A federal judge struck down the Trump administration&#8217;s efforts to crack down on DEI programs at federally funded schools, claiming the administration bypassed procedural requirements. 
Maryland District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/federal-judge-rules-education-department-race-dei-crackdown-unlawful.pdf">ruled</a> on Thursday against <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dear-colleague-letter-sffa-v-harvard-109506.pdf">guidance</a> from the Education Department warning schools not to implement DEI programs that discriminate against white or Asian students. Gallagher&#8217;s ruling also applied to the Education Department&#8217;s demand that schools certify they were not discriminating through DEI programs.  
“This Court takes no view as to whether the policies at issue in this case are good or bad, prudent or foolish, fair or unfair,” Gallagher wrote. “But, at this stage too, it must closely scrutinize whether the government went about creating and implementing them in the manner the law requires. Here, it did not. And by leapfrogging important procedural requirements, the government has unwittingly run headfirst into serious constitutional problems.”
“The administration is entitled to express its viewpoints and to promulgate policies aligned with those viewpoints. But it must do so within the procedural bounds Congress has outlined. And it may not do so at the expense of constitutional rights,” the Trump-appointed judge added. 
The ruling was prompted by a lawsuit from the American Federation of Teachers and other teacher groups. The guidance was first blocked back in April. 
In response, the Department of Education said that it would continue to protect students from racial discrimination across the country. 
“While the Department is disappointed in the judge’s ruling, judicial action enjoining or setting aside this guidance has not stopped our ability to enforce Title VI protections for students at an unprecedented level,” a spokesman <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/14/federal-judge-declares-education-departments-attempt-to-bar-diversity-programs-unlawful-00510621">said</a>. “The Department remains committed to its responsibility to uphold students’ anti-discrimination protections under the law.”
The original guidance from the department was issued in February, and state education agencies were requested to certify compliance in April. It sought to end the practices of some schools to bypass the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn affirmative action and to end racially-based DEI school programs. The guidance suggested that schools could lose funding if they continued to promote DEI.  
“American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families. These institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia,” <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/dear-colleague-letter-sffa-v-harvard-109506.pdf">the guidance read</a>. “The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.”

Key Speakers At America First Agenda Summit

Judge Deals Major Blow To Trump’s Efforts To Purge DEI From Public Schools

Judge Deals Blow To Trump Admin Efforts To Crackdown On DEI At Public Schools

Courts

Department of Education

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Trump Administration

When President Donald Trump sat between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan last week, few people realized the significance of the meeting and the months of negotiations that took place beforehand to get two hostile nations to come together at the White House.
Just weeks before the president and his team stepped in to maintain stability in the South Caucasus earlier this year, a full-scale invasion of Armenia&#8217;s southernmost province, Syunik, appeared imminent, according to Dr. Nerses Kopalyan, an Armenian-American political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Kopalyan informally advised and supported negotiations between the Trump administration and Armenia and spoke to The Daily Wire this week about the agreement that was signed last Friday.
In March, Trump administration officials were briefed on U.S. intelligence that Azerbaijan was planning a major offensive against Armenia, reigniting hostilities two years after Azerbaijan&#8217;s ethnic cleansing campaign uprooted thousands of Armenians from their ancestral homeland in Nagorno-Karabakh, Kopalyan said. The American intelligence assessment sparked immediate action from the Trump administration. Later that month, the president&#8217;s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, opened up negotiations with Azerbaijan as the White House sought to prevent another armed conflict.
&#8220;Once U.S. intelligence had that information, the Trump administration decided that they had to step in and put diplomatic pressure on Azerbaijan not to attack, and then initiate diplomacy to find a solution,&#8221; said Kopalyan, who previously <a href="https://evnreport.com/evn-security-report/pax-americana-comes-to-the-south-caucasus/">wrote</a> about the significance of Trump&#8217;s Armenia-Azerbaijan deal. &#8220;So if it were not for the Trump administration, Azerbaijan would have attacked, and we would have had severe instability in the region.&#8221;
A White House official told The Daily Wire, “We do not comment on specific intelligence, but President Trump’s administration was concerned about tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan before intervening to deliver peace and stability in the region.”
The challenge before the Trump administration at the beginning of the talks in March and April was complicated.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been in and out of severe conflict for the past 35 years, with Azerbaijan most recently taking full control of Nagorno-Karabakh — a large patch of land inside of Azerbaijan that was inhabited by Armenians for centuries. In 2020, conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh resulted in thousands of casualties before a ceasefire was agreed upon. Nearly three years later, Azerbaijan launched a full-scale offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenians to flee the region.
For the past five years, Azerbaijan has threatened to encroach on Armenia&#8217;s sovereignty, pushing for its own trade route — called the Zangezur Corridor — that would cut through Armenia and connect Azerbaijan to its landlocked exclave, Nakhchivan. With Azerbaijan potentially setting its sights on southern Armenia and risking the breakout of another war, the Trump administration had to move fast.
The White House presented a &#8220;unique solution&#8221; to get the two enemies to come to an agreement, Kopalyan said.
&#8220;The United States comes and presents the proposal that became the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP),&#8221; Kopalyan added. &#8220;They present it as a very unique solution to a problem that should be accepted by both sides.&#8221;
Under the TRIPP proposal, Armenia and the United States would build a major trade route through Syunik that Azerbaijan could use freely to gain better access to Nakhchivan.
&#8220;The United States&#8217; presence would alleviate Armenia&#8217;s concerns. It would also mitigate Azerbaijan&#8217;s concerns, and Azerbaijan would no longer have the Zangezur Corridor premise to attack,&#8221; Kopalyan said.
Not all Armenians were pleased with the deal, with some in the diaspora arguing that Trump&#8217;s negotiations favored Azerbaijan. The biggest criticism of the deal is that it does not address Azerbaijan&#8217;s past human rights abuses against Armenians, such as the ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and allegations that Azerbaijan&#8217;s government is holding at least 23 Armenians — likely more — hostage in Baku.
The Armenian National Committee of America — which is affiliated with the pro-Russia political wing in Armenia called the Armenian Revolutionary Federation — blasted the Trump-negotiated deal. The group <a href="https://anca.org/press-release/anca-calls-out-white-house-for-pushing-armenia-azerbaijan-deal-without-artsakh-return-prisoner-release-or-sovereignty-safeguards/">said</a> that the deal was &#8220;rewarding [Azerbaijan&#8217;s] aggression, compromising Armenia’s sovereignty, and consolidating Azerbaijan’s genocidal ethnic cleansing of over 150,000 indigenous Armenian Christians.&#8221;
&#8220;A true and lasting peace requires justice — the right of return for displaced Armenians, the release of hostages, protection for Christian heritage sites, and the withdrawal of Azerbaijani forces from Armenia – none of which are addressed in this agreement,&#8221; the Armenian National Committee of America added in a statement.
In a phone call with The Daily Wire, Garen Jinbachian, the community coordinator for the Western Region of the Armenian National Committee of America, said that Trump&#8217;s Armenia-Azerbaijan deal &#8220;seems like a huge PR stunt to some extent.&#8221;
&#8220;Frankly, you cannot have lasting peace, you cannot have real peace if one of the parties is held at gunpoint and practically coerced to sign it,&#8221; said Jinbachian. &#8220;The whole deal is based on injustice, the lack of justice in the region. Ethnic cleansing is not justice.&#8221;
Those criticisms are missing the full context of the deal, Kopalyan argued. The deal struck last Friday between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev was less of an all-encompassing peace agreement and more of the first major step in a long process of securing communication and stability between the two countries. Kopalyan added that the White House would likely negotiate further peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan for the next three years.
&#8220;This is a normalization process initiated by the United States,&#8221; Kopalyan said.
Despite the major progress made between Armenia and Azerbaijan last week, Kopalyan remains pessimistic that a long-lasting peace treaty could be made between the two nations while Aliyev remains in power.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t think Aliyev will ever sign a peace treaty because it is not in his strategic interest. It&#8217;s a very rational position by him,&#8221; Kopalyan said. &#8220;Because he enjoys so much power asymmetry and because he&#8217;s able to utilize that power disparity to exert his position in the region, if he signs a peace treaty, he&#8217;s basically giving away the last 10-15 years and the billions that he has spent to establish his position of dominance.&#8221;
&#8220;He will do normalization, he will — under American pressure — do connectivity, opening of roads and all that stuff, but unless President Trump and the United States put a gun to his head, where he realizes he has no option but to sign, I don&#8217;t see him signing a peace treaty.&#8221;

