MINNEAPOLIS — A strong wind was blowing as Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade pulled up in front of a Minneapolis church. It blew the vice president’s tie over his shoulder as he walked, and scattered Usha Vance’s hair as she took her husband’s hand. 
High above them loomed Annunciation Catholic Church, where a frenzied shooter in his twenties opened fire on children attending the first school mass of the year. Two children were killed, and many more were injured. Vance and his wife each carried a bouquet to honor the slain children, and they walked slowly up the steps to the church, reading the sidewalk chalk messages spread out before them. Thousands of donated flowers lined the walkway.
They paused in front of a statue of Mary, whom the church is named after, setting their bouquets in a basket before her. Someone had placed a small bouquet in the statue&#8217;s hand, and a long rosary dangled from her arm. Vance pointed out the inscription above her head to his wife: “This is the house of God and the gate of heaven.” 
No one spoke as they looked up at the church in apparent prayer, Vance making the sign of the cross. Even the protestors across the street barely made a sound. Then the Vances quietly went towards the church to meet the families whose children had been taken from them forever. 
<div id="attachment_968465" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-day-that-will-stay-with-me-jd-vance-meets-with-grieving-families-of-annunciation-shooting/vice-president-jd-vance-and-second-lady-usha-vance-pay-respects-to-victims-of-the-annunciation-catholic-church-shooting-in-minneapolis" rel="attachment wp-att-968465"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-968465" class="wp-image-968465 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232910448-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232910448-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232910448-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232910448-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232910448.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>(Photo by Alex Wroblewski-Pool/Getty Images)</div>
Ten-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel each had their own hopes and dreams, Vance reflected to reporters before he boarded Air Force Two to return to Washington. They were energetic, silly, beautiful children, beloved by their families, who never imagined they would lose them so soon.
Their friends commemorated them outside the church by writing little messages to the deceased youngsters on grave-like crosses erected under a little tent. 
“We will miss you,” a young hand wrote. 
“God be with you, I’m in your class,” scrawled another. 
“You were so loved,” the messages read, over and over and over. 
The vice president and his wife spent several hours speaking not only with Harper’s and Fletcher’s parents, but also with the parents of the injured children. They went to the Minnesota Children’s Hospital and met young Lydia Kaiser, who was recovering from surgery, and spoke with Weston Halsne, another victim, over the phone. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The scene outside Annunciation Catholic Church, where the VP and Second Lady are currently paying their respects. Thousands of flowers line the walkway. Messages of love and hope are written in sidewalk chalk and painted on stones.
One reads: “God is our refuge and strength.” <a href="https://t.co/wH0Az27B1a">pic.twitter.com/wH0Az27B1a</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1963295368373747968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
The vice president described the visit as “heart breaking” but “gratifying,” sharing that the parents “opened up their lives, opened up their hearts” to the Vances, speaking about their children and about their families and about the community that has rallied around them. 
And they asked him, Vance said, to speak not of the “brutal maniac” who slaughtered their children, but to speak of the “innocent children who lost their lives, and were full of life, and were people, people with hopes and dreams in their own right.” 
He emphasized that message by speaking of the children himself. 
“I wish that we talked a lot more about Harper, who was a beautiful young girl, who had a beautiful smile, the kind of smile that would turn a bad day into a good one,” Vance reflected, adding that Harper was “very proud of the fact that she just had her first communion a couple years ago.”
“I also wish we talked a little bit more about Fletcher,” he went on. “Fletcher was a very rambunctious and energetic kid. Was a beautiful kid. Had an incredible head of hair…”
Fletcher’s father, Vance, revisited the chapel with him where the shooter killed his son. 
“That was the first time he had been in the chapel since his son was taken from him,” Vance said. 
And the vice president himself echoed the grieving parents’ request: “We should talk more about these kids. We should talk less about the shooter, the crazy person who took these children from us. We should talk about these kids, their hopes and their dreams, and the fact that they had a full life ahead of them that was cut short.” 
Lydia Kaiser, who received a visit from the vice president and the second lady on Wednesday, was just recovering from surgery. According to a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-lydia-and-the-kaiser-family-heal">GoFundMe</a> set up in her name, Lydia was injured while she was protecting her little “buddy” — a younger student whom she was supposed to keep an eye on and help behave throughout mass. 

“Her father, our community’s beloved gym teacher, was also in attendance and helped secure the room, to keep children safe, and stuck with them all until they were reunited with their families,” the GoFundMe says, “even while his daughter was entering the emergency room. Lydia and Harry are two heroes in our midst.” 
Weston wasn’t well enough to meet the vice president in person, but he and his family did speak with the Vances over the phone. Vance, who had maintained a somber demeanor the entire day, broke into a big smile when The Daily Wire asked about Weston. 
“Usha and I spoke to him,” Vance told The Daily Wire, as Usha also smiled. “He had just got out of surgery so we weren’t able to see Weston, but we did talk to him on the phone. Just a little boy, thank God full of life, happy, recovering well.”
<div id="attachment_968469" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-day-that-will-stay-with-me-jd-vance-meets-with-grieving-families-of-annunciation-shooting/vice-president-jd-vance-and-second-lady-usha-vance-pay-respects-to-victims-of-the-annunciation-catholic-church-shooting-in-minneapolis-3" rel="attachment wp-att-968469"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-968469" class="wp-image-968469 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232923960-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232923960-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232923960-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232923960-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/GettyImages-2232923960.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks to the press after paying his respects to victims of the Annunciation Catholic Church shooting on September 3, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Alex Wroblewski-Pool/Getty Images)</div>
“I told him, he has a 15 year old older brother, I said, you can tell him from the vice president of the United States that your older brother has to be nice to you for at least the next week,” the vice president said. “Weston was very excited to hear that. But just a really beautiful family and I’m glad that he’s doing well.” 
Yet even as Vance shared the message of the parents: to focus on their children and not on the shooter, the tragedy of that shooting and the many ways in which it could have been prevented loomed like a spectre over the day. 
Protestors littered the streets near the church, advocating for gun control. Across the street, big signs were taped to the fence facing Annunciation church, reading: “Protect kids, not guns.” Beside them hung a massive transgender flag — an acknowledgment of the shooter’s trans-identification.
Bloomberg’s Kate Sullivan asked if Vance had heard about Minnesota’s Governor Tim Walz call for a special legislative session to consider potential gun laws, but Vance would not get mired in the politics of gun legislation, telling her, “I’m not going to tell Minnesota lawmakers or the governor exactly how they should respond to this tragedy.” 
He did say emphatically: “There is a strong desire from across the political spectrum to do something so that these shootings are less common.” 
The Daily Wire questioned Vance about the rise in trans-identifying shooters and whether authorities should be focusing on gender dysphoric individuals showing warning signs. Vance did not specifically mention the shooter’s gender identity issues, but he stressed that the parents he spoke with want authorities to be taking a serious look at the root causes. 
“Certainly we should be investigating people who are planning on targeting kids, and I think that one of the unfortunate lessons of this particular shooting is that this person who showed clear signs of derangement, slipped through the cracks,” Vance told The Daily Wire. 
He explained that the parents he spoke with came from across the political spectrum, describing them as “rational&#8221; and &#8220;reasonable” despite their grief. 
“Every single parent I spoke to wants something to happen,” he said. 
“I can’t imagine what I would be like in this moment of heartbreak, and all they asked is that we look very seriously at the root causes, that we look very seriously at the ways to prevent crazy people who are about to shoot up a school from getting access to firearms, these are things that a lot of us have talked about for a very long time.”
“These parents are grieving,” he added, “but they certainly want us to look at everything that we can possibly do so that the next family doesn’t have to deal with this.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Tributes to Harper (10) and Fletcher (8), who Robert Westman shot and killed last week as they were praying at their first school mass of the year. <a href="https://t.co/ivIMlivdjk">pic.twitter.com/ivIMlivdjk</a>
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan/status/1963301134895849528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
Both Vance and his wife appeared emotionally impacted by the weight of the day — Usha Vance looked particularly sad, and she didn’t speak to the reporters gathered under the wing of Air Force Two, returning to the plane with her husband with a smile and wave. 
Vance himself appeared to have a catch in his voice as he reflected on his takeaways from the day. 
“I’ve had a lot of good days, a lot of interesting days…but I’ve never had a day that will stay with me like this day did,” he said. 
One little girl remains in serious condition, Vance said, and he looked into the camera to issue a plea to his fellow Americans. 
“If you are the praying type, say a prayer for this innocent girl, who is actually in surgery right now, that the swelling will go down, that she will be ok, because she’s still in the fight for her life, and every single family to a person is desperate that the death toll which currently is at two, stays at two,” he said. 
As for himself, Vance knows that there is nothing he, or anyone else, can say that will take away the grief that these parents are feeling. He plans to honor these grieving parents and their innocent children, “by being a better dad, and hugging my kids tight tonight, and making sure that they know that their dad loves them.”
“Because there are two families who are not going to get that opportunity ever again,” he said. 
“There are families in Minneapolis who will never get to do that again.”

