National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Wednesday called out Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s hypocrisy and ignorance of the Biden economy as he corrected claims by Schumer that the new GDP data is “very troubling.”

As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier, Chuck Schumer addressed the Quarter 2 GDP numbers showing positive economic growth under Trump on the Senate Floor.

“Today’s GDP number is, in fact, a mirage,” the leftist crank said. He then claimed that “ominous numbers lurk under the hood” show how “worried” businesses are.

What? Chuck Schumer Calls Q2 GDP Numbers a “Mirage” – “Some Ominous Numbers Lurk Under the Hood” (VIDEO)

"Donald Trump’s tariffs are weighing down the US economy, spiking costs for small businesses and families alike, and if Donald Trump keeps up the chaos, the dangers for the economy will continue to get worse," he added.

When asked by The Gateway Pundit about Schumer's claims, Hassett chuckled and quipped, " I'm actually impressed that Mr. Schumer would be looking through the nuances of the numbers."

He continued, "If he had been doing that in the previous administration, he might have noticed that almost all of the growth in jobs was for government employees, and almost all of the growth in GDP was for government spending."

Hassett further outlined that the decline in investment could be attributed to manufacturing companies waiting for the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill so that they could expense costs to build in America, not a sign of economic slowdown as Schumer claims.

Additionally, according to the report from the Commerce Department, "The largest contributor to the decrease in investment was private inventory investment, led by decreases in nondurable goods manufacturing (mainly, chemical manufacturing) and in wholesale trade (reflecting widespread decreases in durable goods industries)."

WATCH:

Conradson: This morning, Chuck Schumer said that the GDP growth numbers are a "mirage." He said some dark numbers lurk below the surface. He was pointing to business investment numbers that came out today. Can you respond to that?

Hassett: Well, I'm actually impressed that Mr. Schumer would be looking through the nuances of the numbers. If he had been doing that in the previous administration, he might have noticed that almost all of the growth in jobs was for government employees, and almost all of the growth in GDP was for government spending. Government spending dropped enormously, we've reduced government employment by about 70,000 people, and we've got 3% growth.

The one bit of news in today's release that was a little bit different than all the other toplines was that there was a decline in capital formation. But that was for the manufacturing facilities that are going to be able to be expensed because we passed the Big Beautiful Bill. And so, our expectation is that what happened is that people held up on construction because they wanted to make sure they could expense it after the bill was passed.

The post (VIDEO) National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett Roasts Chuck Schumer for Calling GDP Growth a “Mirage” and Claiming Data is Actually “Very Troubling” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Starmer wants to silence dissent and fleece US tech companies.

The United Kingdom, under unpopular Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, continues to descend into totalitarianism, with the censorship now going into overdrive with their new Online Safety Act.

But British press is reporting that the White House has warned Starmer to ‘stop threatening American tech companies’ as the pushback against Britain’s ‘online safety law’ is growing.

Trump’s team is monitoring the Online Safety Act with ‘great interest and concern’ as it has been branded censorship of free speech ‘imposing unfair burdens’ on US tech industry.

The Telegraph reported:

“The law, which regulates online speech, allows the British government to levy massive fines on companies like Apple, Truth Social, and X if it finds that rules on hate speech have been broken.”

“’President Trump has made it clear that free speech is one of our most cherished freedoms as Americans’, a senior US State Department official told The Telegraph.

‘Accordingly, we have taken decisive action against foreign actors who have engaged in extraterritorial censorship affecting our companies and fellow citizens. We will continue to monitor developments in the UK with great interest and concern’.”

This horrible state overreach is understood in the US as ‘a threat by the UK to silence American companies and citizens’.

“Under the law, social media giants face fines of up to £18m ($24m), or 10 per cent of their annual revenue, if they fail to remove content deemed harmful from their platforms.”

Needless to say, platforms will be pressured to censor content that is perfectly legal and constitutionally protected.

Read more:

TRUMP SHOWS STARMER THE WAY: UK Should Cut Taxes, Crack Down on Immigration, Scrap Subsidies for ‘Renewables’ and Drill for Oil – Otherwise Farage Will Win Next Election (VIDEOS)

The post Trump Administration Warns UK’s Censorship-Mad PM Starmer Not to Threaten US Tech Companies With His ‘Online Safety Act’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A radioactive wasp nest has been discovered near a former nuclear weapon manufacturing facility in South Carolina.

The nest was found by workers at the Savannah River Site in Aiken County, according to a report from the Department of Energy.

