NBC police procedural &#8220;Law &amp; Order: Special Victims Unit&#8221; joined Democrats in continuing to paint Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as villains who have nothing better to do than to pluck innocent immigrants off the streets for their own nefarious purposes.
In an episode that ran Thursday — just hours after a shooter targeted and opened fire upon an ICE facility in Texas — NYPD detectives squared off against ICE agents in an effort to keep them from deporting an illegal immigrant who was a key witness in a rape case.
Newsbusters <a href="https://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/culture/elise-ehrhard/2025/09/27/nbcs-law-order-svu-portrays-ice-agents-villains-allowing">detailed the episode</a> in question, titled &#8220;In the Wind.&#8221; It features an illegal immigrant named Jorge Ruiz, who is working as a building superintendent — and who has identified the suspect in a rape case. When detectives arrive to question him about the suspect, an ICE raid is already in progress. For the rest of the episode — which frames ICE as the bad guys preventing police officers from effectively investigating the rape case and then further complicating the prosecution against the alleged rapist — the NYPD and ICE agents are at odds.
The episode comes to a head when Captain Olivia Benson (played by Mariska Hargitay) is arrested when she orders her detectives to arrest Ruiz in an effort to hold him as a material witness and prevent ICE from taking him into custody.
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&#8220;Captain, ICE is on the way up,&#8221; one detective tells Benson.
&#8220;What?&#8221; she asks.
&#8220;How do they know?&#8221; Ruiz asks.
&#8220;Come. There&#8217;s a back stairway,&#8221; Benson tries to help Ruiz avoid the federal agents.
&#8220;No, wait. Don&#8217;t try that,&#8221; Assistant District Attorney Sonny Carisi warns her.
&#8220;Can they do this?&#8221; one detective asks.
&#8220;They don&#8217;t have a warrant,&#8221; another protests.
&#8220;Doesn&#8217;t matter. They&#8217;re Feds,&#8221; Carisi explains.
&#8220;So they take our witness, and we can&#8217;t do anything about it?&#8221; one asks.
&#8220;Hold on a second. I need you to trust me. Can you do that? Velasco, arrest him,&#8221; Benson says, indicating Ruiz.
She then tells the ICE agents that Ruiz is in the custody of the NYPD and cannot be removed until he testifies — at which point the agents arrest her for interfering in federal immigration matters. She is eventually released, however, and Ruiz is allowed to testify.
The writers could not resist taking just one more jab at federal immigration officials when the illegal immigrant is finally brought into the courtroom. ICE agents interrupt the proceedings, only to be reprimanded by the judge hearing the case.
&#8220;No, not in my courtroom. Jimmy, tell them they can wait outside, but they are not welcome here,&#8221; the judge declares.
ICE agents, in just the last eight months, have faced a nearly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/reprehensible-assaults-on-ice-agents-skyrocket-up-830-over-last-year">1000% increase</a> in attacks on themselves and their families. A number have blamed the media and Democrats for continuously pointing to ICE agents as villains, thugs, and worse.

The WMC 2023 Women’s Media Awards

‘Law & Order: SVU’ Joins ICE-Bashing Party, Paints Agents As Thugs Who Protect Rapists

'Law & Order: SVU' Joins ICE-Bashing Party, Paints Agents As Thugs Who Protect Rapists

Illegal Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Law Enforcement

Rape

Television

U.S.

