The Department of War has awarded $45 billion in contracts to &#8220;Alaskan Native&#8221; companies in the last half-decade, fueled by minority-contracting laws. But Alaska Natives are hard to come by at the companies. Instead, the work most commonly happened in Virginia, with racial preference laws putting white, Democrat Beltway insiders in multi-million-dollar homes, while natives live in poverty.
No &#8220;Alaskan native&#8221; company got more contracts than ASRC Federal, which lists zero native executives. The company is named after, and is owned by, the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, a for-profit umbrella company representing 14,000 Inupiaq natives in a remote region of Alaska known as the North Slope. The company is <a href="https://www.forbes.com/lists/top-private-companies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ranked</a> the 111th-largest private company in America, with $5.7 billion in revenue. It owns five million acres of land, including oil reserves whose sale leads to dividend payments to the natives.
Yet the most valuable resource might come from Washington, which in 1971 passed a law saying companies can get contracts without having to go through the competitive bidding process if they are at least 51% owned by Alaskan Natives. Other minorities can get no-bid contracts for nine years while they own a small business, but Alaskan firms retain the disadvantaged status even when they have billions of dollars in revenue.
That has led to business executives donning the skins of native people to get high-tech contracts, under the curious pretext that the natives dwelling in huts are learning to do advanced engineering. The scale of the riches that unleashes is mind-boggling.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1045703" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/asrc-leadership.jpg" alt="" width="1854" height="1698" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/asrc-leadership.jpg 1854w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/asrc-leadership-300x275.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/asrc-leadership-629x576.jpg 629w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/asrc-leadership-768x703.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/asrc-leadership-1536x1407.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1854px) 100vw, 1854px" /></div>
Last month alone, ASRC Federal announced that it was awarded a Defense Logistics Agency contract worth up to <a href="https://www.asrcfederal.com/defense-logistics-agency-awards-asrc-federal-up-to-2-3-billion-to-manage-chemical-and-oil-supply-chain/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$2.3 billion</a>, as well as a &#8220;Missile Defense Agency Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contract with a ceiling of <a href="https://www.asrcfederal.com/asrc-federal-secures-position-on-missile-defense-agency-shield-contract-vehicle/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$151</a> [billion].&#8221;
The Department of War has awarded nearly one million separate contracts, totaling $45 billion, to &#8220;Alaskan Native&#8221; companies since fiscal year 2021, according to <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/search?hash=c138c3b3102e4ead5777696955f0e871" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USASpending.gov</a>. The most common &#8220;place of performance,&#8221; however, was Virginia. Less than 12% was spent in Alaska.
No company brought in more than ASRC Federal, which is made up of numerous subsidiary companies that exist to get federal contracts. ASRC Federal Facilities Logistics LLC billed taxpayers $2 billion, ASRC Communications Ltd. charged half a billion, ASRC Federal Field Services LLC earned $390 million, and ASRC Federal System Solutions LLC took $319 million.
ASRC Federal&#8217;s CEO is <a href="https://www.asrcfederal.com/about-us/#leadership" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jennifer Felix</a>, who lives in a $4.3 million, 14,000-square-foot home in Loudoun County, Virginia. The mansion sits on four acres and includes a guest home and private movie theater. Felix has showered liberal politicians with tens of thousands of dollars in donations since 2022, donating to groups like &#8220;Pro-Choice Majority 2024,&#8221; &#8220;Elect Dems Now,&#8221; and the campaigns of Virginia senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner.
Meanwhile, there is no sign that residents of the North Slope even have a public movie theater. The only theater in town is a now-closed, rusted hut, research from the American Accountability Foundation, a government watchdog group, found.
<div id="attachment_1045705" style="width: 1842px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1045705" class="size-full wp-image-1045705" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/felix-house.jpg" alt="" width="1832" height="1044" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/felix-house.jpg 1832w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/felix-house-300x171.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/felix-house-1011x576.jpg 1011w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/felix-house-768x438.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/felix-house-1536x875.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1832px) 100vw, 1832px" />Home of white &#8220;Alaskan Native&#8221; contractor CEO, replete with private movie theater</div>
<div id="attachment_1045707" style="width: 1918px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1045707" class="size-full wp-image-1045707" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-theater.jpg" alt="" width="1908" height="1050" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-theater.jpg 1908w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-theater-300x165.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-theater-1024x564.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-theater-768x423.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-theater-1536x845.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1908px) 100vw, 1908px" />Shuttered theater used by actual Alaskan Natives</div>
&#8220;Felix has a long history of working with government contractors, previously being employed with companies like General Dynamics, Sotera Defense Solutions, and Deloitte. She is, put simply, a typical Beltway bandit defense contractor,&#8221; the American Accountability Foundation wrote in a report provided to The Daily Wire.
Conservatives say no-bid minority contracting laws, known as 8(a), are wasteful and unfair. But the absence of actual Alaskan Natives at companies bearing their names raises questions about whether the program has even succeeded in its liberal-minded goal of lifting minorities out of poverty by training them in business.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth raised a similar question last month when he said that other minority-owned firms often subcontract the work to white-owned firms, while keeping a large cut for playing middleman. “In the Pentagon, $100 million sole-source contracts go out the door to these 8(a) firms almost <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-pete-hegseth-is-right-to-take-a-sledgehammer-to-the-8a-scam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">every day</a> without any competition or opportunity for anyone else to bid,” he said.
Joseph Winthrop, ASRC Federal&#8217;s chief financial officer, lives in a $2 million Loudoun County home replete with a wine cellar. Executive Scott Altman lives in a Georgetown townhouse and is paid $1.1 million a year, according to a recent contract disclosure.
Clifford Greenblatt lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, the historic domain of the Beltway elite, in a <a href="https://censusreporter.org/profiles/15000US240317054002-bg-2-tract-7054-montgomery-md/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">neighborhood</a> that is 0% black or native and has a $200,000 median per capita income. Chief Strategy Officer Ann Stevens lives on the banks of the Potomac River in Great Falls, Virginia.
