Various witnesses were called in to testify on the second day of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft was one of the witnesses who testified on Thursday morning on the second day of confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche.

John Ashcroft served as the US Attorney General under George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. Ashcroft also had a distinguished career in Missouri politics that spanned decades.

Democrat Senator Adam Schiff tried to bait Ashcroft into attacking Todd Blanche, but it failed miserably.

“Mr. Blanche has said he believes that the president has both the right and the duty to use the Justice Department to go after his enemies. Do you subscribe to that view?” Schiff asked Ashcroft.

84-year-old John Ashcroft buried Adam Schiff.

“I believe that the Attorney General of the United States has the right and responsibility to enforce the law uniformly, and if the law has been broken by the President’s ‘enemies,’ he has a duty,” Ashcroft said.

“They do not become exempt from following the law merely by their enmity to the president of the United States. As a matter of fact, the people who break the law are in enmity with the people of the United States, whose expression of what is the law has been developed in this body and the Congress of the United States, so we used to call people who break the law, ‘public enemies,’” Ashcroft added.

“So my view is that whether a person has been a political supporter or not of the President of the United States is NOT the determining factor regarding prosecution,” he said.

“It’s whether a person has violated the law and in enforcing the law, the Attorney General is carrying out the will expressed in the Congress,” he added.

WATCH:

Todd Blanche sparred with Adam Schiff on Wednesday after the Democrat senator accused him of violating ethics rules.

The post Former Attorney General John Ashcroft BURIES Adam Schiff During Blanche Confirmation Hearing (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

For years, the media has tried to paint everyone who attended the January 6 protest with the same broad brush. But the reality is much more complicated.

This week, NPR aired a lengthy interview with former J6 defendant Isaac Thomas and his attorney, Steven Metcalf, exploring the experiences that ultimately led Thomas to Washington, D.C. on January 6 2021.

The conversation was about far more than politics. It was about what can happen when the very institutions that are supposed to protect people instead become the source of their trauma.

As TGP readers know, Thomas spent much of his childhood in Michigan’s foster care system. During the interview, he shared how years of abuse and constant moves from one placement to another left him feeling abandoned by a system that was supposed to keep him safe.

Those experiences, Thomas says, completely changed the way he looked at government and authority.

By the time he was 18 years old, Thomas had little faith that the people in power were looking out for ordinary Americans. As that distrust grew, so did his interest in conservative politics. He eventually made the trip to Washington to attend President Trump’s January 6 rally.

One of the most emotional moments of the interview came when Thomas described something that almost seems impossible to believe.

While being held in the D.C. Jail as a January 6 defendant, Thomas was forced to testify by Zoom during the sentencing hearing of the man convicted of sexually abusing him and four other children while they were in foster care.

It was a surreal moment.

On one hand, Thomas was a victim helping prosecutors hold his abuser accountable. On the other hand, he was being returned to a jail cell hundreds of miles from home because of his involvement in January 6. That contrast raises difficult questions about the institutions Americans are asked to trust.

According to Thomas, when government agencies fail vulnerable citizens and when people feel abandoned by the very system that was supposed to protect them, it should not be surprising that many eventually lose faith in those institutions. For some, that distrust eventually extends into politics.

Thomas acknowledges that his story is unique, but he believes it helps explain why many Americans have been drawn to President Trump’s movement. In his view, it was not one speech or one election that changed their minds. It was years of watching institutions that they were told to trust fail them or the people they love.

Whether you agree with Thomas’s politics or not, the interview offers a perspective that is rarely heard in the national conversation surrounding January 6. Rather than focusing only on what happened that day, it explores the life experiences that shaped one participant’s worldview

Thomas and his attorney continue to fight his civil cases in court, including his case against Michigan’s Foster Care system and for J6 restitution. The court costs have been making things very difficult because Isaac has to pay his legal fees out of his own pocket.

You can donate to his foster care legal defense fund here if you would like to pitch in.

Listen here:

Or here.

The post Exclusive: Former Foster Child Turned January 6 Defendant Opens Up in New NPR Interview About Abuse, Government Failures and Why He Lost Faith in the System appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will hold a press briefing this afternoon as President Trump prepares to deliver a primetime speech this evening. 

This will be Leavitt’s first press briefing since taking maternity leave in May.

President Trump announced on Monday that he would deliver a primetime address to the nation tonight, where he is expected to discuss newly declassified intelligence on Chinese interference in the 2020 election. The president will reportedly be joined by CIA Director Ratcliffe, Acting DNI Bill Pulte, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and FBI Director Kash Patel during his address.

Reports suggest that a White House task force is also expected to release classified intelligence documents related to the 2020 election after the FBI raided the Fulton County, Georgia, election office earlier this year.

On Tuesday, Trump confirmed his speech will center on elections, adding, “It’s really, really big news, and our country has to shape up.”