President Trump Meets With Leaders Of Armenia And Azerbaijan At The White House

How Trump’s ‘Unique Solution’ For Armenia And Azerbaijan Likely Prevented A Full-Scale War

Armenians

Donald Trump

Foreign Policy

Global Politics

A man was arrested and charged with felony assault after throwing a Subway sandwich at a federal agent on the streets of Washington, D.C., earlier this week. Attorney General Pam Bondi revealed on Thursday that the man worked for the Department of Justice.
A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWa7r4B3ihg">video</a> recorded by a bystander showed 37-year-old Sean Charles Dunn confronting federal agents who were dispatched under President Donald Trump&#8217;s order to federalize the D.C. police department and address the capital&#8217;s violent crime. In the video, Dunn shouts at the federal agents, calling them &#8220;fascists&#8221; and yelling, &#8220;F*** you!&#8221;
Dunn began to walk away with his Subway sandwich, but then returned and asked bystanders which vehicles the federal agents were using. He then crossed the street and approached a group of federal agents. He continued to berate the federal law enforcement officers before winding up and throwing his sandwich at the chest of an agent. A foot chase ensued before the DOJ employee was arrested.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The <a href="https://twitter.com/FBI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FBI</a> arrested this individual last night.
He has been charged with felony assault on a federal officer. <a href="https://t.co/GY2DBr9rUP">pic.twitter.com/GY2DBr9rUP</a>
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1955980832998350883?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
In a <a href="https://x.com/AGPamBondi/status/1956010229348413694">post</a> on X Thursday morning, AG Bondi said that she &#8220;just learned that this defendant worked at the Department of Justice.&#8221; Bondi added that Dunn was fired from the DOJ and charged with a felony.
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&#8220;This is an example of the Deep State we have been up against for seven months as we work to refocus DOJ,&#8221; Bondi added. &#8220;You will NOT work in this administration while disrespecting our government and law enforcement.&#8221;
The criminal complaint against Dunn says that he admitted to throwing the sandwich at the officer, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/13/us-news/dc-man-sean-charles-dunn-charged-with-felony-assault-after-hitting-federal-agent-with-subway-sandwich/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=nypost">reported</a>.  U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said that the suspect thought his action &#8220;was funny.&#8221;
&#8220;Well, he doesn&#8217;t think it&#8217;s funny today because we charged him with a felony: assault on a police officer,&#8221; Pirro added. &#8220;And we&#8217;re going to back the police to the hilt, so there, stick your Subway sandwich somewhere else.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Assault a law enforcement officer, and you’ll be prosecuted.
This guy thought it was funny—well, he doesn’t think it’s funny today, because we charged him with a felony. <a href="https://t.co/O0NVAFDZrU">pic.twitter.com/O0NVAFDZrU</a>
— Jeanine Pirro (@JudgeJeanine) <a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeJeanine/status/1955704405161808286?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump&#8217;s move to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department and send in federal agents and the National Guard to address violent crime has met pushback from local and Congressional Democrats. Some D.C. residents have also taken to the streets to protest Trump&#8217;s law and order directive. Some D.C. residents gathered on city streets Wednesday night, shouting at federal agents with messages such as, “Go home, fascists” and “Get off our streets,&#8221; the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-police-takeover-trump-crime-national-guard-6afb751c7691e8f184057d8a16ddbbe7">reported</a>.
Federal agents, in collaboration with the D.C. police department, have made around 150 arrests since Trump ordered them to tackle violent crime in the nation&#8217;s capital.

