CNN analyst Van Jones found himself on the receiving end of a public apology after a confrontation with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

The two men met for the first time during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, following a series of incendiary remarks made by Jones that Ramaswamy claims led to death threats against him and his family.

The tension began when Jones, during a post-debate analysis on CNN in 2023, labeled Ramaswamy as “the rise of an American demagogue.”

“That guy is dangerous,” Jones stated. “He won’t stop Trump, but he’s going to outlive Trump by about 50 years.”

“I watching the rise of an American demagogue that is a very, very despicable person… Literally, I was shaking listening to him talk because a lot of people don’t know that is one step away from Nazi propaganda coming out of his mouth,” Jones added.

Ramaswamy responded to Jones’ comments during a speech at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest conference, where he dismissed Jones’ rhetoric with disdain.

“You got this character Van Jones on CNN afterward saying: ‘This is the rise of an American demagogue who’s gonna live 50 years longer than Trump, this is dangerous, I am shaking,’” Ramaswamy said, adding, “Just shut the f—k up.”

On Thursday, Ramaswamy and Jones met for the first time at the DNC.

Ramaswamy recounted the impact of Jones’ words on his family’s safety. “The first time in the campaign, we get a death threat from a man who wants to show up in New Hampshire,” he said.

“Thankfully, the police in the regime got it. The next day, back to back, my wife scared enough. The next day we wake up, it’s 3 AM. We get a call from him. He’s my security guard saying, ‘Thank God you picked up because we just got a call. Somebody showed up in your house and has four dead bodies.’ That’s within 48 hours.”

Jones later extended an olive branch, requesting Ramaswamy’s personal number and offering to apologize directly to his wife.

“I will call you in couple days and I will apologize to your wife,” said Jones.

“We don’t need to do any this on air…” said Ramaswamy.

“That’s okay. I’ll call your wife and talk to her.”

“You know what we can do? You can turn the page and maybe have a chapter to demonstrate what actually good discourse looks like in this country,” Ramaswamy replied. “That’s not just on you, that’s on me as well. That’s on two of us… I hope we can build a friendship.”

WATCH:

INCREDIBLE MOMENT: Van Jones and Vivek meet for the first time.

Van Jones’ unhinged rhetoric on CNN led to death threats against Vivek & his family.

At first meeting they effectively told each other to f**k off.

Then Van returned and something truly remarkable happened… pic.twitter.com/gaYNtT05lC

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 23, 2024

The post CNN Analyst Van Jones Forced to Apologize After Confrontation with Vivek Ramaswamy Over Previous Unhinged Rhetoric That Endangered Ramaswamy’s Family appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

In part one of a two-part series, former and active members of the military shared concerns over the lack of attention Congress and senior military leadership have given as they relate to the now rescinded COVID-19 shot mandate and the future of America’s fighting force.

Disappointment in the system is a driving factor for many service members, according to Maj. (ret.) Jeremy “Weed” Sorenson, a former F-16 and A-10 fighter pilot, who now serves as  Director of Guard and Reserve Affairs for Uniformed Services Justice & Advocacy Group (USJAG).

He told The Gateway Pundit that he has been pleading with members of HASC and the Department of Defense on behalf of many service members injured in Line of Duty for years.

This experience has often left him feeling like “I’m hitting my head against the wall,” because his efforts are repeatedly ignored or he’s “given lip service” from congressmen or their staffers, he explained.

In one recent example concerning the vaccine injuries sustained by Army Spec. Karolina Stancik while serving in the U.S. Army—on NewsNation with Chris Cuomo—Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) expressed interest in helping military members whose claims have been denied after being injured in Line of Duty.

Cuomo later followed up with Sorenson about the congressman’s public profession (at the 2:27 mark). Although he said he would “look into it,” Sorenson confirmed with The Gateway Pundit that Rep. Gimenez has still done little to nothing.

Sorenson said he works with clients who contemplate suicide because of injuries sustained while in the Line of Duty and “for Congress and the DOD to show no sense of urgency or concern in some of [USJAG’s cases] is absolutely disgusting.”

