President Donald Trump shared an AI-generated photo of himself lounging in the Reflecting Pool on Washington, D.C.&#8217;s National Mall.
The photo showed Trump floating in a gold-colored pool inflatable alongside a smiling Vice President JD Vance, who gave a thumbs-up. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also appeared in the photo, along with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.  <iframe style="aspect-ratio: 9/16; max-width: 220px; display: flex; justify-content: center; width: 100%; margin: 20px auto 5px; border: 0;" src="https://player.mux.com/6KXDHPJQWahYQOR00v7k5eb200PXeg00012l?metadata-video-content-type=short&amp;metadata-video-id=39c7625e-3c29-470d-b682-83f523dfb33e&amp;metadata-video-stream-type=on-demand&amp;metadata-video-title=Trump%20shares%20AI%20pic%20lounging%20in%20Lincoln%20Memorial%20Reflecting%20Pool%20with%20Marco%20and%20JD&amp;poster=https%3A%2F%2Fdailywireplus-v2.imgix.net%2Fimages%2Fshorts%2F20784120-58cc-48de-9585-e1b125441bcd.jpg&amp;autoplay=false&amp;accent-color=%23DB3D3B&amp;primary-color=%23ffffff&amp;secondary-color=%23000000" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The Reflecting Pool has been drained in recent days to allow for construction workers to come in and repaint the bottom with a protective coating — in &#8220;American Flag Blue&#8221; — ahead of this summer&#8217;s events celebrating the United States&#8217; 250th birthday. The coating is supposed to stop a number of leaks and help to avoid more costly repairs to the monument in the future.
The updates, according to the White House, are expected to take about one week to complete and have a price tag of $2 million — and add to the series of major renovations and updates being made by the Trump administration all around the White House and the nation&#8217;s capital.
Not everyone is happy with the updates, however. Charles Birnbaum, former coordinator of the National Park Service’s Historic Landscape Initiative, complained that the blue color made the reflecting pool look more like a swimming pool than a historical monument.
&#8220;The reflecting pool is hallowed ground,&#8221; he told <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/28/trumps-reflecting-pool-spruce-up-fails-charm-preservationists-00895457">POLITICO</a>. &#8220;It shouldn&#8217;t resemble a swimming pool.&#8221;
&#8220;It will look far more beautiful than it did in 1922,&#8221; Trump argued, adding, &#8220;It was filthy dirty, and it leaked like a sieve.&#8221;
The Department of the Interior, headed by Burgum, also championed the effort to &#8220;restore and preserve America’s most iconic landmarks.&#8221;
The Reflecting Pool, according to the National Park Service, is classified as a memorial and is designed solely for viewing. Wading or swimming in the pool are illegal, as is walking in the shadow water.

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SEE IT: Trump Trolls Libs With AI Pic Of Him Lounging In Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool

Donald Trump

Politics

Washington D.C.

Nearly two dozen people were injured, including War Department employees, when two commuter buses crashed head-on at the Pentagon Metro Station Friday morning.
Authorities said that 18 people were transported to the hospital to get evaluated after the crash, and five people were treated on the scene, according to ABC&#8217;s <a href="https://wjla.com/news/local/buses-collide-head-on-pentagon-arlington-washington-dc-bus-crash-injuries-fairfax-county-connector-omni-ride-south-parking-lot-bus-terminal">7News DC</a>. Ten of those injured in the crash were War Department employees, authorities said. The crash occurred at around 7:20 a.m. ET at the south parking lot of the Pentagon Metro Station.
The buses were traveling at low speed, and most of the injuries were minor, but at least one passenger was taken to a trauma center with more serious injuries, 7News reported.
Video footage showed one of the buses driving on the left side of the road as the other bus approaches.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="WATCH: Video shows bus crash that hurt 23 people near the Pentagon" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/f1uj9Af8EV4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Officials asked commuters to take alternate routes to the Pentagon as first responders and investigators remain on the scene.
The buses involved in the crash were an OmniRide bus and a Fairfax Connector transit bus.
This is a developing story and will be updated.

