Kash Patel Issues Statement Following Confirmation Vote: ‘Let’s Get To Work’

 New FBI Director Kash Patel issued a brief statement from his official X account shortly after he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a 51-49 vote that fell mainly along party lines.

Patel earned the votes of 51 Republicans, with Senators Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) voting no alongside 47 Democrats — after a contentious hearing and a series of Democrat attempts to delay his confirmation.

“I am honored to be confirmed as the ninth Director of the Federal bureau of Investigation,” Patel’s statement began.

“Thank you to President Trump and Attorney General Bondi for your unwavering confidence and support,” Patel added. “The FBI has a storied legacy—from the ‘G-Men’ to safeguarding our nation in the wake of 9/11.”

Patel went on to reflect on the current state of the FBI, noting that public trust in the institution was at an all-time low and the American people believed that it had been politicized, particularly in recent years.

“The American people deserve an FBI that is transparent, accountable, and committed to justice. The politicalization of our justice system has eroded public trust—but that ends today,” Patel continued. “My mission as Director is clear: let good cops be cops—and rebuild trust in the FBI. Working alongside the dedicated men and women of the Bureau and our partners, we will rebuild an FBI the American people can be proud of.”

“And to those who seek to harm Americans—consider this your warning. We will hunt you down in every corner of this planet,” he concluded. “Mission First. America Always. Let’s get to work.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose confirmation was also delayed by Democrats, offered her congratulations to Patel in a post, saying, “Congratulations to my good friend @FBIDirectorKash! Kash is extremely passionate about restoring the reputation of the FBI, and I look forward to working closely with him to end violent crime, protect our national security, and make America safe again.”

PepsiCo Announces End To DEI Policies

 Conservative activist Robby Starbuck announced on Thursday that PepsiCo will end all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and initiatives at the company and put an end to its woke “social credit system survey.”

In a post on X from the filmmaker, Starbuck wrote that he could finally reveal that after he contacted the company and planned to expose its woke policies, PepsiCo has revealed big changes that aren’t just going to effect Pepsi, but all the the brands it owns including Gatorade, Quaker, Doritos, Ruffles, Frito-Lay, Aquafina, and more.

“@PepsiCo will no longer have a DEI Officer. PepsiCo will no longer have a DEI team. PepsiCo will END DEI representation goals,” Starbuck’s post read. “PepsiCo will no longer participate in the woke @HRC CEI social credit system survey. Woke trans agenda activists at the HRC are losing influence and power by the day.”

“They will END ALL DEI trainings,” he added. “ALL PepsiCo sponsorships must align with their business going forward. Instead of supplier diversity, PepsiCo is now focused on growing their small business supplier base.”

“I have to give their executives major credit for making these changes because these are some big changes,” Starbuck continued. “PepsiCo has 318,000+ employees and a market cap of more than $200 BILLION dollars. Those employees will now have a neutral workplace without feeling that divisive issues are being injected and this corporate neutrality will also extend to their many suppliers who will no longer feel pressure to endorse these policies.”

His post noted that with PepsiCo making these changes, the next major business under threat of wider public exposure of its woke policies is CocaCola.

“@CocaCola should be very nervous about continuing with their woke policies,” Starbuck wrote. “The spotlight is on them next. We are winning and one by one we WILL bring sanity back to corporate America.”

“Our campaigns are now so effective that we’re getting the biggest companies on earth to change their policies without me even posting a story outlining their woke policies,” he added. “Companies can clearly see that America wants normalcy back. The era of wokeness is dying right in front of our eyes. The landscape of corporate America is quickly shifting to sanity and neutrality. We are the trend, not the anomaly.”

Starbuck noted that the effort to get rid of woke policies and practices had impacted companies’ worth more than $4 trillion so far and shared how people could help him continue.

PepsiCo joins other major companies like Target, Walmart, McDonalds, Harley Davidson, Ford, Coors, and Toyota that reversed course on DEI initiatives thanks to Starbuck’s efforts.

Diddy’s Lawyers File Motion To Dismiss, Claim He’s ‘Singled Out’ By ‘Racist’ Laws

 Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss charges against him, citing claims of “racist” laws which they say are unfairly used to target black men.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He is currently being held in a federal jail in New York City awaiting trial in the spring and, if convicted on all counts, is facing a maximum of 15 years in prison.

Diddy’s defense attorneys are now saying the government is guilty of racist actions because “no white person has ever been the target of a remotely similar prosecution,” per ABC News. They state that enforcement of The Mann Act of 1910 has historically been used to “target black men.”

