people for “excessively high rents,” which was an estimated $287.6 million. HUD said that they are now working toward finding methods to keep a close eye on funding for Public Housing Authorities and those who receive grants from the federal government, according to a press release.
Since President Donald Trump retook office, there have been multiple major changes at HUD, including an audit on public housing authorities nationwide to ensure that illegal immigrants are not using taxpayer-funded resources.
&#8220;No longer will illegal aliens be able to leave citizenship boxes blank or take advantage of HUD-funded housing, riding the coattails of hardworking American citizens,&#8221; Turner stated at the time, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hud-launches-crackdown-illegal-immigration-public-housing-riding-coattails" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a> reported.
HUD and the Department of Homeland Security announced a Memorandum of Understanding in March to provide information as it relates to illegal immigrants in the public housing system.
“The Biden Administration prioritized illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens taxpayer-funded housing at the expense of Americans. Not anymore. The entire government will work together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally. If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now. The gravy train is over,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated, according to a press release at the time.

Senate Hearing Examines Eric Scott Turner To Be HUD Secretary

Trump Admin Finds Billions Of Dollars In Possible ‘Payment Errors’ During Biden-Era

Executive

Housing and Urban Development

scott turner

Trump Administration

U.S.

waste fraud abuse

President Donald Trump has spent this year unwrapping an economy handed to him by former President Joe Biden. Inside the box: inflation and sticker shock.
From when Biden took office in January 2021 through the end of December 2024, consumer prices rose <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-final-accounting-on-bidenflation-212613508.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAIfT9OGeVAKKbHJR4Tc3o4i4IUGV_jwsWj6OEQ8pCpV9PPLtJmCmTCXD4cqtQ1RwqCeiHtlpYZfcCj9KieR8wHDmrBZ3JmV40xfO9AUcSvmmtUin-czVIwgJGFLU1WUxtldZKbbACfYT06DHFrn6jaTYSiXXdyPTtPvvGasDDKHL">21.2</a>%. Even as inflation cools under President Trump, Americans are still living with the higher prices locked in during Biden’s term in office.
With the exception of George Washington, every president’s tenure runs the risk of being defined by the lingering effects of their predecessor’s policies. That reality has put the Trump White House on the defensive. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has repeatedly pushed back against the notion that today’s economy belongs to Trump alone.
She’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/those-were-two-utter-lies-white-house-press-briefing-turns-contentious-over-affordability">described</a> Democrats as “the greatest con artists in history,” who are “trying to claim ownership of an issue that they created.” On offense, the press secretary says that by economic measures, things are actually looking up.
“Every economic metric does in fact show that the economy is getting better and brighter than where it was under the previous administration,” Leavitt said. Shortly after that statement, November inflation came in at 2.7% and GDP growth surged to 4.3% — far exceeding expectations.
While the economic playing field is never fully level, Joe Biden and Donald Trump occupy a rare position as the only presidents in modern U.S. history to both inherit the monetary effects of the other.
President Joe Biden received an average inflation of 1.9% and an economy primed with two stimulus packages from President Trump.
In March of 2020, Trump signed the CARES Act into law, a $2.2 trillion stimulus package that acted as a lifeline to shut-down businesses all over the country. The package was passed unanimously in the Senate and 388 to 5 in the House of Representatives — notably, the five representatives who voted against the bill were Republicans who were concerned about the cost and impacts to the federal deficit.
In December of 2020, Trump signed a second relief package totaling $900 billion, which included another round of direct payments. Six Republican senators voted against the bill; no Democrats opposed it. The House passed the measure 359-53. The 53 who voted against the bill <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-democrats-voted-against-stimulus-why-1556574?utm_source=chatgpt.com">included</a> 50 Republicans who broke with party leadership. The legislation was a compromise, with Republicans pushing for limited total spending, and Democrats demanding larger checks and extended unemployment benefits.
One year later, Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law, more than double the size of Trump’s final stimulus package. The bill sent $1,400 checks to Americans in a bustling economy. Not a single Republican voted to pass the legislation.
Economists later echoed the concern that all three of the stimulus packages inflated the economy. “Both Trump and Biden contributed to the fiscal stimulus that fed into the inflation,” <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/republicans-rnc-blame-biden-inflation-economists-misleading/story?id=112022864">said</a> George Selgin, senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
Biden had average inflation during his term of 4.9% while Trump had average inflation of 1.9%. Trump’s inflation reached a high of 2.5% during his first term while Biden’s reached a high of 9.1% in June 2022.
Economist Peter Morici was blunt in his <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Business/republicans-rnc-blame-biden-inflation-economists-misleading/story?id=112022864">assessment</a> of where blame should be issued.
“It was irresponsible to do stimulus when the economy was well on its way to recovery. Blame is falling where it’s due. Biden does bear responsibility for the endurance of COVID inflation.”
As inflation finally began to cool, credit shifted elsewhere. Many point to former Senator Joe Manchin for blocking additional spending that could have further fueled price increases. Left-wing MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough <a href="https://townhall.com/tipsheet/spencerbrown/2022/06/14/scarborough-says-you-can-just-thank-joe-manchin-inflation-isnt-worse-n2608707?utm_source=chatgpt.com">remarked</a>, “You can just thank Joe Manchin if you&#8217;re glad that interest rates aren’t even higher,” referring to the interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve had to implement in an attempt to tame inflation.
Billionaire entrepreneur and investor Sam Zell <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/billionaire-praises-manchin-saving-us-catastrophic-biden-bill-1716160?utm_source=chatgpt.com">agreed</a>, saying, “Unfortunately, we only had one senator who stepped up to the line when, in fact, everyone should have stepped up and recognized this was a disastrous policy.”
Others issued credit to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Republican Senator John Kennedy said, “It seems to me that you and some of … your colleagues deserve some credit for that. … I’m not saying things are perfect, but I never imagined that our landing could be this soft.”
The “soft landing” has continued into Trump’s second term with an average of 2.7% inflation so far. But lower inflation does not mean lower prices — and now, voters are left paying the bill. As Americans continue to confront elevated sticker prices, Republicans will be forced to defend seats in an economy still shaped by stimulus spending many warned against.