A Democrat prosecutor in D.C.&#8217;s most populous suburb allowed illegal immigrants to go unpunished for vicious crimes because a felony conviction might lead to their deportation, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares alleged in an investigation Friday.
Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney Steve Descano requires his staff to examine &#8220;immigration consequences&#8221; when considering cases, then often pleads them down to more minor crimes. That&#8217;s a leniency not always afforded to Americans, and it amounts to illegal discrimination, Miyares said in a report that encourages the federal Department of Justice to take action.
Descano &#8220;engaged in a pattern and practice of denying U.S. citizens the same rights, privileges and immunities as illegal aliens in charging decisions and plea agreements. That is a violation, not just of due process, [but of] a 1996 law signed by Bill Clinton called the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which prohibits states from providing benefits to illegal aliens that are denied to citizens,&#8221; Miyares said on Friday outside the Fairfax County Courthouse, where he was flanked by crime victims who said they were failed by Descano.
&#8220;By saying to prosecutors, &#8216;you are to consider an individual&#8217;s immigration status,&#8217; and giving sweetheart plea deals they would not give to a normal U.S. citizen, you&#8217;re in violation of that law and the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause,&#8221; he said.
In one case, Wilmer Ramos-Giron had already been deported from the U.S. twice, then came back and was convicted of possession of a firearm in 2020. This year, he choked his ex-wife and threatened her with a knife and was charged with felony abduction and strangulation. Descano downgraded it to a misdemeanor, which would be less likely to trigger another deportation. He told the judge the lenient plea deal was because it was what &#8220;the victim wanted.&#8221; The victim later told the media that was not true at all.
Hyrum Baquedano Rodriguez, an illegal alien from Honduras with a record of repeated sex crimes against minors, broke into a victim&#8217;s home and tried to abduct a sleeping four-year-old. He was charged with abduction with intent to defile, carrying life in prison. Descano attempted to downgrade his charges and cap his sentence at only two years in prison. After two judges refused to accept such a plea agreement, Descano&#8217;s office dropped the charges, Miyares said. Federal immigration authorities have since detained Rodriguez for deportation.
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The impact of Descano&#8217;s charging decisions became clear when federal immigration officers recently arrested a man in D.C. Some Democrats expressed outrage, saying he should not have been a priority because he had not been convicted of any crime. It turned out that David Perez-Teofani, a repeat illegal immigrant with a final order of removal, had been arrested for aggravated sexual battery of a child and indecent liberties with a child; the reason he had no conviction is because Descano simply dropped the charges.
Miyares found that Descano&#8217;s leniency toward illegal immigrants also included:
<ul class="ul-list" data-mark="*">
<li class="md-list-item">Declining to prosecute illegal alien Maldin Anibal Guzman for aggravated malicious wounding, attempted malicious wounding, malicious wounding by mob, and obstruction of justice, instead allowing him to plead guilty to simple assault. Anibal Guzman later allegedly committed murder.</li>
<li class="md-list-item">Reducing charges for illegal alien Ander Josue Cortez Mendez, who was charged with Carnal Knowledge of a 13- 14-year-old, instead classifying it as &#8220;consensual sex w/ child 15y+&#8221; and giving him no jail time.</li>
<li class="md-list-item">Dismissing charges of use of a firearm in the commission of a felony against illegal alien Yohandi Mosquera Rosas. Rosas later committed felony hit-and-run and is currently a fugitive.</li>
<li class="md-list-item">Declining to prosecute Marvin Mateo-Alberto&#8217;s charges of incest and aggravated sexual battery by a parent in 2025. Mateo-Alberto is still in the country illegally despite an immigration judge ordering him deported in 2006.</li>
</ul>
Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ&#8217;s Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, declined to comment on whether it could be a violation of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits treating people differently based on certain characteristics including national origin.
<div id="attachment_977709" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-977709" class="size-large wp-image-977709" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1228663577-1024x512.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="512" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1228663577-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1228663577-300x150.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1228663577-768x384.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-1228663577.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Fairfax County prosecutor Steve Descano (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)</div>
Descano narrowly won a primary election in 2019 after a massive infusion of cash from George Soros. The county&#8217;s mainstream Democrat prosecutor quit the party as a result, warning that it is improper and impermissible for &#8220;progressive&#8221; prosecutors to simply refuse to enforce laws they disagree with. Miyares said that&#8217;s exactly what Descano has done, through policies prohibiting enforcement of mandatory minimum sentences, ignoring the requirement for cash bail for repeat felons, and essentially changing the dollar limit for grand larceny by refusing to prosecute thefts below $1,500. &#8220;He therefore essentially legalized theft for any item worth $1,500 or less,&#8221; Miyares said.
&#8220;While Descano is entitled to his opinions about cash bail, he is not entitled to ignore the General Assembly’s lawfully enacted command that no repeat felon may be released without a secure bond,&#8221; Miyares wrote in his report. He said that the Supreme Court of Virginia has held that it is an &#8220;obvious&#8221; violation of the Virginia Constitution and the so-called Suspension Clause &#8220;when an executive sets aside a generally applicable rule of law based solely upon his disagreement with it.&#8221;
Yet Miyares told The Daily Wire that when the person in charge of enforcing the law is also the one violating it, there are few mechanisms for recourse in Virginia, where the attorney general&#8217;s powers are limited. He has asked the legislature to give his office the power to take over criminal cases that local prosecutors refuse to pursue, but &#8220;every time we have sought expansive authority, it has tragically died on a party line vote,&#8221; he said.
With an election for Virginia&#8217;s top offices taking place in a month, Democrats&#8217; handling of criminal justice could be a liability, particularly after Descano refused to prosecute a registered sex offender named Dick Cox who exposed himself in the girls locker room at a gym. The gym was next to a playground, a violation of his sex offender terms, but Descano refused to prosecute after Cox claimed he was in the women&#8217;s locker room because he is transgender and was being discriminated against.
Crime victims described the pain of being victimized once by a criminal, and then again by a prosecutor&#8217;s office that seemed uninterested in punishing offenders. One crime victim is Janine, whose last name The Daily Wire is not using because she is the victim of sexual assault. Police secured two recorded confessions from her rapist, giving prosecutors what she called a &#8220;layup&#8221; case. Then Descano&#8217;s staff failed to file paperwork within a nine-month deadline, which allowed the rapist to go free. Janine told Descano&#8217;s staffer, &#8220;You&#8217;re telling me because you didn&#8217;t do your job, the judge is going to dismiss it with prejudice?&#8221;
&#8220;She said, &#8216;I&#8217;m really sorry Janine, it&#8217;s political,'&#8221; she told The Daily Wire. &#8220;It leads me to believe it was intentional, because she said it was political. &#8230; I was traumatized. I never thought that [the legal system] would not protect me.&#8221;
In a similar story, Ronnie Reel was indicted in 2021 for forcible sodomy of a child (carrying life in prison). Police had two confessions, but because the prosecutor missed deadlines by months, neither was admissible at trial. Descano allowed Reel to plead guilty to a misdemeanor carrying six months, and blamed the victim as a pretext for the downgrade, Miyares said. The victim&#8217;s mother told Miyares that &#8220;not once was the prosecution in contact with me or my lawyer during the process.&#8221;
Descano&#8217;s office had a pattern of siding with perpetrators and blaming victims, Miyares said. After a police officer used his Taser on a man on PCP who was resisting arrest, the police officer was charged, and Descano&#8217;s office withheld exculpatory evidence, with a judge noting the &#8220;appearance of the misrepresentation of statements made by the Commonwealth to a circuit court judge as it relates to exculpatory evidence.&#8221; The officer was acquitted on all charges.
Descano&#8217;s office has also been dishonest with judges in order to get criminals off the hook, Miyares said.
Bryan Humberto Ramos Rojas was charged for stabbing a kitten and swinging a machete at a police officer, and Descano sought to drastically downgrade the offenses, while describing the offenses in ways that minimized them. The judge said he had been misled by &#8220;the Commonwealth&#8217;s repeated failure to fully inform the Court of the severity, lethality, and brutality,&#8221; and rejected the plea deal. Descano then shopped a similar plea deal to a different judge.
Rey Amparado was charged with four counts of child rape, carrying a mandatory life sentence. To get around that, Descano offered a plea to much more minor charges and an agreement that he would only serve three years in prison, and wouldn&#8217;t have to admit guilt. Prosecutors told the judge &#8220;the victim and her mother were &#8216;angry&#8217; with the way the case was being resolved, but that they were &#8216;not objecting to it,'&#8221; Miyares wrote. A judge wrote that in light of &#8220;the Defendant&#8217;s repeated acts of raping this child &#8230; just three years of active incarceration does not remotely reflect the gravity of the Defendant&#8217;s misconduct,&#8221; noting that the defendant expressed no remorse.
As a crime victim wiped away tears behind him, Miyares said, &#8220;The fact that they have to go to their state attorney general to have their voices heard is a reflection on this weaponized incompetence that Steve Descano has turned the Fairfax Commonwealth Attorney&#8217;s office into. Stop being a social worker, stop being a criminal defense attorney, and start being a prosecutor. If you&#8217;re not willing to do your job, resign so somebody else can.&#8221;
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-a-soviet-influence-group-with-enron-ties-formed-a-shadow-government-in-prosecutors-offices?author=Luke+Rosiak&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=How+A+Lefty+Soviet+Influence+Group+Formed+A+Shadow+Government+In+Prosecutor+Offices">How A Lefty Soviet Influence Group Formed A Shadow Government In Prosecutor Offices</a>

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares

Dem Prosecutor Broke Law By Treating Illegals More Favorably Than Americans, Virginia AG Says