Vice President JD Vance And Second Lady Usha Vance Pay Respects To Victims Of The Annunciation Catholic Church Shooting In Minneapolis

‘A Day That Will Stay With Me’: JD Vance Meets With Grieving Families Of Annunciation Shooting

Active Shooters

JD Vance

Minneapolis

Transgender

WASHINGTON — Another deadly school shooting at the hands of a trans-identifying killer is prompting discussions about investigations into transgender domestic terrorism — and what kind of emphasis authorities should put on suspects who are undergoing so-called gender-affirming care.
Asked by The Daily Wire if the White House would support a new classification such as transgender domestic terrorism, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that she would have to “check with the appropriate people.” But since then, The Daily Wire has learned that the White House’s draft national security strategy on domestic terrorism will specifically address transgender violence.
“I can report that the new draft U.S. Counterterrorism [plan] addresses the issue,” Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to President Donald Trump and senior director for counterterrorism, told The Daily Wire, asked whether there should be a transgender domestic terrorism classification.
Gorka says the document, Trump 2.0’s <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/04/23/2025/trump-adviser-sebastian-gorka-says-new-counterterrorism-plan-will-likely-be-ready-in-a-month">domestic counterterrorism plan,</a> is now in the hands of several cabinet members and principals, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, top intelligence officials Tulsi Gabbard, John Radcliffe, and Kash Patel, as well as Stephen Miller, Trump’s influential homeland security adviser.
The attacker, Robin Westman, who changed his name from Robert as a teenager, opened fire on Annunciation Catholic Church last week as school children were attending the first daily mass of the school year. Westman killed two children and injured 17 other individuals before killing himself in the parking lot. He left behind a YouTube video showing a lengthy, manifesto-like journal filled with rantings against Jews, Christians, President Donald Trump, and others. It included a transgender flag, images of Jesus Christ on a target, and sketches of Annunciation Catholic Church. His writings demonstrate that he was profoundly mentally ill and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wish-i-never-brain-washed-myself-minnesota-school-shooter-said-he-was-tired-of-being-trans">regretted his trans-identification</a>.
Westman’s actions came only two years after another trans-identifying killer, this one a woman who identified as a man, targeted Christian school children in Nashville. One week later, leaders of Catholic and independent schools in Minnesota <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minnesota-catholic-school-leader-warned-tim-walz-of-urgent-and-critical-need-to-secure-schools?author=Mary+Margaret+Olohan&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Minnesota+Catholic+School+Leader+Warned+Tim+Walz+Of+%E2%80%98Critical%E2%80%99+School+Safety+Threats.+He+Did+Nothing.">had called on Governor Tim Walz</a> to help prevent similar shootings, as The Daily Wire reported earlier this week. They feared that the next transgender-identifying shooter would target one of their schools, but the security funding was never authorized.
<div id="attachment_967183" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/calls-to-investigate-trans-domestic-terrorism-escalate-after-devastating-school-shooting/shooting-at-annunciation-school-church-in-minneapolis-leaves-multiple-children-dead-and-many-injured-9" rel="attachment wp-att-967183"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-967183" class="wp-image-967183 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232754875-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232754875-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232754875-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232754875-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232754875.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA &#8211; AUGUST 29: Fr. Dennis Zehren, pastor at Annunciation Catholic Church, stands in front of a boarded-up window bearing a message of hope outside of his church on August 29, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)</div>
These are just two examples of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-were-naming-the-minneapolis-shooter?author=Brent+Scher&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Why+We%E2%80%99re+Naming+The+Minneapolis+Shooter">steady stream of transgender-related violence</a> over the past decade.
Last year, a 29-year-old trans-identifying man who went by the name “Mia Bailey” <a href="https://www.abc4.com/news/southern-utah/mia-bailey-pleads-not-guilty/">shot and killed both his mother and father</a> in Utah before he was ultimately arrested by police after a dramatic manhunt. Bailey was “transitioning from male to female,” local outlets reported, and told officers of his killing: “I would do it again.”
Also in 2024, authorities arrested a 26-year-old Massachusetts man accused of stabbing six people, including four little girls who said he laughed as he stabbed them in a movie theater, and killing another. The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/05/27/us-news/mass-stabbing-spree-suspect-jared-ravizza-seen-in-pics-with-lip-gloss-nail-polish-as-court-docs-confirm-name-change/">reported at the time</a> that the individual, Jared Ravizza, posted photos online wearing “lipgloss, face glitter and painted pink nails,” described himself as “she” on Instagram, and had recently changed his name from Jared Christian Ravizza Jones to Jared Love Jones.
In 2022, authorities arrested a man who traveled from California to Maryland to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — that man, Nicholas Roske, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kavanaugh-assassination-suspect-portrayed-himself-online-trans-gamer-girl-named-sophie">represented himself online</a> as a “trans gamer girl” who went by the name Sophie.
Also in 2022, a man who identified as “nonbinary” and went by “they-them” pronouns <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/colorado-springs-suspect-identifies-nonbinary-uses-pronounces-defense-rcna58499">shot up a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs,</a> killing five people before he was captured. And a man who <a href="https://6abc.com/post/philadelphia-mass-shooter-identity-suspect-kimbrady-carriker-shooting-july-2023/13463565/">killed five people and injured four others</a> in a Philadelphia shooting spree posted photographs on social media of himself wearing women’s clothing, prompting speculation that he identified as transgender.
In 2020, authorities <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/world/transgender-teen-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-for-deadly-colorado-school-shooting-idUSKCN24Q03E/">sentenced a trans-identifying teenager to life in prison</a> for killing one student and injuring eight others in yet another transgender school shooting in Colorado.
In 2018, a 26-year-old trans-identifying killer who went by Snochia Moseley <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/21/maryland-shooting-female-shooter-snochia-moseley/1378272002/">killed three workers at a Rite Aid</a> warehouse in Aberdeen, Maryland, injuring three others, before taking his own life.
Gorka, who said the administration’s counterterrorism strategy addresses the pattern, argues that there was an ideological component to the Annunciation school shooting.
