The House Committee on Intelligence interrogated Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe on Thursday over the conflict with Iran, looking to to pin the intelligence chiefs down on President Donald Trump’s plans in the ongoing military campaign against Iran. In the hearing to probe threats to America around the world, Gabbard sparred with Democrats over the politicization of intelligence, Israel’s role in the ongoing conflict with Iran, Trump’s decision making, and foreign election interference. Is Our Intelligence Politicized? Democrats attempted to probe Gabbard’s view of Operation Epic Fury because of her extensive record criticizing military intervention. Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., pushed Gabbard on whether or not she inserts her personal views into intelligence assessments. Bera prefaced his question by referencing a speech Gabbard gave on the House floor in 2020 criticizing the strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in which she claimed the strike was “unconstitutional.” “President Trump has committed an illegal and unconstitutional act of war pushing our nation headlong into a war with Iran without any authorization from congress,” Gabbard said at the time. “A war that would be so costly and devastating that would make Iraq and Afghanistan like a pit.” “Do you still believe that strikes against Iran that don’t have congressional authorization constitute an illegal and unconstitutional act of war?” Berra asked Gabbard. Gabbard responded to the representative by stating that her “own personal and political views, I was required to check those at the door.” “The cost of war weighs heavily upon me and my colleagues here. Especially for those of us who have experienced and seen the cost of war firsthand,” Gabbard stated. “My own personal and political views as I mentioned earlier, I was asked and required by Congress and the president in this role as the Director of National Intelligence to check those views at the door, to ensure that the intelligence assessment are not colored by my personal views.” “And that is exactly what I am responsible to deliver,” Gabbard added. As Bera pressed, Gabbard said, “in this role it is essential that I do not allow any of my personal views on any issues to color or bias the intelligence reporting that we deliver to you and to the president.” Did Israel Force Trump’s Hand in Iran? Gabbard and Ratcliffe fully denied claims that Israel forced Trump’s hand in striking Iran. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., pressed Gabbard and Ratcliffe on whether Israel forced Trump’s “hand and make us take action.” On Tuesday, National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned from his post, publishing a letter claiming that Israel dragged America into the conflict with Iran. “No,” Ratcliffe responded to Gottheimer’s question. Gottheimer then asked Gabbard if she “agree[s] with the CIA Director’s assessment on that last question.” “Yes,” Gabbard stated. After the hearing, Gottheimer posted on social media that, “Iran posed a threat to America’s security and we acted.” Republicans also questioned the intelligence officials about points noted in Kent’s resignation letter. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., read Kent’s resignation letter during the hearing, and asked Gabbard if she disagrees with Kent’s position. “He said a lot of things in that letter,” Gabbard responded. “Ultimately, we have provided the president with the intelligence assessments, and the president is elected by the American people and makes his own decisions based on the information that’s available to him.” Gabbard was then asked by Stefanik if she is concerned with Kent’s remarks, to which she said “yes.” Who Decides? Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., asked Gabbard if the is she stands by the statement that the president is the one to determine what is an imminent threat. “Yes, I do,” Gabbard replied. ? WOW! Both DNI Tulsi Tabbard and CIA Director Ratcliffe STOOD BY President Trump in the face of an insufferable Democrat congressman They say only Trump can determine an imminent threat REP. GOMEZ: “Why do you guys even have jobs?!” ? ? pic.twitter.com/QmyyzojPum— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 19, 2026 Ratcliffe added and said, “the president as the commander in chief gets to make a decision about what’s an imminent threat.” Gomez loudly interrupted Ratcliffe as the CIA director tried to explain that the intelligence community makes assessments to help the president make informed decisions. “If the president can determine and ignore what you are doing, why do you guys even have a job?” Gomez asked excitedly. “Like why do even advise him?” What About Gabbard’s Trip to Puerto Rico? Gabbard used time at the hearing to respond to Democrat denunciations of her appearance in Puerto Rico last May. ? BREAKING: DNI Tulsi Gabbard CONFIRMS her office SEIZED voting machines in Puerto Rico, which are now being stored at a secure ODNI facilityExpose it all! ? pic.twitter.com/WeU6h2U8uD— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 19, 2026 Gabbard oversaw the island’s voting machines for suspicion of vulnerabilities that could be taken advantage of by America’s adversaries.