Declassified Docs: Obama Admin Withheld Reports Critical of Biden’s Ukraine Visit at the VP Office’s Request
A November 29, 2024 photo shows US President Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden stepping out MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images
Bradley Jaye
7 Oct 2025
The Obama administration withheld reports revealing Ukrainian officials questioned the legitimate purpose of Vice President Joe Biden’s 2015 visit to Ukraine as questions swirled regarding his corrupt business dealings in Ukraine, newly declassified documents show.
According to documents declassified Monday by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Ukrainian administration officials believed not only that Biden’s December 2015 official government visit to Ukraine served no compelling government purpose but that Biden was being hypocritical in professing to target corruption within Ukraine’s government.
The documents also reveal that the report, which met standards for reporting as they contained intelligence valuable to policymakers, was withheld after a request by Biden’s office.
Withholding a document in defiance of normal procedures is “extremely rare and unusual,” according to a senior CIA official, raising questions about the politicization of intelligence in the Obama administration as well as who may have been involved.
The report makes clear that Ukrainian officials mused about the connection between Biden’s trip and alleged corruption in the country.
“After the visit, these officials assessed that the Vice President of the United States had come to Kiev almost exclusively to give a generic public speech, and had no intention of discussing substantive matters with [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko or other officials within the Ukrainian government,” according to the declassified report.
The Poroshenko administration and other “Ukrainian officials expected the U.S. Vice President to discuss personnel matters with Poroshenko during the visit, and had assumed that the U.S. Vice President would advocate in support of or against specific officials within the Ukrainian Government.”
Yet no discussions took place, bewildering Ukrainian officials.
After Biden’s visit, “Officials within the Poroshenko administration privately mused at the U.S. media scrutiny of the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corrupt business practices in Ukraine,” the declassified report reads. “These officials viewed the alleged ties of the U.S. Vice President’s family to corruption in Ukraine as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power.”
The CIA declassified the documents Monday after career intelligence officials determined that the documents met the criteria for intelligence reporting at the time and should have been disseminated due to its value to U.S. government officials in their dealings with the Ukrainian government.
Today, I declassified @CIA intelligence regarding Ukraine after determining it is in the public interest.
— CIA Director John Ratcliffe (@CIADirector) October 7, 2025
According to the senior CIA official, under normal procedures, this intelligence report would be disseminated to individuals with appropriate clearance and need to know within the US government.
However, in February 2016, Biden’s National Security Adviser, Colin Kohl, told his intelligence briefer that he would strongly prefer the report not be disseminated.
After the request from Biden’s top staffer, the report never saw the light of day.
It is not clear from the heavily redacted document how the information was shared with the Vice President’s office. It is also unclear from the heavily redacted document if President Barack Obama, or who else at the White House, may have seen the document before its removal from dissemination.
But the document includes an email from one of President Obama’s Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) briefers, whose name is redacted, expressing Kahl’s diplomatic request that the report not be disseminated.
The many redactions in the document are necessary to protect CIA sources and methods, a senior CIA official explained to Breitbart News.
In late 2024, the CIA began an internal review of historical agency records and databases which led to the discovery of the until-now non-disseminated intelligence report as well as the email documenting that Biden’s office wanted to withhold the report despite its intelligence value.
“Director Radcliffe believes this is an example of the kind of politicization of intelligence that we need to work to eliminate in the intelligence community, and for which we will have zero tolerance,” the senior CIA official said.
Biden’s son Hunter’s business dealings in Ukraine, and Joe Biden’s knowledge and direct involvement, were a longstanding thorn in the president’s side as a steady flow of revelations continued undermining his denials.
As president, Joe Biden had long maintained he would not pardon Hunter.
Yet after the November 2024 election, ahead of sentencing after Hunter’s conviction on gun charges and tax evasion charges for which he pleaded guilty, Joe Biden issued a pardon for Hunter which included any offenses committed as far back January 1, 2014.
ICE Arrests 91 Illegal Migrant Semi-Truck Drivers in Licensing Crackdown
Red and Silver Truck on Asphalt RoadQuintin Gellar/Pexels
Warner Todd Huston
7 Oct 2025
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced the arrests of 91 illegal aliens driving semi-trucks on fraudulent licenses in Oklahoma as the feds continue a crackdown on migrants driving commercial trucks.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol made the arrests during a three-day operation along Oklahoma’s I-40. Along with the 91 illegal drivers, ICE took an additional 29 illegal aliens into custody during the operation, DHS said in an October 6 press release.
The criminal activity committed by those taken into custody includes driving on multiple DUIs, illegal re-entry into the U.S., money laundering, human smuggling, assault, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and possession of a controlled substance.
“ICE’s 287(g) program clearly demonstrates how federal and local law enforcement agencies can work together to make America safe again,” said ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan. “Illegal aliens have no business operating 18 wheelers on America’s highways. Our roads are now safer with these illegal aliens no longer behind the wheel. We encourage more state and local law enforcement to sign 287(g) agreements to help remove public safety threats and receive reimbursement funds available to our law enforcement partners.”
The crackdown on illegal aliens working as commercial truck drivers on fraudulently issued state drivers licenses comes after another migrant semi-truck driver killed three Americans in Florida while trying to make an illegal u-turn on a highway. Police arrested Harjinder Singh, an illegal alien from India who entered the U.S. in 2018 across the U.S. border with Mexico, and charged him in the deaths.
Singh reportedly had state-issued Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDLs) from both California and Washington State despite being ineligible because he is an illegal alien.
As more migrants hit our roads — many of whom cannot read or speak English — the death toll on our highways has skyrocketed.
The Trump administration has taken notice of this horrible statistic, and recently, Trump’s transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, directed federal highway safety offices to enforce a law requiring foreign drivers to be able to read English.
The new policy move came after thousands of American truckers launched a pressure campaign to force the feds to root out these illegal migrant truckers.
American Truckers has been chronicling the mounting number of semi-truck and box truck accidents attributed to illegal drivers for some time on social media.
Another crash involving suspected Non-Domicile Truck Drivers, No English, and the typical Amazon Involvement pic.twitter.com/2lcZa0pIV9
Victims are piling up all across America as migrant truckers continue to cause havoc on the roads. In September, a father Marcus Coleman, whose daughter, Dalilah, was permanently disabled in an accident caused by a migrant trucker, spoke out.
“My daughter and family’s lives have been forever changed by the injuries and car crash that an illegal alien driving an 18-wheeler caused,” Coleman said, according to DHS. “I’m proud to see ICE officers working together with highway patrol across the U.S. to protect our roads from criminal illegal aliens who pose a danger to Americans. Illegal aliens should not be driving 18-wheelers on our highways, and neither should 18-year-olds or drivers who lack experience. Governor Newsom’s California Department of Motor Vehicles needs to put in place stricter standards for who can obtain a commercial driver’s license before more people are killed and hurt.”
An entire industry to create migrant truck drivers to take jobs away from Americans has thrived in the U.S. for decades. Recently, Daily Caller reported a company operated by Chinese nationals called the Chinese American Trucker Organization USA was revealed as a major training organization importing Chinese citizens into the U.S. to take commercial driver jobs.
The China-linked company is also a national security risk for placing Chinese nationals inside our transportation infrastructure as China continues its belligerence against the United States worldwide.
“Having a large CCP-tied network further train, certify, and place ‘their’ illegal migrants throughout vital surface shipping routes — urban, rural, and interstate — elevates national security risks,” said Steve Yates, senior research fellow for China and national security policy at the Heritage Foundation. “At a time of high tension, crisis, or conflict with the CCP, what confidence could we have this network could not and would not be used against us?”
Speaker Johnson Shows What Democrats Are Demanding in Order to Reopen Government: Taxpayer-Funded Illegal Alien Health Care, $1.5 Trillion in Partisan Spending
US House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, during a news conference at thEric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty
Hannah Knudsen
7 Oct 20252,679
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Monday shared a chart showcasing in black and white what Democrats are demanding in order to reopen the government — taxpayer-funded health care for illegal aliens and $1.5 trillion in new partisan spending.
“Facts are stubborn things: Here are the differences between what Republicans passed out of the House and what Democrats are demanding in order to reopen the government,” Johnson wrote on social media, sharing a side-by-side chart showing the differences between what the Republicans in the House have passed and what Democrats are now demanding.
Republicans proposed a clean 7-week extension of current Biden-era spending levels with no new programs added or partisan spending demands. The chart notes that this plan “allows time for continued work on regular bipartisan appropriations, which is already underway.”
Conversely, Democrats’ “dirty” continuing resolution (CR) puts “illegal aliens and able-bodied adults back on free, American taxpayer-funded health care” and “sends half a billion dollars to left-wing media.”
Further it “repeals $50 billion investment in rural health care” and adds up to $1.5 trillion in new partisan spending.
Facts are stubborn things:
Here are the differences between what Republicans passed out of the House and what Democrats are demanding in order to reopen the government. pic.twitter.com/a5eKh3qDd9
Johnson on Monday explained during a press conference that the shutdown fight and health care are two totally separate issues, slamming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for turning this into a partisan fight in order to appease his far-left base.
“I want you to look at the real facts,” Johnson began, explaining that the GOP plan would “keep the lights on and keep the government open so that appropriators can finish this very healthy process for the people they represent.”
“Why do we say it’s clean? Because there’s nothing to it. It’s 24 pages. It’s the bare minimum. It just says, keep the status quo,” he said, telling the American people that the left “created a red herring” out of desperation.
“A red herring is a distraction. They decided that they would pick a fight on health care,” he said, explaining that these issues — health care and the shutdown — are actually two separate issues to address.
“They’re two totally separate things. The clean continuing resolution would simply keep the lights on so that the members in the House and Senate can have those debates on health care. We were always planning it. We have lots of ideas on the table on how to fix it, but we don’t yet have consensus on it because it’s very complicated,” he said. “We have time to do it.”
