National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG

Trump announces Dan Bongino will be deputy director of the FBI –Bongino is a former Secret Service agent | 23 Feb 2025 | President Donald Trump announced that Dan Bongino will serve as the next deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). “Great news for Law Enforcement and American Justice,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Sunday night. “Dan Bongino, a man of incredible love and passion for our Country, has just been named the next DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF THE FBI, by the man who will be the best ever Director, Kash Patel.” The president said Bongino has a Master’s Degree in Psychology from the City University of New York and an MBA from Penn State.

Kash Patel Confirmed to Lead FBI | 20 Feb 2025 | Kashyap “Kash” Patel was confirmed to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a 51-49 Senate vote Thursday, despite Democrats’ desperate attempts to block his nomination. Patel, a former federal prosecutor and prior Trump administration intelligence official, won the vote without help from Republican Sens. [deep-state dirt-bags] Susan Collins (ME) and Lisa Murkowski (AK), who joined the Democrats against him. The Senate went 51-47 to advance his nomination earlier Thursday, with Sens. John Boozman (R-AR) and John Fetterman (D-PA) missing the vote. President Donald Trump selected Patel to run the FBI shortly after winning the November election, calling him a “brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.”

Putin-Trump dialogue ‘promising’ – Kremlin | 23 Feb 2025 | Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has described the present dialogue between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, as promising, in an interview published on Sunday. A call between Trump and Putin on Feb 12 was followed by a meeting of Russian and U.S. delegations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week to advance efforts toward resolving the Ukraine conflict. Speaking to Russia 1 TV journalist Pavel Zarubin, Peskov said the exchange between Putin and Trump was a step forward in a dialogue that both sides view as important. “The dialogue is taking place between two truly outstanding presidents. It is promising. It is important that nothing hinders the realization of their political will,” Peskov added.

J.D. Vance warns Zelensky he will regret ‘badmouthing’ Trump and condemns his ‘atrocious’ response to peace talks | 19 Feb 2025 | Vice President J.D. Vance on Wednesday warned the Ukrainian president against attacking President Donald Trump, saying that “badmouthing” him in public would only backfire. Vance spoke to DailyMail dot com hours after Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky accused Trump of living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.” The extraordinary language on both sides comes at a critical time in the war between Ukraine and Russia, as Trump pushes for a speedy resolution. “The idea that Zelensky is going to change the president’s mind by badmouthing him in public media…everyone who knows the president will tell you that is an atrocious way to deal with this administration,” said Vance during an exclusive interview in his West Wing office.

Trump brands Zelensky ‘dictator without elections’ | 19 Feb 2025 | U.S. President Donald Trump has labeled Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky a “dictator without elections,” accusing him of mismanaging the conflict with Russia and misusing American financial aid. Tensions between Washington and Kiev have intensified following U.S.-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia this week. Posting on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Trump criticized Zelensky, stating that the Ukrainian leader had “talked the United States of America into spending 350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won.” He further claimed that Zelensky “refuses to have Elections, is very low in Ukrainian Polls.” “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left,” Trump warned.

Trump savages Zelensky and green lights Europe putting peacekeeping troops in Ukraine | 18 Feb 2025 | President Donald Trump tore into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after U.S. negotiators opened talks with Russia without him that are meant to find a way to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. Trump blamed Zelensky for failing to head off the war inside his country, and the president said he himself was behind a push to require Ukraine to hold new elections before any peace plan can go through. “You have leadership now that’s allowed a war to go on that should have never even happened, even without the United States,” Trump said from his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida Tuesday — even as he said “I like him personally” when speaking about Zelensky. “You should have ended it — three years, you should have never started it,” he said. “Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism.”

Kiev mulling terrorist attacks to disrupt peace talks – Russian intel | 19 Feb 2025 | Ukraine’s leadership could authorize terrorist attacks against Russian diplomatic missions in Europe in a bid to derail any possible peace talks, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Agency (SVR) has warned. Kiev could target embassies in Germany or Hungary and Slovakia as part of its plan, it added, citing its European sources. Ukraine is “extremely reluctant” to reach any agreements with Russia if this requires “excessive concessions” from Kiev, the SVR stated on Wednesday. “One of the options…considered by the Ukrainian regime involves carrying out a series of terrorist attacks against Russian diplomatic missions in European countries,” the statement said.