“What we should do is we should look at the early warning signals, the signs,” he told CNN’s Brianna Keilar, “we should be providing off-ramps, we should be providing mental health options for these individuals.”
The disturbing number of transgender-related crimes has prompted calls for federal authorities to specifically investigate transgender domestic terrorism — or at the bare minimum, to at least track these types of crimes.
“There’s simply no good way to track it, and no one’s even trying,” argued The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh. “The federal government doesn’t maintain any kind of database that lists crimes by trans-identifying individuals. They probably should have that database. We obviously need one, but one doesn’t exist at the moment. Media outlets are terrified of stigmatizing the quote-unquote trans community. And so for all practical purposes, we only ever hear about a violent crime committed by a trans-identifying individual.” 
<div id="attachment_967181" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/calls-to-investigate-trans-domestic-terrorism-escalate-after-devastating-school-shooting/shooting-at-annunciation-school-church-in-minneapolis-leaves-multiple-children-dead-and-many-injured-8" rel="attachment wp-att-967181"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-967181" class="wp-image-967181 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232756746-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232756746-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232756746-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232756746-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2232756746.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA &#8211; AUGUST 29: People visit a growing memorial outside of Annunciation Catholic Church on August 29, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)</div>
Someone has to have noticed the warning signs with Westman, Gorka said on CNN.
“I find it hard to believe that an individual goes from getting his mother to sign a change of name certificate, age 17, and then just a handful of years later is mowing down innocent children in a church pew during a Catholic mass, and nobody realized there was a problem,” Gorka <a href="https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1962154580117975087">argued</a>. “That is what we have to address to save the next children from the next atrocity. It’s not about the sexual proclivities of the individual, it’s the fact that nobody seems to notice a very disturbing pattern towards violence.”
“You don’t wake up one morning saying I’m going to do a video on YouTube threatening to kill the president, targeting Jews, targeting children, that doesn’t happen overnight,” he added. “Somebody saw that degradation, somebody saw those mental issues, and said nothing. That is what we have to prevent. The early warning signals must be addressed if children’s lives are to be saved.”
Journalist Andy Ngo, who has written extensively about possible trans militant cells in the United States, argues that the FBI should absolutely keep data on a subject’s gender identity, though the proposition might sound “woke” on first suggestion.
“It’s an important data point now since biological sex alone may be missing critical information about a criminal’s profile,” he argued to The Daily Wire. “For example, I think it’s relevant for criminologists and the public to know whether gender-diverse people are overrepresented in particular crimes. Convict data from other countries, like England and Wales, and Canada, show trans-identifying males are massively overrepresented as sex criminals.”
“We don’t have that federal data in the United States,” said Ngo. “I also think it’s past due for the FBI to develop a new ideological category within violent extremism tracking which monitors and gathers data among trans militant groups, which are all on the left, who call for and organize anti-government violence, domestic terrorism and the violation of others’ civil rights.”
Detransitioners previously interviewed by The Daily Wire say that when they sought out so-called “gender-affirming” hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen, they suffered from severe mental health issues, including anorexia, depression, anxiety, and more.
Jay W. Richards, a top gender ideology expert and director of the DeVos Center for Human Flourishing at the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Wire that mental health issues absolutely play a role in transgender-related violence, since young people suffering from gender incongruence “often have other psychological disorders, such as depression, bipolar disorder, or severe anxiety.”
“And since we’re in the middle of the gender ideology craze, we would expect that some disturbed people who attack schools will also identify as ‘trans’ or ‘nonbinary,’” he reflected. “But we need to take seriously the possibility that gender madness, and cross-sex hormones themselves, might be contributing to these tragedies. Gender ideology is a form of collective madness. Why couldn’t it&#8211;and the medical interventions associated with it&#8211;make some teens worse off psychologically?”
Under President Joe Biden’s administration, the FBI was loath to release the manifesto of the trans-identifying Nashville shooter, claiming it would lead to conspiracy theories and inaccuracies. Daring news outlets ultimately published the disturbing entries of that killer, allowing the public to understand that this was a trans-identifying woman who specifically targeted Christians for their faith.
This type of action from the Biden Justice Department only emboldened critics of that administration, who argued that the Biden DOJ and FBI were ideologically focused on promoting transgenderism and targeting parents who dissented from gender ideology in schools and Latin Mass Catholics.
<div id="attachment_967185" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/calls-to-investigate-trans-domestic-terrorism-escalate-after-devastating-school-shooting/justice-department-announces-human-rights-enforcement-actions-4" rel="attachment wp-att-967185"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-967185" class="wp-image-967185 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827538981-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827538981-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827538981-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827538981-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-1827538981.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>Former Attorney General Merrick Garland, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and FBI Director Christopher Wray. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images)</div>
“Instead of chasing down traditional Catholics, parents at school board meetings, and thousands of J6 Trump supporters in the biggest operation in history, maybe the FBI should have kept eyes on real domestic threats,” <a href="https://x.com/mirandadevine/status/1960797419525804298">suggested</a> The New York Post’s Miranda Devine last week, as more details emerged about the deadly Annunciation Church shooting.
Documents obtained by The Oversight Project <a href="https://x.com/ItsYourGov/status/1867593261193302446">indicate that under Biden</a>, the FBI even instituted policies that blocked possible transgender domestic terrorists from investigation “by placing them in a highly protected class,” allowing agents to close complaints if information on the subject is based on an individual’s gender identity.
The FBI did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Robert Westman and screenshots of his journal posted on YouTube.

