Federal authorities thwarted what the Department of Justice described as a “massive and horrific” terror plot involving a pro-Palestinian, far-left group planning a series of bombings in California beginning on New Year’s Eve.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the FBI and the Department of Justice disrupted the scheme by four alleged members of the “Turtle Island Liberation Front,” which officials describe as anti-government and anti-capitalist.
Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante Gaffield, and Tina Lai were arrested around December 12 in Lucerne Valley, California, where investigators believe they were preparing to test explosive devices ahead of the planned attacks. Each has been charged with conspiracy and possession of a destructive device.
According to <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/2000583375698919657">Bondi</a>, those arrested planned to attack targets in Orange County and Los Angeles, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and vehicles.
According to an affidavit obtained by The Daily Wire, Carroll gave an eight-page handwritten document titled &#8220;Operation Midnight Sun&#8221; that detailed the bombing plot to a law enforcement source. The plan included planting backpacks with pipe-bomb improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and simultaneously detonating them at five locations, including two American companies, at midnight on New Year&#8217;s Eve. The plans included information about how to manufacture the bombs and guidance to avoid leaving behind evidence.
The suspects took multiple steps to carry out their plot, including acquiring bomb-making materials and traveling to a remote location in the Mojave Desert to construct and detonate a test explosive on December 12. While there, they began assembling devices using materials such as precursors, PVC pipes, and fuses before being arrested, according to the affidavit.
“This was an incredible effort by our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the @FBI to ensure Americans can live in peace,” Bondi said. “We will continue to pursue these terror groups and bring them to justice.”
“Turtle Island” is an indigenous term for North America adopted by radical leftists who reject the continent’s name as colonialist.
An Instagram account for the Turtle Island Liberation Front in Los Angeles, which authorities say is operated by Carroll, shows a woman named Mary, masked with a keffiyeh, explaining the ties between Palestine and Turtle Island.
“Palestine is the true name of Israel… It’s the same with Turtle Island. That was what the original tribes on the Americas — before it was called &#8216;America&#8217; — it was known as Turtle Island because believe it or not if you look at the map rather from the top down but the bottom up, if you flip that map of the Americas it looks like a turtle.”
Mary added that her group is looking for “reparations and land back to indigenous groups.”
Other posts on the account include anti-Israel and anti-government slogans like “resistance is the deepest form of love,” &#8220;capitalism prevents liberation,” “death to ICE,” and “death to America.”

Leftist Pro-Palestinian Group’s New Year’s Eve Bombing Plot Foiled By Feds

Department of Justice

Terrorism

Turtle Island Liberation Front

The executive director of a Black Lives Matter chapter in Oklahoma has been accused of using donor funds to go toward expensive vacations and purchasing rental properties. 
The Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdok/pr/executive-director-black-lives-matter-okc-charged-wire-fraud-and-money-laundering">filed charges</a> against Black Lives Matter Oklahoma City executive director Tashella Sheri Amore Dickerson last week for wire fraud and money laundering, an unsealed indictment revealed on Thursday. According to the indictment, Dickerson embezzled at least $3.15 million in donor funds for her personal benefit.  
The indictment alleges that Dickerson “knowingly devised, intended to devise, and executed a scheme and artifice to defraud [Black Lives Matter OKC] and its donors in a material manner and to obtain money from [Black Lives Matter OKC] and its donors by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.”
Dickerson allegedly used donations given to her organization to purchase a 2021 Hyundai Palisade, multiple rental properties, food and grocery deliveries, and fund international vacations. 
The vacations include trips for her and associates to the Dominican Republic in July 2021, and to Jamaica in December 2021 and January 2022, the indictment says. She also allegedly spent tens of thousands of dollars shopping at Nordstrom Rack, Macy&#8217;s, Amazon, Best Buy, and Bob Mills Furniture. Additionally, she allegedly spent at least $50,000 on food and grocery deliveries (including DoorDash and Instacart) for herself and her children.
The alleged fraud took place between June 2020 and up until October 2025, the Justice Department said. 
Much of the donations to Black Lives Matter OKC came through the Alliance for Global Justice, a leftist nonprofit based in Arizona. They routed funds from other groups like the Community Justice Exchange, Massachusetts Bail Fund, and Minnesota Freedom Fund to Black Lives Matter OKC, according to the Justice Department. 
The funds were supposed to go toward the pretrial bail for individuals arrested in the riots that took place after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Dickerson allegedly submitted false reports to the Alliance for Global Justice about how the money was being used and covered up how she was using them. 
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She faces 20 counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering. If convicted, she could face decades in prison and hundreds of thousands in fines. The case was investigated by the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office and IRS-Criminal Investigation.
Black Lives Matter OKC <a href="https://www.blmokc.com">describes</a> itself as an &#8220;extension&#8221; of the &#8220;global BLM movement&#8221; and says that it exists to &#8220;eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene against violence inflicted on Black communities.&#8221;

