Retaliation concerns, disappearance of informants plague Biden probe

National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG.

Hunter Biden case takes stark twist with allegation of retaliation against IRS whistleblower –Lawyers for whistleblower disclose to lawmakers sudden move, raise concerns of obstruction of congressional probe | 15 May 2023 | The Justice Department removed an IRS whistleblower and his entire team from the criminal investigation of Hunter Biden’s taxes in what his lawyers described to Congress on Monday as an act of retaliation and possible obstruction of congressional inquiries, according to correspondence to lawmakers obtained by Just the News. The IRS whistleblower, whose name has not been released, is a decorated supervisory criminal investigative agent who led the team probing the presidential [sic] son’s tax affairs. He received whistleblower protection a few weeks ago from Congress and the Justice Department inspector general to disclose evidence he says shows there was political interference in the Hunter Biden probe. “Today the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Supervisory Special Agent we represent was informed that he and his entire investigative team are being removed from the ongoing and sensitive investigation of the high-profile, controversial subject about which our client sought to make whistleblower disclosures to Congress,” the whistleblower’s lawyers, Mark Lytle and Tristan Leavitt, wrote in a letter to multiple House and Senate committees. “He was informed the change was at the request of the Department of Justice.

“DOJ ‘turning a blind eye’ as Biden corruption informant reportedly goes missing, says GOP rep –Rep. Burchett called for House Republicans to use the power of the purse to withhold funding from the FBI | 15 May 2023 | Republicans’ search for a key Biden corruption informant continues as Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., revealed over the weekend that a key source in the effort to dig deeper into the alleged Biden family bribery scheme is nowhere to be found. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., confirmed GOP officials still could not “track down” the key witness as of Monday morning, telling FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo that the federal agencies such as the FBI and DOJ have “turned a blind eye” to both the missing informant and the Biden family’s alleged corruption. “The telling thing about this is that our Federal Bureau of Investigation and our Justice Department have basically just turned a blind eye to all of this and now it’s come down to the point where speaker McCarthy has to have a one-on-one meeting with Director Wray over the way that they’ve handled this and bungled this thing from the start,” the Oversight Committee member and Foreign Affairs Committee member said on Mornings With Maria…”Nine of the 10 people that we’ve identified that have very good knowledge with respect to the Bidens, they’re one of three things, Maria. They’re either currently in court, they’re currently in jail, or they’re currently missing,” Comer said.

Durham Report: FBI Should Never Have Begun ‘Russia Collusion’ Investigation | 15 May 2023 | The long-awaited report by Special Counsel John Durham tasked to look into the FBI’s investigation of the Trump campaign for Russian collusion was released Monday, concluding that the FBI should have never launched an investigation into the Trump campaign. Durham’s 300-page report found a d-mning conclusion: “Based on the review of Crossfire Hurricane and related intelligence activities, we conclude that the Department and the FBI failed to uphold their important mission of strict fidelity to the law in connection with certain events and activities described in this report. Our investigation also revealed that senior FBI personnel displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically affiliated persons and entities,” Durham’s report said, in apparent reference to the Hillary Clinton campaign-funded Fusion GPS [fake dossier] alleging collusion that the FBI relied on to investigate Trump.

John Durham releases final report, concludes FBI had no verified intel when it opened probe on Trump | 15 May 2023 | Special Counsel John Durham released a d-mning final report Monday after more than three years investigating the Russia collusion probe, declaring the FBI had no verified intelligence or evidence when it opened the Crossfire Hurricane probe of President Donald Trump’s campaign in the summer of 2016. The prosecutor, however, recommended no new criminal charges. “Neither U.S. law enforcement nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation,” Durham wrote in a 300-plus page report sent to Congress and others and obtained by Just the News. DOJ was slated to make the report public later Monday. The prosecutor faulted the department and the FBI for failing to follow their own standards and allowing a probe to persist, including the surveillance of an American citizen, without basis under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The U.S. Virgin Islands can’t find Google co-founder Larry Page to serve him a subpoena in a lawsuit over JP Morgan’s links to Jeffrey Epstein | 4 May 2023 | The U.S. Virgin Islands is having trouble finding Google co-founder Larry Page to serve him a subpoena for its lawsuit against JP Morgan, court documents show. The U.S. Virgin Islands government sued JP Morgan Chase in December, accusing the bank of facilitating and concealing Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking enterprise. As part of the lawsuit, the government wants to subpoena Page because it believes the tech executive may have had some connection to the disgraced financier. “Upon information and belief, Larry Page…is a high-net-worth individual who Epstein may have referred or attempted to refer to JPMorgan,” a motion filed on Thursday said.

