Within a year, there will be more than 1,500 new members of New York’s Finest, thanks to an influx in funds that were previously intended to address the immigrant crisis, the New York Post reported.

The next two classes of NYPD officers — set to graduate in January and April 2025, respectively — had been nixed last year amid major budget cuts meant to help address the hordes of illegal immigrants pouring into the city.

Now, with more than $100 million restored to NYPD coffers, those two classes have been reinstated, meaning that 1,600 rookie cops will be out on the streets by next October, according to the Post, citing sources in City Hall.

‘We’re making even MORE investments to public safety, affordability, and livability for working-class New Yorkers.’

On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams (D) basically confirmed that report during a press conference to discuss the new budget cycle.

“The November plan adds two police academy classes, which will put 1,600 new officers on our streets by October 2025, increasing our uniformed force to nearly 34,000, getting back and reaching our goal of 35,000 officers patrolling our streets,” Adams said at the press conference.

“That’s a lot of officers,” he continued, “who alongside all the civilian employees of the NYPD work day in and day out to keep us safe.”

The X post with a livestream of the press conference included the message: “We’re making even MORE investments to public safety, affordability, and livability for working-class New Yorkers.”

— (@)

During the press conference, Adams celebrated the reduced cost of addressing the immigrant crisis. According to a press release from his office, the city will save nearly $500 million over the next two fiscal years “primarily due to lower-than-expected number of asylum seekers entering the city’s care since July 2024.”

Earlier this month — just days after President-elect Donald Trump soundly defeated Kamala Harris, largely on account of the border crisis — New York City decided to end a program which provided thousands of immigrants living at the Roosevelt Hotel with prepaid debit cards in lieu of boxed meals. One of the main reasons cited for ending the program was the dwindling number of new arrivals.

Likewise during the press conference on Wednesday, Adams announced the appointment of Jessica Tisch as the new NYPD commissioner and referenced an officer who was shot in Queens on Tuesday night.

Officer Rich Wong, a seven-year veteran of the force, was wounded during a shootout with a violent suspect who had reportedly committed several armed robberies in the Queens neighborhood of Jamaica. During the shootout, the suspect, 57-year-old Gary Worthy, managed to shoot Wong in the thigh. Wong returned fire, fatally striking Worthy in the face.

Thankfully, Wong has already been discharged from the hospital. An innocent bystander was also wounded in the incident but is expected to survive, the Post reported.

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An elderly Massachusetts woman was mauled to death by her own dog, according to investigators. The Boston woman’s husband and two police officers also were injured in the dog attack.

Jeriline Brady-McGinnis — a 73-year-old from Roxbury — was attacked by her own pit bull in her home around 4:30 p.m. Monday.

‘She’s very close to her animals, almost like children …’

Investigators said the dog also attacked the victim’s husband as he tried to save her, plus two Boston police officers responding to the pit bull attack. All four were rushed to a local hospital. However, Brady-McGinnis allegedly died in surgery.

WFXT-TV reported that a pit bull named Deuce mauled Brady-McGinnis to death. The officers and the husband suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.

Once the officers were attacked, another cop shot at the pit bull, according to WFXT. The outlet obtained surveillance video allegedly showing three shots being fired when police arrived on the scene.

The dog was transported to Angell Animal Medical Center for treatment. But due to “his worsening condition and poor prognosis,” officials decided to euthanize the dog, according to Boston Animal Control.

Brady-McGinnis allegedly owned four dogs. The three other dogs reportedly were removed from the home. Neighbors told WBZ-TV they were scared of the dogs. WBZ-TV spoke to Jean McGuire — the landlord and close friend of Brady-McGinnis.

“She’s very close to her animals, almost like children, I think,” McGuire said. “She took good care of them. She walked them every day.”

McGuire — a 93-year-old civil rights pioneer and the first black woman elected to the Boston School Committee — said Brady-McGinnis was like a “sister” to her.

“She’s a wonderful person. A very generous, a very loving person. Loved animals,” McGuire said of McGinnis. “I’ve lost my sister. She’s a sister.”

The family of Brady-McGinnis remembered the elderly victim as having a “heart of gold.”

Brady-McGinnis’ three children — Chris, Ronald, and Donald — told WBZ, “Our mother was a loving and caring mother. She put her children first. … The heart and soul of our family is gone.”

The family said Brady-McGinnis cooked dinner for her dogs every night.

The Boston Police Department’s Homicide Unit reportedly is investigating the dog attack.

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​Dog attack, Pit bulls, Pit bull attacks, Mauled to death, Dog mauling, When animals attack, Pit bull attack, Crime, Police, Massachusetts, Boston 

Former Coca-Cola lobbyist Calley Means first caught Liz Wheeler’s eye when he spoke out about the company using “racism” to force the government into putting its product on the food stamps program.

“I thought, ‘What an extraordinary story. This exemplifies the corruption, the ideological corruption, the financial corruption, that is in our health care industry. This revolving door between Big Food and Big Pharma and the federal government,’” Wheeler says.

Now, Means is an adviser to RFK Jr. in the Make America Healthy Again movement that’s taken America by storm.

“I’ve gone from when President Trump first came down that golden escalator ten years ago thinking he’s a threat to democracy to believing that this election is by far the most important victory of our lifetime and, I think, a historic moment in American history where I’ve never been more excited about a president being elected,” Means tells Wheeler.

Wheeler is also thrilled by what’s to come.

“By marrying ‘Make America Great Again’ with ‘Make America Healthy Again,’” Wheeler explains that RFK Jr. and President Trump are telling those with autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity that “you don’t have to suffer this.”

And RFK’s plan to ensure they don’t have to suffer as they have been is the best part.

“We’ve heard a couple of promises from Bobby in the past couple days. One of my favorite ones is that he’s going to take all the nutritional scientists out of HHS and either fire them on day one, or if he’s not allowed to fire them, he’s going to build a new headquarters for them in Guam,” Wheeler says.

While the latter part of RFK’s statement was a joke, his plans to reform the American health care system are as serious as it gets.

“We’re going to return to science,” Means says. “I think what bad interests have realized is that there’s nothing higher-level in society than an NIH study. And I’ve actually, Liz, had conversations in the past three days with the senior-most members of the NIH who are defending the institution publicly, who are saying this is an absolute and utter dumpster fire.”

“There’s huge DEI regulations and parameters around what can and can’t be said, a feeling of absolute assault on academic freedom, and from what I’m hearing, when you add it up, eighty to ninety percent of NIH grants and funding goes to pharmaceutical R&D,” Means explains.

“We’re going to get any type of ideology out of our scientific guidelines,” he continues. “And that’s the key to everything.”

