Salem News Channel

Trump Actions are Justified by Striking Iran

Read More...

The House Oversight Committee has voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions over the Justice Department’s handling of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. Five Republicans joined Democrats on Wednesday support the subpoena proposed by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina in a sign of continued frustration with the department’s review and release of a tranche of documents regarding the wealthy financier. The Justice Department had no immediate comment on the subpoena.

Read More...

President Donald Trump's administration is expanding its crackdown on state Medicaid programs to New York, launching a fraud probe in the state a week after it said it was freezing nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding in Minnesota over similar accusations. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announced Tuesday that the Trump administration identified concerning trends in New York’s Medicaid program and demanded that state officials provide details about their handling of fraud, waste and abuse within 30 days or risk deferred payments. “Heart surgeons are trained to look at the numbers,” Oz, a former celebrity heart surgeon, said in a video on Tuesday. “Right now, the numbers coming out of New York’s Medicaid program don’t add up.” The new investigation is part of an administration-wide initiative to address fraud around the country, which federal officials say is needed to rein in runaway spending and protect taxpayers. With many midterm voters concerned about affordability, Trump has ramped up those efforts, announcing that Vice President JD Vance would help balance the nation’s budget by spearheading a national “war on fraud.” Targeted Democratic state officials have decried the Republican administration's moves as politically motivated and potentially disastrous for the millions of people who rely on the health care safety net for low-income Americans. New York's Democratic governor says the move is politically targeted In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, Oz wrote that the state's spending levels combined with “serious concerns” about its oversight of certain Medicaid services demand “immediate investigation, corrective action and enhanced transparency.” The letter flagged specific areas of concern, including a high proportion of New York's Medicaid beneficiaries receiving personal care services related to daily living activities like bathing, grooming and meal preparation. New York’s soaring Medicaid costs have long vexed the state’s governors and were a top priority of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who grappled for years with the program's spiraling price tag as residents age and receive additional benefits. The state's program, which cost $115.6 billion in the 2025 fiscal year, provides health care for about 1 in 3 New Yorkers and spends more per person for care than Medicaid programs in any other state. Hochul has also tried to rein in costs through an overhaul of how a home health care program is administered. Asked Wednesday by reporters about Oz’s letter, Hochul said the Trump administration is targeting a Democrat-led state for political reasons but added, “I will have to stand up and show them the truth and show them the facts, that they’re wrong. When there is fraud I will help them fight it.” Hochul's office said the fraud investigation was an attempt by the Trump administration to rip health care away from everyday New Yorkers. CMS said in an emailed statement that ensuring states comply with federal rules is “a core part of the agency’s federal oversight role.” New York investigation follows a federal crackdown in Minnesota The New York investigation comes less than a week after CMS halted Medicaid payments to Minnesota over fraud concerns. Oz said the money would be delivered only after Minnesota implements “a comprehensive corrective action plan." The administration had previously cited allegations of fraud involving day care centers run by Minneapolis-area Somali residents as a reason for a massive federal enforcement surge there. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, called the new funding freeze “targeted retribution.” Minnesota on Monday sued the Trump administration over the deferred payments. The state is also appealing CMS withholding $2 billion in annual Medicaid funds announced in early January. The Trump administration has sought to withhold funding from Democratic-led states at least two other times in recent months citing fraud concerns. It happened with child care subsidies and other social services programs in Minnesota, New York and three other states and with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 22 states that have declined to hand over data that the federal government says is needed to catch fraud. In both those cases, judges have ruled that the money must continue to flow for now.

Read More...

President Donald Trump is pressing Big Tech to build its own power as AI data centers spark anger over electric bills. On Wednesday, he hosted technology companies at the White House and promoted a “ratepayer protection” pledge. The pledge asks companies to build or buy new generation for their centers and asks them to pay for grid upgrades. Experts say the deal lacks federal enforcement and doubt that promises by the tech companies can slow down fast-rising electricity prices.

Read More...

Kurdish Iranian dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for a potential cross-border military operation in Iran, and the U.S. has asked Iraqi Kurds to support them, Kurdish officials have told The Associated Press. Kurdish party leaders have also discussed the Iran crisis with President Donald Trump, according to Iraqi Kurdish officials. One official says Trump has asked them to open the border and back the groups militarily. Iraqi Kurdish leaders fear Iranian retaliation. Recent drone and missile strikes have already hit the region, damaging homes, and disrupting electricity. Iraq also reinforces the border and the Iraqi government has vowed to stop infiltrations.