Federal agents/Subway

DOJ Employee Faces Felony After Chucking Sandwich At Federal Agent To Protest Trump’s D.C. Takeover

Crime

Pam Bondi

Police

Washington D.C.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt provided an update on Thursday morning regarding President Donald Trump&#8217;s federal operation to combat violent crime in Washington, D.C., saying that 45 more people were arrested on Wednesday night.
In addition to the 45 arrests made by federal authorities in collaboration with D.C. police, federal agents also detained 29 suspected illegal immigrants, Leavitt said. The charges against those arrested overnight on Wednesday included second- and first-degree assault and distribution of illegal drugs and narcotics. Authorities also seized three illegal firearms while making some of those arrests.
&#8220;In addition to that, there were 29 illegal aliens who were removed off of Washington, D.C., streets last night, many of whom had final orders of removal,&#8221; the White House press secretary told &#8220;Fox &amp; Friends.&#8221; &#8220;So these results are happening night after night because of the efforts of this federal task force that [is] working alongside the Metropolitan Police Department, who agree with this effort.&#8221;
&#8220;While Democrats want to rant and rave and coddle criminals, President Trump wants to put them behind bars, and that&#8217;s what this task force is focused on doing for the next 28 days,&#8221; Leavitt added.
Leavitt also argued that the &#8220;huge law enforcement presence&#8221; in the streets of the nation&#8217;s capital is deterring more violent crime.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PressSec</a> on Making D.C. Safe Again: &#8220;Overnight, there were 45 criminal arrests made&#8230; In addition to that, there were 29 illegal aliens who were removed&#8230; If the Democrats had their way, there would be hundreds more criminals roaming free.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/rT8FREVSdg">pic.twitter.com/rT8FREVSdg</a>
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1955977575651492304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 14, 2025</a></blockquote>
&nbsp;
Leavitt&#8217;s latest update adds to the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/d-c-will-be-safe-again-feds-kick-off-trumps-violent-crime-crackdown-with-over-100-arrests?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=D.C.+%E2%80%98WILL+Be+Safe+Again%E2%80%99%3A%C2%A0Feds+Kick+Off+Trump%E2%80%99s+Violent+Crime+Crackdown+With+Over+100+Arrests">total arrest</a> number revealed on Wednesday, when Fox News reported that federal authorities made over 100 arrests between August 7-12. Following Trump&#8217;s order to federalize D.C. police, agents with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Capitol Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives descended upon the nation’s capital. Trump also deployed around 800 National Guard troops to assist with federal efforts to crack down on crime in D.C.
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FBI Director Kash Patel said on Tuesday that his agents assisted in the arrest of at least 10 people, including one arrest &#8220;on a search warrant for a prior murder charge.&#8221; Democratic Congressional and city leaders continue to push back on Trump&#8217;s plan to address D.C.&#8217;s violent crime. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser argues that crime in the capital &#8220;is at its lowest level in 30 years.&#8221;
&#8220;We had an unacceptable spike in 2023, so we changed our laws and strategies. Now, crime levels are not only down from 2023, but from before the pandemic,&#8221; Bowser <a href="https://x.com/MayorBowser/status/1955408828964671749">said</a> earlier this week. &#8220;Our tactics are working, and we aren’t taking our foot off the gas.&#8221;
The president disagreed, and he took to Truth Social on Wednesday evening to cast doubt on the city&#8217;s official crime data.
&#8220;The Violent Crime Rate in D.C. has worsened, and the Murder Rate has essentially DOUBLED in just over a decade — But these are only the &#8216;official&#8217; statistics released by corrupt City Officials. The REAL numbers are many times worse,&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115024069066734919">wrote</a>. &#8220;In fact, a Precinct Commander was just suspended for allegedly manipulating the Violent Crime Statistics, and the D.C. Police Union, likewise, says the real numbers are much higher.&#8221;
The president notched another major victory on Thursday when Washington, D.C., Police Chief Pamela A. Smith announced that the city would break from its &#8220;sanctuary city&#8221; policies, The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-effect-d-c-police-break-from-sanctuary-city-policies-will-cooperate-with-ice?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Trump+Effect%3A+D.C.+Police+Break+From+Sanctuary+City+Policies%2C+Will+Cooperate+With+ICE">reported</a>.
“Effective immediately, members may assist federal immigration enforcement agencies with the following: Sharing information about persons not in MPD custody (e.g., during traffic stops). Providing transportation for federal immigration agency employees and detained subjects,” a press release signed by Chief Smith stated.

Federal agents in Washington, D.C.

