On Monday morning, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the U.S. had “very good and productive conversations” with Iran.

In the post, the 47th President stated, “I am pleased to report that the United States of America and the country of Iran have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.”

He added, “I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period.”

Several Iranian state media outlets have since denied having any talks with the Trump administration and cited quotes from the Foreign Ministry in Tehran.

In response to Iranian media reports denying that the talks took place, Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that he was unsure what Iran’s media was talking about, and that conversations did take place last night between Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner with Iranian representatives.

WATCH:

Maria Bartiromo says President Trump told her Iran is eager to make a deal following recent talks.

She notes conflicting claims from Iranian media.

“He said the most recent talks happened last night…”pic.twitter.com/i5iY96GpPQ

— Brandon Straka #WalkAway (@BrandonStraka) March 23, 2026

Per ABC News:

Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency quoted the Foreign Ministry in Tehran as denying President Donald Trump’s claim of talks between Washington and Tehran.

Trump, the ministry said, aims to buy time for U.S. military plans and reduce energy prices, Mehr reported.

“There are initiatives by regional countries to de-escalate tensions, and our response to all of them is clear: We are not the party that started this war, and all these requests should be referred to Washington,” the statement said.

President Donald Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen on Monday morning that Iran has “representatives,” Kernen said, when pressed about who the administration had been in talks with. The conversation came after Trump’s social media post saying that he ordered the Pentagon to postpone strikes on Iran’s energy facilities after two days of “productive” talks.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry says there are no talks with Washington and accuses Trump of buying time while regional de-escalation efforts go on. https://t.co/Lj3g2qu57w

— Clash Report (@clashreport) March 23, 2026

The S&P 500 saw a major pump following Trump’s announcement, but a sharp sell-off occurred after Iran’s media denied that productive talks ever took place.

LOOK:

This is absolutely insane:

At 7:04 AM ET today, President Trump said “the US and Iran have had productive discussions” to end the Iran War.

By 7:10 AM ET, the S&P 500 surged +240 points adding +$2 TRILLION in market cap.

27 minutes later, Iran completely denied all of… pic.twitter.com/yFpqpJo6aG

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) March 23, 2026

The post President Trump Responds to Iranian Media Claiming No Productive Talks Occurred appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

An Air Force officer continues to battle one of the most egregious cases of vindictiveness and intolerance stemming from the military’s 2021 COVID-19 shot mandate, which was rescinded in January 2023 and deemed “unlawful as implemented” across all military departments in May 2025.

Following up on a story from September 2025, The Gateway Pundit spoke to Captain Anthony Monteleone to get an update on his case at the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records (AFBCMR).

On July 8, 2025, as directed by the Department of War, Capt. Monteleone submitted his packet to the AFBCMR to correct the harms from the unlawful mandate in collaboration with his attorney, Jeffrey Addicott, Director of the Warrior Defense Project, and Mike Rose, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Stand Together Against Racism and Radicalism in the Services (STARRS).

Two months later, on September 03, 2025, the AFBCMR denied his application, stating that his request “falls outside the jurisdiction of the AFBCMR,” and then reversed itself and accepted his case due to the directives from President Donald Trump and War Department leadership.

However, a grueling nine months after he submitted his package, and despite Congressional Representatives and multiple high-ranking Air Force officials reaching out to the AFBCMR on several occasions on behalf of Capt. Monteleone to stress the immediate need for relief in his case, the Board continues to delay the processing of his package.

As reported multiple times by The Gateway Pundit, numerous service members claim that the BCMR process is largely ineffective and that the Board’s willingness to engage amounts to little more than a superficial effort.

In short, despite the explicit directives from President Trump, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Undersecretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata, and the Secretary of the Air Force Troy E. Meink, Capt. Monteleone continues to have active derogatory paperwork in his personnel file. He is still experiencing significant and ongoing damage to his career due to the unlawful COVID-19 shot mandate, which is solely attributed to the prolonged time it is taking for the Board to review his case.

Board’s Role in Development

As a recent illustration, nine months after he submitted his packet, Capt. Monteleone met with his Captain’s Developmental Team (DT) board on March 3-5, 2026, with the active derogatory information and the severely damaged record stemming from the unlawful COVID-19 shot mandate.

The Air Force Instruction that governs Developmental Team boards indicates that the DT Board plays a vital role in the Air Force’s force development framework. This board consists of senior leaders within a specific career field, usually at the rank of Colonel (O-6) or higher, who convene each year to evaluate the readiness and potential of officers eligible for command.

