Your First Look at Today's Top Stories

Having trouble viewing this email? View the web version.

Monday, July 21, 2025

DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard: Obama “manufactured and politicized intelligence”

Newly declassified material confirms the worst of intuitions many had of Obama et al. Fox News: The Obama administration “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to create the narrative that Russia was attempting to influence the 2016 presidential election, despite information from the intelligence community stating otherwise, Fox News Digital has learned…. What the real intelligence revealed, the intelligence that Obama refused to accept: “We assess that Russian and criminal actors did not impact recent US election results by conducting malicious cyber activities against election infrastructure,” the Presidential Daily Brief stated. “Russian Government-affiliated actors most likely compromised an Illinois voter registration database and unsuccessfully attempted the same in other states.” But the brief stated that it was “highly unlikely” the effort “would have resulted in altering any state’s official vote result.” “Criminal activity also failed to reach the scale and sophistication necessary to change election outcomes,” it stated (Fox News). Director Gabbard: These documents detail a treasonous conspiracy by officials at the highest levels of the Obama White House to subvert the will of the American people and try to usurp the President from fulfilling his mandate.This betrayal concerns every American. The integrity of our democratic republic demands that every person involved be investigated and brought to justice to prevent this from ever happening again. (Gabbard). More of Gabbard from her appearance on Fox News: “The effect of what Pres. Obama and his senior national security team did was subvert the will of the American people, undermining our democratic republic, and enacting what would be essentially a years-long coup against Pres. Trump” (Rapid Response).

Going Mum: Third Member of Biden “Politburo” Refuses to Testify

James Comer (R-KY) has been inviting Biden administration members to testify before the House Oversight Committee: Ed Morrissey: Comer has subpoenaed them to testify, and rather than follow Hunter’s advice and tell the committee what they saw Joe Biden do, they have so far decided that testifying might tend to incriminate themselves. Deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini, fingered as a member of the ‘politburo’ running the Biden Regency, took the Fifth yesterday at an Oversight deposition. She joins fellow ‘politburo’ member Anthony Bernal and White House physician Kevin O’Connor in deciding that the truth may not set her free at all: “Annie Tomasini on Friday became the third Biden administration official to plead the Fifth Amendment in a House panel’s investigation into former President Joe Biden’s mental fitness and use of a presidential autopen while in office”…. Comer intends to press forward, so perhaps Ron Klain might be the next to take Five. Comer’s committee did get testimony from Neera Tanden, who also didn’t take Hunter’s advice, preferring to distance herself from any of the decision-making processes in the Biden Regency. Ashley Williams, a longtime Biden ally, also testified earlier, but less is known about what the former West Wing deputy director had to say. At some point, Pam Bondi and Comer will get together and find someone among the group pleading the Fifth for a full immunity grant, perhaps once they find some evidence to contradict the denials. At that point, one of these politburo members will have to decide whether to come clean or to sit in prison for a long while for a contempt of Congress charge (Hot Air).

The Biden “Tell All” Books and the Missing Ingredient

The missing ingredient is candor from elite media who helped every step along the way. Tevi Troy looks at the hypocrisy of reporters who are willing to tell the truth now—after the fact—when they weren’t willing to do so before. Troy: Every four years, the confused, the despondent, and the curious look to campaign postmortems for more details—gossip, really—on what happened in the last presidential election. These tell-all books are usually the work of reporters who hold back key tidbits as the contest unfolds to make the books more revealing when they appear…. No one is reading these books with any measure of surprise that Biden wasn’t all there in private, behind the scenes. That’s because Biden wasn’t all there in front of the scenes, either. This fact was most glaring during his disastrous June 2024 debate against Trump, which eventually forced the then sitting president from the race…. Since there are no real revelations in these supposedly revelatory volumes, one has to look elsewhere for the real story: the media-enabled cover-up by a handful of White House insiders now known as “the Politburo.” The Politburo was made up of Biden handlers Steve Ricchetti, Bruce Reed, and Mike Donilon; first lady aide and attack dog Anthony Bernal; and family members Jill and Hunter Biden. And here the books get interesting, because they do expose not only the delusionary nature of the Politburo in propping up Biden but also the various forms of self-justification they engaged in to continue their charade (Commentary).