Pentagon Bus Crash

WATCH: Buses Crash Head-On Near Pentagon, Department Of War Personnel Injured

Car Crash

Department of War

Pentagon

U.S.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Wednesday decried &#8220;progressivism,&#8221; saying the political ideology threatens the foundational principles and values of the United States.
During a lecture at the University of Texas School of Law, Thomas participated in an event <a href="https://www.fox7austin.com/news/supreme-court-justice-clarence-thomas-speaks-ut-austin">marking the 250th anniversary</a> of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.
He warned that a political ideology of &#8220;cynicism, rejection, hostility, and animus&#8221; is consuming Americans and taking over the country&#8217;s way of life.
&#8220;Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence, and hence, our form of government. It holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God, but from government,&#8221; Thomas said. &#8220;It requires of the people a subservience and weakness incompatible with a Constitution premised on the transcendent origin of our rights.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
🚨 JUST IN: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is being praised nationwide for dropping this TRUTH on leftism and &#8220;progressivism&#8221;
&#8220;Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence, and hence our form of government. It holds that our rights… <a href="https://t.co/pVRS8AuwwL">pic.twitter.com/pVRS8AuwwL</a>
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) <a href="https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2044821167328878610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
Thomas, one of the most influential conservatives on the Supreme Court, argued progressive ideals are on a collision course with the nation’s founding values.
&#8220;Since Woodrow Wilson&#8217;s presidency, progressivism has made many inroads into our system of government,&#8221; Thomas said. &#8220;It has coexisted uneasily with the principles of the Declaration. Because it is opposed to those principles, it is not possible for the two to coexist forever.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Justice Thomas: &#8220;Since Woodrow Wilson&#8217;s presidency, progressivism has made many inroads into our system of government. It has coexisted uneasily with the principles of the Declaration. Because it is opposed to those principles, it is not possible for the two to coexist forever.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/7Z08ZnNR0H">pic.twitter.com/7Z08ZnNR0H</a>
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) <a href="https://twitter.com/theblaze/status/2044793679009689802?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2026</a></blockquote>
<div dir="auto" lang="en" data-testid="tweetText">
Thomas slammed elitism in Washington and accused policymakers of being &#8220;so swept up in the euphoria of acclamation and acceptance that they put aside their convictions.&#8221;
&#8220;They fall prey to the enchanting siren songs of flattery and become so bewitched by praise that they will desperately seek to conform accordingly,&#8221; he said.
&#8220;They water down their message, negotiate against themselves, vote against their principles, and hide in the tall grass,&#8221; Thomas asserted. &#8220;They recast themselves as institutionalists, pragmatists, or thoughtful moderates, all as a way of justifying their failures to themselves, their consciences and their country.&#8221;
The broadside against progressivism comes amid rising tensions at the Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a rare public apology for personal criticism directed at Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
The controversy began in Kansas, where she criticized Kavanaugh for his <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/25a169_5h25.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">concurring opinion</a> in an immigration case involving ICE raids.
</div>
“I had a colleague in that case who wrote, you know, these are only temporary stops,” Sotomayor said, according to a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-08/sotomayor-faults-kavanaugh-over-immigration-stops-concurrence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bloomberg report</a>. “This is from a man whose parents were professionals. And probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour.”
“At a recent appearance at the University of Kansas School of Law, I referred to a disagreement with one of my colleagues in a prior case, but I made remarks that were inappropriate,” Sotomayor said in a statement. “I regret my hurtful comments. I have apologized to my colleague.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
NEW: Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor publicly apologizes for comments suggesting Justice Brett Kavanaugh was privileged and out of touch for his concurrence in an immigration case greenlighting warrantless ICE stops in LA. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCOTUS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SCOTUS</a> <a href="https://t.co/6kLLuHol5d">pic.twitter.com/6kLLuHol5d</a>
— Katie Buehler (@bykatiebuehler) <a href="https://twitter.com/bykatiebuehler/status/2044528919785750761?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2026</a></blockquote>
During a speech on Monday at Yale Law School, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stepped up her criticism of the court&#8217;s conservative majority, calling their handling of the emergency docket &#8220;corrosive,&#8221; <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/justice-jackson-says-us-supreme-courts-use-emergency-docket-is-corrosive-2026-04-15/">according to Reuters</a>.
In Texas, Justice Thomas urged Americans frustrated with the country&#8217;s direction to get off the sidelines.
&#8220;I think if we don’t stand up and take ownership of our country, and take responsibility for it, we are slowly letting others control how we think and what we think,&#8221; Thomas said. &#8220;It&#8217;s our country.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">
Justice Clarence Thomas on rebuilding public trust in government: &#8220;I think if we don&#8217;t stand up and take ownership of our country, and take responsibility for it, we are slowly letting others control how we think and what we think.&#8221; <a href="https://t.co/4bho06ftMX">pic.twitter.com/4bho06ftMX</a>
— CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/2044604183077061074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2026</a></blockquote>

