Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss charges against him, citing claims of “racist” laws which they say are unfairly used to target black men. Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He is currently being held in a federal jail in New York City awaiting trial in the spring and, if convicted on all counts, is facing a maximum of 15 years in prison. Diddy’s defense attorneys are now saying the government is guilty of racist actions because “no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution,” per ABC News. They state that enforcement of The Mann Act of 1910 has historically been used to “target black men.” The legal team says the statute has a “long and troubling history” with “racist origins,” plus was “used to target black men and supposedly protect white women from them.” “The government has concocted a criminal case based primarily on allegations that Mr Combs and two of his longtime girlfriends sometimes brought a third party — a male escort — into their sexual relationship,” they add. The Mann Act was called the White-Slave Traffic Act when it was enacted in 1910. It made it illegal to transport people across state or international lines for the purpose of prostitution, which in that era was happening frequently as young girls worked in brothels, The New York Post noted.  “What was racist in its inception has often been racist in its operation,” the filing states. One of the charges involves Combs’ highly publicized “freak off” parties, or drug-fueled orgies, which included acts of coercion, force, and prostitution. These events are mentioned in the motion to dismiss. “Yet no other person, and certainly no white person, has ever previously been prosecuted under the White-Slave Traffic Act for hiring male escorts from another State,” defense attorneys Alexandra Shapiro and Marc Agnifilo wrote.  “Mr. Combs has been singled out because he is a powerful black man, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished. Count Three should be dismissed because this is a clear case of selective prosecution.” They argue that Combs should not be prosecuted because other high-profile individuals have engaged in threesome sexual encounters and paid for the experience.  “Many couples, including wealthy high-profile couples, involve third parties in their sexual relationships, sometimes for implicit or explicit remuneration,” the filing says. “No federal prosecutor, in this district or any other, has targeted the company, its CEO, or its escorts.” Despite the attorneys’ claims, Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime companion of Jeffery Epstein, was convicted under the Mann Act for transporting minors with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Maxwell was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is reportedly considering firing more than half a dozen generals and flag officers, triggering speculation of a Pentagon shake-up focused on rooting out those “involved in any of the DEI woke s***” that permeated the U.S. military during the Biden administration. According to CNN, rumors of pending dismissals have circulated for several weeks, but a list containing the names of officers who could be let go was recently sent to Republican lawmakers. Several high-profile generals, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, could be on the chopping block. In an appearance on the “Shawn Ryan Show” before his nomination, Hegseth said of Gen. Brown: “First of all, you’ve got to fire the chairman of the Joint Chiefs … But any general … that was involved in any of the DEI woke s*** has got to go … That’s the only litmus test we care about.” Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, is also reportedly on the list, which could leave no female four-star officers in the U.S. military if she is removed. In his 2024 book, Hegseth wrote, “If naval operations suffer, at least we can hold our heads high … Because at least we have another first! The first female member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — hooray.” According to individuals familiar with Hegseth’s plan, the list presented on Capitol Hill outlines multiple potential outcomes for senior positions, including possible promotions. Gen. Samuel Paparo of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and Gen. Erik Kurilla of U.S. Central Command have each been discussed as potential replacements for Gen. Brown if a shakeup at the top occurs, though no choice has been finalized. Meanwhile, a small contingent from the Department of Government Efficiency project has started meeting with Pentagon representatives to manage office space and coordinate budget assessments. Military planners are expected to release updated figures on proposed funding changes in the coming days as part of the ongoing discussions over reshaping defense structures.

In the wake of criticism of President Donald Trump for his handling of the Ukraine-Russia war, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz stoutly defended the president for his actions. Trump engendered a reaction when he responded to Ukraine’s concern about being left out of meetings between the U.S. and Russia by saying, “Today I heard, ‘Oh, we weren’t invited.’ Well you’ve been there for three years, you should have ended it… you should have never started it. You could have made a deal.” Trump followed by stating on social media, “A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left. In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only ‘TRUMP,’ and the Trump Administration, can do. Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the ‘gravy train’ going. I love Ukraine, but Zelenskyy has done a terrible job, his Country is shattered, and MILLIONS have unnecessarily died.” “Zelenskyy was originally up for re-election in April 2024, but Ukraine’s constitution bars holding elections until the president lifts the martial law order he instituted after the 2022 invasion,” Fox News noted. “The President also said how much he loves the Ukrainian people,” Waltz stated. “He was the first to arm them back in his first term. We’ve done a lot, a lot for the security of Ukraine, and to say that we’re going to change the nature of our aid going forward, is, I don’t think, should offend anyone.” “Look, the president is ready to drive this war to an end,” he continued. “He has made that clear over and over again. And just a week ago, he had both President Putin on the phone and Zelenskyy on the phone, literally within minutes of each other. And both were saying, ‘Only you, President Trump, can lead this war to a conclusion when no one else has been able to,” “And in fact, the last administration didn’t even really try,” Waltz declared. “So now, President Trump is doing what he should as a leader and pushing hard diplomacy with strength and leadership. And no one should be surprised about that.” .@MikeWaltz47: The President said how much he loves the Ukrainian people. He was the first to arm them in his first term. We've done A LOT for the security of Ukraine… Now, he's doing what he should as a leader and pushing hard diplomacy…No one should be surprised about that. pic.twitter.com/STrG6HJaE9 — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 20, 2025