D.C. Crime Crackdown Update: Authorities Arrest Dozens More, Including Suspected Illegal Immigrants

Federal Government

Karoline Leavitt

Violent Crime

President Donald Trump took control of Washington, D.C.&#8217;s, police force on Monday, exercising his presidential powers over the nation&#8217;s capital to crack down on rampant violent crime.
The federal takeover of D.C.&#8217;s law enforcement comes in the wake of a brutal assault on a 19-year-old former Department of Government Efficiency worker earlier this month during an attempted carjacking.
&#8220;I&#8217;m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation&#8217;s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,&#8221; Trump said Monday. &#8220;This is Liberation Day in D.C. and we&#8217;re going to take our capital back.&#8221;
On Monday, Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, called Trump&#8217;s takeover of the city &#8220;unsettling and unprecedented&#8221; <a href="https://css.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/08/12/trump-dc-police-takeover-control/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">and</a> an &#8220;authoritarian push.&#8221;
But this is not the first time the federal government has come to the troubled city&#8217;s rescue.
In the 1990s, Washington, D.C., was drowning in debt because of a recession and the crack epidemic, among other issues. It had a $722 million deficit, and Wall Street had <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/appendix-1.pdf">dropped</a> the city to &#8220;junk&#8221; bond status, meaning loaning to D.C. was risky.
In April 1995, Congress established the District of Columbia Financial Control Board, which took over the city&#8217;s finances until 2001.
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During most of that period, the mayor of D.C. was Marion Barry, who was reelected after getting out of federal prison following his arrest for smoking crack cocaine in an FBI sting operation.
The federal control board severely curtailed Barry&#8217;s power and quickly balanced D.C.&#8217;s budget, keeping it balanced for five years before relinquishing control.
During those years, the board mainly sought to clear out the rot of mismanagement primarily caused by corrupt local D.C. politics, such as firing the public school superintendent and installing a new one.
The federal board also asserted broad authority over the police department, which had fallen into chaos — investigations found drug money sitting around in boxes, an unguarded gun warehouse, and more than 135 bungled homicide cases.
Crime <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1997/10/12/problems-in-dc-police-dept-festered-for-decades/32610499-82a1-4234-b410-d50bab9365ca/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">dropped</a> sharply after the federal control board took political control of D.C.&#8217;s police department — violent crime sank 18% during the first year in 1997.
By 2000, violent crime in D.C. had <a href="https://ipfs.desmos.network/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/Crime_in_Washington%2C_D.C..html?utm_source=chatgpt.com">plummeted</a> a whopping 40%, coinciding with a broader nationwide drop in crime, although the control board&#8217;s efforts were credited for much of the improvement.
&#8220;There was massive, positive, healthy, productive change. We went from being a joke to having the best equipment, having the best uniforms, massive policy changes for the better,&#8221; Joshua Ederheimer, a professor and 23-year veteran of D.C.&#8217;s Metropolitan Police Department, <a href="https://thenationaldesk.com/news/nation-world/dc-police-takeover-washington-trump-experts-university-virginia-maryland-metropolitan-home-rule-act-crime-financial-unified-approach-leadership-watchdog-national-legal-policy?utm_source=chatgpt.com">told</a> The National Desk this week.
&#8220;I can&#8217;t see how anyone can say that the federal takeover of the police department was bad because it transformed the agency,&#8221; Ederheimer said.
Public safety is also the reason for Trump&#8217;s takeover this week, and the D.C. police union is desperate for federal help.
&#8220;We completely agree with the president here that crime in the district is out of control, and something needs to be done about it,&#8221; D.C. Police Union Chairman Greggory Pemberton <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/video/6376837699112">said</a> over the weekend on Fox Business.
The police union head cautioned that he believes police commanders are &#8220;ordered from the top&#8221; to make sure D.C. crime statistics do not look bad.
&#8220;This concept that crime is down is really an old trope,&#8221; Pemberton said. &#8220;They&#8217;re using the statistics in a way that makes it appear that crime is going down, but our rank and file officers know that we&#8217;re going call to call to call for armed carjackings, stabbings, robberies, shootings, homicides, and the crime isn&#8217;t going anywhere.&#8221;
&#8220;We welcome the assistance, and whether that&#8217;s federal agents or the National Guard we&#8217;ll use it, we&#8217;ll do whatever we can to get bad guys off the streets and try to keep citizens of the District safe,&#8221; Pemberton said.
The police union boss noted that federal agents assisting law enforcement is likely only a temporary fix.
The D.C. police force is authorized for 4,000 officers but currently has only 3,180, Pemberton noted, saying this is the &#8220;main reason&#8221; the force is struggling to keep the streets safe. Officers are logging two million hours of overtime a year, he said.
Pemberton said he hopes federal authorities will see how bad the situation has become.
On Tuesday, the city&#8217;s police chief, Pamela Smith, stood alongside Bowser and emphasized working together, saying the &#8220;enhanced presence&#8221; of federal agents would &#8220;make our city even better.&#8221;
About 850 federal agents deployed in D.C. <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/national-guard-troops-arrive-in-dc-federal-agents-seen-after-trumps-police-takeover/3973902/">arrested</a> 23 people, including murder suspects, and seized six illegal guns on Monday, the first day of the takeover, the White House said.

Sunrise, Pennsylvania Avenue, United States Capitol Building, Washington DC, America

The Feds Took Over The DC Police In The 90s, Too. Here’s How That Went.

The Feds Took Over DC Police In The 90s. Here's How That Went.