US-POLITICS-POLICE-JUSTICE-RACISM

BLM Leader Accused Of Stealing Millions In Donor Funds To Spend On Vacations And Shopping Sprees

Local BLM Leader Accused Of Using Donor Funds On Shopping Spree, International Trips

Black Lives Matter

Fraud

Oklahoma

The Justice Department&#8217;s mortgage fraud case against New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James was dealt another blow on Thursday when a grand jury in Virginia declined to indict her, according to multiple reports.
After prosecutors presented evidence before a grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday, the jury refused to sign off on an indictment. Abbe Lowell, a lawyer for James, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/grand-jury-again-rejects-charges-trump-sought-against-ny-attorney-general-james-2025-12-11/">said</a> that the grand jury&#8217;s decision &#8220;makes even clearer that this case should never have seen the light of day.&#8221;
James has argued that the Justice Department&#8217;s case against her is &#8220;retribution&#8221; for her civil fraud case against President Donald Trump and his company. James was indicted by a federal grand jury in October on felony charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution, but the case against her hit a roadblock last month when a federal judge <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-judge-tosses-charges-against-james-comey-letitia-james?author=Tim+Pearce&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Federal+Judge+Tosses+Charges+Against+James+Comey%2C+Letitia+James">dismissed</a> it and threw out the initial indictment after finding that the Trump-appointed prosecutor overseeing the case was unlawfully appointed.
The federal grand jury&#8217;s rejection on Thursday is the second time the Justice Department has been rebuffed after accusing James of fraudulently claiming a house in Virginia as her primary home in 2023 while serving as New York&#8217;s attorney general. Last week, after the Justice Department refiled the case against James, a grand jury declined to indict her.
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The mortgage fraud allegations against James stem from her purchase of a three-bedroom home in Norfolk, Virginia, in 2020. James secured favorable loan terms by claiming that the house was her secondary residence, according to the indictment. However, the indictment states that James did not use the house as a residence, instead renting it out to a family, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/justice-department-secures-indictment-of-new-york-attorney-general-letitia-james-0cc2ce4f?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAjz3_xVxqjqGd7DOAjeW9OF_fgoGbzqZNeWtCjLpTn-BtEnWes9wDcj_m33JUg%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68e822e1&amp;gaa_sig=8uhDExWB_EYX_l_bkm5ln2OOTBmY2wZMaB-DdqgJDjcxIxhcKe5QqAAS2ER6wvES1alU0eaHvP7KW_UXYdeMtA%3D%3D">reported</a>. James allegedly saved nearly $19,000 from the favorable loan rates.
The Justice Department could attempt to indict James again, but with a second grand jury rejection, a judge could be skeptical of another push by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia to bring a case against James.
Charges against former FBI Director James Comey were also tossed after the federal judge found that President Donald Trump&#8217;s appointment of Lindsey Halligan as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was unlawful. The Justice Department could also refile charges against Comey after accusing him of giving false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. The charges stemmed from testimony Comey delivered to Congress in 2020 on his handling of the FBI investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Letitia James

Grand Jury Refuses To Indict Letitia James In Another Blow To DOJ’s Effort To Revive Case

Courts

Donald Trump

Trump Administration

U.S.

