An Easter family dinner turned into a nightmare for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, as she was robbed of at least $3,000 at a Washington, D.C., restaurant despite having Secret Service protection.

“The thief got away with Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and about $3,000 in cash,” CNN reported.

Secret Service are investigating after a thief took Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s bag that included $3,000 while she dined at a restauranthttps://t.co/xOpamsauyD

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) April 21, 2025

Noem confirmed the incident with reporters at Monday’s White House Easter Egg Roll, saying the matter is still unresolved.

DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin also confirmed the incident in an email to DailyMail.com and indicated the robbery occurred while Noem was out celebrating Easter dinner with her family.

“Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren – she was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts,” McLaughlin said.

Cristina Laila at the Gateway Pundit called it “an appalling security breach.”

A law-enforcement source told CNN the Secret Service reviewed security camera footage at the restaurant and saw an unknown white male wearing a medical mask snatch her bag before leaving the restaurant.

The agency has launched an investigation to trace any use of Noem’s financial instruments, the person added.

Earlier Sunday, Noem shared a family photo online, saying: “Happy Easter! Wishing Christians around the country joyful celebrations for the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. He is risen!”

Happy Easter! Wishing Christians around the country joyful celebrations for the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.

He is risen! pic.twitter.com/EKsRlvTVhW

— Kristi Noem (@KristiNoem) April 20, 2025

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WASHINGTON — They came before dawn.

Not with facts. Not with a warrant for justice. But with battering rams, AR-15s, flash grenades and the chilling certainty of a government gone rogue.

Zachary Rehl, a Marine Corps veteran and former leader of the Philadelphia Proud Boys chapter, was yanked from his home at gunpoint by an army of FBI agents as if he were a terrorist.

His wife, six months pregnant, watched helplessly as federal agents dragged away the man she loved.

His crime? Supporting President Donald Trump and walking peacefully through the U.S. Capitol building for 20 minutes on Jan. 6, 2021, a misdemeanor by every legal standard, but under a weaponized, Biden-era DOJ, that stroll became a “seditious conspiracy.”

Rehl carried no weapon. He committed no violence. Yet, he was branded an enemy of the state, stripped of his honor, his military benefits were revoked and he practically starved to death while locked in solitary confinement for nearly three years and denied bail.

His daughter was born while he rotted in a concrete box.

And now, finally free, thanks to a commutation from President Donald Trump, Rehl is exposing the truth in a battle to clear his name that could span years: The FBI didn’t just bend the law, he says. They broke it, over and over again.

And laughed while doing it.

The evidence suggests it wasn’t Rehl plotting a conspiracy – it was the FBI.

Explosive court filings containing internal FBI communications expose what appears to be a calculated, malicious campaign by activist agents within the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center to destroy Zach Rehl’s life, secure convictions at any cost and shatter his family in the process.

The documents comprise text messages between FBI agents that were accidentally disclosed to defense attorneys by federal prosecutors during the discovery phase of the 2023 seditious conspiracy trial of Rehl and co-defendants Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola, Joe Biggs and Enrique Tarrio.

According to logs among the agents exhibited in two publicly accessible motions filed by the defense on behalf of Proud Boy leader Ethan Nordean – HERE and HERE – FBI agents are seen discussing spying on Rehl’s attorney-client meetings and crafting strategies to secure his conviction.

And bragging about it.

During the 2023 trial, journalist Julie Kelly reported on the accidental “‘spill’ of FBI secrets” as well as how Judge Timothy Kelly sided with the prosecution in whitewashing the incriminating text messages.

Indeed, she reported, “[Judge] Kelly, outside the eyes and ears of the jury, held a hearing with both sides on March 9 to determine how to proceed after the defense team uncovered messages indicating FBI agents doctored internal reports, destroyed evidence and tipped off prosecutors about defense strategy on the government’s highest-profile January 6 case.”

Today, in his efforts to obtain full justice and hopefully convince President Trump to turn his presidential commutation into a full pardon as so many other Jan. 6 prisoners received, Rehl is intent on publicizing how unfairly and outrageously he was treated by the Biden-era federal prosecutors and judges.