Calls To Investigate Trans Domestic Terrorism Escalate After Devastating School Shooting

Annunciation Catholic School

Medical organizations that have backed irreversible transgender procedures on kids are facing pressure after a transgender-identifying man murdered two children and injured 18 others at a Catholic school in Minnesota on Wednesday.
The shooter who attacked the school was identified as “Robin” Westman, a 23-year-old man who started identifying as female as a minor. Westman, who previously went by Robert, left behind a series of writings that described his regret in identifying as transgender, exhibited a hatred of Christians and Jews, and a desire to kill young kids. He killed himself after spraying bullets into a group of students gathered for a Mass.
Portions of Westman’s journal, which were scribbled in a mix of Russian Cyrillic script and English, were translated by the New York Post and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wish-i-never-brain-washed-myself-minnesota-school-shooter-said-he-was-tired-of-being-trans?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=4&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=‘Wish+I+Never+Brain-Washed+Myself’%3A+Minnesota+School+Shooter+Said+He+Was+‘Tired+Of+Being+Trans’">revealed</a> his dark thoughts as he struggled with his transgender identity.
“I only keep [long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,” Westman reportedly wrote.
In another section of his journal, Westman reportedly wrote, “I don’t want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it. I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man.”
Westman’s journal entries cast doubt on the assertions of many major medical organizations that have claimed that regret rates for those who attempt to change their sex are incredibly low. The shooting came as Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro released leaked footage on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/im-not-an-expert-at-all-damning-video-exposes-medical-org-over-support-for-trans-procedures?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=9&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Leaked+Footage+Exposes+Top+Med+Org’s+Support+For+Trans+Procedures+On+Kids%3A+‘I’m+Not+An+Expert+At+All’">Tuesday</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/footage-reveals-med-orgs-expert-doctor-claiming-toddlers-have-stable-sense-of-gender-identity?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=LEAKED+FOOTAGE%3A+Top+Med+Org’s+Trans+‘Expert’+Claims+Toddlers+Have+‘Stable’+Sense+Of+Gender+Identity">Wednesday</a> showing American Medical Association President Bobby Mukkamala and an “expert” endorsed by the org claiming that very few people regret “transitioning.”
“The shooter was a transgender regret case,” Shapiro posted Friday on X. “The day before this shooting, we exposed the American Medical Association’s negligence on regret data. The morning of, we exposed the AMA’s ‘trans expert’ admitting there’s no true psychiatric assessment done before transing a kid.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The shooter was a transgender regret case.
The day before this shooting, we exposed the American Medical Association’s negligence on regret data. The morning of, we exposed the AMA’s ‘trans expert’ admitting there’s no true psychiatric assessment done before transing a kid. 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/b05PnRCeNB">pic.twitter.com/b05PnRCeNB</a>
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) <a href="https://twitter.com/benshapiro/status/1961454237365256602?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The footage published this week by Shapiro showed both Mukkamala and Dr. Jesse Krikorian, a transgender-identifying woman offered up as an expert by the American Medical Association, claiming that about just 2% of people regret undergoing transgender procedures. They made those claims in two separate conversations with Michigan Republican state Rep. Brad Paquette.
The 2% regret rate comes from a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33968550/">study</a> that only measured regret after surgery, not the tens of thousands of kids who have been placed on puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones. It also did not measure regret beyond two years after the initial surgery. The study also had an extremely high drop-out rate of almost 40%, making the data practically meaningless.
Shapiro said that Westman’s disturbing journal entries should be shown to leadership of the American Medical Association.
“The AMA must stop endorsing the process of having mentally ill young people meet with woke, affirmation-driven social workers and put on a medical transition path that can never actually change their sex,” Shapiro said on X.
The call was echoed by billionaire Elon Musk, who retweeted Shapiro’s thread and wrote “yes” in response to the post. Musk has told The Daily Wire that he was once &#8220;tricked&#8221; into approving so-called gender-affirming care for his child, and described his son as &#8220;killed by the woke mind virus.&#8221;
Lawmakers are also calling for an end to pushing kids down the transgender pipeline.
House GOP Whip Tom Emmer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/top-house-republican-demands-minnesota-immediately-repeal-trans-refuge-law?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Top+House+Republican+Demands+Minnesota+‘Immediately’+Repeal+‘Trans+Refuge’+Law">told</a> the New York Post on Thursday that Democrat politicians in his home state like Governor Tim Walz had encouraged mental illness by making Minnesota a “refuge” for parents seeking to have their children undergo transgender procedures.
“They have been encouraging this type of confusion. This poor young man was tortured. He clearly had serious mental health issues and rather than actually helping him, they were actually exacerbating it,&#8221; he said. &#8220;You look at the sadness of these tortured human beings — because they do have regrets later — and no, we should have never started it. It should not be allowed.&#8221;

Trans Flag/Medical

Medical Orgs Face Pressure Over Support For Transgender Ideology After Deadly Shooting

American Medical Association

Ben Shapiro

Catholic

Minnesota

Social Issues

U.S.

It is becoming clearer and clearer that we have an institutional problem in this country.
Not every crime in a country of 340 million people indicates an institutional problem. Sometimes you just have one-offs; sometimes you just have people who do things that are crazy or terrible, and there&#8217;s really no way of preventing or minimizing that particular crime.
But the Annunciation Catholic School shooting is not one of those cases, because what we are looking at here is symptomatic of a broader ideological ill that has afflicted our state institutions and our medical institutions and has massive downstream effects.
Those downstream effects aren&#8217;t always school shootings. In fact, only on rare occasions are they school shootings, but the effects are harming literally thousands of children across our country. 
There&#8217;s a bizarre transmission effect that happens when the media grants enormous attention to evil, mentally ill people who go and shoot a bunch of schoolchildren. But one of the factors here is that the transgender shooter, a biological male named Robert, who then legally changed it to Robin, confessed he was “tired of being trans” and wished he had “never brainwashed himself.”
“I&#8217;m tired of being trans,” he wrote. “I wish I never brainwashed myself. I can&#8217;t cut my hair now as it would be an embarrassing defeat, and it might be a concerning change of character that could get me reported. It just always gets in my way. I&#8217;ll probably drop it on the day of the attack.”
He was afraid that cutting his hair would show a red flag to the authorities, who might have said there&#8217;s something wrong. He felt that if he decided to detransition, the Minnesota authorities might take a second look at him.
But in the state of Minnesota, there was nothing wrong with a boy saying that he was a girl and his parents signing off on forms to transition him.
This was a person who was clearly suffering from gender identity disorder and was not satisfied with the solutions provided by the trans fake medical community. We&#8217;ve been told by that fake medical community that the only way to prevent terrible things from happening to and from people who identify as trans, is to pretend along with them that they are members of the opposite sex and that we are supposed to socially shame people who “detransition.”
If you listen to the media, the shooter was a woman. The headline from the New York Times — which was totally insane — read “Minneapolis suspect knew her target, but motive is a mystery.”
The amount of Orwellian doublespeak here is insane. Respect the killer’s preferred pronouns, but pretend that the “motive is a mystery.”
We know exactly what the motive was, because it is spelled out in all of the journals and the YouTube videos and on the guns themselves.
This is not a gigantic “mystery wrapped in an enigma.” This is the media trying to cover up the reality of the situation in which a mentally ill person was not given proper treatment and was told that his delusions were a reflection of the evil patriarchy and a terrible traditional society.
A person whose parents were told by medical and state institutions that the most important thing they could do to minimize the threat to their child and to others was to pretend along with him that he was a woman. A person who was told that any sort of corrective activity designed to alleviate gender identity disorder by saying, “No, actually, you are a boy and we need to deal with that in a rational, psychologically tested way,” was wrong.
Instead of doing that, they decided to play along.
And the consequences were murder.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2270-how-state-and-medical-institutions-promoted-the-trans-church-shooting?elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h3>
This implicates our institutions. It implicates our schools. It implicates our medical institutions. It implicates state legislatures.
The American Medical Association has been promoting exactly the kind of fake medicine that leads to the abandonment of people who are truly psychologically suffering. That fake medicine which masquerades as empathy is not, in fact, medicine.
It is, in fact, an ideologically-driven crusade to pretend that men and women are identical and can switch bodies at will.
And it is a lie.
If you wonder why trust has been completely undermined in “science,” it&#8217;s because the ideological Left infiltrated all of these organizations, took them over, and then wore their face around as a mask like Hannibal Lecter and said, “Why don&#8217;t you just trust the science?”
Here&#8217;s the answer: “Because you&#8217;re not interested in the science. You&#8217;re interested in the ideology.”
This is not a fringe thing happening at a few schools. It is happening at public schools across the country.
In 2023, Minnesota passed a law banning conversion therapy. When many people think of conversion therapy, they picture somebody who takes a gay kid, hooks the kid up to electrodes, then zaps them until they&#8217;re straight.
But that is not what these states now mean by conversion therapy. What they mean by conversion therapy is that you are not allowed as a psychologist, as a mental health care professional (as a parent, by the way), to bring your kid to a mental health care professional who tries to convince your boy that he is not, in fact, a girl.
So if the parents of the shooter had brought him to a mental health care professional or religious guidance professional, a priest, that could be illegal in the state of Minnesota because conversion therapy is banned in the state of Minnesota.
What this law says is that if your boy expresses gender confusion and says, “Mommy, I might be a girl” and you bring him to a psychologist and the psychologist says, “You&#8217;re a boy, you&#8217;re not a girl. You should stop trying to claim that you&#8217;re a girl because you&#8217;re not,” that would violate the law in the state of Minnesota.
It effectively makes any help for a “detransition” illegal in the state of Minnesota. If you, as a parent in the state of Minnesota, say no to transition procedures or you wish to fight the insanity that is this ideology, you could have your kid removed from you under Minnesota law.
That is horrifying. You have an entire delusion that is now being promoted by state legislatures, by governors across the country, particularly in blue states, reinforced by the lies of medical associations that are supposed to be all about “do no harm” and instead are actively promoting harm with an educational system completely honeycombed with members of the ideological Left.
The costs are very real. This happens to be an outsized cost, because it&#8217;s not just about the person who had the mental illness. It&#8217;s about all the people the person decided to harm.
This ideology is dangerous.
And we see it again and again.