The Justice Department will no longer pursue civil rights lawsuits based on “disparate impact theory,” the Trump administration announced Tuesday.
The move comes after 50 years of government policy that encouraged lawsuits against “race neutral” policies without showing evidence of actual racial discrimination, the department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-rule-restores-equal-protection-all-civil-rights-enforcement">said</a>. Disparate impact theory is a framework that often assumes discrimination when there are different outcomes for different groups of people, even if there is no explicit discriminatory practice in place.
“For decades, the Justice Department has used disparate-impact liability to undermine the constitutional principle that all Americans must be treated equally under the law,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. “No longer. This Department of Justice is eliminating its regulations that for far too long required recipients of federal funding to make decisions based on race.”
The Justice Department issued a rule removing disparate impact from consideration under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prevents entities that discriminate on the basis of race, sex, religion, and national origin from receiving federal money or support.
“The prior ‘disparate impact’ regulations encouraged people to file lawsuits challenging racially neutral policies, without evidence of intentional discrimination,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Our rejection of this theory will restore true equality under the law by requiring proof of actual discrimination, rather than enforcing race- or sex-based quotas or assumptions.”
The change comes after President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-takes-sledgehammer-to-dei-in-latest-round-of-executive-orders-targeting-education">signed</a> an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy/">executive order</a> in April that directed the federal government to stop using disparate impact theory in government policy and regulations. The order defined disparate impact theory as the “presumption” that “unlawful discrimination exists where there are any differences in outcomes in certain circumstances among different races, sexes, or similar groups, even if there is no facially discriminatory policy or practice or discriminatory intent involved, and even if everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed.”
Trump said that this theory undermines America’s values of meritocracy and a colorblind society while also violating the Constitution.
“It is the policy of the United States to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the Constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals,” Trump wrote.
Last year, President Joe Biden’s Justice Department was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/notice-injunction-louisiana-v-epa-wd-la">blocked</a> from enforcing disparate impact claims against Louisiana.

Justice Department Holds Press Conference On Complaint Filed Under FACE Act

Justice Department Ends Policy That Promoted Dubious Racial Discrimination Suits

Civil Rights

Executive

Harmeet Dhillon

Pam Bondi

Politics

Racial Discrimination

Records related to the sex-trafficking case against Jeffrey Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell will be released after a federal judge granted a request from the Justice Department on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer said that grand jury transcripts and materials from the investigation into Maxwell could be unsealed following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act last month, The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5640270-judge-grants-release-maxwell-records/">reported</a>.
“The Act unambiguously applies to the discovery in this case,” Engelmayer ruled. With Engelmayer’s decision, hundreds more documents related to the investigation into Epstein and Maxwell’s sex trafficking crimes could soon be available to Americans.
The Justice Department asked two federal judges in New York to unseal the grand jury transcripts in November as the Trump administration seeks to release more information and move past the Epstein case, an issue that has plagued the administration throughout President Donald Trump’s second term. The Epstein Files Transparency Act, signed by Trump on November 19, requires the Justice Department to make Epstein-related documents public by December 19.
Engelmayer said he remains concerned about the identities of victims being released and criticized the Justice Department for moving to unseal the grand jury documents in July “without giving notice to Maxwell’s and Epstein’s victims,” NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/new-york-judge-orders-release-ghislaine-maxwell-related-grand-jury-rec-rcna248191">reported</a>.
Engelmayer’s order comes days after another federal judge ruled that grand jury documents related to the 2005 and 2007 investigations into Epstein should also be made public. U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith said that the bill calling for the release of the Epstein files signed by Trump last month prevails over the standard rules safeguarding the secrecy of grand jury documents.
Maxwell, who preyed on young girls and brought them to Epstein’s multiple estates and infamous island, was convicted of five federal counts related to sex trafficking. She is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence.
Earlier this year, Maxwell agreed to sit down with the Justice Department and answer questions on Epstein and his connections to wealthy and powerful people, including Trump. During her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-gave-doj-info-on-100-people-linked-to-epstein-her-lawyer-says">interview</a> with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell said that she “never saw any man doing something inappropriate with a woman of any age.” When asked about Trump, she said he was “always very cordial and very kind to me” and was “a gentleman in all respects.”
Maxwell also said she disagreed with the Justice Department’s conclusion that Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019.
“I do not believe he died by suicide,” Maxwell said, but added that she had no idea who could have been behind his death.
Maxwell is <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/10/ghislaine-maxwell-seek-commutation-document-00644139">reportedly</a> planning to ask the Trump administration to review an application for commutation. After her interview with the Justice Department, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security women’s prison.