Some of the text messages exchanged between FBI Special Agent Nicole Miller and twang2@fbi.sgov.gov show they were fearful Rehl would take his case to trial and expose the government misconduct:

MILLER: Found an email thread with REHL and his attorney MOSELEY. The attorney raised some interesting points.

WANG: Hopefully all related to him pleaing out.

MILLER: Nope. He mentioned how we (GOV) did things improperly.

WANG: Oy.

MILLER: I need to find other emails, but his one email def indicates that they want to go to trial. But don’t freak out Jason and Luke yet or [yourself].

WANG: I’m not freaked out.

Worse, while Rehl was incarcerated, the agents targeted Rehl’s pregnant wife, Amanda, with what appeared to be a malicious scheme to break the family.

Exhibits of their logs in the publicly available court filings show many messages exchanged between agents displaying clear animosity toward the Proud Boy defendant and glee at his misfortune, including advancing a false narrative of infidelity on the part of Rehl’s wife with her husband’s friend “Aaron.”

“They better give you those calls! I want the ones from after the 8th, when we hit Aaron’s house! They are going to be SOOOOO good!” Miller wrote to Wang, giddy over the prospects of Rehl’s marriage falling apart.

“I know!” Wang replied. “I don’t see any emails from Aaron past the 6th, even though there are email as late as yesterday.

“Maybe [Aaron] sent them from Amanda’s account. She sleeps over a lot,” Miller quipped.

“Bahaha,” Wang replied.

The ploy failed – Aaron’s girlfriend was the driver – but the agents’ glee persisted:

MILLER: Just listened to about 7 min of yelling … Zach to Amanda lol.

WANG: Bahah. Did he find out she’s hooking with Aaron?! I’m waiting for this to be a legit thing. And when it is … popcorn!

MILLER: Not yet. Haven’t come across that one.”

WANG: Dang it

MILLER: Hahaha [I’ll] bring beer.

WANG: Yes.

The FBI’s vendetta didn’t stop at humiliation. Rehl’s service to his nation – years in the Marines – meant nothing. The moment “seditious conspiracy” stained his record, the government revoked his benefits and the U.S. Treasury Department demanded $100,000 in repayment, leaving Amanda, a housewife, to fend for herself.

Legal fees bled them dry, thousands a month, while the Treasury Department loomed like a vulture.

The FBI sought to bankrupt the Rehls, a violation of due process, cheering as military benefits were revoked and Amanda faced foreclosure.

“I also want to know if his house got foreclosed,” Miller said after laughing at the prospects of Amanda abandoning her marriage.

“Oooh. I wonder,” Wang replied. “I hope so.”

“I mean, if we really want to work all the PB [Proud Boy] members, he’s the one to go after especially his wife’s PayPal and her Venmo acct,” Miller continued, pushing to choke off any lifeline from supporters.

“I agree with you!!!” Wang replied.

Prosecutors, too, pounced – court records show they attempted to fine over 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants with restitution amounting to the total they would garner in donations to their legal funds, as if asking for help were a crime. In many instances, federal judges ordered defendants to pay the government money they raised for their legal defense.

This wasn’t law enforcement, but rather, a crusade to punish dissent, executed with taxpayer dollars.

The logs also hint at evidence tampering, a federal crime.

In a text message to dgsilk@fbi.sgov.gov, Miller instructed the other agent to remove evidence that would show she was working undercover as a confidential human source, or CHS.

“You need to go into that CHS report you just put and edit out that I was present,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has offered no public proof of the Proud Boys organization’s alleged plot, yet denies Rehl’s motion to dismiss, alongside co-defendants Biggs and Pezzola.

Some legal experts call the presidential commutations – leaving felony convictions intact – baffling, but the FBI’s actions are outright lawless.

Their laughter over Amanda “probably leaving” Rehl – “I’ll bring beer,” Miller quipped – exposes a culture of cruelty that demands accountability. Congress must investigate. Were these rogue actors or does this reflect systemic rot? How many others faced similar treatment?

