FBI Director Kash Patel delivered a promise about the Trump–Russia collusion hoax on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo that Americans have waited nearly a decade to hear. “We’ve got all the evidence,” Patel declared. “We’re working with our prosecutors at the DOJ under Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and we are going to be making arrests—and it’s coming soon.” I believe it will soon become clear to Americans that Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI investigation into alleged collusion between then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russia, was a fabricated smear to subvert the 2016 election. After years of books, congressional hearings, and the Durham report, the man now leading the FBI insists he finally possesses the goods to deliver justice. In my new book Clinton Hoax, Obama Coup: The Declassified Story of the Trump–Russia Delusion, I connect the dots using newly declassified documents, Russian intelligence memos, and previously buried timelines unavailable to earlier chroniclers.  What distinguishes this account is its revelation of how the Obama administration systematically covered up Clinton’s scandals while manufacturing pretexts to target Trump. From the White House-directed scrubbing of Benghazi talking points on twelve separate occasions, to the burial of Clinton Foundation investigations, to the post-election commissioning of the Intelligence Community Assessment, the pattern is one of calculated self-preservation and political warfare. Kash Patel knows this terrain intimately. As a congressional staffer, he helped expose the abuses. He has warned about them for years. Now, he helms the very agency corrupted at its core during the saga. The investigator who once battled institutional stonewalling now commands the institution. It is a poetic closing of the circle. If anyone can cut through the entrenched resistance and deliver accountability, it is Patel. Yet skepticism is not only warranted but essential. Americans have heard similar vows before. The Nunes memo. The Durham report. Waves of declassification that yielded many headlines but scant handcuffs. Durham’s probe produced a single low-level guilty plea from FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith, who altered an email to secure a FISA warrant on Carter Page, and two acquittals. Even James Comey’s later indictment on charges of lying and obstruction was dismissed on procedural grounds. The Department of Justice has appealed the dismissal to the Fourth Circuit, and the case remains pending. The familiar Washington script gets played over and over again: outrage followed by elite impunity. The enablers who kept the machinery of deception operational have largely escaped consequences. Bruce Ohr, a senior DOJ official, served as a back channel for Christopher Steele long after the FBI severed ties with him for leaking. Ohr’s wife, Nellie, conducted opposition research for Fusion GPS while her husband funneled Steele’s unverified memos into the bureau. She accessed sensitive databases using her government clearance, failed to disclose her Fusion employment on ethics forms, and committed what appear to be multiple ethical and potentially criminal violations.  Bruce Ohr neglected to report these glaring conflicts. Neither faced charges. Marc Elias, the Clinton campaign’s legal operative, orchestrated the hiring of Fusion GPS through Perkins Coie. He laundered opposition research into the FBI, coordinated media leaks, and shielded the operation behind attorney-client privilege. His efforts transformed a partisan dirty trick into the predicate for government spying on the opposition party. But responsibility for the effort to manufacture, legitimize, and weaponize the Trump-Russia collusion narrative does not stop with midlevel functionaries. True justice demands accountability for the architects. In my view, Hillary Clinton stands at the apex. Intercepted Russian intelligence in the form of memos reported that she personally approved the plan to tie Trump to Russia in order to distract from her own vulnerabilities: the private email server and the Clinton Foundation’s pay-to-play entanglements. These Russian reports have been overwhelmingly corroborated by actual events, as I demonstrate repeatedly in my book. The greatest irony of the Trump-Russia saga is that the most reliable intelligence about its origins came from the Russians themselves. Through Elias and Perkins Coie, her campaign and the DNC funded the Steele dossier—a collection of unverified allegations peddled to the FBI to justify surveillance on the Trump campaign. This could not have succeeded without the complicity of the sitting administration. President Barack Obama held ultimate authority over the FBI, DOJ, and intelligence apparatus.  Declassified records show that on Aug. 3, 2016, CIA Director John Brennan briefed President Obama—and senior officials including then Vice President Biden—on Russian intelligence about Hillary Clinton. It alleged that Hillary Clinton had approved a plan to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming Russian election interference, aimed at distracting from the scandal of her private email server. The administration dismissed it as raw intelligence and took no public action to disclose or halt the alleged plan. Meanwhile, the FBI took seriously and acted on other raw, uncorroborated intelligence from the Steele dossier to advance the Russia collusion investigation. Then, after Trump’s victory, Obama directed the Intelligence Community Assessment to lend institutional credence to the collusion narrative. The same officials who scrubbed Benghazi talking points—Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes—surfaced in both scandals. Obama did not merely know; he enabled and institutionalized the weaponization of government against domestic political opponents. This precedent proved toxic. It metastasized under subsequent administrations into the full-blown lawfare we witnessed: selective prosecutions, novel legal theories, and relentless indictments aimed at crippling a former—and future—president.  If Obama’s actions crossed into criminality, then pursuing accountability is not vengeance but the necessary restoration of equal justice under law. The alternative is the normalization of two-tiered justice that erodes the republic’s foundations. Institutional leaders bear heavy responsibility. James Comey and Andrew McCabe politicized the FBI, signing FISA applications reliant on the discredited dossier while concealing its partisan origins. Comey leaked memos to spawn the Mueller probe. McCabe authorized leaks amid his own conflicts.  