Crime

George Soros

Virginia

A shadowy for-profit company and its nonprofit counterpart provide free services to at least 40 far-left prosecutor offices, raising questions about whether it&#8217;s working on behalf of taxpayers or of donors who have essentially bought government.
The Wren Collective is a shadowy group that emerged from a Cold War-era initiative aimed at promoting Soviet films in the United States. Its current iteration — funded by a former Enron executive and host of other leftist megadonors — claims that America&#8217;s &#8220;system of policing and mass incarceration is deeply flawed and intractably racist.&#8221;
The group has intervened on specific criminal cases, written policies that the district attorneys implement — such as eliminating cash bail — and strategized with at least one district attorney to mobilize activists to pressure judges who stood in the way.
That&#8217;s according to new research from the <a href="https://www.policedefense.org/outsourcing-justice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund</a>, which used public records laws to secure tens of thousands of communications between leftist prosecutors and Wren.
Emails suggest that the collective gets funding from donors contingent on government offices agreeing to do the group&#8217;s bidding, even demanding proof that an office is following Wren&#8217;s recommendations in order to satisfy donors. Those same donors often bankrolled the district attorney&#8217;s election campaign.
&#8220;Once in office, these donor-activist groups leverage their political relationships with prosecutors to embed The Wren Collective in their offices as the DAs&#8217; lead policy and communications advisors,&#8221; the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund said.
&#8220;The Wren Collective, a single obscure consulting group, could only make policy for dozens of progressive prosecutors&#8217; offices and nearly 50 million Americans if those district attorneys understood the group&#8217;s help was strongly suggested by their shared political donors and allies,&#8221; it added. &#8220;Wren&#8217;s fiduciary duty and client loyalty remained with their political and nonprofit donors — the same donors who got them &#8216;hired&#8217; as unpaid policy and communications consultants to the elected prosecutors.&#8221;
One donor is David Menschel, a Portland activist who has funded the campaigns of radical DAs across the country. Menschel was a top donor to Portland DA Mike Schmidt in 2020. After he won the election, Menschel connected Schmidt with Jessica Brand, a former public defender who runs the Wren Collective.
Wren employee Amy Weber wrote to Schmidt: &#8220;We do this work without any billing or publicity. These policies will be yours.&#8221; It soon became apparent that Menschel would be funding Wren for its quasi-governmental work – with conditions. &#8220;I spoke to Dave, and all he needs is for us to give him a final scope of work,&#8221; Weber wrote.
Another donor is oil heiress Stacy Schusterman. Schusterman donated $1.8 million to PACs supporting the election of José Garza in Austin, Texas. Brand then had Garza&#8217;s office speak directly with their shared funder about the work that Brand&#8217;s group could do inside government.
Wren stands at the ready anytime soft-on-crime policies create a mess for prosecutors. When Loudoun County, Virginia&#8217;s prosecutor, Buta Biberaj, personally tried to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/loudoun-county-schools-tried-to-conceal-sexual-assault-against-daughter-in-bathroom-father-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">jail the father of a girl who was raped</a> by a &#8220;genderfluid&#8221; boy in the school bathroom — while the boy went on to sexually assault a second girl — Wren asked whether &#8220;you would like some communications support.&#8221; Wren went on to form a relationship with Biberaj&#8217;s office that included drafting &#8220;diversion&#8221; policies, which involved even lighter penalties for crime.
George Soros has reshaped law enforcement in the United States by injecting <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/documents-reveal-how-george-soros-controls-prosecutors-2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">huge sums of money</a> into previously sleepy elections, with far-left candidates sometimes outspending their rivals tenfold, and still squeaking out only the narrowest victories. The strategy involves the idea that influence groups don&#8217;t have to convince legislatures to change laws if they can place prosecutors who will simply decline to enforce them.
But this new breed of candidate has often never worked as a prosecutor, instead coming from activism circles that defend the rights of criminals. Once they&#8217;re in office, that support never goes away, the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund report found.
&#8220;The node of this donor-backed prosecutor influence operation is The Wren Collective LLC,&#8221; it wrote. &#8220;The substance of those policies – abolishing bail and releasing dangerous offenders, declining to prosecute narcotics, shoplifting, prostitution, and rioting while increasing prosecutions of law enforcement officers – have had serious consequences for public safety.&#8221;
In San Antonio, Texas, the Wren Collective &#8220;developed and implemented prosecutorial policies&#8221; for DA Joe Gonzales, all without a public contract. Brand was Gonzales&#8217;s &#8220;shadow communications director and senior advisor–despite other holding those roles on the public payroll,&#8221; the report said.
Even as the group secretly worked for the DA, Brand presented herself to the media as an independent expert who sought to deflect blame from Gonzales when crime rose. When the police chief complained of an increase in homicides because criminals saw few consequences, Brand orchestrated a seemingly organic &#8220;op-ed from a community advocate&#8221; in response.
Text messages show that in March 2020, Brand told the San Antonio DA&#8217;s office to drop a death penalty case, and offered to use a political action committee to pressure judges. &#8220;You could settle that death penalty case right now and no one would bat an eye,&#8221; she <a href="https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/01/31/take-a-closer-look-at-the-conversations-between-bexar-county-das-office-criminal-justice-reform-group/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. &#8220;Are the judges being any better? Or would it be helpful if some real justice pac volunteers started calling?&#8221;
In 2022, when a police officer non-fatally shot a suspect who hit him with a car, Wren pushed to drop charges against the suspect and indict the officer instead. &#8220;We got an indictment on the officer,&#8221; Gonzales&#8217; deputy texted Brand. &#8220;Thanks for the help.&#8221; Brand&#8217;s group even told Gonzales what to say about it, with the deputy reassuring her that he &#8220;stuck to the talking points.&#8221;
When Gonzales faced a recall, Brand connected him with lawyers to fight it. Gonzales replied, &#8220;This was sent to my work email, and I do not always check my work emails as often as I do my personal.&#8221; He told her to communicate with him on his personal email &#8220;because my secretarial staff can see my emails.&#8221;
The group wrote policies eliminating cash bail that were adopted by prosecutors in Virginia, Texas, and Florida; a policy that resulted in Portland not charging left-wing rioters; and a &#8220;Sex Work Policy&#8221; to &#8220;mitigate the many harms and abuses plaguing sex workers, who often also struggle with poverty, discrimination, and marginalization, by declining to prosecute.&#8221; It held weekly calls with since-recalled San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin.
Yet the Wren Collective is shrouded in secrecy. The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund said many prosecutors refused to turn over communications with the group under public records laws, with some demanding up to $14,000 and others producing responses that omitted communications that the law enforcement group knew existed.
Wren&#8217;s nonprofit arm is structured as a &#8220;fiscally sponsored project&#8221; of a larger nonprofit: the shell of a group dedicated to pushing Soviet films in the United States before the fall of the Communist bloc. That intermediary serves as a black box, preventing its donors and its staff salaries from being directly disclosed. But the larger group, once known as the American-Soviet Film Initiative, has reported millions in funding from the foundations of Schusterman, George Soros, Mark Zuckerberg&#8217;s wife, Priscilla, and Cari Tuna, the wife of Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz.
Another major funder is Arnold Ventures, the charity of former Enron executive John Arnold. Arnold Ventures&#8217; former COO now works for Wren.
Yet records show that even as billionaires wrote checks so the nonprofit could provide shadow government workers free of charge, which the Wren Collective used to gain easy access to offices, Brand would sometimes later ask DAs to pay an identically-named for-profit firm. One contract obtained by the law enforcement group showed that the money — $15,000 a month from the office of Los Angeles DA George Gascon — went to Wren Collective, LLC. The contract was awarded without competition.
Wren may have pulled the same bait-and-switch on Minneapolis prosecutor Mary Moriarty. In May, the Department of Justice said it was investigating Moriarty for civil rights violations after saying that charging decisions would <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/04/us/doj-minnesota-hennepin-moriarty-race" target="_blank" rel="noopener">take into account a suspect&#8217;s &#8220;racial identity&#8221;</a>. The following month, Moriarty asked the Board of Supervisors for approval to pay Wren $150,000 to counteract &#8220;misinformation.&#8221;
Brand did not respond to The Daily Wire&#8217;s questions about the difference between the nonprofit and for-profit groups, how much she was paid, which prosecutors she had worked for, who funded the nonprofit, and whether providing donor-funded services to government offices posed ethical concerns.
The group works hand-in-hand with a second group that steers Soros prosecutors after their election, Fair and Just Prosecution. FJP&#8217;s founding executive director, Miriam Krinsky, resigned last year, the day that The Daily Wire published documents showing her staff accused her of racism and said she hypocritically <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/head-of-soros-prosecutor-group-resigns-following-daily-wire-report-on-staff-mutiny" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called the police on them</a>. She was replaced by Aramis Ayala, a black former Orlando prosecutor who is married to a member of the Wren Collective&#8217;s board.
Ayala was replaced as Orlando prosecutor by Monique Worrell, who gave confidential files to Wren so that the group could write a memo justifying not charging a teen with murder. The suspect was found in possession of a machine gun months later and sent to prison by federal prosecutors.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and Los Angeles DA George Gascon

How A Lefty Soviet Influence Group Formed A Shadow Government In Prosecutor Offices