Shooting At Annunciation School Church In Minneapolis Leaves Multiple Children Dead And Many Injured

How State And Medical Institutions Enabled The Trans Church Shooting

Gender Identity

Opinion

School Shooting

Therapy

Tim Walz

GOP Rep. Tom Emmer on Thursday called for his home state of Minnesota to repeal its “trans refuge” law in the wake of the deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis by a transgender-identifying man.
Emmer <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/28/us-news/house-gop-whip-tom-emmer-calls-for-repeal-of-minnesotas-trans-refuge-law/">told</a> the New York Post that the law, which was passed back in 2023 and signed by Democratic Governor Tim Walz, was encouraging mental distress. The law made Minnesota a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/leftist-minnesota-just-gave-state-power-to-take-kids-away-if-parents-dont-approve-gender-surgery">safe haven</a> for parents to take their children to undergo transgender procedures if their home states had banned such practices. 
“We got to respect everyone. We got to have compassion for everyone. But we got to understand that we’ve got some serious mental health issues that are being exacerbated by these types of messages by people like Tim Walz and everybody who supported that law,” Emmer, the House GOP whip, told The Post. 
Emmer made the comments just one day after Robin Westman, a 23-year-old man who identified as a woman and previously went by Robert, opened fire during a school Mass held at Annunciation Catholic School. Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed in the attack, and 18 other people were injured. 
“They should immediately repeal it, but they won’t,” Emmer said of the 2023 law. “They have been encouraging this type of confusion. This poor young man was tortured. He clearly had serious mental health issues and rather than actually helping him, they were actually exacerbating it.”
“You look at the sadness of these tortured human beings — because they do have regrets later — and no, we should have never started it. It should not be allowed,” he said. 
Portions of writings Westman left behind <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/wish-i-never-brain-washed-myself-minnesota-school-shooter-said-he-was-tired-of-being-trans?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=‘Wish+I+Never+Brain-Washed+Myself’%3A+Minnesota+School+Shooter+Said+He+Was+‘Tired+Of+Being+Trans’">indicate</a> he had regrets about identifying as transgender. 
“I only keep [long hair] because it is pretty much my last shred of being trans. I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,” Westman reportedly wrote in a journal entry. 
In another section of his journal, Westman reportedly wrote, “I don’t want to dress girly all the time but I guess sometimes I really like it. I know I am not a woman but I definitely don’t feel like a man.”
Police have said that Westman’s writings were “full of hate,” and published portions reveal that he had disliked Jews, Catholics, and considered attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump. 
Emmer said that someone must have failed to intervene in Westman&#8217;s life because there had to have been warning signs about his mental state.  
“Somebody had to know,” he told the Post. “Somebody in his neighborhood, somebody in his family, somebody in his network, somebody had to know that he had these serious mental health issues and why didn’t someone speak up? Why didn’t somebody offer him some help?”

House Passes Crypto Market Structure Bill

Top House Republican Demands Minnesota ‘Immediately’ Repeal ‘Trans Refuge’ Law

Congress

Politics

transgender surgery

The two children killed by a trans-identifying shooter who opened fire at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday were identified by their families as 8-year-old Fletcher Alexander Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Lillian Moyski.
The parents of both Merkel and Moyski shared statements on Thursday, addressing the shooting and reflecting on the lives of their children who were mercilessly taken from them, CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/names-of-children-killed-in-annunciation-shooting-released/">reported</a>.
&#8220;Yesterday, a coward decided to take our 8-year-old son, Fletcher, away from us. Because of their actions, we will never be allowed to hold him, talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming,&#8221; the Merkel family said in a statement. &#8220;Fletcher loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking and any sport that he was allowed to play. While the hole in our hearts and lives will never be filled, I hope that in time, our family can find healing. I pray that the other victim&#8217;s family can find some semblance of the same.&#8221;
The statement was read by Merkel&#8217;s father, Jesse, at a press conference on Thursday.
In a statement on Moyski, her family remembered her &#8220;laughter, kindness, and spirit&#8221; that they said &#8220;touched everyone who knew her.&#8221;
&#8220;We are devastated to share that our beloved daughter, Harper Moyski, was tragically killed in the recent school shooting. Harper was a bright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone who knew her,&#8221; the statement continued. &#8220;Our hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper&#8217;s sister, who adored her big sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss. As a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain.&#8221;
Both families asked for privacy as they continue to grieve their tragic losses. The Merkel family added that they hope to set up a scholarship in Fletcher&#8217;s name.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The parents of the two children killed in the Annunciation Catholic School shooting spoke out on Thursday, with one father urging others to &#8220;give your kids an extra hug&#8221; as he remembered his son, 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel. <a href="https://t.co/DXbYjfmnYk">https://t.co/DXbYjfmnYk</a> <a href="https://t.co/1MBxAnplMc">pic.twitter.com/1MBxAnplMc</a>
— ABC News (@ABC) <a href="https://twitter.com/ABC/status/1961206662091755792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is Harper Moyski.
Just 10-years-old, she was one of the kids killed at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.
Her parents: “Harper was a bright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone who knew her.” <a href="https://twitter.com/FOX9?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FOX9</a> <a href="https://t.co/F2n1qAQWe8">pic.twitter.com/F2n1qAQWe8</a>
— Chenue Her (@ChenueHer) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChenueHer/status/1961197043504066696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The gunman, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, wounded 18 other people — including 15 children — when he attacked the Catholic school. Authorities initially said 17 people were injured, but on Thursday, they said that one more child had been taken to the hospital in a private vehicle after the shooting. All of the wounded children are expected to survive, according to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O&#8217;Hara.

