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Biden intel officials caught on Signal, Risch stopping committee disruptions, and more!
Several top Biden intelligence officials used Signal; Heard on the Hill; and more!
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April 3, 2025
Let’s dive in.
EXCLUSIVE: Multiple Intelligence Staff confirm Biden admin DNI Avril Haines used Signal "all the time and on her personal phone"
Heard on the Hill
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Jim Risch working with Capitol Police to arrest liberal protesters
SCOOP: House GOP complements Trump's Iran max pressure campaign: "Your terror funding days are numbered"
SCOOP: "He should be quickly confirmed": Warren Stephens, Trump’s pick for UK Ambassador, sails through confirmation hearing
SCOOP: House Republicans discuss DOGE, MAHA, judicial reforms, and more in latest RSC podcast
K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: Arnold Ventures gave health-related funding to organizations critical of President Trump and his administration
OPINIONATED: Rep. Riley Moore on Trump and the Department of Education, Sen. Scott Brown on possible moves for the Trump FTC, and Admiral Lorin Selby and Erik Bethel on the Trump administration’s shipbuilding.
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EXCLUSIVE: Multiple Intelligence Staff confirm Biden admin DNI Avril Haines used Signal "all the time and on her personal phone"
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
Biden administration DNI Avril Haines used Signal “all the time and on her personal phone,” according to multiple career employees’ exclusive statements to the Washington Reporter.
The reports from career intelligence staffers of Haines’ use of Signal now complicates efforts by Democrats and their allies in the media to attack top national security officials in the Trump administration for utilizing the messaging app.
The revelation came as a shock to senior House Republicans, including several on the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees.
Several other top intelligence officials in the Biden administration reportedly relied extensively on Signal to conduct their jobs; the Reporter will follow up on these tips in the coming days.
Biden administration Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Avril Haines used Signal “all the time and on her personal phone,” according to multiple career employees’ exclusive statements to the Washington Reporter.
The reports from career intelligence staffers of Haines’ use of Signal now complicates efforts by Democrats and their allies in the media to attack top national security officials in the Trump administration for utilizing the messaging app.
“She used it all the time,” one source added to the Reporter, noting that the then-DNI was using Signal “on her personal phone.” Attempts to reach Haines via phone, email, and LinkedIn were unsuccessful.
The revelation came as a shock to senior House Republicans, including several on the Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees. At least one Republican is likely to press for further answers on the matter.
The Reporter previously covered how Democrats in Biden’s orbit and in the United States Senate have relied on the encrypted messaging application. Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas) even praised the application a few days ago.
Several other top intelligence officials in the Biden administration reportedly relied extensively on Signal to conduct their jobs; the Reporter will follow up on these tips in the coming days.
The Reporter reached out to Sens. Mark Warner (D., Va.), Dick Durbin (D., Ill.), Tim Kaine (D., Va.), and Chris Murphy (D., Ct.), as well as Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) and Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) — all have fiercely criticized Trump officials for using Signal; none responded to requests for comment.
HEARD ON THE HILL
SHORING UP SUPPORT: Mayor Eric Adams has been meeting with key CEOs and business leaders in New York, including major Republican donors. This comes as today he announced his intention to run as an Independent for NYC Mayor.
MONTANA STEAKS: Freshman Sen. Tim Sheehy (R., Mont.) held a fundraiser at the Capital Grille this week. Sheehy, who defeated incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.), is already ramping up his fundraising.
ROCK THIS BRIDGE: Rockbridge, the major private GOP donor event famously founded by Vice President JD Vance, will take place in Miami on April 12th. This year’s event will feature special guests, including DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard, HHS Secretary Bobby Kennedy, and Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent.
OLYMPIC RECORD: Sergio Gor, the head of White House PPO for President Trump, continues to break records with his hiring speed. Sources at PPO tell the Reporter that some agencies have 90 percent of their political positions filled.
GUEST PASS: Kentucky Senate candidate Daniel Cameron was spotted in the West Wing this week.
APPLOVIN IT: AppLovin made a bid for TikTok, joining the ranks of Amazon and Oracle in the fight for the social media behemoth. Sources say their pitch to the Trump administration was solving the national security issues and creating jobs.
