• Letitia James mortgage fraud? New York Attorney General Letitia James is in hot water after the Federal Housing Finance Agency referred her to the Justice Department over allegations of mortgage fraud. According to FHFA Director William Pulte, James “falsified” records to obtain a loan to purchase a home in Norfolk, Virginia, a property the current New York AG listed as her “principal residence.” James also allegedly falsified information on a five-unit property in Brooklyn that she owns by claiming it was only four units to get a reduced mortgage rate. Furthermore, James allegedly listed her father as her husband for another property she purchased over two decades ago. This “raises serious concerns about the validity of Ms. James’ representations on mortgage applications,” Pulte stated. Donald Trump called on James to resign “immediately.”

• 22,000 IRS resignations: The Biden administration expanded the IRS, but it’s rapidly shrinking under the Trump administration. When Donald Trump took office, the IRS boasted roughly 100,000 employees. Since then, some 12,000 are no longer with the agency, as 5,000 have resigned and another 7,000 probationary employees have been laid off. The latest development is that an additional 22,000 IRS workers have signed onto the Trump administration’s most recent deferred resignation offer. Should all these resignations and layoffs be fully realized, the IRS workforce will contract by nearly a third.

• Hegseth adviser placed on leave: Dan Caldwell, one of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s advisers, was escorted from the Pentagon on Tuesday and placed on leave for an “unauthorized disclosure.” Caldwell was named as the Pentagon’s point of contact in the now-infamous Signal group chat, and he formerly worked at the Defense Priorities and Concerned Veterans for America think tank, a group that Hegseth once led. Caldwell’s case comes after a crackdown on leakers in the Trump administration, with the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security all going so far as to use polygraphs to root out leakers. Caldwell’s final status is still to be determined, but Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said, “Politically motivated leaks undermine our national security and the trust of the American people and will not be tolerated.”

• Trump signs memo combating Social Security fraud: In his first speech since leaving office, Joe Biden accused Donald Trump, without actually naming him, of “wreck[ing] [Social Security] so they can rob it.” Yet on Tuesday, Trump did the opposite, signing a memo directing his administration to protect Social Security from fraud. His order dealt explicitly with illegal aliens gaining access to Social Security benefits. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained, “The memorandum will direct the administration to ensure that ineligible aliens are not receiving funds from Social Security Act programs.” Trump’s memo also directs the agency’s inspector general to investigate reports of people 100 and older with mismatched Social Security records receiving payments. Leavitt emphasized that Trump is protecting “Social Security benefits for law-abiding, tax-paying American citizens and seniors who have paid into this program.”

• California bailout for illegal alien healthcare: California’s Medicare system, called Medi-Cal, is in trouble. Last year, when state officials estimated the cost of offering free medical care to illegal aliens, they arrived at a figure of $6 billion, expecting about 700,000 illegals to participate in the system. In an utterly predictable turn of events, free healthcare turned out to be extremely popular — over 1.6 million aliens signed up. Governor Gavin Newsom took out a $3.44 billion loan to cover Medi-Cal costs back in March and now is asking for $2.8 billion more to keep the program running through June. Although funding for illegals allegedly comes from California taxpayers, over half of the total Medi-Cal funding comes from federal dollars.

• A miles-long Army base along the border? In a novel immigration enforcement strategy, the Trump administration has begun giving over hundreds of miles of territory along the U.S. southern border to the Defense Department. Last week, the Interior Department was directed to start the land transfer, which amounts to a 60-foot-wide stretch of land running through California, Arizona, and New Mexico. The plan is for the DOD to take this border-adjacent land and turn it into one long, continuous military base. Effectively, this is an effort to militarize the southern border for the purpose of greater immigration enforcement via the U.S. military. By creating a continuous 750-mile military base along the border, illegal border crossings would also constitute trespassing on military land. This would give the military greater authority in border enforcement, which the Posse Comitatus Act currently limits.

• America’s real debt, including entitlements, is $159 trillion: According to Truth in Accounting (TIA), a nonprofit budget accountability group, Social Security and Medicare add $67.1 trillion and $51.6 trillion respectively to the federal debt when properly accounted, bringing the total to $159 trillion rather than the widely reported number of nearly $37 trillion. TIA’s calculation includes the present value of projected benefits over the next 75 years offset by the expected receipts in that period; they do not account for future participants, only those involved now. The Treasury Department’s debt figure for these programs is $241 billion. The Treasury arrives at that figure because apparently only the payments for the next month are guaranteed. Laws to stop or reduce benefits beyond next month can be passed anytime. Many Americans feel they’d be better served by investing privately rather than paying into a system expected to fail.

• U.S. attorney general sues Maine over transgender cheating: Attorney General and known woman Pam Bondi is standing up for women in sports against Maine Governor Janet Mills. The Justice Department initiated a lawsuit seeking an injunction to return titles to the women who actually won the events, and remove the titles from the men who cheated to place ahead of them. This is just the latest entry into the Janet Mills vs. Trump administration saga that began in February. Maine Republicans, including State Rep. Laurel Libby, have been fighting the Mills administration over this issue, and with federal backing, they’re primed to win.

Headlines

• Dem senator headed to El Salvador on mission to bring MS-13 suspect back to America (Daily Wire)

• Japan to kick off tariff negotiations with Trump in Washington (NY Post)

• China halts Boeing jet orders (Fox Business)

• Arsonist’s firebomb attack on Gov. Shapiro driven by anti-Semitism (NY Post)

• White House prepares plan to end all funding for PBS, NPR (Not the Bee)

• Judge tosses Biden-era credit card late-fee rule (Fox Business)

• UK Supreme Court rules males don’t qualify as women under anti-discrimination law in landmark ruling (National Review)

• Humor: Gretchen Whitmer sneaks into White House again in full burqa (Babylon Bee)

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