KASH 2 patel

Republican demands details on FBI’s personal use of government resources

Patrick Svitek @ CNN: Shouts of ‘he should be shot’ heard during GOP midterm convention speech criticizing Democratic candidates

Shouts of “he should be shot” could be heard multiple times Thursday night at the Republican midterm convention as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was criticizing prominent Democratic politicians by name.

Ewan Palmer @ The Daily Beast: Desperate Trump Makes Supporters Vow to ‘Cheat Like Hell’ to Save Him

The president is now a fan of voter fraud.

Hafiz Rashid @ The New Republic: Trump Whines About How He Can’t Give Himself Medal of Honor

He said this in front of an audience full of medal of honor recipients.

Astead Herndon @ Vox: The GOP midterms strategy is Trump and a prayer

What we learned from the first day of the Republican convention in Dallas.

Alex Nguyen @ Mother Jones: What Does FBI Director Kash Patel Actually Do?

He spends his time complaining about online posts.

David A. Fahrenthold and Maxine Joselow @ The New York Times: Contractor Blames Its Own Repairs, Not Vandals, for Reflecting Pool Failure

The contractor said the pool’s new blue liner peeled and tore because of “human oversight” and a flawed plan that involved layering two incompatible chemicals, documents show.

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grassley

an 7 26

kash? jet?

JERKED OFF PVT PLANE TRIP TO GO TO WH? 7 26

RWW

07/13/2026

Sam Gringlas @ NPR: South Carolina's governor names Lindsey Graham's sister to serve out his term

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster says he is appointing Darline Graham Nordone to finish the term of her late brother, former Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died in office Saturday at age 71.

David Rohde, Jacqueline Alemany, Laura Barrón-López and Ken Dilanian @ MS Now: Trump election task force to begin releasing classified intel documents

From spy agencies to FEMA, the president appears to be mounting a “whole of government” effort to sway races that will decide control of Congress.

David Remnick @ The New Yorker: The Human Cost of DOGE’s War on U.S.A.I.D.

Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and the “public man-made death” that they’ve caused.

Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Why is the transportation secretary complaining about ‘DEI bike lanes’?

Sean Duffy isn’t the only Republican complaining about DEI, but he seems to have an expansive definition of the idea.

Daniel Edward Rosen @ The New York Sun: Kash Patel Taps Conservative Influencer and Charlie Kirk Collaborator To Run FBI’s Attack-Dog X Account

Graham Allen, who previously ran the Defense Department’s digital media strategy, will serve as a senior adviser for the FBI’s Rapid Response social media account, sources tell the Sun.

Sarah K. Burris @ AlterNet: Drained Reflecting Pool betrays Trump’s claim of '350-foot' gash in liner

The ongoing saga of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool continued Monday as the water drained, revealing the damage that was visible. Thus far, there is no 350-foot gash in the lining.

Edvard Pettersson @ Courthouse News Service: Hunter Biden wins $1.7 million in punitive damages against Patrick Byrne

A federal judge said the former Overstock.com CEO knew his claims that Hunter Biden had sought an $800 million bribe from Iran were fabricated.

THOT FIRED BC NOT LOG IN, DRINKING; ATTACK PRESS MAFIA

5 26 press suppress

250 million$ rep damage; leak investigation bkwards highly unusual

atl mo

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an 5 26

Since returning to the White House on January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump has made a concerted effort to give the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI an ultra-MAGA makeover — including choosing far-right conspiracy theorist Kash Patel for FBI director. Many non-MAGA veterans of the FBI have either left the agency or been fired, and some of them are now pointing the finger at Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

The Hill's Rebecca Beitsch, in an article published on May 7, reports, "several former FBI agents are arguing Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) played a significant role in their firings — removals that followed his release of a number of unredacted materials about the criminal investigation into President Trump. That assertion was made in two separate lawsuits against the FBI that don't name Grassley as a defendant but point to his actions as a factor precipitating the firing of agents who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021."

The lawsuits, according to Beitsch, allege that the agents were fired simply because of their work on Smith's election interference case against Trump for DOJ.

"The litigation also raises questions about the Senate Judiciary Committee's sprawling investigation into Smith's Arctic Frost probe, as well as Grassley's role in a conservative ecosystem focused on addressing what Republicans have branded as 'rot' at the FBI," Beitsch explains. "Grassley's disclosures include the unredacted names of agents, something their attorney argues sparks not only online vitriol but backlash from the bureau as it culls employees."

Grassley, now 92, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1980. Before entering the Senate, he spent six years in the U.S. House of Representatives. And Grassley served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 1959-1975.

Margaret Donovan, the former DOJ federal prosecutor now representing two ex-FBI agents who are suing the FBI, told The Hill, "It is appalling to me that lawmakers would so carelessly mischaracterize these unredacted disclosures, knowing that the direct result of their actions is to cause an ill-informed online mob to go after honest, hardworking federal law enforcement officers. The best-case scenario is that Grassley is so far past his prime, he is clueless as to what he's doing. The worst-case scenario is that Grassley and others are intentionally trying to harm federal agents who dared to investigate criminal activity, which happened to implicate a political ally."

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AN PP 5 26

When President Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election, the institutional guardrails of American democracy held — but just barely.

If faced with the same tests today, those guardrails and the people who held the line would largely be missing, a ProPublica examination found.

At least 75 career officials who once held roles at federal agencies related to election integrity and safety are gone. Two dozen appointees — including many who either actively worked to reverse the 2020 vote or are associates of such people — have been hired to replace them. And once-fringe actors now have access to vast powers.

As the midterms approach, current and former government officials and election security experts expressed concerns that Trump appointees who’ve espoused debunked conspiracy theories about balloting are now in positions to control the narrative around the vote’s soundness.

It’s hard to debunk false claims “coming with the seal of the federal government,” said Derek Tisler, counsel and manager with the Brennan Center for Justice’s elections and government program. “I certainly worry what damage that could do to voters’ confidence.”

Here are some of the key things you should know about the Trump administration’s efforts to, as the president said, “take over” the midterms. Read the full investigation here.

1. In 2020, institutional guardrails helped to prevent Trump from overturning the election.

Following his defeat in the 2020 election, Trump pushed for federal officials to uncover proof that he had, in fact, beaten Joe Biden at the polls. Election cybersecurity experts with the Department of Homeland Security relayed to Attorney General William Barr that the election fraud claims that they looked into were false. Barr then told the president what he didn’t want to hear: The election had not been hacked.

Barr was one of many federal officials — most of them Trump appointees — who refused to bend to the president’s demands, which only intensified in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021. Despite the violent uprising at the Capitol on that day, the election results held firm.

2. Less than 18 months into his second term, Trump has dismantled many of those same guardrails.

Since the start of his second term, Trump and his appointees have made significant changes at federal agencies tasked with helping to safeguard elections. In all, at least 75 career officials who’d played important roles in elections work at DHS, the Department of Justice and other agencies have left, been fired or been reassigned, ProPublica found.

In their place are roughly two dozen people Trump has installed in positions that could affect elections. Ten of them actively worked to reverse the 2020 vote, and the rest are associates of those people. In some cases, ProPublica found, officials have been hired from activist groups that are pillars of the election-denial movement.

3. Among the first agencies Trump gutted after returning to office was one that had repeatedly disproved his stolen-election claims.

Officials at DHS’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency had provided research to the first Trump White House that disproved many theories claiming that the 2020 election had been hacked. CISA also played a crucial part in publicly countering these claims by producing a “Rumor Control” website to rebut them.

Then, only weeks into Trump’s second term, DHS leadership put employees focused on countering disinformation and helping safeguard elections on leave. They also froze CISA’s other election security work, which included assessing local election offices for physical and cybersecurity risks. Eventually, all CISA employees specializing in elections were fired or transferred.

A DHS spokesperson told ProPublica that the changes at CISA were in response to “a ballooning budget concealing a dangerous departure from its statutory mission,” which included “electioneering instead of defending America’s critical infrastructure.”

4. Trump and his appointees have gutted election-related teams at federal law enforcement agencies.

FBI Director Kash Patel dismantled the agency’s public corruption team, which had previously been deployed to help monitor possible criminal activity on Election Day. The Foreign Influence Task Force, which aimed to combat foreign influence in U.S. politics, was also disbanded.

(An FBI spokesperson said the bureau “remains committed to detecting and countering foreign influence efforts by adversarial nations.”)

The voting section of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division had enforced federal laws that protect voting rights, particularly those that combat racial discrimination. But now, nearly all of the section’s roughly 30 career lawyers have resigned or been moved. Trump then filled the section with conservative lawyers, including at least four who participated in challenging the 2020 vote or have worked with people who helped Trump try to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump has replaced ousted career specialists with “Team America.”

In the summer of 2025, after the Trump administration had forced out most of the career specialists, a small group of political appointees — which once called itself “Team America,” according to sources familiar with the matter — began convening at DHS headquarters, looking for federal levers it could pull to realize a March 2025 executive order, in which Trump tried to exert greater federal control over aspects of voting.

Among the core members of the group was David Harvilicz, a DHS assistant secretary tasked with overseeing the security of election infrastructure, including voting machines, and three of his top staffers. As ProPublica has reported, Harvilicz co-founded an AI company with an architect of Trump’s claims about election hacking in Michigan.

Heather Honey, who serves under Harvilicz in a newly created position focused on elections, is a source of the false claim that more ballots were cast in Pennsylvania than there were voters in the 2020 presidential election — a claim Trump cited on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021.

At least 11 administration appointees, including Honey, have ties to the Election Integrity Network, a conservative grassroots organization led by Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who tried to help Trump overturn the 2020 election. Since moving into government, Honey has maintained close ties to Mitchell’s organization, and she and at least two other federal officials have given its members private briefings.

6. Team America members are using a powerful Homeland Security Investigations tool to try to identify noncitizen voters.

The DOJ has been demanding that states turn over confidential voter roll information, and it has sued around 30 states for this data.

Meanwhile, DHS has urged states to upload their voter rolls to its tool, called the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system.

The goal in both efforts has been to find noncitizens on the voter rolls. But the SAVE tool has come up short, often identifying citizens as noncitizens, as ProPublica has reported, and officials have faced other roadblocks with its use.

More recently, according to two people familiar with the matter, Team America has worked to harness a more powerful tool used by another branch of DHS, Homeland Security Investigations, to increase its ability to search for noncitizen voters and bring criminal charges against them.

In response to questions sent to DHS, Harvilicz and Honey, a DHS spokesperson disputed that they were seeking to use the department’s powers to advantage Trump. In response to questions about their ties to the election denial movement, the spokesperson wrote, “To meet the diverse and evolving challenges the Department faces, we hire experts with diverse backgrounds who go through a rigorous vetting process.”

7. Trump’s head of election security is behind the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots in Georgia.

Attorney Kurt Olsen once worked to try to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss in court and was later sanctioned by judges for making baseless allegations about Arizona elections. He is now Trump’s director of election security and integrity and is the driving force behind the January raid of the election center in Fulton County, Georgia.

Toward the end of 2025, Olsen flew to Georgia to meet with Paul Brown, the head of the FBI’s Atlanta field office, according to people familiar with the matter. Olsen wanted the FBI to seize ballots from the Democratic stronghold, and he gave Brown a report he claimed would justify the extraordinary action. Brown’s team submitted an affidavit to superiors at the DOJ that did not make a strong enough case to move forward with what Olsen wanted. Afterward, Brown was given a choice: retire or be moved to a new office. Brown retired. The raid went forward under his replacement, based on an affidavit that cited information from the report Olsen provided to Brown.

Olsen did not respond to requests for comment.

An FBI spokesperson said that Brown “elected to retire” and that its “work in the election security space is entirely consistent with the law.”

8. The DOJ’s Public Integrity Section could have tried to block the administration’s Georgia voting investigation.

In the months following Trump’s return to office, the DOJ’s Public Integrity Section, which had been responsible for making sure the department’s inquiries weren’t improperly influenced by politics, was eviscerated. Resignations, firings and transfers reduced the 36-person section to two.

Multiple former lawyers for the section said they likely would have tried to block the Fulton County investigation because it lacked strong evidence, had a clear political slant and went against department directives that actions should not be taken “for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.”

John Keller was principal deputy chief of the section from 2020 to 2025 and was acting chief when he resigned in early 2025. He worries that allegations of irregularities in the upcoming election will be handled on a partisan basis.

“Without that review and without apolitical, objective, honest brokers involved in the process, there is a much greater risk for intentional manipulation or inadvertent interference,” Keller said.

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AN 4 26

DOJ indictments are converging with MAGA media narratives

Written by Matt Gertz

Published 04/30/26

Recent Justice Department indictments whose validity have been questioned by legal experts demonstrate an increasing alignment of the Trump DOJ’s activities with the narratives of the MAGA media echo chamber.

President Donald Trump has long sought to use federal law enforcement to punish his enemies, and under former Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ and FBI launched scattershot and apparently pretextual probes targeting figures like Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff over behavior unrelated to the president’s gripes.

But since Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche became acting attorney general last month, the president’s federal retaliation machine has seemed to sync up more closely with long-running talking points of his propaganda arm rather than simply focusing on the same targets.

Federal charges were filed or unsealed in recent days against the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights group; former National Institutes of Health official Dr. David Morens; and former FBI Director James Comey. Legal experts have said that each of these cases are either weak or concern behavior common among Trump administration officials.

Each set of charges, however, has buttressed MAGA arguments, and provided their proponents with fresh opportunities to leverage them for content. And they foreshadow the potential fruits of DOJ’s ongoing “Grand Conspiracy” investigation, which unifies a string of conspiracy theories promoted by Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity under the auspices of Joe diGenova, a Republican lawyer and longtime fixture in right-wing media.

James Comey

Citation

Fox News

The target. Comey served as director of the FBI from 2013 until May 2017, when Trump fired him over his handling of the federal probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, which the president describes as a “hoax”; he subsequently became a key figure in the right’s “deep state” conspiracy theories. The DOJ indicted Comey last year over congressional testimony he gave in 2020, but a judge dismissed the case, ruling that the appointment of the prosecutor who filed the indictment (and replaced a U.S. attorney who had questioned the case) had been unconstitutional.

The charges. Federal prosecutors on April 28 charged Comey with one count of “Threatening the President” and one count of “Transmitting a Threat in Interstate Commerce” related to a now-deleted May 2025 Instagram post in which Comey posted a photo of shells arranged on a beach to spell out “86 47” and commented, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” In the press release announcing the charges, Blanche said, “The temperature needs to be turned down, and anyone who dials it up and threatens the life of the President will be held accountable,” while FBI Director Kash Patel added, “James Comey disgracefully encouraged a threat on President Trump’s life and posted it on Instagram for the world to see.”

The underlying right-wing media narrative. MAGA pundits have argued that recent examples of political violence targeting the right are the result of overheated commentary from Democrats and the media, often erasing incidents of right-wing political violence and ignoring violent rhetoric from the likes of Trump in the process. Numerous Fox News personalities suggested last May that Comey face an investigation or charges over his post, with Jesse Watters calling for it as “retribution.” And the indictment came days after a gunman allegedly targeting the president was stopped trying to breach the perimeter at the April 25 White House Correspondents Association’s annual dinner, which Trump, the White House, and media allies subsequently blamed on criticism from Democrats and journalists. VID]

The response from legal experts.“Supreme Court precedent has placed a high bar for convictions in threat cases like these, and former prosecutors and First Amendment scholars alike were highly skeptical the new prosecution would be successful,” CNN reported. Even some lawyers who are Fox News contributors aren’t buying DOJ’s argument — George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said on Fox that Comey’s Instagram post would “very likely be viewed as protected speech if it was the basis of a criminal indictment” and “have a hard-time standing up in court,” while Andrew McCarthy wrote at National Review that the “bogus” indictment is a “farce,” called Comey’s conviction “inconceivable,” and added: “Of course, when the Justice Department abuses power this way, as it has repeatedly, it shreds its credibility with the courts and undermines the integrity of all its work.”

The response from the MAGA right. While the indictment drew skepticism on Fox’s daytime coverage, the network’s evening programs championed it on Tuesday night. MAGA lawyer Mike Davis said on The Ingraham Angle that the charges were “a long time coming,” offered “cheers” to Blanche and Patel, called Comey’s post “a clear threat,” and claimed, “There have been people who have gone to prison for a lot less than this.” Hannity, meanwhile, mocked the idea that “86 47” could mean anything but “get rid of Trump,” and hosted Fox legal analyst Gregg Jarrett to claim that Comey “surely knew what the phrase meant” and that “if he tries to claim free speech as a defense, that's not going to work.”

Dr. David Morens

Citation

Fox News

The target. Morens is an expert in public health and infectious diseases who served from 2006 to 2022 as senior adviser to Dr. Anthony Fauci, then the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The charges. The Justice Department announced on April 28 that Morens had been charged with “conspiracy against the United States; destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in federal investigations; concealment, removal, or mutilation of records; and aiding and abetting,” specifically by using his personal Gmail account to conduct what prosecutors allege was government business in order to avoid public disclosure. Blanche alleged in the press release that Morens “deliberately concealed information and falsified records in an effort to suppress alternative theories regarding the origins of COVID-19,” while Patel claimed that “circumventing records protocols with the intention of avoiding transparency is something that will not be tolerated by this FBI.”