It&#8217;s a vastly different life than the company&#8217;s Inupiat shareholders. &#8220;The supposed beneficiaries of the corporation – the Inupiat – live in conditions that would make most Americans cringe,&#8221; the American Accountability Foundation wrote. Alaskan Natives make up nearly all the people on welfare in the North Slope, with more than 17% collecting food stamps.
A spokeswoman for ASRC Federal, Aubrel Mellos, did not respond to questions including how many of the company&#8217;s employees are Alaskan Native, or what dividends from federal contract dollars have been paid out to native people. But she wrote in an email:
&#8220;Every ASRC subsidiary operates at the direction of ASRC&#8217;s 100% Iñupiaq Board of Directors for the benefit of its 14,000+ Iñupiaq shareholders. ASRC&#8217;s Board Members are directly selected by its Indigenous shareholders through annual elections. ASRC Federal&#8217;s operations, business priorities, and hiring are done to the benefit of ASRC&#8217;s Iñupiaq shareholders, who receive dividends based on the success of the corporation – as was the will of Congress and the federal government when the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) established ASRC and the 11 other regional Alaska Native corporations.&#8221;
&#8220;ASRC Federal directly contributes to the self-determination of the North Slope Iñupiat through dividend payments and economic opportunity, contributing to a <a href="https://globalhealth.washington.edu/news/2017/05/09/alaska-dispatch-news-alaska-sees-most-dramatic-increases-life-expectancy-nation-new" target="_blank" rel="noopener">remarkable increase</a> in lifespan on Alaska&#8217;s North Slope,” she continued.
<div id="attachment_1045709" style="width: 1778px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1045709" class="size-full wp-image-1045709" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/winthrop-wine-cellar.jpg" alt="" width="1768" height="1258" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/winthrop-wine-cellar.jpg 1768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/winthrop-wine-cellar-300x213.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/winthrop-wine-cellar-810x576.jpg 810w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/winthrop-wine-cellar-768x546.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/winthrop-wine-cellar-1536x1093.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1768px) 100vw, 1768px" />Joseph Winthrop&#8217;s wine cellar</div>
<div id="attachment_1045713" style="width: 1492px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1045713" class="size-full wp-image-1045713" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-village.jpg" alt="" width="1482" height="1094" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-village.jpg 1482w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-village-300x221.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-village-780x576.jpg 780w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/alaskan-village-768x567.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1482px) 100vw, 1482px" />The largest Inupiat city</div>
For decades, politicians in both parties have said that Alaskan contracting was not advancing the goals that justified the program. That&#8217;s what then-Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said in 2010. In <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/national/2010/09/30/bethesda-consultant-made-millions-with-alaska-firm/e9187e20-cc34-11df-8eee-2e1a26a3708e/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">one case</a> from that time period, a Bethesda, Maryland, man was paid $15 million to run an Alaskan government contractor for three years, while its Alaskan Native owners received a total of $682,000 in dividends in 2009, or $305 each. The company won a contract to make military uniforms, which it manufactured in Puerto Rico instead of Alaska.
But efforts at reform have been blocked by Alaska Republican senators such as the now-deceased Ted Stevens, who for years chaired the powerful Appropriations Committee. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is a <a href="https://punchbowl.news/article/defense/murkowski-gavel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contender to chair</a> either the Senate Appropriations Committee or its defense subcommittee next Congress.
Now, if the Alaskan program meets its end, it&#8217;s likely to be through the abolition of the broader minority-contracting program. The Trump administration has made moves to rein in the DEI scheme after a black man, Walter Barnes, pleaded guilty to getting $500 million in USAID contracts by paying a USAID official <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-official-three-contractors-plead-guilty-to-half-billion-dollar-bribery-scheme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1 million in bribes</a>. The scheme worked because 8(a) empowers a government official to steer contracts to specific companies.
The increased scrutiny has placed Alaska&#8217;s senators, both Republicans, in the curious position of defending the DEI program as a whole.
Sen. Joni Ernst, chair of the Small Business Committee, which oversees the 8(a) program, asked agencies to pause sole-source contracts in order to get a handle on fraud. But Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/alaska-republicans-secretly-working-to-protect-fraud-plagued-dei-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secretly urged</a> the agencies to ignore that request, according to a letter previously obtained by The Daily Wire.
The letter highlighted that Pentagon officials enjoy taking advantage of the Alaskan law because although the competitive bidding process is designed to get the most qualified company and the best price, it is also a bureaucratic slog.
&#8220;We consistently hear from top Pentagon officials that the 8(a) Program provides flexibility and timeliness in procuring weapons systems that strengthen our country,&#8221; they wrote. &#8220;The program reduces administrative burden, shortens acquisition timelines, and avoids the delays and litigation risks that often accompany large-scale procurements.&#8221;
Murkowski and Sullivan did not respond when The Daily Wire asked for statistics about how many Alaskan Natives actually work at firms like Bowhead, another multibillion dollar defense contractor whose leadership consists virtually entirely of white males.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1026861" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/bowhead-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1535" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/bowhead-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/bowhead-300x180.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/bowhead-961x576.jpg 961w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/bowhead-768x460.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/bowhead-1536x921.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/bowhead-2048x1228.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" /></div>
In the 1980s, Congress passed laws allowing Native Americans to join Alaskan Natives as so-called &#8220;super 8(a)&#8217;s,&#8221; exempt from having to show that they are actually small, disadvantaged companies. Undercover journalist James O&#8217;Keefe caught an executive from one such firm, ATI Government Solutions, boasting that it received a $100 million contract and kept two-thirds while paying a big company, like Accenture, to do the actual work.
None of ATI&#8217;s executives was native, either. Members of the Susanville Indian Rancheria tribe, which owns part of ATI Government Solutions, were interviewed by O&#8217;Keefe&#8217;s outlet. &#8220;Here you have this millionaire making money off of us, and we&#8217;re here begging for help. All of the things that were created for us, we <a href="https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1988770902243176767" target="_blank" rel="noopener">don&#8217;t benefit</a> from,&#8221; one tribe member said.
The American Accountability Foundation called for ending the 8(a) program, saying &#8220;it is currently not benefiting minority populations and is enriching D.C. elites.&#8221;

