A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may access sensitive systems in the Department of Treasury after a weeks-long battle.
U.S. District Court Judge Jeannette Vargas said that one member of the DOGE team may access sensitive payment and data systems at Treasury as long as that member undergoes training. The member, Ryan Wunderly, would also need to submit a financial disclosure.
Vargas’ Friday <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.636609/gov.uscourts.nysd.636609.139.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruling</a> came nearly two months after she blocked DOGE from the systems amid a legal challenge from blue state attorneys general.
“The Court hereby modifies the PI Order to permit Defendants to grant Ryan Wunderly access to Treasury Department payment records, payment systems, and any other data systems maintained by the Treasury Department containing personally identifiable information and/or confidential financial information of payees, PROVIDED THAT (i) Wunderly first completes any hands-on training in such systems that is typically required of other Treasury employees granted commensurate access; and (ii) that Wunderly first submits his OGE 278 Financial Disclosure Report,” Vargas wrote.
In February, New York Attorney General Letitia James led a coalition of 18 other Democratic attorneys general in a lawsuit challenging DOGE’s access across the federal government. DOGE is spearheading President Donald Trump’s push to cut waste, fraud, and abuse from the government and better direct federal funds toward his agenda.
“Giving the world’s richest man unauthorized access to our nation’s central payment system, and our most sensitive personal information, puts all Americans – and the essential funds they depend on – at risk,” James <a href="https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2025/attorney-general-james-stops-elon-musk-and-doge-accessing-americans-private">said</a> in February. “With this illegal power grab, Musk and DOGE are trying to wipe out vital programs and services – from health care to public safety to education – that our communities need.”
James’ lawsuit argued that only trained career civil servants should have access to the Treasury systems, closely guarded because of the amount of sensitive and personal information of Americans stored in them.
The Trump administration had argued at the time that only two DOGE team members had been granted access to the Treasury systems, and that they had each received some training.
The ruling comes as DOGE continues its reviews of payments and systems across the federal government. DOGE <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doge-review-finds-three-dem-states-account-for-most-unemployment-fraud-since-2020">announced</a> on Thursday that an initial review of unemployment claims found $382 million in suspect payments. Nearly 80% of those payments came from three deep-blue states: California, New York, and Massachusetts.
“California, New York, and Massachusetts accounted for most of these improper claims, totaling $305M in unemployment benefits,” said DOGE. “Additionally, California accounted for 68% of the unemployment benefits paid to parolees identified by CBP on the terrorist watchlist or with criminal records.”

Letitia James

Judge Greenlights DOGE Access To Treasury Despite Complaints From Blue State AGs

Courts

Department of the Treasury

DOGE

New York

U.S.

On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned China that their imposition of a 34% tariff on the United States was a “big mistake.”
Last Wednesday, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/04/business/china-us-tariffs-retaliation-hnk-intl/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">imposed</a> an additional 34% tariff on all Chinese goods imported into the U.S. On Friday, China announced it would impose a reciprocal 34% tariff on all imports from the United States starting April 10. On Tuesday, Trump <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tariffs-china-50-percent-tariff-retaliatory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> by announcing that the U.S. would apply an additional 50% tariff on imports from China if the Chinese don’t withdraw the 34% tariff.
“My advice on April 2 to our trading partners was not to panic, don’t escalate, and then we will see where President Trump is after a period of days or weeks,” Bessent said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “The response was overwhelming, so after a period of days, he decided that it would be a good time to begin negotiating.”
“The academic literature shows that it’s actually the non-tariff barriers which are both harder to quantify and harder to — they’re more insidious because they’re hidden, they’re obfuscated. So tariffs, non-tariff barriers, currency manipulation and then subsidies to both labor and industry &#8230; everything’s on the table,” he explained.
“If we put up a tariff wall, the ultimate goal would be to bring jobs back to the U.S., but in the meantime, we will be collecting substantial tariffs,” he said. “If we’re successful, tariffs would be a melting ice cube, in a way, because you’re taking in the revenues as the manufacturing facilities are built in the U.S., and there should be some level of symmetry between the taxes that we begin taking in with the new industry from the payroll taxes as the tariffs decline.”
“Many of our trading partners, they have queued up, and they have kept their cool,” he revealed. “They have not escalated, and they will get priority in the queue. I think it was a big mistake, this Chinese escalation, because they’re playing with a pair of twos. Traditionally, if you look at the history of the trade negotiations, we are the deficit country. So what do we lose by the Chinese raising tariffs on us? We export one-fifth to them of what they export to us, so that is a losing hand for them.”
“We can see from the huge surpluses that some of these countries have; they’ve accumulated these gigantic surpluses over the years. That has to tell all of us that there are imbalances, and again, whether those imbalances are from the actual tariffs or non-tariff barriers, currency manipulation, or the state-favored funding, it’s very difficult to disentangle, but those big surpluses tell me that there is a large imbalance, and President Trump is committed for the American worker to fixing those imbalances,” he declared.
“I think you are going to see some very large countries with large trade deficits come forward very quickly,” Bessent said. “If they come to the table with solid proposals, I think we can end up with some good deals.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/adNVYPWu92Y?si=87_jYdLYHFdaOXQJ" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

close-up frontal view of the hand of a person seated at a table playing poker with chips

