Biden administration officials may have broken the law by concealing small business loans to Planned Parenthood, a senator said Monday.
Small Business Administration officials disbursed and forgave loans to Planned Parenthood and its affiliates even after the agency determined that the group is not a small business that would be eligible. Top officials, including Biden SBA Administrator Isabella Guzman, concealed their maneuvering on the topic by substituting the words Planned Parenthood with &#8220;Benghazi&#8221; in emails, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who chairs the committee that oversees the agency, revealed Monday.
&#8220;We now know that after the SBA Biden officials met, planned and strategized (over &#8216;Benghazi&#8217;), keeping the White House involved, approximately $90 million in Planned Parenthood SBA PPP loans and interest on the loans were forgiven by the Biden administration,&#8221; she said.
Ernst asked the Department of Justice to investigate the officials under a statute that says anyone who attempts to conceal a federal record can be imprisoned for up to three years, according to a letter first obtained by The Daily Wire.
In the early days of the 2020 pandemic, the first Trump administration&#8217;s Small Business Administration sent more than $80 million in COVID loans reserved for small businesses to Planned Parenthood and 38 affiliates after they &#8220;self-certified&#8221; as eligible.
More than 90 Republican members of Congress wrote to the agency, noting that &#8220;under the rules of the CARES ACT, a nonprofit that exceeds 500 employees, as Planned Parenthood did, was not a small business and should be deemed &#8216;disqualified from PPP loans.'&#8221; Under SBA rules, entities that are &#8220;affiliated&#8221; with a larger entity aren&#8217;t small businesses.
The next month, SBA sent letters to Planned Parenthood affiliates &#8220;informing them they were ineligible for SBA loans&#8221; and asking for &#8220;potential repayment.&#8221;
By the time Joe Biden entered the White House in February 2021, SBA still hadn&#8217;t gotten the money back, and Planned Parenthood affiliates later received a second round of payments, Ernst said.
In April 2021, Republicans demanded to know &#8220;the steps the agency took once Planned Parenthood affiliates were deemed ineligible for SBA loans,&#8221; she wrote.
That month, the SBA&#8217;s top lawyer, Peggy Hamilton, convened top honchos with an email subject line &#8220;Benghazi (PPP/PPH) Decisions.&#8221; The context suggested that Benghazi was a code word for Planned Parenthood.
The email tasked staff with &#8220;reviewing loans to non profit PPP applicants to decision whether affiliation bars eligibility&#8230; WH has been engaged. Need to inform WH as decisions are made.&#8221;
In a direct message, Hamilton reminded a colleague of the code, writing, &#8220;Can I schedule a meeting so we can decision Benghazi (Planned Parenthood)?&#8221;
&#8220;Yes, let&#8217;s talk Benghazi,&#8221; came the reply.
&#8220;It strains credulity to think SBA&#8217;s General Counsel Peggy Hamilton was doing anything other than hiding her Planned Parenthood records from Congressional and public scrutiny and oversight,&#8221; Ernst wrote. &#8220;That&#8217;s not something she is allowed to do under federal law, and, as a lawyer for almost three decades, she knew that.&#8221;
As Republicans continued to press the agency to discuss the Planned Parenthood issue and &#8220;the agency&#8217;s overall responsiveness&#8221; to Congress, officials kept using the coded email, Ernst said. The officials included Arthur Plews, who later became the agency&#8217;s chief of staff.
At a hearing in May 2021, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) pressed SBA Administration Guzman about $17 million in funding that went to Planned Parenthood affiliates after the agency said they weren&#8217;t eligible, saying, &#8220;You believe you are above the law &#8230; It looks like you are specifically hiding this information from us.&#8221;
Two days later, SBA officials used the Benghazi email chain to say they would &#8220;like to set up a meeting to discuss forgiveness.&#8221;
In June 2021, Administration Guzman herself set up a Microsoft Teams meeting called &#8220;Benghazi (PPP/PPH) Decisions,&#8221; records show.
Ernst noted, &#8220;If someone tried to search for government records related to Planned Parenthood&#8217;s loans and loan forgiveness &#8230; this meeting would not have appeared, as again it was concealed as Benghazi.&#8221;
&#8220;PPH&#8221; is not an acronym used for the abortion provider, which is sometimes initialized PPFA, for Planned Parenthood for America, she said.
&#8220;If other SBA Biden officials are complicit in conspiring with SBA&#8217;s General Counsel Peggy Hamilton and Administration Guzman to conceal or attempt to conceal federal records and evade public records retention laws, that is in clear violation of 18 U.S.C. S2017 and deserves investigation for potential Federal Records Act violations,&#8221; Ernst said.
Given the email&#8217;s note that &#8220;need to inform WH as decisions are made,&#8221; those conspirators could currently work in the White House, Ernst said.