The U.S. Supreme Court Poses For Official Group Photo

Clarence Thomas Issues Stark Warning About America’s Survival Under The Left

Clarence Thomas

Courts

Supreme Court

Washingtonians just notched a landmark Second Amendment victory as the <a href="https://www.dccourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/Benson%2520v%2520US%2520et%2520al%252023-CV-0541%2520FINAL.pdf">D.C. Court of Appeals</a> held the District’s 10-round limit on magazine sizes unconstitutional. Why is U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro — who <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/politics/jeanine-pirro-attempts-damage-control-after-being-shredded-by-the-right-over-her-gun-comments/">insists</a> that she is “a proud supporter of the Second Amendment” and who may be <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/09/trump-attorney-general-blanche-dhillion-pirro-00864988">in the running</a> to be the next Attorney General — asking the court to second-guess itself?
After decades of struggling under one of the strictest gun-control schemes in the country, residents of the nation’s capital might have expected to breathe a sigh of relief when President Donald Trump was reelected. After all, he <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-is-protecting-americans-second-amendment-rights/">boasts</a> of “standing up for” the right to keep and bear arms, and his Department of Justice is taking some <a href="https://www.cato.org/commentary/getting-gun-permit-la-county-shouldnt-be-rarer-nolan-ryan-no-hitter">bold steps</a> in that direction — including filing <a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-administration-lawsuit-washington-dc-guns-661b8f71c9ee6c28883fe726f17230dc">a lawsuit</a> against D.C.’s ban on many semiautomatic weapons.
The Department should also be joining locals in celebrating the recent court decision in <a href="https://www.dccourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/Benson%2520v%2520US%2520et%2520al%252023-CV-0541%2520FINAL.pdf">Benson v. District of Columbia</a>. The case began when Tyree Benson was arrested for possessing a gun with a detachable, 30-round magazine. That was illegal because Benson had not registered the gun or obtained a carry license. But Benson had a compelling defense: the District would not have let him register the gun because it bans magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds — and that restriction is itself unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
D.C.’s highest court agreed and, on March 5, a three-judge panel struck down the ban. A two-judge majority observed that “about half of the magazines in the hands of our citizenry” hold more than 10 rounds and “come standard with the most popular firearms sold in America today.” The Constitution does not let a locale ban such “arms in common and ubiquitous use by law-abiding citizens across this country.” The Benson decision now stands as a monument to common sense, protecting magazines that many Americans rely on.
Surprisingly, the court reached this decision with the encouragement of Pirro’s office. Though she had initially prosecuted Benson, she ultimately agreed that the District’s law violated his rights.
Then something even less expected happened: Pirro <a href="https://efile.dcappeals.gov/document/view.do?documentID=410696&amp;csIID=67629">asked the court</a> to press rewind. It backed the District’s request for the court to rehear the case en banc, meaning <a href="https://www.dccourts.gov/court-of-appeals/court-of-appeals-judges">all seven of its judges</a> would participate in the decision.
It is anyone’s guess whether Washington gunowners will manage to run the court’s gauntlet a second time. One of the three judges who heard the case the first time <a href="https://www.dccourts.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/Benson%2520v%2520US%2520et%2520al%252023-CV-0541%2520FINAL.pdf">dissented</a> from the decision. <a href="https://www.dccourts.gov/court-of-appeals/court-of-appeals-judges/shanker-vijay">All</a> <a href="https://www.dccourts.gov/court-of-appeals/court-of-appeals-judges/beckwith-corinne">four</a> <a href="https://www.dccourts.gov/court-of-appeals/court-of-appeals-judges/howard-iii-john-p">of</a> <a href="https://www.dccourts.gov/court-of-appeals/court-of-appeals-judges/mcleese-iii-roy-w">the</a> judges who would join the case, if reheard, were appointed by Democratic presidents. Letting the decision stand would vindicate the Second Amendment — rehearing would roll the dice with virtually no chance of achieving a better constitutional ruling.
Pirro <a href="https://efile.dcappeals.gov/document/view.do?documentID=410696&amp;csIID=67629">attempted to explain</a> her stance. While noting that she continued to believe the District law is unconstitutional, she fretted that the court’s decision went too far, saying it should have merely limited the law’s application to extremely high-capacity magazines. (Never mind that the law the court invalidated is far broader than that.) Further, she argued that the law wasn’t what kept Benson from registering his gun. Had he gone down to the station, the police could have “confiscate[d] the prohibited large-capacity magazine while registering the firearm itself.” Judge Deahl, the author of the majority opinion, deemed this poppycock, <a href="https://efile.dcappeals.gov/document/view.do?documentID=409666&amp;csIID=67629">writing</a> that the District could “with a snap of its fingers” comply with the Constitution by “no longer conditioning the registration and licensure of firearms upon their firing capacity.”
Setting aside the technicalities of D.C.’s gun-registration laws, Second Amendment advocates are <a href="https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/apr/9/second-amendment-groups-rip-dc-us-attorney-pirro-hurting-gun-rights/">wondering</a> why Pirro is working overtime to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The National Association for Gun Rights said her support for rehearing “risks undermining” the Benson decision. Gun Owners of America warned: “Stop adopting anti-gun positions, DOJ!” <a href="https://thereload.com/analysis-jeanine-pirro-may-have-just-fumbled-a-long-sought-hardware-ban-circuit-split-for-gun-rights-activists/">The Reload</a> noted that Pirro’s brief “did not even need to exist.”
This is not the first time Pirro has shown hostility toward the Second Amendment. Back in 2004, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/us/politics/dc-crime-trump-guns.html">she said</a>, “There is no legitimate purpose in possessing an assault weapon other than to kill as many people as quickly as possible.” Two months ago, she <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/us-attorney-jeanine-pirro-threatens-jail-anyone-who-brings-gun-dc">threatened</a>: “I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else. You bring a gun into this District, count on going to jail, and hope you get the gun back.” Following backlash, Pirro put out a <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/jeanine-pirro-attempts-damage-control-164555079.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY2F0by5vcmcv&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAA3ENxYwnYqPOo0a93nk_CqihxFuUJ10_yU3jpWSW7vNBU-XniEKTZVyHxIAtFLqBREbSUodAqEqdTklh7Vr9b8llOAbnogh68VN4iBm0dT0PZsF1TzOsqCg_d4aTEs3USGIr63_pX99cw3kGbsEYoW5qF2nxcZ6eaRzrGI0FGcd">social media video</a> casting herself as “a proud high-heeled gun owner.”
Those heels are doing quite the dance on the Second Amendment. Should President Trump nominate her to lead the DOJ, every American gun owner will get to know the dangers of Pirro’s pirouettes, facing an attorney general who voices support for their rights while undermining them at every turn.
***
Matthew Cavedon is the director of the Cato Institute’s Project on Criminal Justice.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro Announces Take Down of D.C. Fentanyl And PCP Drug Trafficking Crew

Jeanine Pirro’s Second Amendment Two-Step 

Gun Control

Second Amendment

Officials in the nation’s capital will deploy birth control to try to get the city’s rodent population under control after years of failure.
D.C. Health said on Wednesday they will start placing &#8220;fertility control bait” in targeted neighborhoods as part of a “blitz” targeting the rat population. At the same time, officials pleaded for Washington, D.C., residents to stop throwing food trash on the ground.
“You have said that we need a more effective strategy, and so we have come up with a new strategy,” D.C. Health Director Ayanna Bennett said.
The rat control program is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/04/03/dc-rat-control-birth-control-pilot/">predicted</a> to cost around $130,000 and will focus on the Adams Morgan neighborhood first before expanding to the wider city. That part of town is known for its bars and international restaurants.
&#8220;We’re gonna get the rat population down and then we’re gonna come back in three weeks to see if any of those babies survived and get them, too. But, they cannot stay down if they find anything to eat,” Bennett said. “So that means everybody cannot be throwing food on the ground. The mayor doesn’t like it and it’s helping the rats. We don’t want your trash to be outside of the bin, if at all possible.”
D.C Health <a href="https://dchealth.dc.gov/service/rodent-and-vector-control-division">revealed</a> more about the “targeted rodent control pilot” program, saying that it would improve public health in “areas experiencing high rodent impact.”
The “three-pronged blitz” will include placing rat poison at rat burrows and “non-lethal rodent fertility control bait designed to reduce rodent reproduction over time.”
“The blitz activities will occur in three-week cycles, where a team of inspectors will apply all three control methods and conduct frequent monitoring,” D.C. Health said.
The rat blitz was welcomed by residents, who have long complained about the city’s inability to keep the rat population down.
&#8220;They be in the dumpsters. They be running in groups, like, two, three — a few too many,&#8221; one local man <a href="https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-is-putting-rats-on-birth-control/4085151/">told</a> NBC News4.
&#8220;Anything that they can do to help limit the rats I would probably be in favor of,&#8221; another man said. &#8220;I’ve never heard of it. I trust that the science is real. But if it is, the less rats in D.C. is a good thing.&#8221;
Other cities like New York have tried similar strategies to control the rat population.
&#8220;Two rats in a given year can reproduce 15,000 descendants,&#8221; New York City Councilmember Shaun Abreu <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/rat-birth-control-nyc/">said</a> last year. &#8220;We have to go at the source.&#8221;