I DON’T THINK YOU KNOW WHAT THAT WORD MEANS: Code Pink activists were spotted chasing lawmakers and staff around the Capitol today, calling them “Nazis” over arms sales to Israel, a Jewish state. “Ffs,” one staffer who was called a Nazi told the Reporter. One senator who was targeted by the activists was Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D., Ill.), who was called a “fucking Nazi” by protesters.
VICTORY: House Republicans padded their majority this week with the blowout wins of both Jimmy Patronis and Randy Fine in Florida. The Republican Jewish Coalition’s Sam Markstein noted to the Reporter that “by adding Randy Fine to its ranks, Jewish Republican representation in the House of Representatives has increased to levels not seen since the 1980s.” The RJC, which supported both Republicans, noted that “the Republican Party continues to elevate Jewish American voices. That is why, election after election, more and more Jewish voters are moving to the GOP.”
UN-BASED: Rep. Pat Harrigan (R., N.C.) told the Reporter that Chinese Communist Party-owned stores being allowed to operate on U.S. military bases “is an unforgivable lapse in judgment.” Harrigan called the situation a “direct threat to our national security” and introduced a bill to end “this dangerous infiltration” and kick “these foreign-controlled retailers off our military installations for good.”
A message from our sponsor.
 |
Medicaid helps provide security to our friends and neighbors, providing high-quality care for more than 72 million Americans, including children, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities.
Congress should vote against efforts to reduce Medicaid funding and instead focus on policies that strengthen access to 24/7 care.
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. Jim Risch working with Capitol Police to arrest liberal protesters
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho) recently wrote a “barring notice” to the Capitol Police, requesting that they work with him and his Senate Foreign Relations Committee to ban protesters who disrupt official Senate proceedings.
Under the policy, they list the person’s name and other information and they are barred from the hearing room for a full year following their disturbance.
Protesters from Code Pink, an anti-American organization with close financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party, have repeatedly disrupted Senate hearings during this Congress.
Now, Risch announces the policy at the start of every hearing he chairs.
Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho), is taking action against liberal protesters who have been disrupting hearings for President Donald Trump’s appointees, the Washington Reporter can reveal.
Risch recently wrote a “barring notice” to the Capitol Police, requesting that they work with him and his Senate Foreign Relations Committee to ban protesters who disrupt official Senate proceedings.
Under the policy, they list the person’s name and other information and they are barred from the hearing room for a full year following their disturbance.
“The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has important work to do, and no time to waste as we work to ensure that President Trump’s national security team gets into place,” Risch told the Reporter. “Members of the public are invited to our hearing room to observe our work, but disrespectful disruptions will no longer be accommodated.”
“To date, about ten obstructionists have been removed from the hearing room, arrested, and banned for a year,” Risch’s office told the Reporter; Risch is the first chairman to implement a policy like this during this Congress.
“Risch asked to work with the police on this policy so it would actually have teeth,” a Senate GOP source added. The senator’s policy started during the first hearing of the year for his committee, that of then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) for Secretary of State.
“It’s fair to say it’s believed that all arrests have been affiliated with Code Pink, which takes money from Russia, China and Iran,” a Senate source told the Reporter.
SCOOP: House GOP complements Trump's Iran max pressure campaign: "Your terror funding days are numbered"
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
Iran is in for a rude awakening between the maximum pressure campaign President Donald Trump rolled out and a new tranche of legislation the Republican Study Committee (RSC) unveiled this week.
The RSC’s legislation comes as the broader Trump administration is also sounding the alarm about Iran and its potential to quickly build nuclear weapons.
The RSC’s work quickly found fans outside of Congress. The Republican Jewish Coalition’s (RJC) Sam Markstein told the Reporter that “the RJC applauds Republican-led efforts to reinstitute maximum pressure on the terrorist regime in Iran.”
Another pro-Israel insider told the Reporter that “it’s extremely heartening to see Congressional Republicans take the issue seriously.”
Iran is in for a rude awakening between the maximum pressure campaign President Donald Trump rolled out and a new tranche of legislation the Republican Study Committee (RSC) unveiled this week. The actions come after four years of President Joe Biden and his administration failing to confront Iran and its radical Islamic leaders.
