Clapper: Trump ‘treasonous conspiracy' accusation ‘ridiculous'
'I take seriously when the president of the United States accuses me of being a participant in a treasonous conspiracy, which is ridiculous,' Clapper, who was Obama's intelligence chief from 2011 to 2017, told CNN's Kaitlan Collins in an interview on her show 'The Source.' 'It's ridiculous; it's just — it is untrue.'
Clapper said he has attorneys on call in case the Department of Justice (DOJ) attempts to pursue legal action against him.
'We've had sort of perpetual attorneys, since I left the government in 2017,' he told Collins.
Trump's DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, an Army Reserve officer and former Democrat from Hawaii, discussed the new Russia investigation claims at the White House on Wednesday, following the release of a trove of documents alleging Obama-era officials misled the public about Russia's role in the 2016 election when Trump won his first White House term.
Gabbard told reporters that the document trove was especially damning for Clapper, Obama, former CIA director John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey.
'We have referred and will continue to refer all of these documents to the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate the criminal implications of this,' she said. 'The evidence that we have found and that we have released directly points to President Obama leading the manufacturing of this intelligence assessment.'
'There are multiple pieces of evidence and intelligence that confirm that fact,' Gabbard added.
Trump on Tuesday accused Obama and top officials in his administration of 'treason,' which is a crime punishable by death in the U.S.
'This was treason,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. 'They tried to steal the election; they tried to obfuscate the election.'
'They did things that nobody's ever even imagined, even in other countries,' the president added.
Trump's comments prompted a rare public rebuke from Obama's team, noting that it doesn't normally comment on 'constant nonsense and misinformation' from the Trump White House but felt the 'treason' claims had crossed to being worthy of response.
'These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction,' Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement.
The document dump last week did not provide direct evidence contrary to standing conclusions that Russia tried to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not manipulate votes directly. A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee review, led by then-Florida senator and now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio, backed up the findings in a 2020 report.
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Vox
14 minutes ago
- Vox
The Trump administration attack dog you should pay attention to
is a senior politics correspondent at Vox, covering the White House, elections, and political scandals and investigations. He's worked at Vox since the site's launch in 2014, and before that, he worked as a research assistant at the New Yorker's Washington, DC, bureau. Bill Pulte is the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, tasked with overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty The Trump administration's loudest attack dog of late holds an unlikely position: director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The FHFA's 37-year old director, Bill Pulte, has been pounding the drums to get Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell fired. He's publicly pressured Powell on social media, he gave Trump a draft letter that would have ordered Powell's firing, and he's tried to establish a pretext Trump could use to fire Powell. But Pulte has also played a broader role in Trump's retribution campaign. He's used his position to try and get two of Trump's Democratic enemies — Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and New York Attorney General Letitia James — prosecuted for mortgage fraud. Some of his allies hope this is just the start, and that even bigger things lie in Pulte's future. 'Bill Pulte would be an exceptional pick to run the Federal Reserve,' venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya posted on X last week. 'Attack dog' is an unusual role for the director of the FHFA, who is charged with overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the government-backed companies crucial to the functioning of US mortgage markets. (Vox requested comment from Pulte through the FHFA for this story, but received no response.) The Logoff The email you need to stay informed about Trump — without letting the news take over your life. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. But it's a good fit for Pulte. The grandson of the founder of a major home-building company, Pulte has demonstrated a remarkable knack for getting attention and building his public profile. He has 3 million followers on X, and his posts there have started to move markets, according to Bloomberg. Pulte has his enemies in the administration; the Wall Street Journal recently reported his anti-Powell campaign has 'irritated' some senior officials. One person is quite happy with him, though. After that Journal story was published, Trump posted that Pulte was doing an 'outstanding job,' and added: 'KEEP MOVING FORWARD, WILLIAM, DON'T LET THE RADICAL LEFT WEAKLINGS STOP YOU!' Who is Bill Pulte, and how did he get millions of social media followers? Housing is the Pulte family business. Pulte's grandfather, also named Bill, founded what eventually became one of the largest home-building companies in the US, PulteGroup. The younger Bill was barely done with college when, in 2011, he founded a Michigan-based private equity fund focused on the housing industry. The board included such local luminaries such as Rick DeVos (son of future Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos) and Scott Romney (brother of Mitt Romney). Grandpa Pulte died