You can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong, oh no, who’s gonna close your tabs tonight? …
This is one of the most breathtaking scandals in U.S. history. The incumbent admin eavesdropped on a phone call between a key leader of the opponent’s campaign and her lawyer.
It’s outrageous.
The only reason it’s not treated as a scandal that ends careers is because Trump. https://t.co/RT6h8bWHsd
— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) February 27, 2026
Ed: It’s even worse than that. This is exactly what Democrats claimed Trump would do to his political opponents if re-elected. Now, suddenly, it’s fine because it was aimed at Trump. This is a worse scandal than Watergate by an order of magnitude, and no one in the Protection Racket Media will run with it. More here.
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Fox News: At least two more allies of President Donald Trump have said the Biden-era FBI secretly sought their records, in addition to the records of FBI Director Kash Patel and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
Republican operative Corey Lewandowski, who currently serves as a Department of Homeland Security aide, said Thursday he received the same type of notice that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino disclosed last year regarding records seizures. Both men said they were notified in 2024 that Google had complied with FBI legal demands for information tied to their accounts, underscoring how broadly the bureau’s investigation into Trump extended and fueling Republicans’ claims that President Joe Biden “weaponized” law enforcement to target his political opponents.
“Funny – I received the same notice,” Lewandowski wrote on X. “Where is the media outcry. Right, they don’t care when it happens to Trump people.”
Ed: More peculiar than funny, and unfortunately, more predictable than shocking. See above.
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It’s called an illegal wiretap if a phone conversation was recorded.
You need a T-III Order from a federal judge before you can do that.
The one issue I’m still not 100% clear on is the description of exactly what it was the FBI supposedly obtained. If it is actually a… https://t.co/WIpkhrZg3s
— Shipwreckedcrew (@shipwreckedcrew) February 27, 2026
The one issue I’m still not 100% clear on is the description of exactly what it was the FBI supposedly obtained. If it is actually a real-time recording of a call between Wiles and her attorney, that cannot be justified without consent or a T-III order.
But, if it is a recording obtained from a third party that was NOT made at the direction of the FBI or another federal law enforcement agency, then we have a new set of issues to contend with.
There are regularly reports in social media that certain internet connected devices record video/audio without notice to the person using the devices. Authorization to do so — supposedly — is buried in the small print of the “Terms of Service.”
Still need to know more.
Ed: Interesting observation, and we should keep open minds as more information emerges. However, if the FBI files claim to have received consent from Wiles’ attorney, that has to mean that the FBI itself recorded the call. Neither Wiles nor the attorney would have recorded it and handed it over. Plus, none of this negates the violation of privileged communications, which can only be waived by the client herself and not any other party. No matter how the FBI got the recording of the conversation, they got it illegally unless specifically authorized by a warrant.
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The Wrap (via Ed Driscoll): Anxiety is high inside CNN, as staffers grapple with the growing likelihood that Paramount’s David Ellison — who appointed Free Press cofounder Bari Weiss to reshape CBS News and has recalled having “great conversations” with President Donald Trump about acquiring CNN parent Warner Bros. Discovery — could ultimately take control of the cable news channel.
“It’s concerning,” one CNN staffer told TheWrap, noting how Ellison posed days earlier alongside Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, each giving a thumbs up before attending the State of the Union together. The unease comes alongside reporting that David Ellison has promised the White House changes to CNN, while his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, has talked about the possibility of axing specific hosts.
While CNN may not be the most coveted property in the WBD stable — rival suitor Netflix only desired HBO and the studio assets — it is the most politically radioactive. Trump has bristled at CNN’s coverage for years, blasting stars like Jim Acosta during his first term and Kaitlan Collins in the second. He made clear in December that the news channel, rather than TNT or the Food Network, was front of mind in the WBD sale saga, declaring that “it’s imperative that CNN be sold” and placed under new management.
“People think it could be the end of CNN,” a second staffer told TheWrap. “ As much as people say that’s not possible, what’s to say that’s not possible?”
Ed: Because Paramount/Skydance can’t afford to trash it, for one thing. They spent a lot of money, way past their current market cap, to acquire WBD and CNN. They need to make it profitable, not end it. What may be coming to an end is the free ride for the progressive-elite narrative “journalists” and their editorial control. Even that may be a while coming.
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Ed: Critical Drinker gets a couple of details incorrect; the FTC is the larger regulatory hurdle here rather than the FCC. Not much of WBD is on broadcast channels, which is the FCC’s normal jurisdiction. His commentary on the impact of the merger for the studios and IPs is more on point, though.
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CBS News: The Justice Department on Friday announced it is charging 30 more people for their roles in a January anti-ICE protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, in a criminal civil rights case that has also ensnared journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon. …
The new version of the indictment does not add any additional criminal charges.
It accuses all 39 people of violating two civil rights laws. One is a misdemeanor offense in the FACE Act, which prohibits people from intimidating or interfering with people exercising their constitutional freedom to practice religion. The other is a felony charge of conspiring to interfere with individuals’ religious rights.
Doug Wardlow, a lawyer with True North Legal who’s representing Cities Church, said the indictment of the 30 additional people “sends a clear message: houses of worship are off limits for those who would use chaos and intimidation to advance a political agenda.”