President Biden Delivers Remarks At DNC Event In Washington, DC

Biden Officials Used Codeword To Hide Loans To Major Abortion Provider

Abortion

Joe Biden

Joni Ernst

Planned Parenthood

Small Business Administration

Senator Ed Markey appears to be blocking a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud in COVID-era government programs, seemingly siding with fraudsters and against the United States government.
The House of Representatives <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4495" target="_blank" rel="noopener">passed</a> the &#8220;SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act&#8221; in July by voice vote, signaling overwhelming bipartisan support. The <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/SM/SM00/20250722/118539/BILLS-119HR4495ih.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">two-page bill</a> simply gives more time for prosecutors to charge people who swindled two COVID bailouts, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
The programs were so fraud-ridden, and the dollar amounts so great, that investigators and prosecutors have a large backlog. Congress already added another five years to the prosecution window for the biggest COVID programs, the Paycheck Protection Program and unemployment bailouts.
But Markey, the top Democrat on the Senate panel overseeing the Small Business Administration, which took the lead on the pandemic recovery, appears to be using his position to block passage in the upper chamber. The Senate Small Business Committee, which is chaired by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), <a href="https://www.sbc.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2025/7/ranking-member-markey-votes-out-legislation-emphasizes-need-for-tariff-relief-for-small-businesses" target="_blank" rel="noopener">approved the bill</a> in July. But it has <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1199?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22s1199%22%7D&amp;s=1&amp;r=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not been</a> brought to the floor for passage.
&#8220;Senate Democrats are blocking my commonsense bill to extend the statute of limitations for COVID crimes, meaning criminals like those recently exposed in Minnesota will get away with it simply because the clock will run out,” Ernst told The Daily Wire. &#8220;It should be a no-brainer to side with taxpayers instead of fraudsters.&#8221;
The apparent blockage raises the question of whether Democrats have become the party of fraud, siding with the likes of the notorious Somali fraudsters who cost the government billions but vote for Democrats as a bloc.
The Biden administration doled out COVID billions using a &#8220;pay and chase&#8221; philosophy, meaning they erred on the side of getting money out the door, with the justification that they would claw back wrongly paid payments later. But the schemes were so numerous that they are still being uncovered, so not extending the statute of limitations amounts to simply paying scammers and not chasing at all.
John Hart, a former Senate aide who now leads the spending watchdog group Open The Books, said under Senate procedure that if a bill passes a committee and has the support of the top Republican and Democrat on that committee, it is fast-tracked for passage by the full chamber. &#8220;If the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Markey, would give the go-ahead, it could be passed by unanimous consent. That process helps uncontroversial bills succeed without extensive Senate procedures,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire.
The restaurant program cost $29 billion, and the inspector general found that recipients representing 12% of that did not even file the required paperwork. The shuttered venue program, which bailed out concert halls, cost $15 billion, more than half a billion dollars of which was identified by SBA as <a href="https://www.sba.gov/document/report-25-21-sbas-oversight-shuttered-venue-operators-grant-recipients" target="_blank" rel="noopener">potentially improper</a>. Both programs ran out of money, meaning fraudsters likely stole slots from more deserving businesses.
A spokesman for Markey — who has represented Massachusetts in Congress since 1976 — did not return a request for comment on what, if any, objection he has to the bill.
<div id="attachment_1027513" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1027513" class="size-full wp-image-1027513" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/01/GettyImages-2214429130-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Ed Markey, at right (Photo by Mel Musto/Getty Images)</div>
Hart said it&#8217;s hard to see a legitimate gripe.
&#8220;This issue ought to be unanimous. It could be on President Trump’s desk today. What, exactly, is controversial about prosecuting cases of fraud? Every dollar spent this way is unavailable for Americans who truly need it,&#8221; he said.
Reducing fraud in all government programs used to be an area of bipartisan agreement, with members of the minority party joining the majority in wonky policy discussions. After all, stopping fraud means liberals would have more money for other programs, or Republicans could use the savings to lower taxes.
If the Democrats have moved from the party of big government to the pro-fraud party, one contributing factor could be identity politics. The Biden administration drew the ire of the SBA inspector general by deciding <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sba-wont-even-try-to-collect-on-ppp-loans-that-are-supposed-to-be-paid-back-citing-equity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">not to even attempt to collect</a> PPP loan repayment from businesses that were not eligible to have their loans forgiven, citing &#8220;equity&#8221; as justification.
In the state of Georgia alone, two state legislators, both of them black Democrats, have been accused of <a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/briefs/a-second-georgia-house-democrat-is-accused-of-unemployment-fraud/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stealing</a> from COVID bailout funds. In Virginia, a former state legislator, an Arab Democrat, was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/11/11/covid-relief-fraud-ibraheem-samirah/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> of taking fake PPP loans.
The case of an African-born <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-contracting-officer-charged-with-pandemic-bailout-fraud" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USAID employee</a> who stole PPP loans raises the question of whether the Biden administration even attempted to stop fraud. He got money on the basis that his purported company did not make as much money in 2020 as it did in 2019 due to the pandemic. But state records and federal tax returns would have shown that the company didn&#8217;t even exist.
Markey, as the top Democrat on the committee overseeing perhaps the most-defrauded government spending spree in history, is the poster child for the notion that Democrats may now simply be apathetic, or even in denial, about fraud — even as fraud in places like Minnesota reaches such heights that it could make Great Society-style programs impossible.
Last month, Hart, along with this reporter, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wires-luke-rosiak-will-testify-before-the-senate-on-massive-federal-dei-scheme" target="_blank" rel="noopener">testified</a> before the Senate Small Business Committee about reducing fraud. Most Democrats on the committee didn&#8217;t bother to attend, and those who did — led by Markey — made no attempt to find ways to reduce fraud, instead suggesting that the programs at issue were not enough billions to care about, or using their time on anti-Trump tirades about topics outside of the committee&#8217;s jurisdiction.
Ernst was surprised, saying, &#8220;Individuals who used Barbie dolls as their photo identification were approved for SBA loans. This is totally unacceptable. &#8230; [Markey] said the largest amount of waste, fraud, and abuse is not in the Small Business Administration programs. &#8230; This is, however, the Small Business Committee. &#8230; Are my Democrat colleagues saying we should be ignoring billions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse?&#8221;

.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA)

