Latest news with #DataRepublican
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Inside America's Protest Machine: Who's Funding The Chaos?
A spreadsheet circulating on X, shared by @DataRepublican on June 13, 2025, appears to expose a coordinated network of activist groups orchestrating monthly protests across the United States—including the recent 'Tesla Takedown' on February 15, 2025. The document identifies multiple organizations—reportedly 22 in total, according to the original post—including CHIRLA, which allegedly received $34 million in grants, and progressive advocacy arms like Vote Save America. The coordination suggests these demonstrations are far from spontaneous grassroots activism. The spreadsheet, corroborated by posts from journalist @AsraNomani, shows a pattern of overlapping organizers and synchronized nationwide protest dates. Critics on X, including @DataRepublican, have labeled the network a potential 'color revolution'—a term historically associated with uprisings like Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, where foreign-funded NGOs were widely believed to have played a role. A 2016 article in the Journal of Democracy discussed how NGO networks can sometimes serve as soft-power instruments for geopolitical influence, lending context to the comparison. Concerns over foreign involvement have surfaced alongside allegations that Neville Singham, a controversial activist and donor, is linked to groups behind the June 8–9 protests, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Multiple outlets have accused Singham of having ties to entities aligned with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interests, though no formal charges or direct financial links have been proven. These reports have nonetheless intensified scrutiny of nonprofit funding channels. Taxpayer dollars may also be fueling the activity. According to @DataRepublican's analysis of public filings, CHIRLA's grant income surged from $12 million to $34 million within a year. Other organizations, such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), are said to operate with opaque donor networks. The failed H.R. 5128 Nonprofit Transparency Act of 2023, which aimed to require 501(c)(3) nonprofits to disclose foreign donations, left a loophole that critics say enables this kind of funding. Watchdog groups have long warned that many nonprofits do not fully comply with donor transparency standards, allowing millions to circulate with limited federal oversight. Users on X expressed outrage. @JKash000 asked, 'Why is a nonprofit charity funding riots against American citizens?' Another user, @TonyDGianino, posted, 'By paying taxes, we're funding the destruction of our own country.' Such reactions reflect mounting public distrust in nonprofit and government oversight, with increasing calls for audits and federal investigations. 'The IRS needs to step in,' wrote @SaveUSAKitty. This controversy goes beyond isolated demonstrations—it raises questions of influence and intent. The spreadsheet's pattern of methodically scheduled, nationwide events mirrors tactics seen in past politically motivated revolutions. As @realMAG1775 noted, drawing clear lines between domestic billionaire donors and alleged foreign-linked operatives like Singham is crucial. The involvement of platforms such as ActBlue and affiliated PACs suggests a convergence of financial and ideological motives. Congress must act. Weak regulatory oversight has allowed what @DataRepublican describes as a 'well-oiled machine' to exploit DHS grants and route money through nonprofits, potentially turning taxpayer funds into fuel for political agitation. Proposed reforms—such as mandatory disclosure of foreign donations and stricter IRS compliance audits—could help restore accountability. Until then, Americans may be unknowingly bankrolling a protest apparatus with global ambitions. As the nation watches, one question remains: Are these uprisings authentic expressions of dissent—or orchestrated campaigns to destabilize American society? The emerging evidence increasingly points to the latter—and demands urgent scrutiny.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Red Scare 2.0: Chinese Funding Of Pro-Illegal Immigration And Pro-Terrorist Riots Exposed