Ed: Doug’s an old friend of mine. He ran for Minnesota AG against Ellison, and in a rational state, would have easily beaten the radical-Left former Keith X. Glad to see him representing Cities Church, not least because he’s probably about to get rich and I can beg him for a loan. All kidding aside, Doug’s exactly correct, and while Lemon will get lots of assistance in paying legal bills, these other 38 defendants are about to discover how tough it is to fight the DoJ in federal court. I suspect some of them may be inclined to cooperate with prosecutors to build cases against the ringleaders, especially the idiot who filmed the whole thing.
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Dem side:
Crockett 55%
Talarico 37%— Gabby Birenbaum (@birenbomb) February 27, 2026
Ed: In the past week, Cornyn has opened up with all guns blazing on Paxton. He’s hammering Paxton hard for his personal scandals as well as the violations Paxton racked up on Texas’ whistleblower protection statute, which the state spent six million dollars to settle. Paxton has a lot of baggage, and some of it may not have really sunk in with voters before now. Don’t be surprised if Cornyn manages to eke out a victory. I’m not surprised at all by the Dem primary results, but Talarico is going up on TV aggressively during early voting.
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John Hinderaker at Power Line: Our Thinking Minnesota Poll, conducted by Meeting Street Insights, was in the field just when ICE was winding down its operations and beginning to depart from Minnesota. So we should have caught anti-ICE fervor at its height. And yet, what we found was a silent majority of Minnesotans who are broadly supportive of the administration’s immigration policies.
These are the key findings:
* 81% of respondents support deporting all illegal aliens who have a criminal record in the U.S. or abroad. This includes 71% of Democrats.
* 72% want Minnesota state and local officials to cooperate with ICE (most did not). …
* 50% say that the actions of Minnesota leaders like Tim Walz and Jacob Frey made the ICE situation more heated with their comments, while only 25% said that local officials helped to reduce tensions.
Ed: Read all of this. Just from the results, I wonder if they underpolled the Metro counties, which are now pretty rabidly progressive, including the ring counties like Dakota, where I used to live. It’s still a good reminder that common sense hasn’t entirely fled the state. John has some polling on what happened at Cities Church that will make Doug smile, and may alleviate concerns over jury nullification when the criminal and civil cases go to trial.
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Virginia Democrats, in the midst of pushing a wild gerrymandering scheme and a blizzard of tax increases, vote to ~triple their own pay: https://t.co/InzS00SXVo
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 27, 2026
Ed: Let’s hope the RNC is cutting some ads about this – and not just for Virginia’s midterms.
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John Ondrasik at WSJ: Hockey is different from other sports. Most players come from small towns with parents who struggle financially buying hockey gear while driving hours for 5 a.m. ice time year after year. Hockey families also instill values of hard work, love of team, and honesty and accountability. In the NHL there is deep respect for the game but also a willingness, and at times obligation, to speak plainly.
So here’s some straight talk from the penalty box.
Most sportswriters are radical leftists. They are more concerned with an athlete’s politics than his performance on the field, court or ice. Writers think players who don’t bend the knee to the woke cabal should be kneecapped (figuratively speaking).
These media mobsters—most of whom couldn’t tell you the difference between offsides and icing—are intentionally trying to taint if not destroy the greatest sporting moment of these hockey players’ lives. And the journalists don’t care.
Ed: Read it all, which is out from behind the WSJ paywall. John’s passionate about hockey, hence “Five for Fighting,” and he’s absolutely spot-on here. The problem with sportswriters is that they are no different from ‘journalists’ on any other beat. Their mission is to amplify the progressive-elite narratives and agendas. not to report on news. It’s why Jeff Bezos gutted the Washington Post’s sports department. They didn’t offer any added value.
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CRAZY — Washed up vampire actress Kristen Stewart yells into a microphone that LA residents should stop buying burgers to save illegal aliens.
“I am dying every day thinking, do we make movies about this?… Do we stop buying burgers in the daytime?” 🤡
pic.twitter.com/Q8PEyuPaOh— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 27, 2026
Ed: Huh?
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Rich Lowry at the NY Post: Whereas most of us have seen in Erika Kirk a Christian woman bearing up under an intolerable burden and stunningly forgiving the alleged murderer of her husband, Owens purports to see Clytemnestra, the mythical Greek figure who betrayed her husband Agamemnon upon his return from the Trojan War.
The title of her series is “Bride of Charlie.”
Get it? Like the “Bride of Frankenstein.”
As a so-called investigator, Owens is like Perry Mason … if the fictional attorney had been a schizophrenic high on crack.
Her method is to pile will-o’-the-wisp connections one on top of another, often buttressed by flagrant factual mistakes, and insist that if she’s debunked, it just shows how she must be on the right track.
Ed: Just in case we thought derangement was only a feature on the extreme Left. Ideology is more like a donut than a spectrum, and the nuts meet each other on the other side of the ring.
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You’re laughing. The energy secretary is photosynthesizing and you’re laughing. https://t.co/39w0ZQjWda
— Cameron Arcand (@cameron_arcand) February 27, 2026
Ed: Hey, he WAS conserving energy.
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