Front Page Podcast: Guilfoyle resigns after allegations of improper conduct

U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle has resigned at the request of the White House over allegations of improper conduct.

The Wall Street Journal reported Guilfoyle had used her influence to solicit $100,000 from a prominent Trump donor to pay off a credit card — allegedly in exchange for access to senior administration officials — ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing last summer.

Guilfoyle said in a statement she rejected accusations that she had abused her position. She was one of the first ambassadors appointed during Trump’s second term. Before that, she was a television commentator.

The warnings from intelligence-minded lawmakers against letting Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lapse were stark four months ago. But the warnings turned out to be overblown. 

House Speaker Mike Johnson fretted about losing a tool used to monitor terrorists planning to attack the homeland. But Congress didn’t renew the law and hasn’t taken any steps to do so since it expired June 12.

Spying continues, however, because communications companies are still providing data that the government requests. The 2008 law allows the government to collect communications data of foreign targets without a warrant.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey has asked the Department of Energy to expedite approval of a natural gas pipeline expansion project in the state.

Healey made public a letter she sent to Energy Secretary Chris Wright urging him to expedite the federal government’s review and approval of the Algonquin natural gas pipeline expansion project. The move marks a dramatic pivot from Healey’s opposition to increasing the use of fossil fuels in the state’s energy mix.

Her Republican opponent this fall, former medical-device executive Mike Minogue, has pledged to expand access to natural gas and pipelines and criticized Healey for blocking two major pipeline projects a decade ago.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has accused two D.C. organizations of encouraging jury nullification.

The committee says the groups, Free DC and Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, conduct training sessions to help city residents get onto trial juries and vote to acquit the people being prosecuted.

Committee chairman James Comer says the groups may have helped train one of the jurors in the trial that acquitted Sean Dunn, the former Justice Department employee accused of throwing a sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer.

And finally … The Pentagon’s newly announced Future of Warfare initiative will try to transform military doctrine.

The effort is called Project Meridian and is intended to deliver a blueprint for how American forces can succeed in a world of rapidly evolving technology and artificial intelligence.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the project would be squarely focused on how the military can most effectively identify and deploy cutting-edge technology and weapons.

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