A former senior CIA official with top secret-level clearance is accused of stealing hundreds of gold bars worth more than $40 million from the federal government and stashing them in his home.
David Rush was arrested and charged with criminal theft of public money last week, according to federal court filings in Virginia, where he lives.
From November to March, Rush requested and received a “significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” according to an affidavit from an FBI agent investigating the case.
The affidavit says its unclear what Rush intended to use the funds for, but that a portion of it was found in a storage space near his office.
Federal officials searched his home on May 18 and seized more than 300 gold bars with an estimated value of more than $40 million, according to the affidavit. They also seized roughly $2 million in U.S. currency and some 35 luxury watches, many of them Rolexes. Rush was arrested the next day, the FBI said.
The FBI affidavit concludes that there’s probable cause to believe that Rush “knowingly embezzled, stole, purloined, or knowingly converted a thing of value of the United States” for his personal use.
The FBI said it was working with the CIA and Department of Justice in its investigation.
Rush’s lawyer declined to comment Wednesday.
It’s not clear what role Rush had at the CIA or when he left the agency. He’s described in court filings simply as a “former senior executive service-level employee at a United States government agency.” Spokespersons for the FBI declined to comment further, and the CIA didn’t respond to an email.
The FBI affidavit also notes that Rush appears to have lied for years about his education and military background. The bureau’s investigation found he had falsely claimed to be a Navy pilot and that he’d graduated from Clemson University in South Carolina and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.
Instead, they found he had enlisted in the Navy in 1997 and then served in the U.S. Navy Reserves from 2004 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged as a lieutenant. The affidavit states he does not appear to have underwent any evaluations as a pilot during that time, and he did not attend either college.
Rush is being held in custody pending a hearing Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Former RNC Chair Michael Steele was a Republican in the old days; but, later, switched sides because his square body wouldn’t fit in a round hole. It seems that Steele can’t muster anything about the Republican Party and has to resort to this personal attack.
Public Comment: The woke Democrats hate President Trump because he is leading America in the direction of becoming more powerful. What goal of the woke Democrats is to diminish the USA into a subservient nation to a world-wide global government. Trump sees the future as a multipolar world with the USA, India, China, Russia, and maybe Saudi Arabia as the major power centers. The woke Democrats still have not given up on their globalist totalitarian government centered in Europe. They hate Trump because he has the power and they do not. The Iran war is just another part of making America the oil and gas predominate power in the world. The other fear that is driving the Democrats is their funding operations has been cut off with DOGE starting with USAID and now all of Medicare and welfare fraud being discovered.
He needs to take a look in the mirror at himself and his regression. He now has four eyes instead of two and has a look of desperation when describing the President. And, his gaping open mouth with his two fang teeth seething with hate.
And then this – an adult playing like a child.
‘I didn’t think people could actually act that way’: Nicolle cringes at Trump’s sycophantic cabinet.
And to think they are being paid a handsome salary to say those hateful things.
Doesn’t civility speak to the fact that “if you can’t say something good about a person you don’t like that you don’t say anything? Wonder if his job description states – if you run out of news than you turn to character assassination?
Health concerns surrounding Donald Trump’s health only surged after the ‘perfect’ results of his physical exam. @msnow/Youtube; MEGA
MS NOW host and former RNC Chair Michael Steele openly mocked President Donald Trump’s claimed height and weight on The Weeknight, using side-by-side photos to challenge the official narrative.
The segment followed Trump’s announcement that “everything checked out PERFECTLY” during a routine annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Steele directly challenged Trump’s reported metrics, stating, “Last April, the White House physician claimed that Donald Trump was 6-foot-3, 225 pounds. I’m 6-foot-4, Donald Trump is a lot shorter than me.”
“There’s a great picture of Trump side-by-side with athletes who supposedly carry the same dimensions as the president, let’s just put it that way . . . so let’s take a look,” Steele said.
To emphasize the discrepancy, Steele pulled up images comparing Trump to 6-foot-4 NFL players Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold.
“Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver DK Metcalf is 6’4, 229 pounds. He has 4 percent body fat. Donald Trump claims the doctor said he has 5 percent body fat. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is 6 foot 3, 225 pounds. Now you tell me, America, and Cornell [Belcher], you can speak for them right now, as to whether those numbers look like they fit the physical imagery of the president,” he noted.
Co-host Symone Sanders joked, “Can I just say in defense of the president, I used to lie on my driver’s license all the time. It said that I was 150 for the last five years.”
The Chinese president is 5’11” tall. U.S. Trump has historically claimed a height of 6’3”, making him theoretically around 4 to 6 inches taller than Xi. However, visual comparisons and photos of the two standing together have sparked debates about their true height differences.
Following a bilateral summit, Trump described Xi as being “very tall”, especially for China, and noted that he was “straight out of central casting” for a world leader.
Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher noted on the panel that Trump wraps his image in “hypermasculinity” and portrays himself as the “strongest guy in the room.” Steele added that this involves online messaging, “putting his head on the body of a Greek Adonis.”
The panel argued that this “strong man” image crumbles in light of public physical vulnerabilities as Trump approaches his 80th birthday.
‘Part of His Brand Is the Idea That He’s a Strong Man’
“And it’s all part of the brand. And this is where it gets really problematic because it begins to crumble when he’s falling asleep, when he can’t string together a sentence, when he clearly has visible signs of being…80 years old. There’s nothing wrong being 80 years old, I hope that I will make it to 80, I doubt it with my drinking,” Belcher joked.
“However, I think it does really — and this why they have to keep building at it because part of his brand is this idea that he’s a strong man. He is a tough guy. He’s the biggest, strongest, toughest guy in the room, and he can get things done, and that begins to fall apart if you take that away from him,” he concluded.
Recent public focus has pointed to visible signs of aging, such as falling asleep during meetings, a blotchy neck rash, and superficial chronic venous insufficiency that previously required compression socks.
While White House reports and Trump’s medical statements continuously describe his health as “exceptional” or “perfect” with strong performance, critics and media commentators have long cast doubt on the specific numbers released regarding his weight and height.
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Wonder if Mr. Steele could have survived the Democrat hell that President Trump has been put through and still be going strong. Again, Mr. Steele needs to look in the mirror – he is no spring chicken.