How many of you guys remember Evergrande, the Chinese real estate developer? They were the largest real estate developer in Asia when they collapsed in 2022, and this was the start of a significant downturn, the kind that America is also due for, but China seems to have it worse than we do.
The problem with real estate in China, is that owning a house is everything to a man.............. it's cultural. If you don't own any real estate, it's much harder to get a wife, and you're usually not viewed as secure enough to start a family. The people of China have 70% of their net worth in Chinese real estate........ very low level of diversification.
So what China has been doing for years, Evergrande and many other developers, is they would buy land, decide what they were going to build, and sell the plots\houses\units to buyers, who took out mortgages and paid in full for the units, and then had to wait for them to be built........... and they'd start construction, but they also used a lot of that money to go and buy more land, so they could sell more units, often before the company even broke ground................... these companies got really rich in the short term, but this is similar to a ponzi scheme, where they rely on new money coming in to provide the promised product to the prior home buyers, because they're lining their pockets, taking risky bets and investments, and theres a ton of corruption and fraud......... the money ran out and they weren't able to deliver on millions of housing units.
One brave group of Chinese victims banded together and all decided to stop paying their mortgages for their seriously delayed project all at once.............. a drop in the bucket, but the last few years, it's caught on........... now there are hundreds of projects, massive massive projects where all of the unit owners are not paying all at the same time until construction restarts and theres no money for construction to restart, and the banks can't just foreclose on their units, because they're unfinished, with no solution in sight.
China has 60,000,000 empty housing units, (America has 16,000,000, and if 3,000,000 of those came online for sale, our housing crisis would be over) because owning homes is so important in China that people would buy multiple homes even if they were leaving them empty. Many of these new ones aren't finished and I'm not sure how they'd solve this, but it's caused protests and civil unrest in the recent past. Civil unrest is rare because the Chinese government has shown they will kill their own citizens and dissapear them in the Tiananmen Square massacre............ China does these things.
The real estate sector is up to 31% of the Chinese economy compared to 16% in the United States. We have always been much more diversified than China. The other big sector is manufacturing of course, which is 27% of the Chinese economy.............. so with real estate at 31% and manufacturing at 27%, and real estate being in free fall, Trump was correct in knowing that this is the right time to apply the pressure of tarriffs to even the trade playing field. Even my company moved its purchasing of flooring from China to Vietnam because of tariffs. 57% of Chinas economy is suffering greatly in just those 2 sectors.
Banking is also getting crushed of course, they have so much debt out, and it's not all coming back to them. Evergrande defaulting was a massive blow, and wake up call............ one of the top 4 banks in China, the Peoples bank of China started limited how much money people could take out a year ago, (probably fixed by now) and that creates a huge loss of confidence in the banking system, and then everyone wants to take out as much as they can.
Is China the enemy of the US and should it be treated like one? Enemy is a strong word............ for those that don't know me, I'm 50% Chinese. They are at least a big bully of a competitor that doesn't play fair in the sandbox............... and they've gotten unlucky by choosing a poor strategy for real estate development, and with Trump standing up to them often, they're getting pretty beat up. If anyone you know brings you any investment opportunities in China, I'd be extra scared.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116448643198694972
How can the Democrats not like how the U.S. Supreme Court votes. The Democrat Justices stick together like glue, NEVER failing to wander from the warped and perverse policies, ideas, and cases put before them. They ALWAYS vote as a group, or BLOCK, even that new, Low IQ person, that somehow found her way to the bench (Sleepy Joe!). The Republican Justices don’t stick together, they give the Democrats win after win, like a 159 Billion Dollar pile of cash on a completely ridiculous Tariff decision, and nasty, one sided questions on the country destroying subject of Birthright Citizenship, something which virtually NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD IS STUPID ENOUGH TO ALLOW. It was meant for the babies of slaves, not for the babies of Chinese Billionaires. No, certain “Republican” Justices have just gone weak, stupid, and bad, completely violating what they “supposedly” stood for. Handing over 159 Billion Dollars in Tariff refunds to people who have been Ripping Off our Country for years, is unexplainable. One little sentence would have stoped this record setting payment from having to be made. It is a travesty! Their Tariff decision was an unnecessary and expensive slap in the face to the U.S.A., and a giant victory for its opponents. If they rule against our Country on Birthright Citizenship, which they probably will, it will be even worse, if that’s possible. It will cost America massive amounts of money but, more importantly, it will cost America its DIGNITY! No, the Radical Left Democrats don’t need to “Pack the Court,” it’s already Packed! President DONALD J. TRUMP
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Deltas with [p]. I like 714.