‘They’re Playing With A Pair Of Twos’: Treasury’s Bessent Warns China On Escalating Tariffs

China

Economy

Politics

Scott Bessent

Tariffs

The Trump administration is asking a federal judge to end a controversial court order that has barred top officials access to the Treasury Department&#8217;s massive payment system, which oversees trillions of dollars in payments each year.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer, an Obama appointee, ruled Saturday that nearly all Trump administration officials, including those from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, cannot access Treasury records for at least a week.
The ruling effectively sided with 19 Democrat attorneys general who sued the Trump administration over DOGE&#8217;s access to the system. DOGE says it wants access to view potential waste, fraud, and abuse. The agency does not have the authority to take any actions on its own but can make recommendations based on its findings.
Trump&#8217;s DOJ, in a motion filed this week, asked Manhattan-based U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas to end or amend Engelmayer&#8217;s order, which they called a “remarkable intrusion” and unconstitutional.
“Basic democratic accountability requires that every executive agency’s work be supervised by politically accountable leadership, who ultimately answer to the president,” the DOJ <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/10/trump-administration-treasury-payment-system-access-00203341" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> in the filing, according to POLITICO.
The order asks that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and top officials in the department be briefed on the payment system and perform their legally required roles, the outlet noted.
The administration is fighting numerous legal efforts by Democrats and their allies to block DOGE from effectively auditing the federal government to find waste. On Friday, DOGE scored a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/doge-scores-legal-win-after-labor-unions-sue-to-stop-access-to-view-potential-waste" target="_blank" rel="noopener">legal win</a> when a federal judge decided not to immediately block the department&#8217;s access to U.S. Labor Department systems.
DOGE Chair Elon Musk has been the subject of numerous personal attacks, too. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NYC), for example, has <a href="https://x.com/RealDanZak/status/1886834419282919584" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://x.com/RealDanZak/status/1886834419282919584&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1739107639500000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1k1orHvP1qwTDoOZfi429Q">said</a> that the billionaire is “not smart” and “lacks intelligence.” Other prominent Democrats have argued that no one “elected” a billionaire to oversee government waste.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded last week to the criticisms, emphasizing that the American people overwhelmingly elected Trump to, in part, find waste with the help of Musk.
&#8220;President Trump was elected with a mandate by the American People to make this government more efficient,” she told reporters on Wednesday. “He campaigned across this country with Elon Musk, vowing that Elon was going to head up the Department of Government Efficiency, and the two of them, with a great team around them, were going to look at the receipts of this federal government and ensure it’s accountable to American taxpayers. That’s all that is happening here.”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-horror-film-usaid-workers-panic-lash-out-as-trump-admin-guts-agency-over-waste" target="_blank" rel="noopener">‘A Horror Film’: USAID Workers Panic, Lash Out As Trump Admin Guts Agency Over Waste</a>

Donald Trump Watches SpaceX Launch Its Sixth Test Flight Of Starship Spacecraft

Trump Admin Takes Action After Obama Judge Blocks DOGE From Searching For Waste In Treasury System