The FBI’s internal messages came to light during the trial when defense attorney Nicholas Smith, representing Proud Boy co-defendant Ethan Nordean, cross-examined Agent Miller.

Miller testified that she filtered a large Excel spreadsheet of FBI messages, submitting only those she deemed relevant to prosecutors, who then shared them with defense teams as part of routine evidence disclosure during the trial’s discovery phase.

However, a “hidden” cell in the spreadsheet contained over 1,000 unfiltered messages from other agents, exposing misconduct.

Defense attorneys included a few pages of the unfiltered messages in motions to dismiss, until Judge Timothy Kelly intervened, ordering defense counsel to destroy them, shrouding the scandal that has left the Rehl family fighting to reclaim their lives after a harrowing four-year nightmare.

As WND reported, prosecutors denied Rehl and his co-defendants Joe Biggs and Dominic Pezzola’s recent motion to dismiss the Jan. 6 charges against them. Yet, not a shred of public proof shows Rehl plotting violence or orchestrating a “coup,” while mounting evidence suggests the FBI orchestrated his downfall, violating his Fourth Amendment rights and federal law in the process.

Nearly three years in solitary pretrial detention broke Rehl’s body, but not his spirit. He told the media the judicial overreach felt like “communist China” – words that earned him terror enhancements from Judge Timothy Kelly, despite his having committed no violent acts.

He and his co-defendants fight on, their motions to dismiss denied, while the FBI’s own chats expose the real conspiracy: a calculated plot to destroy lives for “wrongthink.”

Rehl’s former attorney, Carmen Hernandez, who defended him at trial, calls the FBI’s conduct unprecedented and like nothing she has seen throughout her 40 years of practicing law.

“These messages were personal, nasty – hidden glee at someone’s misfortune,” she told WorldNetDaily. “I’ve never seen such unprofessional animus from law enforcement, even against mafia or murderers. The judge blocked me from cross-examining Miller – said we were ‘showing bias.’ It was distasteful, unconstitutional.”

Hernandez slams the charges as baseless:

“Rehl, Biggs, Pezzola – veterans who own guns – could’ve brought firearms to D.C. if they’d planned a coup. They didn’t. The evidence was ridiculous.”

Was this a rogue cell or FBI policy? How many others suffered?

Hernandez argues the lack of Trump pardons for these prisoners shows “whoever reviewed J6 cases [or the president] didn’t grasp the evidence – or didn’t want to. Seditious conspiracy sounds serious, but dig in, and it’s nonsense.”

Still branded a terrorist, convicted of multiple felonies despite President Trump’s commutation, Rehl is unable to secure employment as he fights to clear his name and support his family.

*** PLEASE SUPPORT ZACHARY REHL’S LEGAL DEFENSE HERE ***

An ethics and accountability organization is calling for a special investigation into U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, for a sweetheart deal he enjoys: A $1 million luxury home bought for him about the time he was elected and to which he has complete access.

Without paying rent.

It is the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust that charges that Warnock is living rent-free in a home that Ebenezer Baptist Church bought in 2022 for $989,000 just as he was elected to the Senate, but he “has not included any information about being provided housing on his financial disclosure report.”

He does report an annual “income” from the church of just under what the Senate determined is a maximum amount a senator can “earn” from an outside source, a limit that was about $32,000 in 2023.

In a letter to Sen James Lankford, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, the organization said, “The rules which allow for a senator to accept lodging or housing are only applicable in a narrow set of circumstances—they are not an open-ended loophole that can be abused. Aside from the letter of the law laid out here, which is extremely clear and persuasive, this is a matter of plain common sense.

“It is difficult to fathom any citizen could look at this situation (a U.S. senator being a part-time employee of an organization that happens to buy him a million-dollar house to live in for free after he was elected to Congress, and after which he sells his own house) and not think something potentially very wrong is afoot. One must ask, if the laws written do not prohibit this particular situation or, at a bare minimum, at least merit a mere investigation, then what were they even written for? It is inarguable that the known facts do not appear to comply with the Senate ethics rules.”