Biden-Inflation copy

Biden’s Only Gift For Trump Was The Inflation Crisis

COVID

Donald Trump

Economy

Inflation

Politics

The Biden administration’s State Department went full DEI on its diplomats — so full that it changed the official typeface of America’s foreign service, a problem that has been rectified by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
In 2023, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, following the sage advice of the department’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, decreed that all official communications ditch the venerable Times New Roman font and adopt the modern, sans-serif Calibri. The rationale? Accessibility. Calibri, with its soft curves and wide spacing, is supposedly easier for readers with dyslexia, low vision, or those using screen readers. The Biden administration decided that the shape of letters could save the planet — or at least make it slightly easier for a diplomat to decipher a memo.
Enter Rubio, who on Tuesday <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/us/politics/rubio-state-department-font.html">dropped</a> the bureaucratic hammer: Calibri was canceled. Times New Roman, back in all its serif glory, was reinstated, 14-point and all.
Rubio’s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/rubio-stages-font-coup-times-new-roman-ousts-calibri-2025-12-09/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">cable</a> to all American diplomatic posts, titled, “Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper,” stated, “To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department’s written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface. &#8230; This formatting standard aligns with the President’s One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations directive, underscoring the Department’s responsibility to present a unified, professional voice in all communications.”
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Rubio called the Calibri switch “wasteful” and “the degradation of the department’s official correspondence.” Serif fonts, he pointed out, have gravitas, history, and small decorative strokes — small strokes that apparently signal “professionalism” to anyone who matters in international diplomacy. Calibri, by contrast, was informal and clashed with official letterhead.
The lengths the Biden administration went to in the name of DEI here are almost comical. Not content with conventional anti-discrimination or accessibility programs, they weaponized typography, tinkering with letter shapes and point sizes — moving from 14 to 15 points — for the supposed benefit of readers who might struggle with letters. Accessibility advocates cheered; traditionalists grimaced.
Rubio’s reversal reads like a return to classical civilization, citing Roman antiquity and the script on the side of Air Force One as justification for reinstating serifs. The underlying story is less about fonts than about the extreme lengths to which the Biden administration pursued DEI, turning even the most mundane elements of office life — point sizes, font shapes, the very appearance of text — into battlegrounds for ideology.
Under Biden, DEI became so pervasive, so absurdly detailed, that the font on your official memo wasn’t just about readability — it was a statement, a policy, and, apparently, a revolutionary act. Rubio just undid it, and the world of diplomacy is back to serif conservatism.

US hosts Australian defense, foreign ministers for 2+2 meeting

Serifs Strike Back: Rubio Rejects Biden’s DEI-Driven Font Agenda

Antony Blinken

font

Marco Rubio

State Department

A Biden-era health official who identifies as transgender is outraged that the current Department of Health and Human Services has changed his nameplate to showcase his birth name, Richard Levine, instead of his trans-identifying name, Rachel Levine.
On Tuesday, HHS took to X to unapologetically confirm the change, which apparently took place during the Democrat-backed government shutdown.
The portrait plaque is displayed in the HHS offices.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Can confirm! <a href="https://t.co/PdErnBJVqh">https://t.co/PdErnBJVqh</a> <a href="https://t.co/yuZGMfK6xw">pic.twitter.com/yuZGMfK6xw</a>
— HHS (@HHSGov) <a href="https://twitter.com/HHSGov/status/1998419995479663032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
Levine was upset about the change, calling it &#8220;petty&#8221; and an act of &#8220;bigotry.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m not going to comment on this type of petty action,&#8221; Levine told NPR.
However, he did respond through a spokesperson. &#8220;During the federal shutdown, the current leadership of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health changed Admiral Levine&#8217;s photo to remove her current legal name and use a prior name,&#8221; Adrian Shanker said, calling the change &#8220;bigotry against her.&#8221;
The current HHS argued that the change better reflects their mission to express &#8220;gold standard science&#8221; at all times.
&#8220;Our priority is ensuring that the information presented internally and externally by HHS reflects gold standard science,&#8221; HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hhs-changes-transgender-biden-officials-nameplate-back-birth-name-during-shutdown">said</a>. &#8220;We remain committed to reversing harmful policies enacted by Levine and ensuring that biological reality guides our approach to public health.&#8221;
During his tenure, Levine <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trans-secretary-levine-dubs-self-agencys-first-female-four-star-officer-in-bizarre-video-highlighting-diversity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed</a> the title of the “first female four-star officer” in a video boasting about “diversity” at HHS. He was also widely criticized for his support of so-called transgender “care” for minors, which opponents highlight is often irreversible and damaging to children.
Additionally, Levine seemed to advocate for the censorship of opposing views on the issue.
“There is substantial misinformation about gender-affirming care for transgender and gender-diverse individuals,” Levine <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/dec/26/dr-rachel-levine-slammed-after-calling-big-tech-cl/">said</a> back in May 2022 during a presentation before the Federation of State Medical Boards in New Orleans.
“We need to get our voices in the public eye, and we know how effective our medical community can be talking to communities, whether it’s at town halls, schools, conversations with others, and we need to use our clinicians’ voice to collectively advocate for our tech companies to create a healthier, cleaner information environment,” Levine added.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-biden-official-pushed-big-tech-to-censor-misinformation-on-trans-care-for-minors-video-shows?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Top+Biden+Official+Pushed+Big+Tech+To+Censor+‘Misinformation’+On+Trans+‘Care’+For+Minors%2C+Video+Shows">Top Biden Official Pushed Big Tech To Censor ‘Misinformation’ On Trans ‘Care’ For Minors, Video Shows</a>

Screen Shot 2022-03-22 at 12.47.56 PM

Trans-Identifying Biden Official Outraged Trump HHS Changed His Nameplate

Department of Health and Human Services

Rachel Levine

Social Issues

Transgender

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) called the Inspector General report on the “so-called scandal” surrounding War Secretary Pete Hegseth&#8217;s use of a Signal chat a “nothingburger” on Sunday.
On ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos asked Schmitt about the Signal issue, quoting the Inspector General report.
“Here&#8217;s a quote from the Department of Defense Inspector General report on that release of sensitive information over the Signal app. According to the inspector general, ‘the Secretary sent information identifying the quantity and strike times of manned U.S. aircraft over hostile territory over an unapproved, unsecure network approximately two to four hours before the execution of those strikes. The Secretary&#8217;s actions created a risk to operational security that could have resulted in failed U.S. mission objectives and potential harm to U.S. pilots.’ Isn&#8217;t that a concern?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“I reviewed the IG report, and it&#8217;s a nothingburger. The fact is, there was allegations that this was confidential or classified information. &#8230; It wasn&#8217;t. There was no operational integrity problems,” Schmitt said, going on to note that both operations Rough Rider and Midnight Hammer were “executed flawlessly.”
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“There&#8217;s no confidential or classified information that was disclosed,” the senator added before pivoting to highlight the legitimate scandal from the Biden administration in which former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin underwent an undisclosed medical procedure without notifying the president.
“Literally, we had a Secretary of Defense that wasn&#8217;t on duty, and nobody knew about it. Like, that&#8217;s a real problem. This was a nothingburger, and that&#8217;s what the IG report that I read last week in the SCIF indicated.”
Stephanopoulos pressed further, but Schmitt reiterated that no classified information was disclosed, and that Signal was “approved by the U.S. government for communications” before the &#8220;so-called scandal started.&#8221;
“But I think the bigger issue was, you know, in the previous administration, you had real operational risk, you had a department, you had a Secretary of Defense that was incapacitated in a surgery, and nobody knew about it for days. That&#8217;s a problem,” Schmitt concluded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Sen. Eric Schmitt tells George Stephanopoulos that he reviewed the IG&#8217;s report on the alleged release of sensitive information on the Signal messaging app: &#8220;There&#8217;s no confidential or classified information that was disclosed &#8230; This was a nothing burger.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/ZNfL4aWoP6">pic.twitter.com/ZNfL4aWoP6</a>
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/1997693761074143538?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The 2024 Republican National Convention

