Secretary of State Marco Rubio put forth such a master class performance against one of the Senate’s most loathsome Democrats that Vice President JD Vance felt compelled to weigh in in awe.

As TGP’s Jordan Conradson reported, Marco Rubio sat down for testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this morning to discuss the Trump Administration’s policy on Venezuela.

This was Rubio’s first public testimony since the Trump Administration’s arrest of Venezuelan tyrant Nicolas Maduro earlier this month.

During the hearing, Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) tried to ambush him with a variety of smears and lies, only for Rubio to showcase her for the fool she is.

She started by (deliberately?) confusing the Alien Enemies Act with a declared war in Venezuela, which Rubio pointed out was two separate things.

After Duckworth quickly interrupted him upon hearing this truth, Rubio was able to educate her by noting that Trump was talking about narco-trafficking gangs such as Tren de Aragua that have been waging war on America for years.

Then Duckworth started lying about the Trump Administration kidnapping people and torturing them under the Alien Enemies Law, but Rubio quickly set her straight and went on to detail how great a threat these criminal gangs pose to America.

Duckworth then later tried to lie about Trump wanting to send troops to Venezuela, which Rubio called her out on. Defeated, she then moved on and started ranting about forever wars and NATO before her time finally ended.

WATCH:

DUCKWORTH: Are we currently at war with Venezuela?

RUBIO: No.

DUCKWORTH: The Supreme Court has the Alien Enemies Act as a wartime power…And before that, the Alien Enemies Act was only invoked during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II, when it was used to intern thousands of innocent civilians.

Are you really arguing that the president should be able to wield an internment law?

RUBIO: No, no, no. We’re talking about two separate things here. You’re talking about the state of Venezuela and describing the regime. We’re talking about…

DUCKWORTH: (interrupts with more nonsense)

RUBIO: What the president was talking about were these gangs and these narco-trafficking groups that are waging war on the United States. For example, Tren de Aragua is not just a criminal gang presence in our streets; it is a criminal gang directly responsible for narcotrafficking.

DUCKWORTH: Mr. Secretary, the Administration has admitted that the vast majority of people that it rounded up and deported to torture under this law had no criminal record whatsoever. Over 75%.

RUBIO: Who did we torture? We didn’t torture anybody. We’ve arrested people who are members of gangs and we’ve deported them.

DUCKWORTH: Many “independent” investigations have determined the men were here legally…Again, I want to ask you: will you ask the president to recind his invocation of the wartime Alien Enemies Act?

RUBIO: Of course not. These are people who are threats to the national security of the United States. I’ve explained this at hearings in the past.

DUCKWORTH: Are you saying we’re at war?

RUBIO: When it comes to narco-trafficking groups, criminal gangs…There’s no doubt we’re in a state of war.

DUCKWORTH: The Geneva Convention…

RUBIO: They’re waging war against us, and they are enemy combatants as a result of it. And that’s one of the great challenges of the new century in this hemisphere: these nonstate actors with state-like capabilities in terms of their weaponry pose a grave threat to the United States.

DUCKWORTH: Will you comply with all the laws when it comes to warfare? You’re saying that he can invoke this wartime power?

RUBIO: No, I’m here to discuss foreign policy and what’s in the realm of the Department of State…

DUCKWORTH: (continues muttering about Alien Enemies Act and tries to again lecture Rubio about its history)

RUBIO: You’re asking me to opine on something that is in the realm of the Department of Justice. I can tell you that the United States is most certainly confronting terrorists and criminal organizations operating in our hemisphere that pose a grave danger to the U.S.

Anyone who believes that gangs who flood our country with cocaine and fentanyl are not threats to the United States is not living in reality and does not reflect the opinion of most Americans.

DUCKWORTH: The president already said he was ready to put troops in Venezuela again. So, we’re at war.

RUBIO: When did he say that?

DUCKWORTH: What is your criterion for the military option?

RUBIO: I don’t recall the president saying he was going to put troops in Venezuela. When did he say that? That’s what you said.

DUCKWORTH: The president has already said he is willing to put troops in Venezuela.

RUBIO: No, the president says he retains the right as commander-in-chief to protect the United States against any imminent threats.

DUCKWORTH: I worry you are playing fast and loose with our nation…

RUBIO: I just gave you testimony about how well things are moving forward.