Dirty disgusting rats on area that was filled with sewage, smelly, damp, and garbage bags. Referring to the problem of rats in the city, disease outbreaks from animals, filth of city. Selective focus.

The Nation’s Capital Deploys An Unlikely Weapon In Its Failing War On Rats

Animals

Birth Control

General

The selection of Bill Maher as this year’s Mark Twain Award recipient at the Trump Kennedy Center signals that art transcends partisan politics.
The Center confirmed on Thursday that Maher, a well-known actor, comedian, TV host, and political commentator, would be honored with the 27th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. A ceremony is scheduled for June 28 and will stream exclusively on Netflix at a later date.
The Mark Twain Award recognizes the &#8220;world’s greatest humorists&#8221; who have had an impact on American society, just like Twain did. 
“For nearly three decades, the Mark Twain Prize has celebrated some of the greatest minds in comedy,” Roma Daravi, Vice President of Public Relations for the Trump Kennedy Center, said in a statement. “For even longer, Bill has been influencing American discourse – one politically incorrect joke at a time.”
Maher is best known for hosting “Politically Incorrect” from 1993 until 2002, followed by “Real Time” on HBO for more than two decades. The comedian received 41 Emmy nominations, winning once for “VICE” in 2014. He also received nominations for two Grammy Awards and a Tony Award.
The podcast host is considered to be classically liberal, meaning he calls out his party for drifting too far into radical territory. Maher made waves last year for having dinner with Trump, saying at the time that he kept an open mind and was pleasantly surprised.
Maher has been critical of trans ideology, open borders, and leftists generally living in a “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-maher-bursts-patton-oswalts-bluesky-bubble-with-a-dose-of-reality">Bluesky bubble</a>.” He’s not fully red-pilled, however, and still fervently supports the legalization of marijuana. Maher also professes to be an atheist and had a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-maher-says-his-morality-isnt-bible-based-ben-shapiro-sets-him-straight">lengthy debate</a> with Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro on religion and morality last year.  
The comedian said the Mark Twain award was an honor.
“Thank you to the Mark Twain people: I just had the award explained to me, and apparently it’s like an Emmy, except I win,” Maher said in response to the news, per the <a href="https://www.kennedy-center.org/news-room/press-release-landing-page/bill-maher-27-mark-twain-prize/">press release</a>. “I’d just like to say that it is indeed humbling to get anything named for a man who’s been thrown out of as many school libraries as Mark Twain.”
Previous recipients of the Mark Twain Prize are: Richard Pryor (1998), Jonathan Winters (1999), Carl Reiner (2000), Whoopi Goldberg (2001), Bob Newhart (2002), Lily Tomlin (2003), Lorne Michaels (2004), Steve Martin (2005), Neil Simon (2006), Billy Crystal (2007), George Carlin (2008), Bill Cosby (2009; rescinded in 2018), Tina Fey (2010), Will Ferrell (2011), Ellen DeGeneres (2012), Carol Burnett (2013), Jay Leno (2014), Eddie Murphy (2015), Bill Murray (2016), David Letterman (2017), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (2018), Dave Chappelle (2019), Jon Stewart (2022), Adam Sandler (2023), Kevin Hart (2024), and Conan O’Brien (2025).

Bill Maher

Decades Of Offending Everyone Just Earned Bill Maher Comedy’s Highest Honor

Comedian Who Offends Everyone Earns High Honor at Trump Kennedy Center

Celebrities

Entertainment

Kennedy Center

A manhunt continues for the gunmen who “ambushed” a pair of U.S. Park Police officers on Monday night, sending one to the hospital with a gunshot wound. 
The officers were traveling in an unmarked Tesla in southeast Washington, D.C., when someone opened fire into their vehicle, law enforcement said during a press briefing. The officers were conducting an ongoing investigation in the area, and officials believe the shooting was targeted. 
The injured officer was airlifted to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and released early Tuesday morning. 
“We can confirm that our officer who was shot last night was released from the hospital earlier this morning,” Park Police <a href="https://x.com/usparkpolicepio/status/2036415630190997755">said</a>. “Thank you for the thoughts and prayers!”
Park Police Chief Scott Brecht said that the officers “were ambushed by at least two gunmen” at 7:30 p.m. on Monday. The officer driving the vehicle was struck but managed to drive up the road, where he pulled over and was administered first aid. 
“We are seeking two suspects, two black males, one was wearing a white hoodie with blue jeans, the other was wearing all black, with [a] white stripe down the sleeve and down the pant leg,” Brecht <a href="https://x.com/usparkpolicepio">said</a>. 
Brecht did not specify what kind of law enforcement operation the officers were conducting. 
“This is an example of unnecessary gun violence in our city. There’s no reason that anybody, a police officer, not a police officer, should be shot just for being out here driving through the neighborhood,”  said interim D.C. Police Chief Jeffery Carroll.
Attorney General Pam Bondi was briefed on the shooting, and the FBI is assisting in the search for the suspects. 
“Praying for the Park Police officer shot in Washington, D.C. The FBI is actively supporting the investigation alongside our law enforcement partners and will bring those responsible to justice,” FBI Director Kash Patel <a href="https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2036244929668591826">said</a> Monday. “We will provide updates as we are able &#8211; please keep the officer and their family in your prayers.”
Park Police comes under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and has field offices in D.C., San Francisco, and New York City.