 

The legal team says the statute has a “long and troubling history” with “racist origins,” plus was “used to target black men and supposedly protect white women from them.”

“The government has concocted a criminal case based primarily on allegations that Mr Combs and two of his longtime girlfriends sometimes brought a third party — a male escort — into their sexual relationship,” they add.

The Mann Act was called the White-Slave Traffic Act when it was enacted in 1910. It made it illegal to transport people across state or international lines for the purpose of prostitution, which in that era was happening frequently as young girls worked in brothels, The New York Post noted. 

“What was racist in its inception has often been racist in its operation,” the filing states.

One of the charges involves Combs’ highly publicized “freak off” parties, or drug-fueled orgies, which included acts of coercion, force, and prostitution. These events are mentioned in the motion to dismiss.

“Yet no other person, and certainly no white person, has ever previously been prosecuted under the White-Slave Traffic Act for hiring male escorts from another State,” defense attorneys Alexandra Shapiro and Marc Agnifilo wrote. 

“Mr. Combs has been singled out because he is a powerful black man, and he is being prosecuted for conduct that regularly goes unpunished. Count Three should be dismissed because this is a clear case of selective prosecution.”

They argue that Combs should not be prosecuted because other high-profile individuals have engaged in threesome sexual encounters and paid for the experience. 

“Many couples, including wealthy high-profile couples, involve third parties in their sexual relationships, sometimes for implicit or explicit remuneration,” the filing says. “No federal prosecutor, in this district or any other, has targeted the company, its CEO, or its escorts.”

Despite the attorneys’ claims, Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime companion of Jeffery Epstein, was convicted under the Mann Act for transporting minors with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. Maxwell was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022. 

California Lithium Battery Facility Catches Fire Again, Residents Told To Close Windows

 Another fire broke out at one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage facilities in California.

Residents living near the Vistra Moss Landing Power Plant and Energy Storage Facility were told Tuesday night to close their windows and doors after “light smoke and fire” were seen at the facility, an emergency alert from county officials said.

“Public Safety Agencies are in Unified Command due to light smoke and fire at the Vistra Battery Facility in Moss Landing. Unified Command continues to monitor the situation and community air particulate matter and metals monitoring are ongoing,” the alert from Monterey County officials said. “Out of an abundance of caution, safety agencies urge residents to close windows and doors overnight.”

An earlier message from the county said the fire was first detected around 6:30 p.m., but residents weren’t told this until after 8:30, according to CBS News. The fire started in the burned-out area where a previous fire broke out on January 16, but the message said the new fire didn’t appear to be burning undamaged batteries.

“The Jan. 16 fire grew out of control when the facility’s internal fire suppression system failed,” CBS reported.

The fire burned for several days, NBC Bay Area reported, and noted the increase in toxic metals related to baseline measurements that had been conducted prior to the blaze. Initially, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under then-President Joe Biden, along with local authorities, claimed the fire at the energy storage facility released no toxins.

High levels of nickel, manganese, and cobalt were found in the soil within 2 miles of the facility, The Daily Wire previously reported, according to measurements taken by scientists at San Jose State University.

Dr. Ivano Aiello, the chair of San José State’s Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, told KQED that his lab tested soil within two miles of the Elkhorn Slough nature preserve and found that samples from around 100 locations showed concentrations of three toxic heavy metals hundreds of times higher than before the fire. He noted that the fire caused the increase in findings because the heavy metals were only found in the top layer of soil, suggesting they were recent.

“They are clearly the type of material from a battery, so you can link directly the occurrence increasing of this toxic heavy metal to the source, which is a battery,” he told the outlet. “The line of evidence from a scientific perspective is pretty solid. There’s no other explanation as to why before the concentrations were much lower and now are much higher, and those elements are linked to those nanoparticles.”

Earlier this month, residents near the facility filed a lawsuit against Vistra Energy and PG&E, the companies that own the two facilities at the Moss Landing site. The lawsuit alleges that Vistra failed to take proper safety measures and PG&E designed an unsafe facility.

Pam Bondi Fires Top ATF Official As Trump Admin Guts Biden Officials Throughout Government

 U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday fired Pamela Hicks, the general counsel for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

“Earlier today, I was served official notice from the Attorney General of the United States that I was being removed from my position as the Chief Counsel of ATF and my employment with the Department of Justice terminated,” Hicks said in a statement on social media confirming the news.

“I have had the privilege of serving in the federal civil service for almost 28 years, including 23 as an attorney for the Department of Justice,” Hicks continued. “Serving as ATF Chief Counsel has been the highest honor of my career and working with the people at ATF and throughout the Department has been a pleasure.”