According to reports, the contaminated nest was found on July 3, just before 2 p.m., by Radiological Control Operations workers during routine inspections.

Located on a stanchion near a tank in the F-Area tank farm, the nest registered a staggering 100,000 disintegrations per minute (dpm), a level described as “moderately high” radiation.

Workers promptly sprayed the nest to eliminate the wasps, which were then bagged and disposed of as radiological waste.

The Associated Press reports:

The report said there is no leak from the waste tanks, and the nest was likely radioactive through what it called “onsite legacy radioactive contamination” from the residual radioactivity left from when the site was fully operational.

The watchdog group Savannah River Site Watch said the report was at best incomplete since it doesn’t detail where the contamination came from, how the wasps might have encountered it and the possibility there could be another radioactive nest if there is a leak somewhere.

Knowing the type of wasp nest could also be critical — some wasps make nest out of dirt and others use different material which could pinpoint where the contamination came from, Tom Clements, executive director of the group, wrote in a text message.

Thankfully, no contamination was detected in the surrounding ground or area, but the very presence of radioactive insects highlights the persistent threats from “onsite legacy contamination” tied to the site’s history of producing plutonium and tritium for nuclear bombs during the Cold War era.

“I’m as mad as a hornet that SRS didn’t explain where the radioactive waste came from or if there is some kind of leak from the waste tanks that the public should be aware of,” Clements told AP.

The Savannah River Site, a massive 310-square-mile complex built in the 1950s, was once a key player in America’s nuclear arsenal buildup.

Designated an EPA Superfund site in the 1980s, billions in taxpayer dollars have been poured into cleanup efforts, but incidents like this wasp nest prove that radioactive remnants are still lurking.

The post Radioactive Wasp Nest Discovered Near South Carolina Nuclear Weapon Facility appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A third person has been arrested in the vicious mob beating of a white man and white woman early Saturday morning in downtown Cincinnati that garnered national attention after video of the attack went viral. A total of five suspects have been charged so far, with three now in custody.

The woman victim who was sucker punched and seen knocked out and bleeding from her mouth was revealed in court Wednesday to be Russian and that she flew home on Sunday, the day after the attack.

The third person arrested, Jermaine Matthews, 39, turned himself Tuesday evening and was arraigned Wednesday with two other suspects previously arrested in the case. Mattheews is being held on $75,000 bond on a charge of aggravated rioting and $25,000 bond for felony assault.

Full size photo:

Montianez Merriweather, 34, is being held bond of $300,000 for felonious assault, $100,000 on misdemeanor assault and $100,000 for aggravated rioting.

DeKyra Vernon, 24, is being held in a total of $200,000 bond on charges of felonious assault, misdemeanor assault and aggravated rioting.

The next court date in the case is scheduled for August 8.

Prosecutors alleged in court the two men conspired in the assault while the woman charged acted on her own in the mob attack, reported WXIX-TV (excerpt):

During their arraignments, Merriweather and Matthews were named by prosecutors as two suspects accused of coordinating the brawl that took place on Elm and Fourth streets July 27.

“Ultimately, we do have on video Mr. Merriweather walking up to co-defendant. He whispers something to him then walks back behind the victim,” a Cincinnati police detective testified.

The detective described their movements as “an ambush” or a “set up in a certain way.”

“They chase him and get him on the ground where they begin to punch and kick him on the ground. There’s a disengage. Merriweather goes after another gentleman behind another car and then he walks to the side and goes to the sidewalk while there’s a third assault occurring in the middle of the roadway,” explained the detective.

“As to Merriweather’s involvement in this, we believe he coordinated this with Mr. Matthews. He walked up to him on the video, whispered something to him and then strategically placed himself behind the victim as the assault began.”

Defense attorneys disputed the accounts by prosecutors.

Excerpt from WKRC-TV on the prosecutor’s case against Vernon, “The woman that was injured and knocked out, she was trying to turn her aid to another victim at the time,” said the detective. “She was rendering aid to another victim that was on the ground trying to get him back to his feet. He’s actually trying to get his pants back on because they beat his pants off of him. And while she’s rendering aid to that gentleman there, that’s when Ms. Vernon comes up and strikes her in the face. This, for no reason at all.”

More from the Cincinnati Enquirer (excerpt):

(Cincinnati police Detective Barney) Blank said that Vernon was a bystander watching the brawl when she approached and punched a Russian woman trying to protect someone on the ground. He said the woman returned to Russia over the weekend.

The detective said Vernon was not involved in any of the arguments that preceded the fight. “She just interjected herself into a brawl on the street,” Blank said.