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​Camera phone, Video phone, Video, Free, Upload, Sharing, Youtube.com, The liz wheeler show, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Rfk jr, Calley means, Hhs, Donald trump, Make america healthy again, Big pharma, Big food, Corruption 

Berlin is once again a dangerous place for Jews and homosexuals, according to the city’s chief of police.

The German newspaper Berliner Zeitung recently asked chief Barbara Slowik whether Berlin was safe. Slowik initially tried to avoid characterizing her city as a haven for imported extremism, suggesting, “Berlin is as safe as many other cities in Germany and safer than many other European capitals.”

When pressed on whether there were “no-go areas,” Slowik, who was instrumental in setting up the Joint Extremism and Counter-Terrorism Center, admitted that “there are areas — and we have to be honest here — where I would advise people who wear a kippah or are openly gay or lesbian to be more alert.”

Slowik said she wouldn’t “defame any groups of people here” but acknowledged that “there are certain neighborhoods where the majority of people liv[ing there] are of Arab descent, who also have sympathies for terrorist groups.”

The German ministry of the interior and community acknowledged in September that the country’s worsening crime problem was the result, in part, of “more foreigner crime.” Many of the non-Germans hail from Middle Eastern hotbeds for Islamic radicalism.

‘It is not the job of Jews and homosexuals to be “more attentive” in certain areas of Berlin.’

According to the publication Junge Freiheit, the number of all registered crimes — not including violations of immigration law — skyrocketed by 4.4% last year to 5.6 million incidents. Rainer Wendt, the head of the German Police Union, highlighted police statistics in April indicating that foreigners now account for at least 41% of all suspects in Germany and are massively over-represented among violent and sexual offenders.

The problem of imported crime bled into 2024 with some high-profile examples, starting right away in the early hours of New Year’s Day, when scores of Syrians and Afghan males rioted in several German cities, attacking first responders with incendiary devices and robbing others. Months later, an Afghan immigrant went on a stabbing spree and butchered a police officer at an anti-jihad rally in the southwestern German town of Mannheim.

Anti-Semitic attacks have apparently skyrocketed since Oct. 7, 2023.

“Open anti-Semitism is expressed there against people of Jewish faith and origin,” continued the police chief, adding that the force has opened over 6,200 investigations into anti-Semitic incidents, including 1,300 violent crimes, since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel last year.

‘The safety of Jews and homosexuals can only be guaranteed by ending mass migration.’

According to Slowik, the city was able to prevent 24 mass gatherings that were explicitly aimed at celebrating the murder of Israeli civilians.

Other rallies featuring anti-Semitic messaging and glorifying Islamic terrorism have apparently gone unchecked in part due to the fact that bans would not ultimately rid Berlin of the extremists responsible as well as a desire on the part of officials to selectively respect residents’ rights to expression and assembly.

Although keen not to encroach on the rights of foreign-born anti-Semites, German authorities have sought to ban, vilify, disarm, de-bank, and criminalize the popular Alternative for Germany party and its members, largely over their criticism of mass immigration, open borders, and Islamization.

Marie-Thérèse Kaiser, a member of the AFD, was convicted of a “hate crime” in May for sharing statistics about the disproportionate number of gang rapes committed by immigrants, specifically Afghan nationals, and for asking whether multiculturalism means accommodating rape culture.

Just last week, 113 German lawmakers from various leftist and establishment factions reportedly signed an application to begin proceedings to ban the AFD. They appear especially concerned by recent polls showing that the AFD ranks second going into the 2025 federal election.

While kneecapping the AFD is a key priority for the German political establishment, the AFD alternatively appears keen on tackling the fallout of Germany’s failed multicultural project — having learned independently what former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman concluded in 2023: that “uncontrolled immigration, inadequate integration, and a misguided dogma of multiculturalism have proven a toxic combination” for the West.

The AFD said in a statement Tuesday that Slowik’s admission about no-go zones was “an absolute declaration of bankruptcy for [Christian Democratic Union]-governed Berlin,” adding that this “is what ‘cosmopolitan’ Berlin looks like under a CDU mayor.”

“The police chief is turning the responsibilities on their head. It is not the job of Jews and homosexuals to be ‘more attentive’ in certain areas of Berlin, but rather it is the job of the CDU-led Senate to be ‘more attentive’ to consistent deportations, protected borders and an assertive constitutional state,” said the AFD.

“The safety of Jews and homosexuals can only be guaranteed by ending mass migration,” added the AFD statement.

Berlin is far from the only Western city where Jewish citizens have been told to keep their heads down to avoid the fallout of liberal elites’ promised cultural enrichment.

Blaze News reported earlier this year that London’s Metropolitan Police threatened to arrest Gideon Falter, the head of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, in April for daring to be “quite openly Jewish” in the English capital’s Aldwych area while pro-Hamas protesters were demonstrating nearby.

A police sergeant took notice of Falter and his kippah cap and confronted him, saying, “I’m sure there are an awful lot of people of all sorts of faiths and creeds who want to go where they want. But unfortunately, today is different.”

“So basically, because I’m Jewish, I can’t cross the road today?” asked Falter.

“Because of the march,” said the sergeant.

Falter pressed the issue, saying, “Yes, because I am Jewish?”

“That is part of — unfortunately part of the fact,” said the sergeant.

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​Anti-semitism, Antisemitism, Jew, Jewish, Germany, Afd, Berlin, Islam, Islamic, Arab, Arabic, Terrorism, Crime, Alternative for germany, Migration, Immigration, Politics 

On Wednesday, the Bucks County commissioners’ meeting was packed with citizens who were fed up with Democratic officials’ alleged attempts to count illegal ballots in the recount of the Senate race between incumbent Bob Casey (D) and Dave McCormick (R).

Residents showed up en masse to torch Diane Ellis-Marseglia (D), commissioners chair, after she made comments last week essentially admitting that she planned to count undated and misdated mail ballots in direct defiance of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s order.

‘I have decided to file a criminal complaint against both of you.’

“People violate laws any time they want,” Ellis-Marseglia stated. “So for me, if I violate this law it’s because I want a court to pay attention. There’s nothing more important than counting votes.”

After the state’s supreme court again ruled on Monday that such ballots cannot be counted, Ellis-Marseglia backtracked on her previous statement, claiming it was taken out of context.

She blamed a “misinterpretation of [an] inartfully worded statement on my part” and apologized to constituents for causing any “upset and confusion.”

However, Ellis-Marseglia’s brief apology was not enough for Bucks County residents, who showed up in droves on Wednesday to call her out for allegedly trying to break the law.

Before the public comment section began, Ellis-Marseglia offered another apology, at points seeming — or perhaps trying to seem — as though she was overcome with emotion and regret. Residents interrupted her with boos and jeers. At times, Ellis-Marseglia’s attempt at a sincere tone appeared to briefly shift to frustration toward those in the crowd.