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Elon Musk

Treasury Department

Trump Administration

On Monday President Trump signed an executive order directing the Commerce and Treasury departments to create a US Sovereign Wealth Fund, which might be used to purchase a stake in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/tiktok">TikTok</a>. 
A sovereign wealth fund (SWF) is a state-owned investment portfolio that governments use to purchase various financial assets such as stocks, bonds, real estate, precious metals, etc. SWFs have become increasingly common over the last few decades – nations such as China, Norway, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have <a href="https://www.swfinstitute.org/fund-rankings/sovereign-wealth-fund">trillions of dollars in assets</a>, and several American states including <a href="https://apfc.org/performance/">Alaska</a>, <a href="https://www.utimco.org/media/3939/2022-puf-audited-financial-statements.pdf">Texas</a>, and <a href="https://www.sic.state.nm.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/SIC-Stakeholders-Report_20210818_WEB.pdf">New Mexico</a> have SWFs worth tens of billions of dollars.
It&#8217;s not quite clear where the money would come from for the U.S. SWF because &#8220;the U.S. has significant budget and trade deficits&#8221; and not a budget surplus, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/sovereign-wealth-fund-trump-executive-order-2ee5088f">The Wall Street Journal</a>. 
SWFs are often financed by budget surpluses or profits generated by state-owned enterprises – after covering costs the government invests some taxpayer dollars to generate more revenue in the future via capital gains, pay for pension benefits, or promote certain policy goals like economic development or the control of &#8220;essential&#8221; resources. 
Like, say, a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/wealth/trump-signs-executive-order-create-sovereign-wealth-fund-2025-02-03/">massive social media company</a>.
President Trump has expressed interest in taking a stake in the social media giant before  –  he entertained the idea during the first press conference of his new administration.
“TikTok is worthless if I don’t approve it,” Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS62kZg19eE">said</a>, “If I do the deal it’s worth maybe $1 trillion … if I do the deal for the United States I think we should get half.”
TikTok has more than 170 million American users and is one of the <a href="https://explodingtopics.com/blog/most-visited-websites">most frequently visited websites in the world</a>, but has come under considerable scrutiny as ‘Chinese spyware’ – the platform is currently owned by a Chinese company called ByteDance, and it has <a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-china-bytedance-user-data-d257d98125f69ac80f983e6067a84911">allegedly</a> been used to spy on American citizens and domestic enemies of the CCP. 
“TikTok’s own conduct makes clear that it is beholden to the CCP and presents an unacceptable threat to U.S. national security,” FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in support of efforts to ban the app.
Last year Congress, with <a href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2024145">bipartisan support</a>, passed a <a href="https://d1dth6e84htgma.cloudfront.net/TIKTOK_xml_655b9d7933.pdf">law</a> that effectively banned TikTok in the US unless the company was sold to a different owner. The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-allows-tiktok-ban-to-take-effect">upheld</a> that decision in January, shortly before Trump returned to the White House, concluding that the ban did not violate the First Amendment.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the court wrote. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
The ban went into effect on January 19th, and the app briefly went dark in the United States, but one of President Trump’s Day 1 executive orders gave ByteDance a 75-day extension to find a buyer.
Trump has been highly critical of TikTok in the past, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-trump-says-he-will-take-action-to-ban-chinese-owned-app-tiktok-from-u-s">attempted to ban the app</a> during his first term. However, his attitude towards the platform has warmed considerably since then – he currently has more than 15 million followers on TikTok and used the app during the election campaign to drive up his support among <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-gen-z-voted-may-surprise-you">younger voters</a>, who disproportionately use TikTok.
Previously the President has indicated that he was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/wealth/trump-signs-executive-order-create-sovereign-wealth-fund-2025-02-03/">in talks</a> with multiple potential buyers and that a decision would likely be made sometime in February. Other private investors have <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3z55zz7xo">expressed interest</a> in purchasing TikTok, including Shark Tank investor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kevin-oleary-signals-eye-popping-sum-of-cash-on-the-table-to-buy-tiktok">Kevin O’Leary</a>, and major American tech companies like <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/white-house-talks-have-oracle-us-investors-take-over-tiktok-npr-reports-2025-01-25/">Oracle</a> and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-says-microsoft-is-talks-acquire-tiktok-2025-01-28/">Microsoft</a>.
While TikTok is still accessible to current users, the app is not available on major American app stores. The exact details of a potential deal remain unclear, and the president’s efforts to save the platform have generated some <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-intel-chairman-tom-cotton-leads-charge-against-reviving-tiktok">pushback</a> on Capitol Hill.

USA national flag and currency usd money banknotes. Business and finance concept

Trump Orders The Creation Of U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund, Signals Interest In TikTok

Department of Commerce

Donald Trump

Social Media

TikTok

An Israeli man was &#8220;very surprised&#8221; to find he was sanctioned by the Biden administration on Thursday after he was confused for someone else with a similar name.
Aviad Shlomo Sarid, an active Israel Defense Forces reservist serving on Israel&#8217;s northern border, was sanctioned in President Joe Biden’s latest batch of sanctions on Israeli civilians who are accused of violence in Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank. The sanctions were meant to target a man named Shlomo Sarid, and various other individuals and farms with which Aviad Shlomo Sarid is not affiliated.
“While he is defending Israel, the American administration has imposed sanctions on him by mistake,” Davidi Ben Zion, the deputy head of the Samaria Regional Council who is helping Sarid get free of the sanctions, told The Daily Wire. “It&#8217;s very unfortunate and especially disturbing.”
“Every citizen of Israel should be afraid that his name is similar to someone who will enter the ‘black list,'&#8221; Ben Zion added.
Matthew Miller, the U.S. State Department spokesman, said the Biden administration is “deeply concerned about extremist violence and instability in the West Bank, which undermines Israel’s own security.”
In addition to Sarid, Isachar Manne and Reut Ben-Haim are accused of being affiliated with Tzav 9, a group that has come under fire for protesting and disrupting the distribution of humanitarian aid to Gaza while Israeli hostages are still held captive. The five entities sanctioned include farms and outposts and Lehava, an anti-assimilation NGO that Miller accused of having members who “have engaged in repeated acts of violence.”
The addresses of the sanctioned individuals were released by the U.S. Treasury Department. Iranians and Russians recently sanctioned have not previously had their addresses released, <a href="https://www.jns.org/us-sanctions-eight-israelis-entities-over-violent-judea-samaria-extremism/">according to Jewish News Syndicate</a>.
Manne, who runs a farm in the south Hebron Hills, had one of its residents survive an attempted lynching in June 2022 by Palestinian rioters who beat him with rocks and clubs, according to Jewish News Syndicate.
Ben Zion said he fears that the sanctions against settlers living in outposts are only the first step before they target any Israelis living in Judea and Samaria and IDF soldiers serving there. 
&#8220;The State of Israel is a state of law and order and manages to enforce the law on its own and without external assistance,&#8221; Ben Zion said. &#8220;Today it is sanctions on social activists, tomorrow it will be a sanction on reservists and the day after that on public figures and politicians.&#8221;
Israeli civilians and members of the Israeli Knesset have repeatedly condemned Biden’s sanctions for undermining its ally Israel’s legal system.
“This is not acceptable behavior between friends, the people of Israel expect the U.S. government to act as partners,&#8221; Ben Zion said. &#8220;We are in a war of existence, a war for our lives, in these moments all we need is assistance, support and a strong hug!”
The Biden Administration has continued to impose sanctions on Israeli civilians since he issued Executive Order 14115, which allows the sanctioning of “persons undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank.” The sanctions block all property and possession of the designated individuals in the U.S. and prohibit American citizens from contributing funds, goods, or services to the sanctioned individuals.
“We strongly encourage the Government of Israel to take immediate steps to hold these individuals and entities accountable,” Miller states. “In the absence of such steps, we will continue to impose our own accountability measures.”
In the first round of sanctions, individuals lost access to their Israeli banks who feared defying the sanctions until the Treasury Department clarified that they were not intended to cut off access to local assets, <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-says-israeli-banks-dont-have-to-close-accounts-of-sanctioned-settlers/">reported the Times of Israel</a>.

President Biden Speaks On COVID-19 Vaccines For Children Under 5

Biden Admin Accidentally Sanctions Israeli Man Fighting Hezbollah, Releases His Address

Israel

Judea and Samaria

State Department

West Bank

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen signaled on Monday that she has no doubt the U.S. could fund Israel and Ukraine in their ongoing military conflicts despite America&#8217;s rising gross national debt.
In an <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/we-can-certainly-afford-two-wars-us-treasury-secretary-says-12985335" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with Britain&#8217;s Sky News, Yellen told the outlet that the U.S. could &#8220;absolutely&#8221; afford to provide military aid to Israel in its war against the militant terrorist organization Hamas while funding more support to Ukraine in its ongoing struggle with Russia.
&#8220;America can certainly afford to stand with Israel and to support Israel&#8217;s military needs, and we also can and must support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia,&#8221; Yellen said in an interview with Sky News.
Last month, America&#8217;s gross national debt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/us-national-debt-surpasses-33t-for-first-time-in-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surpassed</a> $33 trillion, which didn&#8217;t draw heavy concern for Yellen, who said at the time that the net interest as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) remains under control by the federal government.
In her interview with Sky News, she emphasized the U.S. economy is doing &#8220;extremely well.&#8221;
&#8220;Inflation has been high, and it&#8217;s been a concern to households, it&#8217;s come down considerably,&#8221; she said. &#8220;At the same time, we have about the strongest labor market we&#8217;ve seen in 50 years with 3.8% unemployment. And at the same time, America — the Biden administration — has passed legislation that is strengthening our economy in years to come for the medium term,&#8221; referring to the Fiscal Responsibility Act that claims to reduce budget deficits by $1.5 million over the next decade.
Yellen said the economic impacts of the Israel-Hamas war were too early to gauge, as volatile oil prices remain a concern while other Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, could get involved in the conflict.
Still, the nation&#8217;s top treasury official said Israel and Ukraine remain a &#8220;priority&#8221; for the U.S. and called on GOP House lawmakers to fill the vacant speaker position after the lower chamber of Congress removed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) nearly two weeks ago.
&#8220;It&#8217;s really up to the House to find, seat a speaker and to put us in a position where legislation can be passed,&#8221; Yellen said, adding that &#8220;it shows that there&#8217;s a problem in the Republican party in terms of being able to effectively govern the country.&#8221;
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/world/middleeast/israel-ukraine-aid-biden-congress.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" data-analytics-product-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="100" data-mrf-link="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/15/world/middleeast/israel-ukraine-aid-biden-congress.html" data-uri="fd1de9296c2b0e847f627d67f44e2411">told</a> reporters during his visit to Israel that he would not wait for the House to get in order before drafting legislation with the “most generous package” for Israel.
&#8220;We believe if we put together a strong package and pass it with an overwhelming, strong bipartisan majority, it will put pressure on the House, one way or another, to act,&#8221; Schumer said.
An <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/u-s-selects-2000-troops-for-potential-deployment-to-support-israel-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> 1,400 Israelis have been killed since Hamas launched a brutal terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, including more than 280 soldiers, while roughly 3,200 more Israelis have been injured. In addition, Hamas is believed to have taken nearly 200 hostages. Iranian officials reportedly said Hamas would release hostages held captive in Gaza but said that making preparations to free civilians is &#8220;impossible&#8221; under Israeli bombing.
U.S. officials said on Sunday the American death toll in Israel reached 30, and more than a dozen remain missing. It is unclear how many are being held hostage in Gaza after Biden said last week that some U.S. citizens were among those taken.
During the Sky News interview, Yellen stressed the importance of sparing civilian lives &#8220;to the maximum extent possible.&#8221;
U.S. officials, including President Joe Biden, have reiterated their &#8220;unwavering support&#8221; for Israel&#8217;s right to defend itself in its war against Hamas.
Biden rejected the claim that the U.S. could not financially support Israel and Ukraine in their ongoing conflicts during an <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-joe-biden-2023-60-minutes-transcript/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with &#8220;60 Minutes,&#8221; adding that both could impact the safety of America.
&#8220;We&#8217;re the United States of America for God&#8217;s sake, the most powerful nation in the history — not in the world, in the history of the world,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We can take care of both of these and still maintain our overall international defense,&#8221; he said.

