Latest news with #ex-WhiteHouse
New York Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
House Republicans to question ex-Biden chief of staff about alleged mental decline cover-up after stunning revelation
WASHINGTON — The House Oversight Committee will bring in four more ex-White House aides for questioning about the alleged cover-up of former President Joe Biden's mental decline — including the 46th president's last chief of staff, Jeff Zients, who was recently revealed to have approved last-minute pardons. Zients, former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, former deputy press secretary Andrew Bates and former White House Counsel's Office senior adviser Ian Sams have all been asked to sit for transcribed interviews, according to a committee aide. Last-day clemencies, which included preemptive pardons for Biden family members, had been authorized by Zients in a Jan. 19, 2025, email, hours before the 46th president would leave the White House. Advertisement 3 Jeff Zients is among those that will be questioned about the alleged cover-up of former President Joe Biden's mental decline, AP 'I approve the use of the autopen for the execution of all of the following pardons,' Zients wrote in the missive at 10:31 p.m. that day, according to The New York Times. Biden maintained in an interview with the outlet that he 'made every decision' on 25 warrants for pardons and commutations between last December and January. Advertisement So far, the Oversight panel has interviewed five Biden aides — two of whom took the Fifth Amendment and declined to answer any questions about the purported shielding of the president's diminished mental faculties. 3 Oversight Chairman James Comer said that the probe is uncovering 'a historic scandal.' AP 3 Biden maintained that he 'made every decision' on 25 warrants for pardons and commutations between last December and January. AP Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has declared the probe is uncovering 'a historic scandal' and railed against the decision by Biden's former personal physician Kevin O'Connor and first lady Jill Biden's top aide Anthony Bernal to invoke their right against self-incrimination.
Daily Mirror
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Musk drops Epstein files bombshell as he claims ex-White House chief on list
Elon Musk has dropped another bombshell amid his ongoing feud with the White House by claiming that Donald Trump ally and ex-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon is named in the Epstein Files. Mr Musk claimed, without evidence, that Mr Bannon was in the Jeffrey Epstein files, in a reply shared on social media. His post on X/Twitter, was in response to Trump ally Roger Stone who questioned why former White House advisor Steve Bannon would meet with the notorious paedophile, Mr Musk said: "Bannon is in the Epstein files." Since being shared today, the post has been seen by an estimated 139,000 times on the social media platform. The tech billionaire has also previously claimed, without evidence, that Mr Trump is in the files. It comes after the Republican White House dashed the hopes of MAGA faithful with a statement that claimed there was no files regarding blackmail of senior political figures by the billionaire paedophile and added any suggestions that he did not commit suicide were unfounded. The spotlight has remained on the Trump administration after its current members said they had examined numerous documents related to the notorious sexual predator and claimed that anyone mentioned in any files would be brought to justice. Many loyal supporters of the US President expected him to release files containing damning evidence of a supposed list of clients connected to Epstein. Epstein's death in federal custody in 2019 while he awaited a second prosecution over sex trafficking of underage girls sparked numerous conspiracy theories online. His death was officially ruled as a suicide. But current members of the Trump administration raised the supposed links between Epstein and senior political figures during the campaign trail and during the early months of Mr Trump's second term. In an interview with Fox News earlier this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi specifically referred to the "Epstein client list" and told the interviewer she had it "on my desk." US Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attempted to quell any speculation during a briefing with reporters yesterday, though many remain unconvinced of the administration's explanation and responded to a question about Ms Bondi's previous statement. She added: "Yes. She was saying the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper relating to Jeffrey Epstein's crimes." The administration's previous comments about being willing to release any Epstein files with Ms Bondi's comments being viewed by many Trump supporters as an indication they did, in fact, exist. The administration's dangling a supposed release of the files took a dramatic turn when Mr Musk previously claimed Mr Trump was in them. Mr Musk provided no evidence to support his claim. The Mirror has contacted Mr Bannon via the Stephen K. Bannon War Room.