A series of recent investigative reports suggest that China may be behind the coordination and funding of the violent pro-illegal immigration and Pro-Terrorist riots in LA and other cities through an insidious money laundering scheme in partnership with various non-governmental organizations or NGO's. At the same time, a third Chinese national was arrested in just the past week for attempting to smuggle regulated biological materials — specifically, a fungus classified as a potential agroterrorism weapon — into the United States, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. X independent journalist Data Republican (@datarepublican) first reported that tech tycoon, Neville Singham, an American living in Shanghai, funnels money to multiple NGO's to fund the Pro-Terrorist and Pro-Illegal Immigration riots and violence. Singham, a longtime Marxist activist and software mogul, is no stranger to scrutiny. A 2023 New York Times investigative story concluded that Mr. Singham uses a global web of nonprofits and shell entities to push Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda in the U.S., South Africa, Brazil, and India — often under the banner of social justice. One of the groups he supports is the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) — a self-declared Communist party that helped organize the violent LA protests and has a documented history of anti-Israel activism. PSL also coordinated with other radical groups to produce protest signage and on-the-ground logistics during the unrest. According to a June 8, 2025 report in the New York Post, the LA protests escalated dramatically after an initial rally organized by CHIRLA (Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles), which has received over $30 million in government grants during the Biden administration. DHS has since terminated funding and is clawing back nearly $101,000 still owed. Rioters damaged property, slashed ICE vehicle tires, and clashed with federal agents, prompting the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops. A DHS spokesman confirmed that CHIRLA had received federal grants for 'citizenship education and training' through September 2024 — including from the very agency the group was demonstrating against. CHIRLA denied involvement in the riots, claiming it merely held a press event, but financial records obtained by Data Republican and corroborated by The Post show extensive government funding and ideological alignment with the radical protest goals. Singham's influence reaches far beyond CHIRLA and PSL. His wife, Jodie Evans, is the founder of Code Pink. The far-left activists of have attracted attention for their ties to China and the communist country's suspected financial support of their political demonstrations. Some members of Congress are demanding that Code Pink be banned from entering the U.S. Capitol, citing potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). 'Members of Congress welcome Code Pink activists into the U.S. Capitol. They are literally in Congress every day,' conservative journalist Laura Loomer posted this week. 'The co-founder's husband, Neville Singham, works with propagandists for the Chinese Communist Party.' According to a report by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), several of the radical protest movements Singham funds — including the 'Shut It Down for Palestine' (SID4P) coalition — are supported through a network of tax-exempt groups and dark money funnels. These organizations amplify anti-American narratives and coordinate real-world unrest targeting infrastructure, political events, and law enforcement. Rather than acting as isolated agitators, groups under the SID4P banner have staged nationwide disruptions since October 2023 — from blocking airports to occupying university buildings and even shutting down high-dollar political fundraisers attended by Presidents Obama, Biden, and Clinton. The NCRI found that 'far-left SID4P Convenors, particularly the ANSWER Coalition and The People's Forum, along with closely allied groups such as PSL, were significantly more active and influential in promoting unrest… and have financial and ideological ties to CCP-aligned funders.' The structure of Singham's influence network — which includes nonprofits like The People's Forum and media outlets like BreakThrough News — allows him to obscure the origin of foreign funds while injecting extremist content into the U.S. media and protest ecosystem. BreakThrough News, which shares an address with The People's Forum in New York, is staffed almost entirely by PSL members and has aired interviews with PFLP terrorists and Hezbollah propagandists. Their content is monetized and widely shared on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Singham's model is simple but powerful: use American nonprofit loopholes to move foreign money, build radical protest infrastructure, and saturate social media with polished propaganda. In 2023, Sen. Marco Rubio called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Singham's network under FARA. Thus far, the Justice Department has not confirmed whether any such investigation is active.
