Trump’s FBI Pick Isn’t Confirmed, and the Purges Have Already Begun

Less than 24 hours after Kash Patel, Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, tried to convince Democrats he doesn’t have an “enemies list,” six senior FBI leaders were ordered to retire or resign if they don’t want to be fired by Monday, CNN reported.

Some of the officials, who oversee everything from cybersecurity to criminal investigations, were demoted during Patel’s Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, where he failed to clearly answer a number of questions about his plans to go after Trump’s enemies in the bureau.

The Trump loyalist has previously said he would shut down the FBI’s Hoover Building and “replace it with a mausoleum of the Deep State,” sparking concern that Patel would use his power to weaponize the country’s national security organization.

In recent weeks, the FBI Agents Association urged Patel not to punish agents investigating Trump and the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Fear in the bureau escalated this week after Trump fired a number of career Justice Department lawyers who worked on his criminal cases, just the latest move in his gutting of the federal workforce.

On Thursday, Patel feigned ignorance of, but showed no regret about, his plans to go after the president’s adversaries.

“I have no interest, no desire, and will not, if confirmed, go backwards. There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken by any FBI,” Patel said at the hearing, as several officials promoted by former FBI Director Christopher Wray were told to resign the same day.

Patel hopes to join alcoholic Pete Hegseth, fossil fuel ally Lee Zeldin, and former WWE executive Linda McMahon in Trump’s Cabinet.

President Donald Trump is warning a coalition of countries to find “another sucker nation” if they opt to move away from the U.S. dollar.

The major countries in BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—continue to use the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency and for international trade, ensuring America’s financial dominance on the world stage. But on Thursday night, despite the nation reeling from a tragic plane crash in Washington, Trump took to social media to threaten that arrangement, promising that the 10-country coalition (which includes some of America’s biggest trading partners) would face “100 percent tariffs” if it created a new BRICS currency to replace the dollar.

“The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “We are going to require a commitment from these seemingly hostile Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS Currency, nor back any other Currency to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar or, they will face 100% Tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful U.S. Economy.

“They can go find another sucker Nation,” he continued. “There is no chance that BRICS will replace the U.S. Dollar in International Trade, or anywhere else, and any Country that tries should say hello to Tariffs, and goodbye to America!”

In a statement to Newsweek, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation highlighted that it held the largest economy in Africa, while three other member states—China, India, and Brazil—are among the top 10 countries in the world by population, area, and gross domestic product. The department also emphasized that the major BRICS nations are members of the G20, alongside the United States, and continue to invest billions of U.S. dollars in international projects.

“BRICS leaders have called for a reformed international financial system to facilitate trade in local currencies,” the department said. “However, BRICS is not discussing the creation of a common BRICS currency.

“Instead, South Africa supports the increased use of national currencies in international trade and financial transactions to mitigate the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations, rather than focusing on de-dollarisation.

“The strengthening of correspondent banking networks and the development of infrastructure for settlements in national currencies could further this aim,” they continued. “Enhancing BRICS payment systems to accommodate trading in local currencies does not imply de-dollarisation.”

Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination for director of national intelligence may be in serious jeopardy.

Multiple Senate Republicans have cooled on Gabbard, dashing hopes that she’d receive the same warm treatment the GOP gave Trump’s now Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a slightly more controversial pick. Though there are many national security concerns about Gabbard becoming the nation’s top intel chief, most of the conservative qualms about Gabbard appear to be due to her refusal to label NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden a “traitor” in her confirmation hearing Thursday.

“Do you believe, as the chairman of this committee believes, as the vast majority of members of our intelligence agencies believe, that Edward Snowden was a traitor to the United States of America?” asked Democratic Senator Michael Bennet. “He broke the law,” Gabbard replied, refusing to answer the question.

“I think it would befit you and be helpful to the way you are perceived by members of the intelligence community, if you would at least acknowledge that the greatest whistleblower in American history, so-called, harmed national security by breaking the laws of the land around our intel authority,” Republican Todd Young told Gabbard. He was “visibly frustrated” by Gabbard’s refusal to fully denounce Snowden.

Other Republicans echoed these sentiments.

“With Ms. Gabbard, I have said that it was like having a sheet of music that was missing notes.… There are many notes still missing and a number of sour notes and awkward silences that simply don’t ring true as a political philosophy on critical national security issues,” said Senator John Curtis after Gabbard’s confirmation hearing. “I leave today’s hearing with more questions than answers.”

A top-ranking official in the U.S. Department of the Treasury is resigning after a fight with Elon Musk over a sensitive payment system.

The Washington Post reports that David Lebryk, who has worked in the department for decades and is its longest-serving career official, will depart soon, after conflicting with Musk’s deputies over access to the government’s payment system used to distribute trillions of dollars every year. Until Scott Bessent’s confirmation as treasury secretary on Monday, Lebryk served as acting head of the department.

Musk’s people at his “Department of Government Efficiency” have sought access to the system since the election, the Post reports, and their requests continued after Donald Trump’s inauguration. However, the Treasury’s payment systems have usually only been accessed by a small number of career officials.

The Bureau of Fiscal Service operates the systems, controlling $6 trillion of money disbursement around the country. Tens, and possibly hundreds, of millions of people rely on the systems, which distribute Social Security and Medicare benefits, federal salaries, payments to government contractors, grants, and tax refunds, as well as thousands of other things.

Lebryk joined the department in 1989 as an intern, and has worked for three decades under 11 different treasury secretaries. His departure at this time doesn’t bode well, especially since he served in the previous Trump administration and was praised by Trump’s current deputy treasury secretary, Michael Faulkender, in 2023.

“I could not, to this day, tell you his politics,” said Faulkender, who worked with Lebryk in sending out stimulus payments during the Covid-19 pandemic, an effort Lebryk led. “He always seemed to be relaxed and under control.”

It appears that Musk, while upending the lives of federal workers, is now causing chaos with the U.S. government’s money flow. If federal officials who have served for decades under different presidents, including Trump, see a need to quit, that’s not a good sign for the country.

The Trump administration’s changes to its email settings has federal employees getting endlessly spammed with vulgar content.

When Trump took office, he changed the email system so that every single federal worker could be contacted with one email. People are taking advantage of that. According to online reports, all 13,000 employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, were flooded with spam emails on Thursday.

“I haven’t laughed this hard in weeks. From a Scientology confirmation email to an Important Weather Alert that the next 4 years has a 99% chance of shit showers,” one federal worker wrote on the r/fednews subreddit. “I guess this is what happens when you plug in an unsecured server.”

“Aren’t you tired of working for a complete cunt?” one of the NOAA emails read. “TRUMP TRIED TO SUCK MY COCK,” said another. The email with the subject “Important Weather Alert” read, “The next 4 years has a 99% chance of shit showers. Our president is a retard and his VP is a f—. We’re cooked. Please reply.”

Not everyone is using this basic lack of security oversight for crassness.

“I just sent this email to all 13,000 federal employees of the NOAA lol,” said journalist Ken Klippenstein, sharing an email asking federal workers to subscribe to his newsletter. “The Trump administration’s changes to their communications system made it so literally anyone can blast messages out to the entire agency.”

Trump has yet to comment on the spam emails.