The underlying right-wing media narrative. The right-wing media echo chamber responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in part by turning Fauci into a hate object. Its participants also claimed that the coronavirus originated through a lab leak from a Chinese virology facility and its development may even have been funded by American tax dollars, rather than the prevailing view that the virus initially spread among wild animals before jumping to humans at a market in Wuhan, China. Morens and his email practices came under scrutiny from congressional Republicans and right-wing media in 2023 and 2024. While the Justice Department suggests Morens was acting to suppress the lab leak theory, The New York Times reports that the DOJ’s investigation “has so far yielded no evidence that scientists or health officials were involved in research that started or spread the coronavirus outbreak” and his emails in the indictment “do not show him trying to conceal evidence of a lab leak.”

The response from legal experts.Scott Amey, general counsel at the nonpartisan Project on Government Oversight, told The New York Times that “the allegations are quite concerning,” but also “noted that senior members of the Trump administration have themselves been accused of trying to evade federal record-keeping laws.” Indeed, The Washington Post reported last year that top Trump administration national security officials were communicating over their private Gmail accounts, and in March 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared operational details of an impending U.S. military strike over an unsecured Signal chat with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, other Trump administration officials, and Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who had been accidentally added to the chain.

The response from the MAGA right. The New York Post reported on — and effectively generated — “pressure on DOJ to prosecute Anthony Fauci” in light of Morens’ indictment. Its Thursday article claimed that “critics say Fauci … bears the most responsibility and that he should be hauled into court,” citing the head of a right-wing think tank, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, and a former DOJ official who is now national political reporter at the right-wing media outlet Real America’s Voice.

The Southern Poverty Law Center

Citation

Fox News

The target.The SPLC is a nonprofit civil rights organization best known for its monitoring, researching, and reporting on white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and others it describes as “hate and antigovernment extremist groups” that “make up some of the most extreme elements of the hard right.”

The charges. The Justice Department revealed April 21 that a grand jury had returned an indictment charging the SPLC with “11 counts of wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering.” DOJ alleges that by using paid informants to infiltrate hate groups, the SPLC “secretly funneled more than $3 million in donated funds to individuals who were associated with various violent extremist groups” from 2014 to 2023, including to one individual who “was a member of the online leadership chat group that planned the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ event in Charlottesville, Virginia, and attended the event at the direction of the S.P.L.C.” Blanche claimed in a press release that SPLC was “manufacturing racism to justify its existence,” while Patel alleged the group “engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors.”

The underlying right-wing media narrative. As the American right adopted positions previously espoused only by explicit white supremacists, the SPLC drew its ire by expanding its monitoring to include “extreme” right-wing elements that were nonetheless accepted within its mainstream, like Turning Point USA. Right-wing media figures denounced SPLC’s characterizations of TPUSA after the assassination of its founder, MAGA operative Charlie Kirk, in September 2025, and the following month, Patel said the FBI was cutting ties with the group, which he described as a “partisan smear machine.” Right-wing media figures have also pushed back hard against links between Trump and the deadly Charlottesville event, and described white supremacy itself as a “hoax.”

The response from legal experts.The SPLC indictment “may contain serious legal defects that could lead to a full or partial dismissal because it struggles to articulate the elements of the alleged crimes,” CBS News reported after consulting former federal prosecutors. “Legal experts say it is not clear exactly how the SPLC's statements to donors represent material falsehoods or omissions, or why its past use of paid informants would run counter to its mission of dismantling white supremacist groups, a tactic that federal and local law enforcement also utilize to infiltrate and break up criminal organizations,” the report added. Andrew Weissmann, who led the DOJ Fraud Section from 2015 to 2019, likewise wrote in a piece for Just Security that DOJ’s claims “may sound superficially plausible in a press release against an organization dissimilar to the SPLC, but nothing in the speaking indictment against the Center appears to meet the legal standard required” for the charges.

The response from the MAGA right.Right-wing pundits have gleefully parroted the DOJ allegations, using them both to the SPLC and to suggest that the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally had been a false-flag hoax instigated by the left as a way to sabotage Trump. Fox personalities alone have mentioned the SPLC nearly 400 times since the indictment’s release, according to a Media Matters review. (The indictment was “huge breaking news,” as Hannity put it before hosting Patel to accuse the SPLC of the “ultimate definition of hypocrisy.”) Trump himself has picked up the story, rambling about how “Southern Law” is a “total scam” in an interview with CBS over the weekend. The president said in part:

I see these No Kings which are funded just like the Southern Law was funded. You all that Southern Laws, financing the KKK and lots of other radical, terrible groups. And then they go out and they say, oh, we’ve got to stop the KKK. And yet they give them hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars. They work. It’s a total scam run by the Democrats. It shows you that, like Charlottesville, Charlottesville was all funded by the Southern Law. That was a Southern Law deal, too. And it was done to make me look bad. And it turned out to be a total fake. It basically was a rigged election. This was a part of the rigging of the election. And that’s what you really should be doing. I mean, I hope one of your 60 Minutes episodes, which really hasn’t changed very much for the last few years, I’m surprised. But one of those episodes should be on Southern Law, and the fact that they spent millions and millions of dollars on absolute far right and just bad, bad groups, and then they’d use those groups and they’d say, these are Republican groups, and we’re coming to your rescue, and they’re the ones that have funded it, and they’re the ones that kept them, keep them going. Pretty sad.

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NYT

NO LNX

How the Southern Poverty Law Center Drew the Ire of Conservatives

Before the Justice Department filed charges against it, the group had faced scandal and critiques from both the left and the right.

By Richard Fausset

April 22, 2026

For much of the 21st century, the Southern Poverty Law Center has been at the center of a bitter partisan war in America over what constitutes hate.

The law center, which is based in Alabama, began in 1971, earning a reputation for battling the Ku Klux Klan in court and helping reporters and law enforcement keep tabs on far-right domestic extremists. More recently, however, the S.P.L.C. has earned the ire of conservatives by criticizing a number of organizations — including Moms For Liberty, the Family Research Council and Turning Point USA — that many on the right consider to be squarely within the American mainstream.

The conflict entered a new phase this week, when the Justice Department charged the S.P.L.C. with a number of financial crimes, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment focused on the law center’s past use of paid informants to infiltrate far-right groups. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, accused the group of “manufacturing racism to justify its existence.”

To some who have been criticized by the S.P.L.C., it was a moment to savor — a potential comeuppance for what they perceive to be a powerful, politically correct bully that has sought to shame and silence legitimate voices.

“Well, I mean, obviously I experienced a certain schadenfreude, because this couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of creeps,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that supports immigration restrictions and has been on the S.P.L.C.’s influential list of hate groups for years.

The S.P.L.C. defines a hate group as an organization that “has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics,” according to its website.

The indictment appears to fit within the Trump administration’s pattern of using the Justice Department to punish its political adversaries. The S.P.L.C. has certainly been adversarial toward the president: In an article last year, Margaret Huang, who was then the president and chief executive of the group, wrote that with President Trump’s second election, hard-right extremism now had “an ally in the highest office in the nation.”

Whether the federal charges will stick is unclear. The second Trump administration has failed to build winning cases against other political opponents, including Attorney General Letitia James of New York and James Comey, the former F.B.I. director.

But in the S.P.L.C., the administration has picked a formidable and deep-pocketed foe. Over decades, the group has been buffeted by scandal and scathing critiques from both the left and the right, yet has managed to thrive with its promise to be “a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy.”

Image

Morris Dees, a lawyer who started the S.P.L.C., with Katie Relf, left, and her daughters Minnie Lee and Mary Alice. The girls were part of a lawsuit involving sterilization procedures in 1973.Credit...Gary Settle/The New York Times

The law center was founded by Morris Dees and Joe Levin, white Alabama lawyers intent on ensuring that the gains of the civil rights movement in the Deep South stuck. With Julian Bond, the African American activist, as its first president, the S.P.L.C. took to the courts, filing suit after suit attacking the remnants of the segregation system, reforming juvenile justice and addressing matters of concern to immigrant workers, women, gay and lesbian people, and others.

The work engendered significant good will among like-minded Southerners. Catherine Coleman Flowers, an African American environmental activist from the Black Belt, recalled in an interview that the S.P.L.C. bankrupted a group called the United Klans of America with a lawsuit after two members lynched a Black man named Michael Donald in 1981.

“A lot of the work they were doing early on, was work around insuring that marginalized communities were not terrorized,” Ms. Coleman Flowers said.

Rumblings of discontent came later. In 1994, The Montgomery Advertiser ran a series of articles in which Black employees of the S.P.L.C. raised concerns about racial discrimination inside the organization. (Mr. Dees denied the accusations.)

But the law center remained influential. In 2001, its multimillion-dollar headquarters — a daring contemporary building in the sleepy heart of Montgomery — was completed. Many national news outlets regularly turned to the group’s Year in Hate reports, relying on them to give a portrait of homegrown extremism around the country.

Even so, left-wing critics soon began accusing the group of hoarding millions of dollars and paying its leaders big salaries while soliciting donations from wealthy coastal liberals and exaggerating the grass-roots threat. In a column for The Nation in 2009, Alex Cockburn, the provocative leftist writer, called Mr. Dees, who had become the face of the organization, “the arch-salesman of hate-mongering.”

Image

“A lot of the work they were doing early on, was work around insuring that marginalized communities were not terrorized,” said Catherine Coleman Flowers, an environmental activist.Credit...Audra Melton for The New York Times

“Ever since 1971, U.S. Postal Service mailbags have bulged with his fund-raising letters, scaring dollars out of the pockets of trembling liberals aghast at his lurid depictions of a hate-sodden America in dire need of legal confrontation by the S.P.L.C,” wrote Mr. Cockburn, who died in 2012.

The rise of the so-called alt-right, and a deadly rally organized by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, showed that racist extremism remained a tangible threat. But old concerns within the S.P.L.C. came to the fore again in 2019, when Mr. Dees was fired, and a number of top executives quit, amid allegations of sexual misconduct and racial discrimination within the organization. Mr. Dees denied wrongdoing, but acknowledged that a female employee had filed a complaint against him in 2017, stating that his actions had made her feel uncomfortable.

Conservatives took notice. For years they had bristled as the S.P.L.C. put groups that opposed L.G.B.T.Q. rights and immigration on its hate list. The Center for Immigration Studies earned a spot, the S.P.L.C. argued, as a result of its “repeated circulation of white nationalist and antisemitic writers in its weekly newsletter and the commissioning of a policy analyst who had previously been pushed out of the conservative Heritage Foundation for his embrace of racist pseudoscience.”

In 2019, the Center for Immigration Studies sued Richard Cohen, then the president of the S.P.L.C., in federal court, saying that the organization had violated civil racketeering statutes in trying to “destroy C.I.S. by ruining it financially.” The lawsuit was rejected by the courts.

That same year, Senator Tom Cotton wrote to the Internal Revenue Service, asking the agency to consider revoking the law center’s nonprofit status.

“Recent news reports have confirmed the long-established fact that the S.P.L.C. regularly engages in defamation of its political opponents,” Mr. Cotton wrote. “In fact, the S.P.L.C’s defining characteristic is to fund-raise off of defamation.”

The effort was unsuccessful, but the pressure from Republicans has only ramped up since Mr. Trump’s return to the White House. In October, Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, announced that the bureau would no longer cooperate with the S.P.L.C., calling it a “partisan smear machine.”

That same month, Elon Musk posted on social media that the group was “guilty of incitement to murder Charlie Kirk,” the co-founder of Turning Point USA who had been killed a month earlier. Mr. Musk cited another post that noted that Mr. Kirk had recently been featured in the S.P.L.C.’s Hatewatch newsletter.

...

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RWW

04/20/2026

Trump FBI director roasted for inviting UFC stars to train FBI agents - Alternet.org

Sarah Fitzpatrick @ The Atlantic: The FBI Director Is MIA

Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.

Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Confronting ugly allegations, FBI Director Kash Patel files new $250 million lawsuit

The Atlantic reported that FBI personnel have expressed concerns about the director’s unexplained absences and excessive drinking. He sued a few days later.

AN 3 26

Alexis Wilkins, the girlfriend of former podcaster and now FBI head Kash Patel, accused the anti-war enclave of MAGA of being under the influence of foreign nations on X Tuesday, notably Russia.

“A foreign-linked influence network has been running coordinated operations against the Trump administration for 22 months,” said Wilkins, who recently garnered criticism for having "a security detail made up of elite FBI agents usually assigned to a SWAT team.” I know it's real because they ran one against me. I was targeted in something I knew was far from organic. This level of media is isolating, unwanted, and unwarranted.”

Wilkins, who is a country singer, claimed she “spent the last few months learning to build programs to utilize publicly available information to prove that this is way bigger than me,” and said the effort involves Trump former advisor Michale Flynn, as well as MAGA influencers Tucker Carlson, Joe Kent and Candace Owens — all of whom disapprove of what appears to be Trump’s fealty to Israel in the Iran invasion.

“This is about creating chaos in the Republican Party. It's about the organized effort to lose Republicans the midterms and subvert President Trump's agenda, and I have the data for you to see,” said Wilkins, who said she was “falsely labeled a Mossad spy” in a coordinated campaign designed to isolate a Trump official by “using the person publicly nearest to him.”

What follows in Wilkins’ posts is an exhaustive trail of X submissions claiming to reveal “the trail” of the foreign influence network.

One notable step in the trail involves the September 2025 assassination of MAGA influencer Charlie Kirk and the claim by influencer Candace Owens publicly attributing his death to Israel and her targeting of Kirk's widow for incrimination.

Wilkins noted many of the same accounts “in the July 2025 honeypot” activated immediately to amplify Owens’ claims in a manner that converted “natural Republican unity … into one of the most sustained fracture points of the year.”

“The goal of this operation is not to win a political argument, but to make the fractures feel permanent. To make Republicans believe their movement is over. To make soldiers feel the war isn't worth fighting. To make the government and its officials look unstable and create media that creates more problematic media,” said Wilkins. “Each chapter hits a different pressure point. The network, the timing, and the Russian amplification are consistent across all five. That consistency is the signature.”

“This doesn’t even scratch the surface of who might be getting paid by whom - this is all matrixed publicly available information,” insisted Wilkins. “MAGA doesn't have an approval problem. It has an infiltration problem.”

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AN 3 26

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KEEPS PURGING PPL 3X ON BAD PRESS?! HOCKEY ITALY?

AN 3 26

A report in the Washington*Post*reported Friday described the government purge at the FBI and Justice Department, noting the loss of decades of experience and has left some key positions either unfilled or otherwise occupied. And according to the Post, President Donald Trump's administration might be woefully unprepared for the fallout.

For the past six months, Matthew Blue, the chief of the Justice Department’s counterterrorism section, has been deployed to "protect" Washington, D.C. Trump called in the D.C. National Guard to handle "out of control" crime in the city. While many have been deployed elsewhere, Blue remains on duty and not at the Justice Department.

About three days before the bombing campaign began in Iran, FBI Director Kash Patel fired the agents who "specialized in addressing threats from Iran and its proxies."

Speaking with current and former officials familiar with the firings, the Postreported that there are still some skilled leaders in top posts, but the "bench of expertise has significantly thinned," particularly among those with a history of handling domestic threats.

The report explained that when the U.S. goes to war or engages in a conflict elsewhere, domestic law enforcement keeps its ear to the ground about possible threats at home out of fear that terrorist groups abroad can trigger anyone who might be in the U.S. But now, those prosecutors and agents are scarce.

One ex-prosecutor who refused to give his name was fired out of the blue despite working on the surveillance of a man the FBI feared may have been plotting a violent attack. Patel reassigned the FBI agents to focus on immigration instead.

FBI spokesman Ben Williamson told the Post that anyone who they fired were found to have "acted unethically" either on the Jan. 6 investigations or with probes into Trump.

“While we do not comment on personnel matters, the FBI maintains a robust counterintelligence operation, with personnel all over the country, who delivered record results in 2025 — including a 35 percent increase in counterintelligence arrests, six of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives captured, and multiple foiled terrorism plots just in December alone,” Williamson said in a statement. “Our teams remain fully engaged across the country and prepared to mobilize any security assets needed to assist federal partners — as well as state and local law enforcement."

But one former and longtime senior national security official warned, “We are now in a heightened-threat situation, not just in the Mideast but also here in the U.S. Iran, acting through its proxies, has long sought to carry out a terrorist attack or assassination inside the country."

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an 3 26

On Saturday, President Donald Trump authorized massive military action against Iran. On Sunday, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kash Patel, put FBI counterintelligence teams on high alert for threats to the homeland, after a Texas gunman killed two Americans and wounded 14 others in an attack the Bureau is investigating as a possible act of terrorism.

Not part of any FBI investigation will be at least a dozen staffers, including agents, who reportedly were fired last week for their roles in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of President Donald Trump’s possibly unlawful removal, retention, and refusal to return dozens of classified documents and other items from the White House, which he kept at Mar-a-Lago.