‘A Nothingburger’: Republican Senator Blasts Dem Hypocrisy Over ‘So-Called’ Signal Scandal

Republican Senator Blasts Dem Hypocrisy Over 'So-Called' Signal Scandal, Calling It 'A Nothingburger

ABC News

Lloyd Austin

Pete Hegseth

Signal

Brian Cole, Jr. worked for a bail bonds company run by his father that worked to free illegal immigrants from ICE facilities and sued the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security.
Weeks before 30-year-old Cole Jr. allegedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/d-c-pipe-bomber-charging-papers-unsealed-in-d-c-court">planted pipe bombs</a> at the headquarters of the Democrat and Republican parties on January 5, 2021, a court ruled against the company in its lawsuit attacking the Trump administration on immigration issues, The Daily Wire has learned. An FBI affidavit in the case notes that the suspect works for a bail bond company and lives with his mother.
Later in 2021, the company held a press conference bemoaning anti-black racism with a left-wing attorney. Cole Sr. and Benjamin Crump, who represented the family of Trayvon Martin, attempted to sic the Biden Department of Justice on a local Tennessee prosecutor who had raised questions about the bail bond company.
&#8220;A high-profile civil rights attorney is calling for a federal investigation into a Rutherford County prosecutor accused of discrimination,&#8221; Nashville news outlet <a href="https://wpln.org/post/a-high-profile-civil-rights-attorney-is-calling-for-a-federal-investigation-into-a-rutherford-county-prosecutor-accused-of-discrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WPLN</a> reported on November 16, 2021.
Cole Sr., who is black, claimed racial persecution by Rutherford County Assistant District Attorney John Zimmerman, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/qRlCdl_h9Do?t=496s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video shows</a>. Zimmerman had raised concerns about the bail bond company’s ethics, noting that it had been suspended from operating in a nearby district.
Standing alongside Crump, he said to the media: &#8220;He&#8217;s defamed me, he&#8217;s called my insurance company. &#8230; We hope the Department of Justice can come in and do a brief investigation because we&#8217;ve seen a lot of questionable acts that Mr. Zimmerman has demonstrated towards minority-owned companies.”
Crump said, “It is appalling and we want these allegations to be investigated to the highest level of government … They called him a punk and a thug, and why? What is it about him? A lot of people believe they know the answer.”
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_1010237" style="width: 392px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1010237" class=" wp-image-1010237" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy-300x168.jpg" alt="" width="382" height="214" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy-300x168.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy-768x429.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 382px) 100vw, 382px" />Cole Sr. with Benjamin Crump / Youtube</div>
In April 2025, a Tennessee appeals court found that sanctions against the company were called for due to repeated misconduct. The elder Cole lied about having never filed for bankruptcy or having other financial problems, when he in fact had filed for bankruptcy twice and had tax liens against him, a <a href="https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OpinionsPDFVersion/InReTennesseeBondingCompanyIncOPN.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee court of appeals affirmed</a>.
Cole Jr. and his father worked as bail bondsmen under various company names, including Free U Bonds, initially in Fairfax County, Virginia. Public records suggest that the father moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, around 2017.
One of those corporate names was StateWide Bonding, Inc., an immigration-bond company that helps illegal immigrants avoid jail.
“An Immigration Bond will secure the release of an undocumented alien from an immigration facility with the guarantee the conditions of the Immigration Bond requirements are met,” its webpage says.
Brian Cole is listed as StateWide Bonding’s owner in a dispute over bonds for illegal immigrants in the state of <a href="https://biahelp.com/colorado-division-of-insurance-v-statewide-bonding-inc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Colorado</a>.
StateWide sued the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security over its policies relating to illegal immigrants. Weeks before Cole allegedly planted the pipe bombs, on November 10, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. <a href="https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/19-5178/19-5178-2020-11-10.pdf?ts=1605022230" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sided with the administration on</a> the case, ruling that the lower court had properly thrown out all of StateWide’s claims.
One of several <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.200024/gov.uscourts.dcd.200024.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuits</a> complained that StateWide was being harmed unfairly when its illegal immigrant clients failed to appear at court dates. “Statewide have secured the bond for thousands of immigrants… If an immigrant does not appear, that failure to appear is considered a breach of bond&#8230; When a bond is breached, at that point, all Plaintiffs are subjected to a steep financial penalty,” it said.
“Hundreds of Plaintiffs’ clients fail to appear because Defendants fail to (1) provide said person with a specified date, time, and location to appear in court,” it continued. “Then, only after the subject immigrant fails to appear, these Defendants expect Plaintiffs to find the person in less than 10 days (many times less than 48 hours), or suffer the penalty of paying the sum total of millions of dollars.”
The January 6 pipe bombs were used by Democrats and the media to portray Trump supporters as violent, though during the Biden administration, the FBI claimed it was unable to locate a suspect, and Kamala Harris — who was 20 feet from the bomb at the DNC — never mentioned it.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/d-c-pipe-bomber-charging-papers-unsealed-in-d-c-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Charging papers</a> say Cole Jr. began purchasing bomb-making parts by May 2019, during the Trump administration and long before any dispute about election results.
They say his cell phone signal showed that he was in the vicinity of the DNC and RNC when the bombs were placed. The Biden administration quickly used similar cell phone data to apprehend hundreds of Trump supporters for minor crimes.
Editor&#8217;s note: This story was updated shortly after publication to clarify that the company was owned by Cole Sr., while Cole Jr. worked for it.

