President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to the country after tens of thousands of African migrants stormed across the Moroccan border into the Spanish territory of Ceuta on Thursday. 
“It’s terrible. Remember that picture. That’s going to be us in three years if the wrong side gets in,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/JacquiHeinrich/status/2083161441268297975">said</a> during a phone interview with Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich on Friday morning. “If the Democrats get in, you will not live a very good life.”
Trump&#8217;s comments came after almost 50,000 migrants rushed across the border into Ceuta, a Spanish territory on the tip of Morocco, bringing widespread chaos and unrest. At least <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/34-dead-after-tens-of-thousands-of-migrants-invade-spain">34 people died</a> as thousands of migrants, mostly young men, attempted to swim or force their way into Ceuta. 
The migrants, emboldened by the lax immigration policies of leftist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, brought chaos to the streets of Ceuta, causing fear among locals who were overwhelmed by the flood. 
The images were reminiscent of <a href="https://x.com/JennieSTaer/status/1770886341879885952">video</a> captured during the Biden administration of a large mob of young men breaking down razor wire and fencing to storm past Texas National Guard troops stationed in El Paso. Over seven million illegal immigrants from all over the world crossed the United States border during President Joe Biden’s presidency. 
Many other Republicans echoed Trump’s comments in response to the scenes of chaos from Spain. 
“The Democrats did this to America every single day for 4 years under Biden and will do it again instantaneously, but orders of magnitude greater, if they are given any form of national power. Democrats will see your home trampled and stolen by invaders and they will rejoice,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller said. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Democrats did this to America every single day for 4 years under Biden and will do it again instantaneously, but orders of magnitude greater, if they are given any form of national power. Democrats will see your home trampled and stolen by invaders and they will rejoice. <a href="https://t.co/HKRKAOOkmi">https://t.co/HKRKAOOkmi</a>
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) <a href="https://x.com/StephenM/status/2082974213791441027?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
“This is what the defund ICE Democrats (even in Arkansas, Dems are openly campaigning on defunding ICE) see as a model,” said Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). “They see open borders as a tool to import the third-world and fundamentally change America.”
“What&#8217;s happening in Spain should be a warning to every American who may have forgotten about what our borders looked like the last time Democrats were in power: All it takes is one election for your nation to become unrecognizable,” said Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX).

Migrant invasion/Trump

Trump Issues Grim Warning For America As Europe Reels From Massive Migrant Invasion

Brandon Gill

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

mass migration

Morocco

Open borders

Spain

Stephen Miller

Tom Cotton

WASHINGTON — Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte touted a new round of heavy cuts to the agency on Tuesday just hours before the Senate votes to confirm his replacement as President Donald Trump&#8217;s spy czar.
&#8220;Good News,&#8221; Pulte <a href="https://x.com/DNIPulte/status/2082069735118967004">wrote</a> on X on Tuesday. &#8220;In addition to the Historic DECLASSIFICATIONS (Transparency!) by the President, we are, this morning, Executing a 5th and Near Final Round of TERMINATIONS, an approximately 30% Staff Reduction from Weeks Ago.&#8221;
&#8220;The Intelligence Community must protect the American people, NOT the political whims of the bloated and corrupt elite class,&#8221; he added.
ODNI did not immediately respond to a request for comment clarifying how many of Tuesday&#8217;s cuts involved staff firings or staff returned to their home agencies.
The Senate is expected to vote on Pulte&#8217;s replacement, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-outmaneuvers-schumer-on-pick-for-top-federal-prosecutor">Jay Clayton</a>, at 6:30 pm ET on Tuesday evening, meaning that Pulte will likely no longer serve in the role by the end of the day.
Pulte, who came into ODNI with a mandate from President Donald Trump to “execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office,&#8221; has focused heavily on reducing the size of the agency in recent months. His entrance came shortly after former DNI Tulsi Gabbard announced she would be leaving the agency to help her husband deal with a cancer diagnosis.
&nbsp;
<div id="attachment_1145675" style="width: 791px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hours-ahead-of-his-replacement-as-spy-czar-pulte-touts-more-dni-cuts/senate-holds-confirmation-hearing-for-jay-clayton-to-be-director-of-national-intelligence" rel="attachment wp-att-1145675"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1145675" class="wp-image-1145675 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941-781x576.jpg" alt="(Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)" width="781" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941-781x576.jpg 781w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941-300x221.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941-768x566.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2286226941.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 781px) 100vw, 781px" /></a>Jay Clayton appears before the Senate Intelligence Committee during his nomination hearing on Capitol Hill July 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)</div>
Critics argue Pulte <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-pultes-odni-purge-triggers-intel-community-civil-war">forced</a> Gabbard out sooner than expected and say his aggressive cuts will leave ODNI too weak to effectively rein in rogue agencies like the FBI and CIA. Before Pulte arrived, Gabbard had already cut 40% of staff, which left the agency with fewer than 1,400 employees, compared to the estimated 38,000 at the FBI and 20,000 at the CIA.
The Daily Wire previously reported that Pulte was working closely with CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), both of whom have argued that ODNI has become an unnecessary layer of oversight over agencies such as the CIA and FBI.
Both Ratcliffe and Cotton are supporters of Clayton, and have publicly praised his nomination.
Ahead of Tuesday&#8217;s vote, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) accused Democrats of delaying Clayton&#8217;s confirmation despite their earlier criticism of Pulte&#8217;s appointment.
“Now Democrats have the opportunity to replace that acting official,&#8221; Thune <a href="https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-on-jay-claytons-nomination/">said</a> in a statement. “But they’re in no apparent rush to confirm a permanent director of national intelligence. They’ve opposed his nomination in committee. They’ve delayed things here on the floor. And I don’t expect we’ll see a lot of Democrat support for him in the final roll call.&#8221;