“The ouster of at least a dozen staffers from a counterintelligence unit, known as CI-12, which operates out of the Washington Field Office, was ordered by FBI Director Kash Patel, according to four former officials familiar with the dismissals,” The New York Sun reported on Monday in an exclusive. “The dismissals came just days before the start of Operation Epic Fury and, separately, a deadly mass shooting at a bar in Austin, Texas, by a man reportedly wearing a sweatshirt that said, ‘Property of Allah,’ beneath which was a T-shirt that was ’emblazoned with a design similar to the Iranian flag,’ CBS News reported Monday.”

The Sun reported that the CI-12 unit “focuses on media leaks, global espionage, and international threats against America emanating from countries such as Cuba and Iran, former FBI officials tell the Sun.”

“More broadly, CI squads are the lead domestic teams for investigating insider threats and foreign intelligence activity on American soil.”

The FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago, which took place on August 8, 2022, came months before Jack Smith was appointed Special Counsel by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. President Trump called the raid a “travesty of justice.”

During Trump’s first term as president, CI-12 in 2020 “assisted in monitoring potential retaliatory actions by Iranian-backed actors on American soil following a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad International Airport that killed Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps major general Qasem Soleimani.” Trump ordered that operation, according to former FBI officials.

Recently, Director Patel expressed outrage after learning that the FBI, under Smith’s direction, had “secretly obtained his phone records, along with those of Trump aide and current White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, as part of Mr. Smith’s investigations into Mar-a-Lago as well as into January 6.”

In a statement to Reuters, Patel said: “It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records — along with those of now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles — using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight.”

Hours later, the FBI dismissed the dozen staffers and agents.

The Sun noted that those “fired were also believed to have been involved in efforts to obtain phone records of Mr. Patel and Ms. Wiles, according to reports.”

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JON STEWART MAKEAWISH HOCKEY PVT JET?

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RWW

02/24/2026

Discussing Minnesota, FBI Director Kash Patel says “some of the best reporting” has been through Benny Johnson and Cam Higby: “As soon as Higby put that post out, I opened an investigation on it”

Hafiz Rashid @ The New Republic: Trump Team Quietly Drops Case Against Dems in “Illegal Orders” Video

The Washington U.S. Attorney’s office previously failed to get a grand jury indictment of the group.

Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: As Trump’s election conspiracy theories take an ugly turn, the search for evidence flails

The key detail the administration’s search for voter fraud shares with its search for weaponization: Looking for mirages inevitably fails.

Colby Hall @ Mediaite: Kash Patel Is Acting Like a Wannabe Influencer, Not an FBI Director

Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, using a government plane to attend a hockey game overseas. Locker room beer chugging. The sitting president on speakerphone. Reports of a girlfriend traveling with a security footprint. Banners bearing President Donald Trump’s image hanging outside the Justice Department building. All while high-profile cases linger, victims seek justice, cartel violence escalates, and a wannabe assassin was killed by authorities at Mar-a-Lago.

Tessa Stuart @ Rolling Stone: MAGA Lawmakers Call for Republican to Resign Following Release of Disturbing Texts

House Speaker Mike Johnson won’t say whether Rep. Tony Gonzales should step down, as the GOP clings to a slim majority.

Will Sommer @ The Bulwark: Why Won’t the White House Cut Tucker Loose?

He makes life miserable for Trump officials and the drama is endless. But he’s still scoring presidential invites.

Wiktoria Gucia @ The Daily Beast: MAGA Favorite Sentenced for Blowing Campaign Cash on Vegas Trips

The failed GOP candidate embezzled approximately $250,000.

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an 2 26

President Donald Trump called for Congress to pass the so-called “Dalilah Law” requiring commercial drivers licenses to only go to legal residents — and in the process continued the MAGA movement’s targeting of the Sikh community.

"Many, if not most, illegal aliens do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs," Trump said during his Tuesday night State of the Union message. "That's why tonight, I'm calling on Congress to pass what we will call the 'Dalilah Law,' barring any state from granting commercial drivers licenses to illegal aliens."

From bus drivers and over-the-road semi-trailer drivers to RV delivery haulers, America has 3.5 million licensed truckers, and the American Trucking Associations trade group (37,000-members strong) supports Trump’s efforts to both enforce immigration laws and “ensure that only properly trained, fully qualified, and English-proficient drivers are behind the wheel of 80,000-pound commercial motor vehicles.” Yet Trump’s approach may also target a group that MAGA repeatedly puts in its sites — Sikhs

“Among the strongest critics of the measures are India-born Sikhs, who make up about 150,000 members of the trucking community, according to regulatory data,” reported USA Today’s Trevor Hughes. “Tens of thousands of Sikhs sought asylum in the United States during the Biden presidency, many of them crossing the Mexican border without advance permission.” The article also pointed out that for thousands of people “the crackdown on foreign drivers would cause them to lose their jobs and homes in one fell swoop ‒ many truckers live in their semis” and simultaneously increase “freight costs from American consumers.”

The White House has often singled out Sikh truck drivers, in particular a California-licensed Sikh driver named Harjinder Singh was involved in a fatal August crash in Florida that killed three people. Trump officials claim Singh was in America illegally and did not speak English well enough to qualify for his license. Sikhs For Justice, a US-based group, donated $100,000 to the victims in the accident Singh is accused of causing.

Others in the Trump movement have expressed prejudice against Sikhs. In June Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) misidentified a Sikh man as Muslim and argued that he should not have been allowed to pray on the House of Representatives floor because he is not a Christian.

“It’s deeply troubling that a Muslim was allowed to lead prayer in the House of Representatives this morning,” Miller said. “This should have never been allowed to happen. America was founded as a Christian nation, and I believe our government should reflect that truth, not drift further…”

Miller later posted a version that swapped the word “Sikh” for “Muslim.” Miller’s target was Giani Singh, a Sikh Granthi from southern New Jersey who had been “welcomes” to deliver the prayer by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ).

FBI director Kash Patel has also been targeted by xenophobia. When he wished his followers a Happy Diwali on X (Diwali is celebrated by Sikhs, some Buddhists, Jains and Hindus), far-right Christian and white nationalists attacked Patel online. Diwali greetings were similarly attacked when expressed by Indian American Trump officials like former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon.

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Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: FBI’s Top Influencers Tout ‘Antifa’ Funding Investigations

FBI Director cites NSPM-7 as enabling crackdown on left-leaning activists.

THE White House wanted investigations into those it describes as left-wing activists and the groups that fund them. And now, FBI Director Kash Patel says, the FBI is delivering.

The FBI is investigating funding associated with left-wing activism, Patel confirmed to longtime podcaster and brief FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on his recently revived streaming show.

“This FBI, thanks to what we stood up over the last year, has made significant headway under the NSPM-7 process in looking at those who funded these streams,” Patel told Bongino, adding that the bureau is “starting to arrest people who used their funds to incite violence in the guise of political peaceful protest.”

The White House issued NSPM-7 in September, a presidential memo that directed federal law enforcement to investigate ideologies — naming those who espouse “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity” — as potential sources of political violence. That memo has been operationalized in part through several terrorism prosecutions, TPM reported this month. Patel’s remarks suggest that the FBI is implementing the memo to investigate funding sources for left-leaning activist groups.

At the same time, it’s Kash Patel. He’s more a streamer than a law enforcer. Bongino’s brief tenure at the FBI — during which he memorably complained about the workload before the administration took the unprecedented step of appointing a “co-deputy director” to assist him — testifies to some of this. Beyond that, Patel is operating in Trumpworld, a universe where senior officials can curry favor with the president by demonstrating how tough they are in carrying out his fantasies. Even in that credibility-killing environment, Patel has distinguished himself by using his megaphone as FBI director to misstate details in sensitive, ongoing investigations.

One ongoing case that Patel mentioned in Wednesday’s discussion with Bongino is the Prairieland prosecution. The case is the Trump administration’s first terrorism prosecution against a group of people that it has deemed members of “Antifa.” In the case, prosecutors accuse an “Antifa cell” in North Texas of having staged a demonstration outside an ICE detention facility that left one police officer shot and wounded.

After Bongino brought up the case, Patel claimed that there have been more than two dozen federal arrests. Per TPM’s count, sixteen people have been charged in federal court over the incident.

The trial was set to start on Tuesday. But District Judge Mark Pittman for the Northern District of Texas declared a mistrial during jury selection, reportedly after a defense attorney wore a jacket with a T-shirt underneath that featured a picture of Jesse Jackson and other civil rights leaders.

Patel likened the case to the Cop City prosecution in Georgia. There, state prosecutors filed a sprawling RICO indictment against a group of activists that had been protesting the construction of a police training center. Critics accused prosecutors of using the case to silence activists that had no tie to any act of alleged wrongdoing; a judge dismissed the RICO charges in December.

The FBI director said that his agency had to “rearrest everybody” in order to compensate for errors in the state investigation. It’s unclear what he was referring to. No federal charges have been filed in the Cop City case.

He did suggest that his leadership had seen a change in the FBI’s focus to “Antifa,” the chimerical group of beliefs that Trump II leadership has held up as a national, internal enemy.

Federal law enforcement is not only pursuing foreign threats, he said, “but those who cause violence here in America and use the guise of politics to delete that violence.”

Threats from the administration to investigate ideologically opposed charities spread fear in the nonprofit community last year. Some, per TPM’s reporting, sought to move money overseas; others considered whether to incorporate subsidiary fiscal sponsors as separate organizations.

He reminded Bongino that the two of them had “launched a serious investigation” when the podcaster was in government last year.

“We had said these organizations don’t operate alone, don’t operate in silence. They operate with a heavy heavy stream of funding,” Patel said. “And we started looking into it. And guess what, Dan? We found them.”

Josh Kovenskyis an investigative reporter for Talking Points Memo, based in New York. He previously worked for the Kyiv Post in Ukraine, covering politics, business, and corruption there.

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OMFG

AN 1 26

When Donald Trump won the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, two of the four criminal prosecutions he was facing at the time stemmed from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results: a federal indictment prosecuted by then-special counsel Jack Smith, and a Georgia indictment prosecuted by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. Both of those election interference cases were doomed when Trump defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in 2024's general election, and the president continues to claim, without evidence, that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

One of Trump's most aggressive supporters after he lost Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 was attorney Sidney Powell, who promoted a range of conspiracy theories on the election results in Georgia. And now, Powell is resurfacing after an FBI search in that state.

On Wednesday, January 28, FBI agents searched a Georgia election center, looking for records on the 2020 election. And the following day on X, formerly Twitter, Ed Martin (a Trump appointee to the U.S. Department of Justice) posted a photo of him with Powell — writing, "Good morning, America. How are ya?"

The Bulwark's Will Sommer, in response to Martin's tweet, posted, "After FBI raid on GA election office for 2020 ballots, top DOJ official posts a picture with leading election conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell."

Attorney David Colapinto, responding to the Martin/Powell photo, tweeted, "Are these two in charge of recounting the ballots?"

Powell was among Trump's many co-defendants in Willis' election interference case. In October 2023, she pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor charges and avoided jail time but was sentenced to six months of probation.

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MMA

01/26/26

January 26, 2026, edition of The Benny Show, streamed to YouTube

BENNY JOHNSON (HOST): This is incredible to hear, and this has now been exposed with some of these Signal chat leaks, the independent journalist who had done the exposing was just on right before you and wanted to ask about this. He says that he has submitted some of the information that was available. There are top level leaders inside of the political infrastructure of Minnesota who are on these chats, and, obviously, you can't conspire in order to attack federal agents. This is something that is at scale. They have license plate readers. They're able to identify these agents. They're able to dox them, find out where they're sleeping at night. Is any of this legal, Kash?

KASH PATEL (FBI DIRECTOR): That's exactly what we're investigating. Look, again, the First Amendment, you wanna go peacefully protest, do it. You wanna bring your firearm, under the law, you're allowed to bring it as long as you don't incite violence and or commit another crime in doing so.

What we're asking people to do, what I'm asking people to do is on the ground in Minnesota is, why would you bring a firearm in a situation that is so volatile right now, where so many arrests have been made, where so many people are coordinating to attack and expose federal law enforcement officers? That is just not smart. It is just not going to lead to a good scenario. And so we need everybody to tamp down, obviously, on that side.

But you're right, some of the best reporting has been through you, and, I think Mr. Higby was just on before I was, and other individuals. Just so you guys know, we look at all this stuff. As soon as Higby put that post out, I opened an investigation on it.

Just like any other case, when we say, hey, quote, unquote, there was an attack in downtown Seattle. Does the public have information? We, the FBI, are looking to the public for information on these events. We immediately opened up that investigation because that sort of Signal chat being coordinated with individuals, not just locally in Minnesota, but maybe even around the country, if that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people. You cannot create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm's way.

Now, we will balance the First and Second Amendment constantly, but we have to let the community know that we will not tolerate acts of violence and an escalation and a violation of the federal code. There has to be a break point, and you've seen it broken in Minneapolis time and time again.

### Right-wing streamer Asmongold on Alex Pretti shooting: “There's literally no excuse for it”

01/26/26

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AN 1 26

President Donald Trump is deploying old-school tactics against some of his enemies: using FBI files to target them.

*The New York Times* reported Sunday morning that FBI Director Kash Patel is helping Trump target his foes using the information it has collected.

Now, the report said, "the bureau has added payback to its portfolio."

While Trump spent years alleging the “weaponization” of law enforcement against political foes, the new administration is “using federal law enforcement to carry out a partisan opposition research operation.”

The report said that Patel has been poring over files, trying to uncover documents that can “expose and discredit federal law enforcement officials who investigated Mr. Trump and his allies.”

The Times noted that it is currently unknown how “wide-ranging” Patel’s coordination with political appointees and Republican allies has been. The official overseeing the operation was Patel’s deputy, Dan Bongino, who recently left the FBI after a tumultuous year in the post. Internally, they referred to Bongino’s unit as the “director’s advisory team.”

Most of the focus has been on the investigation into the 2020 efforts to overturn the election and stage an attack on the U.S. Capitol. Former special counsel Jack Smith spoke to the House late last year about the findings of the probe and said he had "proof beyond a reasonable doubt" that what Trump did was unlawful.

During Trump’s last administration, the IRS was used to go after former FBI Director James Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe.

While President Joe Biden’s administration refused to turn over documents tied to the ongoing investigation, Patel is now claiming that Smith broke the law. Speaking to the House, Smith said that all of the information he gathered was approved by a federal judge, which will make it difficult to argue that he went rogue or violated the law with his probes.

J. Edgar Hoover ran his own operations while overseeing the FBI. Recently released information detailed the way in which the FBI was surveilling civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences detailed, the counterintelligence campaign against MLK involved "illegal wiretaps on his phone and bugging hotel rooms when he traveled."

The FBI also spread misinformation about King being an "immoral communist."

The Times reported that the FBI now claims it is the “most transparent in history,” even as it refuses to release the legally required files on the investigation into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The bureau has strategically released batches of anti-Smith material right before he testified behind closed doors.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who once cast himself as a champion of whistleblowers, is now helping funnel FBI leaks through his office. An unnamed FBI whistleblower, for example, alleged that one member of Jack Smith’s team was not “impartial.”

That agent, who no longer works at the FBI, is Walter Giardina, whom Trump has personally attacked for supposedly having “animosity” toward him. “Mr. Giardina vehemently denied those allegations in a meeting with bureau officials last July, two days after the funeral of his wife, who died of adrenal cancer at 49,” the report continued.

Lawyers representing FBI agents who have been fired under the Trump administration’s weaponization effort are calling out the double standard of using the government to attack someone for their politics while accusing others of doing the same. Those making the accusations are granted anonymity, allowing them to hide behind their own partisan protectors.

*Read the full report here.

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RWW

12/01/2025

Alex Horton and Ellen Nakashima @ The Washington Post: Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all

As two men clung to a stricken, burning ship targeted by SEAL Team 6, the Joint Special Operations commander followed the defense secretary’s order to leave no survivors.

Alex McPhee-Browne @ The Conversation: Nick Fuentes is a master of exploiting the current social media opportunities for extremism

Fuentes is a 27-year-old livestreamer with openly antisemitic views. He has called Adolf Hitler both “awesome” and “right.” But he has become impossible for the Republican Party to banish, despite repeated attempts by some party leaders. This dynamic reveals how fringe ideologies operate differently today compared to the mid-20th century, when institutional gatekeepers – political parties, law enforcement, the media – could more effectively contain extremist movements.

Miranda Devine @ The New York Post: Damning report labels FBI ‘rudderless ship’ under Kash Patel — with him and Dan Bongino more concerned with building ‘personal résumés'

FBI Director Kash Patel is facing withering criticism from an alliance of active-duty and retired agents and analysts, days after the White House denied media reports that the president is about to fire him. A troubling new report card on the first six months of Patel’s leadership concludes he is “in over his head” and his deputy, Dan Bongino, is “something of a clown,” according to the alliance, which in two previous reports warned about crippling DEI and politicization of the FBI during the Biden administration.

Sean James @ Mediaite: 6 Craziest Revelations From Scathing Report on Kash Patel — Including His Refusal to Leave a Plane Until He Was Given a Female Agent’s Jacket

A blistering report from a number of current and former federal agents blasted the FBI under Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, saying it has been a “circus” and “all f*cked up” under their leadership.

Will Neal @ The Daily Beast: MAGA Panics That Special Election Will Flip Ultra-Trumpy Seat

The results of this week’s vote have also been billed as a bellwether ahead of the midterms.