Communism

Mark Zuckerberg

prosecutors

Soviet Union

WASHINGTON — The White House is encouraging Democrat mayors across the United States to follow the lead of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who shared Tuesday that the nation&#8217;s capitol will continue to partner with President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;Safe and Beautiful Task Force&#8221; going forward.
In a Tuesday press release, the D.C. mayor announced she had issued an order continuing the work of the Safe and Beautiful Emergency Operations Center and task force, sharing that &#8220;during and after the Presidential emergency, the SBEOC will manage the District’s response, coordinate centralized communications, and ensure coordination with federal law enforcement to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.&#8221;
&#8220;The mayor’s fellow Democrats should take note, working with President Trump means safer communities and less crime – no one in their right mind could seriously oppose that,&#8221; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stressed on Tuesday.
Trump&#8217;s efforts to crack down on crime in Washington, D.C., have been hugely successful: every night, the federal force in Washington has arrested around 70-80 criminals, many of whom are illegal immigrants.
<div id="attachment_967953" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/white-house-pushes-democrats-to-follow-dc-mayors-lead-in-bending-knee-to-trump/trump-increases-federal-law-enforcement-presence-deploys-national-guard-in-nations-capital-10" rel="attachment wp-att-967953"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-967953" class="wp-image-967953 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2231913084-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2231913084-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2231913084-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2231913084-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2231913084.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; AUGUST 24: National Guard Members patrol 14th street, working with Washington DC Metro police on August 24, 2025 in Washington, DC.   (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)</div>
On Monday evening, for example, authorities made 70 arrests, 27 of whom were illegal aliens. That brought the city&#8217;s total arrests to 1,669 since the beginning of operations on Thursday, August 7. One of those arrests was an individual who assaulted a 77-year-old woman and stole her purse, another was for assault with a dangerous weapon, another for assault during a domestic dispute in which the subject choked the victim, and more.
The total D.C. arrests include 16 known gang members, including MS-13 and TDA gang members, rescues of 5 missing children, 168 firearms seized, and 50 homeless encampments cleared by multi-agency teams.
“President Trump’s efforts to crack down on crime in D.C. have yielded tremendous results in such a short time &#8212; violent crime has plummeted and dangerous criminals are being removed from the streets every single night,&#8221; Leavitt said Tuesday.
&#8220;The Trump administration is grateful to continue partnering with Mayor Bowser to make D.C. the safest city in the country,&#8221; she added.
Trump has set his eyes on Baltimore, Maryland, and Chicago, Illinois, for federal enforcement next.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going in,&#8221; he told reporters on Tuesday, asked about deploying federal troops to Chicago and Baltimore. He did not specify when, exactly, the deployments would take place. He also said he would &#8220;love&#8221; if JB Pritzker called and asked for his help with the National Guard.
&#8220;We&#8217;re going to do it anyway,&#8221; he said on Tuesday. &#8220;We have the right to do it.”

President Trump Announces 2027 NFL Draft To Be Held On The National Mall

White House Pushes Democrats To Follow DC Mayor’s Lead, Partner With Trump

Donald Trump

Muriel Bowser

National Guard

Politics

Washington D.C.

Nearly 50 organizations signed a letter sent to President Donald Trump on Monday, urging Trump to keep Marijuana labeled as a Schedule I drug after the administration sparked fierce debate when it announced it was considering downgrading weed&#8217;s classification.
The groups — which include faith-based, law enforcement, public policy, and health care organizations — argue that downgrading marijuana&#8217;s classification would &#8220;result in serious harm to public health and safety,&#8221; according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Daily Wire. Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sparks-debate-with-comments-on-reclassifying-weed">raised eyebrows</a> earlier this month when he said during a White House press briefing that his administration would “make a determination over the next few weeks” on whether to reclassify marijuana.
During his comments on the drug, Trump acknowledged that marijuana can have negative effects on people, especially children. The organizations behind Monday&#8217;s letter to Trump hope that the president will continue to consider the health of American children when his administration reviews weed&#8217;s classification.
&#8220;You have an opportunity to make a stand for the safety of children across America by opposing the flawed proposal to reschedule marijuana,&#8221; the letter states.
&#8220;Arguments like &#8216;marijuana should not be in the same category as heroin&#8217; are politically salient and easy to understand, but they fundamentally misunderstand how drug scheduling works,&#8221; the letter continues. &#8220;Contrary to popular belief, drug scheduling is not a harm index. Rather, it balances the accepted medical use of a substance with its potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs have no accepted, safe medical use and a high potential for abuse. Marijuana fits squarely within this definition, a fact acknowledged in every scheduling review prior to 2023 (the Obama Administration recommended against rescheduling in 2016).&#8221;
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Discussions within the Trump administration have focused on classifying the drug as Schedule III, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-marijuana-federal-drug-classification-01a73b8c?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAgpZ8UL7Mw6HKwBVKPjsmn_wP6A2h8SNZiG41aF9hPed4QVwq2_gG6R&amp;gaa_ts=6897fc20&amp;gaa_sig=Nm9TnTCPjVnNlMv_P1PaH_NVhN3Nn8RbA8H9lDEnLY0FBfl1b_Sd78D-SH_icaL7fTnMQ1iwaisKOLJA0cNS5g%3D%3D">reported</a>. Reclassifying marijuana as <a href="https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/drug-scheduling">Schedule III</a> would put the drug in the same category as drugs that have “a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”
The issue has divided Americans, including those who are among Trump&#8217;s base. The president told reporters on August 11 that marijuana is &#8220;a very complicated subject.&#8221;
&#8220;I’ve heard great things having to do with medical [marijuana], and I’ve [heard] bad things having to do with just about everything else,&#8221; he said.
Among the groups pushing Trump to keep marijuana drug classification the same are the National Narcotic Officers&#8217; Associations&#8217; Coalition and the Drug Enforcement Association of Federal Narcotics Agents (DEAFNA). Conservative groups such as CatholicVote and the Family Research Council also signed the letter.
The letter points out that findings from the Centers for Disease Control <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/cannabis/health-effects/cannabis-use-disorder.html">show</a> that 30% of cannabis users meet the clinical definition of having cannabis use disorder, and cannabis users have a 30% chance of getting addicted. Marijuana is also getting stronger.
&#8220;The amount of THC in cannabis has increased over the past few decades. Products with high concentrations of THC can have greater intoxicating effects and increase the risk of overconsumption,&#8221; the CDC stated. The government agency added that there is some evidence &#8220;that high THC concentration cannabis use by adolescents and young adults is associated with continued use and development of future mental health symptoms and disorders.&#8221;
Eric Brown, president of the National Narcotic Officers&#8217; Association Coalition said that narcotics officers witness the &#8220;far-reaching consequences&#8221; of marijuana abuse &#8220;every day.&#8221;
&#8220;Efforts to reschedule marijuana risk sending the wrong message — that the substance is safe — while ignoring the science and significant dangers associated with its use,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Rescheduling would only accelerate marijuana consumption, driving higher rates of substance abuse and increasing demands on already strained public safety resources and budgets. We strongly urge the Administration to reject any effort to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III.&#8221;
The groups also argued that &#8220;Marijuana has not been approved for any medical use by the FDA, and it likely never will.&#8221; While it&#8217;s true that the FDA has not approved marijuana itself to be prescribed for any medical condition, the agency has <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/public-health-focus/fda-and-cannabis-research-and-drug-approval-process#:~:text=To%20date%2C%20the%20FDA%20has,currently%20available%20on%20the%20market.">approved</a> purified forms of the drug, such as Epidiolex, which treats seizures.
&#8220;The agency also has approved Marinol and Syndros for therapeutic uses in the United States, including for nausea associated with cancer chemotherapy and for the treatment of anorexia associated with weight loss in AIDS patients,&#8221; the FDA stated.
Proponents of downgrading marijuana&#8217;s classification point out that moving it from Schedule I to Schedule III wouldn&#8217;t legalize the drug at the federal level, but would only reduce the scale of marijuana-related offenses. Some states have passed laws legalizing recreational and medical marijuana use, and legalization has become a hot topic in recent years, as pro-cannabis groups have pushed politicians, including Trump, to join their side on the issue.
The pro-weed coalition is moving the needle in their direction on public opinion — and not just on reclassifying weed, but also legalizing it at the federal level. A Pew Research <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/03/26/most-americans-favor-legalizing-marijuana-for-medical-recreational-use/">poll</a> conducted last year showed that a majority of Americans (57%) believe that both medical and recreational marijuana should be legal, and 32% said it should be legal for medical use only. Just 11% of respondents said marijuana should be illegal.
Trump addressed the issue at the White House earlier this month after he floated the idea of reclassifying marijuana during a fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club earlier this month, according to the WSJ. Among the guests at the golf club when Trump hinted at the move was Kim Rivers, the CEO of Trulieve, one of the largest marijuana companies in the United States.
Trump also sided with the pro-marijuana crowd last year in Florida, when he voted to legalize recreational use of the drug in his home state. The marijuana amendment push in Florida received 56%, falling just short of the 60% needed to pass it into law. Legalization efforts also failed in North Dakota and South Dakota last year.
A White House official told the WSJ earlier this month that Trump wants to take on issues like marijuana that are viewed as “80-20 cultural issues.” If the president were to take the side of weed proponents, it could also help him and Republicans among independent and young voters in the 2026 midterms.
But according to the group of organizations pushing Trump to say no to downgrading the drug, the risks of reclassifying marijuana far outweigh any potential electoral advantage such a move would give Republicans. The letter highlights how a reclassification of marijuana to Schedule III would end marijuana test requirements for people with numerous important jobs.
In 2024, the National Transportation Safety Board <a href="https://www.ntsb.gov/news/Documents/DEA-Schedules-of-Controlled-Substances-Rescheduling-of-Marijuana.pdf">said</a> that &#8220;HHS-certified laboratories used for such testing are not authorized to test for Schedule III controlled substances. This would mean that airline pilots, airline maintenance workers, bus and truck drivers, locomotive engineers, subway train operators, ship captains, pipeline operators, personnel transporting hazardous materials, and other safety-sensitive transportation employees would be prevented from being tested for marijuana use.&#8221;
Downgrading marijuana to Schedule III would also give dispensaries massive tax breaks, the group points out, arguing that &#8220;street dealers and dispensaries alike would be able to receive reductions for promoting or marketing the sale of addictive drugs.&#8221; In the letter, the group also states that international drug cartels and Chinese money launderers that <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/investigations/marijuana-mexican-cartels-stunning-rise-chinese-money-launderers-rcna158030">operate</a> marijuana farms in the United States could also benefit from a major tax break if weed is rescheduled.
According to the group urging Trump to keep marijuana a Schedule III drug, America&#8217;s drug problem would only get worse if the federal government takes a more lenient stance on weed. Travis Weber, the vice president for Policy and Government Affairs at the Family Research Council, said, “The deep pain and crisis of meaning that many in our nation are facing will not be made better by encouraging even more drug use, which is what rescheduling would do. Taking substances to temporarily “treat” our mind and body alone can never solve what is really a spiritual problem. Drugs won’t fill the void inside and heal our pain. Only Jesus can do that.”
Read the full letter below:
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Marijuana, Donald Trump