A nonprofit linked to failed Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams received $2 billion from the Biden administration in 2024, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) found. Power Forward Communities (PFC), the nonprofit, was established in October 2023 and received the $2 billion grant in April 2024, just six months after it began operating, The Washington Free Beacon reported. During its first three months of operation, it reported just $100 in revenue, tax filings revealed. PFC had never managed any amount of money near $2 billion, yet it was one of eight organizations that received grants from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Those eight groups received $20 billion, which the Biden administration had stashed at an outside financial institution to ensure the government couldn’t oversee the funds’ allocation. The $20 billion slush fund was discovered by EPA administrator Lee Zeldin’s staff and DOGE earlier this month. “Roughly twenty billion of your tax dollars were parked at an outside financial institution by the Biden EPA,” Zeldin announced. “This scheme was the first of its kind in EPA history and it was purposefully designed to obligate all of the money in a rush job with reduced oversight.” As the Free Beacon noted, PFC’s inclusion as a recipient of the money “raises ethics questions about how the Biden administration selected recipients of such massive grants and whether it played favorites when doling those grants out.” Abrams was a staunch supporter of Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris. The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was created as a “green bank” under the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which, despite its name, didn’t reduce inflation and instead doled out funds to favored left-wing organizations in the name of climate change. Abrams serves as senior counsel for the left-wing organization Rewiring America, which leads a coalition of groups, including PFC. “For an organization that has no experience in this, that was literally just established, and had $100 in the bank to receive a $2 billion grant—it doesn’t just fly in the face of common sense, it’s out and out fraud,” Daniel Turner, executive director of energy advocacy group Power the Future, told the Free Beacon. It is not the first time a group tied to Abrams has been embroiled in controversy. Earlier this month, an ethics watchdog filed an IRS complaint against nonprofits Abrams founded, The Daily Wire reported. Her groups, the New Georgia Project and its lobbying arm, the New Georgia Project Action Fund, were found to have violated state campaign finance laws and ordered to pay $300,000 in fines after failing to disclose more than $4 million in campaign contributions and another $3 million in expenditures during the 2018 election cycle.

Vice President JD Vance got a standing ovation at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday for a speech he actually gave a week earlier in Munich, Germany, about the importance of pushing back against government censorship. Moderator Mercedes Schlapp, the former White House Director of Strategic Communications, mentioned the speech, prompting applause from the audience. “I think they really liked it,” she said. “I’m glad you guys liked it, not everybody liked it,” Vance said, referencing the outcry from liberals in the United States and abroad who had accused him of driving a wedge between the United States and its allies. “You guys liked it, not everybody liked it.” What followed then was a standing ovation: JD Vance gets a standing ovation at CPAC for his epic Munich speech last week. pic.twitter.com/T36nFp9P9s — Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) February 20, 2025 As the audience members got to their feet, Vance smiled and thanked them, adding, “I’ll take a standing ovation for a speech I already gave. It’s like two for the price of one.” “Here’s your speech, just say it again,” Schlapp joked. Vance’s speech warned Europeans of a threat within their own borders — one posed by the very governments they represented. “If you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you,” he told European leaders while citing examples of efforts to suppress the political expressions of their own people. Referencing the European nations that had been on the winning side during the Cold War, Vance added, “Consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that canceled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not. And thank God, they lost the Cold War. They lost because they neither valued nor respected all of the extraordinary blessings of liberty.” “What no democracy — American, German, or European — will survive, is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief, are invalid and unworthy of even being considered. Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters. There’s no room for firewalls,” he concluded.