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AN 11 25

MS Now Opinion Columnist Ja’han Jones said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is lobbing more firebombs into an already burning MAGA house this week.

“Conspiracy theories are devouring any semblance of unity among the MAGA movement these days,” writes Jones, revealing never-before seen rifts tearing the formerly Trump-centric community to pieces.

“Massie made eye-popping, unsubstantiated allegations of political targeting involving FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino, who are well-known for spreading conspiracy theories themselves,” said Jones, which runs counter to President Donald Trump’s “absurd” post that the Republican Party “has never been so UNITED.”

“A quick look online shows that couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Jones. “Whether it’s theories surrounding the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk or bigoted allegations against Jewish people, the conservative movement can’t seem to get on the same page. And the divisions appear to be increasingly acrimonious.”

Massie has already garnered positive press for his battle to force the release of the Epstein files, in spite of Trump’s open opposition. But more recently, Jones said he “sat for a chummy interview with admitted Jan. 6 rioter Steve Baker,” who works for right-wing outlet The Blaze. The conversation discussed claims surrounding a pipe bombing suspect who allegedly sought to wreak havoc in Washington on Jan. 6.

“The congressman has been among several conservatives to fuel conspiracy theories about the incident – claims that have been disputed by the FBI and which have prompted an online war of words between Bongino and Massie,” said Jones.

During the interview,, without evidence, that a member of Patel’s staff threatened Massie’s staff with a criminal fraud investigation “if we didn’t straighten up and play ball,” suggesting political targeting by the nation’s top law enforcement agency. He went on to opine the alleged conduct from Patel’s staffer was probably illegal, though Jones said “some obvious caveats apply.”

“Massie’s claim shouldn’t be taken as gospel, even though we have ample evidence that the Justice Department has pursued politicized investigations against other critics of Trump and his administration,” said Jones, adding that The FBI declined to comment to MS NOW inquiries.

Jones said Massie’s accusation is already being “parroted by numerous pro-MAGA accounts on social media.” And while the spread of Massie’s allegations certainly don’t count as “irrefutable evidence of FBI wrongdoing,” Jones said it is “absolutely indicative of the unfolding infighting within the conspiracy-obsessed MAGA movement.”

Read the MS NOW report at this link.

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an nyt 11 25

Dozens of former US Department of Justice attorneys have now gone on record to describe the unprecedented corruption of federal law enforcement taking place during President Donald Trump’s second term.

In a lengthy story published on Sunday by theNew York Times, the former DOJ attorneys described rampant politicization of prosecutions, directives to dig up evidence on Trump’s political foes, and orders to drop investigations into potential terrorist plots and white-collar crimes.

Several attorneys told the paper that the corruption of the DOJ began on Trump’s very first day in office when he issued a blanket pardon to everyone who had been convicted of rioting at the US Capitol building on his behalf on January 6, 2021, in a last-ditch effort to prevent the certification of former President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Gregory Rosen, who oversaw the unit at the DOJ that prosecuted January 6 rioters, told the Times that he felt “numb” seeing the pardons of the rioters, but he nonetheless facilitated the pardons because he understood they were within the president’s constitutional powers.

Mike Romano, a prosecutor who worked on January 6 cases, said that he had to resign as soon as he saw the broad scope of the pardons, which included rioters who were guilty of assaulting police officers.

“It’s incredibly demoralizing to see something you worked on for four years wiped away by a lie—I mean the idea that prosecution of the rioters was a grave national injustice,” he said. “We had strong evidence against every person we prosecuted.”

The mass pardon of the Capitol rioters was only the beginning, as prosecutors said that this politicization soon swept over the entire department.

In early March, for instance, Trump signed an executive order targeting law firms that had in the past represented prominent Democrats. Among other things, the order demanded federal agencies cancel government contracts with the firms and strip the firms’ employees of their security clearances.

The orders also accused some of the firms in engaging in supposed racial discrimination for maintaining policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Dena Robinson, a former attorney at the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, told the Times that the DEI investigation into law firm Perkins Coie was a particularly extreme example of the department’s politicization under Trump.

“The idea of the investigation was that Perkins Coie supposedly engaged in illegal discrimination against white men,” she explained. “But Perkins Coie is an extremely white firm—only 3% of the partners are Black. When my colleague pointed that out, the leadership didn’t care. They’d already reached their conclusion.”

Robinson said that this attitude was emblematic of how Trump appointees conducted investigations: They begin with desired conclusions and systematically ignore evidence that undermines them.

“I wouldn’t even call it the Justice Department anymore,” she said. “It’s become Trump’s personal law firm. I think Americans should be enraged.”

Another aspect of the DOJ under Trump that has drawn scrutiny has been his use of pardons for political allies, including his decision last month to pardon Changpeng Zhao, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who pleaded guilty to money-laundering charges in 2023, and who had helped boost the value of the Trump family’s own cryptocurrency venture.

A new investigation from ProPublica found that Trump’s use of the pardon hasn’t just been relegated to prosecutions that took place during Democratic administrations.

The ProPublica report found Trump had wiped out convictions in “at least a dozen criminal cases that originated during his first term,” many of which involved politicians convicted of taking bribes or engaging in kickback schemes.

Frank O. Bowman III, a professor emeritus of law at the University of Missouri, told Pro Publica that the Trump pardons taken together are part of what he described as “the systematic destruction of the Justice Department as an objective agency that seeks to uphold the law and fight crime.”

In addition to this, Joseph Tirrell, former director of the Departmental Ethics Office, told the Times that the Trump DOJ has been hacking away at rules that bar law-enforcement officials from accepting gifts.

In one instance, Tirrell said he tried to intervene to stop DOJ employees from accepting cigars given by mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor and a soccer ball from the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

“I felt like I really had to go to the mattress to convince the AG’s office: You can pay for the item or you can return the item or you can throw the item away,” he said. “There’s no other way to do this.”

Shortly after this, Tirrell said he got a call from the FBI general counsel inquiring “about changing exceptions to the gift rules because his boss, [FBI Director] Kash Patel, felt like he should be able to accept more expensive gifts.”

Tirrell said that he then reminded the counsel that “his client was not Mr. Patel, but the United States.”

Patel in recent weeks has come under scrutiny for some of the perks he’s taken during his time as FBI director, including using the FBI’s private jet to fly to a wrestling event where his girlfriend, country music singer Alexis Wilkins, was performing the national anthem.

MS NOW reported on Monday that Patel has also given Wilkins “a security detail made up of elite FBI agents usually assigned to a SWAT team in the FBI field office in Nashville,” an unprecedented arrangement for the girlfriend of the FBI director.

Christopher O’Leary, a former senior FBI agent and MS NOW law enforcement contributor, said that there is “no legitimate justification” for granting Wilkins this level of security.

“This is a clear abuse of position and misuse of government resources,” he said. “She is not his spouse, does not live in the same house or even the same city.”

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MS NOW's Ken Dilanian and Carol Leonnig report that FBI Director Kash Patel'sgirlfriend's government security detail is "prompting concerns" and could hinder response to other incidents.

They report that Alexis Wilkins, Patel’s girlfriend, has "a security detail made up of elite FBI agents usually assigned to a SWAT team in the FBI field office in Nashville, where Wilkins spends time for her work."

Sources familiar with FBI protocol tell Dilanian and Leonnig that they were "unaware of any instance in which the girlfriends of top FBI officials received government-staffed security details," noting that former FBI Director Christopher Wray’s wife Helen received a security detail because she lives with Wray in their home in Atlanta.

The anonymous sources tell the reporters that "SWAT team agents on a detail with Wilkins would presumably be unable to respond or delayed in responding to crises that might develop in their territory, such as mass shootings or terror attacks."

This latest development comes as Patel faces scrutiny amid reports that he had flown on the FBI’s $60 million government jet last month to see Wilkins perform the national anthem at a wrestling event in Pennsylvania.

In 2023, "Patel had previously slammed then-FBI Director Wray for his use of the FBI jet for personal travel," they report.

Patel has also been blasted for firing "seasoned FBI leaders without a legal basis and losing critical expertise," they explain.

Wilkins' security detail has drawn scorn from former FBI agents like Christopher O’Leary, a former senior FBI agent and MS NOW law enforcement contributor.

“There is no legitimate justification for this. This is a clear abuse of position and misuse of government resources. She is not his spouse, does not live in the same house or even the same city," Leary says.

“I would also add that this comes at a time when security details were stripped from people who are under threat from IRGC-QF,” Leary adds, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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AN 11 25

During Donald Trump's first presidency, he bitterly clashed with a long list of traditional conservatives who pushed back against his proposals — from a secretary of state (Rex Tillerson) to a White House chief of staff (John Kelly) to a national security adviser (John Bolton) to two U.S. attorneys general (Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr). Even one of Trump's White House press secretaries (Stephanie Grisham) ended up giving Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris an enthusiastic endorsement at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

But Trump's second presidency is much different. This time, he has made a point of surrounding himself with unquestioning MAGA loyalists who are anxious to please him.

In an opinion column published on October 18, the New York Times' Frank Bruni stresses that desperation to please Trump is one of the things that makes his current group of allies so dangerous.

Bruni specifically points to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance.

"There’s no team of rivals around Trump, no constructive dissent, no battle of ideas from which the best one emerges," Bruni warns. "There’s just flattery and more flattery. Tribute upon tribute. Hyperbole atop hyperbole. Of course, telling bosses how effective, charismatic and visionary they are is a tried-and-true route to advancement…. But the sort of fanboy fan dances that Vance and Patel routinely perform? That's extreme. As was Attorney General Pam Bondi's pathetic effort, during a Senate hearing in which she was fielding questions, to make Democrats on the panel answer for their supposed crimes against Trump. How, she wondered, could they be so mean to him? How, I wondered, does she keep a straight face?"

Bondi, Patel and Hegseth, according to Bruni, are dangerous not only because of their extreme rhetoric, but because they are willing to back it up with actions.

"If that lip service were merely the ceremonial price that Trump's aides paid to be able to attend to the rest of their jobs in a serious manner," Bruni argues, "it would be little more than embarrassing. But it's part of a broader servility, a more profound humiliation. Their deeds must match their diction. So Bondi has either encouraged or indulged nuisance investigations and malicious prosecutions of Trump's enemies, including (former FBI Director) James Comey and (New York State Attorney General) Letitia James. Patel expanded polygraph tests at the FBI — to prevent pejorative portrayals of the administration from leaking out."

Bruni continues, "Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth channeled Trump's contempt for independent journalists and emulated Trump's attacks on the media by laying down new rules that essentially forced self-respecting reporters to hand in their Pentagon press credentials. The president was pleased: He wondered aloud about doing something similar at the White House. Maybe Patel and Hegseth were always this paranoid and petulant, but Bondi seems to have grown crueler and coarser in direct relation to her time with Trump. And Vance's cartoonish sycophancy is the convenient inverse of his past statements that Trump was 'America's Hitler' and an 'idiot.'"

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Patel: FBI Thwarts 'Potential Terrorist Attack'

Home | Politics

Tags: peter navarro | walter giardina | donald trump | fbi

Navarro: Fmr FBI Agent Drove Partisan Cases Against Trump

By Jim Thomas | Wednesday, 20 August 2025

Former White House adviser Peter Navarro has called for a full investigation into retired FBI agent Walter Giardina, accusing him of orchestrating politically motivated operations against President Donald Trump and his allies, including Navarro himself, Breitbart reported.

Navarro, a senior trade adviser in Trump first administration, urged Congress and federal authorities to launch an inquiry into Giardina, whom he describes as the central figure in a long-running campaign of "weaponized justice."

Navarro's accusations are detailed in his new book "I Went to Prison So You Won't Have To," in which he argued that Giardina played a pivotal role in nearly every major investigation into Trump over the past decade, from the Steele dossier to special counsel Robert Mueller's probe and beyond.

"I still feel the cold steel of the handcuffs Giardina and his gaggle of armed agents slapped on me at Reagan National Airport," wrote Navarro, recalling his 2022 arrest. "I will never forget the sight of my fiancee being perp-walked out of that same terminal as part of the circus arrest Giardina staged for maximum humiliation."

According to Navarro, Giardina was among the first FBI officials to review the Steele dossier in 2016.

He claimed that whistleblowers told Congress that Giardina vouched for the dossier as "corroborated" despite its most explosive allegations later proving to be false. The document became central to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane probe and helped justify secret surveillance on Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's 2019 report found 17 errors or omissions in the bureau's applications for surveillance warrants, including exaggerated claims about Steele's reliability. Navarro argueed Giardina's actions directly enabled what Trump has long branded the "Russia hoax."

Navarro also ties Giardina to the Mueller investigation, alleging the agent improperly wiped his government-issued laptop, potentially erasing key records from the inquiry. Despite that, Giardina reportedly received an internal award for his work on the team.

Whistleblower disclosures to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, further implicated Giardina in a separate 2017 case known as Crimson River, which pursued claims that Egypt funneled $10 million to Trump's campaign. That investigation, Navarro said, never produced evidence but was classified in a way that restricted oversight.

Navarro accuses Giardina of using the Constitution's Emoluments Clause as a "political fishing license" to target Trump's business dealings and later spearheading Operation Arctic Frost, a Jan. 6-related probe that led to the seizure of phones from both Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence.

The most personal chapter of Navarro's allegations centers on his own 2022 arrest. Navarro said the bureau turned his indictment into "political theater," even subjecting his fiancee to a public walkout, though she was not accused of wrongdoing.

Navarro was held in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House committee that investigated Jan. 6. Sentenced to four months in prison, he described his conviction as the "partisan weaponization of the judicial system."

Navarro insisted that firing politicized FBI officials is insufficient.

"That's why Giardina, along with a long list of alleged lawfare perpetrators, must be investigated," he wrote. "Because if they are not, they will do it again.

"If they can come for me, they can come for you," Navarro said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Jim Thomas ✉

Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.

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OMFG

RWW

10/27/2025

Critics blasts Trump admin for firing FBI agents who took knee at George Floyd protest

Heritage Action, the political arm of the MAGA “think tank” behind the Trump administration’s Project 2025 policy agenda, is claiming that America’s city streets have been occupied by Marxist rioters to rally support for legislation that would empower President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to more aggressively wage war against the president’s political opponents.

“End the Marxist Occupation of our Streets,” reads a Heritage Action campaign message, which praises Trump's designation of Antifa as a "domestic terrorist organization." The message includes an illustrated graphic of a television “PUBLIC SAFETY ALERT” reading “MARXIST RIOTERS IN YOUR CITY AVOID PUBLIC AREAS AT ALL COSTS.”

The campaign by Heritage Action urges people to petition Congress to pass the Stop FUNDERS Act being promoted by Sen. Ted Cruz, Rep. Beth Van Duyne, and other MAGA Republicans. FBI Director Kash Patel endorsed the legislation at a congressional hearing last month.

Cruz told Fox News this month that his legislation would allow the Justice Department to “prosecute the money” that is funding “No Kings” protests and suggested without offering any evidence that the more than 200 organizations that have supported the overwhelmingly peaceful “No Kings” protests are part of a “criminal enterprise.”

Advocates warn that the Cruz legislation would, especially in the hands of the nakedly politicized Trump Justice Department, threaten freedom of speech and the right to dissent:

The legislation “would dangerously lower the bar for government investigations into Americans exercising their right to peaceful demonstration,” said Cole Leiter, executive director of Americans Against Government Censorship, a coalition of progressive and labor groups that launched late last year.

“By branding protest as a criminal activity, this bill threatens to intimidate people from engaging in peaceful, lawful advocacy and puts everyday Americans at risk of being dragged into sprawling investigations,” he added.

Trump has publicly demanded that the Justice Department deploy the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – known as RICO – to prosecute his political opponents and progressive organizations and funders.

The Cruz bill would allow the federal government to, in Cruz’s words, “use the full suite of RICO tools against entities who fund or coordinate violent interstate riots.” According to Cruz’s office, those tools include “joint liability and group prosecution, conspiracy charges, asset forfeiture, and enhanced criminal penalties.” The Cruz press release claims the act would also “deter abuse of nonprofit status and expose hidden financial pipelines behind politically motivated violence.”

In his “war on the left,” Trump and his allies have repeatedly smeared and threatened philanthropists George and Alex Soros and the Open Society Foundations. The Guardian noted recently that Trump’s unsubstantiated claims “provided more specificity to a threat that liberal non-profits have been planning for since his election victory last year: a crackdown on their organizations and major Democratic funders designed to intimidate them from carrying out their work, waste their time with investigations and ultimately hobble the opposition.”

The Open Society Foundations recently responded to Trump administration attacks, saying in part:

Our activities are peaceful and lawful, and our grantees are expected to abide by human rights principles and comply with the law.

These accusations are politically motivated attacks on civil society, meant to silence speech the administration disagrees with and undermine the first amendment right to free speech. When power is abused to take away the rights of some people, it puts the rights of all people at risk.

Our work in the United States is dedicated to strengthening democracy and upholding constitutional freedoms. We stand by the work we do to improve lives in the United States and across the world.

Dozens of civil society organizations have condemned the Trump administration's attacks on the Open Society Foundations. In addition, People For the American Way has denounced “President Trump’s campaign to weaponize the entire federal government against anyone who stands in the way of his destructive agenda.”