New York Post
09-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Meet DataRepublican, the deaf woman CEOs, bureaucrats and Hunter Biden fear — Elon Musk's DOGE secret weapon
SALT LAKE CITY — Jennica Pounds has become perhaps the most prominent personality — after its leader — behind an organization to which she has no direct or official ties: Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. And no one even knew her name until about two months ago — by design. 'I've always been a recluse, a big introvert,' the 43-year-old mother of two tells The Post from her Utah home. 'Being thrust into fame in such a sudden manner, in a polarizing manner, was just shocking.' Known as DataRepublican on X, Pounds — petite in oversized black sunglasses and a beige cardigan, with a mysterious, slightly intimidating air, icy like a young Joan Didion — doesn't even work for DOGE. But her volunteer efforts for President Trump's government-slashing initiative have ruffled feathers anyway. 'I am helping out with this because if we don't cut spending, nobody has a future,' she says. 'The work itself, about discovering waste, should not be partisan. Cutting spending is not an ideological thing,' Pounds has been deaf since contracting spinal meningitis at age 2. She is on the autism spectrum and has expressive dysphasia, a neurological condition characterized by difficulty in producing language while comprehension remains intact. In an interview with The Post, she uses text-to-speech software to communicate in a robotic voice. 4 Jennica Pounds has been unmasked as DataRepublican. Justin Hackworth for NY Post Pounds cracks a wry smile when asked if she'd prefer a government run entirely by artificial intelligence. 'That's accelerationist talk,' she types into her laptop before deleting the line. But she's certainly no fan of Washington elites. 'I am converging more and more that the conspiracy theorists were right. That this was a brilliant systems hacking on the part of a very few people. And I feel like if a few people can pull this off, then a few people can stop them, too,' she says. By Pounds' estimation, what she calls an 'Ouroboros of Interest,' an 'infinite money hack,' is 'the reason why our deficit spending is so out of control,' and it got a foothold under President Ronald Reagan with US-led initiatives to combat communism globally. Instead of dissolving after the Soviet Union's collapse, many of those organizations expanded their power and influence, acting as a revolving door for former congresspeople and Fortune 500 CEOs to siphon taxpayer money in the name of US foreign-policy interests while producing little of value in return, she says. She points to one such NGO, the States United Democracy Center, that received $17 million in taxpayer money through USAID — but, she says, appears to have done nothing with the cash other than produce a Muppet video to 'promote democracy.' That's part of an endemic pattern — 'These groups almost always have the words 'Security' or 'Democracy' in their names,' Pounds says — of nonprofits sitting on taxpayer war chests and doing little but host the occasional conference or YouTube seminar that struggles to get 100 views online. Prime examples include the US Global Leadership Coalition, today a supergroup of the largest nongovernmental organizations funded by taxpayer money through USAID, and the National Endowment for Democracy, made up of the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute. 4 Elon Musk holds a chainsaw handed to him by Argentine President Javier Milei — another government-spending cutter. AP After Pounds shared a list of USGLC board members — which included executives from Pepsi, Disney, Pfizer, Google, Citigroup and Land O'Lakes butter — the organization deleted the page from its website. She also uncovered that Hunter Biden was on that board, where he played a pivotal role in allocating $16.5 million in USAID money to Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company whose board he also sat on. 'That right there is why Hunter Biden was worth the $50,000/month,' she says of his Burisma salary. A self-identified 'DOGE volunteer' and 'small-r republican,' Pounds comes from the world of Big Tech, where she worked in programming for Amazon, eBay and Snapchat — developing tracking software for sign-language-to-English translation at that last one. Of Big Tech's liberal lords recently cozying up to Trump, including her ex-boss Jeff Bezos, she says, 'I think these CEOs were always more on the libertarian side. Many of them want to focus on the technical side and don't want to really do the humanities side. For the lack of a better term, they got bullied into the woke agenda of 2020. I think without a moral core, they can get bullied back into a certain agenda again.' Her anonymous social-media account, @DataRepublican, gained a modest following after accurately predicting swing-state results in the 2016 and 2020 elections — but exploded this year when she began building AI models to survey government spending on NGOs. It got the attention of Elon Musk, who has shared her posts on his platform more than 30 times. She went from 10,000 followers to more than 740,000. Her website, acts as a whiteboard tracing government grants and the major players involved, creating an index she says wouldn't have been possible before AI, due to the complexity of information involved. After Pounds posted in January about a migrant nonprofit called Global Refuge receiving $229 million in taxpayer money, Musk responded, 'Noted.' Days later, he announced DOGE was shutting down payments to the group, and in March, Trump