Key Takeaways French prosecutors raided Edmond de Rothschild Bank's Paris headquarters as part of Epstein-files corruption probe.
Fabrice Aidan, French diplomat named in Epstein files, targeted by probe.
National Financial Prosecutor's Office leads the Epstein-related investigation.
Police Raid Details French authorities conducted a major police raid at the Paris headquarters of Swiss private bank Edmond de Rothschild on Friday, March 20, 2026, as part of an ongoing bribery investigation linked to the Epstein files.
“Epstein Case: Police raid at Edmond de Rothschild Bank headquarters in Paris”
The operation was confirmed by France's National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) on Tuesday and targeted suspected corruption involving a former diplomat who worked at the institution.
The searches were carried out at multiple locations, including the bank's Paris premises, in the presence of CEO Ariane de Rothschild, and are examining charges of passive corruption of a foreign public official and complicity in that offense.
The investigation was opened last month following a referral from France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and represents a significant development in the international fallout from the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents by U.S. authorities.
Target of Investigation The central figure in the investigation is Fabrice Aidan, a former French diplomat who appears more than 200 times in the Epstein files from 2010-2017.
Aidan worked at Edmond de Rothschild Bank from 2014 to 2016 before joining the energy group Engie, which suspended him from his duties in mid-March following the revelations.
According to documents reviewed by multiple sources, the diplomat is suspected of providing Jeffrey Epstein with 'diplomatic information, services, or access to his international networks' while he was seconded by France to the United Nations.
Aidan was questioned at the end of February by the Central Office for Combating Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses (OCLCIFF) under the status of a voluntary interview, and the investigation specifically focuses on charges of passive corruption of a foreign public official and complicity in that offense, confirmed by the financial prosecutor Pascal Prache.
Bank Response In response to the raid and investigation, Edmond de Rothschild Bank has emphasized its cooperation with French authorities, stating that it 'fully cooperates with the justice system' in the framework of the investigation.
“Day by day, the Epstein case—the sex offender linked to figures in the global elite—transcends borders and touches politicians and businesspeople from distant latitudes”
A source close to the bank indicated that an internal investigation was launched as soon as suspicions regarding the former employee emerged.
The bank's CEO Ariane de Rothschild was present during the raid at the Paris headquarters.
However, the institution has faced mounting pressure since January 30 when millions of Epstein-related documents were released, revealing professional ties between Ariane de Rothschild and Jeffrey Epstein that began in 2013.
The bank has previously stated that de Rothschild met Epstein 'several times between 2013 and 2019 in the normal course of her duties within the group' and 'had no knowledge of Epstein's conduct or personal behavior.'
The bank manages approximately €216 billion in assets according to its latest results.
International Fallout The raid on Edmond de Rothschild Bank represents a significant international ripple effect from the release of the so-called 'Epstein Files' by the United States Department of Justice in January.
These documents, released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, include agendas, flight logs, emails, and court records that reveal the extensive network of relationships Epstein maintained with political leaders, businesspeople, and royalty across multiple countries.
The mere mention of individuals' names in these documents does not necessarily imply wrongdoing, but they have renewed public interest around networks of sexual abuse and institutional cover-ups.
The French investigation is part of two parallel tracks examining Epstein's presence in France - one focusing on sexual offenses and another on economic and financial aspects under the supervision of the National Financial Prosecutor's Office.
Epstein spent several weeks per year in Paris, where he owned a luxurious apartment near the Arc de Triomphe, leaving traces that led to these investigations.
Many of us know a lot of these but some will be new to even the most informed anon.