Heritage Action is also urging the House to “establish — and dedicate adequate time, authority, staff, and resources to — a select committee to investigate the rise of left-wing terrorism.” In reality, there is evidence that “most domestic terrorists in the U.S. are politically on the right, and right-wing attacks account for the vast majority of fatalities from domestic terrorism.”

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12-15 ppl?

Adam Lynch

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KASH INVIS AFTER GOT GIG?

decorate office but never there, lives in las vegas? BONGINO keeps twting IOU bc got no crimes and base demands scalps 4 25 5 25 whines wif is struggling, he has bad roommate in DC?}:

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AN 8 25

FASCISM

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has agreed to a request from U.S. Senator John Cornyn to locate the Texas Democratic state lawmakers who exited the state in an effort to deny Republicans a quorum—part of a broader attempt to block Governor Greg Abbott and President Donald Trump’s push to redraw congressional maps and boost GOP-held House seats, the Texas Republican announced Thursday.

“We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities,” Senator Cornyn said in a statement that referred to the Texas Democrats as “supposed lawmakers.”

Axios reported that “Texas issued civil warrants for the Democratic lawmakers, but local law enforcement can’t make arrests outside the state.”

The Texas Democrats are in Illinois, according to that state’s Democratic governor, JB Pritzker.

Legal and political experts are blasting the move.

“There’s literally no federal law applicable to this situation. None,” Governor Pritzker Jessica Yellin on Wednesday, according to Axios.

“The key question here is on what grounds would the FBI be doing this,” wrote MSNBC Justice and Intelligence correspondent Ken Dilanian. “What is the crime they are investigating? The FBI can’t just use its vast surveillance powers to locate random citizens. In fact, that’s what conservatives have long been so concerned about re FISA authorities.”

“This is a patently unlawful, unconstitutional abuse of federal power,” constitutional law professor and political scientist Anthony Michael Kreis said on Thursday.

“We are in a deeply dangerous, illiberal place in America when the federal government will deploy law enforcement to force state legislators to act on legislation that’s contrary to their conscience and an attempt to undermine free elections,” Kreis added.

The Atlantic’s Dr. Norman Ornstein, a political scientist, addressed Senator Cornyn: “John, I understand your need to tilt crazy right to counter your lunatic primary challenger. But calling on the FBI to act illegally and wrongly to go after Texas Democrats is beneath you, and simply shameful. You used to believe in the law and the Constitution.”

Asking what “criminal interest” the FBI could have in this, U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) called it “yet another disgusting partisan abuse of power by the FBI,” and said that “any agent asked to assist should refuse to do so.”

Watch video of Governor Pritzker below or at this link.

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an 7 25 ah

During his first presidency, Donald Trump angrily clashed with some of his own appointees to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) — including two U.S. attorneys general: Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr. And he ended up hating Christopher A. Wray, the conservative Republican he chose to replace James Comey as FBI director.

The fact that Wray enjoyed strong bipartisan support and remained as FBI director under former President Joe Biden intensified Trump's disdain for him. And when he nominated far-right conspiracy theorist Kash Patel for that position, Trump sent out a loud message that he wanted ultra-MAGA loyalists running the FBI.

In an article published on July 29, attorney/legal expert Quinta Jurecic warns that six months into Trump's second presidency, the FBI is in total disarray.

Jurecic points to the resignation of former FBI special agent Michael Feinberg as a prime example of the agency's dysfunction: Feinberg, according to Jurecic, was under pressure merely for being friends with a former agent who was critical of Trump. Feinberg, like Wray, resigned before Trump had a chance to fire him.

"The FBI has long seen itself as an organization built on expertise," Jurecic explains. "Its founder, J. Edgar Hoover, was an early and devoted advocate of professionalizing the government bureaucracy, to the point of mandating that agents wear a dark suit and striped tie. Now, however, the bureau is in the early stages of something like a radical deprofessionalization. The most important quality for an FBI official to have now appears to be not competence but loyalty. The exiling of Feinberg and others like him is an effort to engineer and accelerate this transformation."

Jurecic continues, "Feinberg’s boss, Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans, didn't allege any misconduct on his part, Feinberg told me. Rather, as Feinberg set out in his resignation letter…. Evans explained that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino had found out that Feinberg had maintained a friendship with the former counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok, a longtime target of Trump's ire."

Feinberg, Jurecic notes, is lamenting the "decay" of the FBI.

"An FBI without constraint or apolitical oversight is exactly what Trump wants, and what Bongino and FBI Director Kash Patel seem to be working toward," the attorney warns. "Trump launched his 2024 campaign by declaring to his supporters, 'I am your retribution,' and in their previous lives as MAGA influencers, both Patel and Bongino voiced support for locking up the president's opponents. Citing 'Justice Department sources,' Fox News recently reported that the FBI has opened a criminal investigation into former intelligence chiefs who led the government's assessment of Russian election interference in 2016."

Jurecic continues, "In the first Trump Administration, such a blatant use of the FBI for political ends would have been an unthinkable breach of law-enforcement independence. But the FBI's new leadership has been pushing out many of those who might object. So many people have been driven away, in fact, that after his departure, Feinberg found himself adopted by what he calls an 'exile community' of former Justice Department and FBI officials working to help one another adjust to post-government life."

During his interview with Jurecic, the conservative Feinberg — who was active in the Federalist Society in the past — was highly critical of Trump's politicization of the FBI as well as the way U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with the FBI's help, is handling deportations. And thinks that wearing masks is a bad idea for ICE agents.

Feinberg told Jurecic, "I was absolutely furious. We live in a democracy. We are an organization that serves the public. We do not hide from our actions."

*Quinta Jurecic's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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AN 7 25

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Monday that the Justice Department has released a declassified appendix from the 2018 Inspector General’s report, shedding new light on the FBI’s investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

This step follows a long-standing appeal from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, who has consistently advocated for more openness about the investigation.

Grassley released the document on Monday after receiving it from Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel.

The newly released appendix shows the FBI retrieved thumb drives, described as containing hacked State Department data, including messages from former President Barack Obama — but did not fully analyze their contents, per theWashington Examiner.

The Clinton email controversy dates back to 2009–2013, when Clinton conducted official business via a private, home-based email system. The FBI concluded she had been “extremely careless” but did not find evidence of criminal intent, opting not to press charges.

Bondi’s Monday announcement also intersects with ongoing controversy over the handling of documents related to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Conservatives had pressed for the release of Epstein’s “client list,” but a DOJ-FBI memo later said that no such list existed and emphasized that most materials remain sealed to protect victims.

Responding to calls for further disclosure, the Justice Department filed a request Friday to unseal grand jury transcripts in the Epstein case — following directives from President Donald Trump and public pressure.

However, legal experts have warnedthat the request is unlikely to reveal much new information, pointing out that grand jury presentations in the Southern District of New York usually include only enough detail to support an indictment, not exhaustive evidence.

Meanwhile, Bondi's Monday decision was criticized as a "distraction" on social media.

Podcaster Brian Allen wrote on the social platform X: "Trump’s DOJ just reopened the Clinton email investigation — releasing documents from the failed 2016 probe under James Comey. Pam Bondi’s DOJ says this is about 'transparency.' But we all know what this really is: political theater to distract from the Epstein fallout and criminal referrals now hitting Trump’s own administration. They’re flailing. And they’re running out of cards to play."

Another X user wrote: "NEW: Here we go again… it’s 2025 and they’re still yelling 'BUT HER EMAILS!' Pam Bondi is releasing more Clinton email drama, because when Trump world feels the Epstein heat, they always reach for Hillary. It’s not about justice or anything serious, other than about a distraction for MAGA base. The smoke machine is on full blast."

"The desperation is so obvious," wrote another account.

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AN 7 25

The New York Times Editorial Board says President Donald Trump has derailed countless investigations on his road to turning the F.B.I. into an “enforcement agency for MAGA’s priorities.”

“Over the past five months, many F.B.I. agents, including top managers and national security experts, have been fired, pressured to leave or transferred to lesser roles. Hundreds have resigned on their own, unwilling to follow the demands of the Trump administration,” the Times writes. “Their absence has left a vacuum in divisions that are supposed to protect the public,” obliterating “decades of experience in national security and criminal matters.”

One former Justice Department official told NBC News the decimation of the senior ranks has left it “completely unprepared to respond to a crisis, including the fallout from the current conflict in the Middle East.” Meanwhile, Trump’s department politicization has left it less able to “combat terrorism, foreign espionage, biosecurity threats, organized crime, online scams, white-collar crime, drug trafficking and more” the board claims.

Trump’s “first priority” with the F.B.I. is loyalty, the Times says, and this explains why the F.B.I. “looked the other way” instead of investigating when senior officials recently disclosed sensitive information in a Signal group chat. Trump installed political hacks Kash Patel and Dan Bongino as director and second-in-command, and they’ve assigned agents to pursue “long-running MAGA grievances,” including conspiracies that China “helped manipulate the results of the 2020 election.”

“Mr. Trump spent years baselessly accusing the F.B.I. and the Justice Department of being weaponized against him; now he is turning federal law enforcement into the very thing he claimed it was: a political enforcer,” the Times warns.

Along with conspiracy theories, the board says the administration is pulling agents away from areas that present true risks to the country and making them search for undocumented immigrants “who have no criminal record.”

Because of what it does, the Times says the F.B.I. has “a particular need to demonstrate that it deserves the nation’s confidence. And that agents “need to know that their managers and civilian leaders have their backs and don’t consider them to be jackals.”

“The public — on which the bureau relies for tips and cooperation — has to trust that agents operate without political bias,” the Times adds. “By abusing that trust, Mr. Trump, Mr. Patel and Mr. Bongino have put the reputation and effectiveness of the F.B.I. at risk. In doing so, they are risking the safety of the American public.”

Read the full New York Times report at this link.

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Several senior officials in President Donald Trump's administration are now finding themselves in the crosshairs of Trump's MAGA base, who are upset with their inability to follow through on promises to get to the bottom of unproven conspiracy theories.

According to a Sunday report in the New York Times, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino have all experienced MAGA's wrath on multiple occasions since they were confirmed to their positions. Bondi was lambasted for giving far-right, pro-Trump activists binders full of material that was teased as new revelations about the late convicted child predator Jeffrey Epstein, only to disappoint them once it was found that there was no new information contained in those binders.

Similarly, Bongino acknowledged that Epstein did indeed take his own life in a prison cell while awaiting trial in 2019 (though a DOJ Office of the Inspector General report issued in 2023 found that there were numerous failures by staff to prevent his death by suicide). This deflated conspiracy theorists who had argued — as Trump himself has insinuated — that Epstein was murdered by someone connected to his client base of rich and powerful people.

As for Patel, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones accused him of "gaslighting" the American public for failing to deliver promised results about the Epstein case during a recent interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. Jones asserted that the FBI director was "committing political suicide" by maintaining that Epstein alone was responsible for his own death.

The Times reported that the MAGA faithful have been more vocal in their condemnations of Bondi, Bongino and Patel in response to their handling of the Epstein case. Trump supporter Suzzanne Monk – who has repeatedly bemoaned the treatment of participants in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol — said that Trump's base is divided between "Camp Be Patient" and "Camp Demand Results," and that she is firmly on the side of the latter.

Patel and Bongino have since announced new investigations into three high-profile cases: The discovery of cocaine at the White House in 2023, the leaking of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court opinion that overturned Roe v. Wade and the discovery of pipe bombs left outside of the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee buildings on January 6. But former Newsmax White House correspondent Emerald Robinson criticized those new investigations as a distraction.

"Dan Bongino & Kash Patel know they destroyed their credibility by claiming that ‘Jeffrey Epstein killed himself’ so now they’re trying to offer up three investigations you don’t care about to misdirect you from the Epstein files you do care about," Robinson wrote. "Sad!"

Click here to read the Times' full report (subscription required).

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fBI Director Kash Patel announced Monday on X, formerly Twitter, that federal agents have arrested a suspect in the February arson attack on a Tesla facility in New Mexico.

Newsweek reached out to the bureau's National Press Office via phone call on Monday for comment.

Why It Matters

The latest arrest comes as part of the President Donald Trump administration's intensified response to what it has classified as domestic terrorism targeting Tesla vehicles and company properties.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced just days ago that four other Tesla protesters had been arrested, with all suspects potentially facing up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Why Are People Protesting Tesla?

Protests against Tesla have ramped up due to CEO Elon Musk's prominent role in the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Musk has become the face of efforts to slash federal government spending, with his team gaining access to sensitive personal data of Americans, including Social Security information. DOGE has faced multiple lawsuits from labor and rights groups seeking to prevent potential data misuse.

Critics have also highlighted what they perceive as conflicts of interest, noting that Musk continues to increase his federal government contracts—reportedly earning $8 million daily—while simultaneously cutting federal agencies. His influence has led some to refer to him as "President Musk," particularly after incidents such as addressing reporters alongside Trump behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

What to Know About the Suspect

How Violent Have Tesla Protests Been?

Tesla-related protests have escalated from superficial vandalism to the more severe. Some protesters have spray-painted vehicles with Nazi symbols, referencing a controversial gesture Musk made during Trump's second inauguration, which many interpreted as a Nazi salute.

More serious incidents have involved incendiary devices, with Trump referencing video footage showing "up to a dozen vehicles burning at a showroom." The FBI noted that most attacks occur at night and involve "rudimentary tactics, such as improvised incendiary devices and firearms."

Patel on Monday announced the arrest on X: "I can now report that on Saturday morning, our @FBIAlbuquerque team and the @ATFPhoenix arrested an individual who we believe to be responsible for the February arson attack on a New Mexico Tesla facility."

He added: "The evidence in this case stemmed from our ongoing investigation of the March arson attack on the New Mexico Republican Party HQ. Evidence recovered at the scene strongly suggests that this weekend, our brave agents prevented further planned arson attacks. Amazing work from our teams, ATF colleagues, and regional law enforcement partners executing the mission. Under @AGPamBondi's leadership, this is part of our FBI mandate to locate those responsible for the domestic terrorist attacks on Tesla and promptly bring them to justice. Justice will be done."

Bondi, in a March 18 statement: "The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism. The Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences. We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes."

Musk shared a video in March of protesters confronting a Cybertruck driver, writing on X: "It is time to arrest those funding the attacks. Arresting their puppets and paid foot-soldiers won't stop the violence."

Trump has taken a hard-line stance against vandals, writing on Truth Social in March: "I look forward to watching the sick terrorist thugs get 20-year jail sentences for what they are doing to Elon Musk and Tesla. Perhaps they could serve them in the prisons of El Salvador, which have become so recently famous for such lovely conditions!"

What Happens Next

The FBI will continue investigating other Tesla-related incidents, particularly focusing on potential connections between attacks. Law enforcement agencies are coordinating responses across multiple states to address what the administration characterizes as a coordinated campaign against Tesla.

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mint

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has formed a joint task force with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to investigate a surge in vandalism and arson incidents targeting Tesla showrooms and charging stations. The move follows a wave of violent acts against the electric vehicle giant, which FBI Diretor Kash Patel has labeled as "domestic terrorism".

"The FBI has been investigating the increase in violent activity toward Tesla, and over the last few days, we have taken additional steps to crack down and coordinate our response," Kash Patel stated on X (formerly Twitter). “This is domestic terrorism. Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice.”

Charlie Kirk: “These are members of Congress that stormed into a federal ICE facility despite warnings. They should absolutely be charged for this.”}:

The newly established task force will include special agents and intelligence analysts from the ATF and members of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, including its Domestic Terrorism Operations Section and Weapons of Mass Destruction unit, as per The New York Post.

Escalating attacks and Federal response

According to the FBI, incidents of vandalism against Tesla properties have been recorded in at least nine states since January. In Austin, where Tesla's headquarters is located, police discovered incendiary devices at a showroom on Monday.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also weighed in on the situation earlier, stating, "Attacks on Tesla property are nothing short of domestic terrorism. We will prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law."

Musk's role in Trump Administration fuels backlash

The attacks appear to be linked to increasing public opposition toward Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who serves as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency in President Donald Trump’s administration. Musk’s prominent role in the government and his close ties to Trump have led to a wave of protests, some of which have turned violent.

President Trump himself has vowed to take a hard stance against the perpetrators. "We will not tolerate these cowardly acts of vandalism and terror. Those responsible will face severe consequences," he said in a statement. He also suggested deporting convicted vandals to a US-rented prison in El Salvador for 20-year sentences.

Coordinated protests and calls for nonviolence

While violent attacks have occurred, a group known as Tesla Takedown has been organising peaceful demonstrations. The group, which includes activists, celebrities, and politicians, has scheduled a global day of protest for March 29, aiming for demonstrations at 500 Tesla locations worldwide.

"We do not condone violence," the group said in a statement. "Our protests are meant to be peaceful demonstrations against Musk's role in government overreach and his influence on economic policies."

Despite their stance against destruction, tensions continue to rise. From Brooklyn to Austin to the Bay Area, protests at Tesla showrooms have gained momentum, drawing more participants each week. In Canada, anger over Trump’s tariffs and Musk’s political influence has spilled over, leading to attacks such as the vandalism of 80 Tesla vehicles in Hamilton, Ontario.