announced a freeze on such foreign aid. 4 X DataRepublican/ X All this has placed a target on DataRepublican's back. Rolling Stone doxed her — Pounds believes a member of the deaf community sussed out her identity and leaked it to the former music magazine. The left-leaning Salt Lake Tribune followed up by doxing her husband, Brent Pounds, a former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officer turned whiskey maker who runs the Utah distillery Spirits of the Wasatch. That's when the violent messages and death threats started rolling in. Soon, pizzas were being delivered to their house, a noted precursor to swatting, a vile recent trend of left-wing agitators phoning in fake police reports to send SWAT teams to conservative social-media personalities' homes. Fearing for her life, Pounds packed up her two young children and headed to Florida, where she stayed with her mother for six weeks until things calmed down. She was undergoing vetting to become a federal appointee — she declines to say where — but unaware of a tweeting moratorium she decided to withdraw, surmising she could be more influential in her outside role. 'They only come after you when you're a threat to the system. Keep going — you're doing incredible work,' Nicole Shanahan, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s 2024 running mate, tweeted after Pounds' doxing. Interim US Attorney for DC Ed Martin offered legal assistance. Pounds is equally unnerved by the liberal reaction to Musk and DOGE. Around the time left-wing terrorists were setting Tesla dealerships ablaze in protest, a website popped up with a picture of a Molotov cocktail over her husband's business. 'Why are you fighting for Pepsi and Coca-Cola and the oligarchs?' Pounds asks of the DOGE backlash. 'It's almost David and Goliath. You have a side that concentrates most of the political, most of the corporations, most of the power. And then you have everyone else who's just trying to get by.' 4 Jennica Pounds has an interesting reason for wanting to meet Elon Musk. Justin Hackworth for NY Post Brent and Jennica met in 2008 on and married shortly after. While less politicly engaged than his wife, Brent is an enthusiastic supporter of her mission. 'She basically won't let anything stand in her way. If you look at her life, it's pretty much constant obstacles. She just decides, 'Well, I've got to overcome that,'' he told The Post. 'She won't back down. If she believes strongly that what she's doing is right, she's not going to be bullied or pushed away.' While Pounds continues to build software to benefit deaf people, running DataRepublican is its own full-time job and has become something of a family affair. Pounds is so beloved in her mission to expose waste, even her mother has gained a popular X following, mirroring Musk's own mom, Maye. While Pounds admits she directly communicates with some DOGE workers, she's never met or privately interacted with Elon Musk — not that she wouldn't welcome a powwow with the world's richest man. 'But not for the reason others think,' she says. 'I want to make the case for him believing in Christ.' She can't be sure where all this is heading but believes we're in the midst of a second American revolution. 'These people are happy to go full throttle and let the whole country crash. Because they'll probably be fine no matter what. They hold all the power,' she says of America's NGO-funded shadow government. 'I can't predict where it goes. I think this direction, the DOGE direction, is the most peaceful outcome.'
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Gabby Petito case made him a must-read. But NewsNation's Brian Entin was always a newshound
As high-profile journalists were getting glammed up for the White House Correspondents Dinner last weekend, and cable network personalities were analyzing Donald Trump's first 100 days, Brian Entin was packing for a cross-country road trip in a leased RV. 'Would rather be doing this,' he posted on X. A senior national correspondent for the cable news network NewsNation, Entin, 40, has built a career, and a large social-media following, by going where news happens, even though that means he doesn't sleep in his Fort Lauderdale home as often as he'd like. He is a self-described 'newshound' who idolized local TV broadcasters when he was a child and was equally obsessed with the TV show 'America's Most Wanted.' He now has a job that combines those interests, as he frequently reports on crime. Entin was already an accomplished broadcaster when Gabby Petito went missing in 2021, but his coverage of the case made him a must-read reporter after he camped out for weeks on the lawn next to Brian Laundrie's house. He later spent months in Idaho reporting on the murder of four University of Idaho students. To many of Entin's 465,000 followers on X, his feed is the place to go for breaking news on high-profile crimes. But the four-time Emmy winner was also one of the first journalists to interview Jennica Pounds, the Utah woman who goes by 'DataRepublican' on social media, before her identity was revealed. He has also traversed the country talking to ordinary Americans about Donald Trump, just as he has been doing this week for a road trip that will eventually end in Salt Lake City. Highlights of the trip will be featured on a 'Cuomo' town hall airing at 6 MT April 30. The road trips were Entin's idea. 'I had gotten really bored with seeing the same talking heads on TV – you turn on all the cable channels and it's the same people in DC or New York City or the big cities on the coast, telling you what everyday Americans think and how they feel and what's going to happen," he said. 