ASRC

How A Top Pentagon Contractor Enriches DC Insiders Using Law Intended To Help Eskimos

Alaska

Department of Defense

Minority Contracting

Few organizations know more about leadership than the United States Army. Yet for years, the Army paid an outside consultant for instruction on the topic: A fly-by-night company co-founded by a Pakistani who sits on the board of an organization once linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Between 2021 and 2025, the Army Corps of Engineers shelled out $1.7 million across eight contracts to the vaguely named Nonprofit Empowerment Group. The group is actually a for-profit, bare-bones operation configured to scoop up federal contracts using woman-owned &#8220;set-asides.&#8221;
The company’s only listed employee is a former bank teller who hardly seemed to meet the government’s call for an academic institution to provide &#8220;<a href="https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/0161b3be328843d2abe84bbf29e1a446/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">graduate level</a> instruction&#8221; on “leadership development skills.” Yet the so-called &#8220;Nonprofit Empowerment Group&#8221; <a href="https://negwebsitegov.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advertised</a> a qualification that helped it gain access to the military: Its status as a &#8220;Disadvantaged Women Small Owned Business&#8221; [sic].
The saga raises questions about whether the government&#8217;s affirmative action contracting law, known as 8(a), not only wastes money by padding the wallets of middlemen, but could potentially undermine readiness and even risk foreign influence. The Trump administration canceled the Nonprofit Endowment Group&#8217;s contracts this week, the Daily Wire can exclusively report. A Pentagon official told The Daily Wire that the &#8220;absurd&#8221; and &#8220;sketchy&#8221; contracts were cancelled because they &#8220;don’t serve the national interest.&#8221;
The Nonprofit Empowerment Group&#8217;s only known employee, Angela Massey, declined to discuss the company’s work with The Daily Wire. According to Illinois corporation filings, Massey is the company&#8217;s president, while its secretary is Tariq H. Cheema.
At the same address in Lombard, Illinois, the pair once operated a nonprofit called the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists. It was a reverse configuration — with Massey as secretary and Cheema as president, according to <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/800253036/2010_12_EO%2F80-0253036_990EZ_200912" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tax-exempt filings</a>.
The Nonprofit Empowerment Group cites seven clients on its <a href="http://negwebsitegov.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>, many of which appear to move money from Islamic nonprofits with ties to Cheema to the for-profit he co-founded.
That includes The Global Donors Forum, another group founded by Cheema; The American Refugee Committee, for which Cheema <a href="https://www.tariqcheema.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">serves</a> as executive director; The Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America, where Cheema also held the position of executive director; Roshni Homes, where Cheema served as an <a href="https://www.globalgiving.org/pfil/51653/projdoc.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">advisor</a>; and The Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA), on whose board <a href="https://imana.org/our-board/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cheema sits</a>.
The Muslim Brotherhood, a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0357">designated terror organization</a>, in 1991 included the Islamic Medical Association on &#8220;a <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/20/an-explanatory-memorandum-on-the-general.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">list</a> of our organizations and the organizations of our friends.&#8221; That document, laying out a plan for the radical Muslim group to take over North America, described how to bring about a &#8220;grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within.&#8221;
The Islamic Medical Association was established as a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/390944347_ENCYCLOPEDIA_ENTRY_Islamic_Society_of_North_America_ISNA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;constituent organization&#8221;</a> of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which originated out of Illinois. The United States named ISNA an <a href="https://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2010/11/judges-ruling-on-islamic-groups-as-unindicted-co-conspirators-made-public-030922" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unindicted co-conspirator</a> in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation trial centered on Hamas fundraising.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1044009" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/muslim-brotherhood.jpg" alt="" width="990" height="312" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/muslim-brotherhood.jpg 990w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/muslim-brotherhood-300x95.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/muslim-brotherhood-768x242.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 990px) 100vw, 990px" /></div>
The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists was <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/800253036" target="_blank" rel="noopener">established in 2009</a> to “build a culture of enduring engagement where Muslim donors collaborate with each other.&#8221; But it almost immediately went hundreds of thousands of dollars into debt, according to a nonprofit tax filing signed by Massey, who has not been listed on the forms in recent years.
Those filings said it hadn&#8217;t taken foreign donations, but Cheema, who declined to answer The Daily Wire’s questions, has said the group was operating abroad. In 2013, he <a href="https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/interviews/a-discussion-with-tariq-cheema-world-congress-of-muslim-philanthropists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said,</a> &#8220;Our headquarters are in Chicago but we are just establishing a second headquarters in Doha, so much more of our work will in the future be handled from Qatar. I split my time between the two, and also my home country, Pakistan.&#8221;
&#8220;I went to medical school and led an essentially normal life until September 11, 2001. That was a wake up call for everybody. I was moved by the events and the reactions to them, but especially by a growing awareness that Muslim charities were being shut down more on the basis of suspicion than evidence of wrongdoing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We also were aware of the enforcement of new regulations that were making giving more difficult.&#8221;
While Cheema <a href="https://www.tariqcheema.us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes</a> himself as &#8220;among the top 500 most influential Muslims shaping our world today,&#8221; the finances that the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists reported to the United States government were in disarray. By 2016, the last year it filed a nonprofit disclosure, it had income of only $6,955 and $392,809 in debt.
But Cheema and Massey still had the Nonprofit Empowerment Group, which seemed to have been operating as a for-profit slush fund focused on Islamic issues and foreign affairs. The company&#8217;s website depicts it dealing with leaders from countries with mixed relationships with the United States, including Pakistan, China, Russia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
One photo shows Turkey&#8217;s president, Recep Erdoğan, speaking in front of a banner that includes both the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists and the Nonprofit Empowerment Group&#8217;s names. The website said Massey is also involved with the United Nations.
Soon after the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists submitted its last tax filing, the for-profit company found a new source of revenue: repurposing their company to get government contracts for — well, anything.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1044011" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/nonprofit-empowerment-group.jpg" alt="" width="1896" height="1192" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/nonprofit-empowerment-group.jpg 1896w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/nonprofit-empowerment-group-300x189.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/nonprofit-empowerment-group-916x576.jpg 916w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/nonprofit-empowerment-group-768x483.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/02/nonprofit-empowerment-group-1536x966.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 1896px) 100vw, 1896px" /></div>
According to its website<a href="https://archive.is/wip/TeVYN" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> NEGwebsitegov.com</a>, &#8220;Nonprofit Empowerment Group Inc specializes in providing administrative management and general management consulting services.&#8221;
In 2019, the company received a $10,000 contract for <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_N4523A18P1387_9700_-NONE-_-NONE-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“writing courses”</a> from the Navy, due to the Navy setting aside the job for a “woman-owned business.” In 2022, it received its first contract for “leadership development program services” from the Army, also reserved for a woman-owned business.
As recently as June 2025 — this time without reserving the work for a minority — the Army gave the Nonprofit Empowerment Group its latest <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_AWD_W9127N25CA038_9700_-NONE-_-NONE-" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contract</a> for the &#8220;professional services of an academic institution regionally accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.&#8221;
&#8220;The Contractor will be responsible for providing graduate level instruction&#8221; on &#8220;leadership development skills,&#8221; a <a href="https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/0161b3be328843d2abe84bbf29e1a446/view" target="_blank" rel="noopener">contracting document</a> said.
The Nonprofit Empowerment Group is not an academic institution: a more detailed version of the contracting requirements contains a loophole that also permits “an entity that has access to an accredited academic institution.” According to Massey’s LinkedIn <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-massey-9971072a/">profile</a>, she worked as a bank teller, then founded the company while simultaneously working as a &#8220;middle market&#8221; banker. The profile describes her as &#8220;a staunch supporter of economic and social justice.&#8221;
The government subsidized that group through its contract for a leadership development course, paying it for activities the Army likely could have better organized itself — including introducing Army Corps of Engineers staff to members of Congress and other officials.
Assistant Secretary of the Army Adam Telle told The Daily Wire that the Trump administration has empowered the Pentagon to &#8220;cut ties&#8221; with groups like the Nonprofit Empowerment Group.
“There is no good reason that one part of the federal government should use taxpayer dollars to pay a third party in order to talk to another part of the federal government,&#8221; Assistant Secretary of the Army Adam Telle told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;We terminated these contracts because they are not only unnecessary, they also don’t serve the national interest, and they undermine the cohesion of the Army Civil Works mission. President Trump has empowered us to cut ties with organizations that aren’t aligned with our priorities, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said.
The move comes as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-pete-hegseth-is-right-to-take-a-sledgehammer-to-the-8a-scam" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cracking down</a> on minority contracting, saying, “In many, many instances, these socially disadvantaged businesses don’t even do work. They take a 10%, 20%, sometimes 50% fee off the top, then pass the contract off to a giant consulting firm &#8230; For decades, this program, 8(a), has been a breeding ground for fraud.”
A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-quarter-of-minority-contracting-firms-banned-after-refusing-anti-fraud-check" target="_blank" rel="noopener">quarter</a> of all minority contracting firms lost their certifications last month after failing to turn over records that would show whether they actually did the work, or simply subcontracted it to third parties.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-the-military-gave-a-homeless-lesbians-minority-contracting-firm-19-million" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How The Military Gave A Homeless Lesbian’s ‘Minority Contracting’ Firm $19 Million</a>

Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin

U.S. Army Paid Company Founded By Director Of Muslim Brotherhood-Linked Group For ‘Leadership’ Training

War Secretary Pete Hegseth <a href="https://x.com/rebekazeljko/status/2020998100072964167">gave a characteristically blunt answer</a> Monday when asked about the “choke points” in the defense production pipeline.
“You identified several policy changes the department was implementing to actually speed up and expedite some of the production,” a reporter said to Hegseth. “I was wondering, what are the specific choke points that you guys have encountered when it comes to regulations? What are the issues, what&#8217;s the hang-up at some of these production facilities, why have we seen delays on certain projects?”
“A lot of the hang-up has been us,” Hegseth acknowledged. “If we don&#8217;t look at ourselves first, the way we do business, we&#8217;ve been impossible to deal with. A bad customer who year after year changes our mind about what we want or what we don&#8217;t want, and then we make little, small technological changes, which makes it more difficult for them to produce what they need to produce on time.”
“So we have to fix our own house first,” he declared, “provide clarity, simplify the system, allow more people to access it, give that steady demand signal, which is what we&#8217;re doing with munitions. I encourage folks to look at the deals we&#8217;ve cut recently with Raytheon, with Boeing, with other companies, Lockheed, on Patriot missiles, on THAADs [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems], on other exquisite munitions. That&#8217;s groundbreaking stuff.&#8221;
“Our department&#8217;s never done that,” he continued. “The Deputy Secretary, Steve Feinberg, is a whiz kid on these things, putting these deals together. The companies are investing because they know we&#8217;re going to be buying into the future. That&#8217;s just good business. We haven&#8217;t operated that well that way before. And then things like requirements, there&#8217;s mazes of requirements that this department has traditionally put on different systems and platforms that are impossible to navigate and by the time you navigate them, you&#8217;re five years behind the actual technology.”
“So we&#8217;re going to companies and say, ‘Tell us what you can do based on the parameters of what kind of capabilities we&#8217;re looking for, say, in Indopaycom or Southcom or out in Europe, and let&#8217;s tailor it accordingly,’” he concluded.
The U.S. Army recently finalized a <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/land/2025/09/03/us-army-awards-lockheed-record-98-billion-missile-contract/">multibillion-dollar</a> deal with Lockheed Martin for the production of PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptors. This month, Raytheon <a href="https://www.rtx.com/news/news-center/2026/02/04/rtxs-raytheon-partners-with-department-of-war-on-five-landmark-agreements-to-exp">signed</a> five framework agreements with the U.S. Department of War to significantly increase production capacity and accelerate deliveries of several high-demand systems.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

‘We’ve Been Impossible To Deal With’: Hegseth Vows To Fix Pentagon’s ‘Bad Customer’ Behavior

