The White House just gave a wild explanation for why Tulsi Gabbard was spotted lurking around a federal raid at the Fulton County, Georgia, election office on Wednesday. Having been completely sidelined from the typical responsibilities of the director of national intelligence, Gabbard has spent months leading an investigation into President Donald Trump’s baseless claims about the results of the 2020 presidential election, White House officials told The Wall Street Journal Thursday. Gabbard has reportedly regularly briefed Trump and his chief of staff Susie Wiles, as well as other well-known election deniers Cleta Mitchell, a far-right activist with the ear of the president, and Kurt Olsen, a former lawyer for the Trump campaign who helped mount the “Stop the Steal” lawsuits. Gabbard is expected to produce a report on her findings—but we wouldn’t advise election denialists to get their hopes up. Gabbard’s other so-called investigations haven’t gone too well. Last year, her attempt to prove that former President Barack Obama had committed treason fell hilariously flat. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Gabbard was tapped to look into the president’s favorite conspiracy theory, because she’s known to spread far-fetched conspiracy theories herself—specifically ones pushed by Moscow.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is leaping into action to protect American citizens by banning … something that is already illegal. Speaking at a press briefing at the Capitol Thursday, Jeffries announced that, as a condition of supporting legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security as it continues its deadly immigration enforcement crackdown in Minneapolis, Democrats will demand a ban on deporting American citizens. “In what country are we living in if it’s controversial to prohibit [the deportation] of American citizens?” Jeffries said. “That shouldn’t even be a discussion.”It shouldn’t be up for discussion because it is already illegal. Deporting American citizens is not permitted under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which outlines the rules for deporting noncitizens. It also violates a 1958 Supreme Court ruling that found stripping a person of their American citizenship violated the Eighth Amendment protection against “cruel and unusual punishment.”But the Trump administration is still doing it anyway, sweeping up American citizens as part of its dragnet immigration enforcement efforts. Senate Democrats also pitched immigration reforms such as requiring federal agents to wear body cameras, banning the use of face masks, and enforcing a new code of conduct. But they’re missing the point. It seems that Jeffries, along with his Senate colleagues, haven’t quite grasped the fact that the cruelties of Donald Trump’s lawless immigration crackdown are not subject to reform because they are already lawless. Instead, Democrats will continue to find ways to soothe their conscience while filling the coffers of federal agencies that allowed American citizens to be killed in the streets.