Trump, who has been bombing Iran’s Houthi proxies in Yemen for weeks, has been clear for years that Iran can’t be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. In addition to that, the RSC, under Rep. August Pfluger (R., Texas), rolled out its “Enforcing Maximum Pressure: Holding Iran Accountable” initiative, which includes the “toughest Iran sanctions package proposed by Congress,” according to the lawmakers.
Rep. Don Bacon (R., Neb.), one of the toughest Iran hawks in Congress who has been sanctioned by the regime, told the Washington Reporter that “Iran masterminded the killing of 609 Americans in Iraq, and also killed our sailors on the USS Cole, the Marines in Beirut, and the airmen in Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia.”
“We should never forget this nor forgive the regime. We need to put our economic foot on their neck and choke them of every penny,” Bacon said.
The RSC’s legislation comes as the broader Trump administration is also sounding the alarm about Iran and its potential to quickly build nuclear weapons. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard recently told Congress that “the [intelligence community] continues to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program.”
“In the past year, we have seen an erosion of a decades-long taboo in Iran on discussing nuclear weapons in public, likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran's decision-making apparatus,” Gabbard said. “Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.”
Gabbard’s remarks complemented Trump’s repeated warnings about a nuclear Iran, and what House Republicans announced this week.
SCOOP: "He should be quickly confirmed": Warren Stephens, Trump’s pick for UK Ambassador, sails through confirmation hearing
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
Warren Stephens, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as Ambassador to the United Kingdom, sailed through his confirmation hearing this week while burnishing his MAGA credentials in the process before he heads across the Pond.
Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho) noted in his remarks during the hearing that “the UK has been the indispensable and steadfast partner” for the United States.
Elsewhere during the hearing, Risch added that Stephens will have to walk a tightrope between the two countries.
Risch is optimistic that Stephens will be an ally in these issues, once he is confirmed.
Warren Stephens, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as Ambassador to the United Kingdom, sailed through his confirmation hearing this week while burnishing his MAGA credentials in the process before he heads across the Pond.
From the onset of his hearing, Stephens made it clear that he’d be implementing Trump’s America First agenda from the United Kingdom. Senate sources predicted to the Washington Reporter that he will be easily confirmed.
“Warren has repeatedly answered the call to serve others,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) told the Reporter. “I’m grateful he also answered the call to serve his country in a critical role at a critical time, and he should be quickly confirmed.”
Stephens, a close ally of the president, will have his work cut out for him. Sen. Jim Risch (R., Idaho) noted in his remarks during the hearing that “the UK has been the indispensable and steadfast partner” for the United States.
“Going forward we have a number of issues where we need to deepen our relationship – better trade, as you’ve noted, and defense cooperation are chief among them,” Risch said.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D., N.H.), the top Democrat on the committee, asked Stephens during his hearing about how his role will work with the Special Envoy to the United Kingdom, and Stephens replied simply that he will be the ambassador.
SCOOP: House Republicans discuss DOGE, MAHA, judicial reforms, and more in latest RSC podcast
by Matthew Foldi
THE LOWDOWN:
A trio of House Republican women joined Rep. Mark Alford (R., Mo.) to discuss everything from DOGE’s successes to prison reform and the MAHA movement on the latest episode of the Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) Right to the Point podcast, obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter.
While Alford, Harshbarger, Miller, and Greene had worked as a news anchor, pharmacist, farmer, and construction business owner, respectively, before being elected to Congress, they are now unified on some of the GOP’s top priorities. At the top of their list is Rep. Darrell Issa’s (R., Calif.) No Rogue Rulings Act.
Harshbarger, who said she is supporting Issa’s bill, noted that judges “have their districts” and said judges are “supposed to be settling feuds within their district, but they want to supersede their authority.”
Miller added that “our Constitution has designed our system to have three branches of government as a check on power.”
A trio of House Republican women joined Rep. Mark Alford (R., Mo.) to discuss everything from DOGE’s successes to prison reform and the MAHA movement on the latest episode of the Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) Right to the Point podcast, obtained exclusively by the Washington Reporter.
Alford channeled the decades he spent as a reporter while moderating the conversation between Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R., Ga.), Mary Miller (R., Ill.), and Diana Harshbarger (R., Tenn.). All four are members of the RSC, and all four had lengthy careers in the private sector before ascending to Congress.