Implicated in the situation are ethics rules and conflicts of interest and corruption.

“Senators must conduct themselves according to the Senate Ethics Rules and the Senate ‘may discipline a member for any misconduct, including conduct or activity which does not directly relate to official duties, when such conduct unfavorably reflects on the institution as a whole.’ One theme throughout federal law and Senate Ethics rules is that members may not generally accept anything of value unless an identified exception applies, and if they do accept something it must be disclosed to the public. These laws address both conflicts of interest and corruption of members of Congress. Senator Warnock’s acceptance of lavish housing and failure to disclose it implicates federal law and several Senate rules,” the complaint explained.

A report at the Free Beacon noted that the free home for Warnock, “came equipped with a plethora of luxury accommodations, including a 100-bottle wine fridge, a bluetooth-enabled cooking range, and remote-controlled privacy curtains.”

The complaint noted the free home is “a great deal for Warnock, but it may violate Senate ethics rules that limit how much lawmakers can accept from outside employment.”

“This is a matter of plain common sense,” FACT executive director Kendra Arnold said in the complaint.

Possible standards being violated include the Ethics in Government Act.

Arnold explained the salary, plus the free housing appear to be “excessive and unreasonable for the services he is actually performing.”

The Free Beacon explained, “Arnold’s belief that Warnock’s housing benefit is excessive is shared by Dr. Albert Paul Brinson, a former associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church by the civil rights icon in 1965. Brinson said during an interview with a local activist in March that King ‘would have never endorsed’ church funds being used to facilitate luxury living for its pastor. Brinson said Ebenezer Baptist Church’s housing allowance was designed to provide modest accommodations for its pastors.”

The report also pointed out that the church itself was involved in a scandal over housing and its costs, when, while underwriting Warnock’s living arrangements, officials there “tried to evict residents during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic for as little as $28.55 in past-due rent” from a low-income apartment building the church owns.

A new report in the Federalist is warning that the Chinese Communist Party has embarked on a new campaign with the goal of attacking, even eliminating, Christianity.

The new rules, to become effective May 1, are needed to fight “extremism,” the party charges, and will require foreign missionaries to get government approval for lectures, sermons and group activities.

“Additionally, the regulation includes a comprehensive set of restrictions that prohibit foreign missionaries from engaging in activities such as ‘Recruiting religious believers among Chinese citizens and appointing religious clergy,’ ‘Organizing and carrying out religious education and training,’ ‘accepting religious donations from Chinese organizations and citizens,’ and producing, distributing, and selling religious materials.”

Violators, the CCP charges, are criminals.

A report by Breitbart charges the agenda is “to formally end Christian missionary activity.”

And persecution.org explains the reason: Fear of churches.

“The CCP has long viewed independent religious activity with suspicion, arguing that religious loyalty is at odds with the ultimate loyalty demanded by the Communist Party. The government labels independent religious activity as cultish and extremist, regardless of its theological roots, and demands that all Christian religious activity take place within the confines of state-run churches.”

The Federalist report explained, “The new regulation is the latest example of the CCP’s deep-seated animosity toward all religions, especially Christianity. Between the 1980s and early 2000s, China’s Christian population surged significantly, with estimates in 2018 indicating it may range from 100 to 200 million — outnumbering the nearly 100 million members of the CCP itself.

“The CCP, an atheist organization, is alarmed by the rapid growth of Christians. One of the CCP’s worst fears is that the devotion to God could erode loyalty to the party and thus threaten its very legitimacy. As a result, the CCP sees Christianity as an existential threat.”

China’s chief, the report said, has worked to force all faiths and churches to “align” with the CCP agenda, to persecute believers who fail to follow his orders, and use laws the attack religion.