Ghislaine Maxwell

Ghislaine Maxwell Records To Be Released After Judge Grants DOJ Request

Jeffrey Epstein

Acting United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba resigned from her position on Monday after the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that she could not legally stay in the role.
Habba was serving in the role in an interim capacity for 120 days from March until July, then continued to serve in the role as legal battles continued about whether she could continue serving beyond that point without going through the Senate confirmation process.
“As a result of the Third Circuit&#8217;s ruling, and to protect the stability and integrity of the office which I love, I have decided to step down in my role as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. But do not mistake compliance for surrender,” Habba said in a statement.
“This decision will not weaken the Justice Department and it will not weaken me. My fight will now stretch across the country. As we wait for further review of the courts ruling, I will continue to serve the Department of Justice as the Senior Advisor to the Attorney General for U.S. Attorneys,” she continued, quipping that “you can take the girl out of New Jersey, but you cannot take New Jersey out of the girl.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi also slammed the court’s decision as “flawed,” and said she was “saddened” to get Habba’s resignation.
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The attorney general said she believed the decision will eventually “be reversed” and that the Trump-backed lawyer would come back to the role if that does happen.
“The court&#8217;s ruling has made it untenable for her to effectively run her office, with politicized judges pausing trials designed to bring violent criminals to justice,” Bondi stated.
“These judges should not be able to countermand the president&#8217;s choice of attorneys entrusted with carrying out the executive branch&#8217;s core responsibility of prosecuting crime,” she continued.
Last week, New Jersey Democratic Sens. Andy Kim and Cory Booker agreed with the court&#8217;s decision that Habba’s arrangement was against the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
“This decision vindicates concerns we have long raised about the extraordinary and unlawful steps taken by the Trump Administration to keep Habba in office without Senate confirmation,” the senators wrote in a joint statement.
“The Court’s ruling underscores a simple but fundamental principle: U.S. Attorneys must be independent and installed consistent with the rule of law, not because of their political loyalty or through political maneuvering,” the December 1 statement continued. “The Trump Administration’s attempt to bypass clear legal requirements to install a loyalist undermined the legitimacy of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey and cast a shadow over the cases she oversaw.”

Alina Habba

Alina Habba Steps Down From Role After Heated Legal Battle: ‘Politicized Judges’

New Jersey

Grand jury documents related to investigations into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public after a federal judge in Florida ordered their release on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith granted a request from the Justice Department for the documents to be released months after another federal judge in Florida said she did not have the legal authority to make the grand jury information public. Smith <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.693993/gov.uscourts.flsd.693993.8.0.pdf">ruled</a> that the bill calling for the release of the Epstein files signed by Trump last month prevails over the normal rules safeguarding the secrecy of grand jury documents.
In July, U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg said that she could not grant the Justice Department&#8217;s request because &#8220;the Court’s hands are tied,&#8221; a point that the federal government conceded at the time. Rosenberg added that the Justice Department did not provide sufficient arguments for unsealing records protected by rules that “emphasize a presumption of secrecy” and protect participants from disclosing information given to a grand jury.
In Smith&#8217;s order on Friday, the judge did not set a date for the release of the documents, which stem from investigations into Epstein from 2005 and 2007 that were conducted in West Palm Beach, Florida, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/judge-orders-jeffrey-epstein-related-grand-jury-transcripts-florida-re-rcna247624">reported</a>. The Justice Department first moved to unseal the grand jury documents after controversy erupted over the Trump administration&#8217;s July 6 memo, which concluded that there was no “credible evidence” to prove that Epstein kept a client list.
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The release of the Epstein grand jury documents could reveal more information to the public about the financier&#8217;s crimes and connections. The Epstein controversy has plagued the Trump administration for much of the president&#8217;s second term. Congress finally passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act last month, and Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-signs-bill-to-release-epstein-files">signed</a> the bill into law, giving the Justice Department 30 days to release the evidence and records it has compiled on Epstein.
The president signed off on the release of more Epstein files after months of pushing back against calls for their release and calling the focus on the Epstein files a &#8220;hoax&#8221; pushed by the legacy media and the Democratic Party. Democrats and Republicans <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dems-drop-new-epstein-emails-in-which-he-claims-trump-knew-about-the-girls">released</a> additional pages of documents from Epstein&#8217;s estate last month, some of which included emails from Epstein discussing Trump.
Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein&#8217;s crimes, and Epstein&#8217;s victims have not made any allegations against the former president. Epstein was also close to powerful Democrats. Last month, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-unleashes-doj-to-investigate-epsteins-democrat-friends">directed</a> the Justice Department to investigate Epstein&#8217;s ties to Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers.