A list of abbreviations Q often uses in Q posts. When new abbreviations are used by Q, after some time, the community of Anons generally comes to a consensus (although not always unanimous) on what the definition is for a abbreviation. The definitions are not guaranteed accurate, they are sometimes the best and most accepted guesses from the community.
When a journalist simply shows up, asks questions, documents what's happening, and suddenly people start panicking and lashing out, you know he hit a nerve.
That's real journalism: no narrative padding, no safety rails, just truth on the ground.
The fact that none of the “real” media channels are covering it says everything!
Not CBS
Not PBS
Not CNN
Not ABC
Not MSNBC
Not 60 Minutes
Not the New York Times
Not the Washington Post
Not Associated Press
But an independent Journalist on X exposed over $ 100 million in fraud in one day with a hoodie and a camera!
Thankfully, you are about to see hundreds of Nick Shirley imitators flood social media and YouTube.
They will go all over the country trying to expose the insane fraud and wasteful spending. The incentive to capture millions of views is too great to be ignored by a generation of young people who treat views like oxygen.
Nick's single video will spawn thousands more.
If I were President Trump, I would even go a step further. The only way this stops is for the people responsible to face severe criminal consequences and for there to be a Federal internal audit system in which private citizen bounty hunters who find fraud earn rewards equal to a percentage of the grift identified.
The American taxpayers are being robbed. The time to fix our broken system is now!
Dark to Light starts tonight.
This video is over 3 hours and goes by like it was 1. So much information both historical and current that it is difficult to deny what is happening.
Is this the reason (or one of) for the 16 year takedown of America launched when it was?
Clinton judge blocks Trump from releasing Epstein files
Donald Trump was handed another blow on Wednesday when a federal judge denied his administration's attempts to release grand jury testimony from the Jeffrey Epstein case.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman deemed Trump's Justice Department did not provide adequate reasoning to unseal the highly-protected materials.
He also said that the grand jury motion was likely a 'diversion' coming from the Trump administration.
'[T]he court denies the government's motion to unseal the Epstein grand jury transcripts and exhibits,' the Clinton-appointed judge wrote in his Wednesday decision.
It comes after Attorney General Pam Bondi requested the documents be unsealed in an attempt to satisfy Americans who were enraged over the lackluster review of the Epstein files.
The MAGA base has claimed there is an ongoing 'cover-up' orchestrated by Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel after failing to be 'transparent' about the files.
'Based on the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,' Trump wrote on his Truth Social account last month amid the backlash.
On July 18, Bondi filed motions in the Southern Districts of New York and Florida to have judges grant release of grand jury testimony from the sex trafficker's cases in the respective states.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman called the request to unseal testimony a 'diversion' from the Trump administration
Donald Trump's latest attempts to release more Epstein files was rebuked by New York District Judge Richard Berman (pictured), who called the request for grand jury testimony a 'diversion'
Judge Berman was appointed in 1998 by President Bill Clinton (left), who has professional and personal ties to Jeffrey Epstein (right)
Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi last month to file motions to unseal grand jury testimony in the cases in Florida and New York amid a slew of fallout for the Epstein files review
Florida swiftly denied the request, while the New York court requested the government send their reasoning for requesting the years-old documents be drudged up.
Trump's government argued in its reasoning that 'the passage of time has not dulled the public's interest in these cases.'
It also revealed that there were only two witnesses in the case – an FBI agent and New York Police Department officer, both of whom are still alive.
But Judge Berman claimed that the reasoning was not sufficient for him to grant the request to unseal the grand jury testimony.
'The Government is a logical party to make comprehensive disclosure to the public of the Epstein files,' Berman wrote in the Wednesday decision.
'By comparison, the instant grand jury motion appears to be a 'diversion' from the breath and scope of the Epstein files in the Government's possession.'
He also said that Trump's administration did not exhibit there were any 'special circumstances' that would justify unsealing the documents.
Berman has come under fire from Trump and his supporters in the past for being a partisan judge.
Bill Clinton appointed Berman to the bench in the Southern District of New York in 1998, where he has worked ever since as a judge and then a senior judge starting in September 2011.