This Democrat Is Singlehandedly Blocking The Prosecution Of COVID Fraudsters

COVID

Ed Markey

Fraud

Politics

WASHINGTON—Daily Wire investigative reporter Luke Rosiak will testify before the United States Senate Wednesday afternoon on a federal DEI program riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse.
Rosiak will address lawmakers during a Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee hearing titled &#8220;Running Government Like a Small Business: Cut Waste, Crush Fraud.&#8221; He will speak on the 8(a) program, one of the largest and oldest DEI initiatives in the country, which affects contracts at almost all federal agencies. Rosiak has led the charge in exposing problems with 8(a), which sets aside government contracts for firms run by members of certain &#8220;disadvantaged&#8221; classes, largely racial and ethnic minorities.
The hearing will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET. and will be streamed live on The Daily Wire.
Rosiak, who last month won the<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/daily-wires-luke-rosiak-wins-investigative-journalism-award-for-best-doge-reporting" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 2025 Dao Prize</a> for his work covering extraordinary government waste, has exposed countless<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/core-part-of-minority-contracting-program-is-illegal-judge-said?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=5&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=The+Core+Part+Of+This+Federal+Race-Based+Contracting+Program+Is+Illegal%2C+Judge+Says" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> 8(a) program abuses.</a> The Department of Justice found that the 8(a) program had been exploited to carry out a<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/usaid-official-and-three-corporate-executives-plead-guilty-decade-long-bribery-scheme" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> $550 million bribery scheme</a> over several decades. The program became vulnerable to abuse through &#8220;pass-through&#8221; fraud, in which minority-owned businesses would win a federal contract through a no-bid process, collect a cut of the funds, and then subcontract another company to do the actual work needed for the contract.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Small Business Administration Administrator Kelly Loeffler are investigating the misuse, which independent journalist James O&#8217;Keefe describes as a potential <a href="https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1980344367014429114" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$100 billion scandal</a>.
The upcoming hearing aims to highlight the full extent of the waste, fraud, and abuse that investigators say took place. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), who chairs the small business committee, recently introduced the<a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/news/press-releases/ernst-introduces-bill-to-halt-fraud-filled-sba-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Stop 8(a) Contracting Fraud Act</a> to place a hold on all new no-bid federal contracts until the 8(a) program, dramatically expanded under President Joe Biden as part of a DEI initiative, undergoes a full audit.
While Rosiak will focus on fraud within the 8(a) program, two other witnesses will address additional areas of waste, including misuse of COVID funds and USAID grants: Open the Books CEO John Hart, and Courtney LaFountain, Acting Director of the Government Accountability Office.
“If a small business treated their finances like the government treats tax dollars, they would go out of business,” Ernst said. “This has always been an issue in Washington, but under Joe Biden it became an all-you-can-eat buffet of waste, fraud, and abuse with criminals and con artists cashing in while hardworking Americans were left out in the cold. I look forward to hearing from our expert witnesses on where Congress should focus our continued efforts to downsize the bloated bureaucracy, increase government efficiency, and best serve small businesses.”

IMG_3502

Daily Wire’s Luke Rosiak Will Testify Before The Senate On Massive Federal DEI Scheme

Daily Wire

Luke Rosiak

Senate

Nine states allow food stamps to be spent in restaurants, and two more are in the process of allowing it. The fact that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is buying taxpayer-funded meals at establishments like McDonald&#8217;s has triggered one Republican senator to introduce a bill to stop it.
More than half a billion dollars in taxpayer money went to paying for the indigent to dine out through the Restaurant Meals Program between June 2023 and May 2025, a new investigation by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) found.
&#8220;While franchises like McDonald’s are making McMillions off of SNAP RMP, allowing fast food to be purchased with food stamps is an idea that is a few fries short of a Happy Meal,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;The &#8216;N&#8217; in SNAP stands for &#8216;Nutrition,&#8217; and we all know fast food isn’t exactly nutritious,&#8221; she continued, alongside photos of Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and KFC locations advertising that they accept government benefit cards.
&#8220;McSCUSE ME?&#8221; Ernst <a href="https://x.com/SenJoniErnst/status/1991604757841203254">added on X</a>. &#8220;The amount of SNAP being spent at fast food should be $0 not McMillions.&#8221;
The Federal Agriculture Department, which funds the food stamp program, <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailer/restaurant-meals-program" target="_blank" rel="noopener">allows</a> states to optionally allow food stamp recipients to spend their money at restaurants if they are 60 years or older, disabled, the spouse of such a person, or homeless.
Ernst has introduced the &#8220;McStopping Chains from Using SNAP EBT to Make Entrees Act,&#8221; or the <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/mcscuse_me_act.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">McSCUSE ME Act</a>, that would allow the elderly or disabled to get hot, prepared meals from deli counters and hot bars of grocery stores, but not from fast food chains. It would also remove spouses of qualified people from eligibility.
The SNAP program was already under scrutiny for allowing the indigent to purchase nearly anything edible, such as candy and soda, even as poor people are more likely to be obese than starving, leading to expensive medical care that is also paid for by taxpayers. Nearly 5,000 stores with words related to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/food-stamps-accepted-at-thousands-of-liquor-and-tobacco-stores-contributing-to-healthcare-fiasco" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“liquor” or “tobacco”</a> in their names accept food stamps, a Daily Wire review of government data found.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1006147" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown.png" alt="" width="837" height="610" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown.png 837w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-300x219.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-790x576.png 790w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Unknown-768x560.png 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 837px) 100vw, 837px" /></div>
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In the last year, conservative states have initiated bans on the purchase of soda — a move that states like New York have also pursued over the years, only to be blocked by the federal government, which must issue a waiver. Yet liberal states are moving in the opposite direction, with some newly adding fast food to the menu.
Oregon is running a <a href="https://www.oregon.gov/odhs/agency/pages/ssp-rmp.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;SNAP Restaurant Meals Program&#8221;</a> pilot based on a bill its legislature passed in 2024. It will apply to anyone 60 or older or who has a disability, as well as the homeless. <a href="https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=136655" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Illinois</a> is piloting a restaurant meals program with the same criteria, except that it also extends eligibility to the spouses of people who are disabled or over 60. Restaurants must sign up with the state to accept food stamps.
Other states allowing food stamps at restaurants are Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island, and Virginia, though the vast majority of the spending is in California.
The move to curtail free soda was met with a lobbying campaign by lobbying groups representing soda and candy manufacturers, who rake in billions of dollars from the program. Ernst&#8217;s bill could be met by a similar move from fast food chains.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-maha-wins-12-states-cutting-soda-candy-from-food-stamps" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twelve</a> conservative states have announced plans to ban taxpayer-funded soda, while Kansas&#8217;s Democrat governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kansas-governor-laura-kelly-flip-flops-on-snap-soda-ban-vetoes-bill" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vetoed</a> a bill passed by the state legislature to do so.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-can-food-stamps-buy-junk-food-how-doge-could-save-billions-and-maha" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why Can Food Stamps Buy Junk Food? How DOGE Could Save Billions And MAHA</a>