Fannie, Freddie IPOs Can Still ‘Very Much’ Happen, Pulte Says

Hours Ahead Of His Replacement as Spy Czar, Pulte Touts More DNI Cuts

Bill Pulte

Jay Clayton

John Ratcliffe

John Thune

odni

Tulsi Gabbard

Bad guys always think they&#8217;re the heroes.
Case in point: Anthony Fauci.
Perhaps the best predictor of monstrously egotistical behavior is if you have a giant portrait of yourself in your house. And we now know that Fauci was a fame-obsessed publicity hound who was willing to use power to subvert the truth.
That&#8217;s not speculation. That&#8217;s reality, because Anthony Fauci kept a diary — consisting of 1,100 pages — and Rand Paul just dropped all of it.
A diary is where you write what you actually think, not what you tell the cameras. And what Anthony Fauci told the country and what he wrote in private turned out to be quite different stories.
In the list of motivations for human beings, ego is at the very top of the list. Ego is one hell of a drug.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-show-2472?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Fauci&#8217;s personal diary contains entries running from late 2019 through Fauci&#8217;s retirement in December 2022. It has hundreds of articles about himself inserted into it; 641 entries are labeled “press” that are largely about himself.
As Tom Elliott <a href="https://tomselliott.substack.com/p/fauci-files-a-megalomaniacal-egomaniac">noted</a>:
<blockquote>The tone of what he preserved is worth registering. He kept the Washington Post column comparing a Rand Paul cross-examination of him to “watching Albert Einstein being disputed by his dry cleaner.” He kept the Joan Baez portrait and her calling him an American hero (p. 292). He kept the cookies from Joe and Jill Biden with the note “You are our hero” (p. 175), and Julia Roberts gasping on an Instagram livestream that he was her personal hero, and Marian Wright Edelman calling him “a true national treasure” (p. 1113), and Beth Cameron of the NSC texting that he was her hero for what he did with Rand Paul (p. 815).</blockquote>
That&#8217;s the kind of person that Anthony Fauci is and was.
A lot of the public indicators were there. In 2021, Fauci suggested that attacks on him were identical to attacks on science, saying on MSNBC, “A lot of what you&#8217;re seeing as attacks on me, quite frankly, are attacks on science, because all of the things that I have spoken about consistently from the very beginning have been fundamentally based on science. Sometimes those things were inconvenient truths for people, and there was pushback against me.”
Fauci used every opportunity to get in front of a camera. He had red-light syndrome like no one&#8217;s business. Do you remember that you couldn&#8217;t go to the ballpark during the pandemic, and there was no reason for that,  because it turns out that COVID did not travel in the open air. COVID was not being driven by outdoor exposure.
It didn&#8217;t matter. An entire baseball season was played without human beings in the stands, except for Anthony Fauci, who personally went to a Washington Nationals game where they piped in fake applause. He showed up wearing a mask, which he then took off during the game to talk to his friends in the stands.
He had the entire place to himself, but he threw out the first pitch. It was one of the worst first pitches in baseball history.
In his diary it is all ego, all the time.
Fauci, May 2020: 
<blockquote>Big front page article about me appeared in the Washington Post. Very flattering. The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not hyperbole to say that today I&#8217;m the most famous and talked about person in the country, and one of the most recognizable persons in the world. Countless profiles on me in multiple media. I cannot even read all the things that are written about me since I&#8217;m so busy &#8230; seriously. POTUS seems to be enamored of me, even though I am taking the spotlight away from him. We&#8217;re developing a very unique and interesting relationship. The entire Secret Service Corps is coming over to me and chatting. They let me into the first gate without even checking ID. Everyone is worried about my health and welfare, probably because it is all over the place that I am almost 80 years old.</blockquote>
It must be great to be Anthony Fauci.
If you sit there reading your press clippings all day, you&#8217;re doing your life wrong.
It turns out that Fauci knew pretty much all along that the origins of COVID were not related to a wet market; they were almost certainly a leak from the Wuhan laboratory. That was speculated early on by Tom Cotton of Arkansas, whereupon everyone on the Left, including the legacy media, jumped all over Cotton and suggested that it was a conspiracy theory to speculate as to whether the virus had come not from some weird guy eating a bat, but actually had come from the lab that did infectious disease studies on coronaviruses.
But as early as January 26, 2020 — before anyone even knew this was going to turn into a global pandemic — Anthony Fauci was writing in his diary that it almost certainly did not come from the wet market.
In March 2020, he bragged that he convinced everyone to shut down the country. He wrote, “When I left the White House and crossed Pennsylvania and 17th Street, several cars honked their horns and shouted &#8216;thank you&#8217; out the window.”
What a hero.
He then went out publicly and lied in July 2022, saying that he did not recommend locking anything down.
His diary explicitly says he did recommend locking things down.
Fauci was the bad guy. Not because bad guys know they&#8217;re being bad, but because they think they&#8217;re lying for a higher purpose. Fauci was lying because he thought that he was “doing the right thing” — that just happened to align with his personal interests, such as being on the cover of InStyle magazine, which actually happened; an 80-year-old doctor featured on the cover of InStyle magazine.
That&#8217;s who Anthony Fauci was.
It just goes to show you the foibles of human nature. I&#8217;ve said a thousand times, you try to attribute things to stupidity rather than malice, but it turns out that those two things can cross streams, &#8220;Ghostbusters&#8221;-style, and you end up with Anthony Fauci with outsized influence over policy.
This is one of the reasons our founders were big fans of federalism and checks and balances in the federal government.
Whenever anyone tells you what we actually need is a government that moves faster and hits harder and does things more quickly, I remind you, the government is staffed by lots and lots of people just like Anthony Fauci, because it turns out in life there are lots and lots of people like Anthony Fauci.
And that’s not good.