Anti-immigration AFD in 2nd place in German elections – exit poll | 23 Feb 2025 | The right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AFD) is projected to take second place in the country’s snap elections on Sunday, with 20.5% of the vote, an exit poll published by state broadcaster ARD indicates. The Christian-Democrat CDU/CSU party is predicted to emerge victorious with over 28%, according to the broadcaster’s research. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social-Democratic Party is expected to secure 16.4% — if confirmed, its worst showing since 1949. According to the Financial Times, the party is poised for “its worst defeat since 1887.” Compared to the 2021 general elections, the AFD will apparently be the biggest winner, projected to improve its performance by 9.1%.

JD Vance rips ‘Orwellian’ German prosecutors for ‘criminalizing speech,’ says it will hamper Europe-U.S. relations | 17 Feb 2025 | Vice President JD Vance slammed German prosecutors on Monday for “criminalizing speech” — including the reposting of false information — and warned that the worsening trend will “strain” Europe’s relations with America. Vance, 40, lashed out at prosecutors who took part in a fawning feature by CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on how easily one can commit online hate crimes in Germany — just three days after the vice president scolded European leaders for stifling dissent, religious liberty and free speech in an address at the Munich Security Conference. “Insulting someone is not a crime, and criminalizing speech is going to put real strain on European-U.S. relationships,” Vance posted on X.

Trump administration holding high-level discussions of push for bird flu mRNA vaccine – Dr. Robert Malone | 14 Feb 2025 | Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist and pioneer-turned-critic of mRNA technology, has announced that President Donald Trump’s administration is currently having high-level discussions about rolling out bird flu mRNA “vaccines.” “I was just told by a reliable source that there are serious discussions going on at the top level of the Trump administration about pushing mRNA vaccines for bird flu,” said Malone on X Thursday evening. Malone pointed out that Dr. Gerald Parker, DVM, who was recently appointed the White House Pandemic czar [in an act of insanity], is a “big fan” of Peter Hotez, a radical pro-vaccine scientist who has claimed that anti-vaccine activism is a “major killing force globally.” Moderna has already been awarded hundreds of millions of dollars by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Biden regime to develop mRNA bird flu vaccines, with the last payment of 590 million announced last month.

Florida Voter Fraud Case Could Overturn U.S. House Race —The Ticktin Law Group has identified a systematic breakdown of internal election controls that affected the FL-14 race and other races far beyond. They have found duplicate voters called ‘clones’ in the voter rolls. By Jeff Lukens | 18 Feb 2025 | Last November, Democrat fraudsters bypassed the presidential race and focused instead on the down-ballot races. In Florida, local Democrat candidates received more votes than either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris at the top of the ballot. Something was definitely amiss. For instance, Republican Rocky Rochford was running against incumbent Democrat Kathy Castor for the U.S. House seat in Congressional Race 14 (FL-14). The district straddles Hillsborough and Pinellas counties and includes the cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg. Castor was declared the winner, but Rochford is now contesting the race, claiming voter fraud, primarily by vote-by-mail ballots. There is also deep suspicion that this method of fraud has happened across the country, costing Republicans three U.S. Senate seats, about a dozen House seats, and countless local municipal seats and referendums.

Rep. Crane introduces articles of impeachment against judge who blocked DOGE from accessing Treasury | 21 Feb 2025 | Republican Arizona Rep. Eli Crane on Friday formally introduced articles of impeachment against the federal judge who blocked the Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department information. U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration earlier this month that prevented DOGE from getting full access to the Treasury Department, after 19 Democratic state attorneys general argued DOGE having full access to the department would violate the law. Crane claimed in a statement that the judge overreached with the order and that his actions were a “clear threat to democracy.” “Activist judges cannot stop the President from executing his Article II powers,” Crane said. The articles of impeachment charge Engelmayer with abusing his power in order to “prioritize personal and political affiliations over the duty of impartiality.”

Millions of Americans listed between ages 100 and 159 in Social Security database, Musk says –Musk says one person is in Social Security database with age set between 360 and 369 | 17 Feb 2025 | Elon Musk indicated in a post on X that millions of people listed in a Social Security database are recorded as centenarians “with the death field set to FALSE!” “According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE! Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” Musk posted, adding a couple of rolling on the floor laughing emojis. His post features a chart indicating there are more than 20 million listed with ages 100 and higher, including more than 3.9 million in the 130-139 age range, more than 3.5 million in the 140-149 range and more than 1.3 million in the 150-159 range.