in 2018. The following year, then-31-year-old Bill got his first taste of national fame by going viral for giving people money. Pulte gave or offered to give sometimes hundreds of dollars, sometimes thousands or even tens of thousands, and he posted on Twitter about it. He called this 'Twitter Philanthropy.' (He insisted he was not giving away his inheritance money, but rather money he'd independently made.) Some of the giveaways were for people posting stories about why they needed help, others were purely random — but the common thread was that, if you wanted a shot at the cash, you needed to follow or retweet him on Twitter. (Following him was necessary so he could send you a direct message if you won, he explained.) In July 2019, Pulte said he'd give $30,000 to 'a veteran on Twitter' if President Trump retweeted him, and the president did so. All this proved highly successful at increasing Pulte's Twitter following, which rose from the low tens of thousands to 2 million in early 2020. But his relationship with the company his grandfather founded deteriorated. He lost his seat on PulteGroup's board of directors, after the board unanimously voted not to renominate him. The meme stock saga and online feuding With the novelty of Twitter Philanthropy worn off, Pulte found a new focus for his self-promotion: the meme stock craze. Pulte particularly cultivated the beleaguered Bed Bath & Beyond investors, many of whom hoped this wealthy and successful philanthropist would somehow find a way to get them back the money they'd lost. In January 2024, Pulte released a statement saying the 'Pulte family' would purchase Bed Bath & Beyond bonds so they could 'demand answers' for wiped-out retail shareholders. The Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, which he is not involved with, wanted to be excluded from this narrative, and released a statement distancing themselves from him. Pulte fired back with an X post calling his aunt, Nancy Pulte Rickard, who heads the foundation, 'a fake representative of the Pulte Family.' He added that his aunt 'is angry she wasn't in my grandpa's will when I, the namesake, was in the will.' As it became clear that there would be no miraculous recovery for $BBBY shareholders, Pulte amassed his share of dedicated online haters, who mocked him as 'Ploot' and chronicled what they saw as his strange behavior on subreddits like /r/GME_meltdown. These haters would soon watch agog as Pulte, who they viewed as a 'fraud and weirdo,' suddenly scored a powerful position in the federal government. This, one Redditor wrote, was 'an absolutely wild plot twist.' Pulte and the Federal Housing Finance Agency Through all this time, Pulte's public persona hadn't been particularly political. But he figured out a good way to gain entry into Trumpworld — by, again, giving people money. He gave $500,000 to a pro-Trump Super PAC in 2022. He'd also donated to Turning Point USA, the young conservatives' group co-founded by Charlie Kirk. (Kirk is a close ally of Donald Trump Jr.) After Trump won in November 2024, the New York Post floated Pulte as a potential Housing and Urban Development secretary, quoting a 'source' calling him 'probably overqualified' and stressing those past donations to vouch for his loyalty to Trumpworld. Trump nominated him for FHFA director instead, and before his confirmation hearings, he deleted tens of thousands of his old tweets, to Senate Democrats' annoyance. Shortly after he was confirmed in March, Pulte posted on X: 'You didn't really think I'd stop tweeting did you'. The FHFA job is a consequential one. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed under government conservatorship during the 2008 financial crisis, but the Trump team is now planning to reprivatize them. It is unclear how involved Pulte is in these discussions (one report claimed he'd been 'largely cut out'). Pulte has, however, been quite quick to use his position to go after Trump's enemies — specifically, James, the New York attorney general, and Sen. Schiff, who have for years been leading figures in Democrat-led investigations of Trump. Pulte took public credit for the Schiff investigation, posting on X: 'Fannie Mae's Financial Crimes Division concluded that Mr. Schiff has engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud.' A confidential Fannie Mae memo alleging misconduct by Schiff — a memo addressed to Pulte — was provided to the Washington Post earlier this month. Both Schiff and James have denied any wrongdoing and said they are being targeted politically, and it remains to be seen whether DOJ will charge them. Federal prosecutors pursuing complex corruption cases against public officials have long found the mortgage fraud statute to be a useful tool — it's relatively easy to prove, and it carries a steep, 30-year maximum sentence. (According to David Simon, federal prosecutors in Baltimore called it the 'Head Shot.') But it's not yet clear whether they have enough to make and sustain either case. With Powell having earned Trump's ire for his reluctance to lower interest rates, Pulte started going after him, too. For the past two months, he's been publicly criticizing the Fed chair and urging him to resign. Since the law only permits Trump to fire Powell 'for cause' — meaning 'inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office' — Pulte has been laying the groundwork for that. He's been arguing that the expensive renovation of the Fed's headquarters is a 'scandal' that merits Powell's firing for misconduct. 'I remain optimistic Jerome Powell will do the right thing, and as early as next week,' Pulte posted Friday on X. Could Trump be considering replacing Powell with Pulte himself? So far, National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett is said to be the frontrunner. And a Pulte nomination may not be received kindly by the Senate or the markets. But maybe Pulte can post his way into the job. After all, social media has gotten him this far.