Radioactive Panic: Russians Missiles Hit Ukrainian Ammunition Depot in Khmelnytsky Causing Massive Explosion – Cache of British Depleted Uranium Tank Shells Destroyed – Gamma Radiation Spikes in the Region’s Atmosphere | 14 May 2023 | The West’s proxy war against Russia in the Ukraine has led to progressively more deadly weapons systems and ammunition to be delivered to Zelensky’s Nazi regime. Possibly, the most controversial of these deliveries are the deadly radioactive shells for Challenger 2 tanks that the British government has given Ukraine. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., commented on Instagram: “In another reckless escalation, Britain has confirmed delivery of depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine. DU munitions should be banned. They partially vaporize on impact, poisoning the environment with uranium dust that causes cancer and horrific birth defects.” On Saturday, during a massive air and missile raid on Ukraine, Russian forces hit a ammunition depot in Khmelnytsky, in the western part of the country, causing gigantic explosions in the site.

Mother and child burned alive in Ukrainian strike on Donetsk – governor –A residential district of the Russian city was targeted with multiple rocket launchers, according to the local authorities | 13 May 2023 | A Ukrainian missile attack on the Russian city of Donetsk has killed a woman and her four-year-old son, Mayor Aleksey Kulemzin said on social media on Saturday. Ukrainian forces shelled the city several times over the course of the day, damaging a total of 18 residential buildings and three civilian infrastructure facilities in Donetsk and the nearby town of Gorlovka, the local authorities said. A Ukrainian projectile struck the house where the woman and her child lived, causing a fire, Kulemzin said. According to Russian media reports, the family home was burnt out completely. Russia’s MK newspaper reported that the two were “burned alive.”

Five Migrants on Terror Watch List Arrested near AZ Border Post-Title 42 | 14 May 2023 | Border Patrol agents in a single border sector arrested five migrants later discovered to be on the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) watch list. The apprehensions occurred on Friday in the Tucson Sector of the United States Border Patrol shortly after the end of Title 42. According to a source within Customs and Border Protection, not authorized to speak to the media, the migrants were referred to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task for further investigation and identity confirmation. The source says the arrests of the foreign nationals who illegally crossed the border and attempted to avoid detection and apprehension occurred in separate incidents throughout the day and evening on Friday.

Border agents arrest Afghan national on FBI terror watchlist amid migrant influx – CBP sources | 14 May 2023 | Border Patrol agents arrested an Afghan national on the FBI’s terror watchlist after he crossed into the U.S. illegally Wednesday in California, multiple sources at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) told Fox News. The Afghan national crossed the border with a group of migrants near Otay Mesa, California, the sources said. Border Patrol agents took the migrants to a processing station, where a fingerprint scan determined the Afghan was a match on the Terrorist Screening Database. The FBI was then notified, confirmed the results, and began an investigation. The arrested subject crossed the border a day prior to the end of Title 42 — a COVID-19 emergency policy that allowed border agents to turn away migrants. Thousands of migrants have flooded to the border since the policy expired.

Migrants to be housed in 6 more NYC school gyms – outraged parents say plan is ‘just insane’ | 15 May 2023 | At least six more Big Apple schools are set to start temporarily housing migrants in their gyms, prompting commotion on Monday among parents frantic over safety and potential learning disruptions. “To bus people to our school and expect the community to absorb them is just insane,” fumed Virginia Vu, a PTA member and parent at Brooklyn’s MS 577 in Williamsburg — adding some parents have already threatened to at least temporarily pull their kids out of the sixth-through-eighth grade school… MS 577 shares a gym with PS 17 — one of five Brooklyn elementary schools to soon have asylum-seekers living out of their gymnasiums, too, as New York City struggles to cope with the surging migrant crisis, sources told The Post. The other targeted elementary schools are PS 18 and PS 132, both in Williamsburg, PS 172 in Sunset Park and PS 189 near Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. PS 17, 18, 132 and 172 all house kindergarten through fifth-grade, while PS 189 goes from kindergarten through eighth grade. PS 17 and MS 577 were preparing to host busloads of migrants — potentially single male adults — starting as early as Tuesday, parents said.