'I talked to my boss and said, 'Why don't we do something different and actually go talk to real people?' 'Luckily, she loved the idea, so we rented a Ford Expedition and we drove I-80, started in New Jersey and ended in San Francisco, and we did stories all along the way. People had perspectives that were unexpected,' he said. On the latest trip, Entin said, he traded up for an RV, but made it a point to re-connect with many of the Trump voters that he talked to last fall to see how they're feeling now. Entin spoke with the Deseret News a few days before he took off from Nashville in the RV. He talked about the Petito case, the future of news and how his father's career as a criminal attorney influenced his interests, as well as the surprising way that he connected with 'DataRepublican' Jennica Pounds. The conversation has been edited for clarity and length. Deseret News: Megyn Kelly spoke at Yale recently and said that the future of news is digital and relationship-based. People may not trust news organizations, but they want to get news from 'trusted sources.' You're a good example of a trusted voice in this new environment, but you're still connected to a news organization. How do you see the future of news unfolding? Brian Entin: I do think people these days connect more with individual personalities than with overall brands. I think it has to do with trust, and people not necessarily trusting the media overall. If they can connect with a person, they feel like they have that relationship. I think that's one reason I have been successful. I'm happy to talk to anyone from any walk of life and listen to their side. And I go in with that mindset — sometimes to my own detriment. I've had producers say, 'You're just too trusting. You trust the bad guys.' … I don't trust the bad guys, but I am willing to give them a voice. I think that's really important in this day and age, and I think people can sense that through my stories. I give a lot of credit to NewsNation for giving me that platform and being open to try things in a different way. I have friends who work at the other big networks, and they've sort of got a formula for the way they do things, the way they think it's been successful in the past. And the thing about NewsNation is, because it's a startup, they're open to different ideas, that I'd probably get laughed at at other places. … even letting my stories go longer. There was this woman I met in Michigan before the election. She works at Ford, she's worked there for three decades building Ford Broncos. Really nice lady, her name is Misty. Huge Trump supporter — she was a lifelong Democrat. I met her (before the election) and we met up at the inauguration, and I met her again now as part of this series 100 days in. She had some really interesting perspectives a hundred days in — she actually cried at one point. I'm able to play out her interview, long segments of it, so people can really understand where she's coming from, because it's complicated. She loves President Trump. She's glad she voted for him. But she has some things she's upset about. And at another network, that would just be spliced into a quick soundbite in a very short news story. Whereas when you actually let people voice their full opinion -— beginning, middle and end — I think people appreciate that, and you get a sense of how people are really feeling. DN: You don't seem to be a political person, at least I can't detect any partisan leaning on social media. BE: Definitely not. I try not to be biased or let my own feelings come into any of this. I'm not into politics, truthfully — I'm not a political person. I really don't like Washington, D.C. I've joked in the past, I do not like interviewing people who are wearing a suit and tie. I usually find those kinds of people to be boring. I really like everyday, real people. I just have a genuine curiosity and like being out in the nitty gritty of things. DN: Was there one point at which your social media blew up, or did it just grow organically over time? BE: I think I had about 20,000 followers on X when I had just started on NewsNation and started (to cover) the Gabby Petito story, thinking it was going to be like any other story: I'd be there a couple of days and maybe they would find her; I was hoping that it was a hoax or something. And I ended up getting really invested in the story and staying there about six weeks and really becoming somewhat obsessed with the story .. there were so many strange things that Brian Laundrie and his parents were doing. So I ended up camping out on the lawn of Brian Laundrie's parents' neighbors' house. I had never done anything like that for a story before. ... I had become friends with the neighbors, and they said, 'Oh, you can stay on our lawn, that way you can keep track of everything that's happening at the house in case she comes home or if there is an arrest or anything.' DN: Were you the only reporter doing that? BE: In the beginning I was, but later there was a reporter with the Daily Mail who also got a spot on the lawn. And it just so happened that the nation became obsessed with this story right around the time I was doing that, and I was doing live reports on X and on NewsNation from the lawn constantly, and that was when my social media blew up. I think I went from 20,000 followers to about 300,000 in a week or so. DN: You still have a relationship with Gabby's parents? BE: As time has gone on, I've stayed in touch with them, I've been to their house and hung out with them. Which kind of goes back to old-school journalism versus