The Irish Sun
20-06-2025
- Politics
- The Irish Sun
Iran plots to activate terrorist sleeper cell network across West in desperate last act in face of Israeli destruction
A 'VULNERABLE' IRAN may activate a network of sleeper cells across the West in the face of the Israeli bombing campaign, experts have warned. With its 4 Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Credit: AFP 4 Iran's murderous terrorist wing, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) 4 A view of the damage is seen after a missile launched from Iran reportedly struck the area on June 15 in retaliation for recent Israeli attacks Credit: Getty It has now been more than a week since The goal, as the Israelis say, is to thwart the Iranian regime's efforts to produce nuclear weapons - as well as more ballistic missiles, including long-range weapons that can strike targets far beyond Israel. While Iran has been responding by launching frequent salvos of ballistic missiles, its top military command has been decapitated. And Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been forced to live in underground bunkers. read more on iran Experts now fear that a vicious Iran could awaken its network of sleeper cells to carry out terror plots across the West. Barak Seener, a security and defence expert at Henry Jackson Society and Iran expert, said: "The very fact now that the Iranian regime is volatile, it's targeted, and it's highly vulnerable — that's what actually makes it increasingly dangerous to the West." Iran's murderous Mr Seener said that these sleeper cells could be regular people living regular lives. Most read in The US Sun But when given the signal, they could carry out terrorist activities targeting the West. These terror operations could target public infrastructure and even civilians, with no weapons off the table, experts warn. Trump is top Iran assassination target - their terror network spreads across Europe & US, warns ex-White House official The sleeper cells could even carry out assassination attempts on top leaders that could throw the world into chaos. Last year, an Iranian agent was charged with plotting to kill Donald Trump in an assassination that would have shaken the world. Prosecutors said an official in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard told Shakeri to devise a plan to eliminate the President elect. They claim the planned hit was an attempt to take vengeance for a Trump's former security advisor, John Bolton, said the from the Middle East nation. Mr Seener said: "They live amongst us in regular communities, have regular jobs, and they just are awaiting being activated to conduct malign activities, whether it be through a telephone text or a beeper, and then they already know what they are going to be doing. "If the regime feels threatened and on the verge of being toppled, then they may say, 'you're going to go down with us,' and at that point they may unleash their sleeper cells." In an "It cannot defeat Israel, but it could go mad and unleash terrorism, even using chemical weapons, which its industries can make much more easily than nuclear weapons." 4 Mr Seener said the attacks could range from an attack against a synagogue, an embassy, or blowing up a dirty bomb in Central London. Sir Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, warned back in October that Iran could turn on UK targets if it felt Britain was too enthusiastic in its support for Israel. He said the attacks could increase if the Middle East conflict intensifies. In August, Matt Jukes, the head of He said Iranian dissidents and diaspora communities have been 'clearly at risk of kidnapping or assassination'. "These are people who are doing it daily. And when you are projecting soft power, you're creating the cultural milieu in which terrorism can be conducted much more readily. Counterterror police have investigated 15 of these cases alongside MI5 has responded to 20 plots backed by Iran since 2022, it was reported. Mr Seener said: "The reason why the Irgc can act with impunity, and why British citizens are at risk, is because of the British Government's unwillingness and failure to designate the Irgc as a terrorist organisation. "It means that they are able to conduct activities and infiltrate mosques, charities, community centres, cultural centres, and many of them, their directorship has been directly appointed by the supreme leader, Khamenei." "British Shias go on pilgrimages to religious sites in Iran and Iraq. They are targeted by the IRGC and recruited, so that when they return to the UK, they can conduct surveillance on potential targets." Iran's terror on UK street By Sayan Bose, Foreign News Reporter Iran-fuelled hit squads on the streets of the UK have been linked to at least 15 threats to kill or kidnap detected by authorities. They are all part of a campaign of intimidation aimed at those who speak out against the hardline regime. The MI5 has accused Tehran of more than a dozen assassination and kidnap plots in Britain against dissidents and media organisations in the past two years. Officials have previously warned that the threat against Iranian critics living in the UK has ramped up drastically after the horror October 7 attacks. And given the hostile situation in the Middle East, Iran could ramp up its secret terror activities in the UK, Europe and the US, experts fear. In 2022, Major Gen Hossein Salami, the Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC warned: "You've tried us before. Watch out because we're coming for you." Last year, Iranian TV journalist Pouria Zeraati was The suspects were believed to be proxy agents hired by Tehran. Mr Zeraati works for He said a