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Slotkin says she is under investigation for November military video

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Sen. Elissa Slotkin on Wednesday confirmed she is under federal investigation for her participation in a November video urging military members not to follow illegal orders.

In a video response to the investigation, the Michigan Democrat said President Donald Trump was weaponizing the federal government against those who disagree with him. Slotkin is the latest video participant to face investigation from the administration.

“To be clear, this is the president’s playbook,” Slotkin said. “Truth doesn’t matter. Facts don’t matter, and anyone who disagrees with him becomes an enemy, and he then weaponizes the federal government against them. It’s legal intimidation and physical intimidation meant to get you to shut up.”

Slotkin, who was recruited by the CIA as a Middle East analyst and served three tours in Iraq, was among five other Democratic military veterans featured in the video, including Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Reps. Maggie Goodlander (N.H.), Jason Crow (Colo.), Chris Deluzio (Pa.) and Chrissy Houlahan (Pa.).

Trump at the time called the lawmakers’ actions “seditious” and said they should face trial.

Kelly this week filed a lawsuit against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other senior military leaders after his own investigation was announced and the Defense Department began to take steps to downgrade his retirement rank.

Slotkin first told The New York Times she had learned about the investigation from the office of Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. Pirro’s office told Blue Light News it does not confirm or deny the existence of federal investigations.

Following Trump’s response to the November video, Slotkin on Wednesday said that threats against her and her family “went through the roof.”

“We had over 1,000 threats come in. Over 100 were credible and are being investigated,” she said. “I went on 24/7 security from Capitol Police. I had a bomb threat at my house. My parents were swatted in the middle of the night, and my siblings had cop cars placed in their driveways, and now [Trump] is using his political appointees at the FBI and the Department of Justice to follow through with his threats.”

Slotkin said that freedom of speech is “worth fighting for.”

“Right now, speaking out against the abuse of power is the most patriotic thing we can do,” she said.

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Congress

Former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler called to testify in House Oversight’s Epstein investigation

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The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is requesting that Kathryn Ruemmler, the former White House counsel under President Barack Obama and the exiting top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, speak with investigators about her relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Ruemmler will soon resign from Goldman Sachs amid the mounting scrutiny over her close relationship with Epstein. Material released by the Justice Department revealed that Epstein called her when he was arrested for sex crimes.

“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, and documents obtained by the Committee, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” said Oversight Chair James Comer in a letter to Ruemmler obtained by Blue Light News.

He requested that she appear for a transcribed interview on the morning of April 21, but that date could be subject to change.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Ruemmler, through a spokesperson, has said she regrets knowing Epstein. She has not been charged with any misconduct.

The letter was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

Ruemmler is one of a number of powerful public figures in the U.S. who has faced consequences for their relationships with Epstein.

Brad Karp, the former chair of the legal giant Paul Weiss, left his post atop the firm amid the fallout over his communications with Epstein.

Earlier Tuesday, Comer announced Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to speak with his panel after correspondence released by DOJ showed that Lutnick maintained ties to Epstein following the disgraced financier’s 2008 sex crime conviction.

Lutnick has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

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Trump takes aim at banks over crypto bill talks

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday accused the banking industry of holding up landmark cryptocurrency legislation, writing on social media that Wall Street firms “need to make a good deal with the Crypto Industry” to unstick a pending digital asset bill in the Senate.

His post comes as White House officials are working to resolve a lobbying spat between the banking and crypto sectors over whether digital asset exchanges should be able to offer rewards programs that pay yield to users who hold dollar-pegged digital tokens known as stablecoins. The dispute has stalled pending crypto market structure legislation in the Senate.

“The Banks are hitting record profits, and we are not going to allow them to undermine our powerful Crypto Agenda that will end up going to China, and other Countries if we don’t get The Clarity Act taken care of,” he said, referring to the market structure bill, which would establish a new regulatory framework favorable to crypto companies.

Trump’s post is a win for the crypto industry, which is fighting against a lobbying effort by the banking industry to bar any type of yield payments on stablecoins. He effectively sided with the crypto industry’s position, writing that “Americans should earn more money on their money” — a line that crypto executives have used to argue in favor of their rewards programs. Banks warn that allowing consumers to earn yield on stablecoins could spark deposit flight from traditional financial institutions and threaten lending.

Despite Trump’s new position, the stalled market structure bill likely still does not have the votes to advance in the Senate without a resolution to the stablecoin yield fight that banks are satisfied with.

The talks over the issue, which are being mediated by White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, have dragged on past an unofficial March 1 deadline by which administration officials hoped to resolve the dispute. The White House convened a series of meetings featuring representatives from the two industries, but an agreement has remained elusive.

“The U.S. needs to get Market Structure done, ASAP,” Trump wrote.

He also said a previously signed law dubbed the GENIUS Act, which created new rules for how stablecoins are regulated, “is being threatened and undermined by the Banks, and that is unacceptable — We are not going to allow it.”

The crypto industry “cannot be taken from the People of America when it is so close to becoming truly successful,” he wrote.

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House Ethics trial for Cherflius-McCormick postponed as lawmaker seeks new lawyer

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The House Ethics Committee has postponed its planned public trial for Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — the Florida Democrat facing accusations that she stole millions in FEMA funding — to later this month.

A hearing of an adjudicatory subcommittee of the Ethics panel was pushed from this Thursday to March 26 after the lawmaker’s “counsel in the matter withdrew from representing her before the adjudicatory subcommittee,” according to a committee press release.

“Representative Cherfilus-McCormick asked for a brief continuance to allow her to retain new counsel,” the statement continued.

Lawmakers on the Ethics Committee, which adjudicates allegations of misconduct against House members and staff, were poised to meet to determine whether the allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick have been proven by “clear and convincing evidence.” There, the committee’s counsel and Cherfilus-McCormick’s counsel could have made their respective cases.

It’s highly unusual for the panel to operate in the open, let alone convene a trial. The last time House Ethics met in such a capacity was in 2010 to consider the case of late-Rep. Charlie Rangel, a New York Democrat accused of a number of charges, including inappropriately soliciting funds and financial disclosure violations.

Rangel’s situation had parallels to that of Cherfilus-McCormick. At the time, Rangel was irate over the Ethics Committee’s handling of the matter, claiming he was denied due process because he could not hire a lawyer in time for the hearing. At one point, he threatened to exit the room and left.

“I don’t think it’s fair that I participate in any type of proceeding if in fact what you are basically telling me that the political calendar will not allow you enough … time to allow me to get a lawyer at this crucial point in my life,” Rangel said, alluding to the fact that the Ethics Committee was rushing to conclude its business before the end of the legislative session.

The panel nearly unanimously voted to censure Rangel for his conduct, which the House approved shortly afterward.

Cherfilus-McCormick, like Rangel, had previously asked for the proceedings against her to be delayed. Her then-lawyer argued that the Justice Department’s criminal proceedings necessitated a stay in the Ethics Committee’s work. The Florida Democrat cited, among other examples, former Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, whose own case pending before House Ethics case was paused after a request from DOJ.

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