today. I have sort of struggled with some things, like, how close are you supposed to get to people while you are being professional? But at the end of the day, for me, you just can't help but be human. They obviously didn't do anything wrong, and I've become friends with them at this point. Last time, I went to their house, I showed up with a bottle of tequila and we just hung out. For me, the reporting is pretty much over for the most part. Sadly, we know what happened. But I like to help them with their foundation in any way that I can. They're doing a lot of really good work in trying to change domestic violence laws. DN: You describe yourself on X as a newshound, and for a lot of people, that might be hyperbole, but a Vanity Fair piece about you said that as a child, you would want to go out on set with (broadcast) reporters. BE: Oh, yeah, I grew up obsessed with the local news. I grew up in Fort Lauderdale, so it was the Miami market, and to me, as a kid, the people on the local news were famous. And I've just always been interested in people. My mom said that even going out to eat, as a kid, I would always ask the waitresses questions about their life. I just have this natural curiosity about people. My dad was a criminal lawyer, so that may be one reason I grew up interested in crime, too. A lot of stuff that freaks other people out doesn't freak me out. My dad is still a criminal lawyer, although he's in the process of retiring now, and he had murderers he was representing, and a lot of drug dealers in the '90s in Florida, so there would always be drug dealers around, and that kind of thing. I was just telling a friend the other day, now that I own my own house, I need stuff done around the house, and I will ask my dad, how did we get this done at our house? And it turned out he did a lot of trade with these people, when they couldn't pay their legal bills. They would build us a new kitchen, or put a sprinkler in. Or we'd have an extra car because the person couldn't pay their bill. Looking back, that seemed normal when I was a kid. … It sounds strange, I know. DN: You've traveled all over the United States, seen some of the most beautiful places, but you bought a house in Florida. Why? BE: Because my parents are here — being close to them. I'm on the road, pretty much every week. There is something nice about, when you're on the road so much, coming back to a place that feels like home. Even when I land back in Florida, I always get a weird feeling when I look out the window, kind of like, this is home. And Florida fits my personality. It's kind of a weird place. There are a lot of characters here. DN: You were one of the first people to get an interview with Jennica Pounds, the Utah woman who goes by DataRepublican on X and has been helping Elon Musk and DOGE. How did you connect with her when no one knew who she was? BE: That goes back to what we were talking about, about being open minded, talking to people. I had become really invested in the North Carolina Hurricane Helene coverage … I always try to do stories that other people aren't doing, first of all because they're interesting, but also when there's a really important story that's not getting enough (news) coverage, and that's how I thought about the North Carolina hurricane. For a while there, people were just cut off from the world and weren't getting any help and the media weren't covering it. Lucky for me, NewsNation footed the bill and I probably went there 8 or 10 times, almost every month for a while. Long story short, I met a guy there named Sean who was helping a lot of people. .. I think he was from Tennessee, but he came in and he knew how to build houses and clear debris, and so we became friendly. And, small world, a few months later, he said, 'I know DataRepublican and she really wants to do a real interview with a real journalist and really explain what she's trying to do.' Who would have thought this guy that I met in North Carolina would know DataRepublican? So of course, I was super interested, and we set it up and I ended up flying and meeting her in California, because that's where her translator lives. And Sean set the whole thing up. That's kind of how things work out for me. You know, people have the big Washington D.C. sources and secret FBI sources, but most of my tips come from people I have just met along the way that other people might think, 'Oh, why stay in touch with that person? How are they going to help you?' DN: X has become a place where news breaks, which is a pretty dramatic change in the media landscape. Have you ever had to correct something because of the speed in which you were reporting in real-time? BE: That's a really good question, because I am competitive, and you don't want to get beat. People want information right when it happens. You don't want to sit back and take your time. You want to be quick. But you have to be careful because if you make a mistake, people will remember that. I'm sure I've made mistakes, 100%, but nothing bad comes to mind, nothing like I've put the wrong suspect out there. I've had little typos here and there, just in the rush to tweet something out. ... And if something is wrong, I will say that it's wrong, and not try to change it. And I think that is the future of news, too. People understand. Just explain it. Then they feel even more trust with you because you explained what happened. I would love people to give NewsNation a shot. We're still sort of a start-up and we're trying to do things differently and be fair and old-school in that sense, but not stick to the formulas that the old-school networks stick to it. Give us a shot. And send me story ideas. I get story ideas from all over the country and some of the best stories I've had have been from people emailing me.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Doxxed by Rolling Stone, Utah's ‘DataRepublican' tells us what she's discovered