John Brennan pushed the ICA’s flawed conclusions and later orchestrated the infamous “51 intelligence officials” letter dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop as Russian disinformation—an act of election interference now under Patel’s scrutiny.  Loretta Lynch, Sally Yates, and others helped suppress inconvenient inquiries. These were not isolated missteps but a coordinated assault on the people’s right to choose their leaders. Patel possesses both the files and the authority. The nation watches closely. The legacy media that amplified the hoax will cry “revenge politics,” but Americans, scarred by repeated broken promises, demand results. The republic cannot endure another decade of impunity for the powerful. The Russia hoax struck at the heart of self-government. Patel now holds the gavel. The question is not whether the case can be made, but whether this generation possesses the moral courage to see it through. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Kash Patel and the Russia Hoax Reckoning appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Florida Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick announced her resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday ahead of an Ethics Committee hearing that was scheduled to discuss disciplinary measures for her alleged theft of federal emergency funds. The committee found the congresswoman guilty of 25 ethics charges in March and was meeting today to consider whether to recommend she be expelled from Congress. “Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so that I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida’s 20th district,” Cherfilus-McCormick wrote in her statement.  Cherfilus-McCormick continued to reject the charges, calling the investigation a “witch hunt.”  pic.twitter.com/u1lLBxfrI6— Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (@CongresswomanSC) April 21, 2026 The Florida Democrat also has also been indicted on Department of Justice charges that she “received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds” through her family’s healthcare company in 2021. Additionally, the DOJ’s indictment charges Cherfilus-McCormick with illegal campaign contributions. Cherfilus-McCormick previously told The Daily Signal in a statement that she did not plan to resign and “abandon the district.” .@CongresswomanSC Cherfilus McCormick pushes back on calls for her removal in statement to @DailySignal ‘A state clerical or administrative error is not equivalent to allegations of sexual assault.’@RepLuna is calling for McCormick to resign amid allegations she stole FEMA $ pic.twitter.com/d7jzIlXfYr— George Caldwell (@GCaldwell_news) April 14, 2026 Last week, Reps. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., resigned from Congress after facing accusations of sexual misconduct. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., had already announced his intention to force an expulsion resolution against Cherfilus-McCormick. The post Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick Announces Resignation from Congress appeared first on The Daily Signal.

The Biden Justice Department’s data collection on political opponents was more expansive than initially thought, according to documents released Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee’s chairman, on Tuesday published documents revealing “Operation Rampart Twelve,” a Biden-era investigation that targeted Republican members of Congress including Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Eric Schmitt of Missouri. The investigation was related to the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Thru my investigative work+whistleblowers Ive uncovered ANOTHER weaponized Biden DOJ/FBI investigation: Operation Rampart 12 FBI spent 1yr investigating Reps Boebert/Gosar/Biggs after Jan 6 based on HEARSAY & Dem allegations Despite lacking evidence they went after Rs anyway— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) April 21, 2026 The records show the FBI secretly obtained members’ phone toll records as part of the investigation. Further, text messages from Justice Department prosecutors expressed concerns about the legal requirements for gathering such data. This is similar to the well-known “Operation Arctic Frost,” in which the FBI scooped up the phone data of Republican members of Congress as part of a probe into President Donald Trump’s challenge to the outcome of the 2020 election. “Rampart Twelve appears to be a predecessor case to Arctic Frost,” Grassley said Tuesday during a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The FBI opened “Operation Rampart Twelve” on Jan. 22, 2021, but closed it one year later after failing to uncover credible evidence to support the case. Rampart 12 Exhibit ADownload Grassley also said that records revealed the Biden White House coordinated with the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis during her investigation into Trump, which led to state conspiracy charges against Trump and political allies. Rampart 12 Exhibit BDownload The probe sought to find out whether GOP House members “led reconnaissance tours in advance of Jan. 6,” Grassley said. It gathered data on GOP Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona, and Mo Brooks of Alabama. “But what you’ll find in the available records is that the evidence to support the investigation didn’t exist,” Grassley said. In post on X, Gosar said, “Biden’s FBI didn’t make a mistake, they knowingly pushed baseless claims to justify a partisan hit job targeting GOP members of Congress.” Biden’s FBI didn’t make a mistake, they knowingly pushed baseless claims to justify a partisan hit job targeting GOP Members of Congress. That is corruption and it should enrage every American. https://t.co/Zm2NxOfrf1— Rep. Paul Gosar, DDS (@RepGosar) April 21, 2026 Rampart 12 Exhibit CDownload Gosar later noted that text messages between “two partisan prosecutors who later joined Jack Smith’s team”—referring to the former special counsel who investigated Trump—expressed concerns about gathering the data. However, the FBI proceeded anyway. The post FBI Targeting Republicans Went Deeper Than ‘Arctic Frost,’ New Documents Show appeared first on The Daily Signal.