“In his [Schumer’s] desperation, they decided to create the red herring. They decided to claim that this is all about health care, which the September funding issue never was,” Johnson added.” That’s a December policy issue. He tried to create it as a September funding issue. … In his desperation, they hastily filed an outrageous counter proposal. It is a wild wish list of big government liberal nonsense that we can’t do.”
AG Bondi: Trump’s Crime Crackdown Yields 3,837 Arrests in D.C. and 273 in Memphis
Amy Furr
7 Oct 2025
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed crime statistics on Monday as President Donald Trump works to protect American cities and their residents.
Bondi wrote in a social media post that at the president’s direction, “we are making America safe again: In Washington, DC our law enforcement partners have made 3,837 arrests to date and seized 361 illegal guns. In Memphis, 273 arrests have been made in just under a week and 73 illegal guns seized.”
At @POTUS direction, we are making America safe again:
In Washington, DC our law enforcement partners have made 3,837 arrests to date and seized 361 illegal guns.
In Memphis, 273 arrests have been made in just under a week and 73 illegal guns seized.
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) October 5, 2025
After Trump planned to execute a crime crackdown in the nation’s capital, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) was in denial about her crime-ridden city being in trouble. However, its crime rate saw a big drop after the president federalized the city’s police department, Breitbart News reported in August.
In September, the president signed a memo establishing the “Memphis Safe Task Force” that resembles the one he established in D.C., per Breitbart News.
He said at the time “It’s very important because of the crime that’s going on, not only in Memphis, in many cities, and we’re going to take care of all of them step by step, just like we did in DC.”
The Breitbart News article noted that “Trump highlighted Memphis’s status in 2024 as the American city with the highest violent crime rate, the third-highest murder rate, and the highest property crime rate.”
The report continued:
The memorandum shows that representatives from many different federal departments and agencies, ranging from the Department of the Treasury to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), will comprise the task force. The task force is encouraged to draw upon strategies and principles implemented in the D.C. crime crackdown as it addresses both violent crime and non-violent crime in Memphis, according to a White House fact sheet.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is directed to request the Tennessee National Guard units from Lee and, in coordination with governors of other states, to mobilize National Guard from other parts of the country that support the initiative.
Video footage shows Republicans in Memphis welcoming the National Guard to the area by waving American flags. One person held a sign that read “Make Memphis Great Again,” according to a report from WTKR.
“If the city council worked as hard to fight crime as they are fighting Donald Trump bringing federal resources to Memphis, we wouldn’t have to have the National Guard here to begin with,” one man told the crowd.
Meanwhile, a Memphis business owner said it would help local law enforcement:
“Because you have people who run in stores, run out, shoplift, which costs us more,” he added.
Meanwhile, Breitbart News reported Tuesday that “Democrats are pushing back on Trump administration claims Chicago is a ‘war zone’ even as the evidence shows more than 32,000 people have been shot in the Windy City during the past decade alone.”
MAJOR WIN FOR ELECTION INTEGRITY: Judge Orders Citizenship Checks Of All Registered Wisconsin Voters
by Anthony 19 hours ago
Wisconsin might not be a swing state after this!
A Wisconsin judge has ordered a review for the citizenship status for all Wisconsin voters.
Waukesha County Judge Michael Maxwell has called for the Wisconsin Elections Commission to use the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s citizenship records to clean up voter rolls from containing non-citizens.
WPR provided further context on the Judge’s ruling:
A Waukesha County judge who ordered a review of the citizenship status of millions of Wisconsin voters has stayed part of his ruling while the case is appealed, though much of his decision remains in effect.
The Friday decision from Waukesha County Judge Michael Maxwell directs the Wisconsin Elections Commission to cross-reference the state’s voter registration list against Department of Transportation records, which include a person’s citizenship status when they applied for a driver’s license or identification card. In a follow-up order issued Monday, Maxwell left that portion of his ruling intact.
His Friday ruling also initially barred the commission and local clerks across Wisconsin from registering any new voters without proof of citizenship. Maxwell stayed that part of the order Monday, meaning he put it on hold.
WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, which is representing the Wisconsin Elections Commission and Department of Transportation, is appealing the initial decision. A hearing is set for Oct. 31.
The ruling comes as President Donald Trump’s administration is suing multiple states, including Minnesota, for voter registration data in an effort to ensure voter rolls are “clean.”
Big ruling in Wisconsin elections and voter roll maintenance, plus WEC’s responsibility for maintaining clean voter rolls with only citizens.
Also, the precedent has now been set that voters who may have their votes diluted due to illegalities have STANDING! pic.twitter.com/xxg0IldllA
Big ruling in Wisconsin elections and voter roll maintenance, plus WEC’s responsibility for maintaining clean voter rolls with only citizens.
Also, the precedent has now been set that voters who may have their votes diluted due to illegalities have STANDING! pic.twitter.com/xxg0IldllA
— COL Conrad Reynolds (@ColonelReynolds) October 3, 2025
The Wisconsin Examiner reported why the Wisconsin Elections Commission is cross-referencing the state’s voter registration list its Department of Transportation records:
Currently, applicants for voter registration in Wisconsin and most other states must attest, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens who are eligible to vote, but they are not required to present proof of citizenship.
The issue of noncitizen voting has been hotly debated in recent years, though no widespread instances have been found. Republicans have used the concern to call for citizenship proof checks of all voters, even as data shows that such measures risk disenfranchising some U.S. citizens.
Republicans praised the decision, with state Rep. Amanda Nedweski calling it a “great win for election integrity.”
Democrats and the respondents in the case were largely mum.
Election commission spokesperson Emilee Miklas didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Riley Vetterkind, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which represents the commission and Department of Transportation, declined to say whether the agencies would appeal the decision.
CA Voter ID Signature Drive / No on Prop 50 Rally - San Bernardino
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Victory Chapel - 1156 North F St, San Bernardino, CA, 92419
Attend this important event and help us get the signatures we need to pass the CA Voter ID Initiative – while defeating Prop 50!
Your help is URGENTLY needed for two related fights:
NO on Prop 50: We need to get every voter to return their ballot before the November 4 deadline with a NO vote on Prop 50. Prop 50 is Gavin Newsom’s corrupt redistricting scheme to allow politicians to seize power back from the Independent Citizens’ Redistricting Commission so politicians can manipulate the lines of their own districts through gerrymandering.
CA Voter ID Signature Drive: We can’t just defeat Prop 50 – we must restore the integrity of our elections by enacting a Voter ID law. To do that we need to collect 1 million signatures on petitions in the next 90 days!
Both of these fights are key to defending fair elections in California – but unless we get your immediate help, neither fight will be successful!
Here’s what we’ll cover at this event:
LEARN ABOUT PROP 50 & VOTER ID – We’ll cover both of these important campaigns and answer your questions.
GET PETITIONS AND CAMPAIGN MATERIALS – We’ll have petitions and materials for volunteers to pick up at this event to take home to help turn out the NO on Prop 50 vote while collecting signatures on the CA Voter ID petition.
SIGN THE VOTER ID PETITION – We’re asking everyone to show up – and bring friends – to sign the petition at this event.
TURN IN SIGNATURES – If you have signatures to turn in that you have already collected, this event is the easiest and safest way to do it!
We can’t overstate the importance of defeating Prop 50 and getting the 1 million signatures we need to enact the CA Voter ID Initiative. We cannot take back California from the insanity of the far-Left until we first restore the integrity of our elections!
Attending this event is key – and we ask that you help us pack the house by inviting others to join you! RSVP at the link below!
CA Voter ID Signature Drive / No on Prop 50 Rally - San Bernardino – Victory Chapel - 1156 North F St, San Bernardino, CA
Wed Oct 8, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM PDT
JUST IN: GOP Senator Seeks To Have Jack Smith Disbarred Over Spying Revelations
Published 13 hours ago
on October 7, 2025
By Cullen McCue
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) revealed Tuesday that she is readying a complaint against former special counsel Jack Smith with the D.C. Bar Association over bombshell revelations that his office spied on at least eight Republican senators without making proper disclosures.
The latest revelations came as part of Smith’s “Arctic Frost” operation, the codename given to the Wray-led FBI’s codename for a far-reaching investigation into the Biden Administration’s political opponents. The investigation – launched by anti-Trump FBI agent Timothy Thibault in a breach of FBI protocol – formed the basis of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s elector case against Trump, the committee explained in a press release back in March.
Upon opening the investigation, Thibault vowed it would be “prioritized over all others in the Branch” and commented that “it frankly took too long for us to open this [investigation].”
Within weeks of launching the investigation in early 2022, senior FBI leadership immediately set up meetings with 13 field offices and immediately moved to seize communications between President Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence. They also sought to obtain all communications between the administration and alternate electors in key swing states, as well as senior administration advisors and campaign officials.
In addition, the FBI surveilled at least 92 prominent conservative organizations and groups, including the late Charlie Kirk and his student activist group Turning Point USA.
On Monday, a document released by the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that Smith and his “Arctic Frost” team were allegedly tracking the phone calls of GOP Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and GOP Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania.
An FBI official told Fox News that Smith and his team tracking the senators were able to see which phone numbers they called, the location the phone call originated and the location where it was received. A second source added that the surveillance stemmed from legal challenges to the 2020 presidential election.
“The one thing that we do know is that everyone targeted is a Republican,” said Senator Marsha Blackburn, one of the targeted lawmakers. She further highlighted the timeline of events, mentioning the raid on Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 and the indictment of President Donald Trump by Jack Smith in August 2023, followed by the surveillance of lawmakers’ phone records from January 4th to 8th, 2021.
While speaking with Fox News on Tuesday, Blackburn confirmed that she is and her team are working on a complaint letter to the D.C. bar, calling for Jack Smith to be disbarred. “He should be disbarred,” she said, stressing the need for accountability for those involved in the surveillance.
According to an email obtained by the New York Post, a formal review of Smith’s conduct has been launched by the Hatch Act Unit, which enforces a law restricting government employees from engaging in political activities. The email was penned by Senior Counsel Charles Baldis at the Office of Special Counsel.
“I appreciate the Office of Special Counsel taking this seriously and launching an investigation into Jack Smith’s conduct. No one is above the law,” Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) told the outlet. “Jack Smith’s actions were clearly driven to hurt President Trump’s election, and Smith should be held fully accountable.”