The Utah software engineer who is drawing nationwide attention from the White House, the media and the world's richest man will tell you the potential of artificial intelligence is best summed up by 1 Samuel Chapter 17. By her reading, AI is not an uncontrollable threat to humanity, it's the slingshot in the hands of David that defeats a government Goliath — and it's the gift that will save America. 'AI gives us the ability to take on massive, entrenched systems that would otherwise be impossible to untangle,' Jennica Pounds told the Deseret News. 'Without it, we'd be fighting blind.' Pounds, a Utah resident who up until two weeks ago was known only by her X account, 'DataRepublican,' burst onto the scene this year as the most viral pioneer of Elon Musk's AI-driven takeover of Washington, D.C. With the creation of a powerful government-spending database, and a pithy online personality, Pounds has taken conservative social media by storm and attracted her own fair share of critics in the process. As some have accused Pounds of copying Musk's unorthodox auditing practices — which recently yielded an 83% reduction of USAID, thousands of federal layoffs and a disputed $105 billion in savings — Musk, in turn, appears to have occasionally taken cues from Pounds. On Jan. 21, Pounds flagged Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, with 'a quick billion for you to cut!' that included $229 million to Global Refuge, a faith-based immigrant charity, that is 97% taxpayer funded. Musk, who has the world's largest following on X, of nearly 220 million, responded to her message with one word: 'Noted.' Less than two weeks later — after he encouraged users to follow DataRepublican — Musk announced that the DOGE team was 'rapidly shutting down' federal payments to Global Refuge. Pounds told the Deseret News that while Musk has not reached out privately, DOGE representatives have messaged her multiple times over the past two months. But since a Rolling Stone article revealed her identity, and other personal information, to the world on Feb. 26, Pounds' life as a Salt Lake City business owner, wife and mother of two has been turned on its head. The couple's local distillery has been targeted with bad reviews and the family has been forced to take their elementary-age sons out of school to stay in Florida until things calm down, Pound said. In her first official news interview since her identity became public, Pounds told the Deseret News that despite the stress of public life, she has redoubled her commitment to apply her big tech background to mapping out the web of government connections that she believes has led to unresponsive leadership and wasted taxpayer dollars. For someone who describes herself as deaf and nonverbal, Pounds says AI technology has transformed her relationship with her children by increasing their ability to communicate. Pounds also believes AI has the power to revolutionize the relationship between citizens and their government. 'AI has fundamentally changed the balance of power when it comes to government transparency and accountability,' Pounds wrote via email because she said her autism makes real-time sign language difficult in interviews. For too long, technology has been used by government authorities to surveil and regulate the public, according to Pounds. But with unregulated AI tools in public hands, she predicts that dynamic is about to flip 180 degrees. 'Now, everyday citizens can use AI to analyze government spending, track decisions, and uncover waste and corruption on a scale that was previously impossible,' Pounds said. And Pounds has exactly the skill set to pave the way. As a child without the ability to hear, Pounds felt like most career paths were 'cut off' from her until she discovered programming. From there, her career path became clear: she earned a graduate degree in computer science focused on 'big data' and quickly secured high profile positions at Amazon, eBay and Snap Inc. and Upstart, specializing in massive datasets and machine-learning optimization. These jobs kept Pounds in the Seattle area while her husband, Brent, served in the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Corps. But after discovering hypodermic needles used for drug injection scattered around the playground with her toddler, Pounds said she knew 'we needed a different environment.' The Pounds moved to Utah in 2019, looking for a more welcoming place to raise a family. Within a few years, Pounds found a remote job dealing directly with AI software, while she and her husband opened Spirits of the Wasatch Distillery and she began blending her knowledge of technology with her deepening interest in politics. What started in 2020 as election analysis, creating block-by-block voting breakdowns, quickly morphed into AI 'toolmaking,' creating interactive dashboards to track how political donations are made and who are the recipients. When President Donald Trump signed DOGE into existence in 2025, Pounds decided to switch directions yet again. Pounds learned that to cancel large portions of federal spending, DOGE would need specific ID numbers for grants awarded to nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs. But while the data was all ostensibly public information, Pounds found there was no effective way to search for it. 