Also Read | Donald Trump announces he will levy tariffs on ‘autos, aluminium, pharma' soon

Tesla's response and security measures

In response to the ongoing threats, Tesla has activated additional security features at its showrooms. Elon Musk addressed the situation during a surprise company-wide meeting streamed on his X platform, assuring employees that the company remains strong despite stock turbulence.

"We are overall good," Musk said, encouraging employees to stay committed. “Hang on to your stock.”

Also Read | Chinese EV maker BYD beats Elon Musk's Tesla with over $100 bn revenue

---

The FBI has created a task force dedicated to investigating Tesla attacks, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed on X on Monday.

Why it matters: It's the latest step by the Trump administration to use the full weight of the government to both promote and defend Elon Musk's car company.

What they're saying: "This is domestic terrorism," Patel said. "Those responsible will be pursued, caught, and brought to justice."

The task force will operate in conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

State of play: The announcement came hours after multiple "incendiary" devices were found at a Tesla dealer in Austin, Texas, CNBC reported.

Three people were also charged last week on suspicion of violently destroying Tesla properties.

Trump has floated sending anti-Tesla protesters to a notorious prison in El Salvador if convicted.

Zoom out: Tesla has become a flashpoint for cultural divisions over Trump and the MAGA movement.

Tesla sales have slumped in the first quarter, with delivery projections down by more than 4%. The company's stock has also declined.

There have been #TeslaTakedown protests at dealerships nationwide, in response to Musk's role in the DOGE-driven cuts to the federal workforce and agencies, with organizers urging people to sell their vehicles and get rid of their stock.

Rebecca Falconer

Updated Mar 19, 2025 -

Business

FBI investigating attacks targeting Tesla dealerships and cars

Burned Teslas are shown at a Tesla Collision Center after an individual used incendiary devices to set several vehicles on fire on March 18, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Burned Teslas are shown at a Tesla collision center after an individual used incendiary devices to set several vehicles on fire in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Tuesday. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The FBI is investigating attacks targeting Tesla vehicles and dealerships of the EV company and related swatting incidents, bureau deputy director Dan Bongino said Wednesday night.

Why it matters: There's been a spate of such incidents that President Trump and other administration officials have denounced as acts of "domestic terrorism" amid #TeslaTakedown protests at the role of Tesla CEO Elon Musk in the DOGE-driven cuts to the federal workforce and agencies.

Sareen Habeshian

Mar 20, 2025 -

Politics & Policy

Three charged in arson attacks on Tesla properties

People participate in a "Tesla Takedown" protest against Elon Musk outside a Tesla dealership in Pasadena, California, March 8, 2025. US President Donald Trump's senior advisor Elon Musk is leading the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has cut thousands of government jobs a

People participate in a "Tesla Takedown" protest against Elon Musk outside a Tesla dealership in Pasadena, California, March 8. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Three people have been charged on suspicion of violently destroying Tesla properties, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday.

The big picture: President Trump's attorney general a day earlier characterized the recent string of vandalism at Tesla dealerships as acts of "domestic terrorism," and threatened "severe consequences" for those involved.

Avery Lotz

Mar 19, 2025 -

Business

Trump's attorney general threatens "severe" punishment for Tesla vandals

Two protesters hold signs that say "F ELON STOP COUP" and "IMPEACH PRES ELON" outside of a Tesla dealership as a Cyber Truck drives by.

People participate in a "TeslaTakedown" protest against Elon Musk outside of a Tesla dealership in Irvine, California, on March 1. Photo: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday characterized a recent string of vandalism at Tesla dealerships as acts of "domestic terrorism," and threatened "severe consequences" for anyone involved.

Why it matters: President Trump and his allies are fuming about the #TeslaTakedown movement, which has targeted DOGE leader Elon Musk's signature brand.

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05/12/25

May 12, 2025, edition ofThe Charlie Kirk Show, streamed on Rumble

CHARLIE KIRK (HOST): This is a very easy one for my friend, Kash Patel and Pam Bondi. Very easy. They went after American patriots for peacefully walking into the United States Capitol building, nonviolently, while being invited, while doors were opened, and they stayed within the lanes, the little rope lines. These are members of Congress that stormed into a federal ICE facility despite warnings. They should absolutely be charged for this, without a doubt. No one is above the law, is what we've always been saying. No one is above the law.

...

KIRK: And that's exactly what should happen. You see, the Democrats have a big problem with Immigration Customs and Enforcement. But if you assault ICE, you get consequences. If you storm an ICE facility, there will be consequences. Rob Menendez complained that they had put their hands on a member of Congress. Oh, I must have missed the memo that he was an untouchable. He thinks they should be invulnerable, that he is royalty. And by the way, his dad is literally a traitor. Bob Menendez sold our country out to Egypt for gold bars while on the Senate foreign intelligence committee, selling out American secrets for cash. And did — he also had multiple instances of near misses with the law. This guy was a disgusting person.

...

KIRK: Throw the book at them. Kash and Pam, you got all the details you need — charge these members of Congress. The facts are there. They stormed the facility. They assaulted our ICE officers. They think they are above the law. They tried to put President Trump in jail for 700 years for something he did not do. They are begging you to indict them and do it. Don't make a big show of it. Indite them. Charge them. The only way that we end the lawfare chapter in this country is reciprocity. They came after us, they assaulted ICE officers, and we will go after them.

---

OMFG

On Friday, April 25, far-right FBI Director Kash Patel announced that Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan has been arrested on federal obstruction charges for allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant "evade arrest."

On X, formerly Twitter, Patel posted, "We believe Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, allowing the subject — an illegal alien — to evade arrest…. Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public."

A law enforcement official told ABC News that Dugan was arrested at the courthouse.

According to MSNBC, Patel's tweet on Dugan was removed from X.

Group of ex-FBI agents 'accused of misconduct' rally behind FBI nominee Kash Patel: report

During an MSNBC appearance, attorney Temidayo Aganga-Williams told host José Díaz-Balart that the arrest of a judge was "unusual" but added, "I think it's going to be a pattern going forward…. I think it's only going to pick up."

Dugan's arrest is receiving plenty of reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

Some MAGA Republicans are applauding the arrest.

John Fabbricatore, a former field officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), tweeted, "Judge Hannah Dugan arrested by FBI for allegedly helping illegal alien 'evade arrest' by ICE. 'Lawfare' by these judges has to stop. This is a good start!"

Far-right MAGA radio host Benny Johnson posted, "Another rogue judge down. FAFO."

But others see Dugan's arrest as MAGA ramping up its authoritarian disdain for the rule of law.

Journalist Kristian Ramos tweeted, "I see we are now at 'arresting judges' on our path to autocracy.

"On Democracy" host Fred Wellman noted, "Marshalls appear to be confirming she was arrested and other news outlets are picking it up now."

X user Iron Goodman wrote, "This is a chilling escalation of federal overreach and raises serious questions about the scope of executive power versus judicial independence."

Another X user, Laura Okazaki, posted, "We must not look away while the feds take us another step into authoritarianism."

X user Hannah Martinez tweeted, "This is a deeply unsettling development with huge implications for the rule of law and potential abuses of power. The optics are disastrous."

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no lnxan raw

'Retribution or bust’: Trump's 'Secretary of Retribution' demands mass arrests

Ivan Raiklin takes the stage to speak at a New Hampshire Election Security Seminar presented by the New Hampshire Voter Integrity Group in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., November 19, 2021.

Jordan Green April 16, 2025

Ivan Raiklin, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who calls himself the “secretary of retribution,” has circulated a so-called “Deep State target list” of President Donald Trump’s political enemies for more than a year now.

Although his promise of spectacular “live-streamed” arrests of hundreds of political figures up to and including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on fancifully concocted charges of treason and other purported violations of law has yet to materialize, Raiklin was able to enlist new allies after Trump vacated the convictions of more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants.

Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, respectively the former leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, joined Raiklin on an X space on Sunday night to call for retaliatory arrests against those they hold responsible for the Jan. 6 prosecutions.

ALSO READ: Trump, dementia and the duty to warn

The two men were both convicted of seditious conspiracy, with Tarrio serving a 22-year sentence and Rhodes serving an 18-year sentence. Alone among the leadership cadre of the two groups, Tarrio received a full pardon, while Rhodes’s sentence was commuted.

“These are people who have already committed treason,” Raiklin said during the call on Sunday night to discuss retribution against the vast array of government officials who played a role in holding the Jan. 6 insurrectionists accountable. “I’ve seen the evidence. Those that went to January 6th and protested the illegal election knew and saw that these criminals were there.”

Tarrio joined Raiklin in urging Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to start making arrests.

“At what point do we say, ‘Enough'?” Tarrio asked. “At what point does the retaliation, the investigations, the arrests come for these people that wanted to put us in a concrete coffin?”

The FBI declined to comment on this story, and the Department of Justice did not respond to questions submitted through a web form.

But the wide-ranging discussion among Raiklin and his guests on the 99-minute X space revealed deep-seated frustration with Trump administration officials. While Trump promised “retribution” during the campaign, those seeking vindication for their roles in the effort to overturn the 2020 election have found their cause pushed aside during the second administration’s shockwave of new policies, including a global trade war, dismantling the federal government, purging DEI from the military and other institutions, menacing Greenland and the Panama Canal, threatening funding to universities, and disappearing lawful residents.

“I’ve already given up hope on Pam Bondi,” Tarrio said. He added that the recent decision by Patel to promote Steve J. Jensen, former chief of the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Operations Section, to the position of assistant director of the Washington Field Office “does not restore confidence for the American people.”

Tarrio and other pardoned Jan. 6 defendants are unhappy about Jensen’s promotion largely because of the congressional testimony of a former FBI supervisory intelligence analyst who told House Republicans that Jensen once described three individuals targeted for Jan. 6 investigations as “godd--- terrorists.”

Raiklin and Tarrio could not be reached for comment for this story.

The 98-minute discussion on Sunday often veered from the retaliatory arrests that Raiklin emphasized as the focal point.

Listeners complained that they could only hear every other word of Rhodes’ remarks, and the former Oath Keepers leader lamented that his X account had been suspended after he made a post calling for the release of another member held in custody on separate gun charges.

Compared with Raiklin and Tarrio’s remarks, Rhodes’ criticism of the Department of Justice and FBI was relatively mild.

“The more you wait, the more they’re going to destroy evidence,” Rhodes said. “So, you gotta go fast.”

Raiklin expressed the view that the Jan. 6 defendants’ best hope of retaliatory arrests lies with the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Edward R. Martin Jr., a former “Stop the Steal” campaigner.

Martin’s actions have given those who want to see Trump’s political opponents prosecuted some cause for hope.

In February, Martin sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) asking him to clarify comments he made at a March 2024 rally warning that Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh “will pay the price” and “won’t know what hit you if you go through with these awful decisions.” In a subsequent letter, Martin told Schumer: “Your cooperation is more important than ever to complete this inquiry before any action is taken. I remind you: no one is above the law.”

In a letter to another Democratic lawmaker in February, Martin requested that Rep. Robert Garcia (R-CA) clarify his comments on CNN that “the American public wants… us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight” against billionaire Elon Musk.

Martin’s probes prompted 10 lawyers, including four former Jan. 6 prosecutors, to file a letter on Monday requesting that District of Columbia Court of Appeals investigate Martin for potential violations of the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct.

“Announcing investigations against his political opponents” and other alleged misconduct, the attorneys argued, “are not worthy of the Department of Justice, undermine the Constitutional guarantee of equal protection of law, and violate Mr. Martin’s professional obligations.”

The attorneys also raised questions about Martin’s representation of Jan. 6 defendant William Pope before Martin was appointed to serve as U.S. attorney. The attorneys cited a court filing by Pope claiming that Martin suggested he request the government’s file in his case. The filing, according to the attorneys, raised questions about whether Martin “potentially gave legal advice to a defendant his office was prosecuting at the time.”

As a prosecutor, Martin has intervened directly on Rhodes’ behalf. In January, Martin successfully filed court papers seeking to overturn a federal judge’s order barring Rhodes and other convicted members of the Oath Keepers from visiting Washington, D.C. without permission. Last month, Martin spoke at a Florida political fundraiser that was attended by four of Rhodes’ Oath Keeper co-defendants, Mother Jones reported.

Asked whether Martin is considering investigating those responsible for the Jan. 6 prosecutions and potentially bringing federal charges, spokesperson Daniel Ball told Raw Story the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is “unable to confirm or deny the existence of investigations.”

Tarrio and other guests on Raiklin’s X space provided few details on who they believe should be arrested and what crimes they might have potentially committed. Raiklin, meanwhile, outlined a highly technical and legally specious case for targeting Thomas DiBiase, the general counsel for the U.S. Capitol Police, whom he described as “the key individual that weaponized against J6-ers.”

“If we get to him, he can essentially squeal on everyone else, to include the number-one high-value target, Nancy Pig-losi [sic],” Raiklin said.

The U.S. Capitol Police did not respond to an email seeking comment for this story.

On Monday, Raiklin made an X post directed at Bondi, suggesting he wants Trump’s attorney general to rack up an arrest count equivalent to the FBI’s sprawling investigation of the Jan. 6 attack.

“Retribution or bust,” he wrote. “The ball is in your hands. Shot clock ends May 31. 6 weeks remain to conduct ~1500 live-streamed swatting raids of all members of the [Deep State target list].”

But compared to a viral video that garnered 10.3 million views last May when Raiklin’s plan for “livestreamed swatting raids” against his “Deep State target list” first gained notoriety, the recent post issuing an ultimatum to Bondi has garnered paltry results: 9,100 views, 134 re-posts and 21 comments as of late Monday.

The comments from MAGA users suggest Raiklin’s influence is waning.

“What happens on June 1st?” one wrote.

“You are not going to do a god d--- thing! Blah blah blah,” another wrote.

===

an 2 25

Attorney General Pam Bondi allegesan FBI field office is withholding thousands of documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, The Independent reports. Bondi released documents on the case Thursday, but they did not contain any major revelations — and right-wing Donald Trump supporters allege the “evil deep state” is responsible for purportedly concealing information.

The documents that were released included flight logs, which had been made available previously in court cases, and his book of contacts, which has been in circulation for years. Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking charges. He was previously convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor.

“I repeatedly questioned whether this was the full set of documents responsive to my request and was repeatedly assured by the FBI that we had received the full set of documents," Bondi wrote in a letter to FBI director Kash Patel. "Late yesterday, I learned from a source that the FBI Field Office in New York was in possession of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein. Despite my repeated requests, the FBI never disclosed the existence of these files…There will be no withholdings or limitations to my or your access."

“If there are gaps, we will find them,” Patel said in a statement Thursday. “If records have been hidden, we will uncover them.”

“I nor the task force were given or reviewed the Epstein documents being released today” Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), a member of the House Oversight Committee, posted on X. “A NY Post story just revealed that the documents will simply be Epstein's phonebook. THIS IS NOT WHAT WE OR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ASKED FOR and a complete disappointment. GET US THE INFORMATION WE ASKED FOR!”

“We’re talking recordings, evidence, etc," conservative commentator Liz Wheeler posted on X. "The juicy stuff. Names. These swamp creatures at SDNY deceived Bondi, Kash, and YOU. Be outraged that the binder is boring. You should be. Because the evil deep state LIED TO YOUR FACE."

“Be very, very angry that deep state agents in the swamp at the [Southern District of New York] are at this very moment defying President Trump & AG Bondi & you who voted him into office, lying, and hiding the truth about Jeffrey Epstein because they don’t want their own corruption & weaponization of govt exposed,” she added.

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck called the files a joke. “Who is subverting POTUS?" he posted on X. "The#Epsteinfiles are a total joke. I know Kash, Pam B and The President. This is not the file. WH tells me that they believe the usual suspects FBI/SDNY has the actual#EpsteinClientList and are refusing to turn it over. THIS IS AN INTERNAL CIVIL WAR if true."

--==

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no lnx

Convicted Oath Keepers' leader now wants to fight 'snitch culture' in the government

Stewart Rhodes

Image via the Collin County Jail.

Sarah Burris,Matt Lasloand Raw StoryFebruary 21, 2025

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, the founder and former leader of the Oath Keepers, told reporters at CPAC Thursday that he would enjoy working for the FBI or for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison after being convicted of sedition after the January 6 insurrection, had his sentence commuted by President Donald Trump. Now he wants to go to work for the government.

On Thursday, he said that he wants to help more people, who he calls "political prisoners," get out of prison.

"We have a lot of political prisoners in this country, not just J6ers but other people too," he said, noting it is his new crusade to make radical changes to law enforcement.

"I want to see the snitch culture and the entrapment culture at the FBI and DHS changed," he continued. "And until that happens, I feel a little bad about having people join a group where they could be entrapped by a flood of agents."

"I want to see that fixed," he said. "In fact, I could help do that. I want to work for Kash Patel to clean the FBI up or Tulsi Gabbard. So I want to help clean up this corruption in government."

To work for the FBI, "public record must be in good standing with no felony convictions," the agency's website reads.

Rhodes also showed reporters a new tattoo that he got in prison. It features Trump's shooting scene, in which a bullet grazed his ear during a campaign rally.

"I believe that's when he won the election," said Rhodes, noting in that moment, Trump stood up "like a man."