The International Monetary Fund and World Bank Annual Meetings

Yellen Says U.S. Can ‘Certainly’ Afford To Provide Military Support For Israel And Ukraine

Yellen Says US Can 'Certainly' Afford To Provide Military Support For Israel And Ukraine

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Chuck Schumer

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House Republicans

Janet Yellen

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House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) announced a breakthrough on Tuesday in his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/james-comer-says-hunter-biden-probe-critical-for-legislative-fix" target="_blank" rel="noopener">investigation into the Biden family&#8217;s business dealings</a>.
&#8220;After two months of dragging their feet, the Treasury Department is finally providing us with access to the suspicious activity reports for the Biden family and their associates’ business transactions,&#8221; Comer said in a statement.
House Republicans hope the <a href="https://www.occ.treas.gov/topics/supervision-and-examination/bank-operations/financial-crime/suspicious-activity-reports/index-suspicious-activity-reports.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">suspicious activity reports</a>, which financial institutions can use to flag possible criminal behavior, will help root out any evidence of international influence peddling schemes that may involve President Joe Biden.
&#8220;We are going to continue to use bank documents and suspicious activity reports to follow the money trail to determine the extent of the Biden family’s business schemes, if Joe Biden is compromised by these deals, and if there is a national security threat,&#8221; Comer said.
In recent weeks, Comer accused the Treasury Department of making <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2023-02-24-Letter-Treasury.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;several excuses&#8221;</a> for delaying compliance with his demands for information and began to increase pressure by seeking a transcribed interview with the agency official tasked with communicating with Congress. Now with the Treasury Department providing an &#8220;in camera&#8221; review of the suspicious activity reports, Comer said plans for an interview had been postponed.
The Daily Wire reached out to the Treasury Department for comment.
The White House has painted Republican probes into the Biden family, including Hunter&#8217;s art sales, as being steeped in politics. &#8220;Instead of working with President Biden to address issues important to the American people, like lower costs, congressional Republicans&#8217; top priority is to go after President Biden with politically motivated attacks chock-full of long-debunked conspiracy theories,&#8221; <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63665351" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said White House spokesman Ian Sams</a>.
Democrats in Congress vociferously oppose the probes run by Republicans into the Biden family, including the president&#8217;s brothers and his son, Hunter Biden, whose financial dealings are also being scrutinized by federal prosecutors.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, sent a letter to Comer over the weekend <a href="https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/FINAL%202023.03.12.%20JBR%20to%20Comer%20re%20Mazars%20BofA%20Subpoena.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raising concerns</a> that a subpoena the chairman sent to Bank of America seeking 14 years of records involving people linked to Hunter Biden was geared toward giving former President Donald Trump an edge in a possible 2024 election rematch.
&#8220;I fear this wildly overbroad subpoena suggests that your interest in this investigation is not in pursuing defined facts or informing public legislation but conducting a dragnet of political opposition research on behalf of former President Trump,&#8221; Raskin wrote.
Comer defended his subpoena this week, saying that his committee learned John “Rob” Walker, who has been identified as a business associate of Hunter Biden in a venture with executives from CEFC China Energy, received a $3 million wire from two individuals associated with the Chinese Communist Party about two months after Joe Biden left the office of vice president.
Within a day, Walker&#8217;s account started transferring money into three different Biden family members&#8217; accounts, including a &#8220;new&#8221; member who has not yet been part of the GOP investigations, Comer said during an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EScaBsWMJz4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview on Fox News</a> on Tuesday. Although Comer did not reveal the identity of that &#8220;new&#8221; Biden family member, he stressed that this discovery &#8220;really changes things.&#8221;