Military

Pentagon

Pete Hegseth

Politics

Rhonda Valles is an aspiring California musician who, in between writing and performing songs, formed a company that purported to make clothes.
The company never produced a stitch. The federal government paid it $19 million.
The spectacle demonstrates the absurdity of 8(a) contracting law, which requires that that 5% of all federal government contracts be &#8220;set aside&#8221; for minority-, women-owned, and other &#8220;disadvantaged&#8221; businesses. The program — which Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said this month has resulted in $100 million contracts going out the door without competitive bidding <a href="https://x.com/SecWar/status/2012302240594170106">nearly every day</a> — has led to paydays for flagrant middlemen who use their disadvantaged status to win government contracts, only to subcontract the work to larger firms.
Valles registered a company called <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/search?hash=c5ea925ba77a354730a50d20bd0a7731">Romo Productions</a> with the Small Business Administration as a Self-Certified Small <a href="https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_IDV_FA700014D0004_9700">Disadvantaged Business</a>, a Woman Owned Business, and a Hispanic American Owned Business. According to her <a href="https://guitarrhonda.com/about-me">music biography</a>, Valles&#8217;s father is &#8220;German/Irish/Spanish.&#8221;
That certification, which gave it a fast-track to government contracts, was the business: its <a href="https://www.romoproductions.com/home.html">website</a> dedicated more space to the Small Business Administration&#8217;s 8(a) logos than to its own name.
&#8220;ROMO Productions offers two advantages; quality, scaled production and woman owned small business. This means Government buyers can meet their small business set aside needs and receive well built products that are delivered on schedule,&#8221; a <a href="https://archive.is/wip/bSzJS">profile</a> said.
<blockquote>
<h1 class="md-end-block md-p">&#8216;I got this government contract, do you know anyone with a factory who can help me perform it?&#8217;</h1>
</blockquote>
Between 2009 and 2017, multiple military branches agreed to pay up to $72 million to the firm, ultimately shelling out just under $19 million to produce physical training outfits, federal spending records show. Some were awarded without competition as an &#8220;8(a) sole source,&#8221; while others were set aside for &#8220;small businesses.&#8221;
But Romo Productions never had the infrastructure to produce clothes. Brad Thompson, a white male to whom Valles subcontracted the work, recalls how she first approached him.
&#8220;She said &#8216;I got this government contract, do you know anyone with a factory who can help me perform it?&#8217; She was literally living in her car,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire. &#8220;I said &#8216;I can help you.'&#8221;
Thompson&#8217;s company, BT Apparel, was one of three factories that produced clothing for Romo Productions. Thompson sent the clothing to a space where Valles&#8217; band practiced, and she forwarded the packages on to the military, he said.
&#8220;She never owned a machine &#8230; I had 100 employees,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The whole 8(a) thing is a farce.&#8221;
During that time, Valles performed a song, &#8220;Token,&#8221; which includes the lyric &#8220;I need a token. Shut up boy, won&#8217;t you be my token&#8221;:​
<div class="md-htmlblock md-rawblock md-end-block" spellcheck="false">
​Government inspectors visited Thompson&#8217;s factory to ensure compliance with rules such as the Berry Amendment, which requires military products to be made in the United States. Thompson says he heard Valles giving the impression that she owned it. &#8220;I started to think there was something fraudulent going on,&#8221; he said.
He hired a lawyer to obtain a copy of the government contract using public records laws, and found that Valles was obligated to own the facilities that were performing the work, he said. The military had apparently never verified that she did.
Once Valles realized that Thompson was onto the scheme — a common occurrence in minority contracting, called a &#8220;pass-through&#8221; — she demanded he give her ownership of his business, which would make her more than a middle-woman: &#8220;Sell me 10% of your business for $1 and I&#8217;ll keep giving you work,&#8221; he recalled her saying.
The owners of the other two factories also began to suspect that Valles was simply siphoning government dollars as a middle-woman. Valles used legal threats and the prospect of withholding work to keep them as indentured servants.
She drafted a letter, intended for signature by Thompson, that said &#8220;I, Brad Thompson, have no further interest in obtaining pricing information from the USMC with respect to the above stated contract.&#8221;
Another document reviewed by The Daily Wire, with blank signature lines for the owners of the three factories, read: &#8220;We believe that what is best for Romo, is best for us. We do not now or ever want to make you think that we would try to take anything away from you.&#8221;
Thompson likened the move to extortion, and said when he refused to sign over ownership of his business, Valles abruptly pulled the work from his factory and even cast a curse on him. &#8220;Within three weeks it was all gone because I wouldn&#8217;t play ball,&#8221; he said.
Valles sued the second factory, Paradise Sewing, asking that it &#8220;be permanently restrained and enjoined from using misappropriated confidential information.&#8221; To support her case, she filed a contract that seemed to lay out her intent to commit a set-aside contracting pass-through scheme:
<blockquote>ROMO desires to retain sewing services of Paradise&#8230; to US Gov military apparel, from this day forward but has the following expectations:</blockquote>
Valles later filed a statement to the judge complaining about her own lawyer, because he &#8220;told me I was not going to win&#8221; and &#8220;that I &#8216;was behaving like a 3yr old.'&#8221; In 2018, a California appeals court <a href="https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5b0b8dc6ce869d79ee0c9c4c">ordered</a> her to pay Paradise&#8217;s attorneys fees, and Romo Productions collapsed.
But it&#8217;s unclear that the federal government ever sanctioned it. Romo&#8217;s website says it has an &#8220;<a href="https://www.romoproductions.com/history.html">A+</a> Contract Past Performance Rating&#8221; and <a href="h%20A+%20Contract%20Past%20Performance%20Rating">received</a> a &#8220;certificate of appreciation&#8221; from the Marine Corps.
Valles told The Daily Wire via email that she is &#8220;more interested in the health of the planet, feminine energy (yin) and cooperative kindness rather than male dominated competitive evil war profiteers.&#8221;
&#8220;In a stupid male dominated world especially this world being a woman alone is a disadvantage,&#8221; she added, railing against &#8220;evil feudal lords evil Jews slavery is still here.&#8221;
She said she is &#8220;starting a coalition for women to run the planet. Peace and Light and Love-like the Orca Whales. Raise the frequency of the planet. Male energy is heavy and war like and long overdue for a reduction.&#8221;
A Department of War spokesman declined to discuss Romo Productions. But speaking on 8(a) contracts earlier this month, Hegseth noted that &#8220;In many, many instances, these socially disadvantaged businesses don&#8217;t even do work. They take a 10%, 20%, sometimes 50% fee off the top, then pass the contract off to a giant consulting firm.&#8221;
&#8220;We&#8217;re doing away with these pass-through schemes,&#8221; Hegseth said, vowing that contracts not benefiting &#8220;lethality&#8221; would simply be ended.
After the fallout, Thompson&#8217;s company looked into getting government contracts itself, but he found that bureaucrats seemed to knowingly write contracts that necessitated middlemen in order to meet their &#8220;small&#8221; and &#8220;disadvantaged&#8221; business quotas.
&#8220;It&#8217;s like &#8216;procure apparel with an Under Armour logo.&#8217; Obviously they should just get them from Under Armour,&#8221; he said.
The Romo Productions contract was for the procurement of New Balance clothes — something only New Balance, which is not a small business, had the license to produce. To convince New Balance to allow other factories to produce clothes with its logo, the company had to be paid a licensing fee that gave it the same profit as if the contract had gone directly to it, he said.
With Romo Productions gone, Valles now <a href="https://rhondav.com/bio">markets</a> herself as the &#8220;&#8216;Oz behind the curtain&#8217; of many of the industry’s top Made in USA/Berry Compliant tactical apparel brands from 2008-present.&#8221; She says she consults with other companies that want to do business with the military to help them with <a href="https://rhondav.com/services">&#8220;sourcing/compliance.&#8221;</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-just-ordered-beneficiaries-of-the-largest-dei-program-to-turn-over-all-financial-records">Trump Orders All Beneficiaries Of The Largest DEI Program To Turn Over Internal Financial Records</a>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-official-three-contractors-plead-guilty-to-half-billion-dollar-bribery-scheme">USAID Official, Three Contractors Plead Guilty To Half-Billion Dollar Bribery Scheme</a>
Editor&#8217;s Note: the views stated in this article are the author’s opinion. After publication, Ms. Valles contacted The Daily Wire to state that she disputes the accuracy of the article regarding her business operations, contracting history, and personal background, including any statement or implication that she was homeless or living in her car.”
</div>

Rhonda Valles

How The Military Gave A Homeless Lesbian’s ‘Minority Contracting’ Firm $19 Million

China&#8217;s foreign ministry announced sanctions on Friday targeting 10 individuals and 20 U.S. defense firms, including Boeing&#8217;s St. Louis branch, over arms sales to Taiwan.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said the United States strongly objected to the Chinese move, which freezes any assets the companies and individuals hold in China and bars domestic organizations and individuals from doing business with them.
Individuals on the Chinese list, including the founder of defense firm Anduril Industries and nine senior executives from the sanctioned firms, are also banned from entering China, it added.
Other companies targeted include Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation and L3Harris Maritime Services, and Boeing&#8217;s St. Louis branch, which focuses on defense work.
The Chinese action appears largely symbolic given China&#8217;s lack of dealings with U.S. defense firms, whereas it has been a major purchaser of Boeing civilian aircraft.
The move follows Washington&#8217;s announcement last week of $11.1 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, the largest ever U.S. weapons package for the island, drawing Beijing&#8217;s ire.
&#8220;The Taiwan issue is the core of China&#8217;s core interests and the first red line that cannot be crossed in China-U.S. relations,&#8221; a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
&#8220;Any provocative actions that cross the line on the Taiwan issue will be met with a strong response from China,&#8221; the statement said, urging the U.S. to cease &#8220;dangerous&#8221; efforts to arm the island.
China views democratically-governed Taiwan as part of its own territory, a claim Taipei rejects.
The U.S. is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, though such arms sales are a persistent source of friction with China.
The State Department spokesperson said this policy had &#8220;remained consistent across nine different U.S. administrations and contributes to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.&#8221;
&#8220;We strongly object to Beijing’s efforts to retaliate against U.S. companies for their support of U.S. arms sales that support Taiwan’s self-defense capabilities,&#8221; the spokesperson said, while urging Beijing to cease military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taipei.
Boeing has been in talks to sell Chinese carriers up to 500 civilian jets, according to a report in September, which would represent a major breakthrough for the company in the world&#8217;s second-largest aviation market, where orders have stalled amid U.S.-China trade tensions.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Joe Bavier, Peter Graff and Alistair Bell)

The two sides clashed with missiles. trade war. Flag of the People’s Republic of China. Flag of the United States. Taiwan flag