fauci_hero_complex

The Hero Complex That Held America Hostage

Anthony Fauci

Ben Shapiro

COVID-19

Opinion

Rand Paul

Wuhan

A group of Republicans led by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) is threatening to block President Donald Trump&#8217;s push to make daylight saving time permanent. 
The Sunshine Protection Act would permanently keep clocks on daylight saving time, eliminating the twice-yearly clock changes Americans currently observe each spring and fall. The legislation passed the House by a bipartisan 308-117 vote. 
Cotton has argued that making daylight saving time permanent would create safety issues by delaying winter sunrises, particularly in northern states.
“By moving the clock back an hour in winter, permanent Daylight Saving Time would push winter sunrises to an absurdly late hour, depriving Americans of morning sunshine that’s essential for our safety and well-being,” Cotton said.
He also argued the change could push sunrise as late as 9:45 a.m. in parts of North Dakota, creating challenges for schoolchildren, construction workers, and farmers who rely on early morning daylight. 
Despite Cotton&#8217;s opposition, Trump has repeatedly urged Congress to approve the legislation.
After the bill advanced out of committee, Trump wrote that it was time for Americans to stop worrying about &#8220;the Clock&#8221; and described the current system as a &#8220;ridiculous, twice-yearly production.&#8221;
He also called permanent daylight saving time &#8220;the far more popular alternative&#8221; and urged Republicans to support the measure.
The legislation has since stalled in the Senate, where supporters must overcome objections from Cotton and other Republicans.
&#8220;I mean, the House having acted on it now, we&#8217;ll see what the interest level is in the Senate,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-faces-republican-rebellion-over-daylight-saving-time-senate-bill-nears-dead-end">Fox News.</a> “But I know that there are people who are willing to really slow things down over that issue.&#8221;
A source close to Cotton told Fox News that the Arkansas senator is &#8220;far from the only one who objects&#8221; to the bill and is working with other senators prepared to block it.
The Sunshine Protection Act was originally introduced by then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and later reintroduced with Sen. James Lankford (R-OK). A similar law briefly took effect during the 1970s energy crisis before Congress repealed it following backlash.
&#8220;[Daylight savings] is left over from World War I when America was trying to save lamp oil. We&#8217;re doing OK on lamp oil now, so that&#8217;s not the issue,&#8221; Lankford said. &#8220;With streetlights, with different power and things, we have — we&#8217;re in a very different situation. And I talk to a lot of folks that say they are just sick of the time change. They want to be able to lock the clock.&#8221;
Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who has also championed the legislation, welcomed its passage in the House. 
“[Daylight Saving Time] is an unnecessary, decades-old practice that’s more of an annoyance to families than [a] benefit to them,” Scott <a href="https://www.murray.senate.gov/senator-murray-reintroduces-bipartisan-sunshine-protection-act-alongside-rick-scott-to-make-daylight-saving-time-permanent-and-lock-the-clock/">said</a> in a statement, calling on his other senators to “make this common sense change” to “LOCK THE CLOCK.”
The bill currently has 18 Senate co-sponsors, including eight Democrats, according to Congress.gov. 
The legislation-tracking website GovTrack <a href="https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/119/hr139">estimates</a> the Sunshine Protection Act a 35% chance of becoming law during the current Congress. 
Congress must approve the Sunshine Protection Act before the current congressional session ends in December 2026.