The OSC formally green-lit the investigation back in August after Cotton penned a letter alleging that Smith blatantly weaponized his position to undermine President Trump’s election campaign. “Jack Smith’s legal actions were nothing more than a tool for the Biden and Harris campaigns. This isn’t just unethical, it is very likely illegal campaign activity from a public office,” the senator posted on X.
Alan Dershowitz Says Jack Smith ‘Disgraced Himself’ After Tracking GOP Senators’ Calls
by Mariane Angela, DCNF
October 7, 2025
Alan Dershowitz
DCNF(DCNF)—Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said on Fox Business Monday that former special counsel Jack Smith ‘disgrace himself’ for reportedly obtaining private phone records of Republican senators without their knowledge.
Senate Republicans revealed Monday that the FBI used grand jury subpoenas in 2023 to seize phone records from nine GOP senators, calling the move a politically motivated abuse of power. In an appearance on “The Evening Edit,” Dershowitz didn’t mince words.
“The idea of a special counsel intruding on private phone calls without, as far as I know, notifying the recipients of the phone calls. I think that does require a congressional investigation. Jack Smith has disgraced himself,” Dershowitz told host Elizabeth MacDonald.
Dershowitz said Smith’s action is a blatant overreach that tramples constitutional boundaries and warrants immediate congressional oversight.
“Oh, much too far. Have obviously constitutional immunity of a certain kind. Obviously the telephone wasn’t invented at the time of the Constitution,” Dershowitz said when the host asked if the special counsel had crossed a line.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley released the FBI record Monday, as Republicans stressed the phone records were obtained lawfully through a grand jury process.
“This document shows the Biden FBI spied on eight of my Republican Senate colleagues during its Arctic Frost investigation into ‘election conspiracy.’ Arctic Frost later became Jack Smith’s elector case against Trump,” Grassley said.
Documents released in September show the Biden-era probe that led to Smith’s indictment of President Donald Trump also targeted dozens of conservative groups, including Turning Point USA and the RNC. Grassley said that the FBI’s “Arctic Frost” investigation swept up 92 Republican figures.
Grassley accused the FBI of using the “Arctic Frost” probe to improperly target the broader Republican political apparatus for partisan purposes. (RELATED: ‘How Serious Is It?’: Alan Dershowitz Breaks Down What Punishments Could Await From Students’ Pork Prank)
“Arctic Frost wasn’t just a case to politically investigate Trump,” Grassley said Tuesday during his opening statement for the Judiciary Committee’s FBI oversight hearing. “It was the vehicle by which partisan FBI agents and DOJ prosecutors could achieve their partisan ends and improperly investigate the entire Republican political apparatus.”
COVER-UP: Declassified Docs Reveal CIA BURIED Report on Biden Family’s Corrupt Foreign Dealings
by Kaley 16 hours ago
Newly-declassified documents just proved what we knew all along: Joe Biden had a lot to hide with regards to Ukraine.
CIA Director John Ratfcliffe just declassified records from 2015, which show that then-Vice President Biden asked for an intelligence report on concerns over his family’s corrupt business dealings in Ukraine to be hidden.
His request was granted, and the report was buried — until now.
Here’s what we know:
COVER-UP EXPOSED: Newly declassified records from CIA Director John Ratcliffe show that in 2015, Vice President Biden asked that an intelligence report on foreign concerns about his family’s ties to "corrupt" business dealings in Ukraine “not be disseminated.”
The records were… pic.twitter.com/pz0dAZiilA
COVER-UP EXPOSED: Newly declassified records from CIA Director John Ratcliffe show that in 2015, Vice President Biden asked that an intelligence report on foreign concerns about his family’s ties to "corrupt" business dealings in Ukraine “not be disseminated.”
COVER-UP EXPOSED: Newly declassified records from CIA Director John Ratcliffe show that in 2015, Vice President Biden asked that an intelligence report on foreign concerns about his family’s ties to “corrupt” business dealings in Ukraine “not be disseminated.”
The records were ultimately withheld — Director Ratcliffe calls this an example of “politicization of intelligence.” | @brookeSingman
BREAKING: Declassified CIA Docs Reveal Joe Biden Suppressed Reports of Ukrainian Leaders Exposing his Corruption pic.twitter.com/b7A0hjeG5I
BREAKING: Declassified CIA Docs Reveal Joe Biden Suppressed Reports of Ukrainian Leaders Exposing his Corruption pic.twitter.com/b7A0hjeG5I
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) October 7, 2025
Here’s a closer look:
The heavily-redacted report that Biden succeeded in having buried showed that Ukrainian officials believed his family’s ties to business corruption in Ukraine was evidence of a “double standard” in the U.S. government.
Fox News has more:
Then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2015 told the CIA he would “strongly prefer” an intelligence report documenting Ukrainian officials’ concerns with his family’s ties to “corrupt” business deals in the country “not be disseminated” — and so it wasn’t, according to a newly declassified email and records made public by the agency.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified the heavily redacted records, which he said he believes is an example of “politicization of intelligence.”
Fox News Digital obtained the declassified documents, which were discovered during a CIA review of historical agency records.
A senior CIA official briefed Fox News Digital on the declassified documents and intelligence report, stating that the intelligence was discovered along with an email showing that Biden “expressed a preference to not share the report.”
Representatives for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
CIA officials discovered and declassified an email dated February 10, 2016, with the subject line stating: “RE: OVP query regarding draft [REDACTED].” The email was sent to the CIA.
The classification of the email was listed, and crossed out, as “SECRET.”
“Good morning, I just spoke with VP/ NSA and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated. Thanks for understanding,” the email states, signed by a redacted name, but with the title of “PDB Briefer.”
The “PDB” is the presidential daily brief.
The report in question included intelligence revealing that Ukrainian officials viewed the Biden family’s alleged ties to corrupt business practices in Ukraine “as evidence of a double-standard within the United States Government towards matters of corruption and political power.”
“Intelligence officials agreed that, at the time of collection, it would have met the threshold [for dissemination], but based on the Office of the Vice President’s preference, the information was never shared outside of the CIA,” the official said.
The CIA, during its review, confirmed that Biden’s request was granted and that the intelligence report “had not been disseminated.”
The senior CIA official told Fox News Digital that it was “extremely rare and unusual” and “inappropriate to go outside of the intelligence community and inquire with the White House on the dissemination of a particular report for what appears to be political reasons.”
Remember when Joe Biden bragged about having Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin — who was investigating Burisma Holdings, where Hunter was a member of the board — fired?
He threatened not to give Ukraine $1 billion of aid if they refused to fire Shotkin.
Here’s a refresher:
🇺🇸🇺🇦 CIA confirmed today they knew Biden was tied to corruption in Ukraine.
Remember how Biden bragged that he got Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin fired who investigated Burisma and his son Hunter?
Shokin, in his investigation of Burisma Holdings, identified Hunter Biden as… pic.twitter.com/ch4C7ztTAe
🇺🇸🇺🇦 CIA confirmed today they knew Biden was tied to corruption in Ukraine.
Remember how Biden bragged that he got Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin fired who investigated Burisma and his son Hunter?
Shokin, in his investigation of Burisma Holdings, identified Hunter Biden as… pic.twitter.com/ch4C7ztTAe
New Declassified CIA Files Show Biden’s Effort to Quash Ukraine Report on Family Business Links
by Crime Beat
October 7, 2025
Hunter Biden Complains He’s Running Out of Money After His Paintings Suddenly Stopped Selling
Declassified CIA documents now public lay out how Joe Biden, as vice president in 2015, pushed to keep intelligence under wraps that detailed Ukrainian officials’ frustration over his family’s connections to questionable business activities in their country. The records, released by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, include an email from February 10, 2016, where a CIA briefer relayed Biden’s wishes: “Good morning, I just spoke with VP/ NSA and he would strongly prefer the report not/not be disseminated. Thanks for understanding.”
This message, originally marked secret, shows Biden stepping in to limit the spread of information that could have cast a shadow on his anti-corruption stance during trips to Ukraine.
The intelligence in question stemmed from reactions among Ukrainian government figures to Biden’s visit to Kiev in early December 2015. Officials in President Petro Poroshenko’s administration saw the Biden family’s alleged involvement in corrupt dealings as proof of a U.S. double standard on corruption and political influence. One assessment in the report put it plainly, noting that the situation “undermined the credibility” of Washington’s push against graft. Ukrainian leaders expected Biden to tackle real issues like personnel changes, but instead, he delivered what they viewed as a routine public address without diving into substance.
Biden’s speech on December 9, 2015, called out Ukraine’s need for genuine reforms. He declared, “And it’s not enough to set up a new anti-corruption bureau and establish a special prosecutor fighting corruption. The Office of the General Prosecutor desperately needs reform.”
He went further, insisting, “The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles — not sweetheart deals,” and added, “Senior elected officials have to remove all conflicts between their business interest and their government responsibilities. Every other democracy in the world — that system pertains.”
These words carried weight at the time, yet they clashed with the reality of his son Hunter’s position on the board of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian energy firm under scrutiny for corruption. Hunter pulled in substantial monthly payments—tens of thousands of dollars—while his father handled U.S. policy toward Ukraine.
That tension escalated when Ukrainian Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin investigated Burisma. By March 2016, Biden had leveraged U.S. aid to force Shokin’s removal, later boasting about it in a 2018 recount: “I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ … I looked at them and said, ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” referring to his talk with Poroshenko.
This move cleared a path for Burisma, raising questions about whether Biden’s actions protected family interests over broader U.S. goals. Records from the House Oversight Committee timeline show the Bidens and associates received $6.5 million from Ukrainian sources, including Burisma payments to Hunter starting in 2014, just as Joe Biden ramped up involvement in Ukraine’s affairs.
Ratcliffe’s decision to declassify these materials aimed at exposing what he saw as misuse of intelligence. A senior CIA official explained to Fox News, “Director Ratcliffe believes this is an example of politicization of intelligence that we need to work to eliminate and for what we have zero tolerance. We believe transparency is important. We will release information and avoid any future weaponization of the intelligence community.”