“Last Thursday, when I spoke at the meeting that you’re all here about, the passion in my heart got the best of me, and I apologize again for that,” she told residents.

Ellis-Marseglia claimed that many were unaware that she was referring to provisional ballots, not mail-in ballots.

“Even as I say this, I know it’s confusing, and it’s no surprise to me that these issues have gotten conflated,” Ellis-Marseglia said.

“It was my poor choice of words,” she admitted before immediately turning around and saying that her statement was “clipped.”

“They were out of context,” Ellis-Marseglia declared before shushing the crowd, who responded to her statement with sneers.

“I have literally been contacted by hundreds of people. And, I’m being honest with you, all of them involved horrible, horrible expletives,” she claimed. “Many involved threats, not just on my life, but on the people who work in this county.”

Ellis-Marseglia told residents that everybody says things “out of turn” and griped that she, as an elected official, is held to a “far higher standard than everybody else.”

Someone in the crowd responded by calling on her to resign.

“When I inartfully spoke and used the word ‘precedent’ when I was talking about provisional ballots, I was referring to the United States Supreme Court and the precedent that has been lost on many issues, including Roe versus Wade,” Ellis-Marseglia stated.

Many in the crowd scoffed. Ellis-Marseglia chuckled and smiled before pounding on her gavel to quiet the room.

She concluded her speech by stating she did not believe she could apologize anymore, adding that the meeting was her only opportunity to set the record straight.

The meeting then proceeded into public comments.

The first speaker revealed a bombshell announcement, stating that she planned to file a criminal complaint against Ellis-Marseglia and Vice Chair Robert Harvie Jr.

“Diane’s actually right, though: The law doesn’t matter anymore in this country because people like you violate it all the time, and all we the people do is sit here and complain,” the resident said.

“I’m not going to take it anymore,” she declared. “I have decided to file a criminal complaint against both of you for breaking the following laws: Title 25, Section 3050; Title 25, Section 3501; Title 25, Section 3510; Title 25, Section 3527, 52 U.S.C. 103.08.”

Several residents who approached the mic on Wednesday accused Ellis-Marseglia of rolling her eyes during the public’s comments.

One citizen stepped up to the lectern and told Ellis-Marseglia that she found it difficult to believe her apology based on her previous comments and actions.

“You called all of us here ‘extremists,’ ‘MAGA extremists,’ ‘white Christian nationalists,’ all kinds of horrible names. The rolling of the eye — that is the real you,” she said.

Conservative activist Scott Presler also spoke at the meeting.

“I have a message: Peacefully, peacefully, we are coming for your seat in 2027 if you don’t resign today,” Presler said.

Ellis-Marseglia, who repeatedly stated throughout the meeting that she would not respond during the public comment section, replied to Presler, saying, “Have at it.”

“I want you to know that I am going to spend all of my time in Bucks County for the next three years making sure we take back this county,” Presler added.

Numerous attendees demanded the resignation of the commissioners, and several advocated for their criminal prosecution.

Ellis-Marseglia, Harvie, and Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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​News, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, Diane ellis-marseglia, Diane marseglia, Scott presler, Presidential election 2024, Presidential election, Election 2024, Election, Politics 

Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah reintroduced the Knife Owners Protection Act, which protects knife owners traveling from one state to another against vague and restrictive state and local laws.

The legislation details that so long as possession of the knife is legal in the states an individual travels to and from, and so long as the knife is secured based on the KOPA requirements, a knife owner can’t be arrested for simply traveling across state lines.

“The government must not discourage interstate travel and commerce by subjecting law-abiding knife owners to the fear of prosecution under the myriad patchwork of state and local knife laws,” Biggs said in a statement obtained exclusively by Blaze News.

‘Enforcement is not uniform even with jurisdictions and is too often subject to the vagaries of political expediency.’

“Americans are guaranteed the right to protect themselves, their families, and their businesses by the Second Amendment, and we must ensure that those rights are protected,” Biggs continued. “I’m thankful for Senator Lee’s leadership on the issue in the Senate and for the support of my colleagues as we work to move this bill through Congress.”

The bill was originally drafted in 2010 by an organization known as Knife Rights and was officially introduced in 2013, making KOPA the first proactive federal legislation protecting knife owners in our nation’s history.

Congress enacted a similar law in 1986 known as the Firearm Owner Protection Act, which protected law-abiding gun owners from the patchwork of local and state laws. Although FOPA was already passed, knife owners have not yet experienced the same protections.

“Those who travel across the country with knives for work, recreation and self-defense are presently subject to arrest and prosecution under a confusing patchwork of inconsistent state and local laws,” Doug Ritter, chairman of Knife Rights, said in the statement.

“What is perfectly legal in one place may be a serious crime in another, resulting in forfeiture of the knife and carrying significant penalties including jail time,” Ritter continued. “Enforcement is not uniform even with jurisdictions and is too often subject to the vagaries of political expediency.”

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​Andy biggs, Mike lee, Knife owners, Gun owners, Knife owners protection act, Firearm owner protection act, Doug ritter, Knife rights, House republicans, Senate republicans, Politics 

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana announced a ban on biological males in congressional bathrooms for women after a heated debate over a transgender congressperson’s demands.

The controversy erupted after Democratic Rep. Sarah McBride from Delaware was elected to the House as the first openly transgender member. Republicans authored a bill to restrict biological males from using bathrooms designated for women.

‘I’m not gonna allow a man in any female private spaces. Period. End of story.’

“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings – such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms – are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” read a statement from Johnson Wednesday.

“It is important to note that each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol,” Johnson continued. “Women deserve women’s only spaces.”

McBride had accused Republicans of “manufacturing culture wars” with the bathroom legislation.

“Every day Americans go to work with people who have life journeys different than their own and engage with them respectfully, I hope members of Congress can muster that same kindness,” the transgender member said on social media.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina proposed the legislation and has been vocal about her opposition to allowing biological males into women’s bathrooms.

“I’m not going to allow biological men into women’s private spaces. I will stand in the brink and in the way of anyone on the radical left who thinks it’s OK for a penis to be in a woman’s locker room or a bathroom or a changing room,” said Mace to a reporter.

“Hell no! I’m not gonna stand for it,” she continued. “This is not OK. I’m a survivor of rape, I’m a survivor of sexual abuse, and I’m not gonna allow a man in any female private spaces. Period. End of story.”

The controversy also led to an apparent death threat against Mace on social media by a person identifying as a transgender person.

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​Speaker mike johnson trans, Transgender congress member, Trans congress bathrooms, Mcbride trans congress, Politics 

The latest teacher sex scandal involves a newly hired substitute teacher from New Mexico who has since been fired. The 30-year-old married woman was charged with criminal sexual penetration and sexual contact with a minor, according to authorities.