Desiray Merriweather, Montianez Merriweather’s cousin, talked with reporters outside the courtroom after the July 30 hearing. She said that while she feels for the victims, including the woman who was knocked unconscious, she questions whether there would’ve been such a strong nationwide response if the victims had been Black.

…Montianez Merriweather’s family said he was spat on and called racial slurs in the lead-up to the brawl.

His cousin said people were out early in the morning partying during the weekend of the Cincinnati Music Festival, which in the past has been the largest annual weekend driver of tourism in the area.

“Both parties could have walked away,” she said. “It’s terrible how the world is nowadays.”

Video and screen image of the attack:

A violent mob in Cincinnati left a man and woman beaten unconscious

https://t.co/P4XVqoYhqd

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) July 27, 2025

A white couple was brutaIIy beaten at a jazz festival by a black “teen mob” in Cincinnati yesterday.

0 national coverage. pic.twitter.com/IgPnVYwbme

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 27, 2025

Video report on Wednesday’s court hearing by WLWT:

The post Third Person Arrested in Cincinnati Mob Beatings; Woman Victim Is Russian Who Flew Home the Day After Attack appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

As reported earlier, Danville, Virginia, City Councilman Lee Vogler was doused in gasoline and set on fire in his office on Tuesday.

According to reports, the attacker, identified as Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, of Danville, threw five gallons of gasoline on Vogler before setting him on fire.

3:55 p.m. 7/30/25 UPDATE: The Danville Police Department has charged Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, with attempted first degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding following the attack by burning Wednesday, July 30, on Lee Vogler. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/g0N4rEMZLx

— Danville VA Police (@DanvilleVAPD) July 30, 2025

Danville police said the attack appears to be personal and not related to Vogler’s position as a city councilman.

The Daily Mail reported that Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes’ wife filed for divorce just two weeks ago.

The Daily Mail reported:

A Virginia lawmaker was doused in gasoline and set on fire in a ‘personal’ attack at his office allegedly carried out by a man whose wife recently filed for divorce from him.

Danville City Councilman J. Lee Vogler, 38, was at the Showcase Magazine headquarters when the suspect stormed in at around 11.30am.

He dumped the contents of a ‘five gallon container’ on top of Vogler before setting him alight, according to the publication’s owner Andrew Brooks.

Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, of Danville, was identified as the suspect by police.

He and Vogler know each other and the attack stemmed from a ‘personal matter’, not from Vogler’s role as a public official, police said.

Hayes’ wife Mary-Alice Buck-Hayes filed for divorce from him just two weeks ago, who he appeared to have married in 2023.

Showcase Magazine’s Andrew Brooks said the attacker forced his way in the magazine’s office as Vogler was visiting and poured a five-gallon container of gas on him.

“Lee attempted to flee, ran to the front of the building,” Showcase Magazine owner Andrew Brooks said in a Facebook video. “The individual followed him and set him on fire.”

Vogler was flown to the UNC burn unit in Chapel Hill, according to WSET.

Vogler is reportedly awake and talking.

The Danville Police Department released a statement:

The Danville Police Department is investigating after a male was set on fire Wednesday, July 30.

Around 11:30 a.m., officers were dispatched to the 700 block of Main Street for a report of a male being set on fire.

The Danville Fire Department and the Danville Life Saving Crew also responded to the scene to render aid. The male victim was airlifted to a regional medical facility for treatment. The full extent of his injuries are not known at the time of this release.

Based on witness information provided to officers at the scene, the suspect entered into the victim’s place of employment, confronted him and doused him with a flammable liquid. The victim and suspect exited the building, where the suspect then set the victim on fire.

The suspect fled the scene, however witness information provided a description of the suspect and his vehicle. Officers located and stopped the vehicle several blocks from the incident and the driver was taken into custody without incident.

The driver, Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, of Danville, was identified as the suspect in the attack and is currently in police custody.

The Danville Police Department does not typically identify living victims in media releases, however due to his public position as an elected official, the victim of this attack was identified as Danville City Councilman Lee Vogler, 38, of Danville.

Based on the investigation at the time of this release, the victim and the suspect are known to each other and the attack stems from a personal matter not related to the victim’s position on Danville City Council or any other political affiliation.

Due to the ongoing investigation, the Danville Police Department will not provide any further details about the incident itself, however charge information will be forthcoming.

The post Breaking Update: Wife of Man Arrested For Setting Virginia Lawmaker on Fire Filed For Divorce Two Weeks Ago appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.