Homeless vets are being booted from New York hotels to make room for migrants – advocates | 12 May 2023 | Nearly two dozen struggling homeless veterans have been booted from upstate hotels to make room for migrants, says a nonprofit group that works with the vets. The ex-military — including a 24-year-old man in desperate need of help after serving in Afghanistan — were told by the hotels at the beginning of the week that their temporary housing was getting pulled out from under them at the establishments and that they’d have to move on to another spot, according to the group and a sickened local pol. “Our veterans have been placed in another hotel due to what’s going on with the immigrants,” said Sharon Toney-Finch, the CEO of the Yerik Israel Toney Foundation. Toney-Finch, a disabled military veteran, said 15 of the veterans got the heave-ho from the Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh about 60 miles north of New York City in Orange County — a new epicenter of Big Apple’s migrant crisis since Mayor Eric Adams began bussing Gotham’s overflow there against local officials’ wishes.

Hotel set to take NYC migrants abruptly cancels 30 rooms soon-to-be newlyweds booked for their guests –The Crossroads is one of several hotels believed to have booted nearly two dozen homeless veterans in favor of incoming migrants | 14 May 2023 | A Florida couple has had their wedding upended after an Orange County hotel — set to take in migrants from New York City — abruptly canceled the rooms she booked for her guests, she told The Post. Deanna Mifsud, 35, and Gary Moretti, 37, are both originally from New York, and plan to marry June 24 at Lippincott Manor in upstate Walkill, with 160 guests from throughout the country expected to attend, she said. For the big day, the couple’s guests had a total of 30 rooms booked at The Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh, about 20 minutes from their venue. The newlyweds, along with 10 bridesmaids, five groomsmen and guests from [across the U.S.] had all planned to stay at the hotel, and the couple had paid for transportation to and from the party. 

Invasion Begins: Video Purportedly Shows Illegal Aliens Opening DHS Packets With Smartphones, Some Court Dates Not Until 2035 | 12 May 2023 | Title 42, the Trump-era pandemic public health restrictions that became a key tool in turning back illegal aliens at the border, has officially come to an end. And with that end, officials have warned they expect up to 13,000 migrants to attempt to enter the country each day henceforth. If that number holds, you may see close to five million illegal aliens overrunning the border in the next year. Video and images emerging from the border so far are disturbing. Independent journalist Tayler Hansen released a clip on social media purportedly showing some illegal immigrants opening up packets from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which include government-issued smartphones and directives to appear at a court date set many years in the future.

Bill Gates’s Lab-Grown ‘Meat’ 25 Times Worse for Climate Than Beef, Study Finds | 10 May 2023 | The lab-grown “synthetic meat” being pushed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is far worse for the environment than beef, a new study has found. Bill Gates and his allies in the World Economic Forum (WEF) have been heavily pushing for the public to switch to lab-grown meat by arguing it helps fight “climate change.” In a 2021 interview with MIT Technology Review, Gates argued that “all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef” in an effort to meet the green agenda goals of the WEF. However, the new study suggests that lab-grown meat’s “green” credentials are not what people have been led to believe. Researchers have revealed that lab-grown or “cultured” meat, produced by cultivating animal cells, is up to 25 times worse for the climate than real beef.

