1 Forest Service Closes All CA National Forests As Fires Rage
Officials confirm that seven are dead as the West Coast is being devastated by nearly 200 large and now deadly wildfires tearing through Oregon, Washington and California. Oregon, which has 35 active fires and more than 470-thousand acres burning, has already seen four towns nearly wiped out and is preparing for record deaths. Among them, a 12-year-old boy and his grandma. A baby boy in Washington was also killed when his parents tried to escape. In fact, that state just saw 500-square miles burn within 24-hours. California is nearing three-million acres have been scorched with three more lives lost this year and 4,200 structures have been damaged or destroyed. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed, but now, all national forests in California are also closed due to extreme fire conditions throughout the state. To put that in perspective, national forests encompass over 20-million acres across California.
2 Trump Admitted To Playing Down Pandemic
In case you’ve been under a rock for the last 24-hours, it’s come out that President Trump knew in February that COVID-19 was "deadly stuff," but wanted to "play it down" to the American people. That's according to a new book released by famed journalist Bob Woodward – and there are audio clips to back it up. In Woodward's book "Rage," which is set to be released next week, Trump told the journalist in a February 7th phone call that this virus is "more deadly than even your strenuous flu." This, while outwardly calling it a hoax. Woodward’s 18 interviews with Trump took place between December 2019 and late July 2020. They happened in the Oval Office and at Mar-a-Lago, and were often by phone. Speaking with reporters about the ‘revelations,’ White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the President has made it clear that he doesn't want to see chaos – and that he was merely doing "what leaders do, by staying calm and resolute when facing an insurmountable challenge.”
3 Whistle blower Compliant Alleges Intelligence Got Politicized
A written complaint by a top Department of Homeland Security intelligence analyst accuses top DHS officials of blocking analysis of Russian election interference, watering down intelligence reports about corruption and violence fueling a refugee flow from Central America, and "modify(ing) assessments to ensure they matched up with the public comments by President Trump on the subject of ANTIFA and 'anarchist' groups." The complaint was written by whistleblower Brian Murphy, who also says Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of homeland security gave false testimony to Congress in December 2018 about the numbers of suspected terrorists crossing the southern border. "The whistleblower reprisal complaint depicts a sustained and disturbing pattern of misconduct by senior Trump administration officials within the White House and DHS," said a statement by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who released the complaint yesterday afternoon.