May 02, 2025
Dear Patriot,
Over the past few months, we have been monitoring the progress made to rebuild Western North Carolina after the hurricane.
It is very odd, but, you will be hard pressed to find traditional news reporting on the massive improvements that have been made since January 20, 2025.
That is because, the Fake News, both nationally and regionally, does not want anyone to know that the Trump Administration has worked very hard to put people’s lives back together. The people in NC were left to die by Biden and Kamala. President Trump has been helping since before he was sworn in to office.
We want you to get this positive information. The best way is to follow Matt Van Swol on X/Twitter.
Matt lives in the area and does a great job reporting the truth.
Curiously, Matt was a strong Democrat until he saw what the Biden government did to his family and his neighbors. He has become an outspoken voice for Trump. Because of his truth telling, he has been swatted several times.
Here is a Tweet from this past week.
Anything positive happening in the Trump Administration will be ignored or lied about by the Fake News. It is up to us to know the truth and then share the truth.
There was too much good news to fit into this week's newsletter but here is the best.
ENJOY!
1- It is hard to imagine that this crazy Trump idea could actually be happening. After the Biden Regime funneled billions of taxpayer cash into Ukraine, Trump decided that Americans were going to get paid back on that investment.
Now, hopefully the Trump Administration can keep these resources from being used by the Deep State to pad their pockets. Yes, that is cynical but, given what we know to be true about almost everyone residing in our Capitol, it is a real possibility.
Regardless, this is progress towards ending this devastating war.
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Treasury Announces Agreement to Establish United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund
QUOTE: On April 30, the United States and Ukraine signed an agreement to establish the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. In recognition of the significant financial and material support that the people of the United States have provided to the defense of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion, this economic partnership positions our two countries to work collaboratively and invest together to ensure that our mutual assets, talents, and capabilities can accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery.
Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, the Treasury Department and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) will work together with the Government of Ukraine to finalize program governance and advance this important partnership.
“Thanks to President Trump’s tireless efforts to secure a lasting peace, I am glad to announce the signing of today’s historic economic partnership agreement between the United States and Ukraine establishing the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund,” said U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “As the President has said, the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war. This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term. President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine. And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
Both the United States and the Government of Ukraine look forward to quickly operationalizing this historic economic partnership for both the Ukrainian and American people.
2- For space reasons we only share the first 3 of this list. Go to the link for the full list of 23.
What a difference 100 Days can make in the attitude and optimism of investments in America.
Who’s investing in America? 23 big companies that just promised billions under Trump
QUOTE: At a special White House event marking his first 100 days back in office, President Donald Trump welcomed some of the world’s top business leaders to highlight their major new investments in the United States.
Trump said more than $8 trillion has been pledged since the election, calling it one of the strongest private sector responses in U.S. history.
He praised the companies for bringing jobs and manufacturing back to America, and emphasized themes like "Made in the USA," lower taxes, tariffs, energy expansion, and AI innovation.
1. Hyundai, represented by José Muñoz, is investing $21 billion, including $5.8 billion for a new steel plant in Louisiana that will create at least 1,500 jobs. Trump described it as "a beauty" and applauded Hyundai for building in America.
2. CMA CGM, led by Rodolphe Saadé, will spend $20 billion on ports, shipping, and logistics infrastructure, including a new air cargo hub in Chicago. This investment is expected to create 10,000 jobs and support the U.S. shipping industry.
3. Toyota, with Ted Ogawa in attendance, is putting $88 million into expanding hybrid vehicle production at its West Virginia factory. Trump noted he’d visited the facility and called it "fantastic.”
Throughout the event, Trump said these investments prove that his administration’s approach is working.
He pointed to policies like tariffs on imports, a new 15% tax rate for companies that manufacture in the U.S., and reduced regulations as key reasons companies are coming back. He also offered companies the chance to build their own power plants to avoid strain on outdated grids, especially in states like California.
3- It is awesome that the Trump Team works around the lying Fake News and makes their Cabinet meetings live-streamed and viewable to all Americans. There is no media spin when you witness it live. Nor can the Fake News ignore the news being made. It is straight to you from the people whose jobs are to protect Americans and help the country thrive. Yesterday, the Trump Cabinet met for a 100 Day report to the President. It is worth watching!