“We’ll be discussing other things too,” Trump said.

WATCH:

Today’s press briefing and the President’s speech also come amid escalations in the Iran war. US Central Command forces have launched five consecutive days of strikes, including two attacks against Iranian military targets on Wednesday. Trump has said strikes will continue through the week, while threatening to escalate the war further by targeting Iran’s energy, oil, and transportation infrastructure next week.

Video of CENTCOM strikes released on Wednesday:

Trump has further refused to rule out a ground invasion of Iran and suggested that he would take over Iran’s oil export hub of Kharg Island.

The press briefing is scheduled to begin at 1 pm ET.

Watch live below:

The post WATCH LIVE: White House Press Sec Karoline Leavitt Returns for Press Briefing Ahead of Trump’s Major Speech – 1 PM ET appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

A truly bizarre and disgusting scene unfolded in Democrat-run Kansas City, Missouri, this week when firefighters had to take a power saw to a porta-potty to free a man who somehow managed to get stuck underneath the toilet seat.

Authorities were called after people heard knocking and screaming coming from the portable toilet near East 17th Street and The Paseo, according to Citizen App.

Witnesses called authorities after hearing knocking and a man screaming for help from inside the unit

When crews arrived, they found the man trapped beneath the seat with his upper body wedged under the bowl and his lower half submerged in the waste tank.

WATCH:

STUCK WHERE?!?!? Firefighters in Kansas City were forced to cut apart a portable toilet after a man somehow became trapped beneath the seat in a strange rescue. https://t.co/7deBVUY1QP

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 15, 2026

Once he was finally pulled free, firefighters escorted the man to a nearby fire truck, where he was hosed off before receiving further medical attention.

WATCH:

For those wondering…

He did make it out of there and the firetrucks literally hosed him down.

Bizarre scene. pic.twitter.com/PAvU1zHsvt

— Matt Van Swol (@mattvanswol) July 15, 2026

The man’s identity has not been released, and authorities have not publicly explained exactly how he ended up trapped beneath the toilet seat.

Social media users were left stunned after footage of the rescue spread online, with many questioning how such an incident was even physically possible.

The Kansas City Fire Department has not released additional details regarding the unusual rescue.

The post SH*TTY SITUATION: Firefighters Forced to Cut Apart Porta-Potty After Man Somehow Became Trapped Underneath the Toilet appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

Science under geopolitical pressure.

Denmark is on edge over the US threat to control its Arctic autonomous territory of Greenland.

And on the island, they are taking whatever precautions they feel will leave them more secure in the face of this danger.

Yesterday (15), news arose that the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources is ‘halting new collaboration with US partners’ in order to ‘protect its data and scientists’.

The Institute is regarded as Greenland’s leading environmental and natural-resource research center.

BREAKING: Greenland’s Institute of Natural Resources and Environment has announced it will not enter into any new collaborations with U.S. institutions, marking a significant shift in scientific cooperation.

Before President Trump returned to office, the institute worked closely… pic.twitter.com/nMTbekuC0X

— GeoInsider (@InsiderGeo) July 14, 2026

Euronews reported:

“’I can confirm that we made the decision to only engage in projects with US partners that we already are or have been working with’, Josephine Nymand, director of the institute, told news agency AFP.”

Greenland’s decision comes as tensions have resurfaced over US President Donald J. Trump’s vows to ‘seize’ the Arctic island – be it by buying it, or else obtaining control by any other means, including a military invasion.

“In an interview with Greenland’s public broadcaster, KNR, she said the decision was based on a need to protect the institute’s data and scientists, citing the Trump administration’s deletion of troves of scientific data and refusal to allow some foreign scientists into the United States.

‘I can’t do much to help our compatriots if they are detained’ on arrival in the United States, she told KNR. ‘That’s why we decided the best thing was not to go there in the current situation’.”

Read: GREENLAND TIES – US Opens New Consulate in Nuuk, Strengthening Its Presence in Arctic Island.

Anadolu Agency reported:

“GINR, also known as Pinngortitaleriffik, monitors living resources and the environment in Greenland, will not be doing new research projects with the US, Danish broadcaster DR reported.

Citing Greenland-based radio KNR, the report said the institute’s employees had been told by its director, Josephine Nymand, not to travel to the US to attend conferences or participate in research projects.

‘We do not enter into new agreements or projects with the USA with partners we do not know’, Nymand said.

[…] Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rejected Trump’s [annexation] remarks, reiterating that Greenland ‘is not for sale’ and that only the people of Greenland can determine the island’s future.”

Read more:

Trump Is Back With His Plan To Buy Greenland – Says Arctic Island Should Be Controlled by US, Not Denmark (VIDEOS)

The post Greenland Institute of Natural Resources Pauses Collaborations With US To ‘Protect Its Scientists’ appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.