From from undercover news report from Project Veritas

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Michael Bastasch

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) — yes, the agency that’s supposed to make sure the air and water is clean — has been caught red-handed in what, at least on the outside, looks like one of the most brazen and high-dollar left-wing political payouts of the century.

In what Trump EPA described in a letter to the agency inspector general’s office as “an unprecedented arrangement,” Biden-era bureaucrats used private Citibank bank accounts to squirrel away $20 billion in taxpayer funds — that’s right, billion with a “b” — much of which is earmarked for lefty “pass-through” organizations the agency itself determined “lacked basic financial competency.”

This $20 billion was ostensibly meant for “green banks” to finance all sorts of nice-sounding “climate justice” and green energy projects — but instead it steered billions upon billions to groups deeply tied into the Democratic Party machinery.

For instance, the current and former chairmen of one of the pass-throughs, called the Coalition for Green Capital (CGC), are both Democratic Party donors, each cutting sizable checks to Kamala Harris’ ill-fated 2024 run. CGC was on track to get $5 billion from Biden’s EPA.

In another case, a left-wing consortium tied to Stacey Abrams’s voter mobilization group was awarded $2 billion. In its letter to the IG, Trump’s EPA noted the former administration itself determined these groups “lacked basic financial competency,” but earmarked the cash anyway.

So, here we have billions in taxpayer funds being directed to Democratic insiders and donors — paging DOGE! No wonder bureaucrats shoveled this money into a seemingly untouchable Citibank account in the waning days of the Biden administration.

One former Biden EPA official was reportedly caught on tape gleefully comparing it to “tossing gold bars off the Titanic.”

Taken together, this looks like the left-wing political payout of the century. Rarely is rank political patronage so nakedly on display.

The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI are currently asking tough questions of career EPA officials about these “gold bars,” but it’s unclear if the Trump EPA will be able to claw back any of the funds.

Accountability — after four years of virtually none of it — would not only be a victory for taxpayers, but also for good journalism.

It’s important to remember we’re only talking about this Biden EPA scandal because of the tireless efforts of one journalist. Long before the EPA inspector general, DOJ, the FBI, or even the Department of Government Efficiency, were alerted to this political payout, a reporter named Nick Pope was on the case.

Back in November 2023, when the Biden EPA announced it was handing out billions to so-called “green banks” in the name of “climate justice” and other high causes, Pope thought this might be the perfect cover for the Democratic Party to enrich itself at taxpayer expense.

No slouch, Pope dug in, and soon he saw smoke. Huge, billowing clouds of smoke. His first piece, published that same month, laid out in detail how the “green banks” on the shortlist for Biden EPA funding “all feature numerous individuals on their boards who work for influential organizations aligned with the Democratic Party or previously worked for Democratic administrations.”

But this was no one-off. Pope followed up when the EPA announced it was handing billions to the very groups he had just exposed as essentially being Democratic Party pass-throughs.

Government watchdog groups were put on alert. Congress eventually got involved, demanding answers from the Biden EPA about how something like this could even happen. Pope’s colleague Adam Pack left his own mark, first reporting about the billions going to the liberal consortium affiliated with Abrams’ get-out-the-vote efforts.

Even after the FBI got involved, Pope didn’t rest, pushing out yet another hard-hitting investigation exposing how heads of the groups slated to get billions in Biden bucks “collectively made hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal political donations to Democratic candidates and organizations in recent years.”

If Trump is actually able to claw back these “gold bars,” make sure to thank Nick Pope. Heck, even if we don’t get the money back, thank him anyway. Good journalism should be rewarded even if the ultimate outcome isn’t exactly what we wanted.

Besides, they don’t give out Pulitzers for exposing Democratic corruption, now do they?

While trust in media plummets, and the legacy press continues its liberal bootlicking, it’s even more important we support good journalists, like Pope and the rest of the Daily Caller News Foundation team, who are unafraid to report the truth and hold the powerful accountable.

Mike Bastasch is editor-in-chief of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

Justin Trudeau’s Minister of Justice announced 20 judicial appointments of Liberal-leaning judges to various Canadians courts in just one day.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is stacking Canadian courts with Liberal judges before he steps down as Liberal leader.  

On March 3, the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Arif Virani, under the direction of Trudeau, announced 20 judicial appointments of Liberal-leaning judges to various Canadians courts just weeks before Trudeau is expected to leave office.

The announcements include appointments to the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court, and the provincial courts of Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.   

Indeed, according to government information from Blacklock’s Reporter, Trudeau’s last days in office have been busy. Since announcing his resignation on January 6, Trudeau has made 104 federal appointments, including judges, diplomats, “special advisors,” and federal boards.  

In just the past two months, Trudeau has named Liberal appointees to the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian Centre for Occupational Health, Canadian Cultural Property Expert Review Board, Canadian Energy Regulator, Canadian High Arctic Research Station, Canadian Museum of Nature, Canadian Race Relations Foundation, and Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission. 

Notably, none of Trudeau’s 104 appointments can be challenged, as he suspended Parliament until March 24. This maneuver buys the Liberal Party a couple months’ time to select a new leader and rebrand their government.    

As it stands, Trudeau is scheduled to stay on as prime minister until Liberals elect a new leader at an internal election scheduled for March 9.

Campaign Life Coalition’s Pete Baklinski responded to Trudeau’s judicial appointments on X, saying, “Nothing to see here. Trudeau, before he’s gone, is only stacking the courts across Canada with judges who think like he does. Business as usual. Move on.”  

During his time in office, Trudeau has become well-known for appointing Liberal-friendly judges to Canadian courts. Judicial appointments have become increasingly important in recent years, as many Canadians are forced to defend their basic freedoms in the courts.

In September 2024, a Trudeau-appointed judge sentenced Freedom Convoy-inspired protesters to six years in prison for their part in the protest against COVID mandates. 

Similarly, in November, a Trudeau-appointed Ontario judge dismissed an appeal from Toronto Catholic District School Board Trustee Mike Del Grande to drop charges for having objected to adding “gender identity” and “gender expression” as protected classes in the Toronto Catholic board’s code of conduct policy.