“There were questions about whether or not there were vulnerabilities that a threat could’ve taken advantage of and that was the purpose of us looking into those vulnerabilities,” Gabbard said.Gabbard added that “this was done at the request of Puerto Rico’s AUSA attorney.”She then added that those voting machines are being stored in a DNI facility. The post 4 Big Takeaways from Tulsi Gabbard’s Testimony on Capitol Hill appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Ahead of President Donald Trump’s next meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a Republican congressman is leaning on the president to fight for the liberation of prisoners in China. Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., held an event on Thursday at the U.S. Capitol with the daughters of two figures being held prisoner in China: Hong Kong businessman Jimmy Lai and Pastor Ezra Jin. Moolenaar, who chairs the House Select Committee on China, announced he had “sent a letter to President Trump about all the prisoners of conscience China is holding.” He said of China’s prisoners, “These courageous people are persecuted for their religious beliefs, or political opinion, or other activism that the [Chinese Communist Party] opposes, and I’m urging the president to [press] for the release of prisoners of conscience held captive by the CCP in any future meeting with Xi Jinping.” At the event, Grace Drexel, the daughter of Ezra Jin, and Claire Lai, the daughter of Jimmy Lai, spoke of their fathers’ imprisonment. Ezra Jin, the pastor of Zion Church, was detained in November 2025. He is one of 18 members of the church who are currently imprisoned, his daughter said. “They are all being held under their charge of illegal use of information networks,” said Drexel. “Really what they are in prison for is because my father’s church wanted to be able to make the sacred decisions … like who becomes a pastor, what they can preach on, what kind of small groups they can host, how many people can be baptized, whether or not kids can come into the services.” She added, “I just want him to be back with us in the U.S. as soon as possible.” Claire Lai similarly called for the release of her father, “who wishes only to spend his remaining days serving our Lord and with his family.” Jimmy Lai is a Hong Kong businessman who founded the anti-communist newspaper Apple Daily. According to his daughter, he “had his political awakening in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and entered the Catholic Church the year of Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997.” The democratic activist was arrested in 2020. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in February 2026 for allegedly seeking to undermine national security with his publications and remains in solitary confinement, his daughter told reporters. He is 78 years old. The House’s China committee was formed in 2023 and focuses on America’s economic and military competition with the nation, as well as issues of human rights in China.  Moolenaar told The Daily Signal that much of the committee’s work involves public pressure, and the upcoming Sino-American summit provides a valuable chance for its members to apply pressure through Trump. “With a future summit occurring, there’s a real opportunity to raise these issues,” said Moolenaar. “Quite frankly, I think one of our main roles for the committee is to highlight and put a spotlight on what’s occurring here.” The meeting between Trump and Xi, originally scheduled for April 1, has been delayed at Trump’s request amid the war with Iran. Lai, who was a guest of Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. at Trump’s State of the Union address, says she is grateful for statements from administration officials in support of her father. “Secretary of State [Marco] Rubio has tweeted calling for my father’s humanitarian release, and we are so extremely grateful for that,” she said.  “President Trump himself has mentioned my father a number of times, and he has shown … a commitment for the release of my father. We are just extremely grateful for the support, and we hope that our father will be released soon,” Lai added. The Chinese Embassy to the United States did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The post Congressman Asks Trump to Press China to Release Prisoners appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Officials from Fulton County, Georgia, wanted to quash a subpoena from the Georgia State Board of Elections because providing “approximately 750 boxes” of material would be too burdensome.  