Patrick McMullan Archives

Judge Orders Epstein Grand Jury Docs To Be Made Public, Approving DOJ Request

The FBI arrests a suspect linked to the infamous January 6 pipe bomb case, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo ink a peace deal brokered by President Donald Trump, and the border fight goes digital.
It’s Friday, December 5, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251205-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video version</a> can be seen on The Daily Wire:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/j6-pipe-bomb-breakthrough-trump-brokers-more-peace-12-5-25/id1576594336?i=1000739827019" height="175" frameborder="0" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation"></iframe>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">DOJ Says It Finally Caught The J6 Pipe Bomb Suspect</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1010329" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/J6-Pipe-Bomb-Arrest-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/J6-Pipe-Bomb-Arrest-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/J6-Pipe-Bomb-Arrest-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/J6-Pipe-Bomb-Arrest-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/J6-Pipe-Bomb-Arrest-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/J6-Pipe-Bomb-Arrest.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: The FBI has arrested a suspect in the January 5, 2021, pipe bomb case. The arrest comes after five years of investigations into who planted two explosive devices outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic parties.
According to the Department of Justice, the election of President Trump marked the start of the search for the suspect in earnest. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel hammered that point in a press conference on the arrest on Thursday. 
“The FBI, along with U.S Attorney Pirro and all of our prosecutors, have worked tirelessly for months sifting through evidence that had been sitting at the FBI with the Biden administration for four long years,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-fWeLzgNyI">said</a> Bondi.
Officials gave much credit to FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino. Even before he was picked to help lead the FBI, Bongino closely followed this case.
“You&#8217;re not going to walk into our capital city, put down two explosive devices, and walk off in the sunset. Not gonna happen. We were gonna track this person to the end of the earth,” said Bongino on Tuesday.
The suspect: U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Brian Cole Jr., of Woodbridge, Virginia, will be charged with “transporting an explosive device” and “attempted malicious destruction by means of explosive materials.”
Officials refrained from giving many more specifics on the case. At the time of the press conference, the search at Cole’s house hadn’t even concluded.
Charging <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.287327/gov.uscourts.dcd.287327.1.1.pdf">documents</a> released Thursday gave a few more details. Law enforcement said it reviewed Cole’s credit card activity and found that he purchased components consistent with the materials needed to make the bombs between 2018 and 2020. They also reviewed Cole’s cell phone data, which showed him in the area around the RNC and DNC headquarters on January 5. They also caught Cole’s car, a 2017 Nissan Sentra, on a license plate reader about half a mile from where the bombs were placed.
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Peace In The Congo And Senate War Crime Hearing</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1010331" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/From-D.C.-With-Peace-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/From-D.C.-With-Peace-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/From-D.C.-With-Peace-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/From-D.C.-With-Peace-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/From-D.C.-With-Peace-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/From-D.C.-With-Peace.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: President Trump hosted African leaders on Thursday for the signing of yet another peace deal, as military leaders testified before Congress regarding recent airstrikes on alleged drug smuggling boats.
Peace president: Trump hosted leaders from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo–two countries that have been engaged in a bloody conflict for more than a decade. But on Thursday, after negotiations brokered by the president, the two countries signed on to the Washington Accords, which will create a “permanent ceasefire.”