U.S. air and naval forces are set to deploy to the Southern Caribbean Sea following President Donald Trump&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-greenlights-military-force-to-take-down-latin-american-drug-cartels">directive</a> for the Pentagon to use the military for operations against Latin American drug cartels, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-military-deploying-forces-southern-caribbean-against-drug-groups-2025-08-14/">reported</a> on Thursday.
Sources briefed on the move told Reuters that after Trump&#8217;s order, the Defense Department has begun deploying U.S. troops to address &#8220;threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region.&#8221; Last week, Trump quietly signed an order to deploy U.S. troops to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/08/us/trump-military-drug-cartels.html?smtyp=cur&amp;smid=tw-nytimesworld">according</a> to The New York Times.
It remains unknown which specific cartels the president is targeting in his directive. After Trump was sworn into office, the United States designated seven drug cartels and two international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. Most of those cartels primarily operate in Mexico, but the reported deployment of troops to the South Caribbean Sea suggests that the operation will focus more on Central and South America.
Venezuela, whose northern coastline sits on the South Caribbean Sea, has been a recent subject of the Trump administration&#8217;s scrutiny. Shortly after the president took office, the State Department designated the Venezuelan international criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), as a foreign terrorist organization, and most recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to its terrorist organization list.
Trump has also ramped up pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-hikes-bounty-on-venezuelas-maduro-to-50m">raising</a> the bounty on him to $50 million and pointing to his ties to transnational gangs and drug cartels. Attorney General Pam Bondi also accused Maduro of using the powerful Mexican drug cartel, Sinaloa, &#8220;to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country.&#8221;
&#8220;To date, the DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself,” Bondi said earlier this month.
After Trump greenlit military operations against drug cartels, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mexican-president-says-u-s-military-will-not-fight-drug-cartels-on-its-soil">said</a> that U.S. troops would not be entering her country to fight cartels. Sheinbaum said last week that U.S. officials gave her a heads-up that Trump&#8217;s directive &#8220;was coming,&#8221; adding that an American troop deployment to Mexico was &#8220;absolutely ruled out.&#8221;
&#8220;It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no,&#8221; Sheinbaum said.
Trump has already been using the military along the U.S.-Mexico border to help clamp down on illegal immigration and drug trafficking. The U.S. military has also increased its aerial surveillance of Mexican drug cartels, collecting intelligence on the traffickers responsible for shipping deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, into the United States.

U.S. Navy Helicopter

U.S. Deploys Forces To Take On Latin American Drug Cartels In The Southern Caribbean

U.S. Deploys Forces To Southern Caribbean To Take On Latin American Drug Cartels

Drug Cartels

Mexico

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Military

U.S. Navy

Venezuela

Vice President JD Vance told American service members stationed at Royal Air Force Base Fairford on Tuesday that President Donald Trump is making it his mission to restore peace in Europe.
“The president of the United States came in six months ago, and I just talked to him right before I came on stage, and he said very simply that we are going to make it our mission as an administration to bring peace to Europe once again.”
Vance told the troops that they “make it possible” for Trump to have success negotiating from a position of strength.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: Vice President Vance told U.S. troops at Royal Air Force Base Fairford in England that the strength of the American military is why President Trump is able to negotiate successfully. <a href="https://t.co/4lCogXra2d">pic.twitter.com/4lCogXra2d</a>
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) <a href="https://twitter.com/KassyAkiva/status/1955685397213946352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
“But as you all know, it isn’t possible to bring peace anywhere unless the bad guys are also worried that we’ve got a hell of a fine Air Force and a hell of a fine military to back up the peace, to begin with.”
Vance also mentioned the various conflicts around the world the Trump administration has been able to cool down or resolve since January including between Rwanda and the Congo, Serbia and Kosovo, and Cambodia and Thailand. He added that Trump’s next task is to make moves to end the war in Ukraine, mentioning the president&#8217;s upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
“In just a couple of days, the president is headed to Anchorage, Alaska, to try to achieve an end to this terrible war in Russia and Ukraine,” Vance said. “You guys make that possible.”
Trump will meet with Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in the northern edge of Anchorage, Alaska. Trump has said that he plans for the meeting to be a “feel-out” session to see if brokering a ceasefire is possible.
“You guys are the reason why we have leverage in these conversations with world leaders because they know that if we cut a deal, it is backed up by the finest fighting force anywhere in the world and that’s what makes your job so important,” Vance said.
Vance added that he’s been meeting with European leaders — including an hour before the speech — to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
In an interview Tuesday morning, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump wants to see Putin face-to-face to make an assessment.
“The president feels like, ‘look, I’ve got to look at this guy across the table. I need to see him face-to-face. I need to hear him one-on-one. I need to make an assessment by looking at him,’” Rubio said.
Trump has faced criticism for meeting with Putin before the Russian leader made any concessions to end the war, but Rubio defended the move, pointing to Trump’s history as a dealmaker.
“And people have to understand – for President Trump, a meeting is not a concession,” he said. “A meeting is what you do to kind of figure out and make your decision. I want to have all the facts. I want to look this guy in the eye. And that’s what the president wants to do. So honestly, I think we’re going to know very early in that meeting whether this thing has any chance of success or not.”

US Vice President JD Vance Visits US Troops At RAF Fairford

Vance To Troops In UK: Make It Our Mission To Bring Peace To Europe

JD Vance

Russia

Ukraine

World

ICE arrested on Tuesday an illegal alien who raped and sodomized his 9-year-old stepdaughter, the agency told The Daily Wire.
The Department of Homeland Security released the names of five more criminal illegal aliens, whom it referred to as “the worst of the worst.” The arrests came as the Trump administration has ramped up deportation efforts, and ICE has faced protests from Democratic lawmakers and leftist activists.
One of the men arrested was Michael Kabiona, an illegal alien from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was convicted of sexual conduct against a child.
“Thanks to ICE, this depraved pedophile is not in our communities to hurt and victimize more children,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told The Daily Wire. “It’s disgusting that ICE law enforcement is experiencing a 1000% increase in assaults against them while they are removing creeps like this who commit unforgivable crimes against children. Our ICE agents are heroes, end of story.”
Kabiona was convicted in 2015 for raping and sodomizing his 9-year-old stepdaughter over a two-year period, <a href="https://www4.erie.gov/da/sites/www4.erie.gov.da/files/archive/index.php-2352.html?q=pedophilic-rapist-convicted-after-trial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Erie County, New York, prosecutors. He was sentenced to just 12 years in prison, much less than the maximum 25 years he faced.
Kabiona was convicted after testimony from the young girl whom he victimized. The victim was left with chronic injuries to her genitalia. He first came to America as a refugee, his lawyer <a href="https://buffalonews.com/news/local/buffalo-man-gets-12-years-for-sexually-assaulting-child/article_d4c24671-f7c2-5f45-85b0-5243c01d74b8.html">said</a> after the trial, claiming that the whole incident was a “shame” because  Kabiona “fought for so long to get here from a war-torn country.”
<div id="attachment_960449" style="width: 2570px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-960449" class="size-full wp-image-960449" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-scaled.jpg" alt="" width="2560" height="1810" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-300x212.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-815x576.jpg 815w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-768x543.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-1536x1086.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/MixCollage-13-Aug-2025-02-06-PM-83-2048x1448.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px" />Kabiona via DHS.</div>
ICE also announced the arrest of 41-year-old Lorentino Martinez-Tejeda, an illegal alien from Mexico who was convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault on a minor in McHenry County, Illinois. Martinez-Tejeda <a href="https://www.mchenrycountyil.gov/Home/Components/News/News/14873/11527?arch=1&amp;npage=21">pled guilty</a> to sexually assaulting a victim under the age of 13 and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Another illegal alien picked up by ICE was 36-year-old Nidia Tanya Quistian-Nino of Mexico, who was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in Warton County, Texas.
The agency also picked up 51-year-old Francisco Antonio Villalobos, an illegal alien from El Salvador, convicted of kidnapping in Urbana, Illinois.