James Comer

Biden Family Probe Reaches Breakthrough With Treasury Department

Congress

Executive

Hunter Biden

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/internal-revenue-service-irs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">IRS</a> said on Friday it had removed from its website confidential information on over 100,000 Americans it had exposed through a mistaken disclosure. 
In a letter from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/treasury-department" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Treasury Department</a> to House Committee on Homeland Security Chair <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bennie-thompson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bennie Thompson</a>, the agency said that the data of about 120,000 Americans had been exposed through an “inadvertent disclosure.” 
“This notification follows the IRS discovery that some machine-readable (XML) Form 990-T data made available for bulk download section on the Tax Exempt Organization Search (TEOS) should not have been made public,” <a href="https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/IRSBREACH.pdf">wrote</a> acting Assistant Secretary for Management at the Treasury Anna Canfield Roth. “In some instances, the data did include individual names or business contact information.”
Roth said the information did not include Social Security numbers, individual income information, or information that would impact a person’s credit. She also said that the agency had taken “immediate action” to take down the confidential information. 
The IRS generally uses Form 990-T data to collect information about individual retirement accounts and their investments into entities like real estate or master limited partnerships, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/irs-says-it-exposed-some-confidential-taxpayer-data-on-website-11662145232">according</a> to the Wall Street Journal.  
The tax enforcement agency will also be conducting a review of their operations per the Treasury Department’s direction following the mistake. 
“The Treasury Department has instructed the IRS to conduct a prompt review of its practices to ensure necessary protections are in place to prevent unauthorized data disclosures,” Roth’s letter says. 
The mistake is another hit for the embattled agency, which has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/god-help-us-lindsey-graham-blasts-plan-to-add-87000-new-irs-agents-vows-to-redirect-funding-to-the-border">criticized</a> by Republicans over concerns that the nearly $80 billion in funding given to the IRS through the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act” will increase audits on middle class Americans. 
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that the audit rates for middle class Americans will not increase, but some remain skeptical of her claims and point to her language about comparisons to audit levels in the past. 
“I direct that any additional resources — including any new personnel or auditors that are hired — shall not be used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels,” Yellen said last month. “This means that, contrary to the misinformation from opponents of this legislation, small business or households earning $400,000 per year or less will not see an increase in the chances that they are audited.”
With the funding from newly passed legislation, the IRS could hire up to 87,000 new employees, some of whom are expected to be enforcement agents.

IRS Headquarters

IRS Admits To Exposing The Confidential Data Of Over 100,000 Americans

IRS Admits To Exposing The Confidential Data Of Thousands Of Americans

Bennie Thompson

President <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/biden-administration">Joe Biden</a> announced on Tuesday that he would appoint Marilynn Malerba, chief of the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/native-americans">Mohegan Tribe</a>, as the next <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/department-of-the-treasury">treasurer</a> of the United States.
Malerba will serve alongside Treasury Secretary <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/janet-yellen">Janet Yellen</a> as she oversees the U.S. Mint, Fort Knox, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. She will also advise Yellen on “community development and public engagement” and lead the newly created Office of Tribal and Native Affairs.
The U.S. treasurer role has been vacant since January 2020, when Trump appointee Jovita Carranza departed to lead the Small Business Administration.
Malerba, who is carrying out a lifetime appointment as chief of the Mohegan Tribe in Southeastern Connecticut, worked as a registered nurse before her current role as a member of the Treasury Tribal Advisory Committee, according to the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/06/21/president-biden-announces-intent-to-appoint-marilynn-malerba-as-treasurer-of-the-united-states/">White House</a>. She advises Yellen on the taxation of Native Americans.
“Chief Malerba’s appointment as Treasurer of the United States will also mean that for the first time in U.S. history, a Tribal leader and Native woman’s signature will soon be seen on the nation’s currency,” according to a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0824">Treasury Department</a> statement.
“I am deeply honored that Chief Malerba will serve as the nation’s Treasurer and spearhead the department’s new Office of Tribal and Native Affairs. This is an historic appointment,” Yellen remarked. “Her leadership and experience will deepen our commitment to help expand economic opportunities for all Tribal communities.”
After her confirmation in January 2021, Yellen <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0003">told staff members</a> at the Treasury Department that she intends to “address inequality, racism, and climate change.”
“I know that many of you… see economic policy as a way to improve people’s lives; you see the humanity beneath the data,” she wrote. “I cannot be sure about the future, but I expect that when economists look back at this period in American history, they’ll conclude that perspective helped us leave behind a stronger, more prosperous country.”
More recently, however, Yellen and other top officials in the Biden administration have been forced to contend with high inflation and other economic bottlenecks. Earlier this month, the U.S. <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> announced that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 8.6% between May 2021 and May 2022, meaning that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/inflation-reaches-8-6-setting-new-four-decade-high">inflation hit new four-decade record highs</a> and once again surpassed economists’ expectations.
Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell 4.8%, while the S&amp;P 500 was down 5.8% — marking its <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investment-banks-predict-how-much-more-stock-market-could-plummet">worst week</a> since 2020, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/16/stock-market-news-futures-open-to-close.html">CNBC</a>.
Yellen acknowledged the economic woes while remaining <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yellen-recession-not-inevitable-russias-war-to-blame-for-soaring-inflation">as optimistic as possible</a> during a recent interview with ABC News host George Stephanopolous. “I expect the economy to slow,” Yellen explained. “It’s been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered. We have reached full employment. It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable.”
Nevertheless, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/expect-higher-unemployment-as-federal-reserve-tackles-inflation-warns-top-policymaker">cautioned</a> on Saturday that efforts from the central bank to combat inflation would lead to higher unemployment, which could rise from 3.6% to 4% or 4.25%. Last week, the Federal Reserve <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-reserve-takes-most-aggressive-action-to-fight-inflation-in-three-decades">hiked interest rates</a> by 0.75% — the most aggressive move to combat inflation since 1994.
“If the data comes in as I expect, I will support a similar-sized move at our July meeting,” Waller explained. “The Fed is ‘all in’ on reestablishing price stability.&#8221;