Yet, when the FBI came knocking in a Jan. 28 raid, federal agents left with 656 boxes (653 by one count), prompting a top Georgia election official to wonder about the gap in the number.  “That’s almost 100 boxes of evidence,” Janice Johnston, vice chair of the Georgia State Election Board, told The Daily Signal.  She referenced one county affidavit that only estimated “over 700 boxes” at the county elections hub. She said, “Even 50 [extra] boxes would be a lot of evidence.” !! WHAT IS GOING ON??!!*FULTON 2020 ELECTION BALLOTS & DOCUMENTS*First there were 750 boxes of election documents, then there were 700 boxes of election documents,and now… only 653 boxes of election documents were turned over to the FBI!! @FBIDirectorKash WHERE ARE 100… pic.twitter.com/5nLBOFrPwk— Dr. Jan-Election Advocate (@Election_Adv) February 26, 2026 In a post on X, Johnston posed the questions, “WHERE ARE 100 BOXES OF ELECTION DOCUMENTS?!! … WHO HAS THE BOXES?!!” A rough estimate does not excuse such a large numerical disparity in an affidavit or court filings, Johnston said. The State Election Board has since made a records request to the Fulton County Board of Elections to provide information about materials delivered or removed from storage in the four weeks preceding the FBI raid. “Fulton County is effectively the person of interest in this case,” Johnston said. “We are not assured that everything was available.”  The FBI seized materials from the 2020 election that included ballots, tabulator tapes, and ballot images from a recount, Georgia Public Broadcasting reported, citing court documents that supported the search warrant. About 370,000 ballot images are missing, Johnston noted.  Someone is LYING to the FBI and COURTS!!Ballot Images WERE required to be kept in the 2020 ELECTION in Georgia!!WHO is LYING? WHO is REPEATING the LIE?Over 370,000 ballot images are missing from the original ballot count of November 3,… pic.twitter.com/fkpSHQQ0KN— Dr. Jan-Election Advocate (@Election_Adv) March 12, 2026 After the raid, Fulton County sued the Justice Department, calling for a return of the documents. The lawsuit also asked the court to prevent the FBI from reviewing the documents.  Johnston called the lawsuit “over the top.”  “They have been fighting the State Elections Board over the same documents,” Johnston said.  The Daily Signal sought comment from Fulton County Board of Elections Chairwoman Sherri Allen and Elections Director Nadine Williams. A Fulton County spokesperson responded to the inquiry. “Fulton County complied fully with the search warrant executed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on January 28, 2026, seeking records related to the 2020 Election,” Fulton County spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt told The Daily Signal in an email.  “Agents spent more than 8 hours at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center and had the opportunity to review all files related to the 2020 Election,” Corbitt continued. “Agents were made aware of all 2020 documents and selected the files that they removed from the premises. This is now a matter that is being handled by the courts.” An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on this story.  Fulton County, in a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, said 656 boxes were taken.  “The United States executed the Warrant later that day, seizing and removing approximately 656 boxes containing the original versions of 2020 election-related materials from the Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court,” the complaint filed on Feb. 5 says. “Robert L. ‘Robb’ Pitts, Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, and the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections respectfully request the return of all original seized materials and an order instructing the Respondent to maintain, but not review, any copies of the seized materials until this matter is resolved.”  That estimate of 656 boxes was smaller than a figure given in a petition to quash a November 2024 subpoena. That petition asserted that it would be an “unreasonable and oppressive substantive burden” to produce records on the 2020 election.  “The substantive request in the subpoenas would require a review of all materials retained from the 2020 election, which have been archived in approximately 750 boxes,” wrote Michael Tyler, a lawyer representing the county, in the Nov. 15, 2024, petition. “Petitioners estimate temporary staff of approximately 20 full-time people will need to be retained to review the documents.” Then, on Feb. 4, 2025, Williams, the election director, provided a sworn affidavit and reduced the estimate for both boxes and staff time from the November response. “Fulton County’s 2020 election materials are stored in over 700 boxes, each of which must be opened, searched, and sorted systematically to locate the majority of the documents requested in the subpoenas,” Williams said in the affidavit.  “The DRE [Department of Registration and Elections] does not have sufficient staff to conduct this search and make copies of the documents requested,” Williams added. “I estimate that we would need to hire 15 temporary staff members to work full time (40 hours a week), at approximately $26/hour, for a period of approximately 15 weeks to conduct the searching and copying necessary to comply with the subpoena.”  The post ‘Who Has the Boxes?’: Fulton County Estimates on 2020 Evidence Before and After FBI Raid appeared first on The Daily Signal.