Trump Six Months Into Second Term: “I have never seen a president throw more strikes in so short a time as Trump has over the past few weeks”

That line comes from Marc Thiessen as he sums up Trump’s first six months—a date we marked yesterday. More: Consider: Three weeks ago, Trump launched unprecedented military strikes that wrecked the Iranian nuclear program…. He then had a triumphant NATO summit in the Netherlands, getting allies to agree to spend 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense…. While all this was going on, Trump won three major Supreme Court battles: a decision that curtailed the power of district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions blocking him from implementing his policies; a second restoring the rights of parents to opt out of LGBTQ+ indoctrination in public schools; and a third upholding his right to fire tens of thousands of workers across the federal government…. He sent the National Guard in June to help quell immigration riots in Los Angeles and drove illegal border crossings to a virtual halt, with apprehensions and encounters at the U.S. southern border last month reaching lowest levels ever recorded…. He forced the University of Pennsylvania to ban biological males in women’s sports, restore women’s records, post the definition of a woman on its website and apologize to female athletes it harmed. In the past week, the news broke that Columbia University is nearing a $200 million settlement with the Trump administration over antisemitic civil rights violations on campus. He passed his “One Big Beautiful Bill,” making his 2017 pro-growth tax cuts permanent and delivering on his promise t working-class voters to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security…. There are probably more victories to come — momentum is contagious, and success begets success. But I can’t think of a president in my lifetime who has accomplished this much in such a short period of time. Indeed, what Trump achieved in just the past month arguably exceeds what Biden accomplished in his entire four-year term (Washington Post).

A Minneapolis “Mamdani”? Another Socialist Wins Mayoral Nomination

The fascination or intoxication with hard-left socialism is a disturbing trend. Minneapolis Star Tribune: The Democratic party of Minnesota’s largest city has endorsed a democratic socialist over a two-term incumbent mayor, according to Minneapolis DFL convention co-chair Ann Friedrich. State Sen. Omar Fateh won at least 60% of the Minneapolis DFL delegate vote Saturday, defeating Mayor Jacob Frey in the party’s first endorsement of a mayoral candidate in 16 years, according to an initial announcement by Friedrich. Fateh won by a clear visual vote of delegates holding up their badges (Tribune). New York Sun: Mr. Fateh, the 35-year-old son of Somali immigrants who has been running an insurgent campaign similar to that of Zohran Mamdani in New York, received more than 60 percent of the vote after the first round of voting in Saturday’s convention. In the first round, Mr. Fateh received 43 percent of the vote to Mr. Frey’s 31 percent. Three other candidates — Reverend DeWayne Davis, who received just less than 20 percent, traffic app maker, Jazz Hampton, and small business owner, Brenda Short — failed to qualify for the second round. “I am incredibly honored to be the DFL endorsed candidate for Minneapolis Mayor. This endorsement is a message that Minneapolis residents are done with broken promises, vetoes, and politics as usual. It’s a mandate to build a city that works for all of us,” Mr. Fateh wrote in an X post (New York Sun).

Economy Could Soon See Fruits of Trump Deregulatory Agenda

The administration’s deregulatory efforts should complement the tax cuts secured by the Big, Beautiful Bill. Jarrett Dieterle of City Journal: two new moves by the Securities and Exchange Commission suggest that the administration may be revving up the deregulatory agenda. Last month, the commission announced the formal withdrawal of 14 pending Biden-era regulations still moving through the regulatory rulemaking process. Among these rules were several big-ticket items, including an anti-greenwashing rule—which sought to tighten controls on funds that label themselves “green”—and another involving the shareholder proposal process…. Both the anti-greenwashing rule and the shareholder-proposal rule will require the current SEC to consider its next steps carefully. A more narrowly tailored effort to ensure basic truth-in-advertising for ESG funds might find favor on both the right and the left. On the second issue, the commission will need to decide whether to re-raise the bar for shareholder proposals or to take the more dramatic step of returning the issue to the states. Either way, it’s clear that the Trump financial deregulatory agenda has commenced in earnest. In the months ahead, expect it to hit high gear (City Journal).

Netanyahu’s Governing Coalition Uncertain as Ultra-Orthodox Parties Exit

The key concern in Israel is the nation’s fatigue with the exemption from military service from the Haradi men (ultra-Orthodox) who do not serve. Times of Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is navigating a period of mounting uncertainty following last week’s exit of the ultra-Orthodox parties, which triggered a wave of ministerial resignations and left a long-sought bill to exempt Haredi men from military service in limbo. With his bloc weakened, Netanyahu is reportedly considering electoral reforms aimed at improving his odds in the next nationwide election, while his lawmakers race to finalize legislation ahead of a three-month Knesset recess, which begins July 27 (Times of Israel). The irony is: The ultra-Orthodox parties will fare worse under any post-Netanyahu, post-Likud coalition. Jerusalem Post: With the dust of the Knesset’s two haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties departing from the government beginning to settle, the future of the bill to regulate the community’s IDF service remains unclear. The Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee held dozens of meetings during the past year based on the text of a prior bill that passed its first reading in 2022 during the Lapid-Bennett government. However, the panel’s chair, Yuli Edelstein, said repeatedly that his committee had “cleaned the slate” on the previous bill, which was widely believed to be irrelevant following Hamas’s October 7 massacre, and that a new bill could be significantly altered (Jerusalem Post).