Treasury Secretary Yellen Meets With German Finance Minister Scholz

Biden Taps Native American Chief To Serve As Next Treasurer Of The United States

Native American Chief To Serve As Treasurer Of The United States

Native Americans

Former Obama administration economic adviser <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/larry-summers">Larry Summers</a> warned Sunday that all precedents in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/economy">economy</a> are pointing to a recession happening in the next two years. 
Summers, appearing on “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/video/fmr-treasury-secretary-larry-summers-says-recession-likely-by-end-of-next-year-142416965792">Meet The Press</a>,” told NBC News host Chuck Todd that “a whole range of indicators” — including markets, relative levels of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/interest-rates">interest rates</a> at different durations, consumer expectations, and supply and demand — are pointing toward a recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. 
“All of that tells me that, while I wouldn’t presume whether to judge the timing, the dominant probability would be by the end of next year we will be seeing a recession in the American economy,” said Summers, who also served as treasury secretary in the 1990s. He also said that this perspective had become the common view among a number of statistical models and forecasters. 
Noting economic precedents, Summers said in a different <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-14/podcast-summers-predicts-a-u-s-recession-more-likely-than-a-soft-landing?srnd=premium">Bloomberg</a> interview, “If you look at history, there has never been a moment when inflation was above 4% and unemployment was below 5% when we did not have a recession within the next two years.”  
The Biden administration, for its part, has been acknowledging the challenge of the economy but has also echoed in lock-step that an economic downturn isn’t inevitable. Department of Energy Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/jennifer-granholm">Jennifer Granholm</a> and Department of Treasury Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yellen-recession-not-inevitable-russias-war-to-blame-for-soaring-inflation">Janet Yellen</a> both spoke to this point on Sunday morning news shows, as well. 
“I expect the economy to slow,” Yellen told George Stephanopolous on ABC News. “It’s been growing at a very rapid rate, as the economy, as the labor market, has recovered. We have reached full employment. It’s natural now that we expect a transition to steady and stable growth, but I don’t think a recession is at all inevitable.”
According to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-survey-reveals-when-ceos-expect-a-recession-to-hit">Conference Board survey</a> of 750 CEOs released on Friday, a majority of top company execs foresee a recession in the next 12 to 18 months. A small minority, 15%, said in the same survey that the region in which their company operates is already in a recession. In a National Association of Manufacturers Survey, nearly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/majority-of-manufacturers-predict-recession-within-the-next-year">6 in 10 business leaders</a> indicated that a recession was more likely in the next year due to inflationary pressures. 
President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a> himself has suggested Vladimir Putin is partly responsible for rising costs and accused businesses of price gouging. On Thursday, in an interview with the Associated Press, Biden encouraged Americans to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-claims-recession-not-inevitable-tells-americans-they-shouldnt-believe-economist-warnings">wait and see</a> whether economists were correct about their recession predictions. 
“They shouldn’t believe a warning. They should just say: ‘Let’s see. Let’s see, which is correct.’ And from my perspective, you talked about a recession. First of all, it’s not inevitable,” said Biden.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers

Top Obama Economic Advisor: ‘Whole Range Of Indicators’ Point To Coming Recession

