News From Around the Web
#1 Trump Fires Pam Bondi as Attorney General - NBC News, Eric Metaxas/Andrew Kolvet, #TuckFrump, Tom Williams, Danks, Roger Parloff, Valerie Logan, and Mark Morvan on X
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Pam Bondi is leaving her position, President Donald Trump announced Thursday, amid reports that he was frustrated with her handling of some of his key priorities. "We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much-needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future," he said in a Truth Social post, adding that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche would take over as the acting attorney general. A senior administration official and a source familiar with the matter told NBC News that Bondi was fired. Trump had grown “more and more frustrated” with Bondi in recent days, a person familiar with White House deliberations said, adding that while he likes her as a person, he doesn’t think she has “executed on his vision” in the way that he wants. Trump and Bondi spoke Wednesday, and he informed her that her time as attorney general was coming to an end, according to an administration official...
#2 The Tax Escape Map: Billionaires Are Bolting for Florida From the West Coast and Taking Billions in Tax Revenue With Them - Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez for Fortune/MSN, Mike, Celso Garcia, Atlanta/Miami, David Burks, and Based Jessica on X
The billionaire exodus from the West Coast to Florida is underway as the ultrawealthy seek refuge from wealth taxes in states like California and Washington. Google cofounders Larry Page (net worth $244 billion) and Sergey Brin (net worth $226 billion) rushed to leave California last year before the Jan. 1 deadline for the California billionaire tax. Both have purchased property in Florida. Meanwhile, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, whose net worth is $3.4 billion, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth is $198 billion, also both bought property in the Sunshine State last month...
#3 ‘List of Jews’ Demand Ignites Uproar at University of Pennsylvania - Dan Levin for Straight Arrow News, Ynet Global, CNN Breaking News, Good Morning America, 360withme, and James F. Love IV on X
A request for a ‘list of Jews’ continues to face pushback within the Jewish community at the University of Pennsylvania. It all started with a request from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC. A subpoena from the EEOC sought a list of members from Penn’s Jewish community. The commission called it a necessary step to fight antisemitism on campus. It began after protests on campus over Israel’s response in Gaza following the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The original subpoena asked for a “list of all clubs, groups, organizations and recreation groups…related to the Jewish religion, faith, ancestry/National Origin” as well as employees in the Jewish studies program. Following pushback from the university, a judge ruled Penn must comply with that subpoena. Even in his ruling, the judge acknowledged that the language used didn’t sound great...
#4 8 People, Including Nurses, Took Over $50M in False Claims, Prosecutors Say - Thao Nguyen for USA TODAY, Common Sense with Chad Law, PolicePulseX,
LiberacratTM, The John Kobylt Show, and Lapson Luu on X
Authorities arrested eight people accused of conducting a series of health care fraud schemes that bilked tens of millions of dollars from Medicare and other insurance companies across Southern California, prosecutors announced April 2. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the eight defendants, including three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist, were charged in separate cases with defrauding the health care system out of more than $50 million. The arrests were carried out in coordination with a federal task force that was established as part of President Donald Trump's "war on fraud," according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office...
#5 Justice Department Employee Who Was Prosecuted Over Jan. 6 Capitol Attack Says He Resigned - Sarah N. Lynch for CBS News, Ed Krassenstein, Chay Bowes, General Quacker | الجنرال كواكر, Mario Nawfal, and Jared Wise/VerbaXiX on X
A former FBI agent who was prosecuted for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and later hired by the Trump-era Justice Department has left his government post, he announced Thursday. In a post on X, Jared Wise said he came to the Justice Department hoping to expose alleged abuses by prosecutors and agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, but he now believes it's not possible to complete that mission from his role at the department. "I returned to Washington to fully expose the abuses by the FBI and DOJ against J6 defendants, but it became clear that this will only happen from outside of government. So I left and will do so," Wise wrote in his social media post...