Michaela Ford of Estancia was arrested Friday and hit with seven charges, including criminal sexual penetration and sexual contact with a minor. Ford is being held at the Torrance County Detention Facility.

Surveillance video showed the encounter between Ford and the child, according to court documents.

Ford had been working at Estancia High School. Citing court records, KOAT-TV reported that a witness came forward after allegedly seeing Ford kissing an underage student near the middle and high schools on Nov. 6. The station reported that Ford asked the principal not to tell her husband about the alleged interaction.

The school launched an investigation into the allegations. Surveillance video showed the encounter between Ford and the child, according to court documents.

The Estancia Municipal School District issued a statement Monday saying it’s “disturbed to learn of the allegations made against a former substitute teacher in the district, who was arrested.”

“The district is working closely in cooperation with law enforcement to ensure that a full investigation is conducted,” the district stated. “The safety of our students is our highest priority. The district follows all laws and policies with regards to the hiring of employees, including a comprehensive background check.”

The district said Ford had been employed at the high school for less than a month. Ford was “separated from students immediately” after the accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced.

“The district is now concentrating our efforts and resources to assist students requiring support and guidance,” the school district said.

“As this matter has just come to light, full details are not known,” the district added. “All information related to this matter will remain confidential in order to protect our students. This district takes pride in being a tight-knit and caring community of learners. We will continue to take all necessary steps to protect student safety.”

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​Bad teacher, Child sex abuse, Child sex crimes, Teacher arrested, Teacher sex scandal, Crime, New mexico, Arrest, Substitute teacher, High school, Married woman 

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) put on a master class Tuesday in handling the legacy media.

Mace ruffled woke feathers this week after she proposed a bill to mandate that House members, officers, and employees use restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms inside the Capitol and House office buildings that correspond with their biological sex.

‘I’m not gonna allow a man in any female private spaces. Period. End of story.’

The bill became necessary, according to Mace, with the election of Sarah McBride (D-Del.) to Congress. McBride is a biological man who identifies as a woman.

On Tuesday, an ABC News reporter confronted Mace over her proposed legislation, using dishonest and combative framing.

First, the reporter asked Mace if legislation generally should be “targeted at one specific person,” and Mace quickly corrected the record.

“It doesn’t mention anyone in the legislation,” she fact-checked.

When the reporter doubled down, arguing that Mace is specifically targeting Rep.-elect McBride, Mace explained why she refuses to bend the knee to woke outrage.

“I have said it’s a result of this. I’m not going to allow biological men into women’s private spaces. I will stand in the brink and in the way of anyone on the radical left who thinks it’s OK for a penis to be in a woman’s locker room or a bathroom or a changing room,” she said.

“Hell no! I’m not gonna stand for it,” she added. “This is not OK. I’m a survivor of rape, I’m a survivor of sexual abuse, and I’m not gonna allow a man in any female private spaces. Period. End of story.”

Unfortunately, the reporter did not back down, following up with a question that suggested Mace is not treating McBride with respect.

“Speaker Johnson has said he wants to treat every new member with the words ‘dignity and respect.’ Forcing this congressperson to go into a male restroom, is that dignity and respect?” the reporter asked.

“Forcing women to share private spaces with men is not dignity and not respect,” Mace fired back.

“I’m absolutely gonna stand in the way of anyone who thinks it’s OK for a man to be in our locker room, and our changing rooms, our dressing rooms, and women’s bathrooms,” she continued. “And, in fact, if you agree with that, you’re crazy.”

On Wednesday, Mace proposed a new bill that would protect women on all federal property. The bill is called the Protecting Women’s Private Spaces Act.

— (@)

“The radical left would rather call me an extremist than admit they are wrong. The radical left says I’m a ‘threat.’ You better believe it. And I will shamelessly call you out for putting women and girls in harm’s way. Women fought for these spaces, and I will not let them be erased to score political points with a small but loud activist class,” Mace said in a statement.

“Women and girls shouldn’t have to give up their safety or privacy just because the left wants to win points with their activist base,” she continued. “This isn’t controversial — it’s common sense. I’m going to continue defending women and girls from these harmful, out-of-touch, and straight-up weird policies.”

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​Nancy mace, Transgender, Trans, Lgbt, Sarah mcbride, Congress, Protect women, Legacy media, Abc news, Politics 

Jose Ibarra was found guilty on all counts for the murder of Laken Riley as the sobering trial concluded on Wednesday.

Judge Patrick Haggard announced that Ibarra was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, aggravated battery, obstruction of a 911 call, tampering with evidence, and peeping Tom.

Riley’s family cried as Haggard read the verdict.

Athens District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez’s office is not seeking the death penalty for Ibarra.

Ibarra is a member of the violent Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and was able to easily enter the United States illegally in 2022 due to the Biden-Harris administration’s open-border crisis.

Prosecutors made the case that Ibarra hunted down Riley while she went for a jog. Using data from her smartwatch, authorities were able confirm that Riley fought off Ibarra for nearly 20 minutes before he smashed her skull in with a rock. Ibarra’s DNA was found underneath Riley’s fingernails.

Athens District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez, a soft-on-crime prosecutor, and her office are not seeking the death penalty for Ibarra but instead are seeking life in prison without possibility of parole.

In response to the verdict, President-elect Donald Trump said on Truth Social, “JUSTICE FOR LAKEN RILEY! … Although the pain and heartbreak will last forever, hopefully this can help bring some peace and closure to her wonderful family who fought for Justice, and to ensure that other families don’t have to go through what they have. We love you, Laken, and our hearts will always be with you.”

Trump further said the nation’s borders will be secured and illegal immigrants will be removed from the country so cases like this does not happen again.

Riley’s parents read their impact statements after the verdict was rendered, pleading with Haggard to sentence Ibarra to the maximum sentence of life without parole.

John Phillips, Riley’s stepfather, read one of her last journal entries, which was a letter to her future husband about wanting to have a God-fearing and God-loving family.

“I want you to know I am think about you. I am working everyday to become the best wife I can be by working through my current relationships to best prepare me for ours and our kids one day. I am focusing on God and what He defines as a faithful, Christian wife and so I can best embodied those characteristics,” Phillips read from Riley’s journal.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include statements from Riley’s family and President-elect Donald Trump.

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​Politics, Crime 

Laken Riley was only 22 years old when she was brutally murdered by an illegal immigrant from Venezuela.

The nursing student had innocently gone for a jog on the University of Georgia campus in Athens, Georgia, where 26-year-old Jose Ibarra then decided to take her life.

Ibarra was found guilty on all counts Wednesday morning in the fast-moving trial.

The prosecutor explained to the jury that the immigrant had been walking around different apartment complexes essentially hunting for a woman to rape, when he saw Laken Riley jogging by herself on a Sunday morning.