Under the agreement, Rwanda will remove all of its troops from Congolese territory, and both sides will cut off all support to militia groups operating there. The presidents of Rwanda and Congo were complimentary of Trump, crediting him with the peace agreement they both signed
“I would like to express, quite solemnly, our deep thanks to the President of the United States of America, Mr. Donald Trump. I would like to thank his administration, and I also wish to thank the American people,” Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1996650157052776787?s=20">said</a>.
What’s in it for the United States? Despite being among the poorest countries on earth, both Congo and Rwanda are home to enormous deposits of rare-earth minerals. Congo, in particular, is the world’s largest producer of Cobalt and the second largest producer of copper. Trump helped move the deal along by <a href="https://x.com/TabZLIVE/status/1996648347403477443?s=20">promising</a> that, with economic development spurred on by the United States, “everybody’s going to make a lot of money.”
War crime or hoax? Congress is moving full speed ahead on its investigation of the strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean. On Thursday, Congress heard closed-door testimony from Adm. Frank Bradley, who oversaw the operation, and reportedly claimed he was given no orders to kill survivors, contradicting that Washington Post report.
Members were also shown footage of the attack. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said it proved the two survivors were “trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for the United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”
Democrat members, though, had a very different take. Connecticut Democratic Rep. Jim Himes said it showed “the United States military attacking shipwrecked sailors.”
President Trump said he would support making that footage public.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">The Immigration Information War</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1010333" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/ICE-Fact-Checks-Back-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/ICE-Fact-Checks-Back-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/ICE-Fact-Checks-Back-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/ICE-Fact-Checks-Back-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/ICE-Fact-Checks-Back-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/ICE-Fact-Checks-Back.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: As the Trump administration ramps up its immigration crackdown following the attack in Washington, D.C. by an Afghan national, it’s also fighting a PR battle against the Democrats and legacy media outlets.
Kilmar Abrego-Garcia was just the tip of the iceberg. Since the large-scale deportations began, Democrats and media personalities have glommed onto the stories of any illegal aliens that tug at the heartstrings. Whether or not the story is true does not appear to figure into their calculus.
A recent example is CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan. She claimed that nearly half, 48%, of the illegal aliens currently being detained by ICE are being held without any charges or deportation orders. 
But DHS fact-checked the claim. It says this is simply “WRONG,” and that about 70% of illegal aliens arrested “have pending criminal charges or criminal convictions.” They then pressed the outlet, asking, “Does CBS really want us to release accused murderers and rapists back on the streets?”
Democrats weigh in: Democratic lawmakers are painting the administration as reckless and tyrannical.
A recent example is Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who referred to federal agents as kidnappers and parroted a story about a teen taken into custody at school.
But DHS pushed back on him as well, saying he’s “missing the facts.”
“This 17-year-old used his vehicle to violently ATTACK ICE and Border Patrol agents,” the agency posted. It included a timeline of events that identified the teen as an American citizen — but also identified him as a suspect who had allegedly attacked and impeded federal law enforcement officers.
Another Democratic senator from Maryland, Chris Van Hollen, recently responded to the news that a nail salon owner in his state was set to be deported to Vietnam. He said that “Melissa Tran came here on a Green Card at age 11. She’s since raised four kids, started a business, &amp; is a beloved member of the Hagerstown community.”
But as DHS noted, Van Hollen was “omitting some pesky facts.” The nail salon owner in question had “criminal convictions including grand larceny, multiple counts of forgery and fraud.” In fact, an immigration judge issued her a final order of removal way back in 2004. ICE arrested her in May.

