1. EXCLUSIVE: MOAB Does Little Damage to ISIS; Instead Sparks Taliban Massacre of 200 U.S.-Trained, Funded Afghani Intel OPs
Touted as a military success, the reality in Afghanistan is the United States’ MOAB (mother of all bombs) damage and prowess proved largely a dud and likely cost the U.S.-led war on ISIS and Taliban terror factions far more casualties than it created, according to an assessment from US Intel Ops in the Afghan theater. – READ MORE
2. Le Pen, Macron Move On To Run-Off Election In France
Centrist Emmanuel Macron and populist Marine Le Pen will go up against each other in a run-off election May 7 after finishing first and second, respectively, in Sunday’s presidential election in France. Exit polls gave Macron 23.7 percent with Le Pen as a close second at 21.7 percent. Communist-backed Jean-Luc Melenchon and conservative Francois Fillion were tied in third place at 19 percent. – READ MORE
3. Bill O’Reilly Sets Return with ‘No Spin News’ Podcast
Bill O’Reilly will return to the airwaves six days after his departure from Fox News with a new podcast episode set to air Monday on his website. O’Reilly’s “No Spin News” will air Monday, April 24 at 7 p.m. Eastern, according to a promotional graphic posted to his website Sunday. – READ MORE
4. Sessions: Arrest of WikiLeaks’s Assange a ‘priority’
The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a US “priority,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, as media reports indicated his office was preparing charges against the fugitive anti-hero. “We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks,” Sessions, America’s top cop, said at a news conference in response to a reporter’s question about a US priority to arrest Assange. – READ MORE
5. ‘Shattered’ Revelation: Clinton Campaign Hatched Russian Hacking Narrative 24 Hours After Hillary’s Loss
That strategy had been set within twenty-four hours of her concession speech. Mook and Podesta assembled her communications team at the Brooklyn headquarters to engineer the case that the election wasn’t entirely on the up-and-up. For a couple of hours, with Shake Shack containers littering the room, they went over the script they would pitch to the press and the public. Already, Russian hacking was the centerpiece of the argument. – READ MORE
6. Here’s How Much The FBI Planned To Pay Trump Dossier Author
New details are emerging about the FBI’s arrangement with the former British spy who compiled the infamous opposition research dossier on Donald Trump. According to The New York Times, FBI agents met in early October with the former spy, Christopher Steele, to discuss his future work on the dossier. Steele had started compiling research in June on Trump’s potential ties to Russia. He was working for Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that was a client of an ally of Hillary Clinton’s. – READ MORE
7. Judicial Watch Sues State Dept. and USAID for Soros Records
The conservative watchdog group filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the State Department and USAID after both failed to respond to a Feb. 16 FOIA request seeking records related to grants or payment authorizations, records of communication between State Dept. or USAID officials and the Open Society Foundations. The group had also asked for responsive records of communication sent from Jess L. Baily, an Obama-appointee and former U.S. ambassador to Macedonia, and similar records of the political activities of the Open Society Foundation-Macedonia. – READ MORE
8. WikiLeaks publishes more secret CIA tools after the US threatens criminal charges
WikiLeaks released another trove of information on the Central Intelligence Agency’s secrets Friday afternoon, after the Justice Department said it was considering criminal chargesagainst the organization and its founder, Julian Assange. The latest release is a 31-page user guide for a CIA device called “Weeping Angel” that was posted online on Friday, CBS News reported. The tool was able to turn Samsung televisions into surveillance tools — by way of activating the television’s built-in microphone to record audio. – READ MORE
9. Maxine Waters Slated to Pay Daughter Another $108K From Campaign Funds
Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) is slated to pay her daughter another $108,000 for running a lucrative campaign operation that pulls in hundreds of thousands of dollars each election cycle, FEC filings show. Karen Waters, the daughter of Rep. Waters, collected nearly $650,000 to date for running the operation for her mother’s campaign. – READ MORE
10. Beyond Sexual Harassment, Lesser Known Scandals Could Cost The Murdochs A $14B Deal
And yet, there is a quieter scandal hiding in plain sight — rife with allegations of computer hacking, accusations of fraud, questions of political interference and payouts totaling more than $900 million — all which centered on a relatively anonymous Murdoch enterprise called News America Marketing. – READ MORE