Minneapolis, Minnesota mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church, School

‘Bright, Joyful, And Deeply Loved’: Parents Mourn Children Killed In Catholic School Attack

Crime

Mass Shooting

New details from the Minneapolis school shooter&#8217;s manifesto reveal his anguish over his transgender identity, sparking a fierce national debate over motive. A patriotic &#8220;flagging&#8221; movement sweeps the U.K. as public backlash grows against the government&#8217;s mass migration policies and a surge in migrant crime. The multi-billion dollar college football season kicks off this weekend amid a new era of paid athletes and an expanded playoff.
It’s Friday, August 29, 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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<h2>Minneapolis Shooter’s Manifesto Reveals Transgender Anguish</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-966753" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH1-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH1-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH1-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH1.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: Newly deciphered writings from the trans-identified shooter who attacked a Minneapolis Catholic school reveal his anguish over his gender identity, sparking a fierce national debate over the motive for the massacre.
Two days after the horrific attack that left two children dead and 17 others injured, authorities have deciphered parts of the shooter’s cryptic manifesto. According to a translation from the New York Post, the writings reveal a deep internal struggle: &#8220;I am tired of being trans, I wish I never brain-washed myself,&#8221; one passage reads. &#8220;I regret being trans. I wish I was a girl I just know I cannot achieve that body with the technology we have today.&#8221;
Many on the Right are pointing to a growing number of mass shootings committed by transgender offenders and arguing that affirming a transgender identity, which they view as a form of mental illness, creates mental anguish that can lead to violence. The White House said Thursday that HHS is investigating potential links between &#8220;gender affirming drugs&#8221; and violence.
<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>
Many on the Left and in the legacy media have either avoided the transgender component or insisted that discussing it is bigoted. &#8220;Anybody who is using this as an opportunity to villainize our trans community&#8230; has lost their sense of common humanity,&#8221; said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. MSNBC&#8217;s Jen Psaki claimed that discussing the shooter&#8217;s identity is an attempt to &#8220;distract from what matters,&#8221; which she said is gun control. Several outlets, including The New York Times, have run headlines claiming the shooter&#8217;s motive is a &#8220;mystery,&#8221; despite his explicitly anti-Christian and anti-Trump writings.
&nbsp;
<h2>‘Flagging’ Movement Sweeps U.K. Amid Migrant Backlash</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-966749" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH2-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH2-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH2-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH2.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: A new patriotic movement known as “flagging” is sweeping the United Kingdom, as public anger grows over the government&#8217;s mass migration policies and a surge in violent crime committed by migrants.
The organic movement involves citizens raising the Union Jack and the St. George’s Cross flags on lampposts and in public spaces. It grew out of protests against the government&#8217;s practice of housing illegal immigrants in local hotels, which has led to a number of rapes and assaults on local people.
Critics have labeled the movement &#8220;xenophobic,&#8221; but supporters point to a double standard, as local councils that have been quick to take down British flags have been afraid to remove Palestinian flags from heavily Muslim areas.
The backlash comes as government data shows a surge in crimes committed by foreign nationals. According to the Centre for Migration Control, convictions of foreign nationals for sexual offenses increased by a &#8220;staggering 62%&#8221; between 2021 and 2024. A recent viral video from Scotland shows a 12-year-old girl brandishing an axe and a machete to defend herself and her 14-year-old sister from a man with a foreign accent who appears to have been harassing them. The girl has since been <a href="https://x.com/PoliceScotland/status/1960745568747102433">charged</a> by police with possession of a knife &#8212; the man involved has not been charged and has <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/migrant-confronted-schoolgirl-12-wielding-104332586.html">publicly</a> denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the girls approached him.
&nbsp;
<h2>College Football Kicks Off in New Era of Paid Athletes</h2>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-966751" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH3-1024x576.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH3-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH3-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH3-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH3-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MRN-8.29.25-Fri-SH3.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
Topline: The multi-billion dollar college football season kicks off this weekend, ushering in a new era of paid athletes, an expanded 12-team playoff, and a slate of high-stakes opening matchups.
This season marks the second year of the expanded 12-team playoff and the first full season since the House v. NCAA settlement, which allows universities to pay athletes directly through revenue sharing, in addition to existing Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals.
The opening weekend is packed with marquee games. On Saturday, the action kicks off with preseason number one Texas, led by quarterback Arch Manning, visiting the reigning national champion Ohio State Buckeyes. The afternoon features Alabama traveling to Florida State, and the primetime game is a top-10 showdown between LSU and Clemson.
The action continues through the holiday weekend with Miami hosting Notre Dame on Sunday, and the collegiate head coaching debut of eight-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick on Monday night, when his North Carolina Tar Heels host TCU.

MRN 8.29.25 Thumbnail V1

Morning Brief: Minneapolis Shooting Fallout, UK Immigration Backlash, A New Era Of College Football

College Football

Immigration

Jen Psaki

Sports

U.K.