The report itself came with strict warnings against further sharing, emphasizing penalties for breaches to safeguard sources.
This revelation ties into broader scrutiny of the Bidens. The House launched an impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden, concluding he committed impeachable acts by abusing his office in dealings with Ukraine and other foreign entities. It echoes events from 2019, when President Trump urged Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy to probe the Bidens’ actions, leading to Trump’s impeachment by Democrats—though the Senate acquitted him in 2020. Federal probes into Hunter Biden’s foreign transactions, including those flagged as suspicious, have continued, with some intelligence veterans later warning of potential Russian disinformation efforts around the story.
These documents pull back the curtain on decisions that shielded potentially damaging details from wider view, fueling ongoing debates about accountability in Washington. With transparency now in play, they offer a clearer look at how personal ties may have intersected with official duties during Biden’s time in office.
From the National Guard to deportations, Trump has suffered numerous legal setbacks from people he put on the bench.
By Kyle Cheney
When a Donald Trump-appointed judge delivered a stinging rejection of his effort to put National Guard troops on the ground in Portland, the president had some regrets.
“I wasn’t served well by the people that pick judges,” Trump vented Saturday.
His gripe came four months after he similarly sounded off about the “bad advice” he got from the conservative Federalist Society for his first-term judicial nominations — a reaction to a ruling, backed by a Trump-appointed judge, rejecting his power to impose sweeping tariffs on U.S. trading partners.
“This is something that cannot be forgotten!” he said on Truth Social.
While Trump and his allies have spent all year leveling pointed attacks at Democratic judicial appointees, labeling them rogue insurrectionists and radicals, the president is increasingly facing stark rejections from people he put on the bench — including at least one from his second term.
The brushbacks have come mainly from district judges, who occupy the lowest level of the three-tiered federal judiciary. So far, it’s been a different story among Trump’s three most powerful judicial appointees: Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. That troika, along with the high court’s three other conservatives, has handed Trump numerous short-term victories in emergency rulings this year, often lifting injunctions against Trump policies issued by district judges.
The White House leaned into that bottom-line success in a statement to POLITICO that attributed Trump’s defeats to Democratic appointees and sidestepped questions about the defeats dealt by Trump’s own picks.
“The Trump Administration’s policies have been consistently upheld by the Supreme Court as lawful despite an unprecedented number of legal challenges and unlawful lower court rulings from far-left liberal activist judges,” said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson. “The President will continue implementing the policy agenda that the American people voted for in November and will continue to be vindicated by higher courts when liberal activist judges attempt to intervene.”
Trump allies also emphasize that district court judges tend to require the approval of home-state senators, leading presidents to nominate more moderate picks than they might otherwise in states dominated by the opposing party.
Still, in some cases in which Trump-appointed judges have heard Trump-related cases, they have gone further than simply ruling against his policies. They have delivered sweeping warnings about the expansion of executive power, the erosion of checks and balances and have criticized his attacks on judges writ large.
One Trump appointee rebuked the president and his allies for a “smear” campaign against the judiciary.
“Although some tension between the coordinate branches of government is a hallmark of our constitutional system,” U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen wrote in a recent ruling, “this concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is both unprecedented and unfortunate.”
Rulings against the administration by Trump-appointed judges have come in some of the most high-profile cases of Trump’s second term. Here’s a look at the most notable examples.
National Guard call-up
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a first-term Trump appointee in Oregon, ruled that Trump’s effort to put National Guard troops in Portland was “untethered” from reality and risked plunging the nation into an unconstitutional form of military rule.
Deporting Guatemalan children
U.S. District Judge Tim Kelly, a first-term appointee in Washington, D.C., rejected the Trump administration’s claim that it was trying to reunite unaccompanied Guatemalan kids with their parents when it abruptly loaded hundreds of children onto buses and planes for a middle-of-the-night deportation effort. That explanation “crumbled like a house of cards,” he wrote, after the Guatemalan government contradicted the claim. Kelly blocked the immediate deportations, saying they appeared to violate the law.
Restricting the AP’s White House access
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden said the White House had unconstitutionally evicted the Associated Press from Oval Office events over its refusal to adopt Trump’s “Gulf of America” label. McFadden’s ruling was later put on hold by an appeals court. Notably, Trump has mischaracterized this ruling twice in recent days during public remarks, claiming that McFadden, a first-term appointee, not only sided with his restrictions on the AP but endorsed his relabeling of the Gulf of Mexico. Neither McFadden nor the appeals court reached such a conclusion.
Trump’s tariff power
Few issues are as central to Trump’s economic agenda as his power to levy tariffs at will against U.S. trading partners he claims are ripping off the country. But Timothy Reif, a judge he put on the U.S. Court of International Trade, joined two other judges in ruling that Trump lacked the legal power to impose such sweeping tariffs, a traditionally congressional authority. A federal appeals court later agreed with the panel, and the matter is now pending before the Supreme Court.
Summary deportations under the Alien Enemies Act
Several Trump-appointed judges joined a nationwide legal rebuke of the president and his administration over efforts to abruptly deport Venezuelan nationals using Trump’s wartime authority under the Alien Enemies Act. U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. was the first to label the effort “unlawful.” Two other first-term Trump appointees, U.S. District Judges John Holcomb and Stephanie Haines, ruled that Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act was legitimate but that the administration’s effort to speedily deport its targets violated their due process rights.
Returning Daniel Lozano Camargo
Among the targets of Trump’s Alien Enemies Act order was Daniel Lozano Camargo, a Venezuelan man who had been residing in Texas. Unlike others whom the administration abruptly sent to El Salvador under that order, Lozano Camargo was protected by a 2024 settlement requiring the government to resolve his pending asylum claim before deportation could occur. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a first-term Trump appointee in Maryland, ordered the administration to facilitate the man’s return to the United States — following the lead of her colleague on the Maryland bench, Obama appointee Paula Xinis, in the similar case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Mandatory detention of potential deportees
The Trump administration has sought to vastly expand the use of detention for immigrants facing deportation — seeking to deprive bond hearings for all potential deportees, even if they’ve spent decades living in the United States. Dozens of judges have found the abrupt shift illegal, saying the move is potentially subjecting millions of people to being locked up while they fight to remain in the United States. In recent days, several Trump appointees have joined their ranks. They include first-term appointees: Dominic Lanza of Arizona, Rebecca Jennings of the Western District of Kentucky and Eric Tostrud of Minnesota. Kyle Dudek of the Middle District of Florida, whom Trump appointed this term, was confirmed to the bench just two weeks before ruling against the administration.
Targeting the Maryland bench
Cullen’s stinging assessment of Trump and his allies’ attacks on judges came in a remarkable legal attack by the Trump administration against the entire federal district court bench in Maryland. The administration sued the judges there over a blanket policy to delay all urgent deportation cases for 48 hours to give the court a chance to act before litigants were deported. The administration said the rule infringed on executive power to execute immigration laws. But Cullen rejected the administration’s lawsuit as defective and the improper way to seek relief from an administrative process it disagreed with.
Other rejections
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, another Washington, D.C.-based first-term Trump appointee, has turned down the administration on multiple fronts — including an effort by the Justice Department to use Trump’s pardon of Jan. 6 defendants to cover unrelated crimes. She also granted an injunction requiring the administration to disburse funds it had withheld from the National Endowment for Democracy.
Another first-term Trump appointed judge, Mary McElroy of Rhode Island, repeatedly rebuked the administration in recent weeks for abrupt funding cuts to homelessness programs and public health grants. Last week, she blocked the administration from repurposing $233 million in FEMA grants from blue states over what those states said was punishment for refusing to assist with immigration enforcement.
President Donald Trump likes to portray himself as a visionary, someone who sees important things before others.
By Daniel Dale
Trump has been claiming for the last decade that in a book he published the year before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, he warned the authorities that they needed to deal with Osama bin Laden.
Trump’s claim is false. His 2000 book contained no warning at all about bin Laden. His tale about the book’s nonexistent warning was conclusively debunked in 2015. CNN published another debunking when he revived the tale in 2019.
But the president repeated it once again on Sunday – to a crowd of sailors celebrating the 250th birthday of the US Navy.
This time, Trump delivered the phony narrative after saying history wouldn’t forget how it was Navy Seals who killed bin Laden (in 2011 under then-President Barack Obama, a frequent target of Trump criticism). Trump added, in an apparent ad-lib, “And please remember, I wrote about Osama bin Laden exactly one year ago,” then corrected himself and said, “One year before he blew up the World Trade Center. And I said, ‘You’ve got to watch Osama bin Laden.’ And the fake news would never let me get away with that statement unless it was true.”
It’s not true, as news outlets have pointed out for years. But Trump continued: “In the book, I wrote – whatever the hell the title, I can’t tell you – but I can tell you there’s a page in there devoted to the fact that I saw somebody named Osama bin Laden, and I didn’t like it, and, ‘You gotta take care of him.’ They didn’t do it; a year later he blew up the World Trade Center. So, you gotta take a little credit, because nobody else is gonna give it to me.”
People don’t give Trump credit for his book’s warning about bin Laden because that warning doesn’t exist.
Trump’s 2000 book contained just one passing mention of bin Laden
The book, titled “The America We Deserve,” did not tell anyone they needed to “watch” or “take care of” bin Laden. That wouldn’t have been particularly prescient advice even if Trump had offered it in January 2000 – bin Laden was already a well-known threat to Americans at the time – but the book simply did not offer it.
Here’s the book’s single mention of bin Laden, in a section criticizing US foreign policy: “Instead of one looming crisis hanging over us, we face a bewildering series of smaller crises, flash points, standoffs, and hot spots. We’re not playing the chess game to end all chess games anymore. We’re playing tournament chess – one master against many rivals. One day we’re all assured that Iraq is under control, the UN inspectors have done their work, everything’s fine, not to worry. The next day the bombing begins. One day we’re told that a shadowy figure with no fixed address named Osama bin-Laden is public enemy number one, and U.S. jetfighters lay waste to his camp in Afghanistan. He escapes back under some rock, and a few news cycles later it’s on to a new enemy and new crisis.”