The report explained, “A well-known instance of the sinicization of Christianity is the CCP’s insistence on selecting Catholic bishops. This practice clearly violates the Catholic Church’s principle that only the pope has the authority to appoint bishops. Other examples of sinicization include authorities’ instruction that both Catholic and Protestant congregations must prioritize patriotism over religion. In some impoverished areas, local officials compelled villagers to replace posters of Jesus with portraits of Xi Jinping and Chairman Mao, despite Mao in particular being responsible for the worst mass murders in human history.”

The report noted the CCP even has made plans to “retranslate and annotate the Bible to align with socialism and establish a correct understanding of the text.”

Primary targets of the CCP now are “house churches,” those that do not seek approval of the government to operate.

“The website of China Aid, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting for religious freedom, is filled with stories of religious persecution under the Communist regime,” the report said. “For instance, local police in Suizhou City, Hubei Province, arrested 28 Christians from a house church on charges of ‘using a cult organization to undermine the implementation of the law.’”

The 2025 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, in fact, places China among the worst violators of religious freedom globally.

China previously had banned anyone under 18 from entering a religious site or getting religious education, claiming the goal is to establish “a correct worldview.”

“This draconian enforcement has led to the closure of Sunday schools and youth summer camps, as well as legal threats directed at Sunday school teachers, church leaders, and parents,” the report said.

President Donald Trump unleashed an attack on his own chairman of the Federal Reserve on Monday, calling Jerome Powell “a major loser” and “Mr. Too Late.”

His verbal assault on Truth Social focused on the possibility of cuts in interest rates.

“‘Preemptive Cuts’ in Interest Rates are being called for by many,” Trump began.

“With Energy Costs way down, food prices (including Biden’s egg disaster!) substantially lower, and most other ‘things’ trending down, there is virtually No Inflation.

“With these costs trending so nicely downward, just what I predicted they would do, there can almost be no inflation, but there can be a SLOWING of the economy unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates, NOW.

“Europe has already ‘lowered’ seven times. Powell has always been ‘To Late,’ except when it came to the Election period when he lowered in order to help Sleepy Joe Biden, later Kamala, get elected. How did that work out?” Trump concluded.

With a history in investment banking, Powell became a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors after being nominated to the post by Barack Obama in 2012.

During his first term, President Trump elevated Powell to chairman of the Fed in 2018, succeeding Janet Yellen, and Powell was renominated to the position by Joe Biden.

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A federal judge has canceled a Joe Biden-era rule that required businesses to promote abortion.

The rule, perpetrated by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Biden, demanded that employers provide abortion-related leave and other practices that violated the beliefs of a multitude of business operators and owners.

A report in the Washington Stand explained the impact of the ruling from Daniel Traynor, a Trump appointee to the District Court of North Dakota, is that 9,000 Catholic businesses now do not have to grant abortion leave and other practices contrary to their beliefs.

The EEOC under Biden, who promoted abortion in a multitude of ways throughout his presidency, had issued rules creating a new meaning to the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act so that abortion was promoted.

“The actual language of the PWFA requires protections for ‘pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,’” the report explained. Biden expanded that to say, “current pregnancy, past pregnancy, potential pregnancy, lactation (including breastfeeding and pumping), use of birth control, menstruation, infertility and fertility treatments, endometriosis, miscarriage, stillbirth, or having or choosing not to have an abortion, among other conditions.”

The report said that move “effectively reversed the pro-life effect of the law, and the explicit inclusion of fertility treatments also ran afoul of the religious convictions of some Catholics.”

The challenge was brought by the Catholic Diocese of Bismarck and the Catholic Benefits Association representing 9,000 Catholic businesses. They charged it violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Traynor granted a preliminary injunction last year and now has made that permanent.

In his ruling, he concluded, “The CBA is likely to succeed on the merits of the RFRA violation claim because the law forces members to choose between expressing sincerely held beliefs and compliance. This harm is irreparable and upholding constitutional rights always weighs in favor of the public interest and an injunction. The agency should have known it would not be allowed to force individuals to violate sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Other cases also had challenged Biden’s agenda.