USA Today
15 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump administration slashed federal funding for gun violence prevention
CHICAGO, July 29 (Chicago) - The Trump administration has terminated more than half of all federal funding for gun violence prevention programs in the U.S., cutting $158 million in grants that had been directed to groups in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, DC, and Baltimore. Of the 145 community violence intervention (CVI) grants totaling more than $300 million awarded through the U.S. Department of Justice, 69 grants were abruptly terminated in April, according to government data analyzed by Reuters. The elimination of CVI programs is part of a broader rollback at the department's grant-issuing Office of Justice Programs, which terminated 365 grants valued at $811 million in April, impacting a range of public safety and victim services programs. A DOJ official told Reuters the gun violence grants were eliminated because they "no longer effectuate the program's goals or agency's priorities." Thousands of Office of Justice Programs grants are under review, the official said, and are being evaluated, among other things, on how well they support law enforcement and combat violent crime. More: Trump DOJ wants Supreme Court to bring down hammer on gun rules The majority of CVI grants were originally funded through the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and part of a push by former President Joe Biden to stem the rise of gun violence in America, including establishing the first White House Office for Gun Violence Prevention. That office was "dismantled on day one" of Trump taking office, said former deputy director of the office, Greg Jackson. Prior to the Biden-era funding, most gun violence prevention programs were funded on the state level. "These programs five years ago, if they did exist, had very small budgets and didn't have large, multimillion-dollar federal investments," said Michael-Sean Spence, managing director of community safety initiatives at Everytown for Gun Safety, which has worked with 136 community-based violence intervention organizations since 2019. Twenty-five of the groups were impacted by funding cuts. The grants supported a wide range of CVI programming to prevent shootings such as training outreach teams to de-escalate and mediate conflict, social workers to connect people to services and employment, and hospital-based programs for gun violence victims. "[It's] preventing them from doing the work in service of those that need it the most at the most urgent, and deadliest time of the year," Spence said, referring to summer months when there's typically an uptick in shootings. Gun violence deaths in the U.S. grew more than 50% from 2015 to the pandemic-era peak of 21,383 in 2021, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Since then, deadly shootings have been in decline, falling to 16,725 in 2024, which is more in line with the pre-pandemic trend. As of May 2025, deaths are down 866 from the same period last year. DEFUNDED PROGRAMS While cities like New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles received the bulk of gun violence prevention funding, southern cities like Memphis, Selma, Alabama and Baton Rouge, Louisiana also received millions and were more reliant on the grants due to limited state support for the programs, experts told Reuters. "Very few state legislatures are passing funding right now, that's why the federal cuts were such a tragic hit," said Amber Goodwin, co-founder of Community Violence Legal Network, who's part of a coalition of lawyers working to get grants reinstated. Nearly a dozen interviews with legal experts, gun violence interventionists, and former DOJ officials said funding cuts threaten the long-term sustainability of community violence intervention initiatives that have taken years to establish and are embedded in predominantly Black and Latino communities. Pha'Tal Perkins founded Think Outside Da Block in 2016, a nonprofit based in Chicago's violence-plagued Englewood neighborhood. Federal funding allowed him to hire full-time staff, but when grants were stripped, he was forced to lay off five team members. "Being able to have outreach teams at specific places at the right time to have conversations before things get out of hand is what people don't see," Perkins said. The programs initiated in 2022 marked the first time grassroots organizations could apply for federal community violence prevention funding directly, without going through law enforcement or state intermediaries, according to three former DOJ officials. Aqeela Sherrills, co-founder of Community Based Public Safety Collective in Los Angeles, provided training on implementing violence intervention strategies to nearly 94 grantees, including states, law enforcement agencies, and community-based organizations. Prior to the cuts, "we were onboarding 30 new grantees through the federal government. Many of these cities and law enforcement agencies have no idea how to implement CVI," Sherrills said. POLICE SUPPORT Some critics of CVI argue that the programs aren't effective and that federal dollars would be better spent on law enforcement to stymie gun violence. Others view the initiatives as inherently "anti-gun" and are "nothing more than a funnel to send federal tax dollars to anti-gun non-profits who advocate against our rights," said Aidan Johnston, federal affairs director of the Gun Owners of America. That view is not universally shared by law enforcement, however. In June, a letter signed by 18 law enforcement groups and