US-POLITICS-INAUGURATION-TRUMP

Trump Admin Responds After Cops Ambushed In D.C.

Crime

Police

In what proved to be the kind of small divine intervention that gives one comfort the man upstairs is, indeed, looking out for them, I groggily awoke around 8:00 a.m. Sunday despite setting my alarm for 10:00 just a few hours before.
Southwest Airlines flight 1553 was scheduled to depart from New Orleans to D.C. at 12:35 p.m. This was the fourth time I was flying in six days, and I hadn&#8217;t had any TSA troubles yet. I planned to get to the airport a little earlier than usual, but nothing too crazy.
Before going back to sleep, I checked the bachelor party group chat, and everything changed. Our forward scout Will, who had booked a 5:50 a.m. flight home like an absolute psychopath, sent us photos from the TSA line around 4:00 a.m. Miles long. I quickly opened the Everything App (X) and searched &#8220;MSY&#8221;. Horror stories were quickly flooding in. I realized I had overlooked a key factor: spring break travelers.
Having been out on Bourbon Street until roughly 3:30 a.m. with the groom-to-be, my wits weren&#8217;t fully about me. I busted open the two tactical Excedrin Extra Strength packets I had stowed in my backpack for this very moment, swigged down the last bit of bottled drinking water I had, freshened up in the bathroom, and called my Uber.
I hurried downstairs and spotted one of my compatriots passed out face down on a couch. His flight was at noon. It was approaching 0845 CDT. It was over for him, so I left him behind — it&#8217;s what he would&#8217;ve wanted.
My Uber arrived and the real challenges began to stack up. My driver, pronouns stated in his Uber bio, was not aware there was a government shutdown affecting airport activity until I mentioned it.
&#8220;Are you f*cking sh*tting me? Again?&#8221; <a href="https://x.com/Dylan_Housman/status/2035717566815977677">he screamed</a>, immediately growing belligerent just moments after jovially asking me if we had gone to any &#8220;t*tty bars&#8221; (we did not).
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
In Uber to the airport. I broke the news to my driver that there is a DHS shutdown. He immediately started yelling about Trump, &#8220;we gotta yank this guy out of office man, he&#8217;s fucking up our country!&#8221;
The best argument against democracy is a conversation with the average voter
— Dylan Housman (@Dylan_Housman) <a href="https://twitter.com/Dylan_Housman/status/2035717566815977677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 22, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I explained to him it was just for DHS, which of course included TSA. &#8220;We gotta get this guy outta here man, he&#8217;s f*cking up our country!&#8221; he bellowed about President Trump. I didn&#8217;t have it in me to correct him. His blue delusion wouldn&#8217;t go far in deep red Louisiana anyway, and I was fighting for my life in the back seat of his Subaru.
We arrived at the airport. Southwest flight 1553 departed in three hours and 35 minutes. I entered the front door of the terminal and spotted the proverbial huddled masses, snaking in line after line around the floor. I glanced up to the second level, where the lines continued. I asked an employee where the line began, and she pointed me to the parking garage.
<div id="attachment_1064507" style="width: 442px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1064507" class="wp-image-1064507 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016262-432x576.jpg" alt="" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016262-432x576.jpg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016262-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016262-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016262-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016262-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016262-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" />Lines in the parking garage for TSA at the New Orleans airport. (Dylan Housman)</div>
I walked out to the garage and assumed my spot in the labyrinth. It snaked around floor P1 at least 4 times before making its way inside. I had received a heads-up about the garage situation from the groom, David, who had arrived a couple of hours prior for his 10:00 a.m. flight. He said he was still outside.
Despair and chaos have fully gripped the crowd. &#8220;My flight is boarding now,&#8221; I heard one man say to an airport employee nearby. &#8220;He&#8217;s a goner,&#8221; I turned around and said to the two men behind me. It turned out they would be in due course as well.
&#8220;Ground exfil is proceeding well,&#8221; read a text in the group chat from Hayden, who was making the eight-hour drive back to Nashville. Lucky bastard. There was no sign of the copious amounts of Ole Miss fraternity brothers and their dates we had met the night before, either. A six-hour drive back to Oxford sounded nice right about now.
One hour into the snake. Southwest flight 1553 departed in two hours and 10 minutes. I assume at this point I am thoroughly cooked and begin looking at alternative flight options.
Direct to DCA, Baltimore, or Dulles? Nothing.
One-stop connections? Nothing.
Flights from Baton Rouge, Mobile, or Lafayette? Nothing.
The reality of potentially spending my Sunday night at the New Orleans airport Hilton begins to set in.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve just got to make it through to the gates,&#8221; I say to myself. &#8220;So many people are gonna be missing flights, I&#8217;ll be able to get on something else on standby.&#8221;
Then David throws me yet another curveball. &#8220;They&#8217;re not letting anyone in who has missed their flight already,&#8221; he texted me. &#8220;I had to book a standby seat on a full flight just for TSA to let me through.&#8221;
There were no other flights for me to book, not even for standby. I hurriedly searched for the cheapest flight departing MSY that day in the evening, just so I would have a boarding pass to show the TSA legionnaire manning the scanner. $130 for a Frontier flight to LAX at 7:00 p.m., connecting via Midway, it was.
<div id="attachment_1064513" style="width: 442px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1064513" class="wp-image-1064513 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016265-432x576.jpg" alt="" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016265-432x576.jpg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016265-225x300.jpg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016265-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016265-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016265-1536x2048.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/1000016265-scaled.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" />(Dylan Housman)</div>
Southwest flight 1553 departed in one hour and 20 minutes. I&#8217;ve reached the threshold of the airport terminal. A crying child snakes past me in the other direction with her family. Defeated passengers, left for dead, sit on the floor of the Hudson News shop inside. We get to the bottom of the escalator to head up to the *actual* TSA line, where I&#8217;m promptly cut off by a dreadlocked man with three small children. I decide not to call the police, for the sake of the children.
I can see the scanners. Maybe I actually will make it. The line is moving quickly.
&#8220;I need to see your boarding pass,&#8221; the TSA agent says. I show him. Southwest flight 1553, which is leaving in 40 minutes. I&#8217;m through. Bags in the bin. Water bottle poured out. Portable charger through the machine. On the other side, I emerge as my flight begins boarding.
I make it onto the flight as one of the last to board. Total time spent in the TSA line ended up at about two hours and 45 minutes. I spent the taxi time writing a letter to my senators, pleading for mercy to never experience this hell again.