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Morning Brief: J6 Pipe Bomb Breakthrough & Trump Brokers More Peace

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Brian Cole, Jr. worked for a bail bonds company run by his father that worked to free illegal immigrants from ICE facilities and sued the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security.
Weeks before 30-year-old Cole Jr. allegedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/d-c-pipe-bomber-charging-papers-unsealed-in-d-c-court">planted pipe bombs</a> at the headquarters of the Democrat and Republican parties on January 5, 2021, a court ruled against the company in its lawsuit attacking the Trump administration on immigration issues, The Daily Wire has learned. An FBI affidavit in the case notes that the suspect works for a bail bond company and lives with his mother.
Later in 2021, the company held a press conference bemoaning anti-black racism with a left-wing attorney. Cole Sr. and Benjamin Crump, who represented the family of Trayvon Martin, attempted to sic the Biden Department of Justice on a local Tennessee prosecutor who had raised questions about the bail bond company.
&#8220;A high-profile civil rights attorney is calling for a federal investigation into a Rutherford County prosecutor accused of discrimination,&#8221; Nashville news outlet <a href="https://wpln.org/post/a-high-profile-civil-rights-attorney-is-calling-for-a-federal-investigation-into-a-rutherford-county-prosecutor-accused-of-discrimination/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WPLN</a> reported on November 16, 2021.
Cole Sr., who is black, claimed racial persecution by Rutherford County Assistant District Attorney John Zimmerman, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/qRlCdl_h9Do?t=496s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video shows</a>. Zimmerman had raised concerns about the bail bond company’s ethics, noting that it had been suspended from operating in a nearby district.
Standing alongside Crump, he said to the media: &#8220;He&#8217;s defamed me, he&#8217;s called my insurance company. &#8230; We hope the Department of Justice can come in and do a brief investigation because we&#8217;ve seen a lot of questionable acts that Mr. Zimmerman has demonstrated towards minority-owned companies.”
Crump said, “It is appalling and we want these allegations to be investigated to the highest level of government … They called him a punk and a thug, and why? What is it about him? A lot of people believe they know the answer.”
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<div id="attachment_1010237" style="width: 392px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1010237" class=" wp-image-1010237" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy-300x168.jpg" alt="" width="382" height="214" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy-300x168.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy-1024x572.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy-768x429.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/Brian-Cole-copy.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 382px) 100vw, 382px" />Cole Sr. with Benjamin Crump / Youtube</div>
In April 2025, a Tennessee appeals court found that sanctions against the company were called for due to repeated misconduct. The elder Cole lied about having never filed for bankruptcy or having other financial problems, when he in fact had filed for bankruptcy twice and had tax liens against him, a <a href="https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/OpinionsPDFVersion/InReTennesseeBondingCompanyIncOPN.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tennessee court of appeals affirmed</a>.
Cole Jr. and his father worked as bail bondsmen under various company names, including Free U Bonds, initially in Fairfax County, Virginia. Public records suggest that the father moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, around 2017.
One of those corporate names was StateWide Bonding, Inc., an immigration-bond company that helps illegal immigrants avoid jail.
“An Immigration Bond will secure the release of an undocumented alien from an immigration facility with the guarantee the conditions of the Immigration Bond requirements are met,” its webpage says.
Brian Cole is listed as StateWide Bonding’s owner in a dispute over bonds for illegal immigrants in the state of <a href="https://biahelp.com/colorado-division-of-insurance-v-statewide-bonding-inc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Colorado</a>.
StateWide sued the Trump administration’s Department of Homeland Security over its policies relating to illegal immigrants. Weeks before Cole allegedly planted the pipe bombs, on November 10, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals in D.C. <a href="https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/19-5178/19-5178-2020-11-10.pdf?ts=1605022230" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sided with the administration on</a> the case, ruling that the lower court had properly thrown out all of StateWide’s claims.
One of several <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.200024/gov.uscourts.dcd.200024.1.0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lawsuits</a> complained that StateWide was being harmed unfairly when its illegal immigrant clients failed to appear at court dates. “Statewide have secured the bond for thousands of immigrants… If an immigrant does not appear, that failure to appear is considered a breach of bond&#8230; When a bond is breached, at that point, all Plaintiffs are subjected to a steep financial penalty,” it said.
“Hundreds of Plaintiffs’ clients fail to appear because Defendants fail to (1) provide said person with a specified date, time, and location to appear in court,” it continued. “Then, only after the subject immigrant fails to appear, these Defendants expect Plaintiffs to find the person in less than 10 days (many times less than 48 hours), or suffer the penalty of paying the sum total of millions of dollars.”
The January 6 pipe bombs were used by Democrats and the media to portray Trump supporters as violent, though during the Biden administration, the FBI claimed it was unable to locate a suspect, and Kamala Harris — who was 20 feet from the bomb at the DNC — never mentioned it.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/d-c-pipe-bomber-charging-papers-unsealed-in-d-c-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Charging papers</a> say Cole Jr. began purchasing bomb-making parts by May 2019, during the Trump administration and long before any dispute about election results.
They say his cell phone signal showed that he was in the vicinity of the DNC and RNC when the bombs were placed. The Biden administration quickly used similar cell phone data to apprehend hundreds of Trump supporters for minor crimes.
Editor&#8217;s note: This story was updated shortly after publication to clarify that the company was owned by Cole Sr., while Cole Jr. worked for it.