“She fought so hard for her life, she fought so hard for her dignity, she was almost completely unclothed,” Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” comments after listening to the prosecutor’s opening statement.

“Because of how hard she fought, she wasn’t completely exposed, but when the police officer found her laying there with her skull crushed in by the rock that Ibarra allegedly picked up and hit her with, at least half of her body was completely naked because he tried and failed, thank the Lord, to rape her before murdering her,” Stuckey says.

Riley was reportedly wearing a smartwatch at the time, which revealed that her heart rate had spiked during the 17-minute attack.

Her attacker has been confirmed to be a member of Tren de Aragua, a dangerous Venezuelan gang that has infiltrated and plagued parts of America with extreme violence.

He had also been arrested by the NYPD a year after he entered the United States in August 2023, but not because he was here illegally. Rather, Ibarra was arrested because he committed the crime of acting in a manner to injure a child and had a motor vehicle license violation.

Now, it’s been revealed that Ibarra, along with other illegal immigrants, was granted a free humanitarian flight from New York to Georgia.

“So he was the beneficiary of Biden’s catch-and-release policy at the border. So he was detained when he tried to cross illegally in 2022, and then he was released into the interior of the United States per Biden’s policies, and then he was the beneficiary of a catch-and-release policy because of progressive soft-on-crime policies in New York,” Stuckey comments.

“And not only that, but he was actually given the gift, as a reward for the crimes that he had committed, he was given the gift of a free, taxpayer-funded flight from New York to Georgia, where he eventually killed Laken Riley,” she adds, disgusted.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

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Two unidentified men who incited rioters on January 6, captured video throughout the U.S. Capitol for hours, and stood feet from Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt when she was shot are drawing new attention as the fourth anniversary of the tragic day looms.

A Blaze News video investigation found that the duo assisted and shadowed a large group of protesters from the Capitol’s West Plaza to the House Speaker’s Lobby before Babbitt was fatally shot.

The pair later met secretly with U.S. Capitol Police at the edge of Capitol grounds and shared at least one video clip as evidence before the Babbitt shooting investigation was even officially under way. Capitol Police did not make a video or audio recording of their talks with the men. One of the men sat in an unmarked squad car and showed USCP special agents at least some of his video, security footage reviewed by Blaze News showed.

‘What evil do you think he is up to?’

The men have been the subject of intense social media speculation for some time. They warranted just a few paragraphs in the now-closed Babbitt shooting investigation conducted by the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department.

Nicknamed “Frick and Frack” by a YouTube satirist, the men have long been considered important material witnesses in the killing of Babbitt, 35, of San Diego. They have not been publicly identified, arrested by the FBI, or charged by federal prosecutors.

As the FBI Jan. 6 arrest total heads toward 1,600, it’s not fully clear how aggressive the bureau will continue to be in the wake of former President Donald J. Trump’s landslide re-election on Nov. 5. Despite a reported DOJ decision to focus only on violent cases leading up to Jan. 20, the FBI recently arrested a 74-year-old cancer patient for nonviolent Jan. 6 misdemeanors.

Analyzing more than 22,000 hours of Capitol Police security video posted on Rumble by a U.S. House committee, Blaze News tracked the movements of Frick and Frack from the early violence on the West Plaza to their meeting with police and to them walking west away from Capitol grounds at 4 p.m.

Babbitt, an Air Force and National Guard veteran who came to Washington, D.C., to hear then-President Trump speak, was shot at nearly point-blank range at 2:44 p.m. by U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd.

She died a half-hour later at a Washington hospital. The death was classified a homicide by the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The U.S. Department of Justice declined to pursue charges against Byrd, who said he feared for his life when the 5’2″ Babbitt began climbing into the window.

‘I cannot believe I am witnessing this. A woman was shot and is dead!’

The shooting triggered a $30 million wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government brought by Judicial Watch Inc. on behalf of widower Aaron Babbitt and his late wife’s estate. The DOJ secured a change of venue from Babbitt’s hometown of San Diego to the friendly confines of federal district court in Washington, D.C. Judicial Watch is appealing the change of venue. The suit is proceeding into discovery.

As that litigation and the extensive investigation that underpins it begin their long journey through the federal courts, questions have grown about the identities of more than a dozen material witnesses who either took part in rioting near the Speaker’s Lobby entrance or captured video that could be valuable evidence in the shooting. Frick and Frack are prominent on that list.

The list of unidentified material witnesses (see chart) includes #RedOnRedGlasses (second from top left), a provocateur captured on video apparently launching a long two-by-four like a javelin through a window at the Senate Wing Door at 2:12 p.m., creating the first breach of the Capitol Building.

Nearly two dozen material witnesses to the shooting of Ashli Babbitt on Jan. 6, 2021, have not been publicly identified or questioned about what they saw outside the Speaker‘s Lobby. Sam Montoya/Open Source Video

Open-source videos reviewed by Blaze News from the hallways near the main U.S. House entrance show #RedOnRed attempting to kick in heavy wooden office doors. He ended up in the front line at the Speaker’s Lobby entrance. Babbitt nearly landed on his feet when she fell back to the floor, mortally wounded. Despite ample video evidence of his acts — and clear video views of his face — the man has not been publicly identified or arrested by the FBI.

#MrFlyEyes (upper right) attempted to kick in the Speaker’s Lobby doors after three Capitol Police officers abandoned their post guarding the entrance, video showed. His phone indicated he was capturing video during the melee.

#PushyKeffiyeh and #NoProHelmet (lower left) operated at least four cameras during and after the shooting. It is not known if their video — or footage captured by potentially dozens of others — was sought or obtained by police.

Frick and Frack

The somewhat tongue-in-cheek reference to the pair of key witnesses as “Frick and Frack” is drawn from 20th century American pop culture.

A world-famous comedic skating duo known as Frick and Frack performed spectacular on-ice feats for tens of millions of U.S. fans from 1939 until late 1953. Their ice-folly antics and derring-do seemed to defy the laws of physics. Their on-rink names have since become synonymous with a closely matched set or a pair of inseparable friends.

Comedic ice skating duo and Ice Follies touring show members Frick and Frack, circa 1950. “Frick” (Werner Groebli) is seen on the left, and “Frack” (Hans Rudolf “Hansruedi” Mauch) is on the right. Photo by European/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images

At the Capitol, the 21st-century Frick and Frack were always within feet of each other during a crucial two-hour span on Jan. 6, Capitol Police security video revealed. When crowds of protesters pressed around them, Frick held onto Frack’s backpack to make sure they did not get separated in Capitol hallways.

Despite their ample presence on closed-circuit security cameras and open-source video, Frick and Frack do not appear on the FBI’s Jan. 6 most-wanted page or the “Perp Sheet” page maintained by the online sleuths of Sedition Hunters. However, Frick is listed as Insider 2047 and Frack is Insider 2325 on the Sedition Hunters’ list of 3,268 “Sedition Insiders” who entered the Capitol.