That is clearly not any advice to anyone about bin Laden. And it contains an acknowledgment that bin Laden had already been targeted by then-President Bill Clinton (after the 1998 terror attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya).
In a separate section of the book, Trump did predict that the US would be hit by major terror attacks, writing, “I really am convinced we’re in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the (1993) bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers. No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen.”
But Trump did not predict that bin Laden (or anyone else in particular) would be responsible for these future attacks. And Trump acknowledged it was a widespread belief among analysts that major attacks would occur, not a special insight of his own.
It’s understandable if Trump doesn’t remember precisely what was in the book; it was released 25 years ago and was ghostwritten by someone else, writer Dave Shiflett. But that doesn’t excuse a decade of boasting about how the book supposedly includes something it actually doesn’t.
The White House denies that Kristi Noem told President Trump that she was going to zero out counterterrorism funding for the cops in NYC who protect — among other high profile potential targets — Trump Tower.
By emptywheel
That’s where we start this very very long story of stupid things DHS is doing that are awful in real time but, with concerted focus, may backfire. We’re seeing it in NY, we’re seeing it in the Portland and Chicago invasions, and we see the potential result in the Kilmar Abrego case.
Kristi Noem didn’t warn Trump she was stripping security funding from New York City
As New York described it in a lawsuit, on the last day of the fiscal year last week, the state learned that DHS had zeroed out security grant funding for New York City’s MTA from a news article; as of the filing of that suit, DHS had not notified New York it had withdrawn funding.
4. New York learned about the Reallocation Decision not from the government but from an online news story, which reported earlier today that “[t]he federal government will deny the [the Metropolitan Transit Authority (“MTA”)] tens of millions of dollars in requested security grant funding, withholding every dollar the agency asked for because New York City and New York state are ‘sanctuary jurisdictions.’” Dave Cole & David Myer, BIG ZERO: Trump Stiffs MTA in ‘Sanctuary City’ Tantrum, STREETSBLOG NEW YORK CITY (Sept. 30, 2025), https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/09/...-grant-funding. At this time, MTA has not even received formal notice that their award was cut to nothing.
5. Upon information and belief, New York’s award was changed from the $33,898,500 that FEMA had targeted New York to receive in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (“NOFO”) to $0. As of the filing of this complaint, New York has received no explanation from DHS or FEMA, despite repeated attempts to contact the agency through the Department of Justice. But upon information and belief, New York has been targeted because the administration believes it is a “sanctuary” jurisdiction. FEMA also did not treat all “sanctuary” jurisdictions evenhandedly. Upon information and belief, at the same time as it eliminated New York’s allocation, FEMA made increases to other States’ allocations, including other “sanctuary” jurisdictions.
9. Now today, FEMA issued increased TSGP award notifications for other states, and Plaintiffs have discovered the Reallocation Decision through the media. At 1:07 PM today, counsel in Illinois v. FEMA and Illinois v. Noem sent an email communication to the Department of Justice inquiring about the story, asking for New York’s notice of award, and alerting the government that they would file the instant lawsuit and a TRO motion before the end of the federal fiscal year tonight. Counsel followed up that email with a second. At the time of filing, New York has not received a response. The New York Attorney General’s Office was sent (not by Defendants) a power-point presentation that appears to be a genuine document prepared and presented to Congressional staff, which is aligned with the online story. That document, attached as Exhibit 3 to the Affirmation of Rabia Muqaddam, identifies the MTA as the only applicant for TSGP funding that was denied, while other applicants received greater than originally allocated awards. It further states that MTA did not receive their award “because it is based in a Sanctuary Jurisdiction city.” Id. at *25.
In a NYT article providing more details of the funding, Kathy Hochul aptly described this as Republicans defunding the cops.
“A Republican administration literally defunding the police is the height of hypocrisy — and walking away from the fight against terrorism in the No. 1 terrorist target in America is utterly shocking,” Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said in a statement on Tuesday.
The decision to strip NY of counterterrorism funding directly violated an order issued just days earlier in a lawsuit seeking to enjoin this kind of politicized DHS process.
There’s the legal issue: how DHS continues to double down on politicizing security grants in defiance of court orders, just as the government is trying to defy Karin Immergut’s order enjoining the deployment of the Guard to Portland. A judge in NY’s lawsuit issued a TRO to prevent the cuts, as Immergut did in Oregon; a judge will hold a hearing Thursday in Chicago’s challenge to Trump’s invasion.
But holy hell! In pursuit of politics, Kristi Noem cut counterterrorism funding created in response to 9/11 to the city of New York.
At least according to the White House, no one told the President that DHS was going to strip counterterrorism funding from a city where he owns significant property.
The cuts, which represented the largest federal defunding of police operations in New York in decades, were made by the Department of Homeland Security, without explanation and without the approval of President Trump, White House officials said.
Indeed, President Trump was blindsided by the decision to defund the police, not learning of the cuts until Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York called him on Sunday to protest the change after the fact, according to three people with knowledge of the call.
The other politicized cuts rolled out in recent days, both the cuts to transportation projects cherished by New Jersey commuters and to energy projects focused on swing congressional districts, will be fairly easy to politicize.
But to cut counterterrorism funding for New York City is self-evidently insane by any measure.
And also put Donald Trump’s flagship branded property at risk, which is probably one of the reasons he reversed the decision so quickly.
Trump Federalizes Oregon National Guard based off Fox News propaganda
The claim — however incredible — that Trump had no idea DHS was cutting counterterrorism funding from NYC is important background to the repeated pieces of evidence that Trump deployed the National Guard to Portland because he believes the propaganda he sees on Fox News.
By his own description, Trump did so based on seeing things on television “that are different from what’s happening,” as described by Governor Tina Kotek.
In an NBC News interview on Sunday, Trump himself appeared to question the narrative he used to justify the deployment following a phone call on Saturday with Kotek, who said Trump told her he’d seen videos of fires in the city that may have been from the 2020 protests.
“I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said in the interview. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place…it looks like terrible.”
As Salon noted, Trump was under a mistaken belief that what he sees on Fox News reflects reality.
“I told him in very plain language there is no insurrection or threat to public safety that necessitates military intervention in Portland or any other city in our state,” Kotek said. “Putting our own military on our streets is an abuse of power…Here’s the deal. “We cannot be looking at footage from 2020 and assume that that is the case today in Portland.”
On Sunday, Oregon and Portland filed a 41-page lawsuit in federal court against Trump’s actions. The suit referenced a recent Fox News report cited by the president that misled viewers by wrongly presenting “outdated protest footage from 2020.” As Oregon’s Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden told reporters on Friday, “If [Trump] watches a TV show in the morning and he see Portland mentioned, he says it’s a terrible place.”
But even after Trump’s announcement, Fox continued to use old footage to paint Portland as a lawless state.
The initial order from Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, enjoining the deployment focused on how unnecessary the deployment was.
The protests generally were limited to fewer than 30 people and were “largely sedate.” Id. ¶ 25. If the protests were to increase or threaten public safety, PPB could call on additional available resources. Id. ¶ 26. But the protests have been such a minor issue, that the normal nightlife in downtown Portland has required more police resources than the ICE facility. Id.
Defendants also express concern about danger in Portland because of incidents that have occurred elsewhere in the country. Id. ¶ 21. Most concerning is the sniper shooting in Dallas, Texas, targeting an ICE van, and the protest that followed in Chicago when a protestor was found with a firearm. Id. ¶¶ 21–22.
Defendants’ declarants describe only four incidents of protesters clashing with federal officers in the month of September preceding the federalization order—on September 1st, 9th, 12th, and without further specification, the second week of September. Wamsley Decl., ECF 38 ¶¶ 16, 18; Cantu Decl., ECF 40 ¶ 15. The first involved protesters setting up a makeshift guillotine to intimidate federal officials; the second involved four people shining overpowered flashlights in the eyes of drivers; the third involved someone posting a photograph of an unmarked ICE vehicle online; and the last involved additional drivers having flashlights shone in their eyes. Cantu Decl., ECF 40 ¶ 15; Wamsley Decl., ECF 38 ¶¶ 16–18. These incidents are inexcusable, but they are nowhere near the type of incidents that cannot be handled by regular law enforcement forces. They also occurred at least two weeks before President Trump issued his directive.
She compared that to the nonsense Trump put in his Truth Social posts leading up to his declaration.
On September 19, 2025, President Trump explained that the administration was going to “get rid of” the “problems” in cities, including Chicago, Memphis, and Portland. Marshall Decl., ECF 9 ¶ 25. He described that in Portland people were “out of control” and “crazy.” Id. On September 25, 2025, the President again described Portland, exclaiming that “nobody’s ever seen anything like it” with activity happening “every night,” with people that “just burn the place down.” Marshall Decl., ECF 9 ¶ 26. President Trump commented on “professional agitators” in Portland who are “paid a lot of money by rich people,” “anarchists,” and “crazy people” who try to “burn down buildings, including federal buildings,” with Portland having activity “every night . . . for years.” Id. He promised to do a “pretty big number” on the “people in Portland that are doing that.” Id.
The order is best understood as laying out that DOJ was absolutely unable to substantiate the things Trump said in his Truth Social posts that were the ostensible purpose for the deployment. This great Greg Sargent interview with Oregon’s Attorney General, Dan Rayfield, describes how easy it was to prove Trump deployed the Guard based on delusions.
Sargent: Well, to go into the guts of that, by law, Trump can only federalize the National Guard if there’s an invasion by a foreign nation, a rebellion, or if the laws can’t be executed with regular forces. The crucial thing though is that while the president has a fair amount of deference in determining whether those things are happening, you can’t just make it up whole cloth. The judge cited a few examples of violence but said it doesn’t come close to reaching those conditions. Can you talk about the importance of that aspect of the ruling?