Screenshot 2026-07-21 at 12.20.59 PM

One Republican Is Leading A Revolt Against Trump’s Clock Plan

Daylight Saving Time

James Lankford

Marco Rubio

Rick Scott

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, explained on Sunday what comes next in the Iran offensive after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death.
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Dana Bash, Cotton first noted that Iran has crossed numerous red lines over the decades.
“The red lines have been crossed … red lines of the civilized world, going back to the 1979 hostage crisis, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, the bombing of the Khobar Towers, killing and maiming thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan — those are the red lines that have been crossed,” Cotton said. “President Trump has finally put his foot down and made it clear that we will no longer tolerate the revolutionary violence of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Bash pressed the senator on what comes next: “But the question is the people below them, and whether or not you are confident, based on what you&#8217;re seeing, that enough of the Iranian regime was taken out that there really can be a change in leadership. And then the next question is, how does that work?”
Cotton explained that the first priority is destroying Iran’s military power, which the Islamic nation uses to attack Israel and Arab allies in the region. He added that just as Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, it cannot be allowed to have thousands of missiles in its arsenal either, “much more than the United States and Israel have in missile defense combined.”
“So what the American people see in the days ahead is going to be a methodical and systematic focus on Iran&#8217;s missiles, its missile launchers, and ultimately, its missile manufacturing capability, so they can&#8217;t continue to threaten our troops in Israel and our other friends in the region,” Cotton stated.
The senator concluded that while we don’t know exactly what the future holds for the Iranian regime, the people of Iran now have the opportunity to take their country back after decades of brutal oppression.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Intelligence Committee Chairman, Sen. Tom Cotton (R) tells Dana Bash Iran has crossed red lines: &#8220;There&#8217;s no doubt, though, that Iran is going to continue to target our bases in the region, our Arab friends, and Israel. That&#8217;s why it was so vitally necessary that we put an end to… <a href="https://t.co/mE4TxM2S40">pic.twitter.com/mE4TxM2S40</a>
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSOTU/status/2028125240862167191?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

WATCH: Tom Cotton Explains What Comes Next Following Khamenei Death

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Global Politics

Iran

U.S. Senate

World

As the Trump administration investigates rampant welfare fraud in Democrat states, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AK) wants to toughen the penalties for foreign fraudsters.
Cotton introduced a <a href="https://www.cotton.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/welfare_fraud_deterrence_and_recovery_act.pdf">bill</a> on Thursday that would set mandatory minimums for non-citizens convicted of fraud and allow for automatic deportation for those convicted of fraud. The Trump administration has launched major fraud investigations into states like California and Minnesota, where dozens of Somali migrants have been charged with crimes.
“Migrants who steal Arkansas taxpayer dollars by committing fraud shouldn’t be let off with just a slap on the wrist,” Cotton told The Daily Wire. “My bill will ensure these criminals face harsher consequences.”
Cotton’s &#8220;Welfare Fraud Deterrence and Recovery Act&#8221; would impose a two-year minimum prison sentence for non-citizens or naturalized citizens convicted of stealing federal welfare funds. If the person stole more than $100,000 worth of funds, the sentence would be no less than five years, according to a copy of the proposal shared with The Daily Wire.
Defrauding federal welfare programs would also come with immigration consequences. Foreigners who were denaturalized would be barred from reentry into the United States and foreigners convicted of fraud would be subject to expedited deportation. Cotton’s bill would also make it easier to denaturalize someone convicted of fraud.
Under the bill, a Fraud Recovery Task Force would be established by the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and prosecute fraud cases.
Cotton’s proposal comes after the Trump administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-freezes-welfare-funds-to-five-blue-states-over-fraud-concerns?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=6&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Freezes+Welfare+Funds+To+Five+Blue+States+Over+Fraud+Concerns">froze funding</a> for programs that provide childcare and food assistance in California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York as officials probe whether the benefits are being illegally funneled to non-citizens. The specific programs being halted in those states are the Child Care Development Fund, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and the Social Services Block Grant program.
Last week, Vice President JD Vance announced that a new assistant attorney general position out of the Justice Department would be formed to focus on fraud in Minnesota.
“To make sure that we prosecute the bad guys and do it as swiftly and efficiently as possible … we are creating a new assistant attorney general position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud,” Vance said at a press briefing. “Now, of course, that person’s efforts will start and focus primarily in Minnesota, but it is going to be a nationwide effort, because unfortunately, the American people have been defrauded in a very nationwide way.”

Congress Is Running Out The Clock On Any Big Moves By Year’s End

Cotton Says Foreign Fraudsters Should Face Swift Deportation As Investigations Escalate

Crime

Fraud

Minnesota

Trump Administration

U.S.