Larry Summers Says 'Range Of Indicators' Point To Recession In Next Two Years

Inflation

Joe Biden

Larry Summers

Recession

With persistent inflation eroding Americans’ buying power and tightening their budgets, one may think that the nation’s fiscal policymakers would be all-hands-on-deck to resolve the problems. But for the Biden administration, “Pride Month” takes priority.
Consumer price inflation is currently at 8.3% — the metric’s highest level in four decades. Gas prices are soaring past $4.75 per gallon — with no end in sight. Yet Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen found time this week to raise the rainbow flag.
“For the first time in our history, Treasury is displaying the Pride Flag to express our solidarity with LGBTQ+ Americans during Pride Month,” Yellen announced on Thursday, adding that her department “remains committed to diversity, equity, and equal opportunity for all.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
For the first time in our history, Treasury is displaying the Pride Flag to express our solidarity with LGBTQ+ Americans during Pride Month. <a href="https://twitter.com/USTreasury?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USTreasury</a> remains committed to diversity, equity, and equal opportunity for all. <a href="https://t.co/QJK5o2yuGn">pic.twitter.com/QJK5o2yuGn</a>
— Secretary Janet Yellen (@SecYellen) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecYellen/status/1532434489498030105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2022</a></blockquote>
The data speak louder than Yellen’s words. The <a href="https://www.bea.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/gdp1q22_2nd.pdf">United States economy shrank</a> at a 1.5% annualized rate in the first quarter of 2022, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth constituting recession territory.
But it is worth remembering that real people living paycheck-to-paycheck are getting hurt while Yellen plays activist.
Over the past few days, I interviewed <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/everything-is-too-high-right-now-in-west-philadelphia-residents-battle-inflation-and-gas-prices">several residents of West Philadelphia</a> — a Democrat-run, majority-minority neighborhood where median household income is 43% of the national average — on behalf of The Daily Wire. The consistent story was that skyrocketing inflation and gas prices are severely impacting their lives.
“It’s too high. I don’t know what happened, because the price of everything is too high now,” Mohamed, a West Philadelphia resident and immigrant from French-speaking Africa, explained.
“I drive to work and I go home. And anything else in between, I try to do it as I’m going home from work,” added Art, a maintenance worker who lives in Delaware, but commutes to West Philadelphia. “It’s just too expensive.”
“The way prices with everything have gone up, I’ve had to start cutting back on what I spend money on,” Kahil, a high school student, remarked. “There’s only one simple answer. Prices need to go where they used to be.”
“I was using maybe $30 per week. Now I use almost $100,” said Iliassou about his struggles to fill his gas tank. “People don’t have money in their pockets anymore.”
However, it seems that Yellen has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/janet-yellen-admits-she-was-wrong-about-inflation-being-small-risk">thrown in the towel</a> altogether on fixing the economy. “I was wrong,” she confessed earlier this week — forgetting that she was seemingly fully aware that the policies she has been pursuing would create a high price level environment.
I am old enough to remember when Yellen <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/despite-skyrocketing-inflation-janet-yellen-will-keep-pushing-for-biden-spending-agenda">insisted last year</a> that “we’ve been fighting inflation that’s too low and interest rates that are too low now for a decade,” promising any potential inflation “spurt” from Biden’s policies would fade away by 2022.
Yet here we are in 2022 — and the same top fiscal policymaker who entered office on a <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0003">vow</a> to battle the “crisis of systemic racism” in the economy has nothing better to offer than “I was wrong” on her inflation forecasts — even as disadvantaged Americans suffer the most.
“Economics isn’t just something you find in textbook,” she told her staff at the dawn of the Biden administration. “Nor is it simply a collection of theories. Indeed, the reason I went from academia to government is because I believe economic policy can be a potent tool to improve society.”
Perhaps Secretary Yellen needs to hit the streets of West Philadelphia and see whether society has improved because of her work.

Yellen Delivers Speech On Economic Outlook And Monetary Policy In Philadelphia

The Economy Is Toast, But At Least The Treasury Department Is Flying A Pride Flag

Yellen Raises The Rainbow Flag As Inflation Soars

LGBTQ

Pride Flag

Pride Month

The boxing management company MTK Global announced that it will be ceasing operations on Wednesday, days after the United States Treasury Department announced sanctions against the co-founder of the company, Daniel Kinahan.
&#8220;It is a matter of public record that Mr Kinahan&#8217;s involvement in MTK ceased in 2017, and despite repeated reassurances in this regard, unfounded allegations about his ongoing association with us and our fighters persist,&#8221; MTK Global said in a statement on Wednesday.
&#8220;Since leading promoters have now informed us that they will be severing all ties with MTK and will no longer work with our fighters, we have taken the difficult decision to cease operations at the end of this month,&#8221; the statement continued.
https://twitter.com/MTKGlobal/status/1516776134054236161?s=20&#038;t=cFrLOvupxJYbCY9YJciD4Q
Last week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Kinahan Organized Crime Group (KOCG), as a “Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations.”
“The Kinahan Organized Crime Group smuggles deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe, and is a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering,” <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0713">said</a> Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. “Criminal groups like the KOCG prey on the most vulnerable in society and bring drug-related crime and violence, including murder, to the countries in which they operate. Treasury is proud to have coordinated so closely with our international counterparts, and the U.S. government will continue to use every available resource to dismantle these criminal networks.”
The U.S. and Ireland have claimed that Daniel Kinahan is the leader of the KOCG. According to OFAC, “Each member of the KOCG reports to Daniel Kinahan, who is believed to run the day-to-day operations of the organization. Daniel Kinahan has instructed KOCG members to send money to a variety of individuals serving prison sentences, including a person convicted of attempted murder on behalf of the KOCG, and an individual imprisoned for murder on behalf of the KOCG.”
“Daniel Kinahan, who sources large quantities of cocaine from South America, plays an integral part in organizing the supply of drugs in Ireland, and is attempting to facilitate the importation of cocaine into the United Kingdom,” OFAC continued. “Daniel Kinahan is known to have used false identity documents.”
According to <a href="https://www.si.com/boxing/2022/04/20/mtk-global-folds-amid-daniel-kinahan-sanctions">Sports Illustrated</a>, Kinahan sold his interest to the company in 2017, though he has remained active with the fighters MTK represents.
Last week, Irish police commissioner Drew Harris said that anyone who works with Kinahan is “involved in a criminal network.”
&#8220;If you deal with these individuals who have been sanctioned, or these entities who are being sanctioned, you are involved in a criminal network,” Harris <a href="https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/33724757/prominent-boxing-names-urged-cut-ties-promoter-sanctioned-us-ties-organized-crime">said</a> at a news conference in Dublin.
&#8220;I&#8217;d ask them to look to their own business, at the probity of their own business and the relationship with their fans and, really, is this something they want to be involved with in terms of their legitimate business,” Harris continued. “I think the answer to that is a resounding no.&#8221;
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to sports@dailywire.com.

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