China Hits U.S. Defense Firms With Sanctions Over Arms Sales To Taiwan

Communist China

Global Politics

Taiwan

World

A heavily-redacted Epstein document dump revives questions about his associates, including former President Bill Clinton; the United States wallops ISIS targets in Syria while the Venezuelan oil blockade continues; and Turning Point USA&#8217;s AmericaFest wraps up with fireworks.
It’s Monday, December 22, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251222-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">The Daily Wire</a>:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epstein-files-firestorm-u-s-retaliation-strikes-isis/id1576594336?i=1000742295192" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Epstein Files Released</h2>
The Justice Department has begun publishing thousands of pages of material tied to its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein. But the rollout has sparked immediate controversy with claims of heavy redactions and missing files. Because of the Epstein Files Transparency Act passed last month, the DOJ released an initial batch of over 13,000 files. These include investigative materials, grand jury transcripts from cases adjudicated in the early 2000s, police reports, flight logs, handwritten phone messages, and dozens of photographs. Though some of the material is new, none of it is blockbuster news. There are still hundreds of thousands of records under review that will be released on a rolling basis in the coming weeks, however.
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">U.S. Hits ISIS</h2>
President Trump has followed through on his promise to avenge three Americans killed in Syria last week, carrying out dozens of strikes against ISIS in Syria. On Friday, the U.S. military, with some help from Jordan, hit 70+ ISIS targets across Syria. An early report from a Syria monitoring group said that at least five ISIS terrorists were killed. Most of the destruction was of ISIS infrastructure, including munitions, supplies, and hideouts. War Secretary Pete Hegseth tamped down fears that this could lead to a wider conflict. Hegseth <a href="https://x.com/SecWar/status/2002140737060692098">said</a>, “This is not the beginning of a war — it is a declaration of vengeance. The United States of America, under President Trump’s leadership, will never hesitate and never relent to defend our people.”
<h2 style="text-align: center;">TPUSA’s AmFest Wraps Up</h2>
Turning Point USA’s big annual conference, AmericaFest, had more eyes than ever on it this year as organizers set out to honor its founder Charlie Kirk and give the stage to the most influential voices in the conservative movement. The event wrapped with some surprises–the major one coming on Sunday when Ericka Kirk walked rapper Nicki Minaj out on the main stage to talk about her respect for President Trump. The event was also full of fiery speeches that generated many headlines across the media. But while the media and the internet were full of controversy, the feeling on the floor of the conference felt communal and high-energy, according to Daily Wire reporters at the event.

MRN_251222_V2 (1)

Morning Brief: Epstein Files Released, U.S. Hits ISIS In Syria, And AmFest Comes To A Close

AMFEST

Department of Justice

Jeffrey Epstein

Morning Wire

Syria

Turning Point USA

The Department of War has escalated a review of Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly to an “official Command Investigation.”
“The Office of the Secretary of War, in conjunction with the Department of War&#8217;s Office of the General Counsel, is escalating the preliminary review of Captain Mark Kelly, USN (Ret.), to an official Command Investigation. Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct. Further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings,” a department official told The Daily Wire.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: <a href="https://twitter.com/DeptofWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DeptofWar</a> official tells <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDailyWire</a> that DOW is escalating its preliminary review of Senator Mark Kelly to an “official Command Investigation.”
“Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct,” official says. “Further…
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/2000709725726347348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
Last week, the U.S. Navy sent a report to War Secretary Pete Hegseth on a review of Kelly’s actions warning military members against following “illegal orders.” The Office of General Counsel for the War Department is providing advice and legal review of the investigation into Kelly.
The department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/war-department-reviewing-serious-allegations-against-sen-mark-kelly-after-dem-military-message">initiated</a> a review of Kelly, a U.S. Navy combat veteran and retired astronaut, in November after the senator joined five other Democratic lawmakers in a video urging military members to disobey “illegal orders.” The Arizona Democrat is under consideration to be recalled to active duty to undergo “court-martial proceedings or administrative measures.”
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“The Department of War reminds all individuals that military retirees remain subject to the [Uniform Code of Military Justice] for applicable offenses, and federal laws such as 18 U.S.C. § 2387 prohibit actions intended to interfere with the loyalty, morale, or good order and discipline of the armed forces. Any violations will be addressed through appropriate legal channels,” the department said in a statement at the time.
At the time of the video, Hegseth denounced it in a <a href="https://x.com/PeteHegseth/status/1993008532187148582">post</a> on X, saying that message put out by the “seditious six” lawmakers is “despicable, reckless, and false.”
“Encouraging our warriors to ignore the orders of their Commanders undermines every aspect of ‘good order and discipline.’ Their foolish screed sows doubt and confusion — which only puts our warriors in danger,” said Hegseth.

Mark Kelly

Hegseth’s War Department Escalates Review Of Mark Kelly Over ‘Seditious Six’ Video

Congress

Department of War

U.S.

Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton suggested Sunday that the Trump administration might soon begin to “murder” Americans.
Moulton, who is running for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, made the radical claim during an appearance on CNN in which he suggested that the administration’s actions against narcoterrorists in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean may be replicated against Americans.
“The President of the United States and his secretary of Defense are conducting murder on the high seas. They&#8217;re committing murder and Americans should care,” <a href="https://x.com/RNCResearch/status/1997768199379505464">said</a> Moulton. “None of us like drug traffickers, but we have laws that say that drug traffickers don&#8217;t get summarily executed, and if it&#8217;s happening off the coast of America with people that we don&#8217;t know, just give it time before Donald Trump starts doing the same kind of thing to people we do know right here at home.”
The administration has declared major drug cartels in South America as terror groups, and positioned roughly 15,000 troops in the Caribbean Sea to combat narcoterrorists trafficking fentanyl and other deadly drugs into the United States. The U.S. military has destroyed roughly two dozen boats and submarines in international waters that the administration said were trafficking illicit drugs.
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Democrats ramped up criticisms of the Trump administration’s war on drugs after a report from The Washington Post last month claimed that War Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a “kill them all” order carried out against survivors of a destroyed drug-running vessel.
Top military officials have contested the report. Adm. Mitch Bradley said in a closed-door hearing in Congress last week that Hegseth never gave such an order. In one September incident that has become the basis for Democratic claims of war crimes, Bradley made the call to send a follow-up strike against a vessel that he deemed was still a threat.
Democrats have pushed to have the classified video of the follow-up strike made public. Sen. Tom Cotton, who has seen the video, appeared on NBC News on Sunday and said he had “no problem” with releasing it as long as doing so does not risk national security.
“I will say that the [Department of War] may have valid concerns about revealing what we know about tactics and techniques that these cartels are using or about our sources or methods,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tom-cotton-has-no-problem-with-releasing-video-of-drug-boat-double-tap">said</a> Cotton. “I would trust Secretary Hegseth and his team to make the decision about whether they can declassify and release the video. But again, there’s nothing remarkable on that video in my opinion.”