After American troops captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in the early hours of Saturday morning, Washington quickly turned its attention to his number two: Vice President Delcy Rodriguez.
Rodriguez has remained loyal since Maduro&#8217;s capture.
&#8220;There is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolás Maduro,&#8221; she said in an address to Venezuela after his capture. Rodriguez, daughter of the Liga Socialista party founder, Jorge Antonio Rodriguez,  rose through the ranks alongside her brother, Jorge, who currently serves as the President of Venezuela&#8217;s National Assembly. Upon naming her vice president in 2018, Maduro said she was a &#8220;young woman, brave, seasoned, daughter of a martyr, revolutionary and tested in a thousand battles.&#8221;
But not everyone is sold on Rodriguez.
“I don’t think we can count on Delcy Rodriguez to be friendly to the United States until she proves it,” Senator Tom Cotton <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/04/politics/video/venezuela-strikes">told</a> CNN anchor Dana Bash on Sunday.
The Arkansas Republican acknowledged that, while it&#8217;s possible Rodriguez could attempt to work with the United States, it&#8217;s unlikely.
&#8220;There are recent examples of anti-American leaders around the world turning over a new leaf,” Cotton said, citing Libya&#8217;s Muammar al-Qaddafi and his reconciliation with the West in 2003. “But they made concrete concessions that benefited the United States. Delcy Rodriguez and other sanctioned and indicted ministers in Venezuela were in league with Maduro until yesterday so I don’t think we can count on them to be pro-American at all.”
On Saturday, Trump <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsdkClL2_bg">noted</a> Maduro’s selection of Rodriguez had raised concerns, but said she was, for now, cooperating with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Well, I understand she was just sworn in, but she was, as you know, picked by Maduro. So Marco&#8217;s working on that directly,” Trump said. “He [Rubio] just had a conversation with her, and she&#8217;s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.&#8221;
Cotton later said that her promised cooperation with the United States aligns with Trump’s remarks about Washington effectively “running Venezuela.”
“When the President said the United States is going to be running Venezuela, he means the new leaders of Venezuela need to meet our demands,” clarified Cotton.
Rodriguez also served as Venezuela’s oil minister, presiding over an industry Trump has repeatedly singled out as requiring United States oversight.
“As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust, for a long period of time,” he exclaimed at Saturday’s press conference. “They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping and what could&#8217;ve taken place. We&#8217;re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country.”
Beyond the energy sector, Trump argued that Venezuela needs a government capable of acting in the interests of its people: “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”
Cotton clarified that the Venezuelan government&#8217;s recognition of a new leader does not equate to recognition by the United States.
“We don’t recognize Delcy Rodriguez as the legitimate ruler of Venezuela. We didn’t recognize Nicolás Maduro as a legitimate ruler … It is a fact that she and other indicted and sanctioned officials are in Venezuela and have control of the military and security services. That does not make them a legitimate leader.”
Trump demonstrated that lack of recognition by issuing a warning to Venezuela&#8217;s remaining political and military figures, saying, “All political and military figures in Venezuela should understand what happened to Maduro can happen to them. It will happen to them if they aren&#8217;t just, fair, even to their people.”
For now, the president says he does not think the United States will need to initiate a second attack, but that if it becomes necessary the United States is prepared: “The first wave, if you&#8217;d like to call it that, the first attack was so successful we probably don&#8217;t have to do a second, but we&#8217;re prepared to do a second wave.”

VENEZUELA-US-DIPLOMACY

Thrust Into The Spotlight, Maduro’s Number 2 Draws Washington’s Skepticism

Dana Bash

Media

Nicolas Maduro

A new bill from Republican Senator Tom Cotton would protect National Guard troops from “deranged individuals” who attack or spit on them while they are on duty.
Cotton’s bill would create a 15-foot buffer zone around any National Guard member performing official duties, his office told The Daily Wire. The intent would be to shield troops from people trying to intimidate, harass, touch, or spit on them.
“The brave Arkansans who serve in our National Guard should be protected from deranged individuals. My bill ensures that anyone who attempts to intimidate or harass a Guardsmen will face the full force of the law,” Cotton told The Daily Wire.
Cotton’s legislation comes as President Donald Trump has deployed National Guard troops to cities across the country from Memphis to Los Angeles to assist in federal operations.
The bill, known as the ‘‘National Guard Protective Zone Act,” would create a federal misdemeanor for those who enter the protective zone to intimidate, harass, or impede a troop. It would also create a felony for anyone who spits on or throws an object at a National Guard member while on duty. That would be punishable by up to five years in prison.
“Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit activity protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States that is conducted outside a posted protective zone,” the legislation reads.
Since being deployed to Washington, D.C., National Guard troops have faced protests and violence. Just before Thanksgiving, two National Guard troops were shot, with one dying while another was critically injured. The man suspected of shooting the troops was an Afghan refugee who entered the country under former President Joe Biden.
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In another high-profile incident, a man threw a subway sandwich at a Customs and Border Patrol officer during part of the Trump administration’s law enforcement surge to the nation’s capital.
On Wednesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Trump administration could keep the National Guard deployed to the district while litigation plays out.
“Another important court victory for President Trump’s agenda: today, the D.C. Circuit unanimously issued a stay in favor of our National Guard deployment to Washington, DC,” Attorney General Pam Bondi <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/2001375227465322966">said</a>. “Our federal surge in DC has saved countless lives, removed hundreds of illegal guns off the streets, and led to a dramatic drop in crime in our nation’s capital city.”