DUCKWORTH: But you also said in 6 to 9 months, if things don’t go well, you’re going to have to do something else! The President has not ruled out the military option, and you said we’re at war…

RUBIO: I just gave you an example. Every president retains the right to defend the United States against an imminent threat. (Goes on to cite an example of Iranian drones in Venezuela)

We’re not at that point, and we don’t expect to get to that point.

DUCKWORTH: We don’t need to get into another forever war.

RUBIO: How are we in another forever war?

(After some back and forth about NATO, the committee chair finally shut Duckworth down and moved on to Senator Mike Lee of Utah.)

Vance, who was clearly watching the hearing, weighed in on Duckworth’s embarrassing performance and Rubio’s brilliance with an incredibly apt comparison.

The VP said Rubio played the part of English polymath and total genius Issac Newton to Duckworth’s low-IQ Forrest Gump.

“Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forrest Gump argue with Issac Newton,” Vance wrote.

Watching Tammy Duckworth obsessively interrupt Marco Rubio during this hearing is like watching Forest Gump argue with Isaac Newton.

— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 28, 2026

The post Marco Rubio Humiliates Dem Senator Duckworth When She Rudely Interrupts and Ambushes Him with Nasty Lies During Hearing – VP Vance Weighs In with a Great Observation (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The FBI has executed a search warrant in Fulton County, Georgia, at their Election Hub and Operations Center.  Sources familiar with the investigation into Fulton County have confirmed that it is in regards to election fraud around the 2020 General Election.  The Election Hub and Operation Center was opened in 2023.

Details remain scarce, other than sources confirming it is related to the 2020 election.

Last week, The Gateway Pundit reported that the Georgia State Election Board heard testimony from Joseph Rossi regarding discrepancies during the 2020 election.  Rossi uncovered 6,691 votes that were added to the hand recount that was ordered in mid-November.

During the hearing, Rossi demonstrated the means by which the ballots were added.  It was not simply a batch mistakenly run twice, according to Rossi.

Research by Rossi and Phil Davis revealed that the batches that were added were actually ballots pulled from multiple other batches and consolidated together, shuffled, and run through a separate scanner on a separate day.

“Is that an administrative error?  I believe that was intentional human intervention.  And I’m not a lawyer, but the lawyers tell me that intentional human intervention is the predicate for election fraud.”

Question:

Does this look like “human error” or “just a mistake”???

(also: this isn’t the bombshell we’ll be discussing live in 10 minutes on my Rumble Channel and on Badlands Media) pic.twitter.com/WlCK2Wumte

— CannCon (@canncon) January 22, 2026

Shockingly, Rossi disclosed during his testimony that Fulton County was aware of the discrepancy in the count on November 19, 2020.  Emails from Michael Prendergast of the Elections Group were sent to then-Director of Elections Richard Barron and then-Deputy Director of Elections Nadine Williams acknowledging numerous discrepancies in those counts, most of which aligned with Rossi’s findings.

Fulton County KNEW in November 2020 that the 2020 Election Count Had Significant Issues!

President Trump, @hw_floyd @mikeroman @RudyGiuliani @SidneyPowell1 @CathyLathamTX @FreeTrevian and all the other co-defendants are VINDICATED!

More on this tomorrow night on Why We Vote… pic.twitter.com/IyDk6TCNTX

— CannCon (@canncon) January 22, 2026

Rossi also testified about 3,125 duplicate ballots that were included in the second machine count in Fulton County.  This count is what was used as the “official results.”  Rossi co-authored SEB Complaint 2023-025 with Kevin Moncla.  That complaint was the basis for a formal call for an investigation from then-Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene in September 2025.

In addition to the duplicate ballots, SEB 2023-025 also discovered an email from the Director of Elections at the time to Ryan Macias of the Elections Group.  The email was dated December 3, 2020 and sent six minutes after a Batches Loaded Report showing just 511,543 was saved.  Fulton County should have 528,777 ballots.

This email was sent 12 hours after the deadline of December 2 at midnight for the machine count results.  Fulton County’s Twitter page tweeted on December 2 and 11:52pm, “Fulton County has completed the recount of the November 3 Presidential Election.  Results will be released by the Secretary of State’s Office”.

At the time of that tweet, Fulton County was still 17,234 ballots short of the number from the initial counts.

Twelve hours after the email from Barron to Macias was sent, Fulton County reported the official tally of 527,925 ballots.

WE MUST GET THE BALLOTS IN FULTON COUNTY!!!

And ALL of Georgia!!

