Trump’s FBI Pick Was Target in DOJ Investigation Into Leaks

Kash Patel was among 43 White House staffers whose phone records were obtained by the Justice Department during a leak investigation during Donald Trump’s first term, CNN reports, citing the department’s inspector general.

The investigation, which also included two members of Congress, was conducted secretly. Patel, whom Trump has chosen to replace Christopher Wray as FBI director, was not named in the report, nor were the two congresspeople. But two anonymous sources told CNN that the phone records of Patel and Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell were among those obtained.

The DOJ also went after the email addresses of journalists at CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, according to the report. At the time, the Trump administration was desperately trying to stop leaks of sensitive information, and were focusing on people who may have had security access.

An investigation based only on “the close proximity in time between access to classified information and subsequent publication of the information … risks chilling Congress’s ability to conduct oversight of the executive branch,” the inspector general wrote, adding that this kind of investigation creates “the appearance of inappropriate interference by the executive branch in legitimate oversight activity by the legislative branch.”

Patel may have been just one part of a broad investigation, but the fact that he was among those suspected of leaks calls into question why he’s now Trump’s pick to head the government’s largest law enforcement agency. If Wray is removed and Patel is confirmed to take over the FBI, such investigations might become the norm. The Trump gadfly only has three years as a federal prosecutor to account for his law enforcement experience, and seems ready to embark on haphazard attempts to prosecute the president’s real and imagined enemies.

Already, Patel may have preemptively undermined those prosecutions with the enemies list that he’s published. Any of his legal targets could use it to make a case of malicious prosecution if Patel tried to haul them into court. Patel has already sent a legal threat to one of his critics, signaling how he’d do Trump’s bidding at the FBI without a pesky Justice Department to conduct oversight.

House Republicans haven’t selected a single woman to serve as a committee chair in the next Congress.

With Representative Brian Mast winning out Monday over Representative Ann Wagner to chair the House Foreign Affairs Committee, “no Republican women lawmakers will serve as elected committee leaders next year,” Punchbowl News reports.

Former Republican Representative Barbara Comstock responded to the news Tuesday, tweeting, “Very fitting in the MAGA Era—No Women Need Apply.”

Democratic Representative Don Beyer of Virginia wrote, “Women make up more than half of the population of this country but House Republicans didn’t elect a single one to lead a House committee.”

When asked Tuesday about the lack of women leading House committees, Speaker Mike Johnson said, “Chairmen of committees are very important positions, but we really do engage all the membership. We have extraordinary women serving in Congress.”

“We haven’t decided all the committee chairs yet,” Johnson continued, “so we’ll see how this shakes out.” While no women have been elected to head House committees, Punchbowl notes that Representative Virginia Foxx is a leading contender for House Rules chair, which will be appointed by the speaker.

GOP women’s representation among House committee chairs is shaping up to be even worse than it was at the start of the previous Congress, when women chairing committees were outnumbered by men named Mike 6–3.

According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, 31 Republican women will serve in the House in 2025, compared to 94 Democratic women.

Pete Hegseth is hoping you’ll forget he thinks women aren’t suited for combat roles in the military. Too bad he enthusiastically declared it on camera a little over a month ago.

The vitriolic television host, who is also Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, appeared on Fox News Monday to try to clean up comments he made disparaging all female U.S. soldiers. It was less than convincing.

“I also want an opportunity here, to clarify comments that have been misconstrued that I somehow ‘don’t support women in the military.’ Some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors out there are women, who serve—raised their right hand to defend this country, and love our nation, want to defend that flag, and they do it every single day around the globe,” Hegseth said.

But little more than a month ago, Hegseth said he doesn’t believe women are even fit for active duty.

“I’m straight up just saying we should not have women in combat roles. It hasn’t made us more effective. Hasn’t made us more lethal. Has made fighting more complicated,” Hegseth said during an appearance on the Shawn Ryan Show in November.

“We’ve all served with women, and they’re great. It’s just, our institutions don’t have to incentivize that in places where traditionally—not traditionally, over human history—men in those positions are more capable,” he said.

Hegseth did not deign to explain whether it was being forced to carry around tampons or all the crying that made combat just so much more difficult. And to be clear, it is simply impossible for Hegseth to actually “support” women in the military while thinking, no, advocating that they aren’t suited for combat. It isn’t some kind of brain teaser; it’s just a lie. He’s lying to get a job—specifically, one that would put him in command of 1.3 million active duty troops, many of whom he finds less capable than their male counterparts.

Hegseth has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill this week, hoping to mount Republican support for his increasingly insupportable nomination.

It appears that disgraced former Representative Matt Gaetz has found his new job: anchor on One America News Network.

CNN reports that Gaetz is set to join the pro-Trump network after his bid to be attorney general collapsed under a mountain of drug and sexual misconduct allegations outlined in a buried House Ethics Committee report. It’s the second post-Congress gig for Gaetz, who last month announced that he was setting up an account on the celebrity video website Cameo.

Gaetz will apparently be hosting his own show on OANN, and a webpage bearing the name The Matt Gaetz Show is already live on the outlet’s website. OANN is not widely carried on cable and satellite television, and it was dropped by DirecTV in 2022. The network encourages viewers to stream its programming online.

Last month, Gaetz alluded to his new job in an interview with conservative personality Charlie Kirk.

“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” Gaetz told Kirk.

If Gaetz were to return to Congress, his Ethics Committee report could be released, further damaging his image and political future. His role in the successful effort to unseat former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was actually connected to the misconduct allegations against him, according to McCarthy.

In an interview on Fox News Sunday, McCarthy said Gaetz has himself to blame for his nomination failing.

“I blame Matt Gaetz for lying to [Donald Trump] about his ethics report,” McCarthy said, making the case that Gaetz convinced the president-elect to appoint him attorney general so that he could quit Congress and try to sink the Ethics Committee report against him. McCarthy also claimed Gaetz backed his ouster because of the report.

“People know that’s why he’s not capable of even staying in Congress,” McCarthy said. “He needed an excuse to resign because the Ethics report would be done in a couple days.”

Kari Lake, the television anchor turned twice-failed Republican political candidate from Arizona, is reportedly the leading contender to serve as Donald Trump’s ambassador to Mexico—and no one is happy.

Lake, who built her failed candidacy by mimicking Trump on issues of immigration, border security, and election denialism, is likely to receive the president-elect’s nomination to manage diplomacy with Mexico, Semafor reported Monday.

Lake rose to prominence within her party after refusing to concede that she lost Arizona’s gubernatorial race in 2022. Last month, the MAGA acolyte lost Arizona’s Senate race to Representative Ruben Gallego, a Democrat.

Lake’s Senate failed platform contained a 10-point plan that fell in lock-step with Trump’s hardline immigration policy, including finishing the wall at the southern border, ending asylum claims for people from countries experiencing endemic crime, and the immediate, automatic deportation of undocumented immigrants.

Earlier this month, Trump announced his intention to implement a 25 percent tariff on all goods imports from Mexico, which will more than likely damage border state economies (such as Arizona) and could spark retaliatory tariffs. As the ambassador to Mexico, Lake would advocate for Trump’s immigration and tariff policies to the Mexican government.

Online, the possibility that Lake would land this enormous responsibility was met with exhaustion and derision.

“Tell me you’re not serious about negotiating with Mexico over trade or immigration without telling me …” commented Reason’s Eric Boehm.

Meanwhile, Bridgeport, Pennsylvania, Councilman Tony Heyl wondered, “How is she going to have time to do this when she is already Governor and Senator from Arizona?”