Read More...

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff will arrive in South Carolina next week to help the state contain the largest measles outbreak in the country in decades, a state official said in a briefing on Wednesday. The first CDC on the ground assist comes some five months after the South Carolina outbreak began. The state reported five additional measles cases so far this week as the outbreak neared 1,000 cases. But health officials said infections appear to be slowing, aided by a strong vaccination response in February, which is up 70% compared with the same month last year. Three CDC disease detectives from the agency's Epidemic Intelligence Service are expected to help analyze data collected during the outbreak, said Dr. Linda Bell, South Carolina's epidemiologist. Last week, Reuters reported that a dozen non-CDC public health experts paid for by the nonprofit CDC Foundation were arriving in South Carolina to help the state contain the outbreak. The CDC generally provides scientists and medical officers for brief deployments of a few weeks, which the state's health department said last week do not fulfill needs to support daily job functions. Bell said in a briefing that staff from the CDC Foundation helped with "day-to-day work that supports those disease containment efforts," while CDC officers would help analyze the massive data generated nearly 22 weeks into the outbreak to better understand transmission chains. ELIMINATION STATUS IN JEOPARDY South Carolina's measles outbreak has become the nation's largest since 1992, with 990 cases reported as of Tuesday. Its childhood immunization rates had declined in recent years as local political leaders and parents criticized the CDC's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and pushed back against COVID-related lockdowns and vaccine mandates. The U.S. is trying to retain its status of having eliminated measles even after recording the highest number of confirmed infections in three decades. Earlier this week, the Pan American Health Organization said the United States has requested a postponement to review its measles elimination status until November. Deployment of CDC staff comes after the agency's new acting director, Jay Bhattacharya, on Monday urged Americans to get vaccinated against measles, saying it was the best protection against the disease. The previous acting CDC head, Jim O'Neill, raised questions about the safety of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine last fall, without evidence, and called for it to be split into several shots. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dropped broad recommendations for six childhood vaccines, saying that parents must make these decisions in consultation with a doctor, drawing rebukes from major medical groups. Bhattacharya also serves as director of the National Institutes of Health.

Read More...

The Trump administration has formally nominated Kevin Warsh, a former top Federal Reserve official, to be the next Fed chair when Jerome Powell's term ends in two months. Warsh's nomination, which was initially announced Jan. 30, was forwarded to the Senate Wednesday, where it will be taken up by the Senate Banking Committee. Yet the nomination could stall there. Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican on the committee, has said he will oppose confirming Warsh until a criminal investigation into Powell is resolved. Powell revealed Jan. 11 that the Justice Department had subpoenaed the Fed over Powell's Senate testimony last June about the central bank's $2.5 billion building renovation project. Tillis said last month that the committee could hold a hearing about Warsh's nomination, but he would vote to block confirmation. If all Democrats on the committee voted against Warsh as well, the nomination wouldn't pass out of the committee to the full Senate. Warsh has harshly criticized the Fed's policies in recent years, including its low interest rate policies coming out of the pandemic, which he says contributed to the United States' largest inflation spike in four decades in 2021-2022. Yet Warsh now has echoed President Donald Trump's demands for lower rates. Warsh says that productivity gains from artificial intelligence will help the economy grow more quickly without spurring inflation, enabling the Fed to reduce borrowing costs. Many Fed officials, however, disagree that AI's development will support rate cuts.

Read More...

U.S. Senate Republicans backed President Donald Trump's military campaign against Iran on Wednesday, voting to block a bipartisan resolution aiming to stop the air war and require that any hostilities against Iran be authorized by Congress. As voting continued, the tally in the 100-member Senate was 52 to 47 not to advance the resolution, largely along party lines, with almost every Republican voting against the procedural motion and almost every Democrat supporting it. The latest effort by Democrats and a few Republicans to rein in President Donald Trump's repeated foreign troop deployments, sponsors described the war powers resolution as a bid to take back Congress' responsibility to declare war, as spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. Opponents rejected this, insisting that Trump's action was legal and within his right as commander in chief to protect the United States by ordering limited strikes. "This is not a forever war, indeed not even close to it. This is going to end very quickly," Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a speech against the resolution. The measure had not been expected to succeed. Trump's fellow Republicans hold slim majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, and have blocked previous resolutions seeking to curb his war powers.