The Hamburglar

‘McSCUSE ME?’: 11 States Allow ‘Nutritional’ Food Stamps To Be Spent At Fast Food Restaurants

Food Stamps

McDonald’s

Welfare

A looming House vote on the Epstein files launches a political knife fight on the Right, a bipartisan cohort of Congressmen call out Chinese tech on American military bases, and the Trump administration brings its immigration blitz to North Carolina.
It’s Monday, November 17, 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-251117-member-exclusive">video version can be seen on 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-fallout-chinas-intel-tentacles-11-17-25/id1576594336?i=1000737065752" 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 Rips Greene</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1001441" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Greene-and-Epstein-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Greene-and-Epstein-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Greene-and-Epstein-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Greene-and-Epstein-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Greene-and-Epstein-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Trump-Greene-and-Epstein.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: President Donald Trump dramatically withdrew his backing of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) over the weekend amid a national debate over the Epstein files.
A few years ago, Greene was considered one of the president&#8217;s closest allies in Congress, including during the Biden era. Over the past few weeks, Greene has broken prominently with the president on some policies, including how best to handle healthcare and foreign policy. 
Last week appeared to be the final straw for the president, when he referred to the Georgia congresswoman as Marjorie “Traitor” Greene. Trump essentially said Greene was acting out of line because of her desire to run for the U.S. Senate or Georgia governor.
“I understand that wonderful, Conservative people are thinking about primarying Marjorie in her District of Georgia, that they too are fed up with her and her antics and, if the right person runs, they will have my Complete and Unyielding Support,” Trump said in a social media <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115551127714537339">post</a>. “She has gone Far Left, even doing The View, with their Low IQ Republican hating Anchors. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Greene media blitz: Greene has appeared on the Left-leaning talk show The View and has given interviews to CNN and other outlets, where she has criticized the administration and other Republicans.
In a Sunday morning appearance on CNN, Greene <a href="https://x.com/CNNSOTU/status/1990068687055851867">apologized</a> for “taking part in toxic politics” when asked why she never spoke out against Trump’s rhetorical style for attacking people until those attacks were directed at her.
Epstein files: Greene has pointed to the administration’s handling of the Epstein files as one of the main reasons that she and the president seem to have had a falling out. Notably, the president has disagreed with this assessment, citing policy differences.
The Epstein files are under debate in Congress right now, as a petition signed by Greene, a few other Republicans, and House Democrats seeks to force a vote on Tuesday to release more evidence. The bill is expected to pass, potentially with more GOP votes than signed on to the petition to get the vote.
For some time, Trump has called the Epstein files a “hoax” and said the supposed files have been weaponized by the Democrats to distract from his agenda. But on Sunday night, Trump reversed course and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/us/politics/trump-epstein-files-release-vote.html">called on</a> House Republicans to back the bill that would compel the DOJ to release the files. 
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Chinese Espionage</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1001443" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/The-Enemy-Within-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/The-Enemy-Within-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/The-Enemy-Within-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/The-Enemy-Within-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/The-Enemy-Within-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/The-Enemy-Within.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: U.S. lawmakers in both parties are ramping up warnings of Chinese spying efforts on U.S. military bases and personnel. 
In recent years, Chinese companies were found to have gobbled up farmland near roughly 20 military installations nationwide, prompting warnings from the Pentagon that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could use that land to film weapons and troop movements, intercept communications, and hack into software.
Congress recently passed new laws requiring federal approval for foreign land purchases within 100 miles of most military sites. But it appears Beijing is circumventing those laws and continuing to purchase land.
Whiteman under watch? In the last few days, the Daily Caller <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2025/11/10/exclusive-us-nuclear-bomber-fleet-shares-fence-trailer-park-linked-chinese-intel-miles-guo/">reported</a> on a trailer park in Missouri that’s owned by a married couple living in Canada with ties to a Chinese business tycoon. That trailer park directly borders Whiteman Air Force Base, home to the U.S. military’s only nuclear-capable stealth bomber fleet. The land shares a fence with the base and sits just a mile from the runway, offering unobscured views of stealth bombers taking off and landing.
The Canadian couple are Chinese immigrants with direct business ties to Miles Guo, a “disgraced Chinese tycoon and self-described former CCP intelligence affiliate.”
As one former CIA operations officer said, “This trailer park would hypothetically give Xi Jinping a range of options to wreak havoc.” According to Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO), the commander of this base had <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2025/11/11/former-military-base-commander-allegedly-knew-nothing-of-nearby-trailer-park-linked-to-ccp/">no idea</a> his next-door neighbors were potential Chinese spies. 
Chinese spy tech: Last week, 23 lawmakers from both parties, led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), sent a letter to the White House urging an investigation into TP-Link, a major online retailer that sells Wi-Fi routers, home security cameras, baby monitors, etc.
Ernst says those devices are easily accessed by the CCP and, most concerning, “are sold through the Army, Air Force, and Navy Exchanges, placing these devices in proximity to U.S. military installations and providing a vehicle for Beijing to spy on America.”
TP-Link strongly denies any wrongdoing, saying its data for American users is housed on the Amazon cloud in Virginia, and that “TP-Link does not enable foreign surveillance of U.S. networks or users.”
Lawmakers say even if Chinese businesses aren’t intentionally taking part in espionage against the United States, they can often be used for those purposes by the CCP. Beijing passed new laws in recent years that require “any organization or citizen [to] support, assist and cooperate with state intelligence work.”
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Operation Charlotte’s Web</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1001445" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Operation-Charlottes-Web-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Operation-Charlottes-Web-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Operation-Charlottes-Web-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Operation-Charlottes-Web-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Operation-Charlottes-Web-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/Operation-Charlottes-Web.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: Federal immigration agents flooded Charlotte, North Carolina, over the weekend in the next major operation under President Trump’s immigration enforcement surge.
Charlotte’s Web: Immigration officials from ICE and the Border Patrol launched Operation Charlotte’s Web over the weekend, continuing Trump&#8217;s immigration crackdown across major American cities. According to administration officials, immigration operations continue to focus on dangerous illegal aliens. Quite a few non-violent aliens tend to be swept up in immigration raids, as well. 
Democrat backlash: This operation has caused predictable backlash among local Democratic politicians and activists.
“We have a little man sitting in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, who really believes that Hitler was the greatest man ever on earth,” <a href="https://grabien.com/story?id=556130">said</a> Corine Mack, the president of the Charlotte chapter of the NAACP. “He&#8217;s trying to create a 1940 Germany right here in the United States. And like then, many people said, &#8216;Well, it’s them, not me.&#8217; Until it eventually was them. We can no longer be silent.”
Catholic bishops join resistance: The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops waded into the immigration debate, slamming President Trump’s enforcement policies. 
“We are disturbed when we see among our people a climate of fear and anxiety around questions of profiling and immigration enforcement,” the bishops <a href="https://x.com/ArchbishpSample/status/1989041086808133664">said</a> in a video statement. “We are saddened by the state of contemporary debate and the vilification of immigrants. We are concerned about the conditions in detention centers and the lack of access to pastoral care.”
The bishops’ message drew pushback from border czar Tom Homan.
“Secure border saves lives and, you know, one of the reasons no one talks about why we have the most secure border in the history of this nation. [It’s] because of exactly what ICE is doing,” <a href="https://x.com/cspan/status/1989387853697265891">said</a> Homan on Friday. “I&#8217;ll say it as a Catholic, I think they need to spend time fixing the Catholic Church, in my opinion.”

