14 People Charged in $25 Million COVID Relief, Small Business Loan Fraud Scheme
Fourteen people were arrested on May 28 for allegedly being involved in a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $25 million in COVID-19 relief funds and federally guaranteed small business loans, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The individuals are among the 18 people charged in connection with the case. Four who have not yet been arrested are currently believed to be in Armenia, the DOJ said in a
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Epoch Times
12 minutes ago
- Epoch Times
Sen. Hawley Urges Justice Department to Investigate China-Financed Trucking Company
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is urging the Department of Justice to open a formal investigation into an autonomous trucking company that was funded by money from a prominent Chinese businessman, alleging that it had passed on sensitive information to communist China. Hawley, a member of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees,
New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Miranda Devine: Jill Biden's ‘work husband' Anthony Bernal may have played a key role in covering up Joe's cognitive decline
There are few doubts in the White House about Jill 'Lady Macbeth' Biden's role in covering up her husband's cognitive deficits as she urged him to run for re-election. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made that point crystal clear from the press room podium Thursday, saying the former first lady 'needs to answer' for 'lying to the American people' and 'shielding her husband away from the cameras.' For the normally circumspect Leavitt, it was a damning indictment. 'I think, frankly, the former first lady should certainly speak up about what she saw in regards to her husband and when she saw and what she knew,' she told reporters at a White House briefing. 'Anybody looking again at the videos and photo evidence of Joe Biden with your own eyes and a little bit of common sense can see this was a clear cover-up, and Jill Biden was certainly complicit in that coverup.' Some, like Leo Terrell, a senior counselor in the DOJ's civil rights office, went so far as to say Jill was guilty of 'elder abuse.' Of course, Joe Biden's delusional ambition is most at fault. He knew what he was doing when he ran for president in 2019 but needed teleprompters to recite a basic stump speech he used to know by heart. He knew what he was doing when he decided to run again in 2024, despite his health problems. 'Wizard of Oz-type' What is becoming clear is that the social-climbing former first lady and the aide she calls her 'work husband,' Arizona-born former child actor Anthony Bernal, played a bigger role in this con job than previously has been acknowledged. David Hogg, recently ousted as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, and Deterrian Jones, a former Biden White House staffer, point the finger at Bernal as the chief puppeteer in a new undercover video from Project Veritas released last week. Bernal had 'an enormous amount of power,' said Hogg. Jones described Jill's diminutive gay factotum as 'scary . . . like a Wizard of Oz-type figure. The general public wouldn't know what he looked like, but he wielded enormous power.' According to Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's new book, 'Original Sin,' Jill was one of the most powerful first ladies in history, and that gave her Rasputin-like senior adviser outsized influence among the 'Politburo' that controlled her husband. When Biden was hidden away during the 2020 campaign in his Delaware basement using the COVID pandemic as an excuse, Bernal was one of only two staffers allowed to move to Wilmington to tend to their daily needs. When Biden was holed up at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach last year, wrestling with the decision to abandon his campaign after his disastrous debate performance, Bernal was one of only four aides allowed by his side. Bernal, who boasted the title of 'special assistant to the president' and reportedly earned the maximum White House salary, began working for Jill during the 2008 presidential campaign when he was hired to help her transition into the role of second lady. While he was obsequious with the Bidens, he was loathed and feared by other White House staffers: 'He would not be welcome at my funeral,' a longtime Biden aide told the authors. Another said Bernal was 'the worst person they had ever met.' Bernal enforced a strict culture of loyalty, interrogating aides he felt didn't measure up, and using his power to cast out 'potential heretics.' 'Bullied colleagues' He worked with Jill to keep score of 'who was with them and against them,' chose her wardrobe, orchestrated her multiple Vogue covers, and planned glamorous overseas trips they could take together on Air Force One. This should come as no surprise to Post readers since White House correspondent Steven Nelson broke the story last March that Bernal 'bullied and verbally sexually harassed colleagues over more than a decade' but is considered 'untouchable' because Jill adores him. Bernal repeatedly speculated about 'the penis size of colleagues,' according to Nelson's sources. 'They talk a big game about integrity, decency, and kindness but when you work for the Bidens, you experience anything but that,' said one former staffer. The Bidens told us 'decency' was on the ballot. It was, but not in the way they meant. As Joe faded and disappeared from view toward the end of his presidency, Jill's rival court took charge as she commandeered Air Force One and a big Secret Service contingent for a frenetic round of solo campaigning, always accompanied by the indispensable Bernal. Her priority over then-candidate Donald Trump for Secret Service resources at a dinner she attended in Pittsburgh on the day of his rally in Butler, Pa., was blamed in part for Trump being inadequately protected when he was shot during an attempted assassination. Bernal was by Jill's side when she swanned into Hunter's gun trial in Wilmington last year to project presidential power to the jury, which nonetheless convicted her wayward 55-year-old stepson. He joined Jill on Air Force One when she jetted back to France for 24 hours at taxpayer expense to join her husband on an official visit for D-Day commemorations in the middle of the trial, before they returned together to the courtroom. If Jill is guilty of hiding the Bidens' many secrets, she had a willing accomplice in Bernal. We may learn more about his role in coming weeks as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) probes the cover-up of Joe's cognitive decline and whether the president was fit to authorize the use of an autopen for his signature on executive orders and pardons. 