Salem News Channel

Joey Hudson discusses the recent New York Post report on $5 billion in "questionable" rental payments—including funds sent to all 50 states for people who are no longer with us.

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Josh closes out 2025 with a hard-hitting look at the foreign policy minefield the Trump administration is stepping into as 2026 begins. He’s joined by Rebeccah Heinrichs, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, for a no-nonsense breakdown of the global threats coming at the U.S. from every direction—China’s ambitions, Venezuela’s instability, Russia’s aggression, and the cascading challenges facing America and its allies. Heinrichs lays out why President Trump is approaching foreign policy with clarity and strength—and what it means for America’s standing on the world stage

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A surge of federal officers in Minnesota follows new allegations of fraud by day care centers run by Somali residents. President Donald Trump has previously linked his administration’s immigration crackdown against Minnesota’s large Somali community to a series of fraud cases involving government programs in which most of the defendants have roots in the east African country. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and FBI Director Kash Patel both announced an increase in operations in Minnesota this week. The move comes after a right-wing influencer posted a video Friday claiming he had found that day care centers operated by Somali residents in Minneapolis had committed up to $100 million in fraud. Tikki Brown, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families, said at Monday news conference that state regulators took the influencer’s allegations seriously. Noem posted on social media that officers were “conducting a massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.” Patel said the intent was to “dismantle large-scale fraud schemes exploiting federal programs.” Minnesota has been under the spotlight for years for Medicaid fraud, including a massive $300 million pandemic fraud case involving the nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors said it was the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud scam and that defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children. In 2022, during President Joe Biden’s administration, 47 people were charged. The number of defendants has grown to 78 throughout the ongoing investigation. So far, 57 people have been convicted, either because they pleaded guilty or lost at trial. Most of the defendants are of Somali descent. Numerous other fraud cases are being investigated, including new allegations focused on child care centers. In news interviews and press releases over the summer, prosecutor Joe Thompson estimated the total loss from all fraud cases could exceed $1 billion. Earlier this month, a federal prosecutor alleged that half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds that supported 14 programs in Minnesota since 2018 may have been stolen. Trump’s immigration enforcement in Minnesota has focused on the Somali community in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, which is the largest in the country. Trump labeled Minnesota Somalis as “garbage” and said he didn’t want them in the U.S. About 84,000 of the 260,000 Somalis in the U.S. live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The overwhelming majority are U.S. citizens. Almost 58% were born in the U.S and 87% of the foreign-born are naturalized citizens. Among those running schemes to get funds for child nutrition, housing services and autism programs, 82 of the 92 defendants are Somali Americans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Minnesota. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, has said fraud will not be tolerated and his administration “will continue to work with federal partners to ensure fraud is stopped and fraudsters are caught.” The fraud could be a major issue in the 2026 gubernatorial race as Walz seeks a third term. Walz has said an audit due by late January should give a better picture of the extent of the fraud but allowed that the $1 billion estimate could be accurate. He said his administration is taking aggressive action to prevent additional fraud. He has long defended how his administration responded. Minnesota’s most prominent Somali American, Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, has urged people not to blame an entire community for the actions of a relative few.

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The U.S. military said Monday that it had conducted another strike against a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people. The strike, which was announced by U.S. Southern Command on social media, has brought the total number of known boat strikes to 30 and the number of people killed at least 107 since early September, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration. The military said the vessel “was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” though it did not provide evidence to back up the claim. In a video of the strike posted to social media, a boat is seen moving through water before being struck by two explosions. President Donald Trump has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. Along with the strikes, the Trump administration has built up military forces in the region as part of an escalating pressure campaign on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who has been charged with narcoterrorism in the United States. Trump, when asked by reporters Monday about “an explosion in Venezuela,” said the U.S. had “hit” a dock facility along a shore where boats accused of carrying drugs “load up." “There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump said while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida. Trump, the White House and the Pentagon have provided no other details. In December, the Trump administration also launched a new tactic by seizing two sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela and pursuing a third. As a result, some sanctioned tankers began to divert away from the South American country. Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the U.S. operations is to force him from power. Trump for months has suggested that he may conduct land strikes in Venezuela or possibly another country. The Trump administration has been faced scrutiny from lawmakers over the boat strike campaign. It grew amid revelations that the first attack in early September involved a follow-up strike that killed two survivors clinging to the wreckage of a boat after the first hit.

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Joey Hudson looks back at a staggering 2018 report from Fox 9 Minneapolis. Millions in taxpayer dollars allegedly funneled out of daycare centers in the Somali community—where did the money go?

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Harvest with Greg Laurie, January 4, 2026

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Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah, January 4, 2026

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Real Life with Jack Hibbs, January 4, 2026

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A California man has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of his estranged wife in Arizona. Michael Abatti, 63, is accused of traveling to Pinetop on November 20 and killing Kerri Ann Abatti, 59, outside her vacation home. Investigators say the couple’s ongoing divorce was a recurring topic during interviews with family and friends, but the official motive remains unclear. An autopsy confirmed that Kerri Abatti died from a gunshot wound to the head. Authorities say Michael Abatti returned to California after the shooting and later surrendered to law enforcement.