Doobie Debate Blazes: Groups Urge Trump To Reject ‘Flawed’ Weed Reclassification Push

Drugs

Marijuana

Police

Trump Administration

President Donald Trump dined with troops and federal agents dispatched to the streets of Washington, D.C., on Thursday evening, catering White House fare to law enforcement tasked with making “D.C. great again.”
Trump announced earlier Thursday that he planned to go on patrol with National Guard troops and law enforcement officers. In the evening, he visited a U.S. Park Police facility in Southeast D.C. The president brought with him burgers cooked by White House chefs and pizza from a local restaurant.
“You people are winners, and it’s such an honor to be with you,” said Trump. “We&#8217;re going to Make Washington, D.C., Great Again. We’re making the country great again. The country is very close to being great. When they say it’s the hottest country in the world, they mean it. And this capital right now after four days, five days, it’s at a level you haven’t seen in a long time and it’s all because of you.”
“It’s an honor to be with you, and we’re always going to be with you for as long as I’m around. You’re going to be treated as nobody more important,” the president said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;You people are winners, and I just think it&#8217;s such an honor to be with you. We&#8217;re going to Make Washington, D.C. Great Again,&#8221; says <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> to federal agents and National Guard soldiers.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll always be with you. We&#8217;re going to be with you for as long as I&#8217;m around.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/1GMzxyvdgX">pic.twitter.com/1GMzxyvdgX</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1958648554525786596?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
&#8220;I’ll eat with you, and we&#8217;re going to have a little fun. We’re gonna celebrate,” he added, “but then we&#8217;re going to get back to work and we&#8217;re going to take care of these criminals. We’re gonna put them where they have to be.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
&#8220;You people are winners, and I just think it&#8217;s such an honor to be with you. We&#8217;re going to Make Washington, D.C. Great Again,&#8221; says <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> to federal agents and National Guard soldiers.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll always be with you. We&#8217;re going to be with you for as long as I&#8217;m around.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/1GMzxyvdgX">pic.twitter.com/1GMzxyvdgX</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1958648554525786596?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 21, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump used emergency powers under the 1973 Home Rule Act earlier this month to take control of the D.C. police to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital. Last year, Washington, D.C., <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/08/fact-yes-d-c-crime-is-out-of-control/">ranked</a> as the fourth most dangerous city for homicides per capita in the United States.
Trump also called in law enforcement from various agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to curb crime and arrest illegal aliens in the city. The president activated the D.C. National Guard and received members from several other states, as well. Roughly 2,000 National Guardsmen have been stationed around the city to protect federal buildings and monuments and deter crime.
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The Trump administration has bolstered the ranks of prosecutors, too, assigning 20 Judge Advocate General, or JAG, attorneys to the U.S. Attorney&#8217;s Office for Washington, D.C.
The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department said Thursday that the nation’s capital sailed through a murder-free week under Trump’s crackdown on crime.
&#8220;[T]here have been no recorded homicides in the city for the past week,” public information officer Michael Russo told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/dc-has-murder-free-week-ag-bondi-touts-77-more-arrests-federal-takeover">Fox News</a>. &#8220;Our last recorded homicide was August 13th.&#8221;
Since Trump enacted his emergency powers on August 11, at least 630 people have been arrested and 86 illegal guns have been taken off the streets.

