WND

President Donald Trump reportedly halted a classified Pentagon briefing on China planned for Elon Musk last month after internal leaks and concerns over potential conflicts of interest, a senior official told Axios.

The classified session, which was set to involve high-level intelligence on Beijing’s military strategy, was abruptly cancelled following a direct intervention from Trump himself, the outlet reported Tuesday. The decision followed Pentagon officials leaking news of the briefing to The New York Times, and also came as frustration reportedly mounts within the White House over Musk’s unpredictable presence and expansive foreign business entanglements — especially with China.

“What the f*** is Elon doing there? Make sure he doesn’t go,” Trump said, the official told Axios.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suspended two Pentagon officials, Dan Caldwell and Darin Selnick, as part of a probe into who leaked the briefing plans. The Department of Defense confirmed Caldwell’s dismissal in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation, while Politico reported Selnick’s on Tuesday.

The White House did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment.

Axios confirmed the briefing’s cancellation wasn’t a bureaucratic decision — Trump personally intervened, and later told reporters he understood the potential for a conflict of interest given Tesla’s massive presence in China.

“I certainly wouldn’t want — you know, Elon has businesses in China and he would be susceptible, perhaps, to that,” Trump told reporters from the Resolute Desk on March 21, a day after the Times broke news of the briefing.

“POTUS still very much loves Elon, but there are some red lines,” the official told Axios. “Elon has a lot of business in China and he has good relations there, and this briefing just wasn’t the right thing.”

Despite the president acknowledging Musk’s potentially competing interests, he asserted the “Failing New York Times” piece was “completely untrue,” insisting “China will not even be mentioned or discussed” at the briefing in a Truth Social post.

Musk echoed Trump’s denial of the Times story, calling the outlet “pure propaganda” in an X post. He also said he “look[s] forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT” — reportedly Caldwell and Selnick.

“They will be found,” Musk said.

The New York Times is pure propaganda.

Also, I look forward to the prosecutions of those at the Pentagon who are leaking maliciously false information to NYT.

They will be found. pic.twitter.com/xANvLMOH5j

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 21, 2025

Musk has been a near-daily fixture throughout Trump’s second term as he leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), an entity tasked with overhauling, and decimating, the federal bureaucracy. While the administration has backed Musk publicly, tensions appear to be rising behind closed, and some open, doors as the richest man in history’s unconventional style and sprawling corporate interests — including Tesla’s Shanghai factory and SpaceX launches being reliant on rare-earth materials — clash with growing trade hawkishness toward Beijing.

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.

April 16, 2026: 11:40 a.m.:

Trump budget slashes billions from State Department and global aid to put America first

TRUMP BUDGET GUTS UN, NATO & STATE DEPT — “AMERICA FIRST,” EVERYONE ELSE LAST

A leaked draft of Trump’s budget plan just dropped—and it’s a wrecking ball for diplomacy. The State Department takes a $27B hit, with funding for the UN, NATO, and 20+ global orgs headed straight… https://t.co/nrWREtD6dR pic.twitter.com/5l4co73ulz

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 16, 2025

A federal judge has rebuked the Trump administration for doing “nothing” to facilitate release of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia after he was deported to El Salvador.

“To date nothing has been done,” Judge Paula Xinis said Tuesday.

Following an order from the District Court for the District of Maryland on April 4 directing the Trump administration to “facilitate and effectuate the return of [Abrego Garcia] to the United States,” Xinis told lawyers for the Justice Department that she was ordering expedited discovery to “determine whether you are fighting the court order, my court orders, whether you intend to abide by the court orders.”

The Supreme Court agreed last week that the Trump administration has an obligation to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from prison in El Salvador.

Xinis is not holding the administration in contempt of court but will require Trump administration officials to provide documentation and testify behind closed doors to determine if they are following the court’s order.

Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien from El Salvador, was living in Maryland until he was deported on March 15. Court documents link Abrego Garcia to MS-13 but the illegal alien denies he is a member of the violent gang. The Trump administration initially said he was removed due to an “administrative error,” but has since pushed back against that claim.

“A [Department of Justice] lawyer, who has since been relieved of duty, a saboteur, a Democrat, put into a filing incorrectly that this was a mistaken removal. It was not,” Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, said on Fox News on Monday.

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele met with President Donald Trump at the White House Monday and said he has no plans of releasing Abrego Garcia from the prison where he is being held.

“Can I smuggle him into the United States, or what do I do? Of course I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous,” Bukele told press.

Judge Xinis, a President Barack Obama appointee, said Tuesday she is not ordering the Trump administration to tell El Salvador to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S., but added that she is “stunned” that this administration has yet to ask for his release, Reuters reports.

During the White House press briefing Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said “there is never going to be a world in which this is an individual who’s going to live a peaceful life in Maryland because he is a foreign terrorist and a MS-13 gang member.”

Trump has designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization.

“I’m not sure what is so difficult about this for everyone in the media to understand,” Leavitt continued. “And it’s appalling, truly appalling, that there has been so much time covering this alleged human trafficker and this gang member, MS-13 gang member. It’s truly striking to me.”

Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen is traveling to El Salvador Wednesday to advocate for Abrego Garcia’s release.

“Mr. Abrego Garcia was illegally abducted by the Trump Admin and, by their own admission, wrongly deported to El Salvador. He shouldn’t have to spend another second away from his family,” Van Hollen wrote on X.

In a video at the airport Wednesday morning, the Maryland senator said the “goal of this mission is to let the Trump administration, to let the government of El Salvador know that we are going to keep fighting to bring Abrego Garcia home until he returns to his family.”

I’m about to board my flight to El Salvador, where I hope to meet with senior government officials to discuss the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

I also hope to see Kilmar and check on his condition — and remind him that we won’t stop fighting until he’s home. pic.twitter.com/dunE0lytIb

— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 16, 2025

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., bashed the senator for “spending taxpayer dollars” on trip to El Salvador during an interview on the “The Todd Starnes Show.”

“The senator’s spending money to send people to El Salvador and I don’t know what for—to go after an El Salvador citizen to bring them back to the United States,” Harris said.

“I don’t know what the Senator [Chris Van Hollen] is doing but he shouldn’t be spending taxpayer dollars to go after a citizen of El Salvador to bring him back to the United States.” pic.twitter.com/5WuWHPQD3s

— Rep. Andy Harris, MD (@RepAndyHarrisMD) April 16, 2025

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]

Joe Biden, whose son Hunter has complained people don’t want to pay him to speak any longer, this week got one of those speaking engagements.

He addressed a national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled in Chicago on Tuesday.

And he spoke about being outraged as a 4th-grader back in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

“And I’d never seen – uh I’d never seen hardly any black people in Scranton at the time and I was only going on 4th grade. And I remember seeing the kids going by at the time called colored kids on a bus going by,” Biden said, suggesting that “sparked his outrage.”

President Biden randomly starts screaming in his first speech since leaving office. He tells a story about seeing black kids on buses:

“I remember watching a bus go by. It was full of colored kids…I had never seen those.” pic.twitter.com/LdcpiLKSXV

— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) April 15, 2025

He also randomly started screaming about, “SIMPLE DIGNITY. EVERYONE DESERVES TO BE TREATED WITH DIGNITY … REGARDLESS OF WHO THEY ARE.”

BREAKING: PRESIDENT BIDEN BREAKS HIS SILENCE:

“In fewer than one hundred days, this new administration has done so much damage and so much destruction.” pic.twitter.com/kx1dzAxnWh

— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) April 15, 2025

He also lashed out at President Donald Trump.

“In fewer than 100 days, this new administration has made … has done so much damage and so much destruction.”

He cited the thousands of federal workers whose jobs were eliminated at the Social Security Administration, accusing Trump of “taking a hatchet” to the federal workforce.

