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Former Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk’s influence over President-elect Donald Trump had a “self-life.” Co-host Jonathan Karl said, “You know what it’s like to be part of Donald Trump’s inner circle. You were in the inner circle from 2016 through 2020, but I want to ask you about Musk. He’s practically moved into Mar-a-Lago. My first question to you is, this is the wealthiest guy in the world. What is in it for him? Why has he become so attached to Trump?”

Yaoning ‘Mike’ Sun of Chino Hills is charged with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign power and conspiring to advance China-friendly policies in local government. The Chinese government allegedly used a Chino Hills man in an effort to advance policies favorable to the People's Republic of China in Southern California local government, according to a criminal complaint released Thursday. Yaoning "Mike" Sun, 64, was charged with acting as an illegal agent of a foreign power and conspiring with another man — John Chen — who had been plotting to target U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice...

Former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H.W. Bush, Catherine Austin Fitts, shares her insights on Donald Trump’s recent victory in the U.S. presidential election, the rising influence of independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the impact of the so-called ‘Deep State’ on American politics. According to Fitts, change isn’t on the horizon—it’s happening right now. She also discusses the historic surge of independent voters, a movement that could permanently reshape the future of U.S. politics as we know it.

You can influence the Supreme Court of the United States, and it is easier to do than you might think. The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has become the linchpin for preserving the Constitution of the United States of America.Over the last 70 years, SCOTUS has been used to radically change the United States’ legal structure. Progressive justices, both Democratic and Republican, have used the power of the court to accomplish things that could never have been passed through Congress. This was one of the methods Progressives considered as ways to “get around” the limits on government power...

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) wondered openly on CNN last week whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was trying to influence the U.S. election by continuing to fight a war against Iran and Iranian-backed terrorist groups. The Hill reported: Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) says he’s worried Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may be trying to influence the U.S. presidential election by showing little interest in striking a peace deal with Hamas and instead escalating the threat of a broader war in the Middle East by aggressively confronting Hezbollah in Lebanon. … “I certainly worry that Prime Minister Netanyahu is watching the...

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said he worries that “Prime Minister Netanyahu is watching the American election as he makes decisions about his military campaigns in the north and in Gaza.” And “it is certainly a possibility that the Israeli government is not going to sign any diplomatic agreement prior to the American election as a means, potentially, to try to influence the result.” Murphy said, “Prime Minister Netanyahu is pursuing multiple objectives all at once, I don’t doubt that he cares about the security of Israel, but he seems to be guided, on many...

House Republicans launched an investigation Wednesday of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to battleground Pennsylvania this week — describing it as an apparent campaign stop to benefit Vice President Kamala Harris. James Comer (R-Ky.) demanded communications about Zelensky’s visit to a Scranton ammunition factory with Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, a key supporter of the Democratic presidential nominee. Comer likened Zelensky’s Sunday trip — during which the Ukrainian leader was flown on an Air Force C-17 cargo jet — to former President Donald Trump’s pressure on Zelensky to investigate alleged corruption by President Biden’s family, for which Trump was impeached...

Iran is ramping up online activity that appears intended to influence the upcoming US election, in one case targeting a presidential campaign with an email phishing attack, Microsoft said Friday. Iranian actors also have spent recent months creating fake news sites and impersonating activists, laying the groundwork to stoke division and potentially sway American voters this fall, especially in swing states, the technology giant found. The findings in Microsoft’s newest threat intelligence report show how Iran, which has been active in recent US campaign cycles, is evolving its tactics for another election that’s likely to have global implications. The report...

Hunter Biden accepted $3,101,258 from Romanian partner Gabriel Popoviciu to “influence U.S. government agencies” when President Joe Biden served as vice president, Special Counsel David Weiss said in a Wednesday court filing. Weiss, who stopped short of accusing Hunter of having “improperly coordinated with the Obama administration,” failed to indict him on Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violations in 2023, opting instead to indict the president’s son on alleged tax violations, potential wrongdoing that Republicans claim falls short of justice. Weiss could still charge Hunter with violating FARA because his sweetheart plea deal, which was negotiated to give Hunter sweeping...

A strong majority of U.S. adults believe religion is losing its influence in public life, a new Pew Research Center survey found. Overall, 80 percent of U.S. adults say religion’s role in American life is shrinking, “a percentage that’s as high as it’s ever been,” according to the poll report. Nearly half (49 percent) say the decline of religious influence in public life is a “bad thing.” Eight percent say religious influence is “growing and this is good.” Only 6 percent say religious influence is “growing and this is bad,” and 13 percent say religious influence is “shrinking and this...