Senate Confirmation Held To Consider John Ratcliffe To Be CIA Director

National Guard Under Attack From ‘Deranged Individuals’ In U.S. Cities, Senator Says

Arkansas

Congress

National Guard

Politics

Washington D.C.

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton has no objections to releasing the full video of the U.S. military strike on a drug boat that has become central to Democratic claims of war crimes committed by the Trump administration.
The Arkansas senator appeared on NBC News’ “Meet The Press” on Sunday and defended the actions taken by the U.S. military to curb the flow of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States, specifically striking vehicles used to ferry drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
One incident in September has sparked accusations from Democrats that War Secretary Pete Hegseth committed a war crime after a second military strike was ordered on a drug boat that was not destroyed by an initial missile.
The accusations against Hegseth began after The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/11/28/hegseth-kill-them-all-survivors-boat-strike/">reported</a> that the War secretary gave an order to “kill them all.” Top military officials have since testified to Congress that no such order was given, and Republican lawmakers who have seen the mission order have said that no such language exists in the order that would direct military personnel to commit war crimes.
Senate Republicans, including Cotton, have also reviewed the footage of the second strike on the drug boat and said that the strike did not constitute a war crime because the vessel, though damaged and capsized, still represented a valid military target and could have been used to call in additional narcoterrorists. Cotton said Sunday that he would have “no problem” releasing the video to the public, though the military may have national security reasons for not wanting the footage public.
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“I personally don&#8217;t have any problem with” releasing the footage, Cotton <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-december-7-2025-n1313135">said</a>. “It&#8217;s not gruesome. I didn&#8217;t find it distressing or disturbing. It looks like any number of dozens of strikes we&#8217;ve seen on Jeeps and pickup trucks in the Middle East over the years.”
“I will say that the department may have valid concerns about revealing what we know about tactics and techniques that these cartels are using or about our sources or methods,” he added. “I would trust Secretary Hegseth and his team to make the decision about whether they can declassify and release the video. But again, there&#8217;s nothing remarkable on that video in my opinion.”
Adm. Mitch Bradley testified to Congress last week, denying that Hegseth gave a “kill them all” order. Bradley said that while Hegseth was present to watch the first strike delivered against the drug boat in September, the War secretary left to attend to other matters. Bradley gave authorization for the second strike after assessing that the vessel was still a threat.
Hegseth’s orders at that point had not <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/even-the-new-york-times-isnt-sold-on-washington-post-hegseth-hit">specified</a> what to do if a drug boat was not completely destroyed in an initial strike, according to reporting from The New York Times.
Democrats have continued to push the story, alleging that Hegseth authorized a war crime and should be held accountable. Lawmakers have also <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/07/second-strike-democratic-lawmakers-demand-transparency-00679899">pushed</a> for release of the video depicting the second strike on the boat and suggested that service members who take part in illegal orders could be formally punished.