Michael Kabiona

EXCLUSIVE: ICE Nabs ‘Depraved Pedophile’ Who Raped 9-Year-Old Stepdaughter

Buffalo

Congo

Department of Homeland Security

Illegal Immigation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

New York

Sex Crimes

U.S.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared on Wednesday that he will begin advocating for a ban on individual stock trading in Congress, arguing that major portfolio gains by lawmakers undermine voter confidence in the system.
When pressed during an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR85WkgO8bc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interview</a> with &#8220;Bloomberg Surveillance&#8221; on whether President Donald Trump is prepared to sign off on stock trading legislation <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senate-panel-votes-to-ban-stock-trading-for-lawmakers-president-and-vp-but-spares-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">making its way</a> through Congress, Bessent said he did not believe a &#8220;perfect bill&#8221; had been introduced yet, but did express a desire for a crackdown.
&#8220;I am going to start pushing for a single stock trading ban because the — it is the credibility of the House and the Senate that you look at some of these eye-popping returns, whether it&#8217;s Representative Pelosi, Senator Wyden, every hedge fund would be jealous of them,&#8221; Bessent said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
I am pushing for a ban on single-stock trading in Congress. The American people deserve better than politicians like <a href="https://twitter.com/RonWyden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RonWyden</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SpeakerPelosi</a> with hedge-fund level returns. Public service should be about serving the people, not getting rich. <a href="https://t.co/yaXFGRfiMz">pic.twitter.com/yaXFGRfiMz</a>
— Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent (@SecScottBessent) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecScottBessent/status/1955713416292601876?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, was referring to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) — both of whom are <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/06/21/us-news/pelosi-added-millions-to-net-worth-last-year-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimated</a> to be worth <a href="https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/net-worth-update-senator-ron-wyden-made-estimated-8241k-stock-market-last-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millions</a> of dollars.
&#8220;And you know, the American people deserve better than this. People shouldn&#8217;t come to Washington to get rich,&#8221; Bessent continued. &#8220;They should come to serve the American people and it brings down trust in the system because, I can tell you, that if any private citizen traded this way, the SEC would be knocking on their door.&#8221;
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
Pelosi&#8217;s well-known success in the stock market during her time in Congress has drawn intense scrutiny, but it may not be examined by the Securities and Exchange Commission or be a focus of any formal investigation any time soon. In fact, just last month, senators <a href="https://x.com/SenRickScott/status/1950637197272727566" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shot down</a> a measure seeking an inquiry into her trades.
During a recent appearance on CNN, Pelosi <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nancy-pelosi-visibly-perturbed-by-cnns-random-act-of-journalism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to Trump accusing her of insider trading, rejecting the claim.
&#8220;That’s ridiculous,” Pelosi said. &#8220;In fact, I very much support the — stop the trading of members of Congress, not that I think anybody’s doing anything wrong, if they are, they are prosecuted and they go to jail. But because of the confidence it instills in the American people, don’t worry about this. But I have no concern about the obvious investments that have been made over time, I’m not into it, my husband is, but it isn’t anything to do with anything insider.&#8221;
As some other lawmakers <a href="https://www.notus.org/money/shri-thanedar-stock-act-violation" target="_blank" rel="noopener">violate</a> disclosure rules that are currently in place, Bessent pointed out that both <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5267113-donald-trump-congressional-stock-trading-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Trump</a> and House Minority Leader Hakeem <a href="https://punchbowl.news/article/house/bipartisan-group-eyes-stock-trading-ban/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeffries</a> (D-NY) have voiced support for a congressional stock trading ban.
&#8220;The House and the Senate, they&#8217;re supposed to be working for the American people — their constituents,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;They&#8217;re supposed to be making law. And they shouldn&#8217;t be trading every day. I&#8217;m not going to name names, but there was one person in Congress who had 12 or 13 hundred trades two years ago. And you know, my hedge fund didn&#8217;t have that many trades.&#8221;
Bessent also warned, &#8220;There&#8217;s something going on on Capitol Hill in terms of information leakage that is statistically &#8230; not sound.&#8221;

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Bessent Targets ‘Eye-Popping’ Stock Gains Made By Members Of Congress