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Drugs, Sweat, And Tears: My Fight Through Spring Break TSA Lines During The Democrat DHS Shutdown

Air Travel

Airports

New Orleans

Transportation

WASHINGTON—Polymarket’s “Situation Room” felt tailor-made for this town.
A pop-up bar where political operatives, journalists, and insiders could gather beneath glowing screens tracking real-time odds on elections, global events, and breaking news. It&#8217;s likely that whichever of the prediction market&#8217;s employees came up with the idea was inspired by a February 28 post on X, which outlined precisely this idea.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Idea: a bar called The Situation Room. Like a sports bar but for politics. Cable news and live feeds on the screens instead of football. Atlases and copies of Jane’s Defence Weekly on every table. Multiple sets of Risk and Diplomacy behind the bar.
— Henry Shevlin (@dioscuri) <a href="https://twitter.com/dioscuri/status/2027783152790606062?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">February 28, 2026</a></blockquote>
As of this writing, that post had 1.6 million views. Polymarket&#8217;s March 18 post announcing the bar opening has 37 million.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We&#8217;re excited to announce &#8216;The Situation Room&#8217; by Polymarket is coming to Washington, D.C.
The world&#8217;s first bar dedicated to monitoring the situation. 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/UbdHUT5u2k" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pic.twitter.com/UbdHUT5u2k</a>
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) <a href="https://twitter.com/Polymarket/status/2034272538465841410?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">March 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
The concept was simple: bring the logic of prediction markets into a physical space. Surround patrons with screens, data, and live odds. Let them literally “monitor the situation,” maybe watch some March Madness — and, of course, use Polymarket to bet on everything they saw.
It was a perfect pitch for a city of power brokers and data nerds. And so, on Friday night, Hill staffers, media types, lobbyists, and the chronically online gathered in the rain outside of Proper 21-K, a stalwart watering hole that would, for the night, become The Situation Room. What could possibly go wrong?
As it turns out: everything.
When doors finally opened after several delays, guests entered a dimly lit space wrapped in blackout curtains, lit primarily by a glowing LED sphere in the center of the room dubbed “The Globe.” It looped imagery of Earth, Polymarket branding, and even a digital Magic 8 Ball message: “The future belongs to those who can see it.”
Ironically, no one could see much of anything. Thanks to &#8220;electrical issues,&#8221; the monitors remained off all night. One frustrated attendee loudly joked, &#8220;I can&#8217;t monitor like this!&#8221;
Fortunately, Polymarket had the good sense to hire a live band, which swung out tunes like &#8220;Just the Two of Us&#8221; by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr. and &#8220;Chameleon&#8221; by Herbie Hancock. But even with a good band, the much-hyped “Situation Room” was left without its core feature: information. The bassist told The Daily Wire he got the gig on Wednesday and was curious to see what the bar would be like. He never got the chance.
&#8220;This was weird,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I saw the TVs off and I wondered how much I had to drink before this!”
With nothing better to do, conversations drifted toward the rise of prediction markets, the ethics of betting on real-world events, and whether platforms like Polymarket represent the future of news consumption or simply a new form of gambling.
While prediction markets have gained traction as tools for forecasting everything from elections to economic trends, Polymarket has still struggled to gain a foothold in the United States. Its main competitor, Kalshi, is accessible to American users and fully regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which under President Donald Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-assembles-financial-dream-team-in-high-stakes-america-first-move" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warmed</a> to predictive markets.
Unable to build a solid user base, Polymarket has resorted to stunts like The Situation Room, or <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/strapped-new-yorkers-swarm-chaotic-mamdani-inspired-free-grocery-store-pop-up-were-in-pain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Polymarket</a>, a free grocery store pop-up in New York City.
If Polymarket&#8217;s goal was simply to garner attention, the night was a success. Instead of bar patrons monitoring the situation, one attendee joked, the entire internet was monitoring The Situation Room. The virality of the gaffe was perhaps more than the organizers could have hoped for on a smooth night.
And a smooth night it wasn&#8217;t. Security began ushering still-confused guests out around 9:00 p.m., well before the bar&#8217;s planned 11:00 p.m. last call.
“They’re getting tired of this, I guess,&#8221; one security guard told The Daily Wire while dispersing the crowd.
Asked whether the screens would be working the next day, he shrugged.
“Man, I hope so,” he said. “Otherwise it’ll be a long weekend.”