At 5 years old, Dalilah Coleman suffered life-altering injuries at the hands of a reckless illegal immigrant truck driver. The illegal immigrant driver’s 18-wheeler blew a stop sign, crashed into the Coleman family’s car, and left Dalilah, now 7 years old, with permanent brain damage. Tragic stories like Dalilah’s have become an all-too-common occurrence, and it’s kicked Republicans in Washington, D.C., into high gear to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining commercial driver’s licenses, or CDLs. Legislation that could have prevented the crash that hurt Dalilah was voted out of committee on Wednesday and is expected to head to the House floor for a vote very soon. “We cannot afford to lower that standard [to obtain a commercial driver’s license], especially when the consequences are measured in lives,” said Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., at a Republican Study Committee roundtable highlighting Republican legislation that would crack down on illegal immigrants with CDLs. Houchin noted that in the past five months, seven people in her home state of Indiana have lost their lives from crashes involving illegal immigrants. The legislation, named Dalilah’s Law, works to prevent CDLs from falling into the hands of illegal immigrants by requiring applicants to be U.S. citizens and live in the state in which they are applying. The bill also incorporates language from Rep. David Taylor, R-Ohio, and requires CDL holders to be proficient in English. Dalilah”s Law Passed in The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee TodayThank you Chairman Rouzer and to the entire T&I Committee for advancing this critical legislation for Highway Safety@RepDavidRouzer pic.twitter.com/AfqOjdZV1z— American Truckers ?? (@atutruckers) March 18, 2026 Previously known as the Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act, the bill was introduced in October by Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C. Rouzer is a senior member on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and worked on the bill in coordination with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and other department personnel. Rouzer told The Daily Signal that the Department of Transportation is already working with states to revoke illegal immigrant CDLs, but this legislation will codify the administration’s efforts as federal law. Thanks for your leadership and support, @SecDuffy — proud to work together to advance Dalilah’s Law and make our roads safer. https://t.co/3b9P78UA2m— Rep. David Rouzer (@RepDavidRouzer) March 18, 2026 President Donald Trump recognized Dalilah during his State of the Union address earlier this month for her courage and joy in the face of serious hardship and to encourage congressional action. Because of the accident, Dalilah is non-verbal, had to re-learn how to walk, and has now been diagnosed with diplegic cerebral palsy. Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and Republican Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.; Andy Barr, R-Ky.; and Houchin have all introduced Dalilah’s Law legislation. “The goal is straightforward: If you’re in this country illegally, you should not be able to obtain a commercial driver’s license, and if that standard is violated, there should be serious consequences, including permanent disqualification from operating a commercial vehicle,” said Houchin.   Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., got emotional at the Thursday Republican Study Committee event. Looking at Dalilah sitting and laughing with her father, Burchett said she reminded him of his own daughter. “It’s very personal to me that we as a country cannot come together on this issue,” Burchett said.  Rep. Vince Fong, R-Calif., also said the issue was “very personal.” “The Colemans are from my community, they are constituents of mine,” Fong said. “Dalilah, when you meet her, how can you not be inspired by what she’s gone though, and how she’s overcome.”   A very important bill in Transportation by ?@DavidRouzer? ?