The Washington Stand commented, “The entire scenario serves as a reminder of the Biden administration’s troubling record of anti-Catholic bias. As ironic as it may seem, political appointees of the nation’s second Catholic president distorted the meaning of a pro-life law to require employers to subsidize abortion and other practices objectionable to Catholics. These actions were not only lawless but fruitless, as they provoked Catholics to challenge the rule in court, where they easily won. But what else could we expect from an administration whose suspicion of Catholics ran so deep that they installed undercover agents in Catholic parishes to spy on their worship services?”

The Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) sent letters to members of the National Panhellenic Conference’s (NPC) 26 sororities Wednesday urging them to tell NPC to keep sororities open only to women.

IWF’s “Tell National Panhellenic Conference And Sorority Leadership: Save Our Sisterhood” letter, first shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation, urges sorority members to sign on to the campaign to protect sororities from biological males amidst a push by the NPC to allow men to join historically women-only spaces. The campaign has already garnered 1,000 letters from sorority women across the country.

“Today’s sororities were founded in the late 1800s when women were not openly welcomed in college settings,” the letter reads. “Sadly, the very organization whose mission has been to support and empower women through single sex environments, has turned its back on women in the name of social convenience.”

Save Our Sisterhood Open Letter 0425 p7 by jesse

NPC in 2020 appointed several diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) consultants who pushed the sororities to begin allowing men who claim to be women into the organizations, IWF’s letter alleges. The DEI team intended to address “racism and racial injustice” and review policies that “significantly benefited white women and others with privilege,” according to their website.

A 2020 blog post by NPC titled “We Hear You And We Are Listening” also stated the organization intended to reconsider “norms and practices that create barriers facing potential members based on racial identity, ethnicity, LGBTQ identity, religious beliefs, ability and socioeconomic status, among others.”

Several chapters have since been forced to admit males.

“[W]hy are these leaders not standing up for women? Why are our organizations, whose mission is to support our young women, surrendering to efforts to erase the very concept of women as a distinct biological category?” the letter asks. “We call on NPC and all NPC sororities to return to their stated missions of advocating for women and vigorously defending their right to provide a single-sex environment.”

“Sororities were created to give women a place on college campuses,” Hannah Holtmeier, a senior at the University of Nebraska Lincoln and Independent Women ambassador, told the DCNF. “By allowing men to invade sororities we are taking a step backwards and robbing women of all the opportunities that come from being a member. I’ve grown and learned so much from being in Kappa and it’s sad to think about young girls not getting the chance to experience Greek Life like I have.”

Holtmeier is also a plaintiff in Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma, a lawsuit challenging a University of Wyoming sorority chapter for initiating a man who allegedly “upended the privacy and intimacy of the sorority home including by watching the women change, taking unwanted photographs, and asking invasive sexual questions.”

NPC sororities represent over 5 million women.

“NPC promises within their mission statement to preserve a women’s only sorority experience,” Jaylyn Westenbroek, an Independent Women ambassador and another plaintiff in Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma, told the DCNF. “It’s time to hold them to their own values of what has been promised to every member. These women’s only spaces can only be preserved if NPC steps up to recognize real women.”

“It is our duty to hold NPC accountable for their actions,” Independent Women ambassador and lawsuit plaintiff Allie Coghan told the DCNF. “They have robbed us of the sisterhood we were promised when we joined. This is supposed to be something that ‘never happens’ and if it can happen in Wyoming, then it can happen anywhere. All 26 NPC sororities need to recognize what is happening and stand up for women. NPC needs to return to its original mission and support women before there is no Greek life left. After all NPC is nothing with out its members.”

NPC did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that the letter is part of a national campaign and added data reflecting the amount of letters garnered since launch.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Pope Francis, Bishop of Rome and Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, who worked to instill progressive influences on the global church while maintaining unity with conservatives amid years of turmoil, died Monday morning, Vatican camerlengo Cardinal Kevin Farrell announced.

Pope Francis died on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, at the age of 88 at his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. pic.twitter.com/jUIkbplVi2

— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) April 21, 2025

He was 88 years old.

I just learned of the passing of Pope Francis. My heart goes out to the millions of Christians all over the world who loved him.