MRN_251117_V1

Morning Brief: Trump Dumps Former Ally, China’s Intel Tentacles, & Operation Charlotte’s Web

Morning Brief: Trump Rips MTG, Chinese Spying In America, And Operation Charlotte’s Web

Border Patrol

China

Donald Trump

Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Marjorie Taylor Greene

Media

Mike Johnson

Morning Wire

North Carolina

United States

For decades, a portion of all federal contracts has been &#8220;set aside&#8221; for minority- and women-owned businesses, which can be awarded millions of dollars with little or no competition.
The 8(a) program, operated by the Small Business Administration, is meant to help &#8220;socially and economically disadvantaged businesses.&#8221; But in practice, the program has led to open corruption and the waste of hundreds of billions of dollars, with &#8220;disadvantaged&#8221; firms often simply &#8220;partnering&#8221; with a non-minority firm that owns 49% of the company, but does much of the work.
Take ATI Government Solutions, a firm that claimed Native American ownership to get 8(a) status. Its website focuses on its &#8220;Tribal Advantage: <a href="https://atisolutions.us/tribal-advantage/">Procurement Advantages</a> for Government and Industry by Partnering with ATI,&#8221; even though all the executives listed on its <a href="https://atisolutions.us/team/">leadership page</a> appear to be white.
Last month, <a href="https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/1981042870460252398" target="_blank" rel="noopener">O’Keefe Media Group</a> published an undercover video in which Anish Abraham, senior director at ATI Government Solutions, acknowledged that his company was a “pass-through” that got a $100 million contract, kept $65 million, and paid another firm $45 million to do the work.
Melayne Cromwell, a black woman who previously worked as director of contracts at ATI, was also captured saying the firm only does 20% of the work. “A lot of our subcontractors bid on contracts that were perfect in their industry, but because they weren’t Native American, they wouldn’t win it, so we bid on it for them, and they became our subcontractor,” she said.
Now, top officials say set-aside contracting, a mainstay of the Washington swamp, could be changing for good.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), the chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business, wrote to SBA&#8217;s inspector general October 30, saying &#8220;over the years an egregious pattern has emerged where a special subset of 8(a) participants, the &#8216;Super 8(a)’s,&#8217; may be taking undue advantage of their ability to obtain sole-source awards in unlimited amounts.&#8221;
&#8220;I request the SBA OIG immediately investigate ATI, its Super 8(a) parent entity Susanville Indian Rancheria, and its network of 8(a) subsidiaries,&#8221; she wrote in a letter obtained by The Daily Wire.
On Saturday, SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said that &#8220;As part of our ongoing investigation into ATI Government Solutions, SBA has uncovered and now suspended a network of SEVEN additional companies connected to its CEO Firmadge Crutchfield.&#8221;
&#8220;Their names have been provided to law enforcement. Thank you to every federal agency that has joined us in the effort to crack down on fraud in the 8(a) Program for &#8216;socially and economically disadvantaged&#8217; small businesses.&#8221;
Ernst told The Daily Wire &#8220;I will not rest until every last fraudster is held accountable and the program is reformed. Administrator Loeffler has done a tremendous job and I am confident that she will ensure that exploitation of the SBA’s small business programs is no longer excused or overlooked.”
Ernst said in her letter that the Biden administration &#8220;tripled the 8(a) contracting goals from 5 percent to 15 percent,&#8221; but when she requested reports that are required to be filed with the SBA by certain minority-contracting firms to monitor for fraud, she found that &#8220;Biden’s SBA failed to track and retain them.&#8221;
&#8220;It is obvious that the Biden Administration’s indifference toward meaningful oversight in the 8(a) program allowed swindlers and fraudsters to treat federal contracting programs like personal piggy banks&#8230; Small business contracting programs were never intended to function as welfare systems for favored classes or give no-bid contracts to do-nothing companies,&#8221; she wrote.
&#8220;Penalties against rulebreakers have not been swiftly and resolutely imposed. Deterrence has completely failed&#8230; This stops now,&#8221; she continued.
She requested &#8220;All documents and communications related to any disciplinary or corrective actions SBA has taken on 8(a) firms over the last 5 years, including suspensions, disbarments, and removals from the 8(a) Program initiated by the SBA,&#8221; and asked:
<ul class="ul-list" data-mark="*">
<li class="md-list-item">When would a contractor be suspected of violating the limitations on subcontracting?</li>
</ul>
<ul class="ul-list" data-mark="*">
<li class="md-list-item">What is the specific process that occurs when a prime contractor is suspected of having violated the limitations on subcontracting, up to and including resolution?</li>
</ul>
<ul class="ul-list" data-mark="*">
<li class="md-list-item">Have any contractors been found to have violated the limitations on subcontracting over the last 5 years?</li>
</ul>
Ernst also wrote to the SBA&#8217;s Inspector General, who has found abuse of minority contracting programs for decades.
She said there is little reason to believe anyone is actually tracking whether the minority-owned company actually does at least half of the work, as required, rather than having their &#8220;partner&#8221; or subcontractors do it.
&#8220;While this requirement is designed to restrict small businesses from acting as pass-through companies for ineligible firms, in practice, weak enforcement of this rule leaves the door open for abuse,&#8221; she wrote. &#8220;In the coming days and months, I expect to see significant 8(a)-related accountability actions and investigations initiated.&#8221;
In June, Walter Barnes III, the founder of contractor Vistant (previously known as PM Consulting Group, or PMCG), pleaded guilty to paying bribes in exchange for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-800m-migration-feds-bribes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$544 million</a> in USAID contracts. The court documents established that Barnes&#8217; firm got contracts through being a black-owned firm; then, when it earned so many millions of dollars that it &#8220;graduated&#8221; from the 8(a) program, it would enter into 49%-51% &#8220;partnerships&#8221; with other firms that still had disadvantaged status. A USAID contracting official was able to ensure that contracts went to the people who paid him bribes because his minority status gave him the power to &#8220;sole-source&#8221; awards, instead of being obligated to give it to the lowest-price firm.
This year, the Justice Department stated that Vistant, as a corporation, was guilty, but granted it a deferred prosecution agreement. Despite more than a half-billion dollars going to a firm that was involved in massive fraud, the company is still eligible for contracts, and the government has continued to send it work through partnerships with &#8220;disadvantaged&#8221; firms.
The Daily Wire reported in June that the government allowed Vistant to tap into potential contracts amounting to as much as $800 million through a partnership with CollaborateUp, a &#8220;small business&#8221; <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-800m-migration-feds-bribes">operating out of a house</a>.

SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler and Senate Small Business Chair Joni Ernst

Feds Crack Down On Minority Contracting Schemes, D.C.’s Worst-Kept Secret

Kelly Loeffler

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa has told confidants she will not run for re-election next year, CBS News reported, which could complicate her party&#8217;s efforts to retain control of the chamber.
Ernst&#8217;s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ernst, 55, was first elected to the Senate in 2014. Before that she served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves and was deployed to Iraq.
Republicans currently control the Senate by a 53-47 margin and nonpartisan analysts say they are favored to retain control of the chamber in next year&#8217;s midterm elections at this point.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
Iowa, once a competitive state in presidential elections, has trended increasingly Republican over the past decade. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates Ernst&#8217;s seat &#8220;Likely Republican,&#8221; making it less competitive than several other Senate races next year.
At least five Democratic candidates have announced they will run for the seat.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey, Nolan D. McCaskill and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter and Matthew Lewis)

Weekly Senate caucus luncheons on Capitol Hill in Washington

Veteran Republican Senator Will Not Seek Re-Election: Report

Congress

Iowa

A USAID employee in charge of managing contracts for the agency created a fake company to fraudulently secure coronavirus benefits for himself, federal prosecutors said Friday.
“Yusuf Akoll worked as a Senior Procurement Contract Specialist at the U.S. Agency for International Development,” according to a previously unreported <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.280449/gov.uscourts.dcd.280449.2.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">court document</a>. “From at least in or around March 2021, and continuing through at least in or around August 2021, Akoll [made] materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements…that resulted in Akoll receiving two [Paycheck Protection Program] loans totaling approximately $16,666 that he was not entitled to receive.”
Prosecutors said that in November 2020, Akoll registered a company in Virginia called Naagode Consulting LLC, then applied for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan under the coronavirus bailout package, claiming he worked at Naagode and the money was necessary to prevent job losses.
Only companies in operation in February 2020 were eligible, so he falsely said it was established in January 2020. To establish a loss of income, he said the company had $40,000 in income in 2019 when it actually had no income, prosecutors said.
Akoll was accused of making false statements in Washington, D.C., federal court via an “information,” which typically signals a plea deal.
The fact that the money was paid out highlights how carelessly the government disbursed massive sums during coronavirus. The claim that the company had $40,000 in revenue in 2019 contradicts his own claim that it didn’t exist until January 2020.
The fact that Small Business Administration officials didn’t check state corporation records and catch the fact that it was actually established in November 2020 — or federal tax returns to verify the $40,000 — indicate that the government wasn’t doing basic database cross-referencing, the kind of thing the Department of Government Efficiency has made its bread and butter.
USAID was shuttered, with its remnants folded into the State Department, amidst concern by Republicans and the Department of Government Efficiency that the money was mismanaged. Akoll was in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars flowing to foreign countries, where the money could be difficult to monitor, records <a href="https://www.highergov.com/people/yakoll-usaid-dot-gov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">show</a>.
Coronavirus payments were disbursed with little vetting under a “pay and chase” model, where fraudulent claims would ostensibly be recovered later. But the Biden administration quickly gave up on chasing.
The Biden administration said in 2023 that it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/sba-wont-even-try-to-collect-on-ppp-loans-that-are-supposed-to-be-paid-back-citing-equity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would not seek to collect</a> on loans of less than $100,000 that were required to be paid back, citing “equity.” Most of the loans were designed to be forgiven, but those who did not meet the requirements were supposed to repay them.
That’s despite the Small Business Administration’s inspector general saying the move “is not in compliance with applicable criteria,” and that not even attempting to stop people from cheating the government encouraged future fraud.  
Congress nearly let the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery, which was set up to police fraud in the pandemic bailout, expire in March 2025, which would have quickly closed the book on the government’s largest and most chaotic payment frenzy ever.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery had only recovered three dollars for every dollar spent on its staff, which should have been higher. <a href="https://www.courtwatch.news/p/court-watch-112-you-re-about-to-lose-577-billion-dollars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CourtWatch</a>, which advocated for its continuance, said the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery had meager resources of only a few dozen employees, and that shutting it down could lead to even less recovery. CourtWatch said the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery had open investigations into $577 million in suspected fraud.
 Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), the head of the Senate DOGE Caucus, fought to keep the inspector general, saying, “I will not allow fraudsters to get away with stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from taxpayers.”
The head of Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions testified to Congress that criminals stole <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/news/witness-at-first-doge-hearing-confronts-lawmakers-with-scale-of-covid-fraud-they-stole-1-trillion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$1 trillion</a> in COVID money, most of which went overseas.