“Now they’re getting ready to push thousands more out.”

Biden just said Trump supporters have no heart:

“We can’t go on like this with a nation as divided as we are. It’s never been this divided. Granted, it’s roughly 30%, but it’s a 30% that has no heart.”
pic.twitter.com/9FOvz40PLf

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 15, 2025

He also claimed that 30% of Americans now have “no heart.”

“It’s never been this divided.”

A report at the Gateway Pundit pointed out it was his first major public speech since he left office, as his speech at the National High School Model United Nations last week was covered by “not one media outlet.”

The report documented how Biden “struggled” in his speaking. And it noted how Biden’s “outrage” as a 4th-grader “never happened.”

Biden has a well-established reputation for telling stories that never happened.

WATCH: Biden gives first speech since leaving office

The Supreme Court in the United Kingdom, which has been at the heart of a lot of left-leaning precedents for citizens there, stunningly has decided that men who say they are female are not “women.”

The Telegraph called it a “landmark” ruling and quoted “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, who has been badgered and bludgeoned by those in the transgender agenda for her criticism of the movement, saying it would protect “the rights of women and girls across the U.K..”

It’s an apocalyptic loss for the LGBT activists, especially those pushing the transgender agenda, as Joe Biden did for four years while he was president in the United States.

The court ruling, a unanimous decision, said “woman” and “sex” in the 2010 Equality Act referred to biological sex, not a belief expressed by a male that he is suddenly female. In fact, following the science, changing gender does not happen, as being male or female is embedded in the human body down to the DNA level.

The ruling comes in a years-long legal war between campaign group For Women Scotland and the Scottish government over the definition of a woman.

The ruling said, “The unanimous decision of this court is that the definition of the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex.”

Further, that ruling adopted what President Donald Trump recently, by executive order, concluded about sex in America: It is binary.

He, in fact, said the American government recognizes two genders, male and female.

The UK court’s 88-page decision said the “concept of sex is binary” under the Equality Act 2010.

The report noted “Labour Women’s Declaration, a gender-critical group, called on Sir Keir Starmer to take concrete action to ensure the judgment is fully reflected in all public sector guidance.”

The group said, “The government now needs to instruct all government departments to bring their policies, training and guidance into line with the judgment. The ‘clarity and confidence’ the ruling brings must also be applied to all positive action initiatives and associations for women within the Labour Party, such as women’s branches and committees.”

Mermaids, promoters of the transgender lifestyle, claimed the ruling could have “harmful implications.”

“We are deeply concerned at the widespread, harmful implications of today’s Supreme Court ruling. As LGBT+ organizations across the country, we stand in solidarity with trans, intersex and non-binary folk as we navigate from here…”

Amnesty International claimed, “The ruling does not change the protection trans people are afforded under the protected characteristic of ‘gender reassignment,’ as well as other provisions under the Equality Act.”

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins pointed out, “Supreme Court rules that a woman is legally defined as … a woman. … Yes, the science was settled in the Precambrian [era]. Nice that the law has finally caught up.”

The Scottish Parliament created the disaster in 2018 by adopting quotas for transgenders on public sector boards.

Rowling said, “It took three extraordinary, tenacious Scottish women with an army behind them to get this case heard by the Supreme Court and, in winning, they’ve protected the rights of women and girls across the U.K.. For Women Scotland, I’m so proud to know you.”

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said, “Women are women. We didn’t need a court to tell us that. But here we are. It took a Supreme Court decision to confirm what we all know: that a piece of paper cannot make a man a woman. For too long the price has been paid by individual women taking action to uphold the law, at great personal cost.”

John Swinney, first minister for the Scottish government, said, “The Scottish Government accepts today’s Supreme Court judgement. The ruling gives clarity between two relevant pieces of legislation passed at Westminster. We will now engage on the implications of the ruling. Protecting the rights of all will underpin our actions.”