Harshbarger even joked that if she could pass any bill, it would be one that says that “you could not run for Congress if you hadn't worked a real job or run a successful business, period.”
“You can't be on an episode of DC Housewives and be up here. That's not a real job,” Harshbarger said. “[Rep.] Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas) thinks it is.”
Crockett was a frequent topic of mockery by the Republicans. She infamously got into a tiff with Greene, who said that Crockett “is my favorite Democrat right now. Jasmine for President!”
When Greene and Crockett aren’t feuding on the full Oversight Committee, the former is chairing the committee’s DOGE Subcommittee, which she chairs — and her experience suggests that Democrats are miscalculating in attacking Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts.
“DOGE is the most exciting thing,” she said. “The American people are fired up about it, and it's so obvious; we have $36 trillion in debt and the compounding interest on our debt this year, we all know this is higher than our military budget, so it's hard to understand why any of our colleagues, or anyone in Congress, even our Democrat colleagues, would be against DOGE.”
“I just got off the phone with the DOGE team before I headed over for our podcast today, and I was talking with them about 400,000 Social Security numbers that they have found out were stolen,” Greene added. “And the good news is the Department of Justice will be arresting someone.”
Miller agreed with Greene’s points, noting that DOGE’s findings have put a new meaning on Tax Day this year.
“We've all hated Tax Day, but could we ever have hated it worse than this year after the onion’s being peeled back when we're finding out how abused the American taxpayer, and this is where my money's going,” she said.
K-STREET, 10,000 FEET:
Arnold Ventures gave health-related funding to organizations critical of President Trump and his administration
by the Washington Reporter
THE LOWDOWN:
Arnold Ventures, the far-left investment group led by Texas billionaire John Arnold that is trying to cozy up to Republicans, gave money to organizations critical of President Donald Trump and his administration, the Washington Reporter has learned.
Some of these organizations critical of President Trump and his administration receive government grants, including the RAND Corporation and the Brookings Institute.
A Senate leadership aide told the Reporter that “Arnold Ventures is the new Soros, only they try to hide what they do.”
The revelations brought criticism towards Arnold Ventures — which has been trying to kiss the president’s ring after his historic 2024 win — from inside the Beltway.
Arnold Ventures, the far-left investment group led by Texas billionaire John Arnold that is trying to cozy up to Republicans, gave money to organizations critical of President Donald Trump and his administration, the Washington Reporter has learned.
Sources told the Reporter that Arnold Ventures has given health-focus investments to several groups who have made ad hominem attacks and criticized people rather than policies with which they disagreed.
Several of the Arnold Ventures-funded groups include the Brookings Institution, Families USA, and the RAND Corporation. Of the critical groups, a good number of them received millions in federal funding.
The RAND Corporation is one of those groups critical of President Trump and his administration but receiving both Arnold Ventures and federal funds. One of RAND’s political scientists, Alexander Noyes, wrote a January 2024 Newsweek commentary piece that referred to January 6, 2021, as “a failed executive coup.” Additionally, RAND senior policy researcher Daniel Gernstein criticized the first Trump administration’s COVID-19 response in a virtual roundtable with the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee.
RAND Corporation received $321,794,205 in government grants.
The Brookings Institution, which received $1,409,405 in government grants, criticized Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as not having "much of a handle on Medicaid at all” in a February article about the now-secretary’s confirmation hearings.
OPINIONATED
Op-Ed: Rep. Riley Moore: It's time for Congress to get in the arena on the education fight
by Rep. Riley Moore
Since first opening its doors during the Carter Administration, the total number of bureaucrats working for the federal Department of Education has risen roughly 40 percent. Meanwhile, the nation that put a man on the moon and defeated the Soviet Union has fallen to the middle of the pack in math and science. It should come as no surprise that the man elected to Make America Great Again would take issue with this disastrous decline.
The American people sent President Donald Trump to Washington with a unified Republican government to reverse decades of bad decisions and steepening decline, especially in the area of education. Americans saw the Biden administration wield the Department of Education, on numerous occasions, to force radical, left-wing social engineering into classrooms nationwide, and they resoundingly rejected that overreach at the ballot box. At a time where math and reading scores for American 13-year-olds are at their lowest point in decades, the Department of Education focused their attention on a Title IX rewrite aimed at forcing men into women’s sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms.