President On Patrol: Trump Feeds Agents, Troops Making ‘D.C. Great Again’

President On Patrol: Trump Feeds Agents, Troops Making 'D.C. Great Again'

Executive

President Trump told conservative talk show host Todd Starnes on Thursday that he <a href="https://x.com/toddstarnes/status/1958558198895436273?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1958558198895436273%7Ctwgr%5Ec59d65d1c37ac27497715adc7e657d770b6af188%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2025%2F08%2F21%2Fus-news%2Ftrump-says-hell-patrol-dc-with-cops-military-tonight-as-part-of-his-crackdown-on-crime-in-the-city%2F">plans to join </a>D.C. cops and the military as they patrol the city tonight, consistent with his hands-on approach to the presidency in his second term.
“I’m going to be going out tonight, I think, with the police, and with the military, of course. So we’re going to do a job — the National Guard is great, they’ve done a fantastic job.”
A senior White House official said that the details of the evening were still being worked out.
His stunt was notably <a href="https://babylonbee.com/news/vigilante-justice-trump-dresses-up-as-bat-and-patrols-streets-of-dc">predicted</a> by the Babylon Bee a little over a week ago.
Social media users have already started to react. “There is NOBODY like Donald J. Trump. This is going to be amazing,” Eric Daugherty <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1958567744569258157">wrote</a>.
“Get your popcorn ready. Trump wants a first-hand look at how well the crime cleanup is going. I can’t wait,” Nick Sortor <a href="https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1958566896883716498">commented</a>. “Par for the course for the most hands-on President in modern U.S. history.”
This comes exactly two weeks after Trump called in the national guard in to help crack down on crime in D.C. Republican states have <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/6th-republican-led-state-sends-national-guard-troops/story?id=124787440">assisted</a> the president’s efforts by sending over some of their military members, bringing the total number of troops to around 2,000.
The National Guard is not making arrests at this time, according to the White House, although they may be armed for deterrence of violent crime and protection of federal assets and law enforcement officers.
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Residents are already saying that they feel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/folks-in-d-c-already-feeling-safer-praise-trump-for-crime-crackdown">safer</a>, while crime rates have gone down in the city. “For the first time in a long time, D.C. has gone seven days without a homicide. Carjackings have decreased by 83%, robberies by 46%, car thefts by 21%, and overall violent crime is down 22%,” <a href="https://foxbaltimore.com/newsletter-daily/national-guards-presence-slashes-dc-crime-rates-with-seven-days-homicide-free">reports</a> Fox Baltimore.
So far, 630 arrests have been made, including the arrests of 251 aliens &#8212; many of whom possess outstanding warrants and convictions &#8212; and three known gang members. Last night alone saw 77 arrests, according to the White House.
Additionally, 86 illegal firearms have been seized, and one missing child has been recovered.
Yesterday, Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also made a public appearance, when the two officials took members of the National Guard out to lunch at the Shake Shack in Union Station to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we7K6xygCmY">thank</a> them for their service.
President Trump has considered the idea of sending the National Guard to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/can-trump-send-national-guard-cities-around-us-2025-08-20/">other high-crime cities</a>.

Trump To Ride Along With Police Officers As They Make DC Safe Again

White House

The puppeteer behind the radical prosecutors who have enabled carnage in America’s major cities is no longer in her job after her own staff and the prosecutors she trained accused the white woman of being racist and authoritarian.
Miriam Krinsky, executive director of Fair and Just Prosecution, resigned on September 20, 2024, apparently as a result of a story in The Daily Wire that same day. The resignation has not been previously reported.
After The Daily Wire asked about damning months-old emails in September, Fair and Just Prosecution spokesman Christopher Gray said, “I’ve had a stressful weekend since your email,” but did not say Krinsky had quit. But a newly obtained email shows that hours after the story was published, Krisny wrote an email to staff saying that “After eight years at FJP, I will be moving on.”
“It has been heartening to see a table of 14 elected prosecutors FJP assembled in early 2017 grow to nearly 70 leaders nationwide — individuals I, and FJP, were privileged to have worked with,” she added of the Soros takeover of law enforcement.
The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/soros-anti-police-group-allegedly-called-cops-on-minority-staff-who-said-boss-is-racist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">story</a> reported that in April 2024, Sherry Boston, the elected district attorney of DeKalb County, Georgia, accused Krinsky of racism for excluding her from a New York City event, adding that the group had “failed miserably” when it came to diversity. Krinsky replied by disparaging Boston and saying she was excluded from events because of merit, not race. Krinsky appeared to suggest that Boston, a black Democrat, had failed to advance “racial justice” by prosecuting too many crimes.
That led to an uproar from Krinsky’s own staff and others, who began a campaign to oust her, only to face what they said was retaliation. Krinsky had led Fair and Just Prosecution since the group’s inception in 2017. A Daily Wire analysis of archived versions of the Fair and Just Prosecution <a href="https://fairandjustprosecution.org/about-fjp/our-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> shows significant staff turnover. The group lost six of 16 employees in 2020, seven more in 2021, and nine of 22 in 2023.
“The workplace culture under Miriam’s leadership is oppressively authoritarian,” disaffected employees, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Wire in an email. “Miriam manipulates a predominantly young, minority staff — exploiting their inexperience and the existing racial dynamics within the organization to tighten her grip on power.”
They said that despite Fair and Just Prosecution’s position that police should not be involved in situations that could be handled by social workers, “FJP, backed by Tides, are using law enforcement to retaliate against both current and former employees who have raised concerns about the organization’s practices. Some of these employees were wrongfully terminated and now face legal threats simply for attempting to do the right thing. Disturbingly, the organization has even orchestrated fake wellness checks as a means to weaponize the police—the same police they advocate should be defunded.”
Spokesman Gray said, “Any personnel actions taken by the organization are in full compliance with applicable laws, our anti-harassment policies, and reflect our core values.”
The Soros strategy to install radical progressives in district attorney positions, which in blue areas are often decided in quiet, low-turnout primary elections, relies on the idea that the billionaire would not need to influence entire legislatures to change laws if he could simply implant prosecutors who would ignore them. Mainstream Democrat prosecutors of the past viewed it as unethical to simply ignore entire classes of crimes.
But when a prosecutor misbehaves, there is little that anyone can do. For a full year, for example, The Daily Wire has been seeking emails relevant to Fair and Just Prosecution from Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg — who previously prosecuted President Donald Trump — under public records laws. The office has failed to produce them, with an attorney instead sending a letter every 30 days saying that the records will be produced within the next 30 days.
Last August, The Daily Wire reported how, after Soros spent $117 million since 2016 on reshaping America’s justice system, three in 10 Americans now live under a Soros prosecutor. The Fair and Just Prosecution group is the mechanism used to continue to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/documents-reveal-how-george-soros-controls-prosecutors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">control them after they are elected</a>.
Fair and Just Prosecution had the Soros-backed attorneys sign 33 pledges not to enforce specific laws — including election integrity measures and immigration laws — and attend more than 50 meetings or “convenings,” some of which were “mandatory.” FJP pressed prosecutors to let criminals off the hook if they are black, having them pledge to “reduc[e] racial disparities in case outcomes by at least 20%.”
At the meetings, Soros prosecutors got talking points and marching orders. At one meeting, political consultants told the assembled prosecutors to frame ignoring property crime as “reprioritizing resources” to “solve more murders.” The consultants cited polling that showed this messaging was more popular than simply acknowledging that prosecutors were not prosecuting lesser crimes.