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‘I Can’t Monitor Like This!’ Inside Polymarket’s Disastrous DC Bar Opening

gambling

March Madness

Prediction

Restaurant

I do not personally know Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, so I cannot speak to his character or private motives. But as someone who has publicly claimed friendship with Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, I find it hard to see how detonating an <a href="https://x.com/C__Herridge/status/2034050521359634577?s=20">atomic bomb</a> on the eve of her testimony before Congress served anyone other than himself.
I sat next to Kent during Gabbard’s confirmation hearing before Congress last year as she showed the United States, our allies, and our adversaries exactly why she was capable of leading the greatest intelligence operation in the world. She handled herself with dignity and with the kind of steady resolve shown by someone who deeply desired to serve her country.
Kent, seated just behind her, wore a Hawaiian lei in a visible show of support for her leadership, her loyalty, and her judgment. That’s why his choice to resign publicly, and to communicate his dissent the way he did, raises an obvious question: where was that support for his friend when it mattered most?
Director Gabbard, for her part, got it exactly right. She has consistently pushed for exhausting diplomacy, but she also made clear that <a href="https://x.com/DNIGabbard/status/2033989780116033948?s=20">the president</a> is the one who decides what qualifies as a viable threat. That is how this works. A political appointee provides an assessment; the commander in chief makes the call. The Trump administration made its call based on the threat Iran posed to Americans and to our way of life.
And that is part of what makes Washington so maddening. This city is full of people who talk endlessly about loyalty, friendship, and principle, then abandon all three the moment public positioning becomes more useful. D.C. has earned its reputation as a town crowded with failed theater kids who routinely avoid demonstrating integrity or loyalty.
Again, I won’t pretend to know Mr. Kent’s intentions in releasing his letter, but his assessment contradicts both his own past <a href="https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/1214960125200330752?s=20">statements</a> and the views of experts who have spent their lives studying the Middle East. People are free to change their minds, but that usually comes through deeper learning and self-correction. This does not seem to be that. I was not in the room for the threat discussions he now struggles to identify, though he seems to have no trouble tweeting about them, but I have studied Iran closely. And while I do not speak Farsi, I am confident “death to America” is not a warm salutation.
Isolationists fail to grasp a basic reality: this is not utopia. Our enemies, animated by a deep-seated hatred for everything America stands for, cannot be escorted hand-in-hand to peace and partnership. Meeting a threat on their doorstep is not a distraction from protecting the homeland — it is how you keep that threat from reaching ours.
The idea of shuttering our borders completely, allowing no one in or out, is both absurd and self-defeating. The world does not work that way. Plus, I would still like to plan my dream vacation to the South of France, for one thing, and for another, America would not have the power it now has to defend itself if it embraced that kind of isolation.
We are now 18 days into a military operation targeting a threat that has been at our doorstep for far too long. All Americans should support our warfighters and those standing with us against a regime that has terrorized the United States, our allies, our values, and its own people. We also have a duty to ask what our tax dollars are funding and why; questioning is good, because you learn things when you do.
Mr. Kent has every right, as a private citizen and taxpayer, to question and disagree with a military action. But the purpose of questioning is to educate, not to diminish American agency. The reflexive habit of crediting Israel, a nation the size of New Jersey, for every major policy decision made by the president of the United States undermines America’s military strength, economic power, and the very intelligence capabilities Mr. Kent supported. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best: it had to be done.
To be clear, Iran’s leadership is the world’s number one sponsor of terrorism, a regime directly responsible for the loss of thousands of American lives. A regime that regularly murders its own people en masse and shuts down the internet for its 90 million citizens, cutting them off from telling the rest of the world the truth. A regime that bombs its own neighbors in the Middle East, just because it can. This is the same regime that sent representatives to the illegal, non-democratic swearing-in ceremony of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. A regime that aligns closely with China and Russia in order to enforce authoritarian rule throughout the world and displace American influence. Failing to recognize the imminent threat Iran poses to Americans is either a severe misunderstanding of the danger or an intentional deflection.
Joe Kent’s public <a href="https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/2033897242986209689?s=20">resignation letter</a> places him on a growing list of people whose judgment I have found deeply disappointing. Why? It is disappointing for several reasons. It is disappointing because Kent once spoke <a href="https://x.com/mtracey/status/2033955443010080897?s=20">clearly</a> about the <a href="https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/1840425323743395853?s=20">threat Iran</a> poses to the <a href="https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/1838963575320412395?s=20">United States</a>, only to now cloud that reality. It is disappointing because, until yesterday, he occupied a high-consequence role charged with protecting the homeland from major threats, which makes his sudden uncertainty confusing. And it is disappointing because, at this moment, during an ongoing conflict, his public dissent undermines America’s national security posture and, in turn, the safety of the warfighters carrying out the mission.
* * *
Taylor Hathorn is a foreign policy and national security analyst specializing in U.S. defense strategy, Iran and China policy, cybersecurity, and geopolitical risk. She serves as a National Security Fellow with the Independent Women’s Center for American Safety and Security and an Iran Policy Fellow with The Hamilton Society/Public Interest Fellowship. As a Gold Star sister, she is committed to policies supporting veterans and military families and frequently speaks on national security issues affecting service members and their families. She has appeared on NEWSMAX and PBS, and her writing can be found in The Hill, RealClearDefense, RealClearWorld, Townhall, and Evie Magazine. Follow her on X @taylorhathorn.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

House Homeland Security Committee Hearing On Worldwide Threats

Joe Kent Built His Reputation On Iran Warnings — What Changed?