I was happy to see him yesterday, though he was obviously very ill. But I’ll always remember him for the below homily he gave in the very early days…

— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 21, 2025

“Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and His Church,” Farrell announced.

Today I met with the Holy Father Pope Francis. I am grateful for his invitation to meet, and I pray for his good health.

Happy Easter! pic.twitter.com/SIhU9gYQl2

— Vice President JD Vance (@VP) April 20, 2025

Pope Francis met briefly with U.S. Vice President @JDVance on Easter Sunday. The private audience lasted a few minutes. They exchanged Easter greetings, and the pope gave Vance a Vatican tie, rosaries and a set of three large chocolate Easter eggs for his kids. pic.twitter.com/v48BsukaDQ

— EWTN News (@EWTNews) April 20, 2025

Democrat Senator Chris Van Hollen confirmed on Sunday that hardworking American taxpayers funded his trip to El Salvador so he could meet with an alleged MS-13 gang member currently held at the CECOT prison.

Last week Van Hollen met with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a wife beater and alleged MS-13 gang banger who was deported for illegally residing in Maryland – and YOU paid for his political stunt.

Fox News anchor Shannon Bream asked Van Hollen, “Who did pay for this trip?”

“This was an officially cleared congressional trip – cleared on a bipartisan basis,” Van Hollen said.

“So taxpayer dollars?” Shannon Bream asked.

“Yes, like every other trip,” Van Hollen said.

WATCH:

@ChrisVanHollen confirms taxpayers paid for him to fly to El Salvador and sip margaritas with a deported illegal immigrant MS-13 gang member pic.twitter.com/xByXzeRoYi

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 20, 2025

On Wednesday, the corrupt Maryland Senator flew all the way to El Salvador for a photo op in his fight to smuggle deported MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the US.

“I just landed in San Salvador a little while ago, and I look forward to meeting with the team at the U.S. embassy to discuss the release of Mr. Abrego Garcia,” Van Hollen said.

“I also hope to meet with Salvadoran officials and with Kilmar himself. He was illegally abducted and needs to come home,” he added.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is now home in his native country of El Salvador and Van Hollen tried to actually take him out of his home country and smuggle him over the US border.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia is an El Salvadorian national who was illegally residing in Maryland. In 2019, an immigration judge ordered Abrego Garcia, an alleged member of the dangerous MS-13 gang, removed from the US. Additionally, an immigration appellate court also upheld the immigration judge’s decision. Abrego Garcia was given ‘due process.’

But this wasn’t good enough for Van Hollen.

On Thursday, after he was denied entry into the CECOT prison, Van Hollen met with Abrego Garcia.

“I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return,” Van Hollen said alongside a photo of the two sitting down for coffee.

I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return. pic.twitter.com/U9y2gZpxCb

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 18, 2025

El Salvador’s Bukele mocked Van Hollen and posted of a photo of him enjoying margaritas with Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

“Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “death camps” & “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador!” Bukele said on X.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, miraculously risen from the “death camps” & “torture”, now sipping margaritas with Sen. Van Hollen in the tropical paradise of El Salvador! pic.twitter.com/r6VWc6Fjtn

— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) April 18, 2025

On Friday, Van Hollen accused El Salvador’s government of planting the drinks.

“About Margaritagate, I don’t know if you guys are following this or not but President Bukele, after I met with Kilmar, did this tweet showing us at a table with these two glasses – so, here’s what happened…when I first sat down with Kilmar we had glasses of water on the table and as we were talking one of the government people came over and deposited two other glasses on the table with ice – and I don’t know if it’s salt or sugar around the top but they look like margaritas,” Van Hollen said accusing the El Salvadoran government of a conspiracy to frame him.

“Neither of us touched the drinks that were in front of us and if you want to play a little Sherlock Homes …nobody drank any margaritas or sugar water or what it is…this is the lesson in the lengths that President Bukele will do to deceive people about what’s going on,” Van Hollen said before he trashed Trump.

This article originally appeared on The Gateway Pundit.com.