#6 Hegseth Fires Army Chief Amid Battle With Its Leaders - The New York Times, Eric Daugherty, Conflict Lens, Insightful Geopolitics, Jebus Neu geladen (Reloaded), and Everardo Morin/Catherine Herridge on X
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired Gen. Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff, on Thursday, a move that reflects growing hostility between Mr. Hegseth and the Army’s leadership, military officials said. General George, who was appointed to his position in 2023, led the Army out of one of its worst recruiting crises in history in 2024 and more recently has pushed the service to accelerate its acquisition of cheap drones and other kinds of weapons that have come to dominate the war in Ukraine. The tension with Mr. Hegseth was not rooted in substantive differences over the direction of the Army, military officials said. Rather, it is the product of Mr. Hegseth’s long-running grievances with the Army, battles over personnel, and his troubled relationship with Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the officials said...
#7 Colorado Appeals Court Overturns Tina Peters’ Sentence in Election Security Breach - Olivia Prentzel for The Colorado Sun, Nick Sortor, Jeff Hunt (community note), Master Lee/Kafir, MAGAMicki, and DC_Draino/Mike Davis on X
The Colorado Court of Appeals overturned Tina Peters’ prison sentence Thursday morning and ordered a lower court to re-evaluate her punishment. The ruling by a three-judge panel upheld her conviction. Peters, 70, was found guilty in 2024 of orchestrating a security breach of her county’s election system in 2021 in a failed attempt to find evidence of electronic vote manipulation. Her actions were rooted in conspiracies about the 2020 election. Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison. In a 77-page opinion, the appeals court panel said it reversed her sentence “because it was based in part on improper consideration of her exercise of her right to free speech.” The judges wrote that the lower court imposed Peters’ sentence in part because Peters continued to spread her beliefs about election fraud, which the sentencing judge, 21st Judicial District Judge Matthew Barrett, noted were particularly harmful because of the position she held...
#8 Mercedes Dropped $4 Billion in Alabama to Ease Tariff Costs. It’s One of the First Signs Trump’s ‘Made in America’ Is Working - Eric Esposito for Moneywise, Thomas Huffman, Stephen Gardner, Stan Kolbe, and Senator Katie Boyd Britt/Rapid Response 47 on X
Trump’s auto tariffs appear to be turning into treasure for Alabama’s Tuscaloosa County. At a recent event at the county’s Mercedes-Benz plant, company executives promised a $4 billion investment plan by 2030, Made In Alabama reports. The luxury car manufacturer also showed off the new GLE and GLS SUV models that this money will help produce. At the center of Mercedes’ decision is a simple calculation: building cars closer to its customers will help dodge the rising costs of importing them with the current auto tariffs in place...
#9 Millions of Student-Loan Accounts Are Being Transferred to the Treasury. There’s a New Push to Slam the Brakes - Ayelet Sheffey for Business Insider, The College Investor, Kathie Obradovich, Mirror Indy, and Robert Farrington on X
On April 1, a group of five Democratic senators, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, asked the Treasury and Education Departments for more information on the planned transfer of student-loan borrowers' accounts. It comes on the heels of a March 19 announcement that the Department of Education would begin moving the $1.7 trillion federal student-loan portfolio to the Treasury Department. The transition is set to occur in phases, beginning with the transfer of 9 million defaulted student-loan borrowers' accounts — nearly a quarter of the 40 million Americans with student debt...
#10 House Waits on Holding Vote to Fund DHS - Kate Santaliz for Axios, Georgia Lions, NOfPlus, CBSColorado, AL NAZARIO, The Post Millennial, Punchbowl News, and Watching Trending on X
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told Republicans on a call Thursday he won't hold a vote on a DHS funding bill until the Senate makes significant progress on funding for ICE and CBP, sources told Axios. Johnson's members are deeply frustrated with leadership's plan to fund the agency, and he doesn't have the support to pass a DHS funding bill without ICE and CBP right now. But any delay will prolong what's already been a record-long shutdown at the agency. Johnson told his conference he thinks the Senate could pass a narrow reconciliation package funding ICE and CBP within two weeks, one source on the call said. Progress, or near-completion of the reconciliation funding for immigration enforcement in the Senate, would unlock needed GOP support in the House. President Trump also further eased urgency Thursday when he announced he'll pay DHS workers via executive action...
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