Brian Cole Jr. / Instagram

Alleged Pipe Bomber’s Family Sued Trump DHS Over Illegal Immigration, Asked Biden DOJ To Address Racism

Anti-Racism

Bombings

Department of Justice

January 6

Trayvon Martin

The Afghan national suspected of killing one National Guardsman and wounding another in Washington, D.C., last week was &#8220;radicalized&#8221; after coming into the United States, according to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Noem told NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Meet the Press&#8221; on Sunday that the federal government believes 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal maintained &#8220;connections&#8221; to people in Afghanistan who may have helped radicalize him. Lakanwal was allowed to enter the United States under the Biden administration&#8217;s Operation Allies Welcome following the former president&#8217;s disastrous withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country.
&#8220;I will say we believe he was radicalized since he&#8217;s been here in this country,&#8221; Noem said. &#8220;We do believe it was through connections in his home community and state, and we&#8217;re going to continue to talk to those who interacted with him, who were his family members, who talk to them.&#8221;
Lakanwal is accused of shooting National Guardsmen Sarah Beckstrom and Andrew Wolfe on the day before Thanksgiving, killing Beckstrom and seriously wounding Wolfe. The suspected shooter was injured by return fire, but he is expected to survive and stand trial. Lakanwal was charged with first-degree murder, with more charges expected to be handed down as the investigation continues. President Donald Trump called the shooting a &#8220;terrorist attack,&#8221; saying that the suspect &#8220;went nuts.&#8221;
&#8220;It happens too often with these people,&#8221; Trump added.
The suspected shooter was granted asylum in the United States after serving alongside U.S. troops in a special Afghan Army unit that was backed by the CIA, the Associated Press <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/mo/st-louis/ap-top-news/2025/11/30/suspect-in-national-guard-attack-struggled-with-periods-of-dark-isolation-community-member-says">reported</a>. Noem blamed the Biden administration for failing to properly vet Afghan refugees who were granted asylum in the United States. Lakanwal&#8217;s asylum claim was approved in April under the Trump administration, but Noem <a href="https://x.com/Acyn/status/1995145198192771113">said</a> &#8220;the vetting process all happened under Joe Biden&#8217;s administration.&#8221;
&#8220;Vetting is happening when they come into the country, and that was completely abandoned under Joe Biden&#8217;s administration,&#8221; Noem added.
Lakanwal reportedly exhibited troubling behavior long before he attacked National Guard troops in D.C., according to the Associated Press. Lakanwal settled with his wife and children in Bellingham, Washington, where he reportedly struggled to hold a job and failed to assimilate into U.S. culture, according to emails from a community advocate who works with Afghan refugees.
In one email from January 2024, the community advocate wrote that Lakanwal &#8220;has not been functional as a person, father and provider since March of last year, 03/2023. He quit his job that month, and his behavior has changed greatly.&#8221; The community advocate added that Lakanwal would spend weeks in a “darkened room, not speaking to anyone, not even his wife or older kids.” After receiving the emails from the community advocate, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants checked up on Lakanwal, but it appears that Lakanwal was not contacted or refused assistance.
Lakanwal drove across the United States from Bellingham to Washington, D.C., where he allegedly carried out the attack, according to U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

National Guard shooting

Suspected National Guard Shooter Was ‘Radicalized’ Through ‘Connections’ In Afghanistan, Noem Says

Afghanistan

Crime

Kristi Noem

National Guard

For all the hysterical claims that President Donald Trump is some sort of First Amendment supervillain, the reality is precisely the opposite. Trump has done more to defend constitutionally protected speech and to dismantle the most coordinated censorship regime in modern American history than any president in living memory.
But don’t tell that to the New York Times, NPR, or the ladies at The View. According to them, Trump is basically moments away from burning the Bill of Rights on live TV.
Why the disconnect? The modern Left has confused breaking norms with breaking laws, and those are two very different things.
Norms are unwritten rules, handshake agreements shaped by cultural institutions. Over decades, those institutions shifted left and rewrote the norms to ensure that public policy always bends in their direction. One glaring example is the “norm” that government spending must increase every year at rates higher than inflation, substantially higher.
Laws, by contrast, are enforceable with financial penalties or jail time.
Trump breaks norms. The Left breaks laws and then screams “authoritarian!” when someone tries to enforce those laws. That, in a nutshell, is the dynamic between Trump and the Democrat Party today.
To understand the elitist media’s role in all this, start with the epic collapse of journalism. The press still loves calling itself the “Fourth Estate,” bravely speaking truth to power. That may have been true once, back when reporters described reality instead of trying to socially engineer it. But over time, journalism mutated, first through ideologically uniform J-schools, then through newsroom monocultures, into something far more partisan.
Post-Watergate hero fantasies turned reporters into crusaders. Conservative viewpoints disappeared. Elitists replaced objectivity with “moral clarity” — their euphemism for political activism.
This has led to the death of journalism. The vapors emanating from its stinking corpse have made it nearly impossible for so-called “reporters” to understand basic constitutional law. So let’s clarify.
The First Amendment protects a broad range of speech, but not all speech. Speech in service of a crime? Not protected. Offer a bribe and try claiming “free speech.” See how that goes. Defamation? Also not protected. And when you take a government handout, whether as a defense contractor or a publicly funded media broadcaster, you accept the regulatory conditions that come with it.
NPR and PBS assumed otherwise. They took billions from taxpayers while repeatedly violating the law that required them to “ensure strict adherence to objectivity and balance.” They assumed the norm, that they’d always get our money through Congressional earmarks, even while breaking the law.
Trump did what no other president has ever done: he broke that norm and enforced the law. His Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Brendan Carr, has done something similar with broadcasters. That’s not censorship. That’s accountability.
The same principle applies to universities. For years, the norm was that campuses would tolerate and even encourage criminal behavior under the guise of “social activism.” Blocking highways, occupying buildings, vandalizing property, and assaulting students was perfectly fine, as long as the rioters chanted the right slogans. But the First Amendment doesn’t magically convert crime into protected speech. Trump ended that law-breaking norm, too.
None of this alone makes Trump the “greatest defender of free speech.” His words and his deeds earn him that gold model.
Just before taking the oath of office for the second time, Trump laid down the truth long forgotten by the left: “If we don’t have free speech, then we just don’t have a free country. … If this most fundamental right is allowed to perish, then the rest of our rights and liberties will topple, just like dominoes.” 
Trump’s actions followed suit. He and his administration have eviscerated the sprawling censorship apparatus built by President Joe Biden.
MRC Free Speech America has shown how the Biden administration operated the <a href="https://mrcfreespeechamerica.org/biden-censorship-initiatives-tracker">most expansive government-driven censorship system in U.S. history</a>. Not metaphorically. Literally.
A few &#8220;lowlights” from the Biden censorship regime include: federal agencies pressuring social media platforms to suppress lawful political speech; agencies partnering with private entities to provide “plausible deniability” while carrying out government censorship goals, and government “switchboards” funneling thousands of takedown demands, creating lists of posts to hide, throttle, or erase.
Biden’s objective wasn’t about fighting “misinformation,” as he has claimed. It was about controlling and shaping narratives before an election. This was speech policing.
This was government censorship.
This was illegal.
Trump tore it apart.
Through executive orders, personnel changes, and directives barring government censorship, Trump dismantled Biden’s censorship machine. Platforms can no longer hide behind federal pressure, and bureaucrats can no longer run secret speech-surveillance pipelines.
That is what defending the First Amendment looks like. Not symbolic gestures. Not pretty rhetoric. Real action. Real results. Restoring the foundational principle that in America, the government does not decide which opinions are allowed.
No other president has done more to defend the First Amendment. Trump truly has made free speech great again.
* * *
Dan Schneider is Vice President for Free Speech at the Media Research Center.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
* * *
<h4>Right now, DailyWire+ annual memberships are fifty percent off during our Black Friday sale. Join now at <a href="http://dailywire.com/blackfriday">dailywire.com/blackfriday</a>.</h4>