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Trump Meets With Zelensky, Netanyahu AND Hits Venezuela With Brent Sadler, Senior Research Fellow, Naval Warfare and Advanced Technology, Allison Center for National Security at The Heritage Foundation.

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Media Misses On The Minnesota Fraud With Adam Guillette, President of Accuracy in Media | Aim.org

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The Big, Beautiful Tax Cut Is Coming! With Steve Moore, Committee to Unleash Prosperity, former economist at the Trump White House, author of the daily “Hotline” newsletter from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.

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Voters in Iowa are heading to the polls Tuesday in a holiday-week special election that could reshape power in the state Senate. Democrat Renee Hardman faces Republican Lucas Loftin for a vacant seat representing Des Moines’ suburbs. A Republican win would restore the chamber’s two-thirds supermajority, giving the party easier control over confirmations and special legislative actions. A Democratic victory would prevent that supermajority as lawmakers prepare for the 2026 legislative session.

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A 21-year-old man from Texas has been federally charged with international terrorism after authorities say he provided bomb-making materials and money to people he believed were linked to the Islamic State. Federal prosecutors say John Michael Garza Jr. gave explosive materials to an undercover agent he thought was affiliated with ISIS. Garza is scheduled for a probable cause and detention hearing on Tuesday, where prosecutors are expected to outline their evidence. If convicted, Garza could face up to 20 years in federal prison. Court records do not list an attorney for Garza, and the federal public defender’s office in Dallas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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An Audit Reveals California Lost $70 Billion

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Tim Walz Is A Fraud

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President Trump is putting Iran on notice. As he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for talks in Florida, the president warned Iran against reconstituting its nuclear program. He said the U.S. military would strike Iran hard if it attempts to rebuild that program. The president has insisted that Tehran’s nuclear capabilities were “obliterated” after military strikes in June. But Israeli officials have expressed concern about Iran rebuilding its long-range missile capability.

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Stocks slipped on Wall Street, while crude oil prices rose and gold and silver prices pulled back after recent sharp gains. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% Monday. With just two more trading days left in 2025, the S&P 500 is up more than 17% for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite also fell 0.5%. Energy stocks gained ground along with rising oil prices. Treasury yields fell in the bond market. Wall Street faces another short week in the final stretch of 2025. Markets in the U.S. will be closed Thursday for New Year’s Day.

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President Donald Trump said on Monday that the U.S. had "hit" an area in Venezuela where boats are loaded with drugs, marking the first known time Washington has carried out land operations in Venezuela since a pressure campaign began against President Nicolas Maduro's government. "There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs," Trump said. "We hit all the boats, and now we hit the area... it's the implementation area. That's where they implement, and that is no longer around." It was not immediately clear what target was hit nor which part of the U.S. government acted. Asked if the CIA had carried out the attack, Trump said: "I don't want to say that. I know exactly who it was but I don't want to say who it was." Trump has previously said that he has authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela. On a radio show last week, Trump made vague comments about an apparent U.S. operation against a "big facility" in Venezuela. The Central Intelligence Agency, the White House and the Pentagon have not publicly elaborated on those comments and declined to comment on questions posed by Reuters. The Venezuelan government has not commented on the incident Trump described and there have been no independent reports from Venezuela of it. Primazol, a chemical plant in Zulia state which suffered a fire on Christmas Eve, has denied online rumors that the blaze was what Trump alluded to in his comments. The company also said the fire was quickly extinguished and was under investigation. Nearby residents told Reuters they heard an explosion, saw the fire and smelled chlorine. The Venezuelan communications ministry, which handles all press requests for the government, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. Trump's administration has previously touted its success in taking out suspected drug trafficking vessels, and the Pentagon has posted footage of several of its strikes on social media. The lack of response by U.S. national security agencies had raised questions about whether the incident Trump mentioned was carried out covertly. Such an operation would likely limit the ability of U.S. officials to speak on the matter. Last month, Reuters reported that the U.S. was poised to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations, as the Trump administration escalates pressure on Maduro's government. At the time, two U.S. officials said covert operations would likely be the first part of the new action against Maduro. The U.S. mission has primarily focused on military strikes against suspected drug trafficking vessels and has prompted intense oversight from Congress. More than 100 people have been killed in more than 20 strikes in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Earlier this month, U.S. military leaders briefed lawmakers on an incident in September in which an American strike killed 11 people but left several survivors who were killed in a second strike ordered by Admiral Frank Bradley. Congressional Democrats have questioned whether the second strike was conducted in accordance with international law. Trump's administration has overseen a massive U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, including more than 15,000 troops.

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