This board serves as a formal, structured career development tool that directly impacts officers’ service locations, roles, and advancement speed. As an example, if an officer is viewed highly and recommended by the DT Board, their recommendations influence the officer’s placement in the assignment cycles going forward. Conversely, if an officer is not recommended by the Board, they may be placed in less competitive or less desirable positions.

In order to accomplish its mission, the Board is tasked with identifying suitable education, training, and experiences by examining performance records and ensuring that individuals with the required qualifications are directed toward appropriate opportunities. This process includes familiarizing senior leadership with the personnel in their respective functional areas to evaluate their potential, particularly focusing on high-potential officers.

The Board also determines where to invest in developmental opportunities, provides input for follow-on assignments that capitalize on newly acquired skills, and establishes deliberate outplacement strategies for individuals returning from long-term training, like fellowships, to ensure their successful reintegration.

Ongoing Career Damage and Prejudice

As such, Capt. Monteleone stated that he is “now even further behind [his] peers, and [his] career suffered additional damage as he went to the board with active derogatory paperwork and a severely damaged career, while [his] peer group went through this DT Board and vectoring process with records that reflected their actual performance.” He also expressed concern that due to the nature of the DT Board process, the senior leaders of his career field may now be prejudiced against. This prejudice may stem from the active derogatory paperwork from the mandate in his file as well as their involvement in and personal views regarding the unlawful as implemented COVID-19 shot mandate.

Moreover, the Air Force officer said that he remains ineligible or severely disadvantaged for special awards, career enhancement programs, and special assignments and postings because of the active derogatory paperwork in his record that was supposed to be removed upon recission of the mandate.

“The damage from my commander’s unlawful actions during the unlawful as implemented DOD COVID-19 vaccine mandate continue to compound,” Capt. Monteleone lamented. “I now have almost five full years of career ending damage, with almost a full additional year of damage that was not quantified or discussed only original submission because of the amount of time it is taking the board to finish approving my packet. Further, the damage to my career continues to compound every additional day it takes the Board to process my package.”

Capt. Monteleone and his legal counsel continue to engage high level Air Force leaders as well as board points of contact to have the Board approve his package. They aim to process the necessary remediations without further delay to halt the ongoing harm to his career and prevent additional compounding damage to his career that will not be addressed in his current board package. He emphasized that his views are his own and do not reflect those of the Department of War or the Department of the Air Force.

The post Air Force Officer Continues His Fight Against Vindictiveness and Intolerance Over COVID-19 Shot Mandate appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A transport flight turned into a fiery tragedy in Colombia.

Reports are arising now of a Hercules plane of the Colombian Air Force (FAC) having crashed in the rural area of Puerto Leguizamo, Putumayo.

The aircraft was carrying out troop transport missions, and was completely incinerated at the site of impact.

Publimetro reported:

“The Minister of Defense, Pedro Sánchez, confirmed the emergency through his official channels and pointed out that the immediate response operation is already underway. “Military units are already at the scene; however, the number of victims and the causes of the fire have not yet been precisely determined,” the head of the portfolio detailed.

After the impact was reported, the National Navy and components of the Military Forces began constant monitoring and coordination with local relief agencies. Preliminary images show the remains of the Hercules structure engulfed in flames in an area that is difficult to access.”

According to Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez, A Colombian Air Force C-130 Hercules crashed while taking off while transporting ~100 members of Colombia’s Fuerza Pública. Military troops have already responded to the scene, but casualty counts have yet to be… pic.twitter.com/Lp4E6fcpog

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) March 23, 2026

Autoridades confirmaron que 110 soldados iban a bordo del avión Hércules que se accidentó en Putumayo, a unos 3 kilómetros del casco urbano, tras despegar en un vuelo de apoyo militar. #VocesySonidos pic.twitter.com/pZsmW3rw7V

— BluRadio Colombia (@BluRadioCo) March 23, 2026

Depending on which source we follow, there was from 90 up to 150 people on board the plane.

EL TIEMPO reported:

“According to preliminary reports, three platoons of soldiers were traveling. […] So far, there has been no official report of victims or injuries, but this newspaper learned that the Police are present at the scene to evacuate the injured.

In the videos of the accident, smoke and panic can be seen from the inhabitants of the area and the uniformed officers who went to the scene to attend to the tragedy.”

Un avión Hércules Militar se desplomó en Puerto Leguízamo, Putumayo. A bordo iban cerca de 150 personas. pic.twitter.com/j0jIwaD9Ei

— Mauricio Vanegas (@Marovaan) March 23, 2026

Read more:

MASS CASUALTY EVENT: Air Canada Plane Collides with Firetruck at LaGuardia Airport

The post DEVELOPING: Colombian Military Aircraft Crashes in Puerto Leguizamo With Over a Hundred People on Board appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

During a hearing in the Georgia legislature on March 17th, 2026, a 40-year IT professional testified during public comment and offered to show the committee evidence of vulnerabilities in the election software they use.