Suicides during the pandemic totaled over 1,400, dwarfing the number killed during that same period in combat or the number attributed to the COVID virus.

“These are my brothers, and it makes me sick,” Sorenson continued. “The injustices rendered against them must be corrected, and for this to happen, DOD has to stop misleading and lying to congressmen about their issues.”

“There’s much to be investigated and no one seems overly concerned to the point that “even whistleblower complaints are being ignored,” Sorenson said.

“While widespread, systemic mistreatment of injured U.S. military service members, like Stancik, continues to occur, the whole system’s so broken that congressmen and their committees would rather roll over than get the DOD to act.”

Ignoring the Information

The Gateway Pundit also spoke to Lt. Col. (ret.) Ivan Raiklin, a constitutional attorney, former Army Green Beret, and previous instructor at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) who shares similar concerns over congressional inaction.

He noted that the writings about moral injury by Brad Miller, a former Army lieutenant colonel and 101st Airborne battalion commander, have been shared with many HASC members and staff directors.

According to Miller, who was relieved of command in October 2021 for refusing to comply with a mandate, some service members who committed various acts related to the shot mandate did so in violation of their own moral code, and these actions have caused guilt or shame.

In addition, Raiklin noted that a copy of Defending the Constitution Behind Enemy Lines by Navy Cmdr. Robert A. Green, Jr., has also been given to members of HASC.

The book details “the military COVID-19 vaccine mandate, and the resistance to that mandate by service members who could not, in good conscience, go along.”

Cmdr. Green is also responsible for authoring the Declaration of Military Accountability (DMA) which was signed by 231 active service members and veterans from all branches of the military and shared publicly on Jan. 1, 2024.

The declaration pledges to hold military leaders accountable for the illegal conduct and harms caused by the DOD’s now-rescinded COVID-19 shot mandate. The declaration was subsequently entered into the Congressional Record by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) on Jan. 11.

Raiklin said, “It’s good that we’ve gotten to the subcommittee level in exposure, but we haven’t gotten to the overall committee level to address the root of the problem.”

For him, “This is the opportunity we’re fighting for…to share our stories with entire country so they fully understand how the mandate was totally unlawful and illegally implemented to the military.”

Raiklin applauds representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Majorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Jim Banks (R-IN), Corey Mills (R-FL), and senators Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) for being receptive to the idea and for certain accountability efforts that many of them have supported.

However, for some representatives like HASC chairman Mike Rogers (R-AL) and House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic chairman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), who remain largely silent on the issue and have ignored his messages and the countless messages of others, he considers them “ineffective, toxic, feckless, stone-cold coward, uncritical thinking simps.” And he hopes his words will anger them into action. “If not,” he said, “they’re absolutely, with no doubt in my mind, complicit in a cover-up.”

It Takes a Team

Efforts to reach Congress and senior military leadership are expanding. For Lt. Col. Carolyn Rocco, who has served over 20 years in the Air Force, she recognized immediately there was “a level of tomfoolery that accompanied the COVID shot mandate after it was being pushed less than a year from the start of production.” She voiced her concerns about the legal, moral, medical, and ethical violations, but “they all fell on deaf ears,” she told The Gateway Pundit.

According to her, “The mandate was rescinded, not because the DOD realized their wrongdoings, but because they were forced by Congress via the 2023 NDAA.”

In an effort “to educate those in D.C.,” Lt. Col. Rocco said that she, Maj. Brennan Schilperoort, and others began sending a copy of Green’s book as well as whistleblower documentation to various government offices and officials.

Maj. Schilperoort has served over 16 years in the Air Force and said that when he learned about Austin’s mandate in late 2021, he tried to reach out to Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR), Rep. French Hill’s (R-AR), and Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) offices as a whistleblower, attempting to explain that the DOD was denying service members their constitutional right to oppose the mandate.

“They did nothing at the time,” Maj. Schilperoort lamented. “Many people today still don’t even know that the COVID-19 vax mandate was illegal, and if they do, most don’t know why.”