man approached him and asked for £3 before another man appeared and stabbed him in the leg. The two fled in a car being driven by a third man, leaving Mr Zeraati bleeding in the street. Investigators believed the three culprits were able to flee the country on a flight from Mr Zeraati, whose organisation has been a vocal critic of Iran, said the attack was a "warning shot" from Tehran. He called on the UK government to declare the IRGC a terrorist group to stop it from spreading its doctrine. He said: "It will also send a clear message to the regime in Iran that enough is enough. "The whole of Western civilisation is in danger because of the threat the IRGC poses." A report by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) found almost half of journalists who covered Iran from the UK reported being physically or verbally harassed in the past five years. Individuals have been sent death threats by text and voice notes, with one message noting that the 'water underneath Westminster Bridge was very deep'. One said they were constantly worried about Iran targeting their children, saying: 'I wake up in the middle of the night. I check my son to see if he's there. I won't let him play in the garden on his own. I have to be there. I'm on alert constantly.' Another reporter told the RSF she had a package, which was designed to look like it contained anthrax, hand-delivered to her apartment block. While female TV journalist was approached on a London bus by a man who told her: 'We will kill you. You are a very bad person.' All of them are understood to have voiced their dissent against Tehran. The IRGC is the principal supporter of Amid Current sanctions on Kasra Aarabi, Director of IRGC Research at United Against Nuclear Iran, said: 'The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is the most antisemitic armed Islamist extremist organisation in the world. 'The government needs to proscribe the IRGC as a matter of urgency. 'The failure to proscribe the IRGC is putting British lives at risk, not least those from the British-Jewish community and British-Iranian diaspora —the two primary targets of IRGC terrorism in the UK.'
Newsweek
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon Lead MAGA Resistance to Iran War
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. As President Donald Trump is caught in a tug-of-war over the U.S. potentially wading into the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon have taken center stage as the face of MAGA's resistance to U.S. involvement in the conflict. Carlson on Monday continued his tirade against some foreign policy hawks in President Donald Trump's orbit, accusing them of pushing for the United States to get involved in Israel's military campaign against Iran. Bannon, meanwhile, said "we have to stop" the U.S. from playing any role in the conflict. Newsweek reached out to Fox News for comment via email on Monday. The Context Carlson and Bannon have long advocated against U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts, particularly in the Middle East. Their views have put them at odds with people like Fox News hosts Sean Hannity and Mark Levin, who took a victory lap after Israel launched a number of strikes against Iran last week, igniting the most serious escalation to date in their long-running conflict. Both countries have lobbed missiles at one another since Israel first attacked Iran early Friday, local time, with Iran bearing the brunt of the cost in the days since. Israeli airstrikes have decapitated Iran's military and intelligence leadership and targeted critical nuclear sites and scientists, killing more than 224 people since Friday. Israeli officials have said that 24 people in Israel have been killed and at least 500 were injured as a result of Iran's retaliatory strikes. Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson appear on Bannon's "War Room" podcast. Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson appear on Bannon's "War Room" podcast. War Room What To Know Both Carlson and Bannon have warned against the U.S. getting involved in the Iran conflict, with Bannon saying last week that Israel wants the U.S. to "go on offense" against Tehran and Carlson calling Levin and Hannity "warmongers." Carlson doubled down on Monday, telling Bannon: "The point is, if you think that saying, 'Hey, let's focus on my country, where I was born, where my family's been for hundreds of years, that was the promise of the last election, please do it,' if you think that's hate, you know, you've really lost perspective, I guess, is what I would say." The former Fox News host went on to point out a number of domestic policy issues in the U.S. that he would prefer the Trump administration focus on, including immigration and the fentanyl crisis. "It's like, all of that is now ignored because a leader of a country who does not have majority support in that country ... wants a course of action that includes the United States and I just disagree," Carlson said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Anyway, I think it's going to happen. Who cares what I think." "You think we're going to join in the offensive combat [operation]?" Bannon asked. "Yes, I do," Carlson said. "I do." "Well, we have to—we can't—we have to stop that," Bannon said. Monday's interview comes as Trump is in Canada for the Group of Seven summit. While there, he sidestepped a question from a reporter who asked what it would take for the U.S. to get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict. "I don't want to talk about that," Trump said while standing next to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. His comments came