Elon Musk ‘uncovers’ 20M in Social Security database over age 100 – here’s why they’re listed and don’t get benefits | 17 Feb 2025 | Tesla and X CEO-turned-special government employee Elon Musk claimed to have uncovered “the biggest fraud in history” when he stumbled across more than 20 million people listed in the Social Security database as over 100 years old. “According to the Social Security database, these are the numbers of people in each age bucket with the death field set to FALSE!” Musk posted on X late Sunday, showing a chart of ages ranging from zero to 369 years old. “Maybe Twilight is real and there are a lot of vampires collecting Social Security,” he joked, adding, “there are FAR more ‘eligible’ social security [sic] numbers than there are citizens in the USA. This might be the biggest fraud in history.” [As of July 2023], only 86,000 people living in the US at the time were actually centenarians, according to the Census Bureau.

Elon Musk considers ‘DOGE dividend’ that would send $5,000 check to all Americans following massive budget cuts | 18 Feb 2025 | Elon Musk showed interest in an idea that would guarantee a 5,000 payment, or “DOGE Dividend,” to every American to show off the 55 billion in taxpayer funds saved. The Department of Government Efficiency revealed Tuesday that President Donald Trump has saved taxpayers a staggering 55 billion in less than a month. It said the savings were found through a combination of detecting and deleting fraud, canceling contracts and leases, and selling assets. Investment firm CEO James Fishback had an idea for how to make Americans aware of how much of their m-ney was being saved. “President Trump and @ElonMusk should announce a ‘DOGE Dividend’–a tax refund check sent to every taxpayer, funded exclusively with a portion of the total savings delivered by DOGE,” he wrote.

NYC congestion pricing axed as Trump’s DOT pulls approval of hated toll | 19 Feb 2025 | New York City’s spectacularly unpopular congestion pricing scheme is on death row as the Trump administration announced Wednesday it is pulling its approval of the toll — slamming it as “backwards and unfair” — in a major blow to Gov. Kathy Hochul, The Post has learned. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration terminated the approval of the controversial program, according to a letter Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy sent to Hochul on Wednesday afternoon. “New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” said Duffy, noting that commuters entering NYC have already financed the construction and improvement of city roadways through their taxes. “But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more m-ney from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways. It’s backwards and unfair,” he said, blasting the program as harmful to small businesses in the Big Apple that depend on customers from New Jersey and Connecticut.

Ex-NY Gov. Cuomo loses bid to halt ethics probe into his $5M COVID book deal | 18 Feb 2025 | Andrew Cuomo lost his bid to unravel the state’s ethics commission Tuesday — in a huge blow to the former governor [and Grade “A” sociopath] that allows the watchdog to reopen its probe into his 5 million pandemic book deal. New York’s highest court ruled for the state in a split 4-3 decision, finding that the Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government is “not unconstitutional in every conceivable application,” as Cuomo had argued. The three-term Democrat — who is widely believed to be mounting a run for New York City mayor — had been fighting for nearly two years to unravel COELIG, which ordered Cuomo to fork over proceeds of his COVID-era memoir. Two lower courts sided with Cuomo. But the Court of Appeals upheld COELIG — clearing the way for it to resume its investigation into the former governor.

Mayor Adams invokes ‘Mein Kampf,’ takes vicious dig at Dem rival in defiant message refusing to step down | 17 Feb 2025 | Mayor Eric Adams invoked Mein Kampf at a Brooklyn church rally Monday afternoon as he defiantly blasted rivals calling for him to step down — as chaos swirled around the administration. Adams — who delivered the speech to a group of about 50 supporters at the Rehoboth Cathedral on MacDougal Street — also took a vicious dig at public advocate and potential successor Jumaane Williams, who would take over as mayor if the embattled, indicted Adams abdicated his office. “I still don’t know what he does, because it’s hard to really serve the city when you wake up at noon,” Hizzoner said of Williams… During his remarks, Adams also claimed he once heard Martin Luther King, Jr. recite a quote from Hitler’s Nazi manifesto, Mein Kampf, that went something like, “If you tell a lie long enough, loud enough, people will tend to believe it’s true. And that’s what you’re seeing right there, right now: A modern-day Mein Kampf,” Adams told his supporters, appearing to imply he was being persecuted by liars.