Trump And Musk’s USAID ‘Shut Down’ Threat Opens Door For China

USAID Contracting Officer Charged With Pandemic Bailout Fraud

Coronavirus

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)

USAID

According to Iowa GOP senator Joni Ernst, some federal employees who were forced to go back to work rather than work from home showed up at work only to protest being there.
“We actually had workers that showed up at the office to protest having to come back to work at the office,” she told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. “So we’re finding all kinds of things with the DOGE work, the SQUEAL work that I have done for ten years, and thank goodness we have President Trump and DOGE, the Office of Government Efficiency, that’s finally cracking down on these types of activities.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
You can’t make this up…
Federal employees showed up to the office — not to work — but to protest returning to work.<a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DOGE</a> and I are fighting to get Washington working for YOU! <a href="https://t.co/qrriphp0Fn">pic.twitter.com/qrriphp0Fn</a>
&mdash; Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenJoniErnst/status/1910000000177758594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
The day President Trump was inaugurated, he issued a presidential <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/return-to-in-person-work/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memo</a> that stated:
<blockquote>
Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.
</blockquote>
Last Thursday, Ernst delineated some of the shocking remote-work abuses she had been made aware of, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PelATbSTI8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telling</a> a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing:
<blockquote>
A Veterans Affairs manager responsible for scheduling veterans appointments posted on social media that he was “phoning it in from a bubble bath” while calls to the VA have gone unanswered. An Army veteran gave up on getting mental healthcare from the VA because after years of trying to get an appointment, he met with a therapist who “spent the appointment singing the praises of remote work with a cat draped around her neck.” He said that it was such a disaster that “now I’m just on my meds doing my best.” A HUD employee was arrested for drunk driving at 3:30 in the afternoon on a Friday and may have been paid for time spent sitting in jail, HUD had no idea until I told them.  For more than three years, a Social Security employee was running a home inspection business. Meanwhile, his mother was responding to his emails.
</blockquote>

Senators Meet For Their Policy Luncheons On Capitol Hill

‘You Can’t Make This Up’: Ernst Says Remote Workers Came Back Only To Protest Returning To Office

Remote Work

The Biden administration reportedly hid a 2022 report from the Defense Department that stated seven military members might have contracted COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, as early as October 2019.
The <a href="https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/2019-World-Military-Games-Report-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">December 2022 report</a> from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness examined “the number of United States athletes and staff who attended the 2019 World Military Games and became ill with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-like symptoms during or shortly after their return to the United States.”
It added, “The Department of Defense (DoD) has concluded through correspondence with the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and United States of America Medical Director in charge of the safety and health of the participants in the 2019 World Military Games, that 7 Service members who attended the games exhibited COVID-19- like signs and/or symptoms during the timeframe of October 18, 2019 through January 21, 2020. The COVID-19-like symptoms could have been caused by other respiratory infections. All 7 Service members&#8217; symptoms resolved within 6 days.”
“The December 2022 report, which the Biden administration was required by law to release to the public over two years ago but didn’t, reveals for the first time that seven U.S. military service members contracted COVID-19-like symptoms during or after their participation in the World Military Games in Wuhan in October 2019—contradicting the Biden administration’s public claims in 2021 that there was no evidence that any American participants contracted the virus at those games,” <a href="https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-administration-concealed-congressionally-mandated-report-on-earliest-suspected-american-covid-cases/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Free Beacon</a>, which broke the story, noted, adding, “The revelation adds to a mounting body of evidence that the virus was circulating in Wuhan for months before China disclosed it to the world in December 2019 and further bolsters the growing consensus that it could have leaked into the human population from a Chinese lab.”
The report was not made public until last month when the Trump administration uploaded it to the Department of Defense website.
“The U.S. team used chartered flights to and from the games via Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Washington was one of the earliest states to show a spike in COVID-19,” The American Prospect<a href="https://prospect.org/coronavirus/did-the-military-world-games-spread-covid-19/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> reported</a> in June 2020.
In May 2020, The Daily Mail <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8327047/More-competitors-reveal-ill-World-Military-Games.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that athletes from different countries suspected they might have contracted COVID-19 at the 2019 World Military Games. French pentathlete Elodie Clouvel said she and her partner Valentin Belaud contracted COVID-19 at the Games. Italian fencer Matteo Tagliariol claimed everyone in his Wuhan apartment got “symptoms that looked like those of Covid-19.” Jacqueline Bock of the German volleyball team said, “After a few days, some athletes from my team got ill. I got sick in the last two days. I have never felt so sick. Either it was a very bad cold or Covid-19. I think it was Covid-19.”
“Taxpayers deserve to know the truth about COVID-19 origins, but the Biden administration concealed this information from the American people for years,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told the Free Beacon. “This report should have been made public immediately and not restricted to Washington insiders. If Americans visiting Wuhan were potentially infected with the COVID-19 virus in October 2019, those claiming the pandemic began in a wet market just two months later would be completely off base.”