Read More...

U.S. Senate Republicans backed President Donald Trump's military campaign against Iran on Wednesday, voting to block a bipartisan resolution aiming to stop the air war and require that any hostilities against Iran be authorized by Congress. As voting continued, the tally in the 100-member Senate was 52 to 47 not to advance the resolution, largely along party lines, with almost every Republican voting against the procedural motion and almost every Democrat supporting it. The latest effort by Democrats and a few Republicans to rein in President Donald Trump's repeated foreign troop deployments, sponsors described the war powers resolution as a bid to take back Congress' responsibility to declare war, as spelled out in the U.S. Constitution. Opponents rejected this, insisting that Trump's action was legal and within his right as commander in chief to protect the United States by ordering limited strikes. "This is not a forever war, indeed not even close to it. This is going to end very quickly," Republican Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a speech against the resolution. The measure had not been expected to succeed. Trump's fellow Republicans hold slim majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives, and have blocked previous resolutions seeking to curb his war powers.

Read More...

Why Do Some Say the U.S. and Israel Aren’t Justified?

Read More...

Josh opens the show with the latest developments involving Iran and reacts to comments made Wednesday by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. He also addresses how some of the loudest opposition to the strikes is coming from a small group of voices on the Right, even as most polling shows strong support among Republicans for the action taken over the weekend. Josh examines the motivations behind that criticism and discusses how he believes those arguments should be challenged. Later, Josh is joined by Rich Goldberg, Senior Advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, to break down the strikes on Iran and explain why he believes the timing for the operation was necessary. To close the show, Josh looks at the latest political developments, including key primary races unfolding in Texas.

Read More...

Jasmine Crockett Lost, So She Blamed Republicans

Read More...

Trump: We are in a Strong Position

Read More...

How is the Media Portraying the War with Iran?

Read More...

A small plane carrying a student pilot and flight instructor struck two homes in north Phoenix on Wednesday before landing nose-down in a backyard, injuring them and a man who was in one of the homes, authorities said. The instructor, student and injured man were taking to a hospital, fire department spokesperson Capt. Todd Keller told reporters from news outlets Arizona’s Family and Fox-10. The Piper P-28 had one of its wings torn off and ended up nose-down next to a swimming pool in the backyard of the second home it hit, authorities said. The missing wing sat on top of the first home’s damaged tile roof. The plane was headed to the nearby Deer Valley Airport. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the crash.

Read More...

Ecuador and the United States have begun joint military operations against organized crime groups in the South American country, the U.S. military said, but neither government has given details of the location and scope of the operation. U.S. Southern Command said in a statement late Tuesday that Ecuadorian and U.S. military forces had launched operations in a “powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism.” A 30-second video accompanying a post on X showed a helicopter flying over a group of men walking on the ground, but the footage stops without revealing more about the location. “We are taking decisive action to confront narco-terrorists who have long inflicted terror, violence, and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere,” the post added, without providing other details of the operation. Ecuador's foreign and defense ministries did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. The operation was not mentioned Wednesday at the U.S. defense secretary briefing, which was focused on Iran. Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa had said earlier this week that his government was beginning joint actions with other countries as part of a new phase in the fight against organized crime, as Ecuador faces a sustained wave of violence linked to drug trafficking and illegal mining. “Ecuador demands security, our people need to live in peace,” said Noboa, adding that military and police forces will be involved in the operations he described as “very important.” Ecuador maintains good relations with the United States, Israel and Italy, among other countries, often collaborating on security issues. In February, Noboa ordered the foreign ministry to seek cooperation agreements with “allied nations” that would allow “the incorporation of special forces” on a temporary basis as support for the Ecuadorian police and armed forces. Authorities identify Ecuador as a critical logistical hub in the global drug trade, where drugs — particularly cocaine — are stockpiled, stored and distributed, especially from the northern border with Colombia. The shipments are transported from its ports to Central America, the United States and Europe.

Read More...

Gavin Newsom Claims Israel is an Apartheid State

Read More...