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP

By Dismantling Biden’s Censorship Machine, Trump Made Free Speech Great Again

First Amendment

Free Speech

Journalism

Media Research Center

Opinion

President Trump

Social Media Bias

Social Media Censorship

On the morning of January 19, 2021, decorated Navy Lt. Commander Thomas E. Caldwell was resting peacefully on his Virginia family farm when FBI agents executed a pre-dawn SWAT raid.
They accused him of being a leader of the Oath Keepers, of storming the Capitol, and of hunting down members of Congress.
He says every single claim was false. Tom was never a member of the Oath Keepers. He never entered the Capitol. He never planned an attack. And yet, thanks to Biden&#8217;s DOJ, Tom spent over 50 days in solitary confinement and endured years of prosecution.
Now pardoned, he&#8217;s finally free to speak. Here&#8217;s an excerpt from his new book, &#8220;<a href="https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-mouths-of-the-wicked">The Mouths of the Wicked</a>.&#8221; — The Editors
* * *
January 19, 2021
“Honey! Get up! The FBI is at the door!”
I will never forget those words or the urgency in Sharon’s voice as she shook me awake that dreadful morning. Bundled under blankets and still foggy from two sleeping pills, I struggled to free myself from the CPAP machine.
Trying to make sense of it all, I leaned on the dresser, mind racing as an intense, other-worldly light flooded in from the great room of our home. Disembodied voices routed the night’s peace and bellowed my name.
My wobbly legs took me to the front door and the tumult beyond.
“FBI! Come out with your hands up!”
The horror show was all about creating an incident. But why? Who cares why! I was going to end up on the short end of the stick if I didn’t handle this correctly and with cooperation. Head spinning, I flashed back to all the times the news reported people being fatally shot after authorities “thought they had a gun in their hand.”
I set my trusty cane beside the door. It would be a sad tale for my wife to have to tell at the funeral of her disabled veteran husband that he was gunned down by the FBI who mistook a walking stick for a firearm.
Slowly I opened the front door to the blinding glare of searchlights. A scant two feet from the window frame of our house, I could make out the manhole-sized disc of a battering ram flowering from the end of a reinforced steel arm, jutting from total darkness. Oh my God, they’re going to smash a hole in our cottage! I let my left arm trail the storm door behind me to ensure it would close slowly, without a slam that could send these possibly trigger-happy jackanapes into a shooting frenzy.
Stepping forward, I raised my hands as far as they would go, considering their limited mobility resulting from shoulder surgeries and the reattachment of arm to torso with a brass rod. I needed to lift them high enough to appease the invisible screamers without reaching the point of initiating the bolt of pain that would cause me to reflexively pull it back to my body. A sudden movement like that could be fatal in the cloud of red dots from rifle lasers swarming me. This wasn’t the first time a firearm had been pointed at me, but I assure you, this was the first time my life was placed in jeopardy by people from the country I love and served.
<div id="attachment_998997" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-mouths-of-the-wicked"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-998997" class="wp-image-998997 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-384x576.jpg" alt="Credit: Puffin Publishers LLC/Thomas Caldwell" width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/book-cover-caldwell.jpg 1365w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" /></a>Credit: Puffin Publishers LLC/Thomas Caldwell</div>
Virginia’s winter was on frigid-blast, the porch an iceberg, and the biting west wind slashed my body. Barefoot, clothed only in underwear and nightshirt, I moved forward to the edge, squinting desperately against the artificial sun in my face, trying to find the first of three steps I knew were there somewhere. Trying not to take a well-intentioned but possibly leg-breaking step into the abyss.
I stepped down blindly, relying upon muscle memory born of doing this a thousand times in broad daylight. Until my foot actually reached step number one, I didn’t know if I would be stable enough to make the climb down on my own. Guided by what I now know was divine intervention, I made each halting step until I felt the ouch of the gravel boundary between deep ruts and frosty grass. The wet lawn was only slightly less chilly than the concrete. I walked slowly, aware of shadowy figures at the edge of my field of vision. Beams of red light stabbed from the dark — rifle and pistol lasers — all merely a trigger pull away from dispatching this 66-year-old retired veteran.
The first of many “what’s going on?” inquiries crossed my lips as the designated vet-wrangler snatched me, powerful arms and hands jutting from an inky veil. With purposeful out-sized strides, he yanked me across the slippery grass, shoving my face hard into the cold metal of a car hood. What I was concerned about now was the abrupt leg-weakening shove at the waist — a bending motion not pleasant for someone like me with a spine immobilized by a jumbled mass of metal spacers and screws.
Amid the clinking of metal on metal, I addressed the faceless being through gritted teeth, informing him that my left arm could no longer naturally rotate in such a way as to reach my back due to reconstructive shoulder surgery—no matter how much he kept twisting it. He was at the point of a spontaneous displacement of the metal screw holding my arm to my body. Thankfully, cold metal cuffs were slapped on my wrists in the front instead. Then it was right back to a face plant on the car hood.
All this outrage was conducted with creatures of the dark still yowling orders in the frigid pre-dawn air. They had me in their snare. What more could they want?
In the midst of a cacophony from hell, I labored to lift my head and, to my utter horror, saw my wife standing in the searchlight’s brutal blaze. Time stopped, as did my heart.
<div id="attachment_999097" style="width: 465px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-999097" class="size-full wp-image-999097" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Caldwells.jpg" alt="Courtesy: Thomas Caldwell. https://saveourfarmva.com/ " width="455" height="575" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Caldwells.jpg 455w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Caldwells-237x300.jpg 237w" sizes=" (max-width: 455px) 100vw, 455px" />Courtesy: Thomas Caldwell.</div>
For there stood Sharon, barefoot, arms straight out from her sides, clad only in one of my super-sized white T-shirts made nearly transparent in the harsh glare of the spotlights. I could see her shivering as her stance proved she carried no weapon and posed no threat. That did not stop the authoritative commands shouted at her with crude epithets tossed in for good measure.
I couldn’t believe my eyes or my ears as she lifted her arms to reveal a single white sock in each hand and softly asked if she could put them on her feet.
As the screamers moved closer to her, to my heart-stopping terror, I saw the devil’s red fireflies dancing all over her face and body. The monsters had drawn down fully automatic weapons of death on my Angel!
My heart cried, “They didn’t kill me, so now they want to kill my wife!”
Sharon stood there, innocently holding a pair of socks and holding my heart—my whole world—in her hands. Her stance was nearly identical to that of Jesus, hung on the cross by hateful elitists who knew not what they were doing. She did not seem to understand the gravity of this bile-laced situation.
My memory flashed back to the murder at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, the day an FBI sniper shot and killed Vicki Weaver as she stood on her porch, holding her infant in her arms.
This scene played out for an eternity and still haunts me every day.
“Father, God!” I begged, “God in Heaven, Father, please don’t let them kill my wife! Abba, Father! Please don’t let them murder my wife!
* * *
This excerpt is published by permission from the author and Puffin Publishers LLC. “<a href="https://store.bookbaby.com/book/the-mouths-of-the-wicked">The Mouths of the Wicked</a>” by Thomas E. Caldwell (November, 2025/<a href="http://puffinpublishers.com/">PuffinPublishers.com</a>)
<a href="https://saveourfarmva.com/">Thomas E. Caldwell</a> is an author and proud veteran of the United States Navy. A decorated retired Navy Lieutenant Commander, he honorably served our Nation around the world for nearly two decades, principally within the Navy&#8217;s Intelligence Community. He is the author of countless strategic and tactical intelligence assessments and possesses a deep understanding and unique perspective of global and domestic threats to our Nation. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-CRIME-shooting-SUSPECT