Congress

Nancy Pelosi

Scott Bessent

Stock Market

Treasury Department

President Donald Trump said on Monday that his administration will &#8220;make a determination over the next few weeks&#8221; on whether to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug.
During a press conference in the White House Briefing Room, Trump was asked about a Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-marijuana-federal-drug-classification-01a73b8c?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAgpZ8UL7Mw6HKwBVKPjsmn_wP6A2h8SNZiG41aF9hPed4QVwq2_gG6R&amp;gaa_ts=6897fc20&amp;gaa_sig=Nm9TnTCPjVnNlMv_P1PaH_NVhN3Nn8RbA8H9lDEnLY0FBfl1b_Sd78D-SH_icaL7fTnMQ1iwaisKOLJA0cNS5g%3D%3D">report</a> stating that he was considering a possible marijuana reclassification, an issue that has caused some division among Trump&#8217;s base. The president acknowledged that marijuana reclassification is a &#8220;very complicated subject.&#8221;
&#8220;Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana because if it does bad for the children, it does bad for people older than children,&#8221; Trump said.
&#8220;It&#8217;s a very complicated subject, the subject of marijuana,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I&#8217;ve heard great things having to do with medical [marijuana], and I&#8217;ve [heard] bad things having to do with just about everything else.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
President Trump on marijuana: &#8220;We&#8217;re looking at reclassification and we&#8217;ll make a determination over the next few weeks.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/GTiYKogmuA">pic.twitter.com/GTiYKogmuA</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1954928772991291413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote>
Trump reportedly floated the idea of reclassifying marijuana during a fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club earlier this month in front of guests that included Kim Rivers, the CEO of Trulieve, one of the largest marijuana companies in the United States. The discussions within the Trump administration focus on whether weed should be reclassified as a Schedule III drug, which would drop certain restrictions on marijuana without completely legalizing it, according to the WSJ.
While some states have passed laws legalizing recreational and medical marijuana use, it is still <a href="https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/schedules/orangebook/c_cs_alpha.pdf">listed</a> as a Schedule I drug under federal law. Schedule I <a href="https://www.dea.gov/drug-information/drug-scheduling">means</a> a drug has &#8220;no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.&#8221; Reclassifying marijuana as Schedule III would put the drug in the same category as drugs that have &#8220;a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.&#8221;
Marijuana reclassification was pursued by the Biden administration, but it wasn&#8217;t achieved before President Joe Biden left office in January. Trump signaled his support for recreational marijuana last year when he voted to legalize the drug in Florida last year, pitting himself against conservatives such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The marijuana amendment push in Florida received 56%, falling just short of the 60% needed to pass it into law.
A senior White House official told the WSJ that Trump wants to take on issues like marijuana that are viewed as “80-20 cultural issues.” Trump&#8217;s inroads among independent and younger voters could also make the reclassification push more attractive to the Trump administration as Republicans seek to hold onto the momentum gained in the 2024 election as the 2026 midterm elections approach.
The campaign to downgrade marijuana&#8217;s drug classification also receives a lot of money. Marijuana companies have donated millions of dollars to the American Rights and Reform PAC, which <a href="https://www.americanrightsreform.com/">pushes</a> to &#8220;end the war on medical cannabis.&#8221; Consultants working for Trulieve have presented Trump&#8217;s team with polling that shows that more than 80% of independent voters support reclassifying marijuana, the WSJ reported.
“This is not calling for decriminalization or legalization but simply knocking it down a few notches on the criminal scale,” Trump campaign adviser Alex Bruesewitz told the WSJ. “It’s probably targeted more to a younger demographic, where the president has made great headway.” Bruesewitz was paid $300,000 by the American Rights and Reform PAC to work on social media and advertisements.
Some independents and conservatives, however, strongly oppose the effort to reclassify marijuana and want the federal government to ramp up enforcement of existing laws on marijuana.
&#8220;Our society thrived when everyone was smoking cigarettes and drinking whiskey. We became the most powerful nation in the world with liquor and nicotine. No country of potheads has ever thrived, or ever achieved anything at all,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1954264828626780162">wrote</a> Daily Wire host Matt Walsh. &#8220;Every city that legalized it became an even bigger s***hole basically overnight. The entire history of western civilization tells us that marijuana is far, far worse for society.&#8221;
Walsh <a href="https://x.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1954225938113126716">added</a> that the federal government should be doing &#8220;exactly the opposite&#8221; of what the Trump administration is considering.
Other independents and conservatives also chimed in, expressing their disapproval of reclassifying marijuana.
&#8220;Marijuana mass normalization has been a disaster for the United States,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/esaagar/status/1954633873486495964">said</a> Breaking Points host Saagar Enjeti. &#8220;Our cities stink, our kids are literally being poisoned and made stupid, DWIs are skyrocketing and the promised revenue doesn&#8217;t even come close to making up the mass social chaos.&#8221;
&#8220;Weed is a scourge, rewarding some of the worst elements of society while sapping the will and productivity of far too many citizens, especially young men,&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/CortesSteve/status/1954513837668925493">added</a> conservative commentator Steve Cortes. &#8220;MAGA must focus on quality of life issues &#8212; we can do so much better than cities that reek of disgusting smoke.&#8221;

Donald Trump/Marijuana

Trump Sparks Debate With Comments On Reclassifying Weed

Conservatives

Drugs

Marijuana

An Obama-appointed Manhattan federal judge denied the Trump administration&#8217;s request to unseal grand jury transcripts in the case against Jeffrey Epstein associate and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, saying that move &#8220;would not reveal new information of any consequence.&#8221;
U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer ruled on Monday that the Trump administration did not make a compelling case to reveal grand jury testimony, which is kept secret to protect privacy, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/08/11/us-news/manhattan-judge-denies-trump-admin-bid-to-unseal-ghislaine-maxwell-grand-jury-transcripts/">reported</a>. In his decision, Engelmayer blasted the Justice Department&#8217;s argument for seeking to unseal the transcripts.
“Its entire premise — that the Maxwell grand jury materials would bring to light meaningful new information about Epstein’s and Maxwell’s crimes, or the Government’s investigation into them — is demonstrably false,” the judge wrote, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/11/jeffrey-epstein-ghislaine-maxwell-trump-grand-jury.html">CNBC</a>.
“The Court’s review confirmed that unsealing the grand jury materials would not reveal new information of any consequence,” Engelmayer added.
The ruling is yet another setback for the DOJ in its effort to give the public more information about the Epstein case after backlash to the department&#8217;s conclusion that there was no evidence that Epstein kept a client list. Last month, a federal judge in Florida <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hands-are-tied-federal-judge-denies-dojs-request-to-unseal-epstein-grand-jury-transcripts?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=%E2%80%98Hands+Are+Tied%E2%80%99%3A+Federal+Judge+Denies+DOJ%E2%80%99s+Request+To+Unseal+Epstein+Grand+Jury+Transcripts">denied</a> the Trump administration&#8217;s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from the investigation into Epstein. In that decision, Judge Robin L. Rosenberg — another Obama appointee — said that &#8220;the Court&#8217;s hands are tied&#8221; as the law does not allow her to unseal the grand jury testimony.
Judge Engelmayer added in his decision that the Maxwell grand jury transcripts &#8220;do not contribute anything to public knowledge.&#8221;
“A member of the public &#8230; might conclude that the Government’s motion for their unsealing was aimed not at ‘transparency’ but at diversion — aimed not at full disclosure but at the illusion of such,” Engelmayer wrote. “Contrary to the Government’s depiction, the Maxwell grand jury testimony is not a matter of significant historical or public interest. Far from it. It consists of garden-variety summary testimony by two law enforcement agents.”
Maxwell, who recently agreed to sit down with the Justice Department and answer questions related to Epstein for two straight days, has been pushing for a pardon from President Donald Trump, as she also appeals her case to the Supreme Court. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 for her role in the Epstein scheme to sexually abuse and exploit minor girls. She is currently serving out a 20-year sentence and was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-moved-from-florida-prison-to-lower-security-facility">moved</a> to a lower-security prison shortly after her meeting with Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Last week, Maxwell&#8217;s attorneys came out in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ghislaine-maxwell-opposes-doj-move-to-unseal-grand-jury-transcripts">opposition</a> to releasing the grand jury transcripts, saying, “Jeffrey Epstein is dead. Ghislaine Maxwell is not. Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable, and her due process rights remain.”
Another DOJ request to unseal grand jury testimony related to Epstein&#8217;s indictment in Manhattan is still sitting before another federal judge.

Patrick McMullan Archives

Obama-Appointed Judge Denies Trump Admin Request To Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Transcripts

Judge Denies Trump Admin's Request To Unseal Ghislaine Maxwell Grand Jury Transcripts

Ghislaine Maxwell

Jeffrey Epstein

Judge

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Trump administration earlier this week that he would end the war with Ukraine in exchange for the region in eastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/putin-russia-ukraine-ceasefire-proposal-0021453b?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAggJDROuneUpYV33qmX-6yZrQNIzxWuz-RSL52CCnGuKe4GFcz0FJx_oY6NkhI%3D&amp;gaa_ts=6896659f&amp;gaa_sig=HkjAQLBnzfoGftyZP5-qD-D68C7812arHIWAUN31gqvLfA4zWrwHSX7WOV_QVVT3L_V-bSVVIcau-PPXwcuznw%3D%3D">reported</a> on Friday.
The WSJ cited European and Ukrainian officials, who were briefed by Trump and his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, on discussions with Putin. Putin reportedly made the offer to Witkoff during their meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.
Russia wants full control of Ukraine&#8217;s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, along with the Crimean Peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014. Russian forces are now mostly in control of Donetsk and Luhansk, but Ukrainian troops are still fighting back in some areas in the regions.
European officials told the WSJ that they were concerned over Putin&#8217;s proposal, saying that it could be the Russian dictator&#8217;s way of avoiding punishment from President Trump, who is expected to impose secondary tariffs on Russia. European leaders also questioned whether Putin would be willing to give up fighting for Ukraine&#8217;s Zaporizhia and Kherson regions, which are southwest of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Trump announced on Friday that he would be meeting with Putin on August 15 in Alaska. &#8220;The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!&#8221; the president <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114995403653615328">wrote</a> on Truth Social.
Trump said at the White House earlier on Friday that a summit with Putin had been in the works, and a location for talks had been decided upon. Some of Trump&#8217;s stipulations for the summit include that no European leaders be present and that Putin agree to also meet with Zelensky.
&#8220;Putin, I believe, wants to see peace, and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky wants to see peace,&#8221; he <a href="https://x.com/atrupar/status/1953915459708842361">said</a>.
The president <a href="https://x.com/SkyNews/status/1953917792685543903">added</a> that there would be &#8220;some swapping&#8221; of territories between Russia and Ukraine.
&#8220;It&#8217;s very complicated, but we&#8217;re going to get some back and we&#8217;re going to get some switched &#8230; to the betterment of both,&#8221; he added.
Trump&#8217;s deadline for Russia to reach a peace deal with Ukraine ended on Friday, unless he agrees to extend it, with a summit between Putin and Zelensky appearing more likely. Asked whether the deadline was still firm, Trump replied, “We’re going to see what [Putin] has to say. It’s going to be up to him.”
The president ramped up the pressure on Putin to end the conflict, which has resulted in an estimated hundreds of thousands of deaths over the past three years, as Putin continued to launch drone and missile attacks targeting Ukrainian civilian centers. Last week, Trump also repositioned two nuclear submarines after former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened that Trump&#8217;s ultimatums to Putin were a &#8220;step towards war.&#8221;

Vladimir Putin

Putin Says He’ll End War With Ukraine With One Major Concession

Ukraine-Russia War

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