China may have influenced local and federal political leadership races in Canada— and it's only a matter of time before the Communist country does the same to the U.S. According to a classified report from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), an unspecified leadership candidate for a provincial political party met with Chinese agents at a Chinese consulate in 2022 to secure their support.The top secret document refers to the candidate as "CA3". It details how an Oct. 31, 2022, CSIS "Intelligence Assessment" explored how communist Chinese agents are used to influence leaders of Canadian political parties at the...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sidestepped a swipe at Hunter Biden’s wonky business dealings, bemoaning instead a revolving door of “influence peddlers” in Washington, DC. The pivot came Wednesday after CNN’s Jake Tapper — who named-dropped Hunter — asked Warren for her thoughts about those near to President Joe Biden “making tens of millions of dollars because of their closeness to him.” Rather than blasting the first son outright, Warren lamented a DC culture of currying favors and cashing in on government gigs.

*** Recent mid-year filings with the Federal Election Commission have shed light on which deep-pocketed donors are bankrolling which Republican hopefuls. Donald Trump*** former President Donald Trump remains a fundraising powerhouse. Past big-named backers, such as real estate heir Ronald Lauder ($4.4 billion) and private equity behemoth Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman ($32 billion) appear to be distancing themselves from the GOP frontrunner. ***Last quarter, his joint fundraising committee, comprised of his 2024 campaign and the Save America PAC touted a roughly $35 million haul. Multiple billionaires donated to the Trump-aligned Make America Great Again Inc. Super PAC during the first...

“The Bidens are the best at doing exactly what Chairman wants.” That WhatsApp message to a Chinese business associate was the perfect epitaph for the entire Biden corruption scandal. Part of the brilliance of the Biden influence peddling operation was to invest the media in the denial of any scandal. That is no more evident than the much discussed 2015 dinner of President Joe Biden with his son’s foreign associates. The alleged dinner demolished Joe Biden’s long denials of any knowledge of his son’s dealings. Accordingly, the Biden campaign denied he ever attended and the media happily dismissed the account....

The IRS was stopped from questioning Joe Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens — said to be the president’s “final gut-check” in decision-making — about cash she received from Hunter Biden, a whistleblower has claimed. Biden Owens received a payment via Venmo from the first son, according to an interview with IRS whistleblower Joseph Ziegler, a 13-year IRS veteran who gave testimony to the House Committee on Ways and Means last month. “So I continually ask, ‘Can I go and interview them?’ And those were always met with ‘no,'” said Ziegler, who was known as “whistleblower #2” in the Ways and...

Welcome to CRC’s work-in-progress, InfluenceWatch.Capital Research Center conceived of this project after identifying a need for more fact-based, accurate descriptions of all of the various influencers of public policy issues. Many so-called “watchdog” groups are instead opponents of the outlets they are watching. Armed with 30-years of research and data on advocacy organizations, foundations, and donors, CRC utilizes a universe of well-trained contributors to help build the individual and organizational profiles that populate the website.

President Joe Biden reportedly used his influence to pressure the University of Pennsylvania to admit his granddaughter to college — then appointed the president of the university to a plum ambassadorship. Last week, in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision on racial preferences in college admissions, Biden denounced “practices like legacy admissions and other systems that expand privilege instead of opportunity.”

During an interview with “PBS NewsHour” on Wednesday, President Joe Biden responded to Republican plans to use their new majority in the House of Representatives to investigate the Biden family — including his son, Hunter and his brother, Jim — and the accusations made by Republicans that members of the Biden family got access due to the President and his political success by stating that the American public will not “pay attention to that.” Biden also said that if all that the Republicans are able to do with their majority in the House “is make up things about my family,...

Twitch influencer Jessica Fernandez issued an apology Tuesday after she went viral for posting a video about a “feral” man at the gym who she claimed was staring at her “like a piece of meat.” Fernandez published the apology on TwitLonger — an extension of Twitter that allows users to post tweets longer than 140 characters — calling the video “the most serious thing I have ever posted.” “First of all, I want to apologize sincerely to the man at the gym where this all started. He didn’t do anything wrong to me and I blew our interaction out of...

4:11 President Joe Biden’s younger brother Frank Biden peddled White House influence during Joe Biden’s presidency, according to a CNN report that indicates the Biden family business remains operational even since Joe Biden was elected. On at least two separate occasions, Frank Biden publicly cited Joe Biden as a means by which he has influence, despite holding no government position or relation to the White House other than by having the same last name as the president and being his sibling. In October, Frank Biden spoke in Venice, Italy, as the keynote speaker at a BioSig Technologies conference about “the...