'Government spending data exists, but without tools to analyze and connect the dots, it's nearly impossible to see the full picture,' said Pounds, who has the motto, 'Data does not equal transparency.' So, Pounds created centered around a 'reverse index' tool that lets users search for organizations and easily find how much federal money they are receiving. It also has features that allow users to track PAC donations, NGO officer salaries and connections between influential policymakers. As the website went viral, Pounds said she realized there was a pattern of overlapping conflicts of interest between elected lawmakers and the private NGO boards they sit on, which she estimates are funded by upwards of $100 billion in taxpayer dollars. 'That's when the mission evolved from simply cutting waste to taking on something much larger: restoring accountability and transparency in our democracy,' Pounds said. In February, Pounds announced she had resigned from her job in order to devote herself 'full time' to 'DOGE-adjacent efforts,' while still remaining independent from the DOGE's White House office. But Pounds told the Deseret News that since media reports have made a return to big tech 'no longer an option," she has decided that 'working within the system is the right path' for her. Pounds said she is unable to 'discuss details about potential employers,' but she hinted at a future 'working within the government,' and previously said she is waiting on a federal 'background check.' While she doesn't always agree with Musk — and feels that pushback from Congress and the courts are necessary checks on executive power — Pounds said that Musk may be the only person who can take on the bloated bureaucracy because of his reputation of successfully disrupting the status quo in the fields of electric vehicles, space travel and neurotechnology. But the 'uncomfortable reality' behind DOGE, according to Pounds, is that as it seeks to trim down unnecessary spending, it will likely find a much deeper problem of ruling establishment misconduct that could be much more difficult to root out. 'It's not just about cutting government waste — it's about confronting the system that enables corruption and unchecked power,' Pounds told the Deseret News. 'If we want real, lasting change — if we want a government that's financially sustainable and accountable to the people — we have to take on the entire system that's choking progress. That's what makes DOGE's work so important." Pounds' ability to pull out datapoints that appear to support claims about a conspiracy among elites has made her a hero among some on the right — Musk, and one of his closest social media allies, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, have both shared or responded to her posts dozens of times over the past several weeks. Lee has repeatedly praised 'DataRepublican' on X, calling her a 'gift to America,' telling his followers to follow her to be 'enlightened' and coming to her defense after news outlets repeated the claims made in the Rolling Stone article. 'The concerned citizen known as Data Republican, whose research has helped root out waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars, is experiencing the sad truth that leftist organizations will go after the families and livelihoods of Americans who dare to challenge the corrupt status quo,' Lee told the Deseret News. 'But, unlike the liberal media, she has millions of grateful Americans on her side — myself included.' The Rolling Stone article in question alleges that Pounds, acting under her social media moniker, DataRepublican, sometimes accuses political actors of malfeasance on shaky grounds. For example, last month, Pounds said that Bill Kristol, an anti-Trump conservative commentator, preferred 'the deep state,' because his advocacy organization, Defending Democracy Together, received money from a nonprofit, that had received money from another nonprofit that ultimately received funds from USAID. While Pounds has put her partisan leanings on display by arguing that 'MAGA voters' need to show up in primary elections to oust incumbents in Congress, and by lobbing attacks at Democratic mega donor George Soros, she says the 'Republican' in her social media handle is with a 'small r' because she carries no party loyalty. In fact, one of the biggest revelations from her deep dive into the federal bureaucracy has been just how bipartisan the conflicts of interest are, Pounds said. 'Yet, instead of equal outrage from both sides, the attacks on me have been overwhelmingly one-sided.' Pounds expressed frustration with the Rolling Stone article because it suggested she advised Musk directly and it insinuated that she was influenced by her prior company's pushback against federal regulation and the company's connection to Peter Thiel, a billionaire Republican donor. But Pounds readily admits that her newfound-fame has come as a result of the recently reelected president who has empowered DOGE in an unprecedented way. 'The sheer scale of government spending and federal programs is too vast for any person, or even a team of people, to fully grasp,' Pounds said. 'Now, with the right people in place and a renewed focus on accountability, we can finally expose what's been hidden for so long. As to whether her career will remain focused on government transparency beyond DOGE's 18-month lifespan, Pounds said her future 'is ultimately in the Lord God's hands.' For now, at least, Pounds hopes her family can return home to Utah to enjoy its 'strong sense of community,' 'emphasis on family,' 'high standards' — and 'widely available energy drinks' — in peace.