7th CISM Military World Games

Biden Admin Reportedly Hid Report That Service Members May Have Gotten COVID In Wuhan — In Oct 2019

Athlete

Biden Administration

COVID-19

World

Wuhan

Wuhan Institute of Virology

The now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) paid Ukrainian models and designers to go to Paris Fashion Week and other frivolous luxuries, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said Wednesday.
Ernst revealed that USAID did not report the expenditures in public databases and tried to block her staff from seeing them, claiming they were classified. In reality, she said, they were not classified, merely embarrassing for how wasteful they were.
Ukraine&#8217;s leader Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded billions from American taxpayers, raising the specter of gruesome deaths and suffering. But &#8220;staff learned that the aid intended to alleviate economic distress in the war-torn nation was spent on such frivolous activities as sending Ukrainian models and designers on junkets to New York City, London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, and South by Southwest in Austin, Texas,&#8221; a memo obtained by The Daily Wire said.
Ukrainian recipients of &#8220;Competitive Economy Program (CEP)&#8221; funds included, the memo said:
• A modern women’s attire company ($150,000) 
• A trade mission for a fashion design house ($128,000) 
• A photographer for fashion design publications ($126,000) 
• A purveyor of contemporary knitwear ($161,000) 
• A luxury bridal brand ($84,000) 
• Marketplace for designer artisanal pieces inspired by folk crafts ($84,000)
Money going to Ukraine also went to a vineyard ($89,000), an &#8220;artisanal fruit tea company&#8221; ($104,000), a &#8220;custom carpet manufacturer&#8221; ($2 million), a confectionary company ($678,000), a dog collar manufacturer, and a designer of upscale furniture.
Ernst said that for years, USIAD had treated her efforts at congressional oversight with open hostility. She <a href="https://www.ernst.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/senator_ernst_letter_to_secretary_rubio.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> to Secretary of State Marco Rubio this month that the agency &#8220;has engaged in a demonstrated pattern of obstructionism&#8221; in which they refused to say how they were spending money. When they begrudgingly let congressional overseers see their finances, bureaucrats watched the investigators and not only barred them from copying the records, but even restricted their note-taking.
Ernst, the chair of the Senate Small Business Committee, said USAID would only allow her staff to review documents &#8220;in a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) at USAID headquarters. These requirements were all presented to my staff under the false pretense that this data was classified.&#8221;
&#8220;From my staff’s review of the data on USAID assistance to businesses in Ukraine thus far, it seems clear why USAID is trying to withhold information from Congress. Based on the in-camera review, it appears that over 5,000 Ukrainian businesses received U.S. taxpayer funded assistance through the Competitive Economy Program (CEP), Investment for Business Resilience (IBR), Credit for Agricultural Producers (CAP), and Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities (AGRO) programs with awards of up to $2 million each.&#8221;
She found that USAID was also allowing NGOs to keep more than 25% of grants for themselves, to pay for &#8220;indirect costs&#8221; such as office rent, and that it claimed it would be against the law for it to provide her information necessary to evaluate whether that was appropriate.
Zelensky is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/zelensky-to-visit-white-house-to-sign-new-mineral-deal-with-u-s">set to visit</a> the White House Friday to sign a new mineral deal with the United States.

Ukraine President Zelensky

USAID Secretly Funded Luxuries For Ukrainian Models, Senate Probe Finds

Ukraine

Elon Musk said early Monday morning that he had received President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a>’s approval to eliminate the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Musk made the comments during a discussion on X with Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) as they talked about the work of what Trump has called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The website for USAID, which spends tens of billions of dollars every year on various programs around the world, appears to have been shut down on Saturday. 
“It became apparent that it&#8217;s not an apple with a worm in it,” Musk said. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.”
Musk said that he discussed USAID, which he referred to as a &#8220;hornet&#8217;s nest,&#8221; with Trump multiple times “in detail and he agreed that we should shut it down,&#8221; saying that none of the reforms he was pushing for “could be done without the full support of the president.”
Musk added that Trump said &#8220;yes&#8221; several times after being asked if he was certain he wanted to shut down USAID. 
“So we’re shutting it down,” Musk said. 
“It is also incredibly politically partisan and has been supporting radical Left causes throughout the world, including things that are anti-American which is insane,” he added. 
In recent years, USAID has pushed programs like &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/usaid-introduces-new-framework-to-promote-comprehensive-sexuality-education-abroad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comprehensive sexuality education</a>&#8221; abroad and spent nearly $2 billion <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-report-shows-how-much-money-u-s-government-spent-on-promoting-covid-vaccine-abroad" target="_blank" rel="noopener">promoting</a> the COVID vaccine around the world.
Ernst said that any program administered by USAID that may actually benefit America should be moved under the jurisdiction of the State Department. 
During the same discussion, Musk said that the unelected bureaucracy entrenched throughout the federal government was the fourth branch of government, and the most powerful.
After the discussion with Ernst, Musk made several posts on X continuing to attack USAID.
“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper. Could [have] gone to some great parties. Did that instead,” Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886307316804263979">said</a>.
In another post, Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1886102414194835755">said</a> the agency was a “criminal organization” and that it was “time for it to die.”    
Trump told reporters Sunday night that his administration was working on getting political radicals out of the organization. 
“It’s been run by a bunch of radical lunatics. And we’re getting them out,” he said. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
President Donald Trump: “It has been run by a bunch of radical lunatics and we&#8217;re getting them out… USAID, run by radical lunatics&#8230; and then we&#8217;ll make a decision”
<a href="https://t.co/jppmfxAOp9">pic.twitter.com/jppmfxAOp9</a>
— America (@america) <a href="https://twitter.com/america/status/1886212598036598900?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
USAID workers <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/02/usaid-trump-musk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were told</a> Monday to work from home unless their job required them to be at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. 
“Agency personnel normally assigned to work at USAID headquarters will work remotely … with the exception of personnel with essential on-site and building maintenance functions individually contacted by senior leadership,” an email to staff read. 
The email came after two top security officials were reportedly placed on leave after they refused to cooperate with DOGE over the weekend.

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‘Beyond Repair’: Musk Says Trump Has Given The Go-Ahead To ‘Get Rid Of’ USAID

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