Dominion Voting Systems pressed on role in Tucker Carlson firing | 14 May 2023 | Texas Governor Greg Abbott called on Dominion Voting [sic] Systems to explain its alleged role in Fox News’ dismissal of Tucker Carlson, in a tweet on Saturday. The former TV host accused the network several days ago of firing him as part of its settlement with the voting machine manufacturer. Carlson and three other Fox hosts were named in a writ charging the network with broadcasting false claims that the voting technology was instrumental in the 2020 US presidential election being stolen from Donald Trump. “If Dominion wants to do business with Texas in the future, they should first answer questions about what role, if any, they played in silencing a prominent conservative journalist,” Abbott tweeted, citing recent reports alleging “Dominion Voting Systems demanded that Tucker Carlson be fired as part of a litigation settlement” with Fox News.

Trump Vows to Release All JFK Assassination Files If Reelected | 15 May 2023 | Former President Donald Trump vowed this week to release all files related to the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy, coming after his nephew alleged that U.S. intelligence officials may have been involved in his 1963 death. “I released a lot, as you know. And I will release everything else,” Trump told The Messenger on Monday, referring to the Kennedy records. When Trump was in office, he released some documents but did not release all of the records. At the time, his administration said that it could not release all of the records because “certain information should continue to be redacted because of identifiable national security, law enforcement, and foreign affairs concerns.”

Florida Gov. DeSantis Announces He Is Permanently Banning Covid Mandates, Banning Gain-Of-Function Research | 14 May 2023 | Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he is permanently banning Covid mandates in schools and businesses in the State of Florida. These new measures aim to protect Florida residents from the authoritarian rules and regulations that were imposed nationwide during the pandemic. One of the key bills focuses on preserving individual freedom and solidifies the safeguards that were implemented in the Sunshine State over the past two years. Notably, the legislation permanently prohibits vaccine mandates, ensuring that residents have the autonomy to make their own healthcare decisions. DeSantis noted that Florida schools will not be allowed to mandate Covid shots, nor can the workplace require vaccine passports.

Gov. DeSantis signs law to defund, eliminate universities’ DEI programs | 15 May 2023 | Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed into law a bill that outlaws spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public colleges and universities, saying at a news conference the “whole experiment of DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida.” The sweeping legislation, HB 999/SB 266, states public institutions “may not expend any state or federal funds to promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities that…advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.” It’s one of three bills the governor signed Monday as part of an overall education reform package.

Three men hospitalized after being slashed at Queens subway station| 14 May 2023 | Three men were slashed at a subway station in Corona, Queens, early Sunday morning by a man who quickly fled the scene. Officers rushed to the 7 train station on Junction Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue at about 5:30 a.m. Sunday after receiving reports of a stabbing on the northbound platform. Three men were slashed during the dispute, police told The Post. Two of the three victims were taken to Elmhurst Hospital Center, one with a laceration to the head and the other with a laceration to the neck. The third victim was taken to New York Presbyterian Hospital with a cut on his arm, officials said.

Legal fund for accused NYC subway choker Daniel Penny tops $2M – with Kid Rock chipping in | 15 May 2023 | The defense fund for accused Manhattan subway choker Daniel Penny surpassed [2.3 million] on Monday — including a 5,000 contribution from controversial rocker Kid Rock. The campaign on GiveSendGo stood at more than [2.3 million] on Monday evening, with other generous donations coming from political commentator Tim Pool, who chipped in 20,000, and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who donated 10,000, according to the site. “Mr. Penny is a hero,” Kid Rock, whose real name is Robert James Ritchie, wrote on the site. “[Manhattan District Attorney] Alvin Bragg is a POS — Kid Rock.” His rep confirmed the donation to Fox News.

NYC Marine veteran charged in death of man ‘making threats and scaring passengers’ – prosecutors –Jordan Neely had history of violent attacks on subway riders, including breaking a 67-year-old woman’s nose in 2021 | 12 May 2023 | NYC Marine veteran Daniel Penny was arraigned Friday in Manhattan Criminal Court for the death of Jordan Neely, who prosecutors say was “making threats and scaring people” on the subway. “Several witnesses observed Mr. Neely making threats and scaring passengers,” said Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass, as Penny, 24, stood silently, wearing a suit with his wrists cuffed behind his back… The Marine veteran was cooperative with police and the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from the outset, the prosecutor said. Penny’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, argued that the young man acted to protect himself and other passengers who were being threatened.