The Morning The FBI Came For Me

Books

Capitol Riot

Prison

U.S. Capitol

U.S. Navy

In the final months of 2022, President Joe Biden was dealing with one foreign policy crisis after another.
The crisis dominating headlines and requiring the administration’s immediate attention that year was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But there was another conflict brewing, around 200 miles south of Russia’s border.
In December 2022, Azerbaijan set up environmental protests as a false flag to illegally block the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inside of Azerbaijan that had been the home of ethnic Armenians for thousands of years. In the months that followed, the Azerbaijani regime in Baku ramped up its attack on Nagorno-Karabakh, as Armenian soldiers and civilians were killed in intense fighting.
Azerbaijan also cut off electricity and prevented food and aid from reaching the region, forcing around 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee the place they had called home since the 7th century B.C.
One senior Biden administration official appeared to be the ideal person to address the growing humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh and come to the aid of Armenians. Samantha Power, Biden’s Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), spent decades raising awareness for human rights issues, including highlighting the violence that Armenians have faced for decades. Power, a longtime journalist, gained more notoriety after publishing a book titled “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” in which she highlighted the Armenian genocide, among other genocides that she argues the U.S. government failed to stop.
“She was not your average Biden administration official,” Democratic political strategist Eric Hacopian told The Daily Wire. “Because she has this halo over her head about human rights.”
Her human rights activism and writing landed Power a coveted post in the Obama administration when she was tapped to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Power had <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yNt7XsV-Dg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">thrown her support</a> behind Obama’s 2008 campaign, arguing that he had an “unshakable conscientiousness about human rights on the issue of genocide prevention.” Power also highlighted then-candidate Obama’s support for recognizing the Armenian genocide and “his willingness as president to commemorate it and certainly to call a spade a spade and to speak truth about it.” That recognition never came under Obama, something for which Power <a href="https://x.com/SamanthaJPower/status/856561854520467457" target="_blank" rel="noopener">apologized</a>.
Power then became one of the most influential people within the Biden administration when it came to human rights, especially with Armenia. Then the conflict with Azerbaijan exploded.
Azerbaijan’s attacks in late 2022 and 2023 were not a surprise: President Ilham Aliyev’s regime had long hinted that it would push to take control of the region. Professor Nerses Kopalyan told The Daily Wire that the Biden administration’s “inaction” on preparing for such an attack was “shocking.”
“The fact that the United States&#8217; foreign policy establishment was privy to this information, their general inaction was quite shocking purely from the lens of humanitarianism, considering the fact that Samantha Power and the entire wing in the foreign policy structures in the Biden administration had for such a long time been very vocal and a strong proponent of humanitarian issues,” Kopalyan said.
“When it came time to walk the walk, Samantha Power and that branch of the Biden administration basically disappeared,” Kopalyan added. “So we realized that it was all talk and no action, and the blockade continued until the ethnic cleansing.”
Between November 2022 and September 2023, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken held three rounds of peace talks with Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the Biden administration <a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/6667fb89-a975-4fab-d8b8-e8875312e37e/09%2014%2023%20--%20Assessing%20The%20Crisis%20in%20Nagorno-Karabakh.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming</a> that the talks “yielded results.” But whatever was discussed during the meetings was not enough to stop Azerbaijan from proceeding with its plan to uproot over 100,000 Armenians from their home. Top Biden officials also <a href="https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/6667fb89-a975-4fab-d8b8-e8875312e37e/091423_Kim_Testimony.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signaled</a> that the administration would not tolerate the ethnic cleansing of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh, a line that the Aliyev regime crossed without any consequences.
Internally, some officials in the Biden administration urged the White House to draw a red line for Azerbaijan, according to a former government official with knowledge of the situation who spoke to The Daily Wire on the condition of anonymity.
“We were certainly pushing for more fortitude on the part of the White House and the State Department in making it clear to Aliyev that there would be consequences for moving militarily on Nagorno-Karabakh,” the official said. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”
The source said that in the months prior to Azerbaijan’s offensive, “there was a sense” in the Biden administration that Baku would move militarily on Nagorno-Karabakh, adding that “there was outreach from Washington to Baku at a high level to dissuade that kind of action.”
“But that messaging was not married up with real consequences,” the former official added.
Despite Power’s apparent sympathy for the Armenian position, many Armenians believe that she left them out to dry. In the weeks and months leading up to Azerbaijan’s blockade, Power did not visit Armenia or make any major statements on aiding the Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Hacopian, who is also an Armenian political commentator, told The Daily Wire that Power and USAID were “entirely insincere” in their efforts “early on in the process” before Azerbaijan launched its major offensive.
“They were never working to get aid into that region during the illegal Azerbaijani blockade,” Hacopian said. “They simply wanted to deal with the effects of the ethnic cleansing.”
He added that it was obvious that the Biden administration wanted to take a hands-off approach to the conflict, and that Power was “not willing to take a stand.”
“She, essentially, cynically went along for the ride, not saying a word,” Hacopian said. “And the moment the ethnic cleansing started, she showed up.”
“She’s wildly reviled here because of that,” he added.
Some of that disdain for Power was captured on camera after she arrived in Armenia in September 2023. During a press conference near the Azerbaijan border, Power was heckled in Armenia by someone who shouted, “Sanction Azerbaijan or go back to your country. You don’t care. Stop the lies.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="US Response to Calls for Sanctions in Azerbaijan: Samantha Power&#039;s Armenia Visit" width="422" height="750" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kk6KTtTh1KA?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Power did not respond to a request to be interviewed for this piece.
The former Biden official who spoke to The Daily Wire on the condition of anonymity said that once Azerbaijan had forced the Armenians out of Nagorno-Karabakh, discussions in the administration were “less about how do we punish Azerbaijan right now and more about what do we do to support Armenia in this moment.”
“We could’ve walked and chewed gum at the same time, but we didn’t,” the official said. “But I do think there was an effort to try to show up for Armenia.”

