Phillip Nieto

Rep. Matt Gaetz is requesting a meeting with Israel's ambassador to the US, Gilad Erdan, to discuss the alleged extortion plot of the Gaetz family, according to a letter obtained by The Spectator. As previously reported, days before news broke that the FBI was investigating the Florida congressman for sex trafficking allegations, Jake Novak at the Israeli consulate in New York told Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams about the probe. 'I come as a friend to Israel. Supporting the US-Israel relationship is very important to me and to my constituents,' Gaetz writes in the letter. 'Jake Novak is the Broadcast Media Relations Director at Israel's Consulate in New York.

All eyes are on the flyover state of Ohio as the fight for the future of Trumpism unfolds. In January, Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman announced he was bowing out of politics for good. His vacancy has set up a rare primary between two candidates offering two different versions of Donald Trump's amorphous ideology. One believes the former president's rhetoric should assimilate with bygone Tea Party-era politics and contemporary culture war talking points. The other is running on the populist rollercoaster that slung Trump into the White House. Rust Belt boy wonder Josh Mandel, who served in the statehouse and was state treasurer for almost a decade, touts a pro-Trump campaign 'to protect the Judeo-Christian bedrock of America.

The California dream turned into a nightmare for Republicans on Tuesday night after a blowout victory saved the formerly embattled Gov. Gavin Newsom. Instead of licking their wounds in silence, however, Republicans are eating their own. From the day he took office in 2018, conservatives were seeking to oust Newsom. The former mayor of San Francisco's lockdown orders gave life to their efforts. Out of all the scandals in which elected officials broke their own quarantine mandates, Newsom's power meal at the French Laundry restaurant with state lobbyists in Napa Valley was by far the most infamous. It gave Republicans enough ammo to push the recall over the 1.5 million signature requirement, thanks also in part to a four-month extension to the deadline.

Federal authorities indicted a man on Tuesday who stands accused of extorting Rep. Matt Gaetz’s father for $25 million. For months, Gaetz has claimed Stephen Alford, the indicted man, conspired with a former Air Force intelligence officer and a retired DoJ prosecutor to extort his family, amid an ongoing FBI investigation into the lawmaker for sex trafficking. At the center of the alleged plot was an attempt by the group to free an ex-American spy, Bob Levinson, who was captured in Iran over a decade ago and believed to be dead. The development raises more questions than answers in the Matt Gaetz sex trafficking saga.

Fresno, California In the heart of California’s Bible belt, over a thousand people filled the Paul Shaghoian Concert Hall Sunday afternoon for Larry Elder, the radio host and candidate for governor. Ongoing scandals and calls to withdraw did not dampen Elder’s first campaign launch in the Central Valley. He vowed to repeal vaccines and mask mandates if elected governor, prompting a standing ovation from the audience. ‘Larry for king!’, yelled one supporter. ‘I don't drink coffee, I drink tea,’ Elder said. ‘When I become governor, assuming there are still mandates for vaccines and mandates for face masks, they will be repealed before my first cup of tea.

California Republicans are not falling in line behind a single candidate in the recall against Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. The California Republican party voted not to endorse any of the candidates running in the state's upcoming recall during a Saturday morning online convention. The decision comes as right-wing firebrand Larry Elder has surged in recent polling, overshadowing the establishment favorite, former San Diego mayor Kevin Faulconer. The candidate who received the endorsement would have been given additional funding and campaign infrastructure. Instead, none of the candidates on the September 14 ballot will have the party's backing.

What would you be prepared to do in pursuit of political power? Two women are accusing senior members of the College Republican national leadership of asking them to fabricate sexual assault allegations against a male member to sink his candidacy for a leadership position with the organization. The College Republican National Committee (CRNC) is the 129-year-old organization for Republican college and university students. Its significant past members include President Calvin Coolidge, Karl Rove, Paul Ryan and Roger Stone. Courtney Britt, the recently-elected chair of the CRNC, ran against Clay Smith for south regional vice chair in 2019. At the time, Britt was serving as chair of the Virginia Federation while Clay ran the Arkansas Federation.

Another right-wing populist funded by Peter Thiel is trying to reach the halls of Congress by 2022. Blake Masters, the COO of Thiel’s investment firm, announced his candidacy for the US Senate in Arizona last week. Masters wants to take action against ‘Big Tech’ and corporations that ‘think they’re too big for America’. Masters's populist agenda is similar to that of another Senate candidate, Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance, who reportedly received $10 million from Thiel. In an interview with The Spectator, Masters explained how he intends to reform US manufacturing policy, prioritize onshoring, restrict legal and illegal immigration and engage in a trade war with China, if necessary.

Tucker Carlson has never shied from diverging with the GOP orthodoxy. In a recent interview with the prestigious Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche, the Fox News host blamed Donald Trump for the ‘unfair’ 2020 election and doubts he can make a comeback in 2024. Carlson told Die Weltwoche that Trump inflamed the political left during his four years in office but allowed them to join forces and ‘change the system’. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, both Republican and Democratic states passed measures to ensure people could vote by mail instead of in-person before election day. 'He made them self-consciously his opponents, and then he didn't neutralize them,’ Carlson said. 'There's no question that Trump inflamed his enemies. He's allowed them to coalesce, to organize.

Longtime Biden congressional ally Rep. Jackie Speier of California claimed 'a criminal sits in the Oval Office' on her official House website until today, The Spectator has discovered. Speier's comments are about then-president Donald Trump shortly after special prosecutor Robert Mueller released his infamous report on allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. However, the front webpage on current 'Issues I'm Working On' showed Speier's statement had not been updated to reflect the new administration inaugurated over six months ago. 'A criminal sits in the Oval Office, and it falls to Congress to hold him accountable for his wrongdoing,' the statement read. 'Congresswoman Speier encourages all Americans to read the Mueller Report.

After renewing their Cold War-era alliance earlier this week, Beijing and Moscow challenged the US military hegemony by claiming American global dominance was 'over' and threatening to strike back if any 'boundaries are crossed.' GOP lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee told The Spectator that the Defense Department's focus on critical race theory under the Biden administration is ‘stupid and wacko’ while the Sino-Russian powers are on the march. Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin met Monday during a virtual summit to extend their cooperation treaty between their respective countries, both of which have strained their ties with the US ever since the treaty was initially signed 20 years ago.

A clip showing a New York City Council candidate gagged and in nipple clamps as a dominatrix poured hot wax on him caused an uproar Saturday. But details surrounding the video's release raise questions that could implicate the alleged victim. The Spectator has discovered the full-length footage of the candidate's BDSM session posted on an anonymous, now suspended, OnlyFans account. In the footage, Weiner, 26, is subjected to various forms of humiliation by a dominatrix in leather chaps, who is his ex-girlfriend. The 30-second scene was posted on Twitter last week by an account named '@smart_mistress', the tweet reading, 'My magnificent domme friend played with Upper West Side city council candidate Zack Weiner, and I'm the only one who has the footage.

A government watchdog confirmed US Park Police did not disperse Black Lives Matter protesters from a park outside the White House in order to let then-president Donald Trump pose for a photo op during last summer's racial unrest. In a report released Wednesday, the Interior Department's inspector general concluded that park police removed protesters at Lafayette Park so contractors could build anti-scale fencing. Police scheduled 'the operational plan several hours before they knew of a potential presidential visit to the park.' After law enforcement cleared protesters from the area, Trump walked from the White House to the outside of St John's Episcopal Church, where he posed for photos with a Bible.