A progressive baker asks Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave her croissant shop because her presence makes her staff feel uncomfortable. Across the nation in Oregon, Melissa Klein and her husband await a state appellate court decision whether their right to free exercise of religion includes the right to decline designing a cake celebrating a same-sex wedding. The juxtaposition of these two situations shows the difference between a business owner improperly discriminating against her customers and a business owner conducting her business according to her deeply-held beliefs, which the First Amendment protects. Let’s sort out which is which. In March 2026, Gov. Sanders ate lunch with two friends at the Croissanterie in Little Rock. The governor’s police detail accompanied them. The restaurant staff told the owners that the governor’s presence made them feel “uncomfortable.” Their unease did not stem from anything the governor did at the restaurant but seemingly from her policies on LGBT issues. The owners explained that “allowing [the governor] to stay risked being perceived as a lack of support for the community that makes up a majority of our team … Conversely, asking her to leave could be viewed as denying service based on differing beliefs.” The owners decided “to support our employees and guests,” and then asked Gov. Sanders and her friends to leave, which they did. Contrast that with Melissa and Aaron Klein, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon. In 2013, Melissa declined a request to design a unique cake celebrating a couple’s same-sex wedding. Melissa did this based on her Christian beliefs defining marriage as one man and one woman. The Kleins made it clear that they were not refusing to serve the customers, but were only refusing to design a specific cake. The Kleins said that they would design other kinds of custom cake for them, such as birthday cakes. The Kleins serve all customers, but they don’t create all messages. The state of Oregon sued the Kleins for discrimination. They were found guilty and fined $135,000. The Kleins appealed, arguing that the First Amendment protects them from the government compelling them to create messages they don’t agree with or that violate their deeply held religious beliefs. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has twice ordered Oregon courts to reconsider their rulings against the Kleins, the case has been pending before the Oregon Court of Appeals for over two years, still unresolved 13 years after the original incident. The difference in Arkansas is that the owners bake croissants that anyone can walk in and buy. They don’t create custom messages. The owners asked Gov. Sanders to leave their restaurant because they don’t appreciate people with certain political beliefs frequenting their establishment. That sounds like the old racially segregated lunch counters of the South during the 1960s. The Kleins, on the other hand, create custom cakes for everyone and anyone; they just don’t create designs featuring messages that contradict their deeply-held religious beliefs. Some businesses make their money creating custom messages: advertising agencies, social media consultants, speechwriters, ghostwriters, photographers, website designers, political campaign consultants, even tattoo artists, to name a few. They don’t serve customers off-the-shelf products (like croissants). The Arkansas croissant shop serves baked goods to hungry people. Feeding Gov. Sanders and her two friends does not “send a message” that the owners support her political agenda. Excluding them is little more than spiteful discrimination. Business owners do not have a First Amendment right to say, “we don’t serve your kind here” and kick out customers. They do have a First Amendment right protecting them from the government punishment for declining to create a customer’s message they don’t support. The Supreme Court has ruled that way twice. The Oregon state courts should do the same for the Kleins. And Arkansas bakers need to be more tolerant of people they disagree with. We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal. The post Does the First Amendment Protect Progressive Bakers From Serving Republicans? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Marijuana is marketed and sold as medicine. Regular users claim any number of health benefits, from pain relief and increased sleep to anxiety relief. And users do giggle a lot, so they must be happy, right?  When the science is separated from the hype, though, it becomes clear that marijuana is actually an anti-medicine.   Most medicines have host of potential side effects, which pharmacies must list in fine print on packaging, and which prescribers are required to discuss with their patients. Usually, the side effects are tolerable or rare.  But marijuana is not benign for anyone. The “dispensaries”—a euphemism for pot shops—do not provide their customers with any list of potential side effects, even though some of these side effects impact 100% of users.  Medicine is not candy. Disguising marijuana with fruity and sweet flavors encourages addiction. No one puts their cholesterol medication in a gummy to make it more fun to treat disease.   Dosages of genuine medicine are never arbitrarily determined by the patient, yet marijuana “patients” are able to dose themselves. After all, the pot shops want to sell more.   