Seth Moulton

Dem Congressman Suggests Trump Will ‘Murder’ Americans Like Narcoterrorists

Donald Trump

Drug Cartels

Drugs

Fentanyl

Massachusetts

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said a second military strike on a damaged drug boat in September constituted a “war crime” before checking what video evidence or after-action reports show.
Duckworth appeared on CNN on Sunday and accused the Trump administration, particularly War Secretary Pete Hegseth, of committing a war crime in the Caribbean over a report in The Washington Post last month. The senator made the strong accusation before admitting that she has not seen the classified video or military reports on the controversial strike.
Top military officials have denied the Post’s report, and additional reporting from The New York Times undercuts the Post report&#8217;s claim that Hegseth issued a “kill everybody” order.
The Illinois senator suggested that U.S. service members who participate in the “illegal” strikes may be subject to legal accountability in the U.S. or through the International Criminal Court, which the United States is not a party to.
“Everything that they&#8217;ve done has been illegal. It&#8217;s illegal under international law, it&#8217;s illegal under the Geneva Convention, and it certainly is even illegal under domestic law. It was essentially murder with that double-tap strike,” <a href="https://x.com/rcpvideo/status/1997749858468560898">said</a> Duckworth. “It is a war crime. It&#8217;s illegal. However you put it, it&#8217;s all illegal.”
Duckworth said she made her assessment without watching classified video of the strike that has been shown to some lawmakers. Duckworth said that all of her knowledge on the strike has come from “just what’s been available in the media.”
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“I&#8217;ve not seen the actual video. I&#8217;ve requested to be able to see the actual video. I&#8217;ve also actually asked to see the after-action reports from the pilots and the drone operators, as well as the intelligence debrief that all pilots and drone operators conduct after they have completed a mission,” she said.
The Washington Post reported on November 28 that Hegseth ordered the U.S. military to “kill them all” in relation to narcoterrorists who ferry drugs through international waters in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
Adm. Frank Bradley, who oversaw the September operation in question, testified to lawmakers last week that the Post’s account of the strike is inaccurate. Top military officials have denied that Hegseth ever gave such an order, and that Bradley’s official orders, which have been reviewed by some lawmakers, did not include that wording.
Bradley reportedly told lawmakers during his testimony, not delivered publicly because of the sensitivity of the subject, that each of the 11 people on board the vessel had been <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/admiral-told-lawmakers-everyone-alleged-drug-boat-was-list-military-ta-rcna247767">confirmed</a> by intelligence as narcoterrorists. Bradley also said that he authorized the second strike on the vessel and that Hegseth had left soon after the first strike was delivered.

Tammy Duckworth

Tammy Duckworth Calls Double-Tap Strike A ‘War Crime,’ Then Admits She Hasn’t Seen The Video

Tammy Duckworth Calls Double-Tap Strike A ‘War Crime,’ Then Admits She Hasn't Seen The Video

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton has no objections to releasing the full video of the U.S. military strike on a drug boat that has become central to Democratic claims of war crimes committed by the Trump administration.
The Arkansas senator appeared on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” on Sunday and defended the actions taken by the U.S. military to curb the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States, specifically striking vehicles used to ferry drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
One incident in September has sparked accusations from Democrats that War Secretary Pete Hegseth committed a war crime after a second military strike was ordered on a drug boat that was not destroyed by an initial missile.
The accusations against Hegseth began after The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/28/hegseth-kill-them-all-survivors-boat-strike/">reported</a> that the War secretary gave an order to “kill them all.” Top military officials have since testified to Congress that no such order was given, and Republican lawmakers who have seen the mission order have said that no such language exists in the order that would direct military personnel to commit war crimes.
Senate Republicans, including Cotton, have also reviewed the footage of the second strike on the drug boat and said that the strike did not constitute a war crime because the vessel, though damaged and capsized, still represented a valid military target and could have been used to call in additional narcoterrorists. Cotton said Sunday that he would have “no problem” releasing the video to the public, though the military may have national security reasons for not wanting the footage public.
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“I personally don&#8217;t have any problem with” releasing the footage, Cotton <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-december-7-2025-n1313135">said</a>. “It&#8217;s not gruesome. I didn&#8217;t find it distressing or disturbing. It looks like any number of dozens of strikes we&#8217;ve seen on Jeeps and pickup trucks in the Middle East over the years.”
“I will say that the department may have valid concerns about revealing what we know about tactics and techniques that these cartels are using or about our sources or methods,” he added. “I would trust Secretary Hegseth and his team to make the decision about whether they can declassify and release the video. But again, there&#8217;s nothing remarkable on that video in my opinion.”
Adm. Mitch Bradley testified to Congress last week, denying that Hegseth gave a “kill them all” order. Bradley said that while Hegseth was present to watch the first strike delivered against the drug boat in September, the War secretary left to attend to other matters. Bradley gave authorization for the second strike after assessing that the vessel was still a threat.
Hegseth’s orders at that point had not <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/even-the-new-york-times-isnt-sold-on-washington-post-hegseth-hit">specified</a> what to do if a drug boat was not completely destroyed in an initial strike, according to reporting from The New York Times.
Democrats have continued to push the story, alleging that Hegseth authorized a war crime and should be held accountable. Lawmakers have also <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/07/second-strike-democratic-lawmakers-demand-transparency-00679899">pushed</a> for release of the video depicting the second strike on the boat and suggested that service members who take part in illegal orders could be formally punished.

Tom Cotton

Tom Cotton Has ‘No Problem’ With Releasing Video Of Drug Boat Double-Tap

Crime

U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s plan to take government equity stakes in strategic industries doesn&#8217;t apply to major defense firms, the head of Boeing&#8217;s defense unit said on Saturday, in contrast to previous comments by a senior government official.
The government wants industry to make investments in facilities, and large contractors are expected be able to do this without government assistance, Steve Parker, Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Defense, Space &amp; Security, said on a panel at the Reagan National Defense Forum, an annual industry event in Simi Valley, California.
Speaking about the prospect of the U.S. government investing in exchange for ownership rights, &#8220;it really only applies on the supply chain, particularly for the smaller companies coming through where that might be a way forward for them,&#8221; Parker said.
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&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it really applies to the Primes,&#8221; Parker added, referring to big legacy defense contractors like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, RTX and Northrop Grumman.
Parker pointed to Boeing&#8217;s recent billions invested in St. Louis, Missouri where the company makes fighter jets.
In August, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Trump administration was weighing equity stakes in major defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin, a move that sent shares of Lockheed, Boeing and other defense firms higher.
This year, the Trump administration has taken equity stakes in chipmaker Intel and rare earths company MP Materials, in an effort to prioritize national security in critical sectors where China has become increasingly dominant. Trump has said the government will take stakes in more companies.
(Reporting by Mike Stone and Joe Brock; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Deepa Babington)