'Historic scandal' Comer sent letters about what he calls the 'historic scandal,' demanding transcribed interviews from Bernal and four other former Biden aides, including Dr. Kevin O'Connor, Neera Tanden, Annie Tomasini, and Ashley Williams, all of whom have hired lawyers, he told Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on Sunday. O'Connor's interview is set for the end of June. Comer also is considering subpoenas for Jill and Hunter. 'These executive orders were many meant to Trump proof this White House,' Comer told Bartiromo. 'If we can find information that would lead us to believe that Joe Biden had no knowledge of those executive orders being signed in his name, then I think that the Trump administration could get them thrown out in court, and then Trump would be able to execute his agenda a whole lot easier without all the Trump-proofing that happened with the auto pen at the end of the Biden administration.' The American people do deserve to know who was running the White House the last four years. But it may not be so easy to prove that Joe was out of it. The former president showed he still has fight in him last week when he showed up at a veterans' memorial event in Delaware and snarked at questions from reporters about his cognitive and physical health: 'You can see that I'm mentally incompetent and I can't walk,' he said, sarcastically.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Todd Chrisley reveals what his fellow prisoners thought of his release — after taking a swipe at CNN
Reality star and convicted fraudster Todd Chrisley opened up about his emotional release from prison and the reaction of his fellow inmates — just moments after taking a swipe at CNN during a press conference Friday. 'When I left that day, there was only 317 men at our camp, but they were lined up shouting when I was walking out and they were saying 'Dont forget us, don't forget us' and my commitment is to them that I will never forget them,' Chrisley, 56, told reporters in Nashville alongside his daughter Savannah. The reality star, who was released from federal prison on Wednesday night alongside his wife, Julie Chrisley, after President Trump announced plans to pardon the couple, emphasized systemic issues he witnessed firsthand at the FPC Pensacola lockup in Florida. 'Anyone who says it's a fair shake, it's not. I dealt with young African American males in the prison that I was in who were not treated the same. They were denied programming. They were denied access to certain things. I was not denied that, but we know why I wasn't denied,' Todd Chrisley said. Chrisley, who was convicted with his wife of faking documents to obtain over $30 million in loans, and then dumping them by declaring bankruptcy, took a swipe at the left-wing media's portrayal of the case. 'You must be from CNN,' he mockingly responded to an unidentified reporter who asked if he felt any remorse over his conviction. 'You're placed in a position as a defendant to either bow down and kiss the ass of the DOJ and accept responsibility for things that you did not do in order to avoid a stronger sentence,' he said. Todd and Julie Chrisley's fall from grace: The inside story Todd Chrisley smiles in first public outing since Trump pardon Todd Chrisley reveals extreme lengths he takes to 'outrun paparazzi' as he breaks cover with daughter Savannah after prison release Todd Chrisley reveals what his fellow prisoners thought of his release — after taking a swipe at CNN Inside 'shocked' Todd and Julie Chrisley's first night home after Trump pardons The 'Chrisley Knows Best' star described his time in prison as eye-opening and vowed to continue advocacy efforts for inmates with his family. 'I will continue to fight for all the guys that I dealt with and that I was blessed to be with at FPC Pensacola. I will continue to expose the injustices that go on there and throughout the department and throughout the Bureau of Prisons,' he said. Chrisley also reflected on the moment he first learned of his pardon, describing it as surreal. 'I had a staff member that came up to me and said, 'You've just been pardoned,' and I just looked at him, and he said, 'No really, you've been pardoned. It's in the news.' Savannah also recounted the moment she learned her parents would be pardoned on the way to the grocery store. 'When I got the call, like I said, I was walking into the grocery store, and I stopped in the parking lot. I was like, what do I do?.. and so I sat in my car and had that phone conversation that's online with President Trump… Grayson [her brother] was with me and we're like, oh my god, it's happening, it's happening,' she said. Todd Chrisley was freed after serving just over two years of his 12-year sentence. His 52-year-old wife was let out of FMC Lexington in Kentucky, where she had been serving out a seven-year prison term. President Trump announced plans to pardon the reality TV couple on Tuesday and followed through Wednesday afternoon, telling their adult kids from the Oval Office that the sentences were 'pretty harsh treatment.''This should not have happened,' the president told 27-year-old Savannah by phone. 'They were given a pretty harsh treatment based on what I'm hearing. 'Your parents are going to be free and clean,' he added. 'I don't know them, but give them my regards and wish them a good life.' The glamorous couple's daughter has been championing their case in conservative circles since their conviction, going so far as to speak at the Republican National Convention in 2024 to proclaim that they'd been 'persecuted by rogue prosecutors' for their conservative values. Todd and Julie Chrisley – who celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary days ago on May 25 – haven't seen or spoken to each other since they reported for prison in 2023, Savannah said. But once the family is settled back home, they're ready to jump back into television and have a Lifetime show waiting for them 'that will document all of these things,' Savannah revealed to reporters on Wednesday.