Gun Owners of America said that Hicks “oversaw the enforcement of every Biden infringement of the Second Amendment since taking the position in 2021.”

The news comes after the FBI’s general counsel resigned earlier this month as the Trump administration seeks fresh faces to serve in key positions over the next four years, The Washington Post reported.

The firing comes after President Donald Trump ordered this week that all remaining Biden-era United States Attorneys be fired — a move that is common when a new administration takes over.

“Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before,” Trump wrote on social media. “Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining ‘Biden Era’ U.S. Attorneys. We must ‘clean house’ IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence. America’s Golden Age must have a fair Justice System — THAT BEGINS TODAY!”

Mike Waltz Asked Who Trump Views As ‘More Responsible’ For Russia’s War In Ukraine

 National security adviser Mike Waltz was asked on Thursday who President Donald Trump believes is “more responsible” for Russia’s war in Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The question came from Fox News reporter Peter Doocy in response to recent attacks by Trump on Ukraine and Zelensky, who he blamed for the war and called a “dictator.”

“Who does he think is more responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin or Zelensky?” Doocy asked.

“Well, look, his goal is to bring this war to an end, period,” Waltz responded. “And there has been ongoing fighting on both sides. It is World War I-style trench warfare. His frustration with President Zelensky is, that you’ve heard, is multifold.”

“One, there needs to be a deep appreciation for what the American people, what the American taxpayer, what President Trump did in his first term, and what we’ve done since,” he continued. “So some of the rhetoric coming out of Kiev, frankly, and insults to President Trump were unacceptable, number one.”

Waltz said that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s recent trip to Ukraine was a “historic opportunity” in which America is securing future supplies of key natural resources from Ukraine in exchange for assistance that it is being given.

“So case in point, there’s a foundry that processes aluminum in Ukraine — it’s been damaged,” he said. “It’s not at its current capacity. If that is restored, it would account for America’s entire imports of aluminum for an entire year. That one foundry.”

“There are tremendous resources there,” he added. “Not only is that long-term security for Ukraine, not only do we help them grow the pie with investments, but we do have an obligation to the American taxpayer in helping them recoup the hundreds of billions that have occurred. So rather than enter into some constructive conversations about what that deal should be going forward, we got a lot of rhetoric in the media that was incredibly unfortunate.”

WATCH:

.@pdoocy: “Who does he think is more responsible for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin or Zelenskyy?

National Security Adviser Michael Waltz: “Well look, his goal Peter, is to bring this war to an end. Period.” pic.twitter.com/FuNy1PL7Ch

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 20, 2025

Hegseth: U.S. Not Cutting Defense Spending, Is Reallocating Some Existing Spending

 Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Thursday evening that the Pentagon is not cutting defense spending, despite some reports that he was planning on cutting up to 40% of the defense budget.

Hegseth clarified his agenda in a video that the Department of Defense posted in which he said that he was looking to shift $50 billion, or roughly 8% of the budget — which was put in place by the Biden administration — to priorities that align with the Trump administration.

“We are refocusing, that’s a key word, our existing budget, away from the Biden priorities that frankly, were all over the map, to President Trump’s priorities of building a lethal fighting force,” he said. “The media wants to call these exclusively cuts, but it’s the opposite, of course, as always is the case.”

“I’ve got the memo right here. It’s clear as a bell. Now, beginning right away, we are pulling around 8% or $50 billion from the Biden budget,” he continued. “We’re planning. This is planning for this year, that we will move away from woke Biden-era non-lethal programs and instead spend that money on President Trump’s America First, peace through strength priorities for our national budget.”

Hegseth stressed that at this point, everything was just in a planning phase and that there were no cuts.

“It’s refocusing and reinvesting existing funds into building a force that protects you, the American people,” he said. “We also list on page two, which I’ve marked up here in our memo, what is not part of the 8% refocusing of funds.”

“It’s stated very clearly here: Southwest border activities, combating transnational criminal organizations, an audit, nuclear modernization, Virginia class submarines, the Golden Dome, or Iron Dome, one way attack drones, UAVs, cybersecurity, core readiness, training, the defense industrial base, and it goes on,” he continued.

He said that the aforementioned programs were too important for U.S. national security to be ignored, which is why they are now being prioritized.

The move is part of a larger effort within the Trump administration to audit and reorient the federal bureaucracy toward Trump’s agenda. The effort is led by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project and aims to cut waste, fraud, and abuse while shrinking the size and scope of the federal government.

Hegseth previously said he would welcome DOGE and tech titan Elon Musk, who the administration has said is overseeing the project, to the Department of Defense to help discover and cut fraud and waste.