Sedition Hunters added a page devoted to Frack on March 4 that included nine photographs. That page, however, is not hot-linked to Frack’s thumbnail photo on the Sedition Insiders page. A reader would have to search the site by insider number or hashtag (#BehindTheLineGuy) to find the detail page.

Neither page shows that Frack has been identified by law enforcement. According to Sedition Hunters, 815 people on the insiders list have been identified but not arrested.

On social media, Sedition Hunters published Frack’s photo with a green “Identified” label on it but did not provide his name.

When questioned on July 21 by X user Silvio Costa about the identity of Frick and Frack, Sedition Hunters posted: “Why do you assume they are not Trump supporters?? I mean seriously?? The guy in the red hat is a family nurse practitioner that lives in California. What evil do you think he is up to[?]”

When Costa asked how Sedition Hunters knew the man is a “family nurse practitioner,” he did not get a response. Elsewhere in the same thread, Sedition Hunters wrote, “The FBI knows exactly who these two men are.” The post did not indicate how Sedition Hunters was aware of this.

Blaze News reached out to Sedition Hunters for more information but did not receive a reply by press time.

Based on video and photo evidence from Jan. 6, Frack appeared to be about 35 years old and 6 feet tall with a husky build, dark hair, and a thick, dark beard. Frick was about 55, 5’7″ tall, balding with a grey mustache, and slimmer build but with a potbelly.

According to video, Frick threw off his primary role as an observer at the bottom of the Northwest Steps by leaning police bicycle-rack barricades against the massive balustrade to help protesters climb onto the stone railing and move up to the Capitol. This is what Jan. 6 prosecutors have typically labeled as participation in a riot or “storming the Capitol.”

The provocateur and shooting witness known only as “Frick” used bicycle racks to help protesters climb onto the balustrade of the Northwest Steps at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.U.S. Department of Justice

Video released by the U.S. Department of Justice showed Frick placing two such makeshift ladders in place. He also handed up what appeared to be a piece of lumber to rioters above.

Similar battering rams were used in various places on the Capitol grounds to smash windows on Jan. 6, including the one to the right of the Senate Wing Door just after 2:10 p.m.

Frack also apparently placed a section of bicycle rack against the side of the stairway that was used by dozens of people to climb onto the balustrade. Video shot by journalist Ford Fischer showed Frack grabbing and handing two sections of bike-rack barrier up to protesters 10 feet above him.

Frack took a long section of heavy cardboard tubing as if to hand it up to those standing above him, but he leaned the ramrod against the balustrade instead, video showed. A similar-looking tube was used to smash windows adjacent to the Lower West Terrace tunnel later that day.

Bodycam footage from an unknown MPD officer walking nearby at 2:03 p.m. showed Frick and Frack pausing their activity at the balustrade to watch brawls that broke out between rioters and police just north of the West Plaza. This included hand-to-hand combat, with some rioters trying to wrestle riot sticks from police and others discharging bear spray at officers.

The entire crowd — including provocateur witnesses Frick and Frack (inset) — watch a brawl between rioters and Metropolitan Police near the Capitol‘s West Plaza just after 2 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021.Metropolitan Police Department bodycam

A three-man undercover team from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Electronic Surveillance Unit was in this same area a short time later, according to video from one of the officers leaked on the video platform Rumble in March 2023. They walked up the Northwest Steps about 10 minutes after Frick and Frack.

Investigator Nicholas Tomasula captured video on a GoPro Hero 8 camera as he climbed onto the balustrade and went up the Northwest Steps toward the Capitol. Video shows he encouraged protesters to keep going and took part in crowd chants — so much so that federal prosecutors were later forced to admit that he acted as a provocateur in the west side crowd.

Surveillance Unit members Detective Michael Callahan and Detective Ricardo Leiva ascended the Northwest Steps just a few strides behind Babbitt, who was captured on security video nearing the Upper West Terrace at 2:21 p.m.

‘Chill out! Chill the f**k out, bro! Hey, chill out!’

Earlier, Leiva was heard on video predicting that someone would get shot that afternoon, according to an August 2023 court filing by Jan. 6 defendant William Pope. According to Pope’s court filing, Leiva’s five-minute cellphone video from his walk up the Northwest Steps was blacked out and the audio was garbled.

Leiva told MPD internal affairs investigators that when he saw a rioter breaking a Capitol window, he approached him and said, “Hey, what’s up, man, you’re doing an amazing job, awesome, awesome, awesome,” Pope’s court filing said.

On their journey from the West Plaza to the Capitol, Frick and Frack proceeded to the nearby scaffolding erected to support seating for the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. Open-source video used in a Jan. 6 criminal case and reviewed by Blaze News showed the men shielding their eyes from tear gas that swirled around them on the plaza at around 2 p.m.

Moments later, video shot by convicted Jan. 6 provocateur John Sullivan showed the men climbing the steps under the scaffolding.

Northwest Steps

Eventually, two streams of protesters inside and outside the scaffolding coalesced into a kinetic force that rolled through the police line on the upper Northwest Steps at 2:09 p.m., security video showed. After the initial wave of protesters cleared the way, Frick and Frack walked onto the Upper West Terrace at 2:10 p.m.

Capitol Police security video from camera 0925 — Upper Terrace West — showed Frack and Frick walked through the field of view at 2:12 p.m.

While Frack walked out of camera view and proceeded to a sub-terrace that overlooks the Capitol lawn, Frick threw his arms up in the air as if celebrating the huge crowds approaching the Capitol from the west, video showed. The pair’s movements were also captured from above by camera 0908 — West Dome.

The men entered the Senate Wing Door at 2:13:54 p.m., making them among the first protesters to breach the Capitol Building.

Frick almost immediately moved to the right and stooped down to pick up a heavy wooden stand that the first rioters kicked over before they jumped through a window into the lobby, security video showed.

Frick and Frack joined the quickly growing crowd in the Crypt at the U.S. Capitol before moving up a level to the Speaker‘s Lobby.Photo by Sam Montoya, used with permission

The men joined a stream of protesters heading south toward the Crypt. The tightly packed group stood off against a thin line of Capitol Police in the Crypt, chanting slogans and berating officers for not moving out of the way. After about 10 minutes, protesters plowed past the overwhelmed officers to the other side of the Crypt.

The group eventually ascended one level via a winding staircase and continued toward Statuary Hall, the Great Rotunda, and, eventually, the U.S. House of Representatives, video showed. The large group included dozens of protesters who eventually ended up in the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby.

Toward the Speaker’s Lobby

Frick and Frack shadowed the crowd from the Crypt and eventually reached the Will Rogers corridor near the main House door. En route, they filmed protesters in the Great Rotunda, Statuary Hall, and the jam-packed Statuary Hall Connector.