President Donald Trump's latest attempts to release more Epstein files was rebuked by a federal judge in New York
Documents related to Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking crimes have consumed Americans furious that the FBI and Justice Department are not being as transparent with the Epstein files as Trump promised they would be
It's widely known that Clinton and Epstein had personal, professional and philanthropic connections.
Epstein donated $1,000 to Clinton's presidential campaign in 1991 and two years later contributed $10,000 to the White House Historical Association for a redecoration project. This got him and longtime girlfriend and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell a ticket to a White House donors' reception hosted by Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Maxwell is still serving out a 20-year sentence in relation to the child sex trafficking crimes. She even spoke for nine hours over the course of two days with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in Florida last month to answer questions about Epstein's crimes.
She was transferred to a prison in Texas days after the interviews and appears to be angling for pardon from Trump.
Flight logs for Epstein's private plane the 'Lolita Express' show that Clinton took at least 17 flights between 2002 and 2003, often with staff, Secret Service agents and Clinton Foundation supporters.
Trump has links to Epstein and his name appears on his flight logs for private jet the Lolita Express
Trump has links to Epstein and , like Bill Clinton, his name appears on his flight logs for the disgraced financier's private jet the 'Lolita Express'
Trump also has links to the disgraced financier and appears on his flight logs. Epstein attended Trump's wedding to his second wife Marla Maples in 1993.
The deep connections to those most influential in political and business circles is what Americans think is stopping the release of files related to his crimes and his sketchy death.
Conspiracies still float online claiming that Epstein was killed in prison in August 2019 and that it was made to look like he took his own life – even though Trump's DOJ concluded that Epstein did commit suicide.
Jeffrey Epstein’s mysterious death occurred six years ago this month — but the National Enquirer has discovered 22 people in the sketchy billionaire’s orbit have also died under murky circumstances, fueling fears of a cover-up by powerful figures seeking to erase potential witnesses.
From the predator’s alleged victims to house managers, lawyers, accountants, investigative journalists and pimps, the list of unexplained fatalities traces a dark money trail that leads straight to Epstein’s inner circle, sources say.
“There were a lot of people entrapped and entangled through Epstein’s web, and many of those people are gone now — dead,” private investigator Ed Opperman tells the Enquirer. “They are all connected through a money trail.”
Steven Hoffenberg. Financier Steven Hoffenberg confessed in a final account before his death to the Enquirer’s Doug Montero that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted pedophile’s now-imprisoned recruiting madam, were “taping” honey-trap videos of sleazy VIPs with underage girls for a cabal of deep-state blackmailing power brokers.
“This puts a lot of high-powered people in very dangerous situations,” says the gumshoe and podcaster, who was once approached to “dig up dirt” on an Epstein victim and Hoffenberg.
Hoffenberg, the former Towers Financial CEO and Epstein associate — who died in 2022 at 77 after serving 18 years for a $475 million Ponzi scheme — cooperated with the FBI and spoke out about his former protégé’s alleged connections to Israel’s national intelligence agency Mossad.
US DOJ/ MEGA While Maxwell, 63, is serving 20 years for sex trafficking, Epstein himself became part of the growing body count in August 2019 when he was found hanged inside his New York City jail cell at 66 in what officials deemed a suicide — but his brother, Mark, calls “murder.”
Epstein’s final cellmate, Efrain “Stone” Reyes, 51, died of COVID in November 2020 just weeks after talking with federal investigators probing the monstrous moneyman’s death. Reyes was transferred out of Epstein’s cell just one day before the bigwig’s death, per Daily Mail.
Three of Epstein’s outspoken accusers also suspiciously perished. Virginia Giuffre, 41, was found dead on April 25 in an apparent suicide, while sex slaves Carolyn Andriano, 36, and Leigh Skye Patrick, 29, died of drug overdoses in May 2023 and May 2017.
The three women are not the only dead bodies related to Epstein’s days in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he was accused of abusing and pimping out dozens of young girls.
Despite overwhelming evidence of his purported obscene operation, Epstein received a sweetheart deal orchestrated by the feds in 2008 — and was allowed to plead guilty to two state prostitution charges and served only 13 months in a cushy county jail work-release program.
