Trump lost control and ordered me to be ‘quiet’ in the Oval Office. Then it got personal

The Independent's reporter Andrew Feinberg says he was berated by President Trump during an Oval Office event after challenging the administration's new whistleblower reward program. The initiative, unveiled by Trump and Vice President JD Vance, offers bounties of up to $30,000 for tips about alleged fraud. Nick Shirley, a right-wing YouTuber whose videos helped spark the administration's push against Minnesota day-care and home health businesses run by Somali-Americans, received a reward and portrayed such incentives as unprecedented.

Feinberg points out that the False Claims Act, dating to 1863, already lets whistleblowers file qui tam suits to recover defrauded federal money and collect as much as a quarter of it, versus the 1 percent Trump cited. Asked why anyone would choose the tip line, Trump replied that the payoff is large. Vance called the question dishonest and wrongly suggested some frauds fall outside the law, Feinberg writes.

Trump then asked who Feinberg was, warned him to be careful, and called him a "sick person." Feinberg also says the White House rapid response team used a slur against him and Vance labeled him an imbecile.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →