WASHINGTON—If you live in the nation&#8217;s capital, you&#8217;ve probably heard that there&#8217;s sewage in the Potomac River.
The issue began in mid-January, when a roughly 60-year-old sewer pipe in Maryland broke, resulting in sewage flowing into the river within the first five days, with additional spills happening this month. So far, roughly 250 million gallons of the sewage has made its way into the river.
The spill has since become the subject of regional and national concern, largely because E. coli levels in the water are higher. The D.C. government says that it is “likely due to a recent rain event” rather than the spill, but still advises that people do not fish or otherwise have &#8220;unnecessary contact&#8221; with the river.
But there&#8217;s some good news for Washingtonians: the tap water is still fine.
“There is currently no impact to drinking water, and so I think as much as we can say that is extremely important to reassure folks. The federal government right now is doing a couple things,” EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water Jess Kramer told The Daily Wire in a Thursday interview. “One is helping to ensure coordination across all the entities involved: the federal partners, the states, as well as the local governments.”
President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Tuesday, asking for the governments of Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. to quickly step in, writing, “if they can’t do the job, they have to call me and ask, politely, to get it fixed.&#8221;
“The Federal Government is not at all involved with what has taken place, but we can fix it. But remember, even in that case, with the Democrat Shutdown, we’ll have to bring in true Patriots to do the work because many are not working right now. These Democrat caused Disasters, both River and Shutdown, will only get worse,” Trump added, calling it a “Radical Left caused Environmental Hazard.”
The incident has led to more tensions between the president and Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D), who posted a map on X on Wednesday that highlighted what is and is not considered federal jurisdiction.
“Heard you weren’t sure about what is federal vs. local jurisdiction, Mr. President. So we wanted to make it easier for you. Many thanks to [the National Park Service] for this great map of federal land!” Moore wrote.
Kramer said that she’s “never seen a governor so adamant to not take actions to protect the health of its citizens.”
“The federal piece of this, I think that he&#8217;s pointing to when he&#8217;s talking about federal lands, is that is the National Park Service piece of it. But again, like I just discussed, that second bucket of remediation, that is really going to be led by National Park Service to ensure that the property is cleaned up to the levels and the specificity that&#8217;s necessary for the National Park Service,” she explained.
“And so there is definitely a federal component here, but the break happened within the jurisdiction of Maryland. And so when we talk about cooperative federalism under the Clean Water Act, we really look at the state as the primary enforcement agency. And we, as EPA, the federal government, we have […] oversight authority that lays on top of that. And so we will step in if we need to,” she continued.
She added that the &#8220;federal government is actively working to fulfill requests for assistance that we have gotten over the last 24 hours, from the various state government and local government partners. And those are things that we are providing to help ensure the protection of public health as well as helping to provide resources, to ensure the expedient cleanup and remediation of this site.&#8221;
Earlier on Thursday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a State of Emergency in hopes of getting federal help for the situation, including “100% reimbursement for costs incurred.”
Kramer explained that the goals for remediation fall into three main categories: getting the sewage returned to the Potomac Interceptor, which diverts sewage to a <a href="https://www.dcwater.com/potomacinterceptor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">water treatment center</a>, from the canal in the next four to six weeks; having the land cleaned up after the “sanitary sewage” is back in the interceptor; and doing “necessary inspections and operations and maintenance” on the interceptor quickly to make sure there is not a repeat of the issue.
FEMA is also playing a key role in the clean-up efforts, despite the current lapse in funding for the Department of Homeland Security, as Congress and the White House have yet to reach a deal regarding federal immigration enforcement tactics.
&#8220;Democrats in Congress have shut down [FEMA] funding—leaving our hard working employees to work without pay—yet FEMA is now stepping in to coordinate cleanup of one of the largest raw sewage spills in U.S. history,&#8221; DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posted to X on Monday.
&#8220;Thanks to gross mismanagement by Maryland&#8217;s Democrat leaders, hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage has reportedly been dumped into the Potomac River—flowing straight through our nation&#8217;s capital and endangering millions of people, wildlife, and the entire DC region&#8217;s water supply. Democrats are withholding paychecks from the men and women of [DHS] while they clean up this Democrat-created disaster. Unbelievable hypocrisy,&#8221; Noem added.
When The Daily Wire reached out to Moore&#8217;s office for comment, they referred to the governor&#8217;s Wednesday remarks on the issue, where he said that the EPA did not attend a Maryland General Assembly hearing on the &#8220;cleanup status&#8221; and that &#8220;to blame Maryland in this when this is a DC pipe on federal land is asinine. It is disingenuous, absurd, and politically motivated.&#8221;

US-ENVIROMENT-SEWAGE-POTOMAC

Inside The Trump Administration’s Plan To Address The Potomac River Sewage Spill

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Maryland

potomac river

Trump Administration

Virginia

Washington D.C.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers can now detain refugees who haven&#8217;t obtained green cards within their first year in the United States as part of a larger crackdown on fraud and potential national security threats, according to a new federal memo.
The Trump administration is now instructing federal officers to arrest the refugees and &#8220;re-vet&#8221; them, according to the <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-gives-ice-broader-powers-to-detain-legal-refugees-citing-security-concerns/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memo</a>, which was obtained by CBS News. The Feb. 18 memo states that refugees who haven&#8217;t become legal permanent residents after one year, meaning they never obtained a green card, must avail themselves to federal immigration authorities to have their cases reviewed.
If they fail to do so voluntarily, they may face arrest by ICE.
ICE can then hold them &#8220;for the duration of the inspection and examination process,&#8221; according to the memo, which came from acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Joseph Edlow.
&#8220;The detain-and-inspect requirement ensures that refugees are re-vetted after one year, aligns post-admission vetting with that applied to other applicants for admission, and promotes public safety,&#8221; the memo reads.
&#8220;The changes are designed to better enforce the statutory requirement that aliens admitted as refugees who have been present in the United States for at least one year return or be returned to DHS custody for inspection and examination for admission as an LPR [legal permanent resident]. They further reflect the public policy interest in thorough vetting of aliens admitted as refugees, including vetting for national security, public safety, and fraud-related issues.&#8221;
Former ICE New York field office deputy director Scott Mechkowski told The Daily Wire that the move is &#8220;essential,&#8221; given &#8220;evolving global threats.&#8221;
&#8220;This ensures that our immigration system remains resilient against potential fraud or emerging risks and thereby protecting American communities and upholding the integrity of our humanitarian commitments without compromising public safety,&#8221; Mechkowski said.
Previously, refugees couldn&#8217;t be detained solely because of their failure to get residency within their first year in the United States, according to CBS. ICE also had just 48 hours to decide whether to release refugees or place them into deportation proceedings if there were any red flags.
Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge and current resident fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, told The Daily Wire &#8220;that the prior policy was not consistent with the language of section 209(a) of the INA [Immigration and Nationality Act],&#8221; which states that refugees who fail to obtain a green card in the first year &#8220;shall, at the end of such year period, return or be returned to the custody of the Department of Homeland Security for inspection and examination for admission.&#8221;
&#8220;The whole idea behind that refugee scheme is that certain foreign nationals are so endangered that we must allow them in, and then we will complete the inspection after they have been here for a year &#8212; a fact that should be clear from the statute,&#8221; Arthur said.
Many refugees let in during the Biden administration &#8220;may not have met the definition of &#8216;refugee'&#8221; as spelled out in the Immigration and Nationality Act &#8220;because they lacked a well-founded fear of persecution on account of the five factors (race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion) therein,&#8221; Arthur said.
Last year, the Trump administration set the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sets-refugee-limit-to-lowest-level-in-history">refugee cap</a> at the lowest level in the country&#8217;s history, allowing just 7,500 immigrants to enter. The federal government also commenced a review of refugees brought into the country during the Biden administration, according to CBS.
An Afghan national who <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/lakanwal-newly-indicted-shooting-guardsmen-near-white-house-killed-sarah-beckstrom" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was brought into the country</a> by the Biden administration in 2021 shot two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom tragically succumbed to the injuries she sustained in the ambush.
The attack sparked a pause on all immigration applications from foreigners who hail from &#8220;high risk&#8221; countries.
Refugee advocates say the latest move by the Trump administration will open the floodgates for the Trump administration&#8217;s deportation campaign.
&#8220;This policy is a transparent effort to detain and potentially deport thousands of people who are legally present in this country, people the U.S. government itself welcomed after years of extreme vetting,&#8221; said Beth Oppenheim, the CEO of HIAS, which helps with refugee resettlement, according to CBS.

US-AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT-ARRIVALS

A Little-Known Rule Surfaces As Trump Admin Reopens The Books On Refugees

Department of Homeland Security

Refugees

Social Issues

U.S.

As President Donald Trump prepares to deliver his State of the Union address next Tuesday, some congressional Democrats are planning to protest or skip the speech altogether.
MeidasTouch Network and MoveOn, two high-profile liberal organizations, are hosting the &#8220;People’s State of the Union” on the National Mall as counter-programming to Trump&#8217;s address. Hosted by leftist commentators Joy Reid and Katie Phang, the event will feature several Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Ed Markey (MA), Tina Smith (MN), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Chris Murphy (CT), and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (WA), among others.
“While Trump lies, we’re lifting up the real stories shaping this country,” MoveOn posted to X.
At least 12 Democratic lawmakers have publicly said they will not attend Trump&#8217;s address, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democratic-lawmakers-plan-boycott-trumps-state-union-address-rally-rcna259552" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NBC News</a>.
“Next week, Trump will deliver his State of the Union address. I won&#8217;t be there,” Van Hollen posted to X on Wednesday. “Trump is marching America towards fascism, and I refuse to normalize his shredding of our Constitution &amp; democracy. This cannot be business as usual.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said at a press conference that his “current plan is to attend.”
&#8220;We&#8217;re not going to Donald Trump&#8217;s house. He&#8217;s coming to our house,&#8221; Jeffries said. &#8220;It&#8217;s my view that you don&#8217;t let anyone ever run you off of your block.”
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/us/politics/democrats-trump-congress.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NFA.2sNL.WXDK8ZL5nYsa&amp;smid=url-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> reported that Jeffries has urged lawmakers to either remain quiet during the address or not attend at all. Last year, Rep. Al Green (D-TX) was censured by Republicans and 10 Democrats after interrupting Trump’s speech.
“You have no mandate to cut Medicaid!” Green shouted before being escorted from the chamber at House Speaker Mike Johnson&#8217;s request.
Protests at State of the Union addresses are not new. Many Democratic women wore pink in protest of Trump&#8217;s speech last year. In 2020, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up a transcript of Trump&#8217;s speech.
Another liberal activist group, Amplify Pledge, is urging lawmakers to skip the address as part of its “Young People Address the Nation” campaign, <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/02/17/gen-z-activist-group-calls-for-congress-to-boycott-trumps-state-of-the-union/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Signal</a> reported on Tuesday.
The White House said the address will highlight Trump&#8217;s “agenda” and “results” as he marks his first year back in office. The speech comes as Congress and the administration remain at odds over funding the Department of Homeland Security.
“In terms of the written offer that was transmitted from the Democrats, the parties are still pretty far apart,” a White House official told The Daily Wire on background Tuesday. “The Administration remains interested in good faith conversations to end the Democrat shutdown before more Americans feel the impacts. But the Administration also remains committed to carrying out the President’s promise to enforce federal immigration law.”

US-POLITICS-TRUMP-SOTU

The Rival Event Democrats Have In The Works As They Skip Trump’s Address

Chris Van Hollen

Congress

Donald Trump

Executive

Hakeem Jeffries

Politics

State of the Union

A Manhattan hospital that has performed countless procedures on gender-confused children in recent years announced on Tuesday that it officially ended its youth gender clinic following the Trump administration&#8217;s move to pull federal funding.
Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone Health, which has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hospitals-clinics-are-promoting-services-to-gender-nonconforming-kids-here-are-47-of-them">offered gender procedures</a> for children since at least <a href="https://nyunews.com/news/2025/02/02/nyu-langone-gender-affirming-care/#:~:text=NYU%20Langone%20Health%20is%20a%20leading%20institution,two%20patients%20under%20the%20age%20of%2019.">2020</a>, cited the &#8220;current regulatory environment,&#8221; along with the &#8220;recent departure&#8221; of its medical director, for its &#8220;difficult decision to discontinue our Transgender Youth Health Program,&#8221; The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/nyregion/nyu-hospital-transgender-youth.html">reported</a>.
NYU Langone previously <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220828054900/https://nyulangone.org/locations/child-study-center/gender-sexuality-service">stated</a> on its website that it prescribes &#8220;gender-affirming medical interventions, including puberty suppression, gender-affirming hormone treatments, and gender-affirming surgery&#8221; for gender-confused children. The hospital&#8217;s <a href="https://nyulangone.org/locations/child-study-center/gender-sexuality-service">website</a> no longer mentions gender surgery for children and focuses on &#8220;mental health services.&#8221;
Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hospitals-across-u-s-stop-transitioning-children-after-trump-signs-order-protecting-kids">signed</a> an executive order to protect children from irreversible gender procedures by threatening to strip federal funding from hospitals that perform the procedures. Following Trump&#8217;s order last year, NYU Langone began winding down its &#8220;Transgender Youth Health Program,&#8221; canceling appointments for children, including two 12-year-olds who were supposed to start puberty blockers, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hospitals-across-u-s-stop-transitioning-children-after-trump-signs-order-protecting-kids">reported</a> at the time. However, some parents told the Times that the hospital kept appointments for children who were already on puberty blockers or hormone therapy.
Last June, the FBI set up a <a href="https://x.com/FBI/status/1929587710894739567">tip line</a> for Americans to report &#8220;any hospitals, clinics, or practitioners&#8221; that &#8220;mutilate&#8221; children &#8220;under the guise of gender-affirming care.&#8221; The Trump administration <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/nyregion/transgender-care-lawsuit-trump.html">reportedly</a> served subpoenas to multiple hospitals last year, including NYU Langone, seeking more information on their youth gender clinics.
In December, the Trump administration began implementing the president&#8217;s executive order to protect children by proposing rules to strip federal funding from hospitals that continue to perform gender procedures on children.
Democrats have pushed back against Trump&#8217;s effort to go after hospitals and doctors that promote gender procedures for children. In response to Trump&#8217;s crackdown on hospitals performing gender procedures on children, New York joined a coalition of Democrat-led states that sued the Trump administration in an effort to stop the federal government&#8217;s investigation into hospitals and doctors that perform the life-altering procedures on children.
President Trump&#8217;s executive action to protect children from the harmful procedures followed numerous Republican-led states banning the so-called gender-affirming treatments and procedures for minors. Florida, Texas, Tennessee, and many other states took action to protect children beginning in 2023, shortly after Daily Wire host Matt Walsh&#8217;s documentary &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/what-is-a-woman">What is a Woman?</a>&#8221; exposed the dangers of gender procedures.
After &#8220;What is a Woman?&#8221; became one of the most-watched documentaries of the year, Walsh held a rally in Nashville and met with state leaders in multiple states to advocate for ending &#8220;child mutilation.&#8221;
Thanks to recent laws passed by Republican-led states and the efforts of President Trump, the tide has turned in the debate on gender procedures for children. The Trump administration and advocates for protecting children from gender procedures celebrated another <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-fight-is-not-over-major-medical-org-rejects-transgender-surgeries-for-kids">major win</a> earlier this month when the American Society of Plastic Surgeons acknowledged that &#8220;evidence did not support genital procedures or removing the breasts of young girls who identify as boys.&#8221;

NYU Langone/Donald Trump

Trump Flex Delivers Another Major Victory Protecting Kids From Gender Mutilation

Hospitals

LGBT

New York

Transgender

transgender surgery

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday. It was attended by a wide variety of politicos, both from the Trump administration and from the Democratic side of the aisle.
He was the adult in the room.
Marco Rubio is the most well-spoken member of the Trump administration. And when it comes to foreign policy, it’s not even close.
He gave a truly tremendous speech about the relationship between America and Europe.
If you recall, last year, Vice President JD Vance also went to Europe. In Davos, he proceeded to give a speech blistering the Europeans: some parts for good reasons, some parts that weren’t so great.
His speech appeared to draw the hackles of a bunch of Europeans because it was basically saying, “Guys, you seem to be on your own. America is drawing back.”
That is not what Rubio said. What Rubio said is that we have strong bonds, centuries-long bonds with the many European countries, and we also are going to have common interests with those countries, but we need strong allies to stand up for themselves.
He attempted to draw out a definition of what it meant to be in consonance with Europe in a way that Vance, in some ways, failed to advance.
Rubio received a standing ovation for this, which is a good thing because his defense of the Trump administration policy was quite muscular over at the Munich Security Conference.
Rubio suggested that the United States and Europe have a great history of cooperation:
<blockquote>Together we rebuilt a shattered continent in the wake of two devastating world wars. When we found ourselves divided once again by the Iron Curtain, the free West linked arms with the courageous dissidents struggling against tyranny in the East to defeat Soviet communism. We have fought against each other, then reconciled, then fought, then reconciled again. And we have bled and died side by side on battlefields from Kapyong to Kandahar.</blockquote>
Rubio said we definitely need strong allies, that it can&#8217;t just be the United States picking up the check for everybody else. You can&#8217;t build gigantic welfare states on the back of American taxpayers. You need to be strong, because strong alliances require strong allies, and those strong allies are capable of providing deterrence against, for example, a wayward Russia.
“We do not want our allies to be weak, because that makes us weaker,” he said. “We want allies who can defend themselves so that no adversary will ever be tempted to test our collective strength. This is why we do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame. We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization, and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it.
Rubio noted problems that the continent has brought upon itself, ranging from subjecting itself to the Green Revolution,, to the mass migration that it brought upon itself largely through a bizarre sort of blood-guilt, the idea that Europe, because it had destroyed so much of the world during World War II, somehow owed it to the rest of the world to open its borders and bring everyone in.
In the key section of his speech, he talked about the values that are supposed to bring together the United States and Europe.
<blockquote>The fundamental question we must answer at the outset is what exactly are we defending, because armies do not fight for abstractions. Armies fight for a people; armies fight for a nation. Armies fight for a way of life. And that is what we are defending: a great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history, confident of its future, and aims to always be the master of its own economic and political destiny.</blockquote>
What are the ideas that unite that civilization? He said, “Armies don&#8217;t fight for abstractions.” I beg to differ a little; armies do fight for abstractions. Armies have fought for communism; there are armies that fight for Islamic fundamentalism; there are armies that are fought for Catholicism and for Protestantism. There are armies all over the world that fight for ideas.
The question is, what are the ideas of Western civilization that are worth upholding and preserving? Because if you don&#8217;t know what it is you are defending, it is very difficult to fight for it.
The truth is that Europe itself is a bit of an idea. There are times when members of the European continent have been fighting each other tooth and nail in bloody, centuries-long wars.
What exactly is the concept of Europe? What is the common ideological heritage that actually counts between America and Europe? If you&#8217;re going to talk about Europe as a holistic concept, you have to define your terms. If you&#8217;re going through the history of Europe all the way back to the Roman Empire, what you&#8217;d see is that the Roman Empire was its own civilization. It considered the outlying areas to be barbarians. The word barbarian comes from a Latin root, which means people who speak gibberish. At that time, it applied to the Germans. The Germans were the barbarians. Now they are considered part of European civilization.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, what rose in its wake was Christendom, which was basically the idea of Catholic dominance of the European continent. That grew over the course of the Carolingian Empire and over the course of the subsequent centuries, up until the Protestant Reformation. 
The Protestant Reformation ushered in an era of religious warfare that lasted well over 100 years, and ended with the Peace of Westphalia when the medieval concept of Christendom was replaced by the modern system of nation-states. There was a new concept of Europe that was formed in the aftermath.
The question is always in opposition to what? Whenever you are defining a civilization, civilizations have an internal definition, and then they have a definition with regard to others.
The reality is that the Roman Empire was not only defined as that which was under the sway of Rome, but also in opposition to other empires and armies, German armies, Assyrian armies, Persian armies, or whatever the case may have been.
Christendom was largely forged in opposition to Islam in the aftermath of the fall of the Roman Empire, because Islam was actually a dire threat to Europe and had spread deep into Europe, all the way into France, after the Peace of Westphalia.
About a century later, we saw the rise of the Enlightenment, and then the West became identified with these Enlightenment ideas, a history of Christianity that bled over into a sort of secularized version of many of the key values of Christianity, but with a critical eye toward the idea that religion could answer all questions, and therefore a sort of Aristotelian approach towards science that looked at evidence first.
You got the separation of church and state in many of these countries. You got the rise of the scientific revolution, the rise of the industrial Revolution, the rise of free economies, and all the rest.
And then the West tore itself apart, enduring two world wars.
We saw a West redefined in opposition to Soviet communism and in the aftermath of Soviet communism.
So what is the West? What are these values that we hold dear? It is not just a matter of “common heritage.” It is not just a matter of “common language.” It is not “cultural inheritance” because there are similarities in culture, but also pretty significant differences in these cultures.
To pretend that Europe doesn&#8217;t exist as a concept or as a civilization is silly. It has a shared Christian history that grew out of Christendom, but it also has an Enlightenment history, and it has shared values.
And if those values wane, so too will the alliance between the old world and the new.
Those values include the rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, property rights, democracy, and small republicanism.
This is one reason among many why Russia has never quite ever entered the world of Europe, and has always sort of existed on the fringes of Europe. Integrating the Russian Empire into Europe has always been a failed experiment.
All of this means Europe needs to uphold its own values. It means the United States needs to uphold its own values, and we all need to understand that a shared history, a shared experience, and a shared set of values are all necessary in order to have an increasingly powerful alliance.
He concluded: 
<blockquote>I am here today to leave it clear that America is charting the path for a new century of prosperity, and that once again we want to do it together with you, our cherished allies and our oldest friends. We want to do it together with you, with a Europe that is proud of its heritage and of its history; with a Europe that has the spirit of creation of liberty that sent ships out into uncharted seas and birthed our civilization; with a Europe that has the means to defend itself and the will to survive.
We should be proud of what we achieved together in the last century, but now we must confront and embrace the opportunities of a new one – because yesterday is over, the future is inevitable, and our destiny together awaits.</blockquote>
This is the right approach for the Trump administration to take.
And Rubio did a phenomenal job of expounding it.

Marco

Rubio’s Muscular Defense Of Western Civilization

Ben Shapiro

Europe

Marco Rubio

Opinion

Western Civilization

Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin will soon leave the Trump administration, a source familiar with her plans told The Daily Wire on Tuesday.
McLaughlin had planned to leave the department in December, but according to POLITICO, stayed on board in the wake of the two fatal shootings in Minneapolis last month.
<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/17/dhs-spokesperson-tricia-mclaughlin-to-leave-trump-administration-00783378" target="_blank" rel="noopener">POLITICO</a> first reported the news of McLaughlin&#8217;s departure, saying that she intends to inform colleagues on Tuesday. She will be leaving the department next week.
McLaughlin was a top communications aide on Vivek Ramaswamy&#8217;s 2024 presidential campaign and on Ohio GOP Governor Mike DeWine&#8217;s, according to POLITICO. She also served in the first Trump administration, working for Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and at the Department of State, where she was tasked with arms control issues.
Lauren Bis, who currently serves as the deputy assistant secretary for media relations at DHS, will step into McLaughlin&#8217;s role as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, according to a source.
News of McLaughlin&#8217;s exit comes just days after the Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/chaos-kristi-noem-homeland-security-f095ac95?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqdoqYAY21iva280uFyu3A60ncSOX1BQJSGo1epU2ckT5CJ-582aSSTr_-JX3nc%3D&amp;gaa_ts=69948e43&amp;gaa_sig=GQBU8pYBpMhkx6bfWgg5bZbZhXRqZAdcSDV3OPWHNZfIMHBELgMXCt2baAvO42MN94XVLDgGlRe32SPwje2zfA%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> a culture of &#8220;constant chaos&#8221; enduring at DHS under Secretary Kristi Noem, &#8220;who has attempted to burnish her personal stardom at every turn.&#8221; The report also highlighted a purported incident in which a Coast Guard pilot was fired by longtime Trump aide Corey Lewandowski for misplacing the secretary&#8217;s blanket.
It also comes amid a government shutdown largely targeting DHS, as Congressional Democrats attempt to force the Trump administration to meet a laundry list of demands to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
McLaughlin <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dhs-shutdown-drags-4th-day-senate-democrats-block-funding-over-ice-reforms" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared</a> on Fox News Sunday to discuss the funding freeze, saying ICE won&#8217;t stop operations during the shutdown because it is a critical federal law enforcement agency.
&#8220;Our immigration enforcement efforts will not be hampered by this in any way,&#8221; McLaughlin said.
The lapse in funding, however, will significantly impact other DHS subagencies, such as TSA, she said.
&#8220;The Democrat politicians here, Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, they are holding the American people&#8217;s national security hostage just in the name of scoring cheap political points, it&#8217;s really nonsensical,&#8221; she said.
When <a href="https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/17/tricia-mclaughlin-dhs-ice-homeland-security-leads-the-nations-immigration-conversation/87185578007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">asked</a> by the Cincinnati Enquirer recently if she intended to run for office, McLaughlin said she &#8220;wouldn&#8217;t rule anything out.&#8221;
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s going to be a year from now or that&#8217;ll be five years from now,&#8221; McLaughlin said. &#8220;I love Cincinnati. It&#8217;s my home and I don&#8217;t think there&#8217;s any place like it.&#8221;
Several top officials at DHS have recently left their posts. That includes former deputy ICE director Madison Sheehan, who resigned last month and subsequently launched a bid for Congress in Ohio.
ICE&#8217;s former spokeswoman, Emily Covington, also recently moved to the Department of Justice.

Tricia McLaughlin

Top DHS Spokeswoman To Leave Trump Administration

Immigration

Kristi Noem

Border Czar Tom Homan responded forcefully on Sunday to questions about Department of Homeland Security funding, arguing that Democrat demands on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are unreasonable.
Appearing on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Homan was asked about which demands from the Democrats he and the Trump administration would consider as the White House and Congress battle over DHS funding.
“Among other things, they&#8217;d like to require immigration agents to show identification, wear body cameras, take off their masks, stop racial profiling, and seek judicial warrants to enter private property. Which, if any, of those asks is the president, are you willing to consider adopting?” host Ed O’Keefe asked.
After noting that he’s not part of the ongoing negotiations, Homan shut down the notion that ICE is racially profiling and argued that many of the requests are non-starters.
“When they say, ‘stop racial profiling,’ that&#8217;s just not occurring. ICE will detain, briefly detain, and question somebody based on reasonable suspicion — [it] has nothing to do with racial profiling,” Homan said.
“As far as a mask … I don&#8217;t like the masks either, but because [assaults] against ICE officers are up over 1,500%, and threats are up over 8,000%, these men and women have to protect themselves,” the border czar added.
Homan further noted that while immigration agents do identify which agency they’re from, they simply don’t provide their names.
“Why don’t they talk about maybe passing legislation to make it illegal to dox agents or something like that,” Homan said. “But the masks right now are for officer safety reasons.”
O’Keefe pressed, noting that law enforcement elsewhere don’t wear masks.
“You know, cops go out every day, everywhere across the country,&#8221; he said, asking why ICE has to &#8220;wear all that and protect themselves when there are others out there wearing badges that don&#8217;t have to do that?”
Homan pushed back strongly.
“I don&#8217;t know of another law enforcement agency in the country that has an 8,000% increase in threats. Just yesterday, the director of ICE, his wife was filmed walking to work, his home address has been doxed, his kids have been doxed and filmed,” Homan said. “And look, let&#8217;s remember why we&#8217;re here. We&#8217;re here because the last four years, over ten million illegal aliens crossed that border, released into this country unvetted. ICE has to do a law enforcement response to deal with the last four years of open borders, where they claim the border was secure every day and it wasn’t.&#8221;
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Trump administration border czar Tom Homan says some demands by congressional Democrats to reopen the Department of Homeland Security are “unreasonable.”
“They want to say, &#8216;stop racial profiling.&#8217; That&#8217;s just not occurring,” Homan says. He adds “I don’t like the masks” on ICE… <a href="https://t.co/pT5xnHaWf1">pic.twitter.com/pT5xnHaWf1</a>
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/2023067944717070671?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Tom Homan Joins White House Press Briefing

Homan Dismisses Democrat Demands About ICE: ‘These Men And Women Have To Protect Themselves’

Deportations

Illegal Immigration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

Tom Homan

U.S. military forces boarded a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean in what the Pentagon described as a coordinated effort to disrupt illicit Venezuelan oil shipments tied to the regime of former dictator Nicolás Maduro.
According to the Department of War, U.S. forces conducted a “right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding” of the tanker Veronica III overnight Saturday into Sunday, after the vessel attempted to evade a U.S.-imposed quarantine on sanctioned ships.
“The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine — hoping to slip away,” the Pentagon said in a post on X. “We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down.”
Video released by the Pentagon showed U.S. troops boarding the tanker without resistance.
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We defend the Homeland forward. Distance does not protect you.
Overnight, U.S. forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding of the Veronica III without incident in the INDOPACOM area of responsibility.
The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s… <a href="https://t.co/Tran3cLR9g">pic.twitter.com/Tran3cLR9g</a>
— Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeptofWar/status/2022997870061011067?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The Veronica III is a crude oil tanker that has previously been linked to Venezuela’s oil exports and is listed under U.S. sanctions related to Iran by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The boarding is the latest move in the Trump administration’s broader effort to dismantle what U.S. officials have described as Venezuela’s “shadow fleet,&#8221; a network of falsely flagged or covertly operated tankers used to move sanctioned crude into global markets.
​​The boarding came as the Department of War confirmed Monday that U.S. forces had intercepted another sanctioned tanker, the Aquila II, which like the Veronica III, had fled the Venezuelan coast following the January operation that removed Maduro from power.
Both tankers falsely flew Panamanian flags and are under U.S. sanctions tied to illicit oil shipments. Both had spent much of the past year “running dark,” a common smuggling tactic in which ships disable their tracking transponders to evade detection.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XF2bSRak-U">Speaking</a> Monday during a stop at Maine Bath Iron Works as part of his “Arsenal of Freedom Tour,” War Secretary Pete Hegseth said the administration intends to pursue every tanker that attempted to escape U.S. enforcement.
“The only guidance I gave to my military commanders is none of those are getting away,” Hegseth told shipyard workers. “I don’t care if we’ve got to go around the globe to get them — we’re going to get them.”
U.S. officials say at least 16 tankers fled Venezuelan waters in the aftermath of the January raid, prompting a global tracking effort that has now stretched from the Caribbean into the Indian Ocean. The Trump administration has now seized seven tankers since the January 3 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/united-states-carries-out-military-strikes-on-venezuela-captures-president-nicolas-maduro">operation</a>. This is part of a broader push to dismantle Venezuela’s shadow oil fleet and reassert control over the country’s petroleum exports.
Anonymous Naval officials <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/09/us-military-strike-pacific?utm_source=chatgpt.com">confirmed</a> to The Guardian that multiple U.S. vessels, including guided-missile destroyers and a mobile sea base, were operating in the Indian Ocean, underscoring the administration’s willingness to enforce sanctions far beyond the Western Hemisphere.
Venezuela’s oil sector has been under heavy U.S. sanctions for years, forcing the Maduro regime to rely on clandestine shipping routes and foreign intermediaries to sustain revenue. In December, President Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned Venezuelan tankers as part of an escalating pressure campaign, weeks before Maduro was apprehended during a U.S. military operation in January.
The Pentagon did not clarify whether the Veronica III has been formally seized or placed under U.S. control, stating only that the boarding was conducted successfully and without incident. 
“International waters are not sanctuary,” the Department of War said in its statement. “By land, air, or sea, we will find you and deliver justice.”
While the administration has offered limited public detail on the legal mechanisms governing the seizures, officials have framed the campaign as a necessary extension of sanctions enforcement against hostile regimes and their economic lifelines.
The interception of the Veronica III signals that, even as Maduro waits to stand trial, U.S. forces will continue to pursue the remnants of Venezuela’s illicit oil trade, and that geography alone will not shield sanctioned actors from American reach.

Venezuela Oil Tanker

U.S. Forces Intercept Another Sanctioned Venezuelan Oil Tanker, Seventh Since Fall Of Maduro

Department of War

Global Politics

Nicolas Maduro

Pete Hegseth

U.S. Military

Venezuela

World

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said mass migration has “gone too far” and must be addressed with secure borders during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference this week.
Clinton spoke during a panel titled “The West–West Divide: What Remains of Common Values” while in Germany, where she acknowledged that debate over migration is justified and called for enforcement that is both secure and “humane.”
“There is a legitimate reason to have a debate about things like migration,” Clinton said. “It went too far, it’s been disruptive and destabilizing, and it needs to be fixed in a humane way with secure borders that don’t torture and kill people.”
The remarks mark a notable shift from many of Clinton’s recent positions on immigration. As recently as last year, she echoed prevailing Democratic arguments emphasizing the economic benefits of immigration. Speaking at the Newmark Civic Life Series in Manhattan, Clinton highlighted immigrants’ role in bolstering the U.S. workforce. “One of the reasons why our economy did so much better than comparable advanced economies across the world is because we actually had a replenishment, because we had a lot of immigrants, legally and undocumented, who had a, you know, larger than normal — by American standards — families.” 
In 2018, Clinton sharply criticized the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies, particularly family separation. “It is now the official policy of the U.S. government — a nation of immigrants — to separate children from their families,” she wrote on <a href="https://x.com/HillaryClinton/status/1002612441971294213">X</a> at the time. “That is an absolute disgrace.”
During her 2016 presidential campaign, Clinton opposed large-scale expansion of a border wall and supported executive actions by then-President Barack Obama that deferred immigration enforcement against millions of illegal immigrants. She also advocated ending family detention as part of broader immigration reform, often prioritizing humanitarian considerations over strict enforcement.
Her 2016 <a href="https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/immigration-reform/">platform</a> included a proposal to expand the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to all families regardless of immigration status. Clinton said her goal was to “expand access to affordable health care to all families … regardless of immigration status.”
Yet even earlier in her political career, Clinton took a more restrictive stance on immigration benefits. In a 1993 congressional <a href="https://www.c-span.org/clip/house-committee/user-clip-hillary-clinton-illegal-aliens-and-healthcare/4758039">hearing</a>, she argued against what would be her platform in just a few decades: “We do not think the comprehensive health care benefits should be extended to those who are undocumented workers and illegal aliens. We do not want to do anything to encourage more illegal immigration.”
It seems Hillary Clinton has now come full circle on the issue.
Taken together, Clinton’s record on immigration reveals a pattern of shifting positions that track closely with the political moment. From warning that benefits for undocumented immigrants would encourage illegal immigration, to defending broad protections and expanded access to government programs, and now returning to language emphasizing border security, her public stance has repeatedly changed with the times. The evolution reflects the sharpest criticism of Clinton that’s followed her throughout her career: that on major policy questions, her positions have often been shaped less by fixed principle than by political fortune and prevailing winds.

Day One Of The 2024 Democratic National Convention

Hillary Clinton Admits Immigration Has Been ‘Disruptive And Destabilizing’

Hillary Clinton

Secretary of State Marco Rubio used his first appearance at the Munich Security Conference to deliver a call for a renewed “Western century” grounded in sovereignty, industrial power, borders, and civilizational confidence.
“The euphoria of this triumph led us to a dangerous delusion,” Rubio said, describing the post-Cold War belief that history had ended and that liberal democracy would inevitably spread. “That every nation would now be a liberal democracy; that the ties formed by trade and by commerce alone would now replace nationhood; that the rules-based global order would replace the national interest.”
“This was a foolish idea that ignored both human nature and the lessons of over 5,000 years of recorded human history,&#8221; he added. &#8220;And it has cost us dearly.”
Rubio contrasted that worldview with what he described as the lived consequences of Western policy choices: deindustrialization, weakened defense capacity, and economic dependence on adversaries who never shared the West’s assumptions.
“In this delusion, we embraced a dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade,” Rubio said, “even as some nations protected their economies and subsidized their companies to systematically undercut ours—shuttering our plants, deindustrializing large parts of our societies, shipping millions of working- and middle-class jobs overseas, and handing control of our critical supply chains to both adversaries and rivals.”
Rubio argued that energy policy in particular had become an exercise in self-harm “to appease a climate cult.” He added, “We have imposed energy policies on ourselves that are impoverishing our people, even as our competitors exploit oil and coal and natural gas—not just to power their economies, but to use as leverage against our own.”
Rubio also rejected the framing common in recent Munich conferences that mass migration is primarily a humanitarian challenge rather than a civilizational one.
“In a pursuit of a world without borders,” he warned, “we opened our doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people.”
“Controlling who and how many people enter our countries,” Rubio continued, “is not an expression of xenophobia. It is not hate. It is a fundamental act of national sovereignty.”
On national security, Rubio explicitly rejected modern abstractionist framing. “The fundamental question we must answer at the outset is what exactly are we defending?” he said. “Because armies do not fight for abstractions. Armies fight for a people. Armies fight for a nation. Armies fight for a way of life.” That way of life, Rubio argued, is not interchangeable with other systems, nor should it be treated as morally neutral among equals.
“We are part of one civilization—Western civilization,” he said. “Bound by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and sacrifice.”
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It is time to unshackle our ingenuity and build a new Western century. <a href="https://t.co/KJjGQ24bCd">pic.twitter.com/KJjGQ24bCd</a>
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecRubio/status/2022644331878793376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Rubio’s speech also departed sharply from Biden-era deference to multinational institutions. While stopping short of calling for their abandonment, he argued that they have repeatedly failed on the most pressing security challenges of the age.
“The United Nations could not solve the war in Gaza. It did not solve the war in Ukraine. It was powerless to constrain the nuclear program of radical Shia clerics in Tehran,” Rubio said, crediting American military and diplomatic leadership with producing results.
“In a perfect world, these problems would be solved by diplomats and strongly-worded resolutions,” he added. “But we do not live in a perfect world.”
Rubio said plainly that the United States under President Trump intends to pursue renewal, and invites Europe to do the same. The future, Rubio concluded, depends on whether Western nations choose pride over guilt, sovereignty over submission, and renewal over retreat.
“We have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline,” Rubio said. “What we want is a reinvigorated alliance—one that is not paralyzed by fear, but bold enough to race into the future.”

Secretary Marco Rubio Meets With Ecuadoran Foreign Affairs Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld

Rubio Declares ‘New Western Century’ In World Speech, Says America Won’t Oversee ‘Managed Decline’

Germany

Globalism

President Donald Trump said Friday that regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen,” signaling a markedly harder posture toward Tehran as U.S. military assets continue to flow into the region.
“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking, and in the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk,” Trump said. “Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off — this has been going on for a long time. So let’s see what happens. In the meantime … tremendous power has arrived and additional power — as you know, another carrier is going out.”
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BREAKING?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BREAKING</a>: President Trump today said regime change in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Iran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Iran</a> &#8220;would be the best thing that could happen. For 47 years, they&#8217;ve been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we&#8217;ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We&#8217;ve… <a href="https://t.co/SVtF3MDaU8">pic.twitter.com/SVtF3MDaU8</a>
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonMBrodsky/status/2022423464791974066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The remarks come as defense analysts say Iran’s strategic position has fundamentally shifted following the recent 12-day conflict, altering longstanding assumptions about both the regime’s durability and its military priorities.
According to senior policy officials at the Jewish Institute of National Security of America (JINSA), Tehran is emerging from the conflict weaker in some respects, but more dangerous in others.
“The clocks have been reversed,” said Blaise Misztal, vice president for policy at JINSA, referring to the balance between regime longevity and nuclear breakout timelines. “Their nuclear program is back to zero — and they aren’t reinvesting,” following last year&#8217;s Operation Midnight Hammer, that destroyed three vital nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran.
Instead, Misztal and other analysts said, Iran has redirected resources toward systems that proved most effective during the fighting, particularly ballistic missiles.
“Iran’s ballistic missile program has gone leaps and bounds in both quality and quantity,” said Ari Cicurel, associate director of foreign policy at JINSA. “They are getting fuel mixtures from China. They started the 12-day war with 2,500 medium-range ballistic missiles, they are already back to 2,000.”
That figure does not include what Cicurel described as thousands of short-range ballistic missiles currently in Iran’s arsenal.
More concerning to U.S. defense planners, according to JINSA officials, is Iran’s evolving operational doctrine. Rather than relying on single-system attacks, Tehran has increasingly adopted mixed bombardment tactics designed to overwhelm air and missile defenses. Those strikes combine suicide drones, short-range missiles, and medium-range ballistic missile barrages to confuse radar, exhaust interceptors, and complicate targeting decisions.
That strategy appeared to gain traction toward the end of the conflict. The United States alone expended roughly 150 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors during the fighting, according to JINSA estimates.
“That represents about 25% of the American stockpile,” said Jonathan Ruhe, a fellow for American strategy at JINSA. “It could take 18 months to replenish that.”
Ruhe added that War Secretary Pete Hegseth has already pressed manufacturers to expand production, but warned that industrial ramp-ups take time.
Taken together, the assessments paint a more complex picture than traditional regime-change debates. Iran’s nuclear ambitions may have been set back substantially, but its conventional strike capabilities, particularly missiles designed to stress U.S. and allied defenses, are rapidly rebounding.
Iranian officials, for their part, are publicly striking a defiant but conciliatory tone, insisting that Tehran seeks diplomacy even as it prepares for escalation.
In an <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/no-one-wants-war-iran-spokesman-discusses-diplomatic-path-with-u-s-after-oman-talks">interview</a> aired Tuesday on PBS NewsHour, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei rejected the idea that Iran is driving the current confrontation, portraying the regime as a long-standing victim of Western aggression.
“No human person of common sense welcomes war. No one wants war,” Baghaei said. “For the past 47 years, we have been facing these threats, which are unlawful, unwarranted, unjustified. We have always lived with these looming threats.”
Baghaei argued that Iranian society has grown accustomed to the prospect of conflict and framed resistance as a matter of national survival rather than ideological choice. “Our people have been courageous,” he said, describing U.S. pressure as an attempt “to impose their will on our people.”
He also sought to shift responsibility for the breakdown in U.S.–Iran relations squarely onto Washington, citing what he described as an “unlawful attack” on Iran’s nuclear facilities during previous diplomatic efforts. “The distrust between the United States and Iran is very deep, and it is not because of Iran’s behavior,” Baghaei claimed, adding that Iran’s decision to reenter talks despite past outcomes was itself an act of restraint.
The divergence between U.S. analysts and Iranian officials is the foundation of the central tension facing U.S. policymakers: Iran publicly speaks the language of negotiation, even victimhood, while investing heavily in the tools of coercion. The United States, meanwhile, confronts an adversary whose nuclear clock may have been reset, but whose conventional strike capacity is recovering faster than Western stockpiles can be replenished.
Trump’s comments suggest a growing impatience with that equilibrium. Whether Iran’s professions of restraint signal genuine diplomatic openness or simply a pause before the next phase of confrontation remains the unresolved question hanging over Washington, Tehran, and the region.

Iranian-Missiles-Strike-Israel

Trump Calls For Iranian Regime Change As Tehran Revamps Missile Arsenal

Iran

President Donald Trump pardoned five former NFL players on Thursday for crimes ranging from drug trafficking to counterfeiting.
Among those pardoned was former New York Jets Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Klecko, and star Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders halfback Billy Cannon, who died in 2018, Trump&#8217;s pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson <a href="https://x.com/AliceMarieFree/status/2022117135594742131">announced</a>. The other three former players granted clemency were Dallas Cowboys offensive tackle Nate Newton, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, and Buffalo Bills running back Travis Henry.
&#8220;As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,&#8221; Johnson <a href="https://x.com/AliceMarieFree/status/2022117135594742131">said</a>, adding, &#8220;Grateful [President Trump] for his continued commitment to second chances. Mercy changes lives.&#8221;
Johnson also thanked Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for &#8220;personally sharing the news with Nate Newton.&#8221;
All of the former players pardoned by Trump had already served prison sentences. The president&#8217;s pardons now clear their criminal records.
Klecko, who was part of the Jets&#8217; early 1980s defensive line nicknamed the &#8220;New York Sack Exchange,&#8221; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/10/sports/sports-people-football-jail-sentence-for-klecko.html?mcubz=0">served</a> three months in prison in the early 1990s after committing perjury before a federal grand jury during an investigation into insurance fraud.
Cannon, who was a Heisman Trophy winner at LSU in 1959, was convicted in 1983 for his part in one of the largest counterfeiting schemes in American history at the time. He <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-06-sp-1344-story.html">served</a> three years of his five-year prison sentence and was released on good behavior. Cannon died in 2018 at the age of 80.
Newton, a three-time Super Bowl champion who was part of the Cowboys&#8217; incredible run in the 1990s, was first <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/03/24/Cowboys-Nate-Newton-arrested-at-dogfight/7795669790800/">arrested</a> in 1991 for allegedly setting up illegal dog fights. A decade later, Newton was arrested after a traffic stop when Texas authorities <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/2002/0814/1418021.html">discovered</a> $10,000 in his pickup truck as well as 175 pounds of marijuana in a vehicle that he was accompanying. Newton took a plea deal and served a 30-month prison sentence after he faced up to 20 years in prison.
Lewis, who helped the Ravens win Super Bowl XXXV in 2001 as a rookie and was the youngest player to play in a Super Bowl, <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=1897106">served</a> four months in prison on drug charges after his conviction in 2005. Just months after he was drafted No. 5 overall in 2000, Lewis attempted to set up a drug deal. He entered a plea deal in 2005, which resulted in drug conspiracy and attempted cocaine possession charges against him being dropped.
Henry, a former running back, was drafted by the Bills in 2001 and also spent time playing for the Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos. Shortly after retiring from the NFL, Henry was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration and accepted a deal, which saw him <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=4330252">plead guilty</a> to conspiracy to traffic cocaine and was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Henry — who fathered 11 children with 10 different women — was also arrested in 2009 after he failed to pay child support.
Trump recently sparked controversy with his <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-frees-former-honduran-president-convicted-of-flooding-u-s-with-cocaine">pardon</a> of a former Honduran president who was convicted of helping drug smugglers import 400 tons of cocaine into the United States. In December, Trump allowed Juan Orlando Hernandez to walk out of a federal prison, saying that &#8220;according to many people that I greatly respect,&#8221; Hernandez was &#8220;treated very harshly and unfairly.&#8221;

Donald Trump/Joe Klecko/Nate Newton

Trump Pardons Five Former NFL Players, Including Hall Of Famer

Crime

pardons

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