Rayfield: Yeah, and I think it’s important for all of us to be grounded. We actually do want a rational president to have deference in being able to determine when there’s an emergency that might necessitate the military, right? You wouldn’t want to second-guess a president—is this an invasion or is this not? You want to give them a ton of deference to react immediately.
What made this very unique is that, right now, it’s not even a close call. You can give all the deference you want to the president, and still—none of those circumstances exist.
And I often joke, the only rebellion going on in Oregon right now is when I try to feed my son a vegetable. So it’s just a very strange dynamic. The president is really just fixated on social media gossip, which is incredibly reckless to rely upon when you’re deploying the United States military.
Sargent: Well, I want to try to get at Trump’s bad faith in all this. The judge cited a tweet from Trump after a period of really minimal activity outside the Portland ICE facility. Trump tweeted that he’s directed the defense secretary to protect, quote, “war-ravaged Portland and any of our ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.”
The judge looked at that and said Trump can’t just make up “facts on the ground”—said Trump was “untethered from the facts.” So, AG, didn’t Trump’s bad faith work against him here?
Rayfield: Unquestionably, right? But that’s what’s so amazing about our court system in the United States. It’s a place where we get to go in and talk about truth. We get to talk about facts. And we have a judge—no matter where they come from in life—who gets to evaluate the circumstances on the ground and make these decisions.
It doesn’t matter what the president says. You can say whatever you want, but you still have to be able to back it up with real facts. And to be able to push back against the president and say, Hey, no, this is unacceptable, is incredibly important.
The man is delirious. DOJ cannot substantiate the reality he is living in.
And yet the far right keeps churning out propaganda in hopes of justifying an invasion. Even as this hearing was going on, right wing provocateur Nick Sortor was whining that he had been arrested outside the ICE facility.
Not only did DHS get him released from Portland custody, but one after another top official decided they were going to investigate Portland for arresting an outside agitator.
Trump even took some time out to encourage the outside agitator.
There are multiple problems with this big rush to defend Sortor. Not only does Sortor have a history of doing this and ties to far right extremists, not only was the conflict caught on video showing him making physical contact first, not only has ICE elsewhere violently assaulted real journalists (meaning Civil Rights Division is selectively intervening), but according to the press release, Federal authorities started arresting people before Portland arrested Sortor.
PPB was monitoring the protest during the evening and observed some protest participants engaging in fights.
At about 8:09 p.m., PPB Dialogue Officers (DLOs) observed two men fighting near the ICE building driveway. The DLOs called in additional resources and officers were responding when the fight ended following one participant being knocked to the ground. He did not lose consciousness and never requested medical help. Both involved were detained by federal law enforcement and were later released. Neither party indicated they wanted to make a police report.
PPB continued to monitor the situation and responded after seeing additional fights break out. At about 11:16 p.m., RRT moved in and arrested three people were arrested and all booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center (MCDC) on charges of Disorderly Conduct in the Second Degree:
Angela Davis, 49, of Vernonia, Oregon
Nicholas Sortor, 27, of Washington, DC
Son Mi Yi, 43, of Portland
DOJ is saying that Portland can’t arrest people who travel across the country to spark unrest in Portland. And Sortor has been out since then trying to provoke violence.
When this goes to court — and undoubtedly it will in some form — DOJ will be stuck defending the premise that DOD has to invade Portland because right wingers with close ties to the President traveled across the country to stoke unrest.
And they did so in conjunction with an invasion premised on persistent false propaganda shown on Fox News.
Sunday, Trump was babbling some more about what’s going on in Portland, claiming that the reason Mayors don’t want the Guard is that they’re too terrified of … the inflated frog personas, I guess.
Kristi Noem dresses up a Russian useful idiot to produce propaganda about Chicago
Which leads us to Chicago.
I suggested, last week, that one reason Trump’s immigration invasions are so unpopular is they result in so many videos showing ICE butt cracks and beer bellies, poorly trained-men rolling around in a street like greased pigs as they try to arrest brown men. That negative spectacle, going viral, has drowned out the staged attempts to pitch the violence against brown people in eroticized terms.
Which is an important thing to remember when reviewing just the last few days of outrageous abuse: there is the abuse, there is the staged spectacle, and there is the effort (as with Nick Sortor) to use the resultant spectacle to provide a pretext to justify further invasion.
Consider that DHS produced a highly produced video of its assault on a South Shore apartment building last week, which may do more to explain the timing of the raid — which started at 1AM and thus necessitated strobe lighting — than any law enforcement purpose (to say nothing of the fact that judges ordinarily require warrants be executed after dawn). Since it was hours before even the US citizens detained in the raid got back into their apartments, there were few live videos of the raid — though one neighbor took a picture of Noem’s goons apparently traveling the same way the extremist group, Patriot Front, travels: in the back of a rental truck.
It wasn’t until after residents were able to return to their homes that they found that ICE had taken an already squalid place into a hell hole.
Dan Jones stood outside with police officers to file a report after his valuables — from his mattress and iPad down to his air fryer — were stolen after agents broke his door.
Jones slept at an aunt’s house following the raid and returned to find clothing and garbage that wasn’t his all over his apartment floor.
A small moving crew said they had been hired after the raid to clear out now-vacant units — but didn’t say by who. Doors were boarded up. In one room, there were zip ties and blood stains on the floor next to baby shoes. Flies swarmed around open fridges.
Water damage had caved in ceilings. Strollers and air conditioners and more things left behind blocked the middle of dark hallways. The lobby elevators were broken, with their buttons perpetually lit on the down arrow.
There was a strong odor everywhere.
Jones said the building’s “dirty” conditions predated the raid, but this was the worst he’d seen the place. It was the first of the month and his rent was due.
“It looks like hell,” Jones said. “ICE really just a gang.”
There’s reason to suspect that one beneficiary of this raid, like similar ones in Colorado targeted at apartments significantly rented by Venezuelans, is the slum landlord who had neglected the building.
As I noted, Illinois’ lawsuit against the Federal government focuses on how Noem and her chief goon, Greg Bovino, staged a number of other photo ops around the city, including the confrontation they staged with protestors.
I’ve also laid out the significant discrepancies in the claims surrounding CBP’s shooting of Marimar Martinez, discrepancies that could doom that prosecution even if the central allegation, that she rammed the CBP vehicle, were true (which her attorney contests).
Where Noem’s urge to create propaganda may get her in trouble is how she invited Russia’s useful idiot, Benny Johnson, to tag along wearing Border Patrol armor.
Among other things Benny did on his cosplay cop caper was to post a video of protestors as they were being arrested, claiming they were being arrested for “VIOLENT ASSAULT.”
Of the Federal charges filed since then, just one has been from Broadview (it was assault, but even that one sounds like someone charged for being pushed by the Feds). If, in fact, these people weren’t charged — much less with assault — this would be slander. Since he was dolled up as a “Border Patrol Federal Agent,” even if they were arrested, this will be a privacy violation that might endanger any charges the Feds tried to file.
Worse, Benny’s AI slop video from the cosplay should make it easy for Chicago to show that — as in Portland — Trump’s people are simply making (literal) shit up about Chicago.
In multiple states, Trump’s Administration is relying on provocateurs (in Benny’s case, once funded by the Russian government and still scrutinized for his unnatural YouTube growth) to spread outright slop claims to justify these invasions.
There’s so many ways this could backfire.
Most tellingly, Attorney General Bondi’s direct report, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, linked Abrego’s criminal charges to Abrego’s civil lawsuit in Maryland. Strikingly, during a television interview Deputy Attorney General Blanche revealed that the government started “investigating” Abrego after “a judge in Maryland . . . questioned” the government’s decision, found that it “had no right to deport him,” and “accus[ed] [the government] of doing something wrong.” Kilmar Abrego Garcia was indicted on ‘very serious’ charges, US deputy attorney general says, Fox News (June 6, 2025), https://www.foxnews.com/video/6373969491112.
Deputy Attorney General Blanche’s remarkable statements could directly establish that the motivations for Abrego’s criminal charges stem from his exercise of his constitutional and statutory rights to bring suit against the Executive Official Defendants, rather than a genuine desire to prosecute him for alleged criminal misconduct. 1
1 It may be that Deputy Attorney General Blanche’s opinion distressed former Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Tennessee, Ben Schrader. It is alleged that Mr. Schrader resigned on May 21, 2025—the day Abrego was indicted—because of what some have suggested were his “concerns that th[is] case was being pursed for political reasons.” Katherine Faulders et al., Kilmar Abrego Garcia Brought Back to US, Appears in Court on Charges of Smuggling Migrants, ABC News (June 6, 2025), https://abcnews.go.com/US/mistakenly...y?id=121333122.
Judge Crenshaw suggested this list, from Abrego’s lawyers, would be a good starting point for discovery (though he said bullet e should be narrowed):
a. Material concerning the predication and reasons for opening the investigation that led to the indictment, including, but not limited to, communications between the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and DHS, such as email, text messages, and other correspondence;
b. Communications among DOJ, DHS, the State Department, and/or the White House about the inception or progress of the investigation, such as email, text messages, and other correspondence;
c. Material concerning the decision made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) and/or Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) in or around 2022 not to pursue any investigation or prosecution of the November 30, 2022 traffic stop;
d. Material concerning the government’s change in position and decision to prosecute this case;
e. Material concerning negotiations and the decision to return Mr. Abrego to the United States after he was removed from the United States to El Salvador in March of 2025, including, but not limited to, communications among DOJ, DHS, the State Department, the White House, and/or the government of El Salvador, such as email, text messages, and other correspondence;
f. Material concerning the departure of Ben Schrader, formerly the Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee, whose resignation was reportedly prompted “by concerns” that the instant case “was being pursued for political reasons.”1 See, e.g., United States v. Adams, 870 F.2d 1140, 1146 (6th Cir. 1989) (allowing discovery in connection with vindictive prosecution claim); United States v. Fieger, No. 07-CR-20414, 2008 WL 205244, at *16 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 24, 2008), as amended (Feb. 1, 2008). [my emphasis]
Bullets b and f get you directly from decisions made in the White House and shared with Blanche to their effect on the AUSA who quit because of the way this went down — and it may well lead to a deposition of both Blanche and Schrader.