See the videos below or at the link here

www.youtube.com

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AN 2 25

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rww

02/12/2025

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is pushing for a Feb. 13 confirmation vote on Kash Patel, Trump’s nominee for director of the FBI, despite evidence that Patel may have lied to the committee during his confirmation hearing. Grassley has rejected Democratic senators’ call for Patel to be brought back for additional questioning.

FBI Purge and Potential Perjury

During his confirmation hearing, Patel assured senators that he did not know what was going on at the FBI, where senior officials were already being purged, and pledged to honor the agency’s internal review process. Since then, multiple FBI whistleblowers have reported that Patel has actually been orchestrating and accelerating an ideological purge of FBI agents. If those reports are true, Patel lied under oath to the committee, which is a criminal offense.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have called for Patel to be brought back for more questioning to address the perjury allegations and to call on Patel to address how the firing of officials overseeing efforts to fight international and domestic terrorism, cybersecurity threats, human and drug trafficking, and violent crime have, in Sen. Dick Durbin’s words, “greatly weakened the FBI’s ability to protect the country from national security threats and made America less safe.”

The Not Above the Law Coalition also urged committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley to investigate the claims and bring Patel back for more questioning. “The Senate must get to the bottom of these claims and ensure that the FBI can still guarantee the safety of the American people. If Congress does not assert its oversight prerogatives now, it will have forever conceded its vital role as a check on executive power and overreach.”

Payment for Putin Propaganda?

Since his hearing, the Washington Post has reported that Patel “was paid $25,000 last year by a film company owned by a Russian national who also holds U.S. citizenship and has produced programs promoting ‘deep state’ conspiracy theories and anti-Western views advanced by the Kremlin.” Patel appeared in a pro-Trump film promoted by Tucker Carlson. As the Washington Post reported, Patel vowed to “shut down the FBI headquarters building and open it up as a museum to the ‘deep state.’”

Cashing in and Conflicts of Interest

The seeming unlikeliness that Patel would be willing to stand up to an illegal order from Trump is amplified by reports that Patel was recently given a stock award from Trump’s media company worth more than $800,000, which Bloomberg reported “didn’t appear on Patel’s financial disclosure or ethics agreement, which detail how federal appointees will handle potential conflicts of interest.”

Patel’s financial disclosures did reveal that he’s planning to keep at least between $1 million and $5 million in stock he got for eight months of work as a consultant to the parent corporation of a Chinese fast-fashion company that has been accused of committing human right abuses and violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

What Are Patel's Evasions Hiding?

Patel was evasive at best in dealing with questions about his frequent appearances with bigoted far-right broadcast Stew Peters and his own extreme statements. Peters was unequivocal in his response: “Clearly, Kash Patel is lying.”

Under oath at his confirmation hearings and in response to written questions, Patel repeatedly employed some form of this evasive statement: “This language is taken out of context and does not accurately or fully represent my prior statements or positions on these issues.” But he does not explain how his own words supposedly do not represent his positions. As Right Wing Watch has noted:

Patel represents a clear threat to freedom of the press. He has called “government gangsters” and the media “pure evil.” He has pledged to “come after” the mainstream media, which he called in his 2024 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference “the most powerful enemy that the United States has ever seen.”

In what context could those quotes be anything other than deeply disturbing for a potential FBI Director in an administration that is already aggressively attacking freedom of the press?

Demand Another Hearing

Add your voice to calls for Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley to hold another hearing so Kash Patel can be held accountable and answer these crucial questions under oath. http://peoplefor.org/PatelHearing

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trms

took 25K from russian propaganda

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rww

02/04/2025

Dan Friedman @ Mother Jones: It Sure Looks Like Kash Patel Lied to Congress

Patel appeared to mislead senators about the “J6 Prison Choir.” Republicans don’t care.

Diana Falzone @ Mediaite: RFK Jr.’s Anti-Vaxx Group Paid Nearly $1 Million to Woman Who Accused Him of Sexual Misconduct

A woman who worked with the anti-vaccine nonprofit run by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accused him of sexual misconduct and was paid a nearly $1 million settlement as part of a nondisclosure agreement in late 2020, multiple sources told Mediaite.

William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Pete Hegseth’s New Press Sec Has His Own Alarming Backstory

A Trump-endorsed Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, [Sean] Parnell dropped out of that race in late 2021 after it became known that his estranged wife, Laurie Snell, had accused him of spousal and child abuse.

Mikael Thalen @ Daily Dot: ‘Proud Boys’ no longer allowed to be ‘Proud Boys’ after name rights given to Black church

The Proud Boys lost the rights to their name on Monday after a judge ruled that it now belongs to a Black church in Washington, D.C.

Rebecca Hopkins @ The Roys Report: IHOPKC Founder Mike Bickle Sexually Abused 17 Women, Investigation Finds

Mike Bickle, founder of the International House of Prayer-Kansas City (IHOPKC) groomed and sexually abused 17 women, some of whom were minors, according to an independent investigation released tonight. In some cases, the abuse constituted rape, the investigation found.

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rww

David Gilbert @ Wired: Kash Patel Says He Never Promoted QAnon. Here Are All The Times He Did

Kash Patel helped keep the QAnon movement alive on Truth Social, interacting with Q accounts, appearing on QAnon podcasts, and signing his children’s books with a QAnon catchphrase.

===

RWW

01/31/2025

During his confirmation hearing Thursday, President Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI Director Kash Patel feigned ignorance when Democratic senators asked about his frequent appearances on a show hosted by rabid conspiracy theorist and antisemitic extremist Stew Peters. Patel’s response should encourage senators to question the truthfulness of Patel’s assurances that somehow his future actions will not reflect his own past behavior and rhetoric.

When Sen. Dick Durbin asked Patel if he was familiar with Stew Peters, Patel’s response was “Not off the top of my head.” When reminded by Durbin that he had appeared on Peters’ show eight times, and with other extremists as well, Patel claimed that he used his media appearances to “take on people who are putting on conspiratorial theories” and “to talk to them about the truth.”

“Clearly, Kash Patel is lying,” said Peters in response. “He absolutely does know who I am.”

Peters shared some details: “Fight with Kash came to the aid of Stew Peters and 'The Stew Peters Show' because of Kash Patel personally, who personally knew me because of multiple appearances on this program, and then we exchanged contact information, and we directly text via personal cell phones constantly, and we’re on the phone with each other as Fight with Kash was hiring a team of attorneys to represent Stew Peters and the Stew Peters network against the Rolling Stone. So he absolutely knows who I am.”

To be clear, Right Wing Watch does not take at face value anything Peters says. But there’s at least some evidence to suggest that he may be being more truthful than Patel.

In an appearance on Peters’ show three years ago, Patel talked about creating Fight with Kash to raise money to support people bringing defamation suits against the mainstream media. (Patel has filed multiple defamation suits on his own behalf.) When Peters mentioned that he was suing Newsweek, Patel said, “Let me know if you need help.”

Let’s consider Patel’s claim that his purpose in going on far-right shows like Peters’ was to take on people who promote conspiracy theories. During a show about the trial of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking enabler Ghislaine Maxwell, Patel let go unchallenged the assertion Epstein was murdered in prison and Peters’ declaration that “I’m sure the Clinton’s had something to do with it.” During another appearance, Patel failed to take on Peters’ claims that the 2020 election was “a Marxist coup” or his assertion about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that “100 percent this is George Soros’s war.” To be absolutely fair, in response to questions from Peters, Patel did say that Epstein is really dead and that Special Counsel John Durham’s review of an FBI investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was an actual investigation and not a “psyop.”

Speaking of Durham, it’s good to remember that Patel entered MAGA insiderdom with his work for Rep. Devin Nunes investigating “Crossfire Hurricane,” the FBI’s code name for its investigation of Russian election interference. On one of Peters’ shows, Patel claimed that the supposed FBI plot against Trump was the “biggest political scandal in the history of the United States of America, if not the world.” Ultimately, Durham’s three-and-a-half year investigation resulted in one guilty plea by a low-level FBI lawyer and the acquittal of the two people Durham brought to trial, leading the Washington Post to conclude that his investigation, “which conservative commentators once anticipated would expose a ‘deep state’ scheme to undermine then-candidate Trump,” had actually “uncovered next to nothing.”

During his hearing, Patel repeatedly dismissed questions about his own troubling rhetoric by saying that he didn’t have the quotes in front of him, or that they were taken out of context and represented “gross mischaracterizations” of his positions. Let’s hope the senators push for actual responses in writing to Patel’s well-documented assertions, such has his claim during a speech at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference that the mainstream media is “the most powerful enemy that the United States has ever seen.” In what possible context does that not signal a dire threat to freedom of the press from an FBI director taking orders from Donald Trump?

As Democratic senators pointed out at the hearing, a number of high-level Republicans who worked with Patel have opposed his confirmation. So have many civil and human rights organizations. You can sign People For the American Way’s petition in opposition here.

===

RWW

01/30/2025

Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Following deadly plane crash, Trump blames Democrats, DEI without evidence

Expectations were low ahead of the president's comments on the Flight 5342 crash. With his ugly and partisan rhetoric, Trump failed to clear a low bar.

David Edwards @ Raw Story: 'Did DEI play a role?' House GOP lawmaker suggests diversity to blame for D.C. plane crash

Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee suggested Thursday that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts could be to blame for a mid-air collision near Reagan Washington National Airport that was suspected of killing more than 60 people Wednesday night.

Angry White Men: Oklahoma State Rep. Gabe Woolley Appears On Show Hosted By Holocaust Denier Stew Peters (Again)

Oklahoma state Rep. Gabe Woolley unveiled a bill to change how child abuse cases are handled — and pave the way for Oklahoma Department of Human Services workers to be charged with kidnapping. To promote the bill, Rep. Woolley appeared on the show of Nazi sympathizer and Holocaust denier Stew Peters.

Mikael Thalen @ The Daily Dot: Kash Patel’s close ties to prominent conspiracy theorists called out at confirmation hearing

Patel attempted to distance himself from numerous conspiratorial figures.

Emell Derra Adolphus @ The Daily Beast: Right-Wing Priest Booted From Church After Imitating Musk’s Salute

A right-wing priest was booted from his church after trying to imitate the controversial “salute” Elon Musk performed at an inaugural rally for President Donald Trump last week.

Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Why Former Followers Of Her Guru Fear Tulsi Gabbard As Director Of National Intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard’s ties to Chris Butler, a controversial spiritual leader with extreme views and a history of allegedly mistreating his flock, have made headlines throughout her political career. And, after Donald Trump nominated her to serve as his director of national intelligence, one of the top Cabinet posts leading the national security apparatus, some fear her guru could be set to wield a dangerous level of influence.

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Kash Patel’s close ties to prominent conspiracy theorists called out at confirmation hearing

Patel attempted to distance himself from numerous conspiratorial figures.

[

Mikael Thalen](https://www.dailydot.com/author/mikael-thalen/)

Posted on January 30 2025

@PalmBeachPost/YouTube

Kash Patel’s close ties to conspiracy theorists came under intense scrutiny today during his confirmation hearing to be President Donald Trump’s FBI Director.

Featured Video

While being questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Patel was asked by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) to explain his association with far-right figures, including Laura Loomer, as a giant image of the Trump-aligned conspiracy theorist was held up in the background.

“Mr. Patel, you’ve frequently associated with and sometimes praised extremist figures with well-documented histories of racism, antisemitism, conspiracies, and the like,” Durbin said. “In September 2023, you appeared with Laura Loomer at an event promoting your book. You shared a photo of yourself and Loomer in which you held her book and she held yours.”

Durbin continued by listing numerous instances in which Loomer shared conspiratorial views about topics such as the 9/11 terror attacks, before asking Patel to expound on the pair’s relationship.

In an attempt to distance himself from Loomer, Patel responded by insinuating that he was largely unaware of the conspiracy theorist.

“Senator, as you can see, I took a photograph with an individual who showed up at a book event,” Patel said. “I don’t believe I’m guilty by association.”

Patel went on to mention his previous role under Trump’s first administration as “the first minority to serve as deputy director of national intelligence” in an attempt to dismiss any suggestion that he could hold racial biases.

The moment quickly caught the attention of Loomer, who called for Patel to be confirmed after unleashing a long-winded diatribe against Durbin.

“This is why I get attacked and I am PROUD to fight for President Trump and his nominees,” Loomer wrote on X. “I will take the arrows if it means they all get confirmed.”

But it wasn’t just Loomer whose ties to Patel were mentioned during the hearing.

Durbin also questioned Trump’s nominee over his history with antisemitic conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, known best for producing a widely debunked anti-vaccine documentary.

Patel denied being aware of Peters “off the top” of his head but was reminded that he had appeared on Peters’ podcast at least eight times.

In response, Patel suggested that he had appeared on Peters’ show as part of an effort to debunk conspiracy theories and promote “the truth.”

Despite attempts to distance himself from conspiratorial figures, Patel himself has espoused and defended fringe claims over the years, including those related to QAnon.

Prior to the hearing, Patel published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal vowing to “remain focused on the FBI’s core mission and not involve the bureau in prosecutorial decisions” if confirmed.

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01/22/2025

Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Senators confront new allegations against Pete Hegseth ahead of confirmation vote

As senators weigh the Pentagon nominee's fate, the former Fox News host is dealing with yet another personal controversy.

Zachary Leeman @ Mediaite: Mike Johnson Vows to Investigate Biden’s ‘Disgusting’ Pardons Moments After Saying We Shouldn’t ‘Look Backwards’ at Trump Pardons

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Congress will be “looking” into former President Joe Biden’s pardons for his family shortly after defending President Donald Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 Capitol rioters.

Kevin Drum @ Jabberwocking: Trump pardons would-be murderer as reward for campaign support

[Ross] Ulbricht is free now, solely because libertarians supported Trump and this is the payoff they asked for. That's how our president operates, ladies and gentlemen.

Thomas Joscelyn and Norman Eisen @ The Bulwark: What Kash Patel Doesn’t Want the Senate to Know About the ‘J6 Prison Choir’

Several singers in the choir’s track he produced assaulted cops on January 6th.

Media Matters: On Infowars, newly freed Enrique Tarrio calls for retribution

“The people who did this, they need to feel the heat. They need to be put behind bars."

David Corn @ Mother Jones: A Brazen Moment of Christian Nationalism at Trump’s Inauguration

At a rally the day before the ceremony, the Girls Gone Bible podcasters called on God to condemn Trump’s critics.

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01/17/2025

The America First Policy Institute, a MAGA movement think tank founded by former Trump aides, has raised millions in tax-exempt funds to promote policies that would undermine public education, restrict access to abortion, limit voter registration and voting, roll back environmental protections, gut government’s ability to regulate corporate behavior, pursue campaigns against transgender people, and more.

AFPI has provided money, an institutional home, and political platforms to many of the people Trump has nominated to run the country; quite a few high-level Trump nominees have AFPI connections, including:

Pam Bondi, Attorney General (Chair, AFPI Center for Litigation; co-chair Center for Law and Justice)
Kash Patel, FBI (Senior Fellow, AFPI Center for American Security)
Linda McMahon, Education (Board chair; chair, Center for the American Worker)
Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency (Chair, China Policy Initiative & Pathway to 2025)
John Ratcliffe, Central Intelligence Agency (C-chair Center for National Security)
Doug Collins, Veterans Affairs (head of Georgia AFPI Chapter)
Brooke Rollins, Agriculture (Co-founder, President and CEO)
Kevin Hassett, National Economic Council (Chair, Board of Academic Advisors)
Matthew Whitaker, NATO (Co-chair, Center for Law & Justice)
Casey Mulligan, Small Business Administration, chief counsel (Board of Academic Advisors)

Trump’s first public speech after winning the 2024 election was at an AFPI gala at Mar-a-Lago, where he was joined by other MAGA luminaries, including HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and “Department of Government Efficiency” leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

AFPI founder Rollins has bragged about the group’s “revolutionary” plans to seize control of the “administrative state.” The group’s agenda for the incoming administration—its “transition project”—is in some ways even more radical than the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. AFPI believes Trump should be allowed to fire and replace any federal employee at will – potentially converting the entire federal workforce into a massive and corrupt political patronage system. AFPI has reportedly prepared 300 executive orders for Trump.

As an officer at the America First Policy Institute, Bondi tried to undermine special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of Trump by arguing that his appointment was unconstitutional. She oversaw what the Brennan Center has called “a number of troubling voting rights and election lawsuits,” leading the pro-democracy organization to conclude, “Her record on voting and elections raises questions about her ability to be the attorney general the American public deserves.”

In a case in which AFPI sought to empower local election officials to delay or block certification of elections, AFPI’s arguments were “meritless and radical,” according to the Brennan Center. In another case filed shortly before, even notorious pro-Trump Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk rejected AFPI’s “emergency” request to block a Biden executive order on voter registration that had been in place for several years. Kacsmaryk wrote that AFPI’s request provided “no direct evidence” to support its claims. The Brennan Center noted that the lawsuit “served to amplify baseless conspiracy theories about noncitizen voting.”

AFPI is funded in part by Tim Dunn, who the Texas Monthly has called “the billionaire bully who wants to turn Texas into a Christian theocracy.” Dunn is notorious for funding smear campaigns against Texas Republicans who don’t fall in line with his demands. Dunn poured millions of dollars into the effort to elect Trump to a second term, and supports other right-wing causes, like the Convention of States’ efforts to rewrite the U.S. Constitution. In a 2019 speech to Convention of States, Dunn argued that the Bible is “mainly about politics” and said that COS is triggering a Great Awakening.