The unruly crowd in the Will Rogers corridor pushed through the police line at 2:36 p.m. and filled in the small hallway directly outside the House Chamber. Babbitt lingered along one wall, checking her phone but staying out of the fray.

Just around the corner, Frack physically intercepted Zachary Alam, who would shortly lead a rioting and vandalism spree just outside the Speaker’s Lobby. Alam broke away from the crowd and approached Capitol Police Sgt. Nelson Vargas, according to video captured by protester and Jan. 6 defendant Paul Kovacik.

“Hey! Hey! Hey, buddy,” Alam shouted as he leaned in to read the officer’s name tag. “Nelson Vargas, where is the bathroom?”

Frack placed his right hand on Alam’s upper chest and led him away from Sgt. Vargas, the video showed. An audible off-camera voice said, “I don’t think we will.”

Alam continued down the hallway toward the Speaker’s Lobby, while Frick and Frack walked into the Sam Rayburn Room on a brief detour. Video shot by independent journalist Tayler Hansen showed Frick taking Frack’s photograph standing next to a giant painting of President George Washington.

‘We don‘t want to hurt nobody. We just want to go into the House!’

The men then trailed Babbitt past the East Stairs and down the hallway toward the Speaker’s Lobby.

Babbitt and Hansen were the first protesters to turn the final corner and approach the double doors at the Speaker’s Lobby entrance. They were preceded just minutes before by Capitol Police Sgt. Timothy Lively and Capitol Police Officers Kyle Yetter and Christopher Lanciano, the trio who took up guarding the doors to the Speaker’s Lobby.

Frack entered the hallway with Frick holding on to the bottom strap of his tan backpack. They positioned themselves near the front of the crowd as dozens of protesters quickly packed the small hallway. Frack held up a cell phone — first in his left hand and later switched between hands — and trained it on the USCP officers as the crowd’s behavior turned bellicose and ugly.

Alam — who was recently sentenced to eight years in prison on Jan. 6 convictions — placed himself front and center in the bedlam, punching the glass in between Lively and Yetter. Babbitt — a former military policewoman in the Air Force and Air National Guard — seemed to sense the brewing trouble and shouted at the police trio to “call f*****g help!”

After Alam punched the door between Lively and Lanciano, Lanciano shoved him backward. Hansen shouted at Alam, “Chill out! Chill the f**k out, bro! Hey, chill out!”

An unidentified man known only by the hashtag #HuskyMario pleaded with the officers to let the crowd pass. “We don’t want to hurt nobody. We just want to go into the House!” he shouted. Another rioter known by the hashtag #2BlueJacket got within inches of Lanciano’s face with a two-handed middle-finger taunt.

The crowd was out of control.

Taking a black helmet handed to him by rioter Christopher Grider, Alam began smashing the windows of the entrance. In the far left hallway corner, Sullivan lobbied one of the USCP officers to leave the area. Babbitt tried to confront the violent Alam, but he brushed her aside, video showed.

Frack appeared to make several hand gestures at the officers. His gaze seemed to focus on Lanciano on the right. Frack’s right hand made a sweeping motion and pointed down to the stairway behind them along the wall. It is difficult to hear whether he said anything to the officers because a nearby rioter kept bellowing, “Break it down!”

Frack filmed the violence by rioter Zachary Alam at the Speaker‘s Lobby entrance.Sam Montoya, used with permission

Frick grabbed the arm of protester Linwood Robinson Sr. and appeared to motion for him to step back and switch places, video showed. Shortly after, Frick led Frack down the stairs to a landing, almost colliding with a four-man Capitol Police Containment and Emergency Response Team ascending from the Hall of Columns.

The CERT unit — similar to a SWAT team — was responding to a radio call of “shots fired, House floor,” broadcast just before 2:43 p.m. That call was later determined to be a false alarm.

It does not appear that Frack communicated with the first CERT member, Steven Robbs, except to put his hands up. He spoke to the next two officers — CERT leader Don Smith and Officer Brandon Sikes, video showed.

‘If they encountered anyone hostile, they would not bypass that threat.’

Frack pointed up to someone in the crowd while addressing Smith. On video shot by Frack, a voice was heard saying, “Watch the fuzzy-hat guy” — a reference to Alam and his floppy-ear Canada Goose cap.

As Officers Lanciano, Lively, and Yetter descended the stairs, Frack twice put his hand on Yetter’s back in an apparent show of support, video showed. Frack wore a wedding ring on his left hand and a Punisher pinky ring on his right hand. Punisher is a Marvel character popular in comics, military, and law enforcement circles.

As the three officers passed Frack, the sound of a shot rang out when Babbitt was gunned down at 2:44 p.m. The officers began going back up the stairs.

Video shot by Montoya and Frack showed that Alam bolted down the stairs after the gunshot. After briefly grabbing Alam by the arm, Robbs let him go and moved up the stairs to render medical aid to Babbitt.

For a time, Frack, Frick, and Alam stood behind the police line as the CERT officers scanned the crowd for possible threats. Alam was seen on video going through his backpack, although he did not change his outfit as some on social media have claimed.

Frack puts his hands up at the approach of Steven Robbs of the Capitol Police Containment and Emergency Response Team, then tells CERT team leader Don Smith, “Watch the fuzzy-hat guy.”Sam Montoya/used with permission

In a transcribed interview with the FBI in January 2022, CERT leader Smith described two men on the landing who kept “trying to get my attention.”

“He goes, ‘Keep an eye on this guy.’ The guy that I had brought down, and he had glasses like that, he’s a skinny dude, um, short hair,” Smith said. “And he said … ‘Looks like he’s trying to grab, get ready to grab — stuff off your vest.’”

The scene on the stairs just before and after the shooting was dangerous and tactically unsound, according to former FBI Special Agent Steve Friend, who spent five years on an FBI SWAT team.

“You never want anyone who hasn’t been vetted as a friendly behind you,” Friend told Blaze News. “And even then, you leave someone with them.”

‘You’re protecting the real monsters and you’re shooting the people!’

“They deployed a tactical team in a crowd-control situation. That’s not something they train [for],” Friend said. “But even if that’s deemed appropriate — such as an active-shooter scenario — the team would stick together and clear areas piece by piece. If they encountered anyone hostile, they would not bypass that threat.”

Smith said he asked the two men to help control the crowd and keep a watchful eye on Alam.

“I turned to these two guys, I said, ‘Look, they’re going to listen to you more than they are going to listen to me,’” Smith told the FBI. “I said, ‘Please, can you plead with them to go ahead and back up so we can go ahead and help this, you know, help this girl.’”

After a few moments, Frack descended the stairs to near the second landing, then turned around, looked up, and screamed, “Back up! Back up! You guys, back up!” according to a short segment of his heavily redacted cellphone video obtained by Judicial Watch and reviewed by Blaze News.