police chiefs in Louisville, Minneapolis, Tucson and Omaha called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to reinstate funding that has resulted in "measurable and significant reductions in violence and homicides." "These aren't feel-good programs; they're lifesaving, law-enforcement-enhancing strategies that work," they wrote. Columbia, South Carolina Deputy Police Chief Melron Kelly, who was unaware of the letter, told Reuters that CVI programs were relatively new in the city, but as a result, the police began collaborating more with community organizations. Kelly said Columbia's CVI programs focused on preventing retaliatory shootings that can escalate a neighborhood conflict. "Public safety really starts in the neighborhood before police get involved. CVI work is very important; we've seen a drastic reduction in violent crime post-COVID and shootings are almost at a 10-year low," Kelly said. Now, organizations are trying to figure out how to keep the doors open now that federal money has run dry. Durell Cowan, executive director of HEAL 901, a community violence prevention nonprofit in Memphis, received a $1.7 million CVI grant in October 2024. Cowan's organization received $150,000 in federal funds since the beginning of the year before his grant was canceled. He's had to dip into his personal savings to keep his 14-person staff on payroll, he said. Recently, he secured funding from an out-of-state nonprofit as well as a $125,000 emergency grant from the city. Still, he may be forced to conduct layoffs if federal government dollars don't start flowing again. 'We shouldn't be pulling from our own personal finances and life insurance policies to cover the cost of public safety,' he said. (Reporting by Bianca Flowers in Chicago. Editing by Kat Stafford and Michael Learmonth)
New York Post
15 minutes ago
- New York Post
ICE agents training at Suffolk gun range under controversial contract with Long Island town: ‘Dehumanizing'
A taxpayer-funded Suffolk County gun range is now a training ground for ICE agents as part of a new controversial deal between the US Department of Homeland Security and the town of Islip. The Post only learned about the deal after ICE agents were spotted at the range, prompting calls from local activists and state Assemblyman Phil Ramos, an Islip Democrat, to nix the contract — with the lawmaker blasting the agency as 'rogue.' It is unclear when the behind-closed-doors deal was actually finalized. Advertisement 3 ICE agents are training at a taxpayer-funded gun range in Islip as part of a deal between Suffolk County and the Department of Homeland Security. Google/Stephen Wicelinski Ramos slammed the contract as 'dehumanizing.' 'I am deeply disappointed that such a decision was made in a community that proudly holds the highest concentration of Hispanic taxpayers in New York State outside of New York City,' he told The Post. Advertisement Hispanics make up nearly 20% of the entire Islip population, according to the latest census numbers. ICE agents are actively stopping people, Ramos said, at random in local neighborhoods and can't be treated like a typical federal agency. The lawmaker pointed to multiple lawsuits, alleged civil rights violations, and the wrongful arrest of a US citizen on Long Island with Hispanic roots as proof. Town officials, however, said the deal is nothing groundbreaking — and revealed that similar contracts have been drawn up in the past allowing federal agents, including ICE, to use the range to train. 3 Activists and state Assemblyman Phil Ramos have called on Suffolk County to eliminate the 'dehumanizing' contract with ICE. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter, a Republican, said agreements with DHS go back to the early 2000s. ICE falls under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security. 'The Town's Rifle Range is one of the very few such facilities on Long Island and serves a vital role in the training of individuals from law enforcement agencies including but not limited to Nassau County Police, Sheriffs and DA … U.S. Treasury, Farmingdale Police Department and the NYS Park Police,' Carpenter said. Partnerships like those, Carpenter said, help ensure law enforcement officers and federal agents operating in the area are properly and safely using their firearms and receiving training — accusing Ramos of attempting to politicize the matter and sparking distrust in law enforcement. 3 Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter said the county has had contracts with DHS going back to 2000. Wayne Carrington Advertisement Federal training partnerships with local facilities are not uncommon, and ICE is one of several DHS agencies that routinely conduct firearms training at regional ranges across the US. But Ramos wasn't satisfied — and fired back that he doesn't need to create distrust in ICE because the agency has already accomplished that feat on its own. 'I don't believe many in our community find comfort in the explanation that the Town of Islip has been lending its facilities out to outside law enforcement agencies for years,' he said. 'If ICE is conducting firearms training at a town facility, then the Town of Islip is directly enabling those operations.' The controversy surrounding the range comes just two weeks after Ramos clashed with Brentwood fire officials over ICE's use of a local firehouse parking lot as a makeshift base for immigration raids — an incident that escalated into a public standoff with accusations of intimidation against the chief. The town has not responded to The Post's request for the DHS contract.