United Kingdom

World

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities arrested a young person on Wednesday evening in Washington, D.C., who had threatened violence toward a school, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed during Thursday&#8217;s press briefing.
Following the briefing, a White House official shared data with The Daily Wire that clarified the juvenile was arrested in Ward 7 for threats to kidnap and injure, as well as receiving stolen property, possession of a large capacity feeding device, and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
Authorities executed a search warrant and recovered 7 firearms from this juvenile, who was arrested &#8220;after an investigation was initiated based on social media posts allegedly threatening violence toward a school.&#8221;
Leavitt shared the news of the arrest after being asked by Iris Tao, a White House reporter for New Tang Dynasty Television, about American parents who might be concerned for their children&#8217;s safety after the Minneapolis shooting, which took place Wednesday morning around 8:30 a.m., when a transgender-identifying man named Robert Westman fired through the windows of the Annunciation Catholic School’s church in Minneapolis as students attended daily mass on their first day of school.
He killed two children, ages 8 and 10, injuring 17 others before he shot himself in the parking lot.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Watch: I asked <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> about parents&#8217; concerns for kids&#8217; safety after MN school shooting.
She tells me a DC juvenile was arrested last night after a probe into posts threatening school violence. 7 guns were seized.
“As a parent myself, there are no words to describe the… <a href="https://t.co/UhaSMhg9jm">pic.twitter.com/UhaSMhg9jm</a>
— Iris Tao (@IrisTaoTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/IrisTaoTV/status/1961128219664437521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
&#8220;We completely and totally understand the concerns of parents across the country,&#8221; Leavitt responded. &#8220;This tragedy is heartbreaking, as a parent myself, there are no words to describe just the heartbreak that these families must be enduring, which is why the president and the first lady have encouraged everyone to continue to pray for these families and these victims and it’s why this administration is focused on removing public safety threats from our communities.&#8221;
&#8220;This was a juvenile who was a risk to not just himself but the community here in Washington and he was removed from the community last night because of the law enforcement efforts of this administration,&#8221; Leavitt said.
<div id="attachment_966703" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trumps-dc-force-thwarts-juvenile-school-shooter-threat-hoarding-7-weapons/trump-increases-federal-law-enforcement-presence-deploys-national-guard-in-nations-capital-9" rel="attachment wp-att-966703"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-966703" class="wp-image-966703 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2231907013-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2231907013-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2231907013-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2231907013-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2231907013.jpg 1024w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; AUGUST 24: U.S. Capitol Police, Washington DC Metro Police and U.S. Border Patrol arrest two men who were allegedly fighting with one possessing a gun outside Union Station on August 24, 2025 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)</div>
The press secretary also pointed to the statement that First Lady Melania Trump put out on Wednesday, saying that the &#8220;tragic mass killing in Minnesota illuminates the need for preemptive intervention in identifying school shooters. Early warning signs are often evident with many individuals exhibiting concerning behaviors and making violent threats online prior to their actions.&#8221;
&#8220;We encourage all Americans, as the old saying goes, if you see something, say something,&#8221; Leavitt emphasized. &#8220;If you see warning signs or threats reported to law enforcement, this administration, federal law enforcement will take those reports and threats seriously. They will be treated as a law-enforcement emergency and we will act accordingly.&#8221;
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The arrest of the juvenile Wednesday night in D.C. was one of 105 arrests that night, including 32 illegal aliens. That brings the total arrests in Washington, D.C., to 1,283 since August 7 when President Donald Trump&#8217;s enforcement efforts began.
Authorities arrested a known Sur-13 gang member on Wednesday evening, and many of the other illegal aliens arrested had prior criminal histories for assault, battery on a family member, driving under the influence, fleeing detention and injuring officers upon recapture.
Other Wednesday night arrests were for assault on a federal officer, assault with attempt to rob, possession with the intent to distribute, theft, carrying a pistol without a license, domestic violence, assault with a dangerous weapon, and more.
Authorities also located a missing child and turned that child over to local authorities, the White House official shared with The Daily Wire.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs White House Media

Trump’s DC Force Thwarts Juvenile School Shooter Threat Hoarding 7 Weapons

Donald Trump

Washington D.C.

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom mocked prayer on Thursday after White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the power and importance of prayer for people of faith.
During the White House press briefing, Leavitt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/karoline-leavitt-destroys-jen-psaki-for-mocking-the-power-of-prayer">blasted</a> former White House Press Secretary and MSNBC host Jen Psaki for saying that &#8220;prayer is not freaking enough. &#8230; Enough with the thoughts and prayers.&#8221;
&#8220;I saw the comments of my predecessor, Ms. Psaki, and frankly, I think they&#8217;re incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to the tens of millions of Americans of faith across this country who believe in the power of prayer, who believe that prayer works, and who believe that in a time of mourning like this when beautiful young children were killed while praying a church, it&#8217;s utterly disrespectful to deride the power of prayer in this country,&#8221; Leavitt said.
Newsom commented on Leavitt&#8217;s remarks, <a href="https://x.com/GavinNewsom/status/1961139199484330194">writing</a> on X, &#8220;These children were literally praying as they got shot at.&#8221;
The shooter, 23-year-old Robin Westman — who identified as transgender — opened fire at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Wednesday morning, killing two children and wounding over a dozen more. Westman fired upon students and staff at the school while they were holding morning Mass.
Before going on a shooting rampage, the trans-identifying gunman <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kash-patel-says-minneapolis-school-shooting-was-an-act-of-domestic-terrorism?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Kash+Patel+Says+Minneapolis+School+Shooting+%E2%80%98Was+An+Act+Of+Domestic+Terrorism%E2%80%99">raged</a> against Catholics and Jews and also called for violence against President Donald Trump, according to FBI Director Kash Patel, who cited some of Westman&#8217;s writings. In one YouTube video that was posted just hours before the shooting and connected to the gunman, phrases such as “Where is your God?” and “6 million wasn’t enough” — an apparent reference to the Holocaust — were written on firearms.
&#8220;As we continue to investigate yesterday’s barbaric attack from Robert Westman, the male subject, our teams have gathered information and evidence demonstrating this was an act of domestic terrorism motivated by a hate-filled ideology,&#8221; Patel said.
Newsom and Psaki weren&#8217;t the only Democrats to criticize prayer following the deadly shooting. During a press conference after the shooting, Minneapolis Democratic Mayor Jacob Frey made a statement similar to what Newsom said.
&#8220;Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now, these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in a church,&#8221; Frey said.
Earlier on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance <a href="https://x.com/JDVance/status/1961044761613083022">said</a> it was &#8220;shocking&#8221; to see Democrats &#8220;attack the idea of prayer in response to a  tragedy.&#8221;
&#8220;Literally no one thinks prayer is a substitute for action,&#8221; Vance added. &#8220;We pray because our hearts are broken and we believe that God is listening.&#8221;