You Won't Believe What Rubio Found In Biden's State Department Files
QUOTE: Yesterday's cabinet meeting was a mix of celebrating the Trump administration's first 100 days in office and revealing just how awful the Joe Biden administration truly was. One of the most shocking revelations probably came from the last speaker of the day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who revealed that Biden was keeping files on United States citizens, monitoring their social media profiles, and attempting to identify "purveyors of disinformation.”
"It wasn't widely reported, or maybe it was — we had an office in the Department of State whose job it was to censor Americans," Rubio began.
But what he said next is what really shocked everyone. Not only was the Biden administration keeping files on U.S. citizens, but one of those people was sitting there at the table, a member of the actual cabinet. "And by the way, I'm not gonna say who it is — I'll leave it up to them — there's at least one person at this table today who had a dossier in that building of social media posts, to identify them as purveyors of disinformation. We have these dossiers. We are going to be turning those over to these individuals...and they'll decide whether they want to disclose it or not.
"Was it me or Elon?" Vice President JD Vance asked, causing the room to burst into laughter.
"But just think about, the Department of State of the United States had set up an office to monitor the social media posts and commentary of American citizens to identify them as vectors of disinformation when we know that the best way to combat disinformation is freedom of speech and transparency," Rubio continued.
Rubio wasn't the only one with wild Biden administration accusations. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, gave us an indication of what four years of a wide-open border did for allowing criminals and gang members into the country. "Just the other day, we found 700 alien terrorists who have ties to MS-13, Tren de Aragua, and the Sinaloa Cartel," she said, adding, "Just yesterday, our NCTC identified almost 600 individuals with ties to other terrorists who came through our borders illegally, claimed asylum, and under the Biden administration were paroled here within our borders."
1,300 terrorists in two days?
After the cabinet meeting, Trump told the press in attendance to ask "respectful" questions. Despite all of these big announcements, the very first question asked was about whether or not Trump and Rubio would bring the infamous "Maryland dad" home from El Salvador. You can't make this up. This is why the fake news is dying.
4- Another fix from DOGE that saves billions and helps detect fraud.
Treasury Dept. Rejects Over $300 Million in Improper Payment Requests Using New Verification System
QUOTE: DOGE announced Tuesday that the Treasury Department identified and rejected $334 million in improper payment requests due to missing budget codes, invalid budget codes, and budget codes with no authorization.
Prior to DOGE’s intervention, the Treasury’s accounting code was optional for the $4.7 Trillion in payments that go out each year, making traceability almost impossible. “This is a big deal,” DOGE Chief Elon Musk commented on X.
5- Much of the action in The Swamp is being done, quietly!
Army quietly pursues massive digital overhaul expected to save at least $89M: ‘Dealing with stuff that was for 25 years ago’
QUOTE: The US Army has been quietly working on an initiative to bring its digital infrastructure into the modern era, ditching decades-old systems and planning to save taxpayers about $89 million starting on Oct. 1.
The Army’s tech shop began “aggressively” reevaluating its internal systems in November and drafting plans to consolidate dozens of workflow, case management and other internal tools into a simplified suite of programs.
One of the crown jewels in this undertaking has been the Army’s implementation of a language learning model to finish its routine task of updating position descriptions for 300,000 civilian workers, something that usually takes 30 analysts and four months to complete, took a week, thanks to the AI system.
Now they’re hoping to use similar technology to dramatically streamline the Army’s response time to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and records management requests.
The Army believes that standardizing and centralizing the Army’s digital assets will enhance security and lethality while lowering costs for taxpayers.
6- This week we read that a couple of Tesla Terrorists were let off by radical leftist judges. BUT…this guy is still being held accountable.
Office of Public Affairs United States Department of Justice
Mesa Man Indicted for Torching Tesla Property
QUOTE: Today, a federal grand jury in Phoenix returned a five-count indictment against Ian William Moses, 35, of Mesa, Arizona for Maliciously Damaging Property and Vehicles in Interstate Commerce by Means of Fire.