Iran Renewed in Zeal to Assassinate Trump

The dramatic hit on Iran’s nuclear facilities has only renewed the resolve of the mullahs. Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies: Tehran can’t stop. Not a day goes by in which Iranian religious or political officials don’t threaten the life of President Trump. As long as the regime lives, so will the threat…. Mr. Trump constitutes a unique threat to the mullahs because he has actually used American military might to punish the regime for its behavior. Last week Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a former senior adviser to Mr. Khamenei said, “Trump has done something”—attacking Iran’s nuclear site—“so that he can no longer sunbathe in Mar-a-Lago.” Mr. Larijani mused about a “small drone” hitting Mr. Trump “in the navel” as he enjoyed the Florida summer weather…. Clerics who train the next generation of Islamic Republic theologians at the Tehran Seminary released a statement labeling Mr. Trump a mahdur al-damm, indicating that his life is forfeit and his blood can be shed without legal consequence. Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, a member of the regime’s Orwellian-sounding Assembly of Experts and Expediency Discernment Council, broadened the scope of these fatwas. Mr. Trump’s “property and life” he said “are permissible targets, and the lives of those dependent on the American government are also permissible targets” (Wall Street Journal).

Recent Developments in Europe Press the Question Anew: What Does it Mean to Human?

Carl Trueman: Anyone who doubts that the abolition of man is a present-day reality need only look at the British headlines from the past few weeks. The House of Commons approved bills that allow for assisted killing and for late-term abortion…. While the headlines were dominated by this push to eliminate the most vulnerable members of British society, an article at Popular Mechanics was perhaps even more significant. Earlier this year, Yanchang Wei at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China successfully produced mouse embryos via androgenesis—reproduction by two fathers. These two phenomena—the assumption of power over who lives and who dies, and the approaching era of the mechanical manipulation of the creation of human life—bring the question of what it means to be human into focus…. Iceland provides a good example. It decided some years ago that being human does not include people with Down syndrome. They are now almost all eliminated before leaving the birth canal. The same looks to be true in the U.K. for babies in the womb that might pose an emotional problem to the mother. They are not human either (First Things).

10.

Remembering Ed Feulner: 1941-2025

One of the key architects of the Reagan Administration and the president of the Heritage Foundation from 1977 to 2013 died on Friday at 83. Derrick Morgan, executive vice president at the Heritage Foundation: “Onward!” Along with a dozen other sayings, this was the signature of Edwin J. Feulner, who passed away Friday. There is not a week that goes by that I do not quote him. He was a giant of the conservative movement, but I got to work with him day to day as his chief of staff while he was carefully stewarding and looking to hand over the institution he founded, The Heritage Foundation. While he built institutions and our movement, his most lasting legacy for me is how he treated people…. Ed had a way of personifying “adding and multiplying, not dividing and subtracting.” He hesitated to read anyone out of the conservative movement and looked for the positive in all corners of conservatism. But he tempered his good-natured conviviality with discernment, somehow avoiding getting too closely entangled with those who found scandal and controversy. He had zero tolerance for any bigotry on the basis of race or religion, and there was never a whiff of any of that at Heritage thanks to his zeal. His impeccable character ensured an upstart, nimble shop on Capitol Hill became the “beast” of all think tanks (in the words of the New York Times) (Daily Signal). National Review, with a look at Feulner’s role in the Reagan Administration’s Mandate for Leadership: As Heritage president, Feulner spearheaded one of the most successful implementations of conservative thought into policy by releasing the Mandate for Leadership. The product of extensive collaboration with conservative thinkers and activists across the country, the Mandate for Leadership was intended as a practical framework for the incoming Ronald Reagan administration. It functioned as intended. More than 60 percent of its guidelines became reality by the end of Reagan’s presidency. Not for nothing did Reagan award Feulner the Presidential Citizens Medal in 1989 (National Review). Full bio from Heritage: He did not want to lead a group of academics that would write studies, place them on a shelf and hope someone important would read them. Instead, Feulner decided that Heritage would operate like a business that expected progress from its analysts and results from their policy studies. Heritage would achieve these results by creating timely, concise studies and aggressively marketing them to Congress, policymakers and the media (Heritage).

SUBSCRIPTION INFO: This newsletter is never sent unsolicited. It is only sent to people who signed up from one of the Salem Media Group network of websites. We respect and value your time and privacy.
Unsubscribe from The Daybreak Insider
6400 N. Belt Line Rd., Suite 200, Irving, TX 75063
Copyright © 2025 Salem Media Group and its Content Providers. All rights reserved.