Tom Cotton Has ‘No Problem’ With Releasing Video Of Drug Boat Double-Tap

Department of Defense

Department of War

Drug Cartels

Drugs

Pete Hegseth

As she prepared to launch a statewide campaign as a Democrat in deep red Arkansas, the woman hoping to unseat Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton appears to have scrubbed from the internet her work for a nonprofit dedicated to helping people &#8220;make decisions about their sexuality&#8221; in Peru, where she literally led a pro-transgender parade through the streets of the capital city.
&#8220;The only thing Hallie ever wanted to do was farm,&#8221; Democrat Hallie Shoffner&#8217;s campaign <a href="https://www.hallieshoffner.com/about-1">website</a> states. &#8220;But if she can’t farm, she’s going to fight.&#8221;
The tunnel-vision desire to farm somehow brought her to work in South America at Peru&#8217;s Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights, &#8220;a feminist non-governmental organization that, through political advocacy, knowledge generation and alliances, helps people to make decisions about their sexuality and reproduction with autonomy, dignity, justice and equality,&#8221; according to an English translation of its <a href="https://promsex.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>.
The group, generally referred to by the acronym PROMSEX, was founded in 2005 to advocate for &#8220;a more just society for all people, free from gender stereotypes and prejudices.&#8221; During her time with the group, Shoffner appears to have run a blog for the group, called <a href="https://perusinglima.blogspot.com/2010/07/pride-in-peru.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">PERUsing Lima</a>. The blog was taken down at some point between November 2023 and August 2025, before Shoffner announced her Senate bid. Her work at the nonprofit is not listed on her LinkedIn page or on her campaign website.
But a Daily Wire review of Shoffner&#8217;s social media accounts and an archived version of the blog appear to confirm her involvement. In one LinkedIn post, she touted how she led a &#8220;Gay Pride Parade&#8221; in Peru in July 2010.
“I marched in Lima&#8217;s 9th Annual Gay Pride Parade yesterday (Saturday, July 10, 2010). Now, when I say I marched in Lima&#8217;s 9th Annual Gay Pride Parade, I marched in the FRONT of Lima&#8217;s 9th Annual Gay Pride Parade. I mean in the very front. Leading the charge. My org, Promsex, funded the parade so our staff carried the opening banner,” she wrote at the time, according to an internet <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231122025443/https:/perusinglima.blogspot.com/2010/07/pride-in-peru.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">archive</a> of the blog available on the Wayback Machine.
Shoffner&#8217;s behavior poses a sharp contrast to her state&#8217;s views on transgender issues. Arkansas has been a leader in socially conservative legislation related to transgender surgery for minors. The state&#8217;s Republican governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has aggressively pursued policies to protect women&#8217;s spaces from transgender-identifying men. She won her office by nearly thirty percentage points.
Shoffner said her experience &#8220;celebrating being gay, lesbian, transexual, [and] bisexual&#8221; was &#8220;incredible!&#8221;
“On occasion, while we were marching, I would stop to take a photo of the very colorful line behind us. When I did, I saw that the front truck would stop too. So when I say I was leading the parade, I&#8217;m not kidding. It was incredible!&#8221;
“The celebration of who you are and what you believe (a celebration of self-love and pride with pure happiness) also defies the nay-sayers. And what were we celebrating? Yes, we were celebrating being gay, lesbian, transexual, bisexual&#8230;we were even celebrating being straight. But, primarily, we were celebrating love and humanity&#8217;s ability to love. That is what we should be most proud of. Some of Promsex&#8217;s staff&#8230;I&#8217;m so happy to be a part of the family!” she continued.
The blog also featured numerous photos of the parade, including shots of Shoffner herself.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-1002183 size-full aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/parade-peru-2010-shoffner.jpg" alt="" width="512" height="341" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/parade-peru-2010-shoffner.jpg 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/parade-peru-2010-shoffner-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></div>
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<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-1002181 size-full aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/shoffner.jpg" alt="" width="512" height="341" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/shoffner.jpg 512w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/shoffner-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes=" (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /></div>
Shoffner did not respond to a request for comment.
Republicans have criticized Shoffner, saying that her values make her a poor representative for Arkansas.
“Hallie Shoffner’s organization funded a trans-pride parade in Peru, she led the parade, and then she tried to hide it from Arkansans — what else is Hallie Shoffner hiding?&#8221; Bart Hester, President pro tempore of the Arkansas Senate, told The Daily Wire in a statement. &#8220;Arkansas has led the way in protecting our kids from trans surgeries, even when far-left activists attacked us. We were the first state to ban these harmful surgeries.&#8221;
“We also passed a law offering recourse to children who are victims of trans surgeries,” he continued. “It&#8217;s one thing for Hallie Shoffner to lead a trans pride parade in Peru, but for her to cover it up and try to hide the evidence shows she should be running for Senate in California, not in Arkansas.”
Cotton has introduced legislation to allows minors who have received “gender-transition procedures” to pursue damages if they choose to do so afterward.
“Gender-transition procedures aren’t safe or appropriate for children. Unfortunately, radical doctors in the United States perform dangerous, experimental, and even sterilizing gender-transition procedures on young kids, who cannot even provide informed consent,” Cotton said in a 2023 statement on the proposal.
Shoffner appears to have worked at PROMSEX while obtaining her Master&#8217;s of Public Service at the University of Arkansas&#8217; Clinton School of Public Service, which said that Shoffner &#8220;developed a fundraising strategy and donor database&#8221; for the organization, according to the school&#8217;s <a href="https://clintonschool.uasys.edu/news/panel-on-international-project/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">webpage</a>.
Currently, PROMSEX&#8217;s main initiative is NosoTrans, &#8220;a project that seeks to help trans women in vulnerable situations exercise their right to health, especially for hormone therapy processes, by accessing safe, reliable and transphobia-free health services in six areas of southern Lima.&#8221;

Arkansas Dem Hallie Shoffner Led Pro-Trans Parade In Peru, Derailing Moderate ‘Farmer’ Image