Head Of Soros Prosecutor Group Resigns Following Daily Wire Report On Staff Mutiny

Crime has already dramatically dropped in our nation&#8217;s capital since President Donald Trump moved to make D.C. safe again for all residents and visitors.
According to the D.C. Police Union, carjackings are down a stunning 83%, robberies down 46%, and violent crime is down 22%.
The stats were based on crime since Trump&#8217;s announcement that he was going to crack down on D.C. crime, compared to the previous seven days.
The D.C. Police Union &#8212; which reps thousands of officers, detectives, and sergeants from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department &#8212; also noted that assault with a deadly weapon is down 6%, car thefts have dropped 21%, property crime is 6% lower, and overall, crime is down 8%.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
DC crime since the announcement of federal control versus the 7 days prior:
Robbery ⬇️46% 
ADW ⬇️6% 
Carjacking ⬇️83% 
Car Theft ⬇️21% 
Violent Crime ⬇️22% 
Property Crime ⬇️6% 
All Crimes⬇️8%
While federal assistance gives us a boost, we must repeal the misguided Comprehensive…
— DC Police Union (@DCPoliceUnion) <a href="https://twitter.com/DCPoliceUnion/status/1957435067258577173?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 18, 2025</a></blockquote>
But the details on Trump&#8217;s D.C. cleanup don&#8217;t stop there. In total, since earlier this month, there have been 450 arrests, including 3 known gang members, and 68 firearms seized.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
On Monday evening alone, authorities at the capital made 52 arrests, including an MS-13 gang member illegally in the country. Some of the other arrests involved murder, attempted murder, felony assault, and firearms charges.
A staggering 48 homeless encampments have also been peacefully removed, with voluntary relocations.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
21 more FBI arrests in Washington DC last night August 18-19:
-4 gun recoveries 
-6 drug seizures 
-Charges including Felony assault, Larceny, Drug offenses, Assault on officer, and more
Federal partners have arrested over 450 individuals since this operation began.
The work…
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1957791105870614649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
On Tuesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt highlighted Trump&#8217;s successes in working to make D.C. safe again. She specifically noted that a significant number of the arrests have been concentrated to high-crime areas, with nearly half of the non-illegal immigrant arrests occurring in D.C. Wards 7 &amp; 8.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
WATCH: <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> highlights <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>&#8216; remarkable success in cleaning up D.C. crime:
&#8220;There have been a total of 465 arrests since the start of this operation&#8230; Last night, there were a total of 52 arrests, including the arrest of an illegal alien MS-13 gang member.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/FPf1bH9vQx">pic.twitter.com/FPf1bH9vQx</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1957857067512836550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
The news of the swift improvements have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/folks-in-d-c-already-feeling-safer-praise-trump-for-crime-crackdown?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Folks+In+D.C.+Already+Feeling+Safer%2C+Praise+Trump+For+Crime+Crackdown">sparked praise</a> from some residents and visitors, as well as outsiders. However, elected Democrats and left-wing activists remain upset that crime is being addressed.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, for example, have all railed against Trump and his administration for their actions. Newsom, for instance, has likened Trump to a &#8220;dictator&#8221; for working to make D.C. safe.
There have also been left-wing protests in the city, where many participants have been seen holding matching signs that read, &#8220;Free D.C.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Ant-Trump protest marching towards the White House chanting, “Free D.C.” and calling for the National Guard to go home.<a href="https://twitter.com/theblaze?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@theblaze</a> <a href="https://t.co/vTHMFsnNdR">pic.twitter.com/vTHMFsnNdR</a>
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1956801739492868372?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2025</a></blockquote>
Leavitt on Tuesday criticized Democrats for &#8220;[coddling] violent criminals,&#8221; while Trump is &#8220;focused on putting them behind bars.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
LEAVITT: &#8220;While Democrats continue to coddle violent criminals, President Trump and this administration are focused on putting them behind bars.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/rkVXiw7Kp4">pic.twitter.com/rkVXiw7Kp4</a>
— Fox News (@FoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1957859543867621730?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2025</a></blockquote>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/folks-in-d-c-already-feeling-safer-praise-trump-for-crime-crackdown?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Folks+In+D.C.+Already+Feeling+Safer%2C+Praise+Trump+For+Crime+Crackdown">Folks In D.C. Already Feeling Safer, Praise Trump For Crime Crackdown</a>

STATS ARE IN: D.C. Crime Already Dramatically Lower After Trump Crackdown

Inflation remains low despite media warnings about tariffs, as the U.S. extends its trade truce with China. The fallout from President Trump&#8217;s federal takeover of the D.C. police intensifies, with the city&#8217;s mayor and the media clashing over the reality of the crime crisis. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu lays out his post-war plan for Gaza and pushes back on a &#8220;global campaign of lies&#8221; as international pressure mounts.
It’s Wednesday, August 13, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
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If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
<iframe style="width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/trumps-economic-upset-d-c-takeover-tensions-8-13-25/id1576594336?i=1000721780562" 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>Trump Economy Holds Strong as Inflation Defies Predictions</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-960189" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH1.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: New data show U.S. inflation held steady at a lower-than-expected rate in July, defying dire predictions that President Trump’s tariffs would cause prices to skyrocket. 
Despite warnings from many experts and media outlets, inflation held steady at 2.7% in July, below the 2.8% predicted by economists. The new numbers show that prices for key goods are falling, with gasoline down 10% and eggs down 20%, while real wages are up 1.3% compared to last year. While outlets like The New York Times have tried to frame the numbers negatively, even CNN was forced to acknowledge falling energy and grocery prices. 
The good news comes as the U.S. and China agreed to extend their &#8220;trade truce&#8221; for another 90 days, holding tariffs at a reduced rate while negotiations continue. The administration’s massive trade deals with the European Union, U.K., South Korea, and Japan are already paying dividends. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the new tariffs have already brought in over $100 billion and are projected to reach $300 billion by the end of the year. 
<h2>Fallout Intensifies Over Trump’s D.C. Takeover</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-960187" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH2.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: The fallout from President Trump’s decision to federalize the Washington, D.C., police force has intensified, sparking a furious debate between city leaders and the media over the reality of the capital&#8217;s crime crisis. 
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has admitted she has no legal recourse to stop the federal intervention, but claims the crime wave is a fiction, stating that the city is at a &#8220;30-year violent crime low.&#8221; She is using the federal takeover to renew her calls for D.C. statehood. That narrative has been echoed by some in the media, with a New York Times reporter referring to a &#8220;nonexistent crime crisis.&#8221; 
However, journalists on the ground in D.C. tell a different story. An ABC News anchor detailed multiple recent shootings near her downtown office, while a CNN contributor said he witnessed a murder in Union Station just a few months ago. 
The D.C. police union is backing the president&#8217;s move, saying crime is &#8220;out of control.&#8221; The union&#8217;s president blamed a 2020 law that &#8220;handcuffed police officers&#8221; for creating a shortage of over 800 officers and making it impossible to properly police the city. 
<h2>Netanyahu Outlines Gaza Plan, Pushes Back on ‘Lies’</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-960185" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.13.25-Wed-SH3.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has laid out a five-point vision for a post-war Gaza and is pushing back against what he calls a &#8220;global campaign of lies&#8221; regarding the humanitarian situation in the territory. 
During a press conference, Netanyahu said Israel&#8217;s goal is to &#8220;free Gaza from Hamas terrorists,&#8221; not to occupy it. His five-point plan includes the defeat of Hamas and the release of all hostages, the demilitarization of Gaza, an established security zone on the border, and a new civilian administration that can live in peace with Israel. 
Netanyahu also pushed back on claims that Israel is causing a humanitarian crisis, stating that his country has allowed nearly two million tons of aid into Gaza. &#8220;Our policy throughout the war has been to prevent a humanitarian crisis, while Hamas’ policy has been to create it,&#8221; he said, noting that Hamas loots nearly 90% of aid trucks. A recent Daily Wire exclusive report from Kassy Akiva supported this, debunking a viral story about a Gazan boy who was allegedly killed by Israeli forces at an aid site. 
The comments come as international pressure on Israel mounts. Several European nations, including France, the U.K., and Canada, have recently moved to recognize a Palestinian state. Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the move, saying that by rewarding the Palestinians while Hamas still holds hostages, these countries have &#8220;emboldened&#8221; the terror group and made a ceasefire harder to achieve.