The charging documents filed in the case allege that Moses was at the Tesla dealership in Mesa shortly before 2 a.m. on Monday, April 28, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, tan ballcap, grey pants, black boots, and a black mask. He also carried a red plastic gas can and a black backpack. While in the Tesla parking lot, Moses was captured on video as he placed fire starter logs next to the dealership building. Moses then poured gasoline onto the starter logs, the building, and three Tesla vehicles. At around 1:38 a.m., Moses ignited the starter logs, causing a fire that destroyed a silver Tesla Cybertruck. Video shows Moses leaving the dealership on a dark colored bicycle shortly thereafter.
Mesa police officers arrested Moses approximately a quarter mile from the Tesla dealership at around 3 a.m., still dressed in the same clothes as he was seen wearing at the scene.
“If you engage in domestic terrorism, this Department of Justice will find you, follow the facts, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “No negotiating.”
“There is nothing American about burning down someone else’s business because you disagree with them politically,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine for the District of Arizona. “These ongoing attacks against Tesla are not protests, they are acts of violence that have no place in Arizona or anywhere else. If someone targets Tesla with violence, they will be found and confronted with the full force of the law.”
Each count of conviction for Malicious Damage to Property in Interstate Commerce carries a minimum penalty of five years and up to a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
7- We think that there will be more and more stories like this. But, they will be downplayed and ignored by the Fake News. Here are two examples that showcase the massive theft and fraud within The Swamp. These two ONLY add up to a MILLION dollars.
High Ranking State Department Official Pleads Guilty to Embezzling Over $650,000 in Shocking Abuse of Taxpayer Funds
QUOTE: A high-ranking official at the U.S. State Department has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $650,000 in taxpayer money — and the media is barely covering it.
Levita Almuete Ferrer, 64, of Montgomery Village, Maryland — also known by her alias Levita Brezovic — admitted in federal court today to looting $657,347.50 from the State Department over a two-year span while working as a Senior Budget Analyst in the Office of the Chief of Protocol.
According to the DOJ, Ferrer wielded her signature authority like a blank checkbook, issuing 63 fraudulent checks between March 2022 and April 2024 — 60 to herself, and three to another individual with whom she had a “personal relationship.” All of the checks were funneled straight into Ferrer’s personal checking and savings accounts.
But the scheme didn’t end there. Ferrer then used QuickBooks software to alter the payee information in the Department’s internal system, swapping her own name for legitimate State Department vendors in an apparent effort to throw off potential audits. Anyone casually reviewing the records wouldn’t see her name — unless they accessed the audit trail. A clear case of intentional deception and premeditated fraud.
Despite the elaborate scheme, Ferrer’s actions were eventually exposed — but not before she had helped herself to more than half a million dollars in taxpayer funds.
Ferrer pleaded guilty to theft of government property, a felony offense that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper has set her sentencing for September 18, 2025. Ferrer agreed to pay restitution and accept a forfeiture money judgment in the amount she stole.
Former USDA Program Director Pleads Guilty in Ohio to $400,000 Kickback Scheme
QUOTE: A former USDA Program Director has pleaded guilty to swindling the government out of nearly $400,000, as reported by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Kirk Perry, the 60-year-old from Lorain, Ohio, admitted his role in a kickback scheme that involved his nephew and false billing for work that was never completed.
Alongside Perry's confession, his nephew, Jamarea Grant, had already entered a guilty plea in November 2024 for his involvement in the fraudulent activity, which saw nearly $400,000 of taxpayers’ money funneled for non-existent services, and Perry himself transferred around $125,000 into his personal bank account—a scam that lasted from August 2015 until November 2022—culminating in an investigation by the USDA Office of Inspector General's Sensitive Investigations Office and bringing to light a betrayal of public trust that was enabled by Perry in his role as a program director within the USDA.
According to the DOJ’s announcement, the pair's criminal activities were centered around the USDA Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, where Grant was purportedly employed by two companies that were contractors for the USDA under Perry's direct supervision. A judge will soon decide the punishment for the two men, who worked together in a fake partnership to take money from the government.
8- An interesting ruling against the government which did not come to the aid of North Dakota during massive protests against the pipeline. It has taken years to hold people accountable.