LGBT

Senate

Transgender

Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) is done waiting — and after last week’s bombshell indictment of a Hamas-linked terrorist hiding out in Louisiana, he&#8217;s <a href="https://freebeacon.com/national-security/cotton-urges-dhs-to-review-biden-era-visas-after-indictment-of-alleged-hamas-terrorist-living-in-louisiana/">calling</a> for a top-down security purge of Biden-era immigration policies.
On Wednesday, Cotton issued a <a href="https://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/dhs_letter.pdf">letter</a> to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem demanding an immediate, comprehensive audit of all visas granted since 2021 — focusing specifically on applicants from high-risk nations like Egypt, Gaza, and elsewhere in the Middle East. The trigger? The arrest of Mahmoud Amin Ya’Qub al-Muhtadi, a 33-year-old Gazan national who allegedly took part in the brutal October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre in Israel — then slipped into the U.S. using a fraudulent visa under the Biden administration.
Cotton minced no words. “Since October 7, 2023, thousands of visa applications from Palestinians have been processed through Egypt, often without adequate review of digital footprints or terrorist watchlist cross-checks. The vetting process for al-Muhtadi’s application overlooked easily accessible evidence of his terrorist ties,” he wrote. “I urge DHS to conduct an audit of all visas issued through high-risk countries since 2021, prioritizing potential affiliations with Hamas or other designated terrorist groups.”
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The evidence is chilling. Federal prosecutors revealed al-Muhtadi’s cell phone was geolocated near Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the site of one of the deadliest Hamas-led slaughters on Oct. 7, where 60 innocents — some of them Americans — were butchered. FBI documents show al-Muhtadi issued battlefield-style commands over messaging apps: “Bring the rifles,” “get ready,” and “If you have a full magazine, bring it to me.” He wasn&#8217;t just a foot soldier. He was organizing fighters.
And yet, this man — an open member of the National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) — was granted a visa and green card by the Biden administration after applying in Cairo. His social media? Filled with images of him in fatigues, training with Russian weapons. All of this slipped past the State Department’s so-called “vetting.”
Al-Muhtadi entered through Dallas-Fort Worth in September 2024, lived in Tulsa, then Lafayette, Louisiana — where he was working in a restaurant when federal agents finally caught up with him. Cotton warned that al-Muhtadi is just one of many who may have quietly slipped into the U.S. under Biden’s lax oversight.
Cotton is now demanding a real-time terrorist watchlist that would proactively screen applicants from extremist-linked regions and immediate enhanced social media checks. &#8220;No terrorist should be able to slip through undetected,&#8221; he wrote, urging DHS and the FBI to coordinate.
This isn’t the first time Cotton’s led the charge on national security. In July, as pro-Hamas mobs defaced U.S. monuments and waved terrorist flags in D.C., Cotton introduced the No Visas for Violent Criminals Act, mandating deportation within 60 days for foreign nationals convicted of protest-related crimes. And last December, he introduced a bill requiring the U.S. to drop the term “West Bank” in favor of “Judea and Samaria,” reinforcing historical Jewish claims to the land.
Cotton’s broader message? America was at risk — not because terrorists are sneaking across borders—but because they were being invited in by a government asleep at the switch. The Biden administration’s blind spots weren’t just ideological — they were lethal.

Sen. Tom Cotton

Tom Cotton Pushes Full Purge Of Biden Immigration Policies Over Terrorist Caught In U.S.

Hamas

Palestinians

Visas

Several Republican lawmakers are expected to introduce a bill on Thursday aimed at stopping illegal aliens from getting licenses to drive commercial trucks in deep blue regions.
Kentucky Congressman Andy Barr has partnered with Senators Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Bill Hagerty of Tennessee to advance legislation that would authorize the Trump administration to crack down on states found to be granting Commercial Driver’s Licenses (CDL) to illegal aliens, according to documents reviewed by The Daily Wire.
Under the legislation, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy would have the authority to revoke a state’s ability to grant “non-domiciled CDLs,” or commercial licenses for applicants who live out of state, if the state were found in violation of federal rules around CDLs.
“By issuing CDLs to illegal immigrants, states like California are undermining federal law and endangering public safety,” Barr, who is running to succeed Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, told The Daily Wire. “Our bill restores accountability by strengthening President Trump’s authority to hold liberal states in check when they defy federal law and recklessly grant CDLs to illegal immigrants.”
The bill would also standardize some rules about the CDL process by requiring all testing to be conducted in English and that all CDL applicants hold a driver’s license for at least one year.
“For everyone’s safety, you must be able to read and understand English road signs when operating a commercial vehicle. Our bill would require commercial drivers to pass the test given in English,” said Cotton in a statement.
Duffy has taken action to clamp down on California’s CDL program after authorities say an illegal alien trucker <a href="https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/08/18/criminal-illegal-alien-recklessly-driving-18-wheeler-kills-three-florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">caused</a> a wreck in Florida that killed three Americans. The trucker, Harjinder Singh, <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/19/us-news/illegal-migrant-truck-driver-in-deadly-florida-crash-failed-english-road-sign-tests-despite-getting-licenses-from-2-sanctuary-states/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obtained</a> a CDL most recently in California and allegedly caused the wreck after attempting an illegal U-turn. Singh is believed to have illegally entered the United States in 2018.
The Transportation Secretary has targeted California’s federal funding. On Wednesday, Duffy’s department <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-announces-consequences-californias" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> that it had revoked over $40 million in funding for California from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Duffy slashed funding for the deep blue state after the Department of Transportation investigation into California’s CDL program <a href="https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-takes-emergency-action-protect-americas-roads#:~:text=Moving%20forward%2C%20non%2Dcitizens%20will,presence%20in%20the%20U.S.%20expired" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that more than a quarter of non-domiciled commercial licenses issued by the state were improperly awarded.
While Duffy can revoke funding, the Republican-led legislation would give the Transportation Secretary further authority to pull a state’s ability to issue commercial licenses altogether.

Semi trucks

Republican Bill Takes Aim At Democrat States Giving Truck Licenses To Illegal Aliens

GOP Bill Takes Aim At Democrat States Giving CDLs To Illegal Aliens

Bill Hagerty

California

Department of Transportation

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