“By mid-2022,” Maj. Schilperoort said, “it was readily apparent that top military leaders were not going to uphold their oaths to the Constitution on their own, so a small group of whistleblowers within the DOD’s lower ranks came forward with their complaint, but they too were ignored.”

This Whistleblower Report effort, also authored by Navy Commander Robert A. Green Jr., was directed to all members of the HASC and SASC regardless of political party.

It was ignored by every single one of them except Sen. Ron Johnson. Sen. Johnson, to his credit, immediately sent a Congressional Inquiry to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin demanding answers about what the Whistleblower Report contained, but was subsequently ignored.

“Frustrated, disheartened, and with no other options,” Maj. Schilperoort noted that on Jan. 1, the Declaration of Military Accountability was sent to each member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A subsequent military accountability petition was created, and others have joined their effort, garnering over 36,000 signatures to date.

In their continued fight against unlawfulness of the mandate, Lt. Col. Rocco and Maj. Schilperoort have spent thousands of dollars on shipping Green’s book as well as the Declaration of Military Accountability to over 120 members of Congress, including members of HASC, SASC, and the House Oversight Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic. They also sent the book and the Declaration of Military Accountability to nearly 200 top military commanders.

Restoration and Accountability

The author spoke to dozens of service members who are equally concerned and have joined the call for restoration and accountability. Service members are not the only ones who acknowledge the need to correct the harms that were perpetrated on good service members.

In a recent speech, presidential candidate Donald Trump committed to rehiring and providing backpay to all service members who were kicked out of the military over the COVID mandate.

As for accountability, President Trump has committed to firing the leaders involved in perpetrating harmful policies like the recent transgender policies in the military and the embarrassing Afghanistan withdrawal.

For service members looking for accountability for the COVID mandate policies in the military, these are definitely steps in the right direction, according to many who serve or have served the nation.

For service members, accountability is a non-partisan requirement, and those who signed the Declaration of Military Accountability are committed to pursuing accountability regardless of who wins in November or the timeframe required.

All the active service members interviewed, including Lt. Col. Carolyn Rocco and Maj. Brennan Schilperoort, emphasized that their views are their own and that they don’t speak for the Department of Defense or any branch of service.

The post EXCLUSIVE: Active-duty and Former Service Members Plead for Congress to Lend Them an Ear, Part 2 appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to hold a press conference at 11 am PST in Phoenix, Arizona, where he is expected to announce his withdrawal from the 2024 Presidential Election and endorse Donald J. Trump for President.

As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier this week, Kennedy officially withdrew from the ballot in Arizona, fueling speculation and previous reports that he will join forces with President Trump.

Sources close to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign reportedly confirmed to Alex Jones that an endorsement of Trump will be made official this Friday. RFK Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, also hinted earlier this week at teaming up with President Trump to stop Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

“We run the risk of a Kamala Harris and Walz presidency because we draw votes from Trump, we draw more votes from Trump,” said Shanahan. “Or, we walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump, and, you know, we walk away from that and explain to our base why we’re making this decision.”

This evening, it is believed that following his press conference, RFK will join President Trump nearby as a mystery special guest at his rally in Glendale, Arizona.

BREAKING: Trump Campaign Announces Mystery Special Guest Set to Join President Trump at Highly-Anticipated Arizona Rally

The Gateway Pundit will provide updates on RFK's press conference and President Trump's rally in Glendale at 4 pm PST.

The press conference is now expected to begin at 11:45 am PST.

Update from RFK Jr.:

Time change - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will Address the Nation at 11:45 PT / 2:45 ET

— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) August 23, 2024

Watch live below:

Via Fox:

The post WATCH LIVE: RFK Jr. Expected to Drop Out and Endorse Trump During Address to The Nation appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Left to contemplate suicide and more, the Air Force and Department of Defense (DOD) will soon abandon one of their own, and they simply don’t seem to care.

The Gateway Pundit spoke to Jeremy “Weed” Sorenson, a former Air Force fighter pilot and director of Guard and Reserve Affairs for the Uniformed Services Justice & Advocacy Group (USJAG)—an organization whose primary mission is “to ensure injured service members are separated with benefits, honor, and dignity intact.”

