A Democrat representative in the Georgia House has resigned her position, as she now faces a federal charge in connection with alleged COVID relief fraud.

On Monday, federal prosecutors filed charges against former state Rep. Karen Bennett, claiming she lied to secure nearly $14,000 in COVID funds.

Bennett also allegedly withheld that she was receiving $905 weekly from a church 'the entire time she was claiming PUA benefits.'

According to court documents, Bennett, who owned a physical therapy business called Metro Therapy, applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance funds in May 2020, stating that she had been unable to go to her place of employment since April 10 because of quarantine and other COVID-related restrictions.

She was subsequently approved.

Between March and August 2020, she then posted certifications claiming that, aside from the $300 she received each week for her political position in the Georgia General Assembly, she earned no other income, court documents said.

However, according to prosecutors, Bennett served in an administrative role at Metro Therapy and worked from a home office, allowing her to continue earning a paycheck "throughout the pandemic."

"She was able to continue working as usual from her home to support Metro Therapy throughout the pandemic, and the therapists who provided actual services to clients were able to continue their work after a brief disruption," prosecutors asserted in charging documents.

Bennett also allegedly withheld that she was receiving $905 weekly from a church "the entire time she was claiming PUA benefits," court documents said.

In all, Bennett raked in $13,940 in fraudulent PUA and other federal funds, prosecutors alleged. She has been charged with one count of making false statements.

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In court Monday, Bennett waived the indictment, pled not guilty, and posted bail. The AP indicated that many federal defendants who waive their indictments often eventually plead guilty.

On Thursday, four days before charges were filed, Bennett officially resigned her seat representing District 94, which includes parts of DeKalb and Gwinnett Counties. She was first elected in 2012.

Bennett also submitted a letter of resignation to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. The letter, dated December 30, made no mention of possible criminal charges and gave no explanation for her departure.

Instead she wrote: "I am proud of the work accomplished by the Georgia General Assembly when we came together to advance policies that strengthened our state and improved the lives of all Georgians. Serving in this capacity has truly been a labor of love and one that I will miss."

A spokesperson from Bennett's former assembly office declined a request for comment from Blaze News. Bennett did not respond to a request for comment from the Georgia Recorder, and her attorneys did not respond to a request for comment from the AP.

Bennett is now the second Georgia Democrat accused of fraudulently obtaining COVID relief funds. Last month, state Rep. Sharon Henderson was arrested after she allegedly pocketed nearly $18,000, claiming she had been a substitute teacher in 2020, even as prosecutors say she had not worked in that capacity since 2018.

Henderson was charged with two counts of theft of government funds and 10 counts of making false statements — yet she still remains in office.

Just before Christmas, Henderson posted a note to social media, requesting donations to a crowdfunding account that she says will help her as she continues "seeking justice after recent events."

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President Donald Trump's administration released new nutrition guidelines on Wednesday that abandon long-standing U.S. recommendations that Americans restrict alcohol consumption to two beverages a day for men and one for women in favor of simply advising they consume less...

Meta says it deleted ads off its platforms to get rid of scams, not hide them.

A review of internal documents, however, spurred allegations that Meta was attempting make certain ads "not findable" to government regulators.

'To suggest otherwise is disingenuous.'

According to a report by Reuters — which said it reviewed the docs — Meta began deleting possible fraudulent ads from its search function after Japanese regulators were upset over obvious scams on Facebook and Instagram that pushed fake celebrity product endorsements or investment schemes.

Reuters said that, according to the documents, Meta feared Japan would force the company to verify the identities of its advertisers.

In order to test Meta's work on "tackling scams," Japanese regulators allegedly used the search function on Meta's "Ad Library" to seek out fraudulent ads; the library acts as a "comprehensive, searchable database for ads transparency," the company states on its website.

This "simple test," as described in documents, was allegedly the avenue Meta took to make good with the regulators. Documents purportedly showed that Meta identified the top keywords and celebrity names that the Japanese were searching to find fraud, and then deleted ads that appeared fraudulent.

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The deletions made certain content "not findable" for "regulators, investigators, and journalists," Reuters claimed.

A few months later, a Meta memo allegedly stated that "less than 100" of the unwanted ads had been discovered in the last week of a testing period, "hitting 0 for the last 4 days of the sprint."

This was apparently applauded by the Japanese government, and Japan did not end up forcing advertiser verification.

Meta then reportedly added the deletion tactics to its "general global playbook" to be deployed against, as Reuters described, regulatory scrutiny in other markets like the U.S., Europe, Australia, and more. The alleged playbook was a strategy to stall regulators and prevent advertiser verification requirements, the report claimed.

Meta told Return that it disputes that this is what the document shows.

A Meta spokesperson has since called the allegations disingenuous, and argued that Meta deleting fraudulent ads off its platforms is a good thing, not bad.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone told the outlet that there is nothing misleading about removing the scam ads from the library. "To suggest otherwise is disingenuous," he insisted.