@RepDavidRouzer? pic.twitter.com/Ssptxeihrt— Tim Burchett (@timburchett) March 18, 2026 The 2024 crash that injured Dalilah occurred in Rep. Jay Obernolte’s, R-Calif., district. “It boggles my mind that next week, this bill will have opposition,” Obernolte said. “It is just common sense.” “They seem to be more interested in representing those that don’t speak English than those that do speak English,” Rouzer told reporters of the expected Democrat opposition. “Quite candidly, I think it’s just a reflection of how far off the deep end the Democratic Party has gone,” he continued.   “There’s no Republican or Democrat roads, just U.S. roads,” said Dalilah’s father, Marcus Coleman, who is a truck driver himself. He told reporters his hope is for everyone to “get together with their counterparts on the Democrat side and try to persuade.” Dalilah’s LawDownload The post ‘Very Personal’: GOP Pushing for Dalilah’s Law Vote on House Floor Soon appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Editor’s note: This is a lightly edited transcript of today’s video from Daily Signal Senior Contributor Victor Davis Hanson. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see more of his videos. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson. 2026 looks like it’s going to be the most tumultuous, geo-strategically significant and dangerous year since the fall of the Soviet system and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The whole world is in upheaval. Donald Trump is the catalyst of this. A lot of people, both in his base and his opponents, both here in the United States and abroad, blame him. I think a few years ago, one European diplomat said, “Well, he’s a bull in a China shop, only he’s a bull in a nuclear China shop.” Maybe, maybe not. But let’s just review what’s taking place right now. For the second time, we’re bombing Iran, and this time the negotiations clearly were not going to lead to this 47-year problem resolution. Iran’s theocracy has no intention of stopping nuclear proliferation. It wants a bomb to dominate the Middle East, to intimidate the petro kingdoms of the Gulf, to show its dominance over Sunni Islam, and to destroy eventually Israel, threaten Europe for blackmail concessions and eventually us. We’ve known that. Every president, all seven of them before Trump, said that, and they were going take care of the problem or prevent it from exacerbating. None did anything. Trump tried to negotiate, take out the nuclear facilities, and then he learned that they were still trying to, after the bombing: restore them, expand their Russia, North Korean, Chinese ballistic missile force, ensure that nobody would dare attack them again. And Trump did. And this time his plan is to remove either now or so detrite the theocracy that it would erode in the next few months by a popular uprising or maybe have a Venezuela solution. Barring that, at least make it inert militarily. This follows the [Nicolas] Maduro, what do we call it, kidnapping coup. We removed this communist thug, drug lord, shipper of dangerous opiates into the United States, propped up Cuba and was trying to spread the Chavez communist message throughout Latin America. It looked like he was succeeding under Joe Biden. Now the whole world there is different. Venezuela doesn’t have Maduro. It has a strong government in the sense that they will keep order, and maybe they will have transitions to democracy. We hope so. But they are terrified of the United States that removed their government and told them they put the oil on the world market, they reform their economy, they get the Chinese out, and they will have a bright future. This coincides with democratic revolutions in Central America, Chile, maybe Bolivia and Peru. We’ll see how those work out. And of course, Argentina. So it’s a whole new Latin America. It’s experiencing a westernized constitutional system revolution. And again, the catalyst has been Donald Trump. First, by telling the Panamanians, “We know what you’re doing. It’s not smart for you to do this, to triangulate with the Chinese. If you do it, we’ll take back the canal.” And he got results. And the result is China and Russia are now excluded from the Western Hemisphere. At the same time, he’s pressuring the Cubans. They have no more subsidized oil from Russia. They know that their drugs—that they are intermediaries in smuggling and shipping to the U.S.