MRN 8.13.25 Wed SH1

Morning Brief: Low Inflation, Tariff Truce w/China, D.C. Takeover Fallout, Plans For Post-War Gaza

Economy

Gaza

Hamas

Inflation

Israel

World

&#8220;Lois &amp; Clark&#8221; star Dean Cain announced this week that he had signed on with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) team and encouraged others to join as well.
In a video posted to X, Cain reminded his followers that he was already &#8220;a sworn law enforcement officer&#8221; and had determined that saddling up with ICE was the best way for him to continue serving and protecting the people of the United States.
&#8220;JOIN ICE! We need your help to protect [America],&#8221; he said.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
JOIN ICE!! 
We need your help to protect 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/cXcUaDcDhY">pic.twitter.com/cXcUaDcDhY</a>
— Dean Cain (@RealDeanCain) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealDeanCain/status/1952831589487919236?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;For those who don’t know, I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, and I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it, so I joined up,&#8221; he explained in the video clip.
Cain informed his audience of the pay and benefits afforded new agents — including a $50,000 signing bonus recently announced by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — and encouraged them to think about what they could do to help protect American citizens.
&#8220;Since President Trump took office, ICE has arrested hundreds of thousands of criminals, including terrorists, rapists, murderers, pedophiles, MS-13 gang members, drug traffickers, you name it — very dangerous people who are no longer on the streets,&#8221; he continued.
&#8220;So if you want to help save America, ICE is arresting the worst of the worst and removing them from America’s streets. I like that. I voted for that. They need your help, we need your help, to protect our homeland and our families. So check into it and join today if it’s something that tickles your fancy because we can use you,&#8221; Cain added. He also noted that there was no college degree requirement for ICE agents, meaning that many who wanted to join up would most likely be able to start work immediately.
Cain talked about his decision with Fox News host Jesse Watters on Wednesday&#8217;s broadcast of &#8220;Jesse Watters Primetime,&#8221; where he explained to Watters that he wasn&#8217;t entirely sure yet what his actual duties might entail.
&#8220;I will do whatever Director [Todd] Lyons wants me to do,&#8221; he declared when asked whether he&#8217;d be one of the agents jumping out of vans to apprehend criminals in the streets. &#8220;If that&#8217;s what it takes, absolutely. I somehow doubt I&#8217;ll be in that position, but I would be there in a heartbeat.&#8221;
&#8220;These brave men and women need someone to stand up for them, so rarely these days are we seeing that,&#8221; he said.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Bad Hombres better watch out. Primetime accidentally drafted SUPERMAN into ICE.<a href="https://twitter.com/RealDeanCain?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RealDeanCain</a> is joining the 80,000 new ICE recruits who are ready to make America safe again <a href="https://t.co/vI7Aj6HadO">pic.twitter.com/vI7Aj6HadO</a>
— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) <a href="https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1953268733943660888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Premiere Of “Paul’s Promise”

‘We Can Use You’: ‘Superman’ Actor Joins ICE, Immediately Starts Recruiting

'We Can Use You': 'Superman' Actor Joins ICE, Immediately Starts Recruiting

Dean Cain

Immigration

Superman

Ken Kober, the president of the Cincinnati Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), slammed elected city leaders over allegations many have made against the victims of a mob attack on July 26.
After several people were beaten by a mob of largely black people in Cincinnati, city officials, including the vice mayor of the city, have accused the victims of the attack of instigating the violence.
“I speak to our investigators probably every 12 hours, and there has been absolutely zero evidence so far that has suggested that these victims caused this,” Kober told The Daily Wire on Friday. “I mean, they&#8217;ve looked at video evidence, they&#8217;ve done interviews, and nothing suggests that these victims were the ones that started this mob attack.”
After videos of the mob attack began circulating online, Cincinnati city council President Pro Tem Victoria Parks wrote a Facebook comment <a href="https://www.wlwt.com/article/cincinnati-downtown-fight-video-victoria-parks-ohio/65557368">saying</a> the victims “begged for that beat down! I am grateful for the whole story.”
While Parks, who has said she is not running for reelection, received condemnation for the statement, some officials appeared to agree at least partly with Parks that the victims may have instigated the beating.
“Let us be clear. We do not condone violence. We condemn the violent actions of the instigator(s) of the fight as well as the violent actions of those who responded to the provocation,” Vice Mayor Jan Michele Kearney said in a statement. “Opportunists are trying to use this incident as a way to divide us – racially and politically – and cast our great City in a false and negative light. Every city has challenges, and we confront our challenges head on.”
Kober attributed the public attacks on the victims to election-year pandering.
“I think a lot of it is pandering to their constituents, and they do it in the face of what the investigation says. These investigators have met with city officials, explained to them, ‘Here&#8217;s the evidence that we have.’ And they just snub their nose at that,” Kober said. “Quite honestly, it&#8217;s pretty disgusting.”
While some city officials have taken to blaming the “instigators” for the mob attack, the city has suffered in recent years under worsening crime rates while the city’s police force has operated understaffed by roughly 20%. GOP Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio ripped into Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval last week over the mayor’s response to the attack while ignoring the systemic issues plaguing the city.
“No apology, no atonement, no atonement for the fact that under the mayor&#8217;s leadership, we&#8217;re down anywhere between 110 to 300 police officers. There&#8217;s no atonement for the fact that when police do arrest criminals, the judges and prosecutors basically give them a slap on the wrist and send them on their way,” Moreno said on <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/fourth-arrest-announced-investigation-violent-cincinnati-brawl-continues">Fox News</a>. “The police are doing the best they can in Cincinnati. They&#8217;re the heroes every day. But nice words don&#8217;t mean anything unless you have actual actions. This is way too little response.”
Progressive judges in the city have allowed criminals to walk free on small bonds in recent years, according to Kober. One of the men <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/2025/07/29/prosecutor-2-arrested-in-downtown-cincinnati-fight/85431629007/">arrested</a> in connection with the Cincinnati mob attack had been out of custody for just weeks after posting $400 for bond in a case in which he was arrested on felony weapons and stolen property charges.
“These judges, some of them, and it&#8217;s probably half, are horrible,” Kober said.
Despite the comments from city officials, Kober heaped praise on the officers investigating the mob attack.
“Despite what council members are saying, despite what the mayor is or is not saying, despite what the [police] chief&#8217;s saying, [the police investigators] have done an absolutely phenomenal job, and it&#8217;s a testament to the men and women that work in this police department, because without the boots on the ground and those guys doing the work that they do and the girls that do the work that they do, this place would be a disaster,” Kober said.

Aftab Pureval

‘It’s Pretty Disgusting’: Cincinnati Police Union Head Bashes ‘Victim Shaming’ After Mob Attack

Cincinnati

Ohio

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