Director of National Intelligence

Iran

Joe Kent

Middle East

National Security

Opinion

Tulsi Gabbard

Update, March 14: The ground stop has been lifted at the affected airports, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy <a href="https://x.com/SecDuffy/status/2032619927387914503">said</a>. Firefighters traced the smell to an overheated circuit breaker, and determined that there was no threat to workers.
WASHINGTON—Planes have been grounded at all three Washington, D.C.-area airports after a strong chemical smell forced workers to evacuate the region’s air traffic control center.
Flights were abruptly grounded at Reagan National, Dulles, and Baltimore-Washington International Airports late Friday, and inbound flights were diverted, causing major delays at one of the nation’s largest air travel hubs. It is unclear what caused the smell, or how long the airports will remain locked down. Flights were also grounded at Richmond International Airport.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨BREAKING🚨 GROUND STOP CURRENTLY AT THE FOLLOWING AIRPORTS:
⚠️ Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) 
⚠️ Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) 
⚠️ Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI)⁰⚠️ Richmond International Airport (RIC)<a href="https://twitter.com/FAANews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FAANews</a> is working to…
— Secretary Sean Duffy (@SecDuffy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecDuffy/status/2032582233920307569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 13, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The FAA said the smell caused employees at the Potomac Consolidated Terminal RADAR Approach ​Control (TRACON) in Warrenton, Virginia, to evacuate the building, causing the delays. The agency is relocating controllers to a nearby facility, where they may begin diverting incoming flights due to congestion, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/flights-halted-dc-airports-after-chemical-smell-2026-03-13/">reported</a>.
&#8220;The FAA has temporarily stopped traffic at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) and Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) because of a strong chemical smell at the Potomac TRACON that is impacting some air traffic controllers,&#8221; the agency said in a statement.
The D.C.-area airports will likely continue to experience delays even after operations resume.
Friday&#8217;s shutdown is the latest incident to put stress on the nation&#8217;s airports. Over 300 <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mounting-frustration-as-senate-dems-dig-in-on-dhs-shutdown?author=Cameron+Arcand&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Hundreds+Of+TSA+Workers+Quit+As+Dems+Dig+In+On+Shutdown">TSA agents have quit</a> amid the ongoing partial shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, which directly affects their pay. Even more are expected to begin calling out of work beginning Friday, the first day agents missed a paycheck since the shutdown began.
“Democrats, regrettably, have chosen to punish the American people with long TSA lines and withholding paychecks from workers who help protect our country,” the White House told The Daily Wire Friday afternoon, adding that the Trump administration remains “interested in continuing conversations with Democrats about ways to end this shutdown.”
This is a developing story, please refresh this page for more updates

Airport

Chemical Smell Suddenly Grounds Flights At Several Major Airports

Airlines

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Sean Duffy

Virginia

The nation&#8217;s capital will celebrate fast cars and freedom this summer as IndyCar hosts the first-ever street race on the National Mall as part of America&#8217;s 250th anniversary celebrations.
The <a href="https://www.freedom250gp.com/">Freedom 250 Grand Prix</a> will host the best NTT INDYCAR drivers who will take on the 1.7-mile-long course that cuts through the nation&#8217;s historic landmarks in Washington, D.C.
The INDYCAR race celebrates the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and was made possible through an Executive Order signed earlier this year by President Donald Trump entitled &#8220;Celebrating American Greatness with American Motor Racing.&#8221;
The race course features a .4-mile front stretch along Pennsylvania Avenue, where INDYCAR fans can see the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol. Pit row will run adjacent to the track, on Pennsylvania Avenue. Other landmarks along the race course include the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, and the National Archives. INDYCAR officials describe the course as &#8220;challenging&#8221; and &#8220;picturesque.&#8221;
&#8220;This circuit is unlike any other street race we’ve seen,&#8221; said two‑time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and back‑to‑back Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden.
The Nashville native toured the circuit Monday morning in Washington, D.C.
<div id="attachment_1056063" style="width: 1010px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1056063" class="size-full wp-image-1056063" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/indycar-map.jpg" alt="" width="1000" height="563" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/indycar-map.jpg 1000w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/indycar-map-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/03/indycar-map-768x432.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" />Credit: INDYCAR</div>
&#8220;You’ve got a high‑speed section down Pennsylvania Avenue that will reward commitment and precision, mixed with technical corners around 9th Street that will demand respect,&#8221; Newgarden said. &#8220;Racing through the heart of American history, with those amazing landmarks lining the course, is going to be incredibly powerful. I can’t wait to be back here to race and celebrate America’s birthday at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix.&#8221;
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, and Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks were alongside Newgarden and other race organizers Monday to kick off the countdown to race day.
&#8220;Freedom doesn’t ring, it revs! The Freedom 250 Grand Prix will showcase American ingenuity in engineering and technology along the backdrop of our historic capital in a spectacle that will leave the world in awe,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “President Trump and our partners at INDYCAR are preparing a historic celebration worthy of America’s 250th anniversary. The design of this unique and competitive track will deliver an exhilarating and safe experience for millions of Americans to enjoy and celebrate.&#8221;
Race course construction for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix circuit starts later this year, with the roads near the U.S. Capitol and around the National Mall expected to remain open and accessible throughout the majority of the course creation.
This race will take place after another historical sporting event planned in Washington, D.C., as part of the year-long America 250 celebrations. The Freedom 250 Grand Prix will take place in August, following the UFC Freedom 250 scheduled for June 14, live from The White House lawn.
It&#8217;s a summer full of firsts. Unlike the UFC fight, the INDYCAR race is free and open to the public.
The engines will rev throughout Washington D.C., August 22-23.

Illustration by Daily Wire staff

Fast Cars And Freedom Will Take Over The Nation’s Capital For America’s 250th Anniversary

A Different Kind Of Race Takes Over Nation's Capital For America 250 Celebration

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Drugs, Sweat, And Tears: My Fight Through Spring Break TSA Lines During The Democrat DHS Shutdown

‘I Can’t Monitor Like This!’ Inside Polymarket’s Disastrous DC Bar Opening

Joe Kent Built His Reputation On Iran Warnings — What Changed?

Chemical Smell Suddenly Grounds Flights At Several Major Airports

Fast Cars And Freedom Will Take Over The Nation’s Capital For America’s 250th Anniversary

Jeanine Pirro’s Second Amendment Two-Step 