—are being blown up on the high seas. There’s no more Chavez-Maduro free fuel, and their innately incompetent and inert economy is imploding. And Trump is basically saying, “You saw what happened to Venezuela, you saw what happened to Iran. You’re not halfway across the world. You’re not down in South America. You’re right here 90 miles away from us. And this will be a cakewalk if you don’t try to reform and give your people a choice, an economic liberation, a political liberation, a cultural, social liberation.” And it looks like they’re going allow American businessmen, mostly Cuban Americans, to go back in there and invest. If that happens and you start to see offshore companies, energy development, hotels, tourism, communism will die on the vine. So what am I getting at? I’m getting at that there’s a world upheaval that Donald Trump sort of took a fuse and he lit it, and things are blowing up everywhere, and everybody is paranoid and crazy, and they’re thinking that he’s a disruptor. And then we have the Ukraine war, and he has convinced the Europeans that you have to do two things that they don’t understand. You can’t buy energy from Russia. Maybe he’s lifted that because the Straits of Hormuz are closed temporarily. But you can’t subsidize the Russian war machine and then tell the United States that because of your suicidal energy policies, you have to do that. But you also have to have the United States step in and save you. And so, we’re trying to find a solution, but one of the tactics that Trump is using, that’s very misunderstood. He is trying to say [Vladimir] Putin is a monster. Of course, he is. Don’t trust him. But I wasn’t the one that started this crazy reset. I was the one that got rid of the Wagner Group. I was the one that went after the oligarchs. I was the one that got out of the missile treaty. I was the one that gave offensive weapons to Ukraine, not you. I was the one that warned you about the Nord Stream pipeline, not you, not [Joe] Biden. I did. So here, if I’m going to get involved, don’t demonize him, because we can weaken him and then we can flip him so that he doesn’t go back into Europe, but he also triangulates against China. So what I’m getting at, if that happens, and you see a different government in Cuba, Venezuela and a tidal wave of reform in Latin America, where at the same time you get rid of the 47-year cancer in the Middle East for which American troops have been based, take away the Iranian theocracy, and there’s not going to be 200 installations of Americans in Syria and Iraq. And then you add into the combination what Cuba has done to us all these years. It’s been a receptacle of American terrorists, hijackers, drug smugglers. At one time, remember, it was going to base nuclear weapons from Russia pointed at us, the Cuban Missile Crisis of ’62. It’s just been a headache. If you could solve all of those things in one year, it would be unheard of. It would make [Ronald] Reagan’s achievement of destroying the Soviet Union, although it fell during the successor George H.W. Bush, it would look minor in comparison almost. Think about this very quickly. This was not necessary in Trump’s political calculus. He had the midterms coming up. Eight or nine months when he went into Venezuela and Iran. That took a great risk to distract attention away from the economy. The economy had been moribund under Joe Biden, and it was starting to pick up, and he was bragging about the low cost of energy. If you’re just a political animal, what you don’t do right before the midterms is go into two of the largest oil-producing countries in the world and, for the short term at least, ensure their oil is going be reduced. And yet he took that risk. And more importantly, he knows how Europe feels about it. Europe is so touchy because they have ruled out basically producing their own natural gas, their own oil. They’re very reluctant to follow the French example of nuclear power. And the result is they’re very dependent on imported oil, and they’re whispering to Trump, “Don’t do this, don’t be disruptive.” So he’s got a problem with this. And then the MAGA base, remember, says, “No optional wars abroad.” And Trump is trying to say, well, these are using air power. I haven’t used ground troops. This is not Afghanistan. These are going to be short-term solutions to long-term problems. And in the future, if we’re successful, there’ll be fewer Americans abroad because we’ll have a greater number of American allies and friends who will be consensual. They’ll be ruled by consensual governments. They’ll have free economies. And more importantly, they will have a different attitude or view of the United States, not one as a reluctant weakling or an unarmed or a Joe Biden, Barack Obama appeaser, but somebody who’s very unpredictable but follows up what he says, and they will be more likely to respect and join us. Strength radiates friendship, weakness repels it. Finally, again, I think we misunderstood what’s going on. There are disruptions all over the world, but three quarters of them are reaching a consensus, an end, some type of resolution one way or the other. I don’t know how they’re all going turn out, but there is a good chance they could turn out with the United States in a preeminent position that we haven’t seen at least since WWII. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Why 2026 Could Be the Most Dangerous and Transformational Year Since World War II appeared first on The Daily Signal.