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"Meta teams regularly check the Ad Library to identify scam ads because when fewer scam ads show up there that means there are fewer scam ads on the platform," Stone added.

On top of claiming that verifying advertisers is "not a silver bullet," Stone said that chasing down scam ads is a job that will "never end."

Verification "works best in concert with other, higher-impact tools," the spokesman noted. "We set a global baseline and aggressive targets to drive down scam activity in countries where it was greatest, all of which has led to an overall reduction in scams on platform."

Meta also reportedly claimed that it has seen a 50% decline in user reports of scams over the past year.

Meta spokeswoman Michelle P. Fojas directed Return to an X post from Stone, who wrote, "Leave it to [Reuters] to fault Meta for removing scam ads from Facebook and Instagram. What disingenuous reporting."

Fojas also claimed that over the last 15 months, the number of scam ad reports Meta has received "has dropped by over half."

"We don't know what these purported documents are and Reuters won't share details," Fojas shared as a statement.

"It appears Reuters' supposedly shocking find is that criminal scammers focus on committing fraud wherever they can and the job of chasing them down never ends. That's precisely why we set a global baseline and aggressive targets to drive down scam activity in countries where it was greatest, all of which has led to an overall reduction in scams on platform."

Editor's note: This article has been edited after publication to include Meta's full remarks disputing Reuters' findings.

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A woman has been shot in the face by federal agents and killed after ramming them with her car, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

Protesters initially claimed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had shot the woman as she was driving away from them.

'This is the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement.'

DHS Assistant Sec. Tricia McLaughlin released a statement contradicting the claims of the protesters.

"Today, ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them — an act of domestic terrorism," McLaughlin said in a statement on social media.

She said an ICE officer fired defensive shots after fearing for his life and the safety of the public.

"He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers," she added. "The alleged perpetrator was hit and is deceased. The ICE officers who were hurt are expected to make full recoveries."

Local reports said anti-ICE protesters began to curse and yell at the officers after the incident as they tried to secure the scene.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, immediately called for all ICE agents to leave the city in the wake of the shooting.

"I am aware of a shooting involving an ICE agent at 34th Street & Portland," he wrote on social media. "The presence of federal immigration enforcement agents is causing chaos in our city. We’re demanding ICE to leave the city immediately. We stand rock solid with our immigrant and refugee communities."

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McLaughlin went on to blame anti-ICE rhetoric for the shooting.

"This is the direct consequence of constant attacks and demonization of our officers by sanctuary politicians who fuel and encourage rampant assaults on our law enforcement," she said. "These men and women who are simply enforcing the law on the books are facing 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats."

This is a developing story.

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Comedian and podcast megastar Adam Carolla delivered a fiery farewell to outgoing, corruption and scandal-plagued Minnesota Democrat Governor Tim Walz.

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The Democrat challenging Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) for his seat has branded herself as a relatable farmer despite leading a group dedicated to getting public benefits for illegal aliens, Breitbart News has learned.

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This is no case for a judge who could be pushing 94 by the time a jury is selected.

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Google cofounder Larry Page has officially moved multiple business entities out of California, completing the transfers before a year-end deadline related to a proposed billionaire wealth tax in the state. Page is currently the second-richest person in the world.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly told lawmakers that the Trump administration has aspirations to purchase Greenland from Denmark, tempering rumors that officials are considering forcibly seizing the island.

'The United States is eager to build lasting commercial relationships that benefit Americans and the people of Greenland.'

During a closed briefing on Monday, Rubio and other administration officials briefed lawmakers about the operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and the plans for the country’s future, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Citing individuals said to be familiar with the recent briefing, the WSJ stated that Rubio “played down the idea that the U.S. could seize Greenland by force.” The report claimed that administration officials refused to rule out the possibility of an invasion.

However, the outlet noted that U.S. and European officials have reported no indications that the Trump administration is preparing for a military invasion of the self-governing Danish territory.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday, “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and the European Union needs us to have it — and they know that.”

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“President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated. “The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the commander in chief’s disposal.”

Trump expressed interest in purchasing Greenland during his first term. He has insisted that controlling the island is essential for protecting the Arctic from Russia and China.

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“The United States is eager to build lasting commercial relationships that benefit Americans and the people of Greenland,” a State Department spokesperson told Blaze News. “Our common adversaries have been increasingly active in the Arctic. That is a concern that the United States, the Kingdom of Denmark, and NATO Allies share.”

The spokesperson added that Trump is committed to the United States’ relationship with Greenland, underscored by his decision to designate Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry (R) as special envoy.

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a legal push against Hamas-linked groups in the U.S., citing the need to “decimate and dismantle” radical Islamic terrorist organizations and their "domestic supporting branches."

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