Mark Cook, who testified as an expert witness in Tina Peters’ trial in 2024, used his time during public comment to offer evidence to the Georgia House Governmental Affairs Committee as they considered a Georgia election bill.

The online recording of the hearing that includes public comment contains the following from Cook:

“I have evidence right here, that I was hoping to show you, that can show that there are absolutely, and I know you guys have heard this, but I’ve got the proof right here, backdoors built-in to electronic voting systems that allow flipping, changing of votes.  The testing labs all missed this.  Then they’re blindly certified.  Then we’re told that everything is safe and secure.  It’s absolutely not.”

Mysteriously, according to the timestamp shown in the top right corner, Cook’s public comment at one point goes from 1:02:18 to 1:02:29 instantly.  A cut in the testimony appears to have been made to his public comment.

Fortunately, Cook’s public comment was also recorded.  The following statement in bold was removed from Cook’s public comment:

“I have evidence right here, that I was hoping to show you, that can show that there are absolutely, and I know you guys have heard this, but I’ve got the proof right here, backdoors built-in to electronic voting systems that allow flipping, changing of votes, infiltrating the system, all built in, set up in a way that makes it easy, and untraceable.  I can demonstrate this to you even while I’m still here in this building and I’m happy to do so.  The testing labs all missed this.  Then they’re blindly certified.  Then we’re told that everything is safe and secure.  It’s absolutely not.”

Watch below for the cut as well as the testimony as it occurred in full:

Georgia House Governmental Affairs CENSORED my Dominion backdoor public testimony—10 seconds SLICED OUT mid-sentence!

That’s the EXACT part exposing the truth they wanted hidden. Timestamps prove it. Everyone in the room heard it. ON RECORD.

So I recovered the full audio,… pic.twitter.com/OLSa614TCZ

— Mark Cook (@PatriotMarkCook) March 22, 2026

Kari Lake, who is currently serving as a senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media, asked, “Why would they remove this 10 seconds of Mark’s testimony?  And who ordered the removal?”

Why would they remove this 10 seconds of Mark’s testimony? And who ordered the removal? https://t.co/SoGDrM17Ew

— Kari Lake (@KariLake) March 23, 2026

These backdoors are not necessarily a new discovery.  In Georgia, it was discovered that the encryption keys were displayed in plain text in the software.  Phil Davis, another IT expert who previously testified before the Georgia State Election Board, discovered the password in an open records request written in plain text format.

The Gateway Pundit previously mentioned this discovery while reporting on the voluntary seizure of Dominion Voting machines in Puerto Rico following critical issues in the June 2024 primary election.

For example, Dominion Voting Systems were found to have their login passwords hardcoded in plain text on the software.  Georgians made t-shirts with “dvscorp08!”.  The User login “SAdmin” was available as well.  This was initially uncovered by Cyber Ninjas during their Maricopa County audit in 2021 and was later discovered in four Georgia counties and two other states by Philip Davis.

In 2007, the California Secretary of State withdrew approval of Sequoia Voting Systems for the same issue:  hardcoded passwords in plain text within the software.

I’m sure they have no idea that the hard-coded vendor password is dvscopr08! or that the encryption keys are stored in plain text in the election database. But even if they did know, they would never exploit that because that wouldn’t be cricket.

— Harry MacDougald (@HarryMacD) January 12, 2025

Georgians proudly wear t-shirts with “dvscorp08!” to Republican events as a way to bring awareness to this vulnerability.

Holy cow!

I am told one of the ladies in the IYKYK T shirts is Amanda Prettyman? Anyone know the other?

I want to know how they managed to get Governor Kemp and his wife to pose for this photo! Have they not heard what those shirts are about?

Details please!? #gapol pic.twitter.com/NCc1w8dkPU

— Mark Davis (@MarkDavisGOP) October 9, 2024

Marvin, you are woefully behind the times. These machines were selected by Brian Kemp, installed by Raffensperger and are vulnerable to election hacking by anyone with the passwords. By the way, the password is dvscorp08! and you can get it on a T-shirt in case you forget. pic.twitter.com/88dyFxnRlR

— David Cross (@GAballots) December 19, 2025

The post Georgia House Committee Quietly Removes Key Section of IT Expert’s Public Comment on Critical Voting Machine Vulnerabilities appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.