We’re in uncharted territory here. Even if DOJ doesn’t find a way to appeal this, there will be a heated fight over privileged communications (which will implicate Trump v. US when this inevitably gets to SCOTUS).
But this was the predictable outcome of a bunch of boneheaded things DHS and DOJ did back in April.
It’s also a measure of where all the things they’re doing right now could be headed … a few months down the road.
* The “do something bitch” comment is what a CBP officer said before shooting Marimar Martinez on Saturday in Chicago.
As the calendar flipped to October 2025, the federal government ground to a halt in what has become the first shutdown since 2019, leaving 1.6 million federal employees furloughed, or working without pay. The immediate cause? A bitter partisan standoff over border security funding and immigration enforcement. Republicans, led by President Trump’s unyielding White House, demanded robust allocations for ICE operations and wall expansions to stem the tide of illegal crossings. Democrats, controlling the House, balked, insisting on “humanitarian” provisions that would essentially handcuff enforcement efforts.
But let’s not kid ourselves—this isn’t just about budget line items. Scratch the surface, and you’ll uncover a deeper vendetta. Trump’s second term has been a roaring success, delivering on promises that have bolstered America’s economy, security, and global standing. These triumphs are like salt in the wounds for Democrats, who can’t stomach a Republican president actually succeeding where they’ve chronically failed. The shutdown isn’t mere politics; it’s a calculated strike to sabotage a leader who’s making America great again, exposing the left’s desperation to reclaim power by any means necessary.
Trump’s Second Term: Promises Kept, America First
Say what you will about Donald Trump, but the man delivers. Entering his second term in January 2025, he hit the ground running, ticking off campaign pledges with the speed and precision of a well-oiled machine. In foreign policy, Trump’s peacekeeping initiatives have been nothing short of miraculous. He’s brokered ceasefires in hotspots from the Middle East to Europe and Africa, dialing back U.S. military entanglements that bled trillions under previous administrations.
Then there’s the tariff revolution. By slapping strategic duties on imports from China and the EU, Trump has clawed back manufacturing jobs and filled federal coffers to the tune of hundreds of billions. America’s trade deficit is shrinking, our negotiating leverage is skyrocketing, and nations that once took us for granted now treat the U.S. with the respect it deserves. No more being the world’s doormat—Trump’s “America First” doctrine has elevated our status on the global stage, proving that strength, not endless giveaways, commands real influence.
Domestically, the war on illegal immigration has transformed the nation. Enhanced border patrols, expedited deportations, and crackdowns on sanctuary cities have slashed crossings by over 70% in the first nine months alone. Trump’s executive orders have empowered ICE to target criminal aliens, making neighborhoods safer and freeing up resources for law-abiding citizens. It’s a far cry from the open-borders chaos of the Biden years, where migrants flooded in unchecked, burdening schools, hospitals, and welfare systems.
These achievements aren’t just policy wins; they’re a stark contrast to the Democrat playbook. Leftists campaign on grand visions—free healthcare, green utopias, equity for all—but deliver excuses and gridlock. Trump’s successes expose their hollow rhetoric, leaving the left seething. How dare a Republican actually keep his word? It’s an affront to their narrative that only big-government progressives can “care” for the people.
The Democrats’ Enduring Hatred: A History of Sabotage
This animosity toward Trump is as old as his political rise. During his first term, Democrats didn’t just oppose him—they waged all-out war to cripple his administration. From day one, they peddled the Russiagate hoax, a fabricated tale of collusion that wasted millions in investigations and smeared innocent patriots. Remember the Mueller probe? It dragged on for years, only to fizzle out with no evidence, but not before hobbling Trump’s agenda and poisoning public discourse.
Then came the impeachments—two sham trials built on slander and selective outrage. The first, over a perfectly legitimate Ukraine call, was a desperate bid to paint Trump as corrupt for daring to probe Biden family dealings abroad. The second, post-January 6, twisted a rally into an “insurrection” narrative, ignoring the left’s own summer of riots in 2020. Democrats weaponized Congress, the media, and even the deep state to obstruct everything from tax cuts to judicial appointments. Their goal? Not governance, but destruction—anything to prevent Trump from succeeding and proving conservatism works.
Fast-forward to today, and the hatred burns hotter. With Trump’s proactive policy to deliver to the people, Democrats are resorting to even dirtier tactics. It’s no coincidence this shutdown erupts now, as the radical left ramps up its aggression.
Escalating Tensions: The Radical Left’s Assault on Order
The Trump-Democrat battle is intensifying, with progressive forces adopting a more militant posture. Opposition to ICE raids has turned violent, with activists harassing agents and obstructing operations in sanctuary strongholds. Unrest simmers in Democrat bastions like Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago, where Antifa groups clash with law enforcement under the guise of “protesting injustice.”
At the forefront are figures like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the “Squad,” who decry Trump’s safety measures as “fascist” while championing policies that invite chaos. AOC’s fiery rhetoric fuels the fire, portraying border security as racism rather than common sense. But it’s gone beyond words: radicals have crossed into outright terrorism. The terrible assassination of Charlie Kirk sent shockwaves through the nation. Kirk, a rising star eyed for higher office, was gunned down at a rally—allegedly by a far-left extremist with ties to progressive networks. Democrats’ tepid condemnations ring hollow, especially as threats against ICE agents multiply.
Trump’s actions—restoring peace, order, and safety even in defiant states—are precisely what the left despises. They thrive on division, viewing migrants not as people but as a voting bloc, as their new base. Sanctuary policies aren’t humanitarian; they’re electoral calculus, importing dependency to secure power. As Trump clamps down, the radicals lash out, proving their commitment isn’t to America but to ideology.
The Funding Deadline: Democrats’ Perfect Revenge
Enter the government funding deadline—a golden opportunity for Democrats to strike back. Still reeling from Kirk’s murder, which galvanized GOP resolve, the left saw their chance. Shutting down the government inflicts maximum pain on Trump personally. Essential services halt, paychecks vanish for federal workers, and the economy takes a hit. With legacy media as their megaphone, Democrats paint the MAGA leader as heartless, indifferent to “ordinary people” suffering under his “extremism.”
But the motives run deeper. By starving ICE of funds, Democrats aim to ease pressure on illegal migrants—their voter base. It’s no secret anymore: lax enforcement under Biden swelled their ranks, with amnesty whispers luring millions. Trump’s crackdown threatens that strategy, deporting criminals and deterring crossings. A shutdown buys time, paralyzing operations and allowing the influx to resume.
This isn’t statesmanship; it’s sabotage. Democrats, stung by Trump’s successes, are willing to tank the country to tarnish him. History repeats: just as they concocted Russiagate and impeachments, now they engineer fiscal chaos. But Americans are waking up. Trump’s track record speaks volumes—peace abroad, security at home, prosperity for all. The left’s tantrum only exposes their bankruptcy.
In the end, this shutdown will backfire, just like their past ploys. MAGA will emerge stronger, the people wiser.
Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) grilled Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday about comments Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick made about Jeffrey Epstein during a recent interview with The New York Post — even going so far as to threaten to haul Lutnick before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
By Mediaite
During the interview in question, Lutnick said that “This guy [Epstein] was the greatest blackmailer ever.”
“Blackmail people. That’s how he had money,” added the Trump Cabinet member.
Kennedy had some pointed questions for Bondi about Lutnick’s assertion, given the fact that Bondi’s Justice Department has maintained that there’s no evidence Epstein was running a sexual blackmail ring:
KENNEDY: I’ve got to ask you about this, general. Secretary Howard Lutnick on October 1 gave an interview to The New York Post about Mr. Epstein. And he described Mr. Eppstein as, quote, “the greatest blackmailer ever,” close quote. Have you reviewed that transcript of that interview?
BONDI: I have not reviewed the transcript, but I saw the clip of it.
KENNEDY: Okay. It appears that Secretary Lutnick was Mr. Epstein’s next door neighbor. In fact, their townhomes shared a wall. And the reporter that was talking to Mr. Lutnick, she asked how other prominent men could have been associated with Epstein when Mr. Lutnick could immediately sense that he was a quote “pervert.” And then Secretary Lutnick said, or rather the reporter said, “Did they see it and ignore it?” Do you remember that from the interview?
BONDI: I do.
KENNEDY: And Commerce Secretary Lutnick said, “No, they participated.” And then Commerce Secretary Lutnick goes on to say, quote, “That’s what his MO was. You know, get a massage, get amassage. And what happened in that massage room, I assume was a video. This guy was the greatest blackmailer ever, blackmail people, that’s how he had money,” end quote. Is that true?
BONDI: Senator, as our July memo said, we did not uncover evidence. This case has gone through three administrations, as well as former U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta-
KENNEDY: I know, I know, I know that, Pam! But have you interview Secretary Lutnick?
BONDI: No, Senator.
KENNEDY: Do you plan to?
BONDI: If he wants to talk to the FBI or the FBI wants to talk to him, that is more than on-
KENNEDY: Don’t you think you ought to talk to him after this interview?
BONDI: Senator, if Howard Lutnick wants to speak to the FBI, and if Director Patel wants to speak to Howard Lutnick, absolutely.
KENNEDY: Okay. Maybe we ought to get Mr. Lutnick in here too, Mr. Chairman.
By October 1, 2021: The Biden Administration Had Already Arrested Over 700 Trump Supporters – Compare That to Pam Bondi and the Trump DOJ Who as of Today Have Arrested ZERO Deep State Criminals
by Jim Hoft
Oct. 7, 2025 11:10 am
Crowd of protesters at the U.S. Capitol during a rally, waving flags and gathering near a fire, highlighting a significant moment in recent political history.
On Jan. 6, 2021, CAPITOL POLICE FIRED EXPLODING FLASH GRENADES INTO THE CROWD of Men, Women and Children! 274 FBI agents were planted inside the crowd that day. It was a Fedsurrection.
The Biden regime then immediately began terrorizing and arresting HUNDREDS of American families who attended the protest at the US Capitol that day.
