News From Around the Web
#1 Trump Admin Says It’s Withholding Social Safety Net Money From 5 States Over Fraud Concerns - Associated Press/NBC, 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑜𝑖𝑠, New York Post, RiftTV, xsf18cdf, and Elena on X
President Donald Trump's administration said Tuesday that it is withholding funding for programs that support needy families with children in five Democratic-led states over concerns about fraud. The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the program, will require the states to provide extra documentation to access the funds. "Families who rely on child care and family assistance programs deserve confidence that these resources are used lawfully and for their intended purpose," HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill said in a statement. The administration has not laid out details about the fraud allegations...
#2 DHS Deploys 2,000 Agents in Minnesota for Major Welfare Fraud Crackdown - KTVZ 21/CNN, KGET 17 News, KARE 11, Bella, We R Generation X, and I Meme Therefore I Am/jeremy phillips on X
Around 2,000 federal agents are being deployed to Minneapolis as part of the Trump administration’s latest effort to crack down on immigration, two law enforcement officials told CNN, while the city and its officials are reeling from a welfare fraud scandal that’s reaching a fever pitch this week. In the days since a conservative content creator raised allegations of fraud in a YouTube video – with little evidence – about Somali-run day care centers in Minneapolis, the Trump administration has frozen federal child care funds and unleashed more biting rhetoric against the Somali community, whom President Donald Trump has previously called “garbage.”
#3 Hilton Cuts Ties With Minnesota Hampton Inn Over Ice Agent Refusal - Michael Dorgan for FOXBusiness, Nick Sortor, Hilton Newsroom, Carole, Meme, and Raymond Gatter on X
Hilton Hotels announced on Tuesday that it was ending its relationship with an independently owned Minneapolis-area hotel after a newly released video appeared to confirm that the property was still refusing to accommodate Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The decision came shortly after a video released Tuesday morning by independent journalist Nick Sorter showed him attempting to book a block of rooms at the Hampton Inn by Hilton in Lakeville, Minn., where a front desk staff member confirmed the hotel was still barring DHS and ICE agents...#4 Walz Refuses to Quit After Dropping Re-Election Bid Amid Minnesota Fraud Firestorm: ‘Over My Dead Body' - Paul Steinhauser and Andrew Mark Miller for Fox News, Eric Daugherty, Ken Martin/Tator, Wake Up America, KC O’Dea Program, and Libs of TikTok/Dustin Grage/Ed Payne on X
One day after announcing he was scrapping his re-election bid, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota vocally pushed back against calls by Republican state lawmakers to resign amid the state's sweeping fraud scandal. "I'm not going anywhere. And you can make all your requests for me to resign. Over my dead body will that happen," Walz told reporters as he answered questions for the first time since his stunning re-election announcement. The embattled governor ended his bid for an unprecedented third term amid stinging criticism from Republicans and some Democrats over his handling of his state's massive welfare assistance fraud scandal...
#5 CA Voter ID Initiative Surpasses 1 Million Signatures - Headed for November 2026 Ballot - Reform California, Elon Musk/Eric Daugherty, Gavin Newsom, Governor Newsom Press Office/Katie Miller (community note), Laura Ingraham (community note), and Carl DeMaio on X
In a record-breaking haul, the backers of the CA Voter ID Initiative have collected more than 1 million signatures after just 90 days - but they intend to continue to collect signatures until they reach a comfortable 1.2 million haul. 874,641 valid signatures are needed to force the issue on the 2026 statewide ballot - and extra signatures are needed to fully ensure the measure has more than enough valid signatures to qualify. “We are absolutely thrilled with the overwhelming and broad-based support for the CA Voter ID initiative - and by submitting 1.2 million signatures, we are confident this initiative will qualify for the November 2026 midterm ballot,” said CA State Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, one of the initiative’s proponents...
#6 Sen. Mark Kelly Fires Back After Hegseth Threatens His Rank and Retirement Pay - Quil Lawrence for npr, Kyle Becker, Tony Seruga, Ruby Andrews, Valentin Sanders, and Chuck Schumer/Secretary of War Pete Hegseth/Emerald on X
Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is pledging to fight back after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced he's taking administrative action against Kelly. Hegseth claims that Kelly's public statements, including a video message telling troops not to follow illegal orders, amount to sedition. In a statement on social media, the defense secretary said that he has initiated a formal 45-day process to reduce Kelly's rank and retirement pay. "In response to Senator Mark Kelly's seditious statements — and his pattern of reckless misconduct — the Department of War is taking administrative action against Captain Mark E. Kelly, USN (Ret)," Hegseth's statement reads...
#7 Trump Weighs Using U.S. Military to Acquire Greenland: White House - Kevin Breuninger for CNBC, NoJusticeAI, Stock Market Zaps, stuffthatworks, redeerF, and REST Media on X
President Donald Trump and his team are considering “a range of options” in order to acquire Greenland — including “utilizing the U.S. Military,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNBC on Tuesday. The statement further escalates the Trump administration’s already aggressive rhetoric about Greenland, which the president has long sought to make a part of the United States. Trump said Sunday that the U.S. needs the Arctic island for national security purposes, pointing to Russian and Chinese activities in the region...
#8 The House GOP Confronts a Shocking Loss and a Difficult Road Ahead - Meredith Lee Hill for Politico, Stephen pals, Fox News Politics, Srđan Kisić, covid is oncogenic, and KTVU on X
Tuesday was supposed to be a rah-rah day for House Republicans — a chance to strategize with President Donald Trump about their agenda for the tough election year ahead. Instead, 2026 got off to an unexpectedly somber start as they confronted the sudden death of a well-liked colleague and pondered the dire political and policy straits their dwindling majority has to navigate. Most members learned about California Rep. Doug LaMalfa’s overnight passing as they boarded buses outside the Capitol to head to the Kennedy Center for their annual policy meeting. That news — as well as word that another Republican, Rep. Jim Baird of Indiana, had been badly hurt in a car crash — cast an immediate pall...
#9 Brian Cole Jr. Has Been Federally Indicted - WUSA9, Thomas Massie, MJ Muehl, Ashley Brasfield, sam laffey, Steve Friend, and Kyle Seraphin on X
DC pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. was hit with a federal indictment on Tuesday — roughly five years after he allegedly planted explosives on the eve of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The federal indictment charged Cole with interstate transportation of explosives and malicious attempt to use explosives, for allegedly placing two pipe bombs by the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, the US Department of Justice announced...
#10 Rand Paul: Biden FBI Tracked Catholic Teacher With No Jan 6 Ties in ‘Weaponized’ Probe - Leo Briceno for Fox News, Rep. Keith Self, Breanna Morello, Rand Paul, and Dana Loesch on X
The FBI under the Biden administration spent two years investigating a Catholic school teacher — and even put her on a terror watchlist — based on an unverified tip that connected her to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, according to a new congressional report. Christine Crowder wasn't at the U.S. Capitol when a mob overran the building to prevent the certification of the 2020 election, according to findings released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. She was, however, in D.C. for a rally for President Donald Trump earlier that day, and the FBI spent 23 months tracking her for it, the report said. The committee’s chairman, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called the move an overreach of federal power based on insufficient evidence...