Brian Cole Jr. / Instagram

Alleged Pipe Bomber’s Family Sued Trump DHS Over Illegal Immigration, Asked Biden DOJ To Address Racism

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LIVE UPDATES: Charges Revealed Against J6 Pipe Bomb Suspect

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A 54-year-old man has been arrested after carrying out a self-described “terrorist attack” by throwing Molotov cocktails at security officers outside of a federal building in California that houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices, the Justice Department said Tuesday. 
Jose Francisco Jovel was accused by federal investigators of carrying out the attack on Monday at a building in Los Angeles that houses Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices. Investigators say that the attack was motivated by opposition to the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration. 
“This case exemplifies how misleading and hateful rhetoric against federal law enforcement can and does result in violence,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli. “Irresponsible rhetoric by politicians and activists have real-world consequences. It must stop.”
Jovel, who lives in Koreatown, has been charged with attempted malicious damage of federal property and is expected to appear in federal court on Wednesday.  Essayli said that additional charges may be added. 
On Monday, Jovel rode his bike to the Federal Building located in the Civic Center of downtown Los Angeles hours after lighting his own apartment on fire after being evicted, prosecutors said. He then allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail through a sliding door of an employee entrance to the building before throwing another one into the public door. While the bottles did not catch on fire, investigators say that surveillance footage shows Jovel trying to light one of the devices on fire. 
Jovel was then arrested by federal officers who found five more Molotov cocktails and a lighter in his possession, investigators say. He was also found with knives and was making anti-ICE comments, according to federal law enforcement sources. 
Officers reported hearing Jovel say he was motivated by his anger at the Trump administration’s immigration policies. He allegedly referred to his actions as “a terrorist attack” and told officers, “you’re separating families,” before urging nearby people to “start shooting these” officers. The attack prompted the building&#8217;s lobby to be shut down for the investigation. 
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If convicted, Jovel will face a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of 20 years. 
“There can be zero tolerance for any targeting of law enforcement officials – let alone violent acts – and we’re lucky that the devices allegedly thrown by the subject did not physically injure anyone,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is dedicated to investigating and holding accountable anyone who conducts targeted attacks against government employees.”
The Department of Homeland Security said that Jovel has a criminal history that includes arrests for attempted murder in 1987, robbery with a firearm in 1991, and molesting a victim under the age of 18 in 2007, Fox 11 <a href="https://www.foxla.com/news/man-arrested-throwing-molotov-cocktails-downtown-la-federal-building?taid=692f616f5c98af00010fe8c3&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=trueanthem&amp;utm_source=twitter">reported</a>.
In recent months, ICE agents have faced a surge in violent attacks and threats as they carry out the Trump administration&#8217;s immigration agenda.

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Man Arrested For Carrying Out ‘Terrorist Attack’ In California Targeting ICE: FBI

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The Trump administration on Tuesday took action against six blue states that it says have failed to comply with requests to produce their voter rolls. 
The Justice Department <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-six-additional-states-failure-provide-voter-registration-rolls">announced</a> suits against Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington for not producing statewide registration lists. Without these lists, the Justice Department said that they cannot certify that the states are maintaining an accurate count of eligible voters. 
&#8220;Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance,&#8221; said Attorney General Pam Bondi. &#8220;The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.&#8221;
The suits come amid a push from Republicans nationwide to crack down on non-citizen voting and maintain clean voter registration lists.
The lawsuits say that the states are not acting in accordance with the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, which compel states to maintain accurate voter lists. The attorney general is empowered to enforce those laws and has a right to access the lists under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, the suits say.
&#8220;States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.
The <a href="https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1419811/dl?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery">lawsuit</a> against Rhode Island says that on September 16 Rhode Island sent a letter to the Justice Department refusing a September 8 request for voter roll information. The letter said that the states “objects to providing” the requested information, according to the suit. This requested information includes driver license information and the last four digits of Social Security numbers used to register for voting. 
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Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha claimed the suit was an example of Trump weaponizing the Justice Department. 
“We stand with and will defend the secretary, and win, because lawsuits concerning lawful conduct are largely unsuccessful,” he said. “But I’m not surprised that this administration is confused about what it means to behave lawfully.”
In September, the Justice Department <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/justice-dept-sues-six-states-for-refusing-to-hand-over-key-voter-data">announced</a> suits against Michigan, California, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Minnesota, and New York over the same issue.

Justice Department Announces Federal Enforcement Action Against International Criminal Organization

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