Biden Admin – Armenia/Azerbaijan

The Human Rights Activist Who Couldn’t Save Her Cause: How A Top Biden Official Failed Armenia

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Despite President Trump’s Executive Order 14151 declaring DEI initiatives illegal, wasteful, and discriminatory, and mandating their termination across all government agencies, DEI appears to be a sort of zombie — dead by decree, but animated by cultural and institutional inertia. On the same day — February 4, 2025 — that the so-called “Dismantle DEI” bill was introduced to both the House (H.R. 925) and Senate (S.382), I optimistically fantasized about a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dei-deserves-an-accurate-eulogy">eulogy for DEI</a>. Unfortunately, while some progress has been made, largely at the individual state levels, the leftist leviathan that is DEI remains well-entrenched across a wide swath of our institutions.
As we close out the year, there are no scheduled hearings, markups, or votes on the bill; and <a href="http://www.apple.com">a 2025 survey by Paradigm </a>(via DiversityResources.com) found that over 80% of major companies have either held their DEI budgets steady or increased them, with only 19% reducing them. These numbers are harder to track for universities and non-profits, partly because many schools and organizations have strategically rebranded DEI programs with titles such as “student success,” “inclusive excellence,” and “community equity,” but a report from <a href="https://defendinged.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/DEI-Funds-UNIVERSITY-Diversity-Equity-and-Inclusion-Funds-and-Fundraising_Final.pdf">Defending Education</a> earlier this year showed that DEI funds still exist for schools in at least 44 states, and hundreds of millions of dollars are still being poured into the cause. Non-profits are finding that many <a href="https://diversity.com/post/dei-in-philanthropy-equity-nonprofit-funding-trends">donors are doubling down</a> on DEI efforts, albeit tying funding to more measurable outcomes.
The velocity and volume of DEI spending over the past 15 years is staggering — not merely in millions or billions, but plausibly trillions of dollars. In 2011, Obama kick-started the campaign with <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/08/18/executive-order-13583-establishing-coordinated-government-wide-initiativ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Executive Order 13583,</a> which directed the Office of Personnel Management, Office of Management and Budget, and EEOC to develop strategic plans and metrics for DEI across over 50 agencies. It had no specific budget or spending allotments, but it served as the blueprint for such programs across non-governmental institutions, as well as corporations, universities, and non-profits. President Joe Biden&#8217;s subsequent <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EO 13985</a> required every federal agency to file an Equity Action Plan.
The Biden administration shifted DEI into overdrive, allocating some <a href="https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/03/10/biden-admin-went-on-trillion-dollar-spending-spree-embedding-dei-across-govt-study-says-1527980/">$1.1 trillion to 460 programs across 24 agencies</a> based on the FY2025 Equity Action Plan filings. Importantly, all of these dollar amounts exclude indirect costs such as litigation, compliance audits, and opportunity costs from DEI-related mandates.
Universities <a href="https://www.emerging-strategy.com/dei-spending-in-u-s-higher-ed-a-carnegie-classification-analysis/">spend billions of dollars</a> per year on DEI programs, with the University of Michigan alone famously spending some $250 million for one of the more <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/magazine/university-of-michigan-dei.html">spectacular DEI failures</a>. <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/top-dei-staff-at-public-universities-pocket-massive-salaries-as-experts-question-motives-of-initiatives">Salaries for the top officers</a> in these departments, which typically range in size from 3 to 25 people, average between $180,000 and $250,000 annually.
In the private sector, JPMorgan Chase committed $30 billion to racial equity and DEI initiatives over just five years (2020-2025). Microsoft invested $150 million in one year alone (2020) to expand its existing racial equity grants and DEI programs. Google previously contributed to over 200 groups dedicated to DEI  and has invested billions of dollars since 2014 in personnel, training, and supplier diversity programs. It is estimated that nationally, annual corporate DEI spending has averaged approximately $10 billion to $20 billion per year (see <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/private-capital/our-insights/discussing-the-state-of-diversity-in-global-private-markets">here</a> and <a href="https://buildremote.co/companies/keeping-dei/">here</a>).
Secretary Hegseth is working to repair the DEI damage in our Department of War, but he has a Herculean task in front of him. A host of veterans and patriots have written and spoken about the tremendous damage that DEI policies have inflicted on our military — eviscerating combat readiness, eroding standards, crippling morale and recruitment, and threatening our national security. [See Air Force<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Irresistible-Revolution-Marxisms-Conquest-Unmaking-ebook/dp/B0952DZ46D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3ISCOE04FCUYF&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5ikuS0t11e1M8t_dVKVrK0TTRBBR-k0bvxb066YffGm6BPUZBcpEf9jSv9lIp0DqErCYDn-r2fzbdMYNma9Kf7N7olk95VSUBkM_oaV0VVY.g1mUHZ8H8y2vc0tRanN4ob_E0DV-GUXH8iuHQnuttM4&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=matt+lohmeier&amp;qid=1762282380&amp;sprefix=matt+lohmeirer,aps,333&amp;sr=8-1"> Under Secretary Lohmeier</a>, <a href="https://starrs.us/message-to-senators-dei-is-a-trojan-horse/">Major General Arbuckle (retired)</a>, <a href="https://starrs.us/mike-rose-dei-is-manifesting-itself-in-the-military-in-very-dangerous-ways/">South Carolina state Sen. Rose</a> (retired), <a href="https://starrs.us/report-of-the-national-independent-panel-on-military-service-and-readiness/">Lieutenant General Bishop</a> (retired), and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cigarettes-dei-and-our-military">Greg Salsbury</a>.]