These are some of the known side effects that come from THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and most occur no matter how the THC is consumed.  Impotence. Marijuana degrades both the quantity and the quality of sperm. Marijuana lowers testosterone and sex drive. Users even have fewer orgasms, according to a review by the National Center for Biotechnology Information.   Miscarriage risk. Fathers who use marijuana can cause their embryonic babies to be miscarried. Weekly use of marijuana doubles the rate of miscarriage, according to research by Boston University. To prevent this, potential fathers need to stop marijuana six months before any pregnancy, because marijuana lingers in the body’s stored fat. Women trying to get pregnant using IVF are startled when their embryos die after three days because of the father’s marijuana habit.  Birth defects. Mothers who use marijuana during pregnancy or lactation have babies with low-birth weight, smaller head circumference, and cognitive dysfunction. Like alcohol and tobacco, a mother who uses marijuana causes a lifetime injury to her baby, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Psychosis and schizophrenia. Between 30 and 50% of young people who use marijuana daily will develop psychosis or schizophrenia. These users—and their families—will suffer lifelong injury from their youthful experimentation, according to the Yale School of Medicine.  Cognitive decline. Marijuana use causes memory loss, according to Harvard Medical School. This is part of why marijuana use by the elderly is so damaging. Additionally, marijuana can interfere with other pharmaceuticals many elderly patients need. Yet, the over-60 age set is the fastest-growing group of users.  Lung damage and cancer risk. Smoking marijuana deposits four times more tar in the lungs than smoking tobacco, and marijuana has 33 cancer-causing chemicals, according to the California Environmental Protection Agency.  Suicidal ideation. Thirty percent of the mass shooters who have died during their rampage have been heavy marijuana users. In their altered reality, they want to blow themselves up and take others with them. JAMA Psychiatry reports a strong association between cannabis use and suicide attempts in adolescents and young adults.  Toxins. Medicine is produced in controlled and sterile laboratories, according to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. But not marijuana. No FDA agent minds marijuana production. The contamination in plants—including pesticides, heavy metals, and cleaning agents—stay in the marijuana.  Impact on pain relief. When undergoing surgical procedures, marijuana users need much stronger anesthesia in order to be sedated. They also require much more pain medication in recovery, according to the National Institutes of Health.  Motor skills. Marijuana greatly affects motor skills, which poses a particular threat given how many people drive under the influence of the drug. A high driver is dangerous because THC is stored in fat, which makes the impact lasts much longer in the body than alcohol.  So much for the side effects of marijuana. But what about the supposed benefits for users? Perhaps they are so earth-shattering they make the side effects feel like a fair trade.  Insomnia. Pot shops advertise marijuana for insomnia, but it is only a superficial fix that does not cure insomnia. Sleeplessness is actually a withdrawal symptom of stopping marijuana. Regular users therefore think that marijuana helps them to sleep because they have such trouble sleeping when they stop. Users need to wait at least a month for the stored THC to clear their body, meaning that withdrawal symptoms can linger for a significant period of time.   Anxiety. Far from treating the problem, marijuana actually intensifies anxiety. Higher THC levels in a person’s body elevate anxiety by overstimulating the amygdala (the brain’s fear center), according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.  Weaning off opioids. The University of Sydney analyzed 54 randomly controlled trials from 1980-2025 in a study just published in The Lancet, which found no evidence that marijuana alleviates any mental condition, including opioid-use disorder.  Pain. In 2024, the American Society of Clinical Oncology said there is insufficient evidence to recommend marijuana for cancer pain.  But what about anecdotes of people who say they have been helped? They are rationalizing their recreational use under the guise of medicine.   These potheads are like the drunks who self-medicate with bourbon; everyone recognizes that the bourbon is not a genuine medicine that aids in their recovery. Addicted people are easing their withdrawal symptoms, not treating the underlying causes for their addiction.  America has a marijuana problem: 15% of Americans have used marijuana in the last month. There are now more daily pot smokers than daily drinkers.   Unfortunately, the marketing campaign to legalize and sell marijuana convinced Americans that marijuana is a harmless medicine.   Marijuana has been and should stay a Schedule 1 drug because it has no medical use, demonstrable side-effects, and a high potential for abuse.  We publish a variety of perspectives. Nothing written here is to be construed as representing the views of The Daily Signal.  The post America, You Have a Weed Problem appeared first on The Daily Signal.