In my home state of West Virginia, test scores paint a bleak picture of the educational status quo. Less than half of public school students are proficient in reading. Only 36 percent of students are able to do math at grade level, with fewer than a third meeting standards in science. After decades and billions of dollars spent, West Virginia families are right to demand better than what they got by handing over educational control to Washington.
President Trump’s executive order to dismantle this administrative bureaucracy will unlock new opportunities for states to meet their citizens’ needs. When Congress acts to make these changes permanent, billions of tax dollars will flow directly to states without countless federal strings attached. Funds currently paying the salaries and benefits of four thousand bureaucrats at the Department of Education can flow into creative opportunities like providing more vocational training in schools, expanding wraparound services for students who need them, or expanding educational options for families.
During my tenure as West Virginia State Treasurer, for example, I led the charge to create the Hope Scholarship Program, the widest ranging and most accessible school choice program in the country. Under the law, families can use state funds for private school tuition or homeschooling.
Op-Ed: Sen. Scott Brown: Three Biden-era cases Trump’s FTC should reevaluate
by Sen. Scott Brown
The Trump administration is making meaningful strides toward reversing the malaise of the Biden years. Every government agency is facing scrutiny, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should be no exception, especially after its weaponization by the Biden administration against America’s tech innovators.
Despite the turmoil at the FTC, conservatives have a majority, and the timing is ripe for Chair Andrew Ferguson to dig out of the hole left behind by Lina Khan. For four years, Khan issued a blizzard of half-baked lawsuits, which created headlines and burned taxpayer resources.
Now Khan’s unfinished business falls to Ferguson. He must determine the next steps of Khan’s clunkers, while also getting the FTC back to its mission of ensuring free and fair competition.
Here are three FTC cases worthy of reconsideration.
Pepsi Co
On January 17, three days before Biden’s exit, Khan’s FTC launched a poorly conceived fishing expedition against Pepsi, accusing the company of price discrimination. Khan grounded her complaint on the Robinson-Patman Act, a nearly century old Anti-Price Discrimination Act aimed at leveling the playing field between large and small retailers.
As the dissenting commissioners highlighted, not only was the timing of the case dubious, a "cynical attempt to tie the hands" of the incoming administration, in Ferguson’s words, but so were the facts. Simply put, Khan didn’t have the goods to support her claim, but with the clock ticking, she proceeded. Countless litigators and millions of dollars have already been spent on a barely viable case.
Op-Ed: Admiral Lorin Selby and Erik Bethel: How Donald Trump is reimagining shipbuilding and the future of naval warfare
by Admiral Lorin Selby (ret.) and Erik Bethel
As the U.S. Navy charts its course through the 21st century, it faces a pivotal moment in global security. For decades, traditional naval strategies relied on large, expensive platforms like aircraft carriers, but this approach fails in today’s evolving threat landscape. To maintain superiority, we must abandon reliance on massive, complex, and costly platforms and build a more distributed force. We call it “the small, the agile, and the many.”
The case for urgency
The 2020s are reshaping great power competition, and America’s adversaries are exploiting emerging technologies to challenge the balance of power. Historical superiority no longer guarantees dominance. Just as battleships became obsolete with the rise of air power, today’s large naval platforms face the same risk. If the Navy fails to adapt, it will fall behind.
A new administration, a new shipbuilding opportunity
The new administration presents a rare opportunity to challenge entrenched mindsets, drive innovation, and inject fresh thinking into the Navy’s force structure. A key pillar of this effort is President Donald Trump’s bold shipbuilding strategy, which prioritizes reshoring ship production, leveraging tariffs, tax incentives, foreign direct investment, and acquisition reform to revitalize the U.S. maritime industrial base. This shift aligns with the Navy’s need for a distributed, resilient, and AI-driven fleet that can maintain operational superiority in contested environments.
Shipbuilding as a strategic imperative
Trump’s shipbuilding plan recognizes that the United States no longer builds ships at scale, with only five commercial vessels constructed domestically in 2022 compared to China’s 1,794. The administration’s proposed tariffs on Chinese-built vessels and incentives for U.S.-based shipyards create an opportunity to accelerate the production of unmanned platforms and small, agile combatants that can enhance deterrence in the Indo-Pacific.
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