Joe Recarey, the Palm Beach Police detective who led the Epstein investigation and pushed officials for justice, died May 25, 2018, after a brief illness at 50.
Epstein’s ex-butler Alfredo Rodriguez — who swiped his former boss’ infamous little black book and offered to sell it to an undercover FBI agent — died in December 2014 of mesothelioma at 60, after serving 13 months in federal prison on obstruction charges, per The Independent.
Two high-powered attorneys who helped Epstein skate in the West Palm Beach case have also passed away: Kenneth Starr in September 2022 at 76 after surgical complications and Roy Black, 80, who died last month at home, per The Texas Tribune.
Marvin Minsky, the MIT artificial intelligence pioneer named in Giuffre’s Epstein allegations, suffered a fatal cerebral hemorrhage in January 2016 at 88, while Ronald R. Eppinger Sr., a Miami pimp who was allegedly the first to traffic Giuffre, died at 80 in November 2006.
Two investigative journalists chasing the Epstein scandal have also met their end. Former NYPD detective and Epstein book author John Connolly passed away in January 2022 at 78, per New York Post. Celebrity biographer Wendy Leigh’s body was found beneath her London balcony in May 2016. Her death remains questioned as initial reports suggested suicide, but her agent emphasized the 65-year-old’s optimistic view on life, per a report published by People.
Six other Epstein associates have also died over the years, per Daily Mail.
Jean-Luc Brunel, 75, a French modeling agency boss awaiting trial for allegedly trafficking girls to Epstein, was found hanged inside a Paris prison cell in February 2022.
Movie producer Steve Bing, 55, plunged from the 27th floor of his L.A. apartment building in June 2020 after talking to the FBI about Epstein.
Mark Middleton, 59, an advisor to former President Bill Clinton with ties to Epstein, was found hanged and shot in Arkansas in May 2022 in what was ruled a suicide.
Thomas Bowers, 55, a head of the Deutsche Bank wealth management division that moved money for Epstein, was also found hanged inside his California home in November 2019.
Epstein pal and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson died in his sleep in September 2023 at 75, and physicist Stephen Hawking, who is known to have visited Epstein’s island, passed away in his U.K. home in March 2018 at 76, per CNN.
The Enquirer can also reveal unusual deaths followed Epstein even before he became a household name.
The death toll began 40 years ago, when the since-disgraced mogul began working as a trusted financial advisor for tycoon Les Wexner, the L Brands founder and former owner of lingerie company Victoria’s Secret and fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch.
Epstein’s predecessor at L Brands, 43-year-old lawyer Arthur Shapiro, was gunned down in March 1985 just weeks before he was expected to be questioned by the IRS about illegal tax shelters, per The Daily Beast.
Soon after Shapiro’s death, Epstein took over managing Wexner’s finances. FBI documents mention Shapiro’s unsolved murder and the sex peddler’s possible link to prime suspect Berry L. Kessler.
Kessler died at age 84 in 2005 inside a Georgia federal prison after being convicted a decade earlier of masterminding two separate murder-for-hire plots unrelated to Shapiro.
Now, Ghislaine Maxwell — the only known living Epstein accomplice currently behind bars — was mysteriously transferred from a Florida penitentiary to a minimum-security facility in Texas that has no surveillance cameras or recordings.
Maxwell’s brother Ian exclusively tells the Enquirer that his sister is “not suicidal,” and experts believe the deep-state cabal wants to make sure the last remaining witness is silenced.
An insider warns, “She’s got a bull’s-eye on her back!”
I know, I know, fakebook...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/diedsuddenlynewsofficial/posts/1435421491071449/
Joe Rogan just hosted the most censored doctor in America. Dr. Mary Bowden exposed what really happened during COVID and the cover-up runs deeper than you think. Here are & shocking takeaways they never wanted you to hear:
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Hospitals were using morphine to kill without pain. Dr. Bowden reviewed patient charts showing people with zero pain being given lethal doses of morphine and insulin. This wasn't treatment. It was quiet execution by protocol.
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The Ivermectin smear campaign was planned. The FDA called it a "horse dewormer" on the same day they launched an $11.5 billion COVID media fund. Ivermectin won a Nobel Prize. It's on the WHO's essential medicines list. Why was it really banned?