Boeing

Boeing Says Trump’s Equity Stake Plan Doesn’t Apply To Them

Economy

National Security

President Trump stands by War Secretary Pete Hegseth and the drug boat strikes as the Cabinet convenes once again, the administration threatens to withhold tax dollars over illegal commercial driver&#8217;s licenses, and a New Jersey probe into a pro-life pregnancy center winds up in the Supreme Court.
It’s Wednesday, December 3, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251203-member-exclusive?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">video version</a> can be seen on The Daily Wire:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trump-defends-hegseth-duffys-minnesota-ultimatum-12-3-25/id1576594336?i=1000739476338" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Backs Hegseth In Cabinet Meeting</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1008973 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Cabinet-Meeting-No.-9-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Cabinet-Meeting-No.-9-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Cabinet-Meeting-No.-9-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Cabinet-Meeting-No.-9-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Cabinet-Meeting-No.-9-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Cabinet-Meeting-No.-9.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Topline: President Trump gathered his cabinet Tuesday and defended Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, vowing to continue his strikes against narco-terrorists.
All eyes on Hegseth: The War secretary has come under fire for allegedly ordering airstrikes targeting survivors of a drug smuggling boat that had been destroyed by an initial strike. The White House has rallied around Hegseth, reiterating that these suspected cartel members have been designated as terrorists, and are essentially enemy combatants of the United States. On Tuesday, Hegseth <a href="https://x.com/AndrewKolvet/status/1995921305728942204?s=20">struck</a> a defiant tone, vowing to continue the strikes.
The original reporting on the alleged illegal strike story is now facing a flood of scrutiny. The New York Times published a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/us/hegseth-drug-boat-strike-order-venezuela.html">story</a> this week refuting the main allegation against Hegseth — that he specifically ordered a second strike to kill survivors.
The Times cited five anonymous U.S. officials who each said separately that Hegseth did order a strike to kill the drug smugglers, but “his order was not a response to surveillance footage showing that at least two people on the boat survived the first blast,” and he did not address what should be done if there were survivors.
Latest on National Guard Shooting: In one of the cabinet meeting’s more somber moments, Attorney General Pam Bondi honored the life of slain National Guardsman Sarah Beckstrom and offered an update on Andrew Wolfe, the guardsmen fighting for his life in the hospital.
&#8220;I was there where when the surgeons came in and [his parents] wanted you to know this — he&#8217;s a miracle, and if everyone in this country can continue to pray for that family. He&#8217;s got a long road ahead of him, but he is a miracle,” <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1995918866606698520?s=20">said</a> Bondi.
The alleged shooter, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, appeared virtually in court on Tuesday from a hospital bed, where he was formally charged with murder and a slew of other crimes. Lakanwal pleaded not guilty to all charges. He’ll be held without bond throughout the trial. Bondi said the Justice Department intends to seek the death penalty.
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Minnesota’s Illegal License Loophole</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1008975 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Minnesotas-CDL-Ultimatum-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Minnesotas-CDL-Ultimatum-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Minnesotas-CDL-Ultimatum-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Minnesotas-CDL-Ultimatum-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Minnesotas-CDL-Ultimatum-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Minnesotas-CDL-Ultimatum.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Topline: Minnesota is facing federal pressure after an audit found widespread improper licensing of foreign drivers, underscoring broader immigration-oversight issues.
The Trump administration has presented some pretty jaw-dropping findings and is now taking action. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the federal government will withhold more than $30 million in highway funding from Minnesota.
The state can avoid the penalty if Democratic Governor Tim Walz revokes a large number of commercial driver’s licenses that were issued illegally to drivers whose immigration or residency status did not comply with federal law. Duffy gave Walz 30 days to fix it, or the funding would be withheld.
What Walz thinks: Officials in the Walz administration say they are reviewing this letter from the Department of Transportation, and claim that they take “safety” on their roads “seriously.” 
Step back: Commercial drivers licenses for illegals or people with improper status have been a focus for months now, due to some devastating crashes that have killed Americans. The Daily Wire’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-trucker-with-california-license-accused-of-killing-newlyweds-in-tragic-collision?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Illegal+Immigrant+Trucker+With+California+License+Accused+Of+Killing+Newlyweds+In+Tragic+Collision">Jennie Taer</a> reported that a newlywed couple was tragically killed in a collision allegedly caused by an illegal immigrant truck driver with a California license. The Indian national involved in the crash has been charged with criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment. 
The Department of Transportation has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illegal-immigrant-trucker-with-california-license-accused-of-killing-newlyweds-in-tragic-collision?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Jennie+Taer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Illegal+Immigrant+Trucker+With+California+License+Accused+Of+Killing+Newlyweds+In+Tragic+Collision">found</a> that California authorities have issued some 17,000 non-domiciled Commercial Driver’s Licenses to foreign drivers. The Trump administration is similarly threatening to withhold tens of millions of federal dollars from California. A number of other states, including red states, are being scrutinized over this issue, too.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">SCOTUS Case On Pro-Life Targeting</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-1008977 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/SCOTUS-Presses-Platkin-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/SCOTUS-Presses-Platkin-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/SCOTUS-Presses-Platkin-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/SCOTUS-Presses-Platkin-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/SCOTUS-Presses-Platkin-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/SCOTUS-Presses-Platkin.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
Topline: The Supreme Court heard <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JysOCj6Dq0g">arguments</a> Tuesday on a case involving a state allegedly “intimidating” and “harassing” a pregnancy center for not conducting abortions. The case, First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin, could set precedent on states&#8217; ability to similarly target pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations.
Erin Hawley, general counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom and one of the attorneys representing First Choice, spoke to Morning Wire about the case. (The following interview has been edited for clarity.)
Morning Wire: This case stems from New Jersey’s Democrat Attorney General Matt Platkin creating a “strike force” that targeted pregnancy resource centers. He issued a statewide “consumer alert” against them — and then specifically issued a subpoena to First Choice that was extremely intrusive, including asking for donor information. We’ve just heard oral arguments before the Supreme Court. By the line of questioning from the justices, do you have a sense how they appear to be leaning? 
Hawley: I&#8217;ll have to paraphrase an old boss of mine. After arguing, he would say, I would rather be on our side than their side. And I think that&#8217;s definitely true after this oral argument. If you think about some of the questions the justices were asking, Justice Barrett, for example, pointed out the hostility that New Jersey has shown toward pregnancy care centers.
Justice Kagan took a really practical view of the case. She&#8217;s not one that you would maybe expect to be ideologically aligned with First Choice, and yet she made the common sense point, if I receive a subpoena that demands donor names, I don&#8217;t want my name and address and phone number out there. And so she was saying that this is going to chill the First Amendment rights of recipients in sort of a common sense way. It seemed like a majority or certainly several members of the court were really understanding the effect that subpoena had both on First Choice Women&#8217;s Resource Center, as well as its donors.
Morning Wire: That seems pretty promising for First Choice. Were there any particularly surprising moments to you in the arguments — anything you weren’t anticipating? 
Hawley: One kind of highlight of the oral argument was the fact that we had hoped to sort of highlight, but that&#8217;s the fact that the New Jersey attorney general has never said that he received a single complaint against First Choice by anyone. Justice Thomas really leaned into that and asked the New Jersey attorney, why did you investigate First Choice? Did you receive a complaint? Like, did anyone tell you that they didn&#8217;t like them? And the New Jersey attorney general had to answer no. They had received no complaints about First Choice.

MRN_251203_V2

Morning Brief: Trump Backs Hegseth, Minnesota Issues Illegal Licenses, & SCOTUS Takes On Pro-Life Targeting

Morning Brief: Trump Backs Hegseth, MN Illegal License Loophole, And SCOTUS On Pro-Life Targeting

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