Prominent scholars such as <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=christopher+rufo+america%27s+cultural+revolution&amp;crid=23UXO1WIKCS3R&amp;sprefix=christopher+rufo,aps,559&amp;ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-expert-pd-ops-ranker_3_16" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Christopher Rufo</a>, <a href="https://victorhanson.com/ten-problems-with-dei-that-frighten-the-public/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Victor Davis Hanson</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Woke-Racism-Religion-Betrayed-America-ebook/dp/B095JLK96B/ref=sr_1_2?adgrpid=1343603773906492&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IhO6sgetZ4xjVYkCQv6_yN8VU__vAYMgkAqNPiX-0dg5DjQYq04Sjw2s-sKvWOJnMVupxX_Yerqm02TXT5B99DUIyB6pCi2aSAbobw3mofKWFaCzcP5WxvsIn-bzbW5hLWqIQK9PimIL3x5tcvJkDnH6Gj8YaNot26qk2IxCtX0f2lnyfnYcAGD-3IwUM6JLr2cjH0ijk_I-zVPciT0hJFosnOibZXf_9SCjg30tpbb_LQpGO9MhO0grSda6P182tAWtWRCGRXAkcV_NXXLRrlPhJOhSlFSAt4kPEbl-oHo.pjLOCn7X5k3CptyBF2TDIFGiFcVN5Oqg_cKEOeGgdlU&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;hvadid=83975558545606&amp;hvbmt=be&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvlocphy=71501&amp;hvnetw=o&amp;hvqmt=e&amp;hvtargid=kwd-83975581857106:loc-190&amp;hydadcr=8480_13544230&amp;keywords=john+mcwhorter+books&amp;mcid=359b8020a2b43364bd749073b564a123&amp;msclkid=0565530031fc1a91b3bc3a078790b5f4&amp;qid=1762113141&amp;sr=8-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">John McWhorter</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s?k=heather+macdonald+author&amp;crid=2GWXB3DP1BDRH&amp;sprefix=heather+mac,aps,328&amp;ref=nb_sb_ss_p13n-expert-pd-ops-ranker_1_11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Heather MacDonald</a>, and many others have written extensively about similar destruction inflicted across our other governmental, academic, and private sector institutions and culture. <a href="https://starrs.us/the-dei-ruse-is-imploding/">Dr. Hanson</a> concludes: “In the end, DEI will implode because of its many contradictions: it is racist to the core; it is illegal and violates court decisions and the Constitution; it destroys meritocracy; and it is utterly incoherent in adjudicating who and who does not deserve racial preferences.” 
The implosion may take a while. The enormous spending led to an unprecedented propaganda campaign, helping to cement deep-seated misconceptions in a large portion of the population. <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/11/19/views-of-dei-have-become-slightly-more-negative-among-us-workers/">Pew Research Center</a> reports that while the American public’s support for DEI has decreased slightly over the last couple of years, the country remains roughly split on whether it is a positive or negative influence. About half still view DEI as being about fairness and opportunity.
In a recent viral video, comedian Adam Carolla discusses the best way for the current administration to combat the anti-ICE protesters as it pursues illegal immigrants across the country. He wryly recommends that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement be retitled as something like National Immigration and Customs Enforcement — thus adding the letter “N” to the current ICE acronym, making it “NICE.” He goes on to make several jokes about how difficult it would be for anyone, including the media and Democrats, to attack NICE people.
In all seriousness, Carolla has identified the brilliant but insidious invulnerability of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and why it is so difficult to drive a stake through its heart (to mix zombie and vampire metaphors). Who could possibly argue with the promotion of such congenial-sounding words? Of course, the words are not the issue. Rather, it is the programs and policies that are implemented under their banner.
<a href="https://www.city-journal.org/article/how-dei-corrupts-americas-universities">Christopher Rufo</a> observed that, in practice, the policies bearing these labels usually promote precisely the opposite of what the words would imply. Diversity almost always involves implicit and explicit racial discrimination, excluding or limiting some groups by their skin color or identity. This is how you get things like segregated dorms and graduation ceremonies (“affinity celebrations”). Equity involves disparate and often unfair treatment of various identity groups (typically based on race, color, gender, and sex) in an attempt to equalize not opportunities, but outcomes. This is what produces outcomes like the elimination of standardized test scores to ensure that underqualified candidates are still considered. Inclusion usually restricts ideas and people who oppose the prevailing doctrine of the oppressed and oppressors. This is how you end up with things like conservatives being blocked from employment consideration or targeted for special IRS consideration. Perhaps most importantly, as well argued by <a href="https://www.hoover.org/research/new-clerisy-how-thomas-sowell-predicted-rise-and-ruin-dei-bureaucracies">Thomas Sowell</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Woke-Racism-Religion-Betrayed-America/dp/0593423062">John McWhorter</a>, these programs ultimately harm more than help the very groups they claim to champion.
I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cigarettes-dei-and-our-military">previously identified</a> commonalities between the propaganda campaigns for cigarette smoking and DEI. Sadly, thanks to billions of dollars of marketing — akin to views of cigarette smoking in the past — many, if not most, Americans are blind to the real impact of DEI, and that it is part of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-state-of-our-political-divide?author=Greg+Salsbury&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+State+Of+Our+Political+Divide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new Marxism.</a>
The challenge lies in how to open their eyes. Which message resonates more: a rigorously documented essay by a scholar like Dr. Hanson, or a 30-second TikTok clip decrying that we “should not be haters,” and that “diversity is our strength” — with music, dance, and millions of likes behind it? Perhaps Adam Carolla could assist with a counter.
Killing off the other half of the DEI zombie will require a three-pronged initiative focusing on education, litigation, and legislation. 
Firstly, we must educate the public by exposing the specific and measurable harms caused by DEI — from the erosion of meritocracy to the suppression of dissent. The more the public hears about the specifics — such as biological men dominating women’s sports competitions — the more they understand and oppose DEI policies.
Secondly, many DEI policies and practices have been and remain illegal — often blatantly violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. More plaintiffs must come forward to challenge these violations in court. A few significant settlements or verdicts in such cases could have a massive impact nationally. Additionally, any non-profit organization engaging in ideological enforcement under the guise of DEI should face a review of its 501(c)(3) status and an investigation to determine whether it is violating nondiscrimination laws.
Thirdly, right now, formal opposition to DEI rests solely on President Trump’s recent executive order, which could disappear as quickly as the next presidential election. We must demand that our representatives advance the House and Senate “Dismantle DEI” bills — codifying reform beyond executive fiat.
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Greg Salsbury, Ph.D., serves on the Board of Advisors for <a href="https://starrs.us">STARRS.US</a>., and is the former president of Western Colorado University. He earned his Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Southern California and an M.A. from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

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