The decision even was applauded by organizations for lesbians, who long have sought to exclude males who say they are female.

A statement from Reem Alsalem, the United Nations “special rapporteur” on violence against women and girls, praised the decision.

“It represents the triumph of reason and facts based deliberations and the return of common sense. Congratulations to For Women Scotland and all their allies that have supported them in their quest to uphold the rights of women to equality and non-discrimination. The ruling is a recognition that the erasure of the ordinary meaning of sex in law and in policies has rendered it impossible to upholding the protection [of] women, including lesbians on the basis of the characteristic of sex. Beyond the U.K., I hope other jurisdictions are paying attention to this groundbreaking ruling.”

The ongoing battle between the Trump administration and the Associated Press is heating up again as the White House has reportedly decided to completely eliminate a press-pool slot specifically reserved for wire services covering the president’s daily actions.

The Hill reports: “A source in the West Wing confirmed the changes to The Hill on Tuesday evening and said moving forward, the press pool will be made up of the following group: one print journalist who will serve as the ‘print pooler’ each day, one additional print journalist, a crew from one of the major television networks, a crew from a secondary television network or streaming service, one radio journalist, one ‘new media’ or independent journalist and four photojournalists.”

In addition to AP, Reuters and Bloomberg are news wire services.

As WorldNetDaily reported last week, a federal judge ordered the White House to restore AP access to the Oval Office and other spaces after President Trump banned the news agency’s reporters for their continued use of the previous Gulf of Mexico name for the Gulf of America.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee, ordered access for the AP into the Oval Office, Air Force One and other limited spaces when available to other members of the media pool.

“Under the First Amendment, if the Government opens its doors to some journalists – be it to the Oval Office, the East Room, or elsewhere – it cannot then shut those doors to other journalists because of their viewpoints,” McFadden wrote.

“The Constitution requires no less.”

The Hill noted of the new protocol: “The White House official said eligible outlets will be chosen for the pool on a rotating basis, and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will retain day-to-day discretion to determine composition of the pool.

“Wire-based outlets will be eligible for selection as part of the pool’s daily print-journalist rotation as part of the shake-up, but they will no longer have a permanent slot in the group.

“The official said outlets will be eligible for participation in the pool, ‘irrespective of the substantive viewpoint expressed by an outlet.’”

Is the news we hear every day actually broadcasting messages from God? The answer is an absolute yes! Find out how!

AP spokeswoman Lauren Easton said the wire service was “deeply disappointed” over the new restrictions.

“The wire services represent thousands of news organizations across the U.S. and the world over,” she said. “Our coverage is used by local newspapers and television stations in all 50 states to inform their communities.

“The administration’s actions continue to disregard the fundamental American freedom to speak without government control or retaliation. This is a grave disservice to the American people.”

Just in: Statement by @ap spokesperson Lauren Easton on AP’s continued exclusion from the White House press pool despite a judge’s order: pic.twitter.com/Q4CFNXO5yd

— Paul Farhi (@farhip) April 16, 2025

NBC correspondent and former White House Correspondents’ Association President Kelly O’Donnell blasted the latest White House decision.

“Wire reporters are among the most knowledgeable and dedicated to the White House beat,” she said on X.

Wire reporters are among the most knowledgeable and dedicated to the White House beat. They are on duty every day of the year and anywhere in the world needed to cover a president. Their work is a key building block for other media’s work. Wires fill a critical role in the…

— Kelly O’Donnell (@KellyO) April 15, 2025

“They are on duty every day of the year and anywhere in the world needed to cover a president. Their work is a key building block for other media’s work. Wires fill a critical role in the public’s understanding of government and important events.”

Follow Joe on X @JoeKovacsNews

Trump-appointed judge makes stunning ruling on Oval Office ban for Associated Press

AP accused of ‘picking fight’ with Trump over name of Gulf of America

BREAKING: A criminal referral has been sent to the DOJ on Letitia James, claiming that she falsified records in order to meet lending requirements and receive favorable loan terms… SOUND FAMILIAR?

This is KARMA.

She needs to be PROSECUTED and brought to justice! pic.twitter.com/G0R4FuuN0s

— Gunther Eagleman (@GuntherEagleman) April 15, 2025

BREAKING: New documents accuse NY Attorney General Letitia James of mortgage fraud—claiming she tried to declare a Virginia property as her “principal residence” while serving in New York. pic.twitter.com/RY0pYV3xZB

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 15, 2025

It’s one thing to see a lab full of nonthinking human bodies created by some “mad scientist” on a late-night movie; it’s another to consider the plan actually being reality.

But that’s just what several writers of an article at Technology Review have proposed.

A report at the Christian Institute bluntly explained, “Academics at Stanford University have proposed the creation of ‘brain-dead humans’ in order to harvest their organs for transplant and research.”

The authors at Technology Review are Carsten T. Charlesworth, Henry T. Greely, and Hiromitsu Nakauchi, and they claim making “bodyoids” now can happen, scientifically, and even could be accomplished “without crossing most people’s ethical lines.”

The benefits they claim? An end to a shortage of organs for donation and no more need to do testing on animals to produce treatments.

“Although it may seem like science fiction, recent technological progress has pushed this concept into the realm of plausibility,” they claim, even while conceding, “It may be disturbing to characterize human bodies in such commodifying terms, but the unavoidable reality is that human biological materials are an essential commodity in medicine.”

And while the idea is “grotesque or appalling” to many, they claim it’s not just scientifically possible, it’s plausible enough to justify discussing the technical aspects and the ethics involved.

Peter J. Colosi, associate professor of philosophy at Salve Regina University, said, “You, as the person who you are, exist even when you are not conscious, and this means that other human beings who are not conscious could also do that.”

And Heidi Klessig, author of The Brain Death Fallacy, described the concept “unconscionable” and called for an end to such “morally abhorrent attempts to purposely bioengineer neurologically impaired human clones as a source of ‘spare parts.’”

At Technology Review, the trio wrote, “Recent advances in biotechnology now provide a pathway to producing living human bodies without the neural components that allow us to think, be aware, or feel pain. Many will find this possibility disturbing, but if researchers and policymakers can find a way to pull these technologies together, we may one day be able to create ‘spare’ bodies, both human and nonhuman.”

They explained, “Pluripotent stem cells, one of the earliest cell types to form during development, can give rise to every type of cell in the adult body. Recently, researchers have used these stem cells to create structures that seem to mimic the early development of actual human embryos. At the same time, artificial uterus technology is rapidly advancing, and other pathways may be opening to allow for the development of fetuses outside of the body.

“Such technologies, together with established genetic techniques to inhibit brain development, make it possible to envision the creation of ‘bodyoids’—a potentially unlimited source of human bodies, developed entirely outside of a human body from stem cells, that lack sentience or the ability to feel pain.”

They admit there are unknowns.

“We do not know whether the embryo models recently created from stem cells could give rise to living people or, thus far, even to living mice. We do not know when, or whether, an effective technique will be found for successfully gestating human bodies entirely outside a person. We cannot be sure whether such bodyoids can survive without ever having developed brains or the parts of brains associated with consciousness, or whether they would still serve as accurate models for living people without those brain functions.”

And it might not be practical.

They claim the “bodyoids” would be like research cadavers, not being “legally, a living human being.”

A report at LifeSiteNews said, “The article is clearly written in the spirit of the ends justifying the means. In their call for action, the authors conclude, ‘Caution is warranted, but so is bold vision; the opportunity is too important to ignore.’

“On the contrary, the value of every human being is what is too important to ignore. We value and protect every person because they are made in the image of God, regardless of the way they were brought into the world. Using unconscious people as research subjects is wrong, both in the case of brain-injured people declared ‘legally dead’ (under the logical fallacy of brain death), and also with this new proposal for bioengineering human clones.”