Gavin Newsom

Gavin Newsom Mocks Prayer After Catholic School Shooting

Democrats

General

I don&#8217;t mention the names of mass shooters. One of the reasons I don&#8217;t is because — as with regard to the mass shooter at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis — mass shooters take inspiration from one another. They look for publicity.
Social science tends to support this: If you deprive mass shooters of notoriety, if you deprive them of name recognition, it doesn&#8217;t spawn as many mass shooters in the future.
But I will use the first name of the shooter here because it&#8217;s important to the story.
The first name of the shooter is purportedly Robin. I say purportedly because the shooter&#8217;s original name was not Robin. The shooter&#8217;s original name was Robert. This is important to the story because this person was a trans radical who believed — as deeply as it is possible to believe — in what can best be termed the Omnicause: The gigantic aggregation of radical Left-wing beliefs, that if you buy into one, you have to buy into all.
When you look at the evidence from the crime, if you look at the actual guns used which had Left-wing radical slogans etched into them or painted on them; if you look at the shooter&#8217;s diaries, documents left behind, and videos, what you will see is a massive number of Left-wing propagandistic slogans, which speaks to the radicalization that happens online.
It also speaks to the fact that people who are emotionally disturbed buy into a broader worldview that promotes violence. It suggests that you are living in a world where you have no control or that shadowy forces control everything about you and your life. And this means that out of despair and enervation, you&#8217;re going to go commit horrific acts of violence.
That pattern, repeated across school shooters — and they don’t have to be trans — embodies a deep embeddedness in conspiracy theories about the world; a belief that they themselves are wronged by the world, that the world has done some wrong to them, and they are going to take it out on the world, on the most innocent, in order to gain attention for their particular agenda.
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2269-the-trans-catholic-hating-trump-hating-omnicause-killer?elementPosition=6&amp;row=2&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show </a></h3>
So who was the shooter?
In his deranged writings, he gleefully fantasizes about being that scary, horrible monster standing over those powerless kids and speaks of his admiration for the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre. There are many shooters that are mentioned by this shooter in his manifesto, in his videos, painted on the guns themselves, which is the reason I&#8217;m not mentioning the full name of the shooter.
The shooter applied to change his birth name from Robert to Robin in Dakota County, Minnesota, when he was 17 years-old, according to the court documents. That name change was granted in January 2020. The application happened when he was a minor, which means that his parents had to sign off on it. The petition added that the shooter “identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification.”
A perverse ideology that masks true mental illness as simply a result of society&#8217;s intolerance promotes serious, depressive, violent mental illness. Ignoring mental illness does not make it go away. Pretending that mental illness is something else — that it&#8217;s merely a rebellion against the strictures of a conservative and patriarchal society — is a lie and promotes mental illness, sometimes violent mental illness.
Another page of the shooter’s diary stated, “I&#8217;m feeling good about Annunciation. It seems like a good combo of easy attack form and devastating tragedy, and I want to do more research. I have concerns about finding a large enough group. I want to avoid any parents but pre and post school drop off. Maybe I could attack an event at the onsite church. I think attacking a large group of kids coming in from recess is my best plan. Then from there I can go inside and kill, going for as long as I can.”
When it comes to the politics of the shooter, we should point out he was a trans radical, and this is relevant to the story.
There are stereotypes that we jump to when it comes to mass shootings. If there&#8217;s a shooting at a synagogue, the immediate mental jump — for good reason — is either a Muslim radical or a white supremacist. That’s because, historically speaking, those are the kinds of people who shoot up a synagogue. If there&#8217;s a shooting at a Catholic church, the immediate jump now is either to a Muslim radical or to a trans radical.
There&#8217;s a reason for that. The list of violent incidents that now indicate trans suspects or self-identified trans suspects include the Covenant school shooting in Nashville, where the police tried to cover the trans issue, even though we knew right away what the likely rationale for the shooting was.
But because the media did not want that to fall on the radical trans agenda, which suggests that religious institutions are brutal and evil to trans people and trying to “erase” them — which is the equivalent of killing them — and because the media did not want to open that can of worms, they decided that they were simply going to cover it up for years. But that was, in fact, a trans radical driven crime.
Another was the Stem School Highlands Ranch shooting in California. A story that was largely buried is that the suspect who was targeting Justice Brett Kavanaugh identified online as a trans gamer girl. There&#8217;s the controversial Club Q shooting in Colorado, where the suspect — who may have been trolling — claimed to be non-binary. There was an attempted school shooting in Maryland in which the alleged suspect identified in this way. There was the burning of a Tesla in Michigan. There was an attempted knife attack on an ICE facility in Portland.
The legacy media have no problem trying to identify Right-wing trends in crime. But when the ideology is on the other foot, they run screaming away from it.
That’s because the biggest issue they are trying to sell is this: Incidents like this must not redound to the detriment of trans ideology, which is a delusional ideology. Men cannot become women. That idea has no scientific backing.
When you spread the propaganda that hormone replacement therapy and surgeries are going to make your depressive, suicidal eyed kid into a wonderful member of the opposite gender, you are not helping your child. You are harming your child.
It certainly has consequences when your claim is — as the claim of the trans radical Left is, and much of the mainstream Left — that denying that a man can become a woman is a form of death, that it&#8217;s a form of erasure in which you are removing someone&#8217;s identity, a form of soul killing.
And you shouldn’t be particularly surprised when that rhetoric gets very violent, very quickly.
Those were Catholic kids who were murdered for being Catholic by a trans radical. Why is that important? Because the ideology that lies behind trans, language that is routinely used by the trans radical community and now the entire Democratic Party, is an inherently violent ideology. It says that if you personally refuse to acknowledge that a man can become a woman, you have engaged in an act of violence.
If you claim that people who oppose your ideology are trying to kill you, that really leaves you very few responses.
I&#8217;m not saying that everyone trans is going to become a murderer or that everyone who&#8217;s promoting trans ideology is spurring people to murder.
But as always, when it comes to the connection between rhetoric and ideology and actual action, if you keep raising the temperature on that boiling pot of water, it will bubble over.

US-SHOOTING-MINNEAPOLIS-VIGIL

The Trans, Catholic-Hating, Omnicause Killer

Children

Notorious left-wing author Stephen King is claiming that guns are to blame for the horrific shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, not the fact that the shooter identified as transgender.
King made his thoughts known in a reply he wrote to Elon Musk on X. “Whether he was transgender is beside the point. The point is he had a gun,” the author insisted.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Whether he was transgender is beside the point. The point is he had a gun. <a href="https://t.co/erCYw4JNCz">https://t.co/erCYw4JNCz</a>
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/1960829115965051087?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“There is a clear pattern here,” Musk said in reply to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s post identifying the shooter as a 23-year-old man claiming to be transgender. “This deranged monster targeted our most vulnerable: young children praying in their first morning Mass of the school year. This deeply sick murderer scrawled the words ‘For the Children’ and ‘Where is your God?’ and ‘Kill Donald Trump’ on a rifle magazine,” Noem wrote in her post.
King’s followers disagreed with his assessment.
“He was mentally ill and had a gun[,] dumbass. Had he been diagnosed he wouldn’t have had a gun but d***heads like you celebrate it rather than acknowledge they need treatment,” one person <a href="https://x.com/SaltyGoat17/status/1960830133838942407">wrote</a>.
“Stephen, the gun didn’t walk into a Christian school on its own. A trans-identified man did,” another popular reply said. “That’s the point. You’ll name the tool but never the ideology, because acknowledging the pattern exposes the deviance you and your party defend.”
“Stop blaming inanimate objects for the wicked choices of people you refuse to hold accountable,” the commenter continued.
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The shooter in the tragedy, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman (previously Robert Westman), fired “dozens of rounds” into Annunciation Church as students were attending mass on Wednesday morning. An 8-year-old and a 10-year-old died, and 14 children and 3 adults were injured. Westman then turned the gun on himself.
Westman is the latest in a series of transgender-identifying people who have committed school shootings, including the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting in 2019 and the Covenant School Shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2023.
Westman wrote in a journal entry that he was “tired of being trans” and regretted that he “brain-washed” himself. His <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-we-know-about-the-trans-identifying-gunman-who-slaughtered-catholic-school-children">personal writings</a> also included references to assassinating President Donald Trump and hatred for Jews. The deceased shooter also wrote that killing “children of innocent civilians” would give him “the most joy.”

Stephen King

Stephen King Says Minneapolis Shooter Being Trans Is ‘Besides The Point,’ Blames Guns

Guns

Trans Shooter Murders Catholic Kids As The Trans Terrorism Epidemic Continues

Murder

Violence

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