By October 1, 2021, approximately 700 individuals identified as supporters of former President Donald Trump had been arrested by the Biden administration for their roles in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
This figure provided by Grok AI comes from Department of Justice records and contemporaneous reports. By the end of 2021, charges reached 725, but the specific count for October 1 was around 700 based on the pace of filings (e.g., 500 by June 24 and 570 by August 18). No other major arrests of Trump supporters by the Biden administration fit this timeframe or description, as the query aligns with the high-profile Capitol cases.
TMK put together a list of all of the Republicans arrested under the Biden administration compared to those arrested by the Trump administration so far this term.
Donald J. Trump
Waltine “Walt” Nauta
Carlos De Oliveira
Stephen K. Bannon
Peter K. Navarro
Thomas J. Barrack Jr.
Matthew Grimes
Rudy Giuliani
Mark Meadows
John Eastman
Kenneth Chesebro
Sidney Powell
Jenna Ellis
Scott Graham Hall
Shawn Still
David James Shafer
Cathleen “Cathy” Latham
Jeffrey Clark
Trevian C. Kutti
Robert David Cheeley
Harrison William Prescott Floyd
Stephen Cliffgard Lee
Ray Stallings Smith III
Michael A. Roman
Misty Hampton (a.k.a. Misty Ann Hampton / Emily “Misty” Hayes)
Kelli Ward
Tyler Bowyer
Nancy Cottle
Jacob “Jake” Hoffman
Anthony Kern
James Lamon
Robert Montgomery
Samuel Moorhead
Lorraine Pellegrino
Gregory Safsten
Michael Ward
Boris Epshteyn
Christina Bobb
Allen Weisselberg
Michael McDonald
Jesse Law
Jim DeGraffenreid
Durward James Hindle III
Shawn Meehan
Eileen Rice
Kathy Berden
William “Hank” Choate
Amy Facchinello
Clifford Frost
Stanley Grot
John Haggard
Mari-Ann Henry
Timothy King
Michele Lundgren
Meshawn Maddock
James Renner
Mayra Rodriguez
Rose Rook
Marian Sheridan
Ken Thompson
Kent Vanderwood
Steve Bannon
Tina Peters
George Papadopolous
Plus 1265 J6 Defendants
Here’s a list of all democrats arrested under the Donald Trump administration:
0
Here's a list of all republicans arrested under the Joe Biden administration:
Donald J. Trump
Waltine “Walt” Nauta
Carlos De Oliveira
Stephen K. Bannon
Peter K. Navarro
Thomas J. Barrack Jr.
Matthew Grimes
Rudy Giuliani
Mark Meadows
John Eastman
Kenneth Chesebro
Sidney Powell…
— TMK (@TheMagaKing2_0) October 7, 2025
If Republicans want the people to support them in 2026, they better start acting like they care about the future of this country.
Plus, a mysterious group targets Gov. Wes Moore with racist AI videos, Trump seeks gratitude over TikTok, and more — all in this week’s Tuesday Tech Drop.
By Ja'han Jones
Happy Tuesday! Here’s your Tuesday Tech Drop, the past week’s top stories from the intersection of technology and politics.
ICE’s social media surveillance plans
Republicans love to peddle debunked conspiracy theories about spooky government targeting of conservatives online. Now, the same right-wing movement that brought you the “Twitter Files” conspiracy theory is standing idly by as the government reportedly assembles a social media surveillance apparatus to aid President Donald Trump’s bigoted mass incarceration and deportation agenda.
Wired magazine was the first to report on publicly available contracting records showing that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking contractors to potentially run an around-the-clock social media surveillance program out of two offices, located in Vermont and California.
Per the report:
Federal contracting records reviewed by WIRED show that the agency is seeking private vendors to run a multiyear surveillance program out of two of its little-known targeting centers. The program envisions stationing nearly 30 private analysts at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in Vermont and Southern California. Their job: Scour Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and other platforms, converting posts and profiles into fresh leads for enforcement raids.
The proposal is still at an early stage and has not been finalized. But along with Trump’s open threats against the left — such as his concrete steps urging the Department of Homeland Security to target liberals and the military to vanquish the “enemy within” — this proposal raises the possibility of a tool that could be used to spy on the administration’s supposed enemies or suppress free speech.
Trump demands gratitude for TikTok
Trump claimed in a social media post that young people “owe me big” for having “saved TikTok.” And by “saved TikTok,” he means his administration defied a bipartisan law ordering the app to be sold earlier this year — and greenlit a deal to hand the app’s U.S. operation to an ownership group including Larry Ellison, the uber-rich Trump ally who has openly promoted his vision of mass surveillance.
AI-assisted group attacks Wes Moore
A new report shines light on a mysterious group that has targeted Maryland’s first Black governor, Wes Moore, with artificial intelligence-generated videos on social media that have been denounced as racist by Democratic leaders. The dark money group calls itself No Moore.
Big Tech blocks ICE-tracking apps
Apple and Google have both capitulated to the Trump administration and banned apps that allow users to track ICE activity.
Covenant Eyes co-founder’s stepson arrested
Thomas Wideman — whose stepfather co-founded anti-pornography software known as Covenant Eyes, which allows people to monitor someone’s internet activity and has been popularized by conservatives such as House Speaker Mike Johnson — was recently arrested in Michigan and charged with seeking to engage in sexual activity with an underage girl. (The suspect’s attorney told The Roys Report that neither he nor Wideman would comment.)
Streamer charged in New Jersey
In New Jersey, a teenager has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after police say he fatally struck two 17-year-old girls with his vehicle before discussing the incident on a YouTube livestream the next day. (A New York City television station, WNBC, reported that attempts to contact the 17-year-old suspect, Vincent Battiloro, at his home were unsuccessful.)
Kirk conspiracy theories fuel MAGA infighting
Michelle Goldberg, an opinion columnist for The New York Times, wrote an excellent breakdown on the fissures forming in MAGA world as some conservatives use Charlie Kirk’s killing to spread conspiracy theories about Israel.
WATCH: Sen. Josh Hawley GOES OFF on Democrats for Accusing Trump Admin of Weaponization While Ignoring Biden Regime Targeting, Spying on Political Opponents and Republican Senators – Bondi Confirms Investigation Underway
by Jordan Conradson
Oct. 7, 2025 12:00 pm
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) on Tuesday tore into Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in response to accusations toward Attorney General Pam Bondi of weaponizing the Department of Justice.
Bondi sat for testimony before the Senate Committee following the grand jury indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and President Trump’s deployment of federal agents and National Guard troops across the nation.
While Democrats used the hearing to attack Bondi and the Trump Administration for perceived targeting of political opponents, Hawley went off, exposing the true weaponization of justice seen during the Biden Regime, and slammed Democrats for gaslighting the American people.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, Joe Biden’s FBI – and later Jack Smith – spied on eight Republican Senators during the ‘Arctic Frost’ investigation into January 6. This is in addition to the Regime’s targeting of President Trump, Catholic citizens, concerned parents at school board meetings, and conservative groups like Turning Point USA.
Several Republican Congressmembers and private citizens were also targeted by Biden’s Quiet Skies program, which used air marshals to track and observe suspicious passengers and subjects of open FBI terrorism investigations while they traveled by air. Notably, the program failed to prevent a single terrorist attack, which was the purported intention of the initiative.
Freshman Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) recently revealed that he was even targeted as a candidate for Arizona Attorney General and a private citizen– after he questioned and spoke out against his rigged midterm election.
Hawley slammed the Democrats for claiming that Biden never targeted political opponents, adding, "That's interesting because I could have sworn that yesterday we learned that the FBI tapped my phone... tapped Lindsey Graham's phone, tapped Marsha Blackburn's phone, tapped five other phones of United States senators."
"Gee, it sure looks like targeting political opponents to me, and yet, I haven't heard a word from that side of the dais about any concern whatsoever," he continued. He then asked Bondi for details on who ordered this weaponization, but she declined to comment "for very good reason," later confirming that she and FBI Director Kash Patel are actively investigating the scandal.
WATCH:
Hawley: I've been listening closely in this hearing, and I've heard over and over from my Democrat colleagues concerns about targeting political enemies, and they've accused you of all manner of things, and the current president. I've also heard them say— and I just wrote it down because I want to be sure I heard it correctly. I've heard them say that Joe Biden never targeted his political enemies. Joe Biden never directed his attorney general to target his political opponents. Huh? That's interesting because I could have sworn that yesterday we learned that the FBI tapped my phone. Let's look at it. We've got a list. Tapped my phone, tapped Lindsey Graham's phone, tapped Marsha Blackburn's phone, tapped five other phones of United States senators. Gee, it sure looks like targeting political opponents to me, and yet, I haven't heard a word from that side of the dais about any concern whatsoever. We've got nothing but concerns today, but no concern at all for a Justice Department that is tapping the phones of sitting United States senators, because who knows why? They don't like them? They're members of the opposition party? They're Republicans? They're conservatives? You've seen this document, Attorney General Bondi. What was going on here? Who ordered this? Who ordered the tapping of the phones of United States senators?
Bondi: Senator Hawley, I cannot discuss the details of that right now for very good reason.
Hawley: You're going to do a thorough investigation into this, I trust. Is that correct?
Bondi: We will be looking at all aspects of this, and I have talked to Director Patel at length about this.
Sen Josh Hawley GOES OFF Exposing Biden Regime for Spying on Senators
Hawley continued, highlighting several more examples of Biden weaponizing the FBI and DOJ against political opponents and dissidents of his regime in a scathing seven-minute speech, condemning Joe Biden, Jack Smith, and the Biden Department of Justice.
Bondi confirmed that Biden led the "ultimate weaponization," and "under Donald Trump's watch, it has ended."
"No longer will parents who care about whether their elementary school children have to read a transgender book be targeted and told they cannot have any say in their child's education," said Bondi. "People can worship freely, whether they're Catholics, at synagogues, or Muslims; everyone can worship freely. That was the ultimate weaponization. They were targeting Catholics. No longer. They have been targeting so many American citizens throughout this country."
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