We should NEVER have to spend MILLIONS of dollars in legal fees over FIVE YEARS to investigate our elections and get transparency. pic.twitter.com/A1ucQX7Bkq

— CannCon (@canncon) January 23, 2026

Additionally, there were ten tabulators used for Advance Voting for which Fulton County has no records of existing.  There are no poll open tapes, no daily status tapes, and no poll closing tapes.

Fulton County responded to open records requests with “no such records”.  Authors of SEB 2023-025 elevated their requests to the Fulton County Records Department to determine if they were missing or do not exist.  “The records do not exist,” was the response from Steve Rosenberg, the Fulton County’s Custodian of Records.

Those 10 tabulators accounted for 20,713 ballots.

The State Election Board last week showed concern over the Secretary of State’s investigation into SEB 2023-025 and the Board’s own mishandling of the hearing where those findings from the Secretary’s office were announced.  Neither of the authors of the Complaint were permitted an opportunity to rebut the Secretary’s investigation, as was typically permitted.

The Board’s Chair, John Fervier, expressed regret for not allowing Mr. Rossi to present a rebuttal during last week’s hearing.

The records sought by the FBI from the search warrant conducted earlier today could help further the investigation in SEB 2023-025, as had been formally requested by then-Rep. Greene.

582622243 Moncla and Rossi Complaint 07/08/2022 by kmoncla

State Election Board member Janelle King laid out the shortcomings of the remedies provided to Fulton County for elections following the 2020 General Election.  In response to Rossi’s findings, Fulton County signed a consent decree, essentially promising Fulton County would be more careful next time.

King believed there should have been a criminal investigation and prosecutions.  Watch:

MUST WATCH!!!

State Election Board Member @IAM_JanelleK is ABSOLUTELY correct on this.

We cannot have accountability if every single infraction is investigated by the PEOPLE INVOLVED and ends up in a ‘letter of reprimand’ or a ‘consent decree’ or a ‘letter of instruction.’… pic.twitter.com/kEU0nXzzwq

— CannCon (@canncon) January 23, 2026

The Gateway Pundit will update as this story develops.

The post Here’s What We Know Regarding Recent Developments in Fulton County Regarding the 2020 Election appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

On the day the U.S. snatched Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, social media users were saying, “Wow, that Epstein file must be a doozy.” This is a common technique of false binary framing, claiming the government pursued one action rather than another to distract from or cover up something else.

The Epstein files are a frequent tool for this tactic. When the Trump administration takes actions the left does not like, the response often becomes, “Oh, he did this to distract from the Epstein files.” This is a technique I have dubbed “the Epstein deflection.”

Examples include the Iranian nuclear facility bombing in 2025, when media coverage of the strike was cited as another attempt to distract from the Epstein files. The tactic has even been applied to matters as inconsequential as a sports team’s name.

In July 2025, when Trump demanded that the Washington Commanders reverse their name change and threatened to block a stadium deal, critics again claimed he was trying to distract from the Epstein files. Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith both argued that Trump was using the issue to distract his base.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz employed the Epstein deflection during the recent weeks of anti-ICE riots and chaos. Rather than addressing the fact that he has allowed illegal aliens to harbor in his state and has allowed violent riots to continue, during which several of his citizens have been injured, arrested, or shot, his response to Attorney General Pam Bondi was a demand to release the Epstein files.

A White House statement on January 16, 2026, blamed Minnesota’s elected officials for the violence. “This toxic combination of ‘sanctuary’ policies and anti-ICE rhetoric has created a climate of hostility that endangers federal officers and incites violence.” The statement goes on to say, “Make no mistake: the responsibility for the enhanced enforcement operations in Minnesota — and the tension and violence — lies squarely with these officials who refuse to partner with the Trump Administration and instead put their Radical Left agenda over public safety and the rule of law.”

Walz has maintained that local police should not act as federal immigration agents, a stance the DOJ argues encourages lawlessness and protects criminal aliens.

When Bondi sent a letter to Walz on January 24 demanding that he end the chaos and riots threatening ICE officers and hand over documents in compliance with federal fraud investigations, Walz dismissed the demands as a shakedown during a January 26 press conference, stating, “There’s two million documents in the Epstein files we’re still waiting on. Go ahead and work on those.” Walz and the media characterized Bondi’s request as strong-arming Minnesota or attempting to rig the upcoming midterm election.