one day after he told ABC News that "it's possible" the U.S. could get involved: "We're not involved in it. It's possible we could get involved. But we are not, at this moment, involved." Carlson, meanwhile, went after Levin directly on Monday, saying that when "Mark Levin gets on TV, it's like listening to your ex-wife scream about alimony payments. It's like, not appealing. So they wouldn't put him on TV. And then Sean [Hannity] pushed and they gave him some kind of weekend show that nobody watched." Hannity and Levin have become prime targets for Carlson in recent days, particularly after the two men celebrated Israel's strikes last week on Hannity's show. Carlson also excoriated Levin in the days leading up to the strike, after the Mark Levin Show host called Steve Witkoff, Trump's Middle East envoy, a "fifth column isolationist" and mocked Witkoff efforts to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran. Carlson Describes Fox News as 'Propaganda' Network Carlson on Monday accused his former employer, Fox News, of "turning up the propaganda hose" to feed its viewers a particular narrative. "What they're doing is what they always do, which is just turning up the propaganda hose to full blast and just trying to, you know, knock elderly Fox viewers off their feet and make them submit to where you want them to," the former prime-time Fox host told Bannon. Monday's interview came after both men drew a clear line in the sand over the U.S. getting pulled into Israel's war with Iran. "If you're going to go alone, you can take care of your deal or not. You don't need us. Decide to go alone. Decide to reject it—'No, we don't need you. We're going to go it alone,'" Bannon said on his podcast last week, referring to Israel. "And their go it alone lasts about six hours. Not only do they want defense, they want us to go on offense." "If you're going to do it, do it. Go for it," he repeated. "You make your own decision. You decided: 'We got to do it. We've got to do it now. [Iran's] got 15 nuclear weapons.' Then go for it." "But then why do we have to come and air defense?" Bannon added. "And please don't use, 'Oh, because we have things in Tel Aviv.' Then get them the hell out of Tel Aviv. And if you're an American citizen over there, give them a shot. Get out or stick. If you stick, that's fine. This is how we get sucked in." Carlson also railed against suggestions that the U.S. step into the conflict, writing on X, formerly Twitter, last week: "The real divide isn't between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers." He added: "Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who's calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran." Bannon referenced Carlson's social media post while arguing against U.S. involvement in the Iran conflict, saying on his podcast last week: "Tucker Carlson's got a tweet up. I will not repeat the names on this show at this time. I have not verified that." On Monday, Carlson told Bannon he believes the Iran-Israel conflict will turn into a "full-scale war" that will draw in many other countries, adding that it's "too easy" for the U.S. to get pulled in. "We have too many assets in that region, we're too dependent on the energy from that region ... there are so many things that could go wrong," he said.
International Business Times
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- International Business Times
FACT CHECK: Did Donald Trump Post on Truth Social That Elon Musk 'Totally' Did a Nazi Salute?
There have been several claims floating on social media amid the escalating feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump. On Friday, a claim surfaced online alleging that President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the tech mogul and ex-White House adviser "totally" did a Nazi salute. The claim went viral in no time. However, the claim is not true and just like many of the rumors have been circulating online, confusing users. Musk and Trump have been engaged in an online feud over the past few days which intensified on Thursday, with both going out of control. Since then several claims have surfaced and much like the others are false. The Weird Claim The claim first appeared on Thursday. According to the claim, Trump posted on social media that Musk "totally" did a Nazi salute. The alleged post read, "That totally was a Nazi salute that Elon did by the way. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it." The message shown in the image referred to an incident during Trump's second Inauguration Day in January, when Musk raised his arm in a way that many felt resembled the stiff-armed salute linked to Nazism. Musk later accused the "legacy media" of wrongly portraying his gesture. The image was shared on multiple social media platforms, including a June 6, 2025 post on X from the @TylerDurden account. The fake post was uploaded without any accompanying caption or explanation. Several social media users have since been trying to verify the authenticity of the post. However, the claim is completely false, with the intention of either cracking a joke or spreading misinformation amid the ongoing feud. No Authenticity of Image An extensive review of Donald Trump's Truth Social account also showed no evidence of a post matching the claim between May 31 and June 6, 2025. Also, a Google search using the "site:" operator to look for the term "Nazi" within returned no results, suggesting that no such post had been recently indexed by Google. Trump's Truth, a site that keeps a record of Trump's posts on Truth Social, also showed no entries containing the phrase "Nazi salute." The claim, thus, is completely false.