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Monoclonal antibodies worked too well. They saved lives - fast. Some patients recovered within 24 hours. So what happened? The government seized control of supply and restricted access. Not because they didn't work but because they did.
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Breathing treatments were banned. Budesonide (a corticosteroid) helped patients breathe - safely and effectively. Hospitals banned it, claiming it "spread the virus." Dr. Bowden resorted to treating patients in their cars.
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Medical boards became weapons. Doctors who challenged the narrative were hunted down. Dr. Bowden is still fighting the Texas Medical Board-3 years later-for prescribing Ivermectin. It was never about safety. It was about control.
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Vaccine injuries are real and ignored. Dr. Bowden sees 6+ new vaccine-injured patients every week. Many have 10x higher antibody levels than the unvaccinated-4 years later. 98% of injury compensation claims are denied.
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Canada offered death, not care. Over 15,000 people died from "assisted suicide" in Canada last year. Many were vaccine-injured and abandoned by the system. Instead of help, they were offered death.
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500+ new mRNA shots are coming. 33 of them are "self-amplifying" designed to replicate inside your body. No off switch. No way to stop them once injected. Some are already approved in Japan and India.
And If you think this is the whole story, it isn't. This is just the beginning of what's being covered up.
Let's get this party STARTED! Hoo-Yaaa!!!
CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred several major players involved in the Russian collusion conspiracy to help Trump win the 2016 election to the Justice Department for criminal charges. They include former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Ratcliffe said that the statute of limitations does not apply and should not shield the people he referred for criminal prosecution. These referrals follow Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s referral of former US President Barack Obama for criminal charges. Obama may be able to avoid facing prosecution due to presidential immunity protections.
Obama, Clinton, Comey and Brennan are accused of manufacturing findings from shoddy sources, suppressing evidence that disproved their false claims, disobeying IC tradecraft standards, and withholding the truth. The coup against President Trump included federal investigations, two impeachments, FBI raids on his home, arrests of senior officials, smears and harassment of President Trump and his family, and more.
Earlier this month, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a declassified oversight majority staff report from September 2020 that details how the Obama Administration manufactured an Intelligence Community Assessment they knew was false. President Obama directed the creation of a January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment after President Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, and it served as the basis for what was essentially a years-long coup against the duly elected President of the United States, subverting the will of the American people and attempting to delegitimize Donald Trump’s presidency.
In the summer of 2016, months before the public was hit with a barrage of headlines about Donald Trump’s supposed electoral collusion with the Russians, American intelligence agencies had already learned of a plan by Hillary Clinton to plant that erroneous narrative into the mainstream. Nevertheless, top-ranking intelligence chiefs did nothing to unravel Clinton’s plan. Worse, according to the current director of the CIA, they magnified that false claim.
The Russia Collusion hoax was not only a “Hillary Clinton campaign scheme,” but one that the FBI further inflamed, according to recent comments by CIA Director John Ratcliffe. It was an all-hands-on-deck intel operation against Donald Trump and the American people.
Ratcliffe announced during a guest appearance on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo that he has referred several major players involved in that conspiracy to the Justice Department for criminal charges. They include former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Trump’s presidential opponent in 2016. These referrals follow Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s referral of former U.S. President Barack Obama for criminal charges.
Obama’s “Treasonous Conspiracy” Gabbard released on July 18 a report she said indicated a a “treasonous conspiracy” by Obama and his national security team to undermine the first Trump presidency by falsely claiming that the Trump campaign had colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election. She published a 114-page report of previously classified documents to support the claim. You can read out report on that development here.
The Obama camp has since responded, calling it a “a weak attempt at distraction.” Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush also repeated the prevailing defensive narrative that, even if Russia did not successfully affect the election results, that does not mean that Obama’s administration was lying. “Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” Rodenbush said.
Some have suggested that, whatever Obama’s role was, he likely won’t face prosecution due to presidential immunity protections.