The fact is that Bondi’s letter demanded general cooperation on multiple fronts: ending sanctuary policies, assisting with ICE operations, providing welfare program data for fraud investigations, and complying with voter data requests tied to existing litigation. These were presented as necessary steps to “restore the rule of law,” not as a negotiated exchange in which compliance would result in ICE withdrawal.

Bondi’s letter stated, “The lawlessness in the streets is matched by the unprecedented financial fraud occurring on your watch,” adding that the out-of-control fraud also implicates election security.

The letter goes on to say, “You and your office must restore the rule of law, support ICE officers, and bring an end to the chaos in Minnesota….First, share all of Minnesota’s records on Medicaid and Food and Nutrition Service programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program data, with the federal government.”

“Allowing the federal government to efficiently investigate fraud will save Minnesota taxpayers’ money and ensure that Minnesota’s welfare funds are being used to help those in need, not enrich fraudsters.”

The fraud allegations are well documented. Minnesota faces investigations into Feeding Our Future ($250 million), housing stabilization fraud ($104 million), autism therapy fraud ($14 million), and 14 other Medicaid programs deemed high risk. The DOJ estimates total fraud could exceed $350 million, with some estimates reaching as high as $9 billion across all programs.

The voter registration investigation is separate and pre-existing. The DOJ has been suing Minnesota, along with 22 other states, since September 2025 to obtain unredacted voter rolls. This effort is nationwide and not specific to the Minnesota riots. The DOJ has stated it needs the data to verify compliance with the National Voter Registration Act and has specifically raised concerns about Minnesota’s vouching system for same-day registration.

Investigations that began in the Somali community have since expanded to elected officials. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer launched investigations in December 2025 into Walz’s administration, including allegations that Walz and his son accepted campaign contributions from individuals connected to Feeding Our Future shortly after meeting with them.

Bondi did not offer a quid pro quo. A review of her January 24, 2026 letter shows she demanded four actions: repeal sanctuary policies, cooperate with ICE, share Medicaid and SNAP records, and allow DOJ access to voter rolls. While she stated these steps would “restore the rule of law” and “bring an end to the chaos,” she did not explicitly promise to withdraw ICE agents in exchange. The media framing of these demands as conditions for ICE to leave appears to be ungrounded in Bondi’s explicit language.

In the face of so many serious issues, it is almost adolescent for Walz to deflect by invoking the mythical Epstein client list. The urban legend is that there is a list naming all of Epstein’s clients and detailing the crimes they committed.

However, despite years of public speculation and social media claims, no official investigation has confirmed the existence of such a definitive master list. On July 7, 2025, the Justice Department issued a memo stating that no client list exists and that it found no credible evidence Epstein used one for blackmail. When Walz says “work on the Epstein files,” he is pointing to a potentially non-existent issue to avoid addressing the riots and enforcement crisis unfolding on his own streets.

Governments are capable of addressing immigration, fraud, and historical investigations simultaneously. By demanding the Epstein files before addressing the Minnesota riots, Walz is using a hierarchy of issues that has no basis in law or governance.  Using one issue as a prerequisite for the other is a tool to stall or delegitimize an opponent’s priorities.

Fortunately, it appears that after his recent discussion with President Trump, Walz is giving in and allowing police and the National Guard to quell the riots while ICE operations continue. At the same time, the DOJ continues its fraud investigations. Invoking the Epstein deflection did nothing to save Walz from the justice that is hopefully coming down the pipe.

The post Walz Invokes the Epstein Deflection, Ignoring Chaos and Widespread Fraud appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

FBI agents were seen today at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, a new facility that state officials opened in 2023 that was designed to streamline their election processes.

The FBI confirmed they were on-site at the Fulton County Georgia Department of Elections.

Scott McFarlane reported:

ALERT: FBI confirms it is on-site this afternoon at the headquarters of the Fulton County, Georgia Department of Elections

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) January 28, 2026

FOX News Digital was told the probe is related to the 2020 election. The FBI declined to comment, and the Department of Justice did not immediately provide comment.

Liz Harrington, who has been following Fulton County for years, added this.

Nov. 19, 2020 Fulton County email

“Just some quick adjustments/corrections.”

Like 4,081 false Biden votes in a race they said was decided by 11,779 votes

It was never corrected. The hand count audit included over 6,600 fake votes to make it match the fraudulent original count… pic.twitter.com/VShXDdycbV

— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) January 28, 2026

We will be updating this post as we hear more.

The post BREAKING: FBI Is Executing Search Warrant at Fulton County Election Office – Reportedly Linked to 2020 Election appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.