A few short months ago, he became aware of a case he considers “most egregious.” The case involves Staff Sergeant Kyle Matthews, a nine-year veteran of the Air Force, who is set to be “unlawfully kicked out of the military” on Tuesday, August 27.

SSgt. Matthews returned from a deployment to the Middle East last year. And according to his wife, he returned a different man. The father of six sought mental health treatment.

“Over the course of the last 15 months,” Sorenson said, “[SSgt. Matthews] has participated in multiple off-base inpatient and outpatient treatment programs [at the request of health officials from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Wrightstown, New Jersey].”

As a result, he was diagnosed with multiple mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and panic disorder.

Despite requiring further inpatient treatment, medical personnel began outpatient treatment at the New Jersey Air Force base. Sorenson was shocked to learn “they denied that he had any of the previous diagnoses [and determined that] multiple off-base providers had erred.

Conveniently, the Air Force has diagnosed him with adjustment disorder, and borderline personality disorder, both of which are non-compensable under the Disability Evaluation System.”

It’s also interesting to note that one of the medications SSgt. Matthews has been prescribed is lithium—which he has been prescribed for over six months to treat bipolar disorder. “Yet, the Air Force refuses to acknowledge the diagnosis [of bipolar disorder],” Sorenson revealed. “How can a medication be prescribed while the diagnosis is denied?” he questioned.

On the brink of SSgt. Matthews’ “unlawful separation,” USJAG will not be silenced on this issue, considering the release of various documents and recordings to the public.

Sorenson said, “We have a plethora of medical documentation, including some which demonstrate that the Department of Defense medical providers are coordinating with his chain of command to make these diagnoses in order to administratively separate him without benefits.”

USJAG has documentation from SSgt. Matthew’s civilian providers, “documenting conversations with the military providers indicating the same,” the USJAG director of Guard and Reserve Affairs also disclosed.

Reluctantly, Sorenson also shared that SSgt. Matthews has attempted to commit suicide on at least three occasions in the last 15 months. “And to compound what he’s already dealing with, they’re precluding his disability benefits and trampling on his rights,” Sorenson argued.

“I am appalled by the DOD’s attempt to deny him his benefits while also denying him his right to due process under the Fifth Amendment. This is the senior leadership of the Air Force and DOD violating the Constitution of the United States. It must be stopped!”

Troy McIntosh, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Reserve Affairs and Airman and Guardian Readiness, educated in culinary arts, has been overseeing the case for at least the last two months.

According to Sorenson, he has personally denied SSgt. Matthews access to his full medical record, which is required to be provided to him under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA.)

For Sorenson, “this is part of a coordinated effort to prevent [SSgt. Mathews] from accessing information which demonstrates the malfeasance of the Department of Defense.”

In addition, he said, McIntosh has “lied on multiple occasions” and “blatantly provided false information” related to the diagnosis and treatment of SSgt. Matthews.

In the fight for the treatment and benefits that SSgt. Matthews has earned through nearly a decade of service, Sorenson said, “It has been an absolute circus with a lack of truthful communication from the DOD.”

“I have personally engaged with [SSgt. Matthews’] chain of command, all the way up to the Secretary of the Air Force and I’ve been ignored, lied to, and misled,” Sorenson shared.

“This has been brought to the direct attention of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who has fallen in line with the lower levels, ignored the issue, and has taken no action.”

According to Sorenson, SecDef Austin has been provided “everything he needs to make the right decision and bring the DOD into compliance with the law”—but he has refused to do so. This tells Sorenson that “because the Air Force knows [SSgt. Matthews] has all these problems, and knows he’s at high suicide risk, it appears to me that they basically just want to get him off their books before he commits suicide.”

On Tuesday, without intervention from the DOD, SSgt. Matthews will find himself separated from the Air Force without benefits or health care. Sadly, he’ll be left alone to battle thoughts of suicide and unable to provide for his wife and six children.

How has this been allowed to happen under the watch of the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense?

The post Explosive Allegations Against the U.S. Air Force and DOD From an Advocacy Group Fighting for the Rights of Injured Military Service Members appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.