Minnesota's governor and attorney general on Wednesday defended their efforts to combat fraud and told a U.S. House committee that their efforts have been hampered by President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in the state. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee accused Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison of stalling to fight fraud in government programs, saying they put politics ahead of rooting out abuse instead of pausing payments. “You have not been good stewards of the taxpayer dollars,” said Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, chair of the committee. “And the Democratic position is keep the money flowing. The American taxpayers have had enough.” Walz said he wanted to work with the federal government to help with fraud investigations, but the immigration surge was making that more difficult. “The people of Minnesota have been singled out and targeted for political retribution at an unparalleled scale,” Walz said. “We’re going to prosecute, as we have, every single person that’s involved in fraud, but we can’t do it alone." Walz and Ellison defended their efforts on fraud, while also trying to turn the focus of the hearing to the surge of 3,000 federal agents in Minnesota that began in December. The Trump administration cited fraud as one justification for its enforcement action. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified Tuesday that about 650 investigators remain in Minnesota as part of a broader fraud probe. “Operation Metro Surge did nothing to address fraud in our state," Ellison said. "It harmed our economy and it scarred our people and it dealt a devastating blow to fraud enforcement in Minnesota.” Ellison noted the series of resignation of lawyers in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota, leaving those who remain “drowning in immigration-related petitions” instead of prosecuting fraud. On Tuesday, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota appeared before a judge for a contempt hearing related to Immigration and Customs Enforcement not returning personal property of detainees. Ellison said his office has “punched above our weight” in winning 300 Medicaid fraud convictions and recovering more than $80 million for taxpayers. Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana called on Ellison to resign, accusing him of not leading investigations into criminal fraud activity. Last week, Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration would “temporarily halt” $243 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota over fraud concerns, as part of what he described as an aggressive crackdown on misuse of public funds. Minnesota sued on Monday to stop the money from being withheld, warning it may have to cut health care for low-income families if the money is held back. Comer on Wednesday accused Walz of not stopping Medicaid payments despite knowledge of fraud because he “didn’t want to rock the boat.” Comer and other Republicans accused Walz of lying about when he first found out about fraud in a $250 million scheme known as Feeding Our Future and stalling to act in order to protect the Somali American community. Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio asked Walz if he know how many of those who had been indicted were Somali Americans. “Their ethnicity is not my concern,” Walz said. Somali Americans make up 82 of the 92 defendants charged so far in the Feeding our Future case, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota. Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, as part of the effort to focus the hearing on the immigration crackdown, held up images of children detained by federal officers and a picture of the blood-stained car seat of Renee Good who was killed by an officer. Federal officers also killed another Minnesota resident, Alex Pretti, who had been filming enforcement operations. “This violence does not make us safer,” Garcia said. “It does not address fraud, waste and abuse.”

Read More...

Trump Did What No One Else Would!

Read More...

A U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship off the southern coast of Sri Lanka, killing dozens of sailors and dramatically widening Washington's pursuit of the Iranian navy. Sri Lanka's deputy foreign minister identified the warship as the frigate IRIS Dena, and said it was heading back to Iran from an eastern Indian port. The attack happened hundreds of miles across the Indian Ocean from the Gulf, where U.S. and Israeli forces are striking Iran and Tehran is retaliating with missile and drone attacks. "An American submarine sank an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the Pentagon. "Instead, it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death." Hospital authorities in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle said 87 bodies were brought in by military rescuers who responded to an early morning distress call. Another 32 were rescued and were being treated at hospital and about 60 people were likely unaccounted for from an estimated 180 people on board, Sri Lankan authorities said. A Pentagon video purporting to have captured the attack showed the warship being hit by a huge explosion which blew apart the rear of the vessel, lifting it from the water, and caused it to begin sinking from the stern. The exact date when the video was filmed and the type of warship could not be verified. However, the deck shape and mast of the vessel in the video matched file imagery of the same type of warship as the IRIS Dena. The Iranian vessel had taken part in a naval exercise organized by India in the Bay of Bengal from February 18 to 25, according to the drill's website. Sri Lanka said it had launched a search-and-rescue operation to locate survivors after receiving a distress call. Sri Lankan navy spokesman Commander Buddhika Sampath said boats that reached the location observed only an oil slick, adding that although the incident took place outside Sri Lankan waters, Colombo was still committed to providing support. "We found people floating in the water and rescued them," Sampath told reporters. "Later on, we found upon inquiring that they belonged to the Iranian ship." Rescuers brought bodies, covered in white sheets, in batches in a truck to the Karapitiya hospital in Galle where they were moved to the morgue. The commander of the warship and some senior officers were among the survivors and they told the Sri Lankan navy that they were hit by a submarine attack, two Sri Lankan sources told Reuters.

Read More...