Not so surprisingly, AFPI promotes Christian nationalist rhetoric; AFPI leaders have described their efforts as part of a “spiritual war.” AFPI’s political arm, which is chaired by Dunn, partnered with dominionist Lance Wallnau—who believes right-wing Christians are meant to control the government and every other sphere of influence in society--to help Trump return to power. Dunn himself reportedly told former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, who is Jewish, that only Christians should be in leadership positions in the legislature.

Also in leadership at AFPI is Trump spiritual and political adviser Paula White, who has repeatedly called Trump’s opponents demonic and kicked off his pre-insurrection rally with a prayer for “holy boldness.” White chairs AFPI’s Center for American Values.

AFPI’s faith director Richard Rogers, who took part in Wallnau’s “Courage Tour,” appeared on The Jim Bakker show this week, where he said there will be a “faith director” in every government agency in the new administration. He predicted that the “prayer warriors” who “rose up” on Trump’s behalf in 2024 will “have more power than Elon Musk.” He described AFPI as a “data-driven machine” that worked “hand-in-hand” with the RNC to boost turnout among low-propensity voters.

AFPI claims “biblical foundations” for each of the ten “pillars” of its right-wing policy agenda, which it calls “10 Pillars for Restoring a Nation Under God.” It asserts, “The Ten Commandments and Christian teachings have been the foundation that created the American legal system.” AFPI’s website declares, “This fight is not just about the culture of America; it’s about the kingdom of God and the Church’s divine mission to be the salt and light of our day in an era of increasing darkness.”

REF DEREG ADMIN STATE:

To prevent the federal government from abusing its power, the Framers of the Constitution created an unprecedented system of a democratically accountable government with internal checks and balances. As Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist No. 51:

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.

Based on this reasoning, the Constitution was designed to protect the American people from concentrated and unaccountable government power. It divided legislative, executive, and judicial power between three separate branches of government and further divided legislative power between the House of Representatives and the Senate. Regular elections hold the legislative and executive branches accountable to the people. The Bill of Rights further requires due process before Americans can be deprived of life, liberty, or property and protects additional rights such as the right to a speedy trial.

Unfortunately, the modern “administrative state” has largely circumvented these safeguards. Congress has broadly delegated much of its legislative authority to executive branch administrative agencies, which issue thousands of rules annually that bind the American people. Many of these rules are issued by unaccountable career staff—not political appointees. And under the Supreme Court’s Chevron and Auer doctrines, courts must generally uphold these rules.

As a result, administrative agencies now do most federal policymaking, and Congress often has little say in major federal policy decisions. For example, the government’s recent policies mandating that healthcare workers receive COVID-19 vaccines, restricting oil and gas drilling, standing down immigration enforcement, and providing federal funding to abortion providers all took effect without a vote of Congress. Indeed, the healthcare vaccine mandate took effect despite the Senate voting against it.

While the Framers created an independent judiciary, “administrative judges”—senior agency officials—typically determine whether Americans have violated administrative rules in internal agency proceedings. These administrative proceedings often lack the due process safeguards that protect Americans in criminal prosecutions. Administrative agencies now wield concentrated executive, legislative, and judicial power in a manner that the Framers sought to prevent.

Administrative agencies are also insulated from accountability to the American people. While voters can write to their representatives or senators or volunteer to work on their reelection campaigns, voters have little influence on the enormous federal bureaucracy. The career bureaucracy focuses primarily on operating its agencies, not representing citizens’ concerns. In dozens of “independent agencies,” the elected president cannot even remove agency leaders after appointing them. As a result, these agencies exercise vast regulatory power without accountability to voters or the president.

America can restore the Constitution’s checks and balances by dismantling the administrative state and returning federal authorities to their proper branches. The federal government can be made accountable to the American people.

THE FACTS

The U.S. federal government has 278 executive branch departments, bureaus, agencies, and sub-agencies.
The Biden Administration issued 3,273 final rules, including 164 “significant” final rules, during President Biden’s first year in office.
- Elected Members of Congress did not vote to approve any of these rules, but they legally bind the American people.
Appeals courts uphold agency interpretations of the law in 71% of Chevron cases.
55% of voters believe letting government bureaucrats set rules without approval from Congress or voters is a major threat to democracy.
Only 25% of the Department of Health and Human
Services’ rules were issued by officials appointed by the President and confirmed by the United States Senate. Many of these rules were instead issued by career bureaucrats.
28 independent agencies are led by officials whom the president cannot remove at-will. These independent agencies include the National Labor Relations Board, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
1,931 administrative law judges (ALJs) and 10,831 non- ALJ executive branch employees perform quasi-judicial adjudications in the executive branch.

THE AMERICA FIRST AGENDA

At the federal level, support policies that:

Prevent major agency rules or guidance documents from taking effect without an affirmative vote of Congress.
Prohibit career bureaucrats from issuing regulations. That authority should be restricted to political appointees alone.
Do not let agencies authoritatively interpret statutes and regulations they administer. That role should be the responsibility of the courts.
Make all agency heads serve at the pleasure of the president, without removal protections.
Allow only Article III Judges—not senior agency officials—to perform judicial functions, such as imposing fines or penalties.
Require agencies to provide Americans the due process protections contained in the Trump Administration’s since-rescinded “Regulatory Bill of Rights” in administrative enforcement proceedings.
Establish agency ombudsmen to investigate and redress bureaucratic abuses.

At the state level, support policies that:

Prevent major agency rules or guidance documents from taking effect without an affirmative vote of the legislature.
Give state governors final responsibility for the issuance of state rules.
Do not let agencies authoritatively interpret statutes and regulations they administer. That should be the responsibility of state courts.

REFERENCES

55% Say letting Bureaucrats Establish Rules is Major Threat to Democracyby Scott Rasmussen, ScottRasmussen.com (July 2021).

Center for American Freedom Overviewby David Bernhardt and James Sherk, America First Policy Institute (Sept. 2021).

Chevron in the Circuit Courtsby Kent Barnett and Christopher Walker, Michigan Law Review (2017).

Elections don’t matter unless you have this rulemaking fixby Joe Luppino-Esposito, The Hill (March 2022).

How and Why the Trump Administration Deregulatedby David Bernhardt, America First Policy Institute (May 2021).

Non-ALJ Adjudicators in Federal Agencies: Status, Selection, Oversight, and Removalby Kent Barnett and Russell Wheeler, Georgia Law Review (2018).

The Oyster Shell Gameby Michael Ames, Newsweek (Jan. 2015).

Rules Published in the Federal Register by Presidential Year, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center (Feb. 2022).

Significant Final Rules Published by Presidential Year, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center (Jan. 2022).

Sourcebook of Executive Agencies (Second Edition)by Jennifer Selin and David Lewis, Administrative Conference of the United States (2018).

Trump’s ‘Regulatory Bill of Rights’ hasn’t gotten much attention — but it shouldby Oliver Dunford, The Hill (June 2020).

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alternet-logo

US extremists are rattled by new sanctions against global terrorism group

Jordan Green January 15, 2025

The State Department has applied the “specially designated global terrorist” designation to the Terrorgram Collective in a groundbreaking move that for the first time sanctions a transnational white supremacist terrorist group with a significant presence in the United States.

The announcement on Monday — one week before President Biden leaves office — justified the designation based on the group “posing a significant risk of committing, or having participated in training to commit acts of terrorism, that threaten the security of United States nationals or national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.” Terrorgram is an amalgam of the words “terror” and “Telegram,” the latter of which is a social media platform used by members to distribute propaganda.

“This is the first time you’ve seen a white supremacist group that had members or supporters in the U.S. receive the designation,” Seamus Hughes, a researcher at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology and Education Center at the University of Nebraska, told Raw Story.

Two of the group’s leaders, Dallas Erin Humber of California and Matthew Robert Allison of Idaho, were indicted last year on charges that included conspiracy, solicitation of hate crimes, solicitation of the murder of federal officials, and conspiracy to provide material support for terrorists. Two other individuals, Brandon Russell — founder of the neo-Nazi terror group Atomwaffen Division — and Andrew Takhistov, who each face federal charges related to plots to attack the power grid, are also linked to Terrorgram.

The indictment against Humber and Allison describes Terrorgram as “a network of channels, group chats, and users on Telegram that promote white supremacists accelerationism: an ideology centered on the belief that the white race is superior; that society is irreparably corrupt and cannot be saved by political action; and that violence and terrorism is necessary to ignite a race war and ‘accelerate’ the collapse of the government and the rise of a white ethnostate.”

Terrorgram is not the first transnational white supremacist terrorist group to be sanctioned by the State Department. In 2020, under the first Trump administration, the State Department applied the “specially designated global terrorist” identification to the Russian Imperial Movement, which was implicated in a series of bombings in 2016 and 2017 that targeted refugee shelters in Sweden. Nordic Resistance Movement, a group founded in Sweden, was added to the list last June.

The specific bans designated groups and individuals from holding property and financial interests in the United States, while also prohibiting U.S. citizens from engaging in financial transactions with them.

Following the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., the Russian Imperial Movement invited the organizers to visit its paramilitary training camps in St. Petersburg, according to Nathan Sales, a former Trump administration State Department counterterrorism official who testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Sales said there is no evidence that the Charlottesville organizers accepted the invitation, but the following month, Russian Imperial Movement leaders traveled to the United States to network with white supremacists, and one posed for a photo with the group’s flag in front of the White House.

“What is most interesting for me is this represents the first time when a designation would have ramifications for U.S. prosecutors,” Hughes said. “There’s not a cadre of Russian Imperial Movement adherents in the U.S., whereas there is a good number of individuals that were drawn to Terrorgram in the U.S.”

Hughes said the designation will give prosecutors the ability to request terrorism enhancements during sentencing.

“It helps for them to tell the story to a jury that this is not just a bunch of angry people online, but an actual terrorist group,” he added.

The designation is also likely to make social media companies more reluctant to allow members and associates to organize on their platforms.

“Because tech companies can face legal risks if they provide services to designated groups or individuals, sanctions can prompt them to sever ties with those listed as terrorists,” Sales testified before the Senate Homeland Security Committee back in 2022.

The announcement about the State Department sanction against Terrorgram is already causing ripples of unease across Telegram.

Reacting to the announcement on Monday, a neo-Nazi channel that advertises itself as a source of “tradecraft to evade authorities online,” posted: “We all know we are operating on borrowed time here on Telegram. It is unfortunate, as it is a hell of an app.”

The post went on to say that users should not trust Pavel Durov, the Russian founder and CEO of Telegram, to protect their data.

“We don’t want any of our admins or subscribers to wind up in federal prison over ironically being part of a ‘terror group,’” the post continued. “With no publicly available criteria to determine guilt or association, the juice is not worth the squeeze. It doesn’t make sense to maintain a presence where the enemy has the advantage.”

Prior to the arrests of two American leaders last September, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced charges against two unnamed Ontario men “alleged to have participated in the creation of Terrorgram Collective manifestos and Atomwaffen Division recruiting videos.”

The Canadian arrests in December 2023 followed an 18-month investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. That timeframe puts the launch of the investigation roughly in June 2021, the time of the first Terrorgram publication Militant Accelerationism, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center investigation.

Federal prosecutors allege that Humber and Allison joined Terrorgram in 2019, and became leaders of the group in the summer of 2022, “after one previous leader was arrested and charged with terrorism offenses and another became aware that he was the subject of a terrorism related investigation.”

Following Humber and Allison’s arrests, three foreign nationals appear to have taken over leadership of Terrorgram. The State Department designation identifies Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira of Brazil, Noah Licul of Croatia and Hendrik Walh-Muller of South Africa as “leaders of the Terrorgram Collective” and “specially designated global terrorists.”

Terrorgram is linked to two other federal prosecutions in the United States beyond Humber and Allison. Russell, the Atomwaffen founder, was arrested in February 2023 and charged alongside codefendant Sarah Beth Clendaniel in an alleged plot to carry out a coordinated attack on electrical substations designed to create a widespread power outage in Baltimore.

While Terrorgram is not directly mentioned in charging documents for the case, a review of Russell’s Telegram chats by the Southern Poverty Law Center found that he forwarded a Terrorgram document called Make It Count to another Telegram user.

Court filings by the government also allege that Russell told an FBI confidential human source that they should use Mylar balloons to short out a power transformer. That tactic is recommended in another Terrorgram publication The Hard Reset, which is described by the government as including “detailed information on how to attack a substation, including the use of Mylar balloons.”

The State Department announcement references a planned energy facility attack by Andrew Takhistov in New Jersey last summer without directly naming him.

Takhistov’s charging documents allege that he “claimed to have taken a role in the publication of” The Hard Reset and that he sent a PDF of the document to an FBI undercover employee. Takhistov allegedly praised The Hard Reset as “the only thing you need” to plan a white supremacist terror attack.

Takhistov was active in the Terrorgram group chats, and Humber posted an Audiobook promoting white supremacist murder in January 2024 in response to a request from Takhistov, according to government court filings. Later, according to the government, Takhistov thanked a Terrorgram chat administrator for posting a video “with instructions for using Mylar balloons to commit an attack on an energy facility.”

Lawyers for Takhistov and Russell could not be reached for comment for this story prior to publication.

The State Department announcement listing Terrorgram as a terrorist entity cited the Biden administration’s National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, released in June 2021. The framework highlighted the government’s efforts to assess whether foreign entities could meet the criteria for the “specially designated global terrorist” designation.

“These designations are part of a broader U.S. government effort to address the transnational dimensions of the threat posed by [racially and ethnically motivated violent extremist] actors and reflect the Biden-Harris administration’s continued commitment to countering domestic terrorism, which includes REMVE and white identity terrorism,” the State Department said.

The emphasis on tackling white supremacist terrorism under the Biden administration has been embraced by an array of agencies in addition to State, including Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the FBI.

The commitment across the federal government to combating white supremacist terrorism under Biden’s leadership built on a growing consensus within the agencies that took hold during the first Trump administration. It remains unclear whether the second Trump administration will maintain the same course.

“In fact, we viewed it as such a critical threat that back in June of 2019, under my leadership, we elevated racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism to our highest threat priority, on the same level with ISIS and homegrown violent extremists, where it remains to this day,” FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in March 2021.

Wray was appointed to lead the FBI by Trump in 2017.

Kash Patel, who has been named by Trump to replace Wray in the incoming administration, has expressed skepticism towards the government’s focus on “domestic terrorism.”

“Whistleblowers have revealed in multiple ways how the Deep State is continuing to weaponize the power of the state against internal dissidents,” he wrote in his book Government Gangsters. “To pump up public support for their attacks on conservative Americans, the FBI leadership has been reportedly pushing agents to artificially inflate data on domestic terrorism to make the problem seem much worse than it is.”

Asked for clarification on Patel’s views, a Trump transition spokesperson previously pledged to Raw Story that Patel will “protect Americans from terrorism as the agency’s director.”

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01/06/2025

Thomas Joscelyn and Norman Eisen @ The Bulwark: Kash Patel Believes the FBI Planned Jan. 6th

“WHAT WAS THE FBI DOING PLANNING January 6th for a year?” Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as FBI director, asked that question during a November 25, 2022 episode of his Kash’s Corner podcast for the Epoch Times. It was no slip of the tongue. As the title of that episode suggested—“What Did the FBI Know Before Jan. 6?”—Patel spent considerable time trying to cast the FBI as a villain responsible for January 6th.

Jason Wilson @ The Guardian: Key Oath Keepers leader revealed as former Las Vegas police detective

Details about Utah-based Robert Kinch, who backed ‘race war’, suggest rightwing militia has retained links with police.

Joshua Kaplan @ ProPublica: The Militia and the Mole

A wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover, climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell his family or friends.

Alex DeLuca @ The Miami New Times: Former Proud Boys Leader Enrique Tarrio Asks Trump for Jan. 6 Pardon

In September, Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the January 6 insurrection.

Spencer Sunshine @ The New Republic: Donald Trump Is Building a New Army of Foot Soldiers

Neo-Nazis and white nationalists have been emboldened by Trump’s reelection.

Fiona Morgan @ The Roys Report: Morningstar Ministries Faces Backlash for Platforming Disgraced Preacher Todd Bentley

Embattled MorningStar Ministries is facing backlash for platforming disgraced preacher Todd Bentley at their recent Vision conference. Bentley was disqualified from ministry in 2020 by a panel of charismatic Christian leaders. The panel made the decision based on numerous firsthand reports of Bentley’s “steady pattern of ungodly and immoral behavior” over the course of almost 20 years, including reports of sexual abuse. Despite the reports, MorningStar gave Bentley a platform at their Vision conference Dec. 29-31.

Brian Kaylor @ Public Witness: The Surprising Story of How Speaker Johnson Read a Fake Jefferson Prayer

On Friday (Jan. 3), Speaker Mike Johnson stood before the U.S. House of Representatives on the opening day of the 119th Congress and read what he called “Thomas Jefferson’s prayer.” However, as first reported by A Public Witness, that’s not true. Other outlets followed in noting the problem with Johnson’s claim, which Monticello deems as “spurious.”

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12/20/2024