Judge blasts Army Corps for pipeline protests, orders $28M in damages to North Dakota
QUOTE: A federal judge has ordered the United States government to pay North Dakota nearly $28 million dollars, finding that the executive branch “abandoned the rule of law” in its response to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests of 2016 and 2017.
In the lawsuit, filed in 2019, North Dakota requested $38 million in damages from the United States government — the total sum it claims it paid for policing and cleaning up the demonstrations.“While North Dakota was drowning in the chaos of the protests, the United States dropped an anvil into the pool and turned up the turmoil,” he wrote in a nearly 120-page order.
Thousands came to south-central North Dakota to protest the construction of the crude oil pipeline in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which views the project as a looming environmental hazard and an encroachment upon Native territory. It has also accused the pipeline of disrupting sacred cultural sites.
The largest demonstration camp was located on land managed by the Corps. The protests lasted from spring of 2016 to February of 2017, when former Gov. Doug Burgum ordered protesters to evacuate the land.
A separate legal challenge brought by Energy Transfer against environmental group Greenpeace related to the DAPL protests went to trial in February. A nine-person jury of Morton County residents found Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million in damages.
9- It all comes back to Biden’s massive illegal workers push.
Allowing people drive massive trucks on our highways who can not read or speak English, is a problem. Trump is fixing it.
Keeping us all safe while driving is an important goal that enhances everyone’s life.
Truckers Celebrate as Trump Blocks Loophole for Foreign Drivers
QUOTE: Truckers are celebrating President Donald Trump’s decision to restore enforcement of a rule that excludes foreign truckers from the roads if they cannot read English-language signs and instructions.
“They’re celebrating … Everybody’s excited, they’re happy,” said Shannon Everett, a cofounder of American Truckers United.The change is set by an executive order to be signed by Trump on Monday. The order tells Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy “to ensure drivers violating English proficiency rules are placed out-of-service, enhancing roadway safety,” and directs him to revamp other aspects of the trucking industry.
In 2016, President Barack Obama’s deputies told highway inspectors to stop pulling licenses from drivers who cannot speak English. That issue ballooned under President Joe Biden when many thousands of illegal migrants, legalized migrants, and B-1 visa visitors got commercial driver’s licenses via lax rules in California and other states.
“A prominent trucking insurance executive told me that he estimates more than 40% of the truck drivers in the US are first-generation immigrants,” said a tweet from industry executive Craig Fuller. “10% of the total truck driver population does not speak English proficiently.The result is that American drivers and their trucking companies are losing revenue to huge numbers of foreign drivers, many who work in crews to run trucks without sleep through the most lucrative long-distance routes. American truckers cannot compete because such tactics would force them to violate safety regulations and split their low wages — but the migrants profit because they send their small gains back to India, Eritrea, and Guatemala, where families can live very well on a few dollars per day.
However, foreign truckers are often inexperienced and illiterate, so pushing up the death rate on American roads while raising profits for some delivery companies and retailers such as Amazon. Industry publication Freight Waves described a March 13 Texas disaster when a migrant trucker slammed into the back of a traffic jam.
10- We, along with many in the MAHA movement, will be closely watching this transition.
PepsiCo to remove artificial ingredients from popular food items by end of 2025
QUOTE: Heeding the call to ban artificial ingredients by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., PepsiCo isn’t wasting any time getting started. Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo Inc. chair and chief executive officer, said in an April 24 conference call that the company will reduce artificial ingredients and has already begun doing so. Laguarta cited examples such as Lay’s and Tostitos, which “will be out of artificial colors by the end of this year.”
RFK Jr. and Dr. Martin Makary, U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner, announced a ban on petroleum-based synthetic dyes from America’s food supply last Tuesday. As the HHS noted in its news release, among the steps to be taken are “establishing a national standard and timeline for the food industry to transition from petrochemical-based dyes to natural alternatives.”
Every Article in Every Newsletter …….... $5 / month
PRAY for Trump and his team as they continue to do hard things and solve large problems.
KNOW the truth.
SHARE the truth.
Hold Fast,
Defending The Republic
.
This will be permanently available for all at Defending The Republic.