New Revelations On Sunday, Ratcliffe told Bartiromo that additional information will soon be made public. It will show that, while the Clinton campaign was the source of the Russia Collusion hoax, the FBI had its own agenda to magnify and perpetuate the claims in the Steele Dossier, named after Democratic opposition researcher and former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele.
Ratcliffe emphasized that, long before Gabbard’s office released receipts over a week ago, before the Robert Mueller investigation cleared Trump, and even before the Deep State tried to set up Trump as a “Putin puppet” through Operation Crossfire Hurricane, the U.S. intel community knew Trump was not working with the Russians. American intel intercepted in August 2016 Russian intel “talking about a Hillary Clinton plan … to falsely accuse Donald Trump of Russia collusion, to vilify him and smear him.…” Brennan, then the director of the CIA, briefed Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden, then-Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper, and Comey about this plan. Months later, those same people would take part in a pivotal meeting that resulted in a propaganda campaign projecting those claims as true.
Ratcliffe said that four years later, in 2020, he found Brennan’s handwritten notes that acknowledged Clinton’s plan (the notes were shown on the screen during the Bartiromo segment). By that time, though, those same people were busy concocting their next propaganda operation, the Hunter Biden Laptop hoax. And it’s only now, Ratcliffe added, after Americans reelected Trump, that “all of this evidence that’s been hidden and buried from the American people is finally coming to light.”
No Statute of Limitations Ratcliffe said that the statute of limitations does not apply and should not shield the people he referred for criminal prosecution. He pointed out that Brennan testified to John Durham in 2020 and the House Oversight Committee in 2022, Clinton testified to Durham in 2022, and Comey testified before the Senate Committee in September 2020 with these same false claims. He also added that Clinton’s role has been verified in multiple ways, including by Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook, who testified in the Michael Sussmann trial that the former presidential candidate personally approved a plan to convince the public that the Trump team colluded with the Russians.
The new Trump DOJ, Ratcliffe said, provides an opportunity to “look at how these people really did conspire to run a hoax, fraud, on the American people and against Donald Trump’s presidency.” The CIA chief said accountability is part of the reason they’re bringing all of this to light, but so is prevention. Something like this should never happen again.
Substantial Documentation As we pointed out in a recent edition of The New American’s Insider Report, the alleged illegal activity of the intel community “was far more extensive and more serious than previously known.” Gabbard’s document is among many others in this vein to have been recently released.
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced on July 21 the release of the “Clinton Annex” to the 2018 DOJ Office of Inspector General’s findings that the FBI, under Comey, did not fully investigate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server and mishandling of classified information when she was the secretary of state. Grassley had been asking for this classified document for seven years. Attorney General Pam Bondi finally declassified it.
Two days later, on July 23, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) announced the release of a 46-page report on the fabricated assessment by Obama and his intel heads — Clapper, Brennan, Comey — that Trump colluded with Russia. This report had been classified since 2017.
Intel’s “New Assessment” As this information continues to emerge, it provides a clearer picture of how the Deep State operates. Gabbard’s report, for example, suggests that even though the intel community at large had already determined that the Russians would not affect the outcome of the 2016 election, the narrative shift happened on December 9, a month after Trump won, during a meeting between Obama and his intel chiefs. During that meeting, Obama ordered the creation of a new intelligence assessment implicating Russia in election meddling, “even though it would contradict multiple intelligence assessments released over the previous several months.”
After the meeting, then-DNI Clapper’s assistant sent out an email to DNI officials asking them to put together an “assessment per the President’s request.” In addition to the DNI’s office, other intel agencies who joined in the conspiracy included the CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS.
The press release from Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, on July 23, 2025 summarized how the conspirators against Trump in 2016 acted to delegitimize him – they: manufactured findings from shoddy sources, suppressed evidence that disproved their false claims, disobeyed IC tradecraft standards, and withheld the truth from the American people. DNI Gabbard said that they “kicked off what would essentially be a yearslong coup against President Trump which included federal investigations, two impeachments, FBI raids on his home, arrests of senior officials, smears and harassment of President Trump and his family, and more. The American people deserve the truth, accountability and justice. The integrity, and therefore the future of our democratic republic demands it.”
DNI Press Release: https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4090-pr-18-25