Jennica Pounds, the woman behind the social media persona Data Republican, says nonprofit organizations have become a new power in American government, funneling taxpayers’ money overseas.
Ms. Pounds has written “Unelected: How You Paid a Sinister Elite to Take Over America,” which was published by Passage Publishing this month.
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She and coauthor Joshua Lisec take apart the “NGO-Administrative Complex,” which they say operates as an external deep state wielding a surprising amount of influence over what gets done.
Ms. Pounds, who worked alongside the Department of Government Efficiency last year, said she was researching who was behind the anti-DOGE and anti-Tesla protests last year and found it funny how many left-leaning groups getting government funding had “democracy” in their name or mission.
“That was confusing, because we hadn’t been trying to overturn elections,” Ms. Pounds told “Seen, Heard & Whispered.”
“So I spent most of 2025 researching why …. which led me to discovering that a gigantic NGO ecosystem has spawned around the concept of democracy,” she said. “What I found out was that ’democracy’ has little to do with elections as we were taught in school, and everything to do with governance diffused through civil society, primarily NGOs. This is why they can effect massive policy changes such as mass migration without input from the public.”
Ms. Pounds is a citizen journalist who runs the account @DataRepublican on social media platform X. Her identity was exposed during her work for the Trump administration.
She said she was forced to move to another state and pull her children out of school for nearly two months to homeschool them due to security concerns.
“Safety is definitely a big priority of mine. Threats come in waves,” she said. “Life has been interesting since being ’revealed,’ but so far, God has protected and provided for us. And ultimately He is in control of our country and its direction.”
Federal prosecutor ’likes’ Trump legal loss
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sailaja Paidipaty’s social media habits are raising eyebrows.
Ms. Paidipaty, who works in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of California, has been hitting “like” on posts celebrating President Trump’s legal losses or praising President Biden.
In one of those instances, Ms. Paidipaty “liked” a post about a ruling halting Mr. Trump’s executive order punishing Jenner & Block, a prominent law firm, after it employed a lawyer who’d been a key member of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Mr. Trump during his first term.
“Seen, Heard & Whispered” has been told that it’s unethical for a lawyer representing the Justice Department to show approval for a ruling against an executive order issued by her top boss as DOJ was defending the policy in court.
Ms. Paidipaty also liked a post from Aaron Zelinsky, another lawyer from Mueller’s probe, when he announced his move to law firm Zuckerman Spaeder.
The Washington Times reached out to Ms. Paidipaty for comment.
Former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice joins Pence’s group
Dan Kelly, who served on the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 2016-2020 after being appointed by Gov. Scott Walker, has joined Advancing American Freedom, founded by former Vice President Mike Pence.
He’ll serve as a visiting judicial fellow for the Edwin Meese III Institute for the Rule of Law, “Seen, Heard & Whispered” has learned.
“My admiration for Attorney General Meese and the Institute’s scholars makes it a true honor to add my voice to theirs as a Visiting Judicial Fellow. I’m looking forward to advocating the foundational principles of our Constitution and the American experiment that have served us so well for so long,” Mr. Kelly said.
John Malcolm, vice president of the institute, praised Mr. Kelly’s career.
“He has an excellent reputation among the bench and bar where he is highly regarded for his keen intellect and rigorous research. We are excited to work with him,” Mr. Malcolm said.
Mr. Kelly ran for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2020 and 2023, losing both times. The Wisconsin 2023 race set a record as the most expensive judicial election.
Mr. Kelly served as counsel for the Wisconsin GOP following the 2020 election as the party looked to contest the election results.
When he ran in 2023, he did not seek Mr. Trump’s endorsement, which Mr. Trump claimed caused his loss.
Mr. Pence, who served as Mr. Trump’s vice president during his first administration, founded Advancing American Freedom in 2021.
The organization hosted its annual dinner this week honoring the late Justice Antonin Scalia, where Judge Kyle Duncan of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals defended free speech rights.
“The vast majority of speech is constitutionally protected — even speech that is ugly, crass, offensive and hateful,” he said.
• Seen, Heard & Whispered is a weekly column taking you inside the conversations happening in Washington’s power corridors, the moves being made and the whispers that explain what’s really going on in the nation’s capital. Email tips to whispered@washingtontimes.com. Click here to receive this in your inbox every Friday morning.
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