Frack returned to the top landing before three Capitol Police CERT officers carried Babbitt down the stairs head-first to the Hall of Columns at the South Door.

In the initial chaos after Babbitt was shot, some rioters in the hallway obstructed police efforts to back the crowd up. Some bellowed at officers with the mistaken accusation that one of them had shot Babbitt. It was later learned that the plainclothes Lt. Byrd inched out of his hidden position just inside the doorway and fired one shot at Babbitt as she climbed into a broken-out glass side panel on the north side of the doors.

Frick and Frack look on as Capitol Police CERT team carries a dying Ashli Babbitt down the steps.Sam Montoya/used with permission

A Capitol Police bicycle officer angrily forced California physician Dr. Austin Brendlan Harris to abandon his efforts at rendering medical aid to the dying Babbitt. The officer shoved Harris down the hallway. The two briefly shouted at each other and scuffled, video showed.

Harris turned on the officer and said, “My trauma bag!” He was then handed his medical kit that was still sitting near Babbitt. He shouted, “You’re protecting the real monsters and you’re shooting the people!”

Three CERT officers picked up Babbitt and awkwardly carried her down the steps head-first with her backpack still hanging from her shoulders. Frack and Frick watched from the top landing as Babbitt’s massive internal gunshot wound left drops of blood on the stairs, according to video obtained from journalist Sam Montoya and reviewed by Blaze News.

Protesters vented their rage as they watched Babbitt being carried away. “Are you kidding me? She’s f*****g dead, you piece of s**t! She’s dead!” one man bellowed. “You guys are f*****g heroes!” another taunted.

Montoya was noticeably emotional while recording the scene.

“This is so sad,” he said on camera. “I cannot believe I am witnessing this in the U.S. Capitol. I cannot believe I am witnessing this. A woman was shot and is dead.”

“I don’t know her name,” Montoya said, his voice cracking, “but she had a family! I just pray that this ends peacefully. No one else needs to get hurt. Nobody needs to get hurt.”

‘Officer-involved event‘

A large contingent of MPD officers in fluorescent yellow jackets descended on the hallway to remove the rioters and restore order. Frick and Frack remained behind the police line on the steps. Shortly before 3 p.m., they apparently approached USCP Deputy Chief Eric Waldow and Capitol Police K-9 technician Bruce Acheson to present themselves as witnesses to the shooting.

Word of that development quickly went out over Capitol Police radio.

At 2:59 p.m., Waldow asked for the crime scene unit, someone from the Office of Professional Responsibility, and the Criminal Investigations Section to meet with two witnesses to an “officer-involved event that took place at the House gallery.”

The wording of that dispatch is significant because after he shot Babbitt at 2:44 p.m., Lt. Byrd made a false claim over the radio that he was being shot at and was preparing to return fire.

As dozens of heavily armed tactical officers from the FBI; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and other agencies rushed into the Capitol after that radio call, Lt. Byrd did not update his dispatch to indicate that he was the shooter or state whether the shooting scene was secure.

Frick and Frack (left) are escorted to a meeting with Capitol Police. An unmarked squad car (upper right) arrives at the south barricade with Capitol Police officers. Special Agent Richard Larity (lower right) and Sgt. Sarah Smithers approach Frick and Frack for a meeting inside the squad car. U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

Officers outside and around the corner from the Speaker’s Lobby still had their sidearms drawn 30 minutes after the Babbitt shooting. Tactical teams swept each floor of the Capitol with M4 rifles alternating between a “low-ready” posture and “on target,” security video showed.

Canine technician Acheson escorted Frick and Frack to the Hall of Columns and out the South Door, security video showed.

All of the other protesters and rioters from the Speaker’s Lobby hallway — including Alam — exited the Capitol via the East Front House Door, according to a security camera over the entrance. As far as is publicly known, none of them was detained for questioning about the shooting, and none of their witness accounts appeared in the MPD or U.S. DOJ shooting investigation reports.

Secret meeting

A security camera that covers the South Barricade Plaza captured Acheson with Frick and Frack emerging from behind District of Columbia Fire and EMS Engine 6 at 3:02 p.m. Acheson led them to the USCP South Barricade kiosk, where they stood awaiting the team of officers summoned on the radio a few minutes prior.

An unmarked squad car with three Capitol Police officers who would question Frack and Frick pulled in near the South Barricade at 3:02:08 p.m., crossing paths with D.C. Fire and EMS Rescue 10 with Babbitt on board.

Special Agent Richard Larity, Sgt. Sara Smithers, and a female USCP special agent emerged from the squad and walked to the police kiosk to meet Acheson with the two witnesses. They escorted Frack and Frick to the squad car. At 3:08 p.m., Frack got into the back seat, where he spent the next 27 minutes, video showed.

While Smithers and her colleague interviewed Frack, Larity spoke to Frick outside the vehicle. At 3:16 p.m., Sgt. Michael Sanchez of the Capitol Police Office of Professional Responsibility stopped at the squad car to speak to Larity, security video showed.

An ambulance carrying mortally wounded Ashli Babbitt crosses paths with a Capitol Police unmarked squad car just outside the Capitol‘s south barricade on Jan. 6, 2021. Inside the squad car are three officers who will question shooting witnesses “Frick” and “Frack.”U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

Just before 3:36 p.m., Frack emerged from the squad car. He and Frick shook the officers’ hands and walked away.

While Smithers went to meet Capitol Police crime scene officer Mark West to photograph and process the Babbitt crime scene, Frick and Frack stood against a stone wall along the sidewalk, checking their phones.

Capitol Police did not respond to a Blaze News request for comment about the interview or what their officers were told by Frick and Frack.

At 3:42 p.m., Frick handed what appeared to be a two-way radio to Frack, who spoke into it numerous times over the next two minutes, security video showed. Frack looked at a street sign at the intersection of Capitol Plaza Southeast and Independence Avenue Southeast, then walked back toward the Capitol.

The interaction of Frick and Frack with Capitol Police was documented in a one-page supplement included with the MPD’s Babbitt shooting report. Described as “Attachment 19,” the summary said a Capitol Police special agent met with a witness at about 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. The interview was not recorded, and the witness was not identified.

The summary said the witness showed the special agent a video clip and provided a copy of the file with the proviso that “he was willing to email the longer version in the future.” Judicial Watch obtained a heavily redacted copy of the video from Metropolitan Police as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit in 2021.

The video is truncated and does not include the portions Frack filmed before the shooting that could shed light on what he or others said to the USCP officers. It is not known whether Frack spoke to police investigators or the FBI again or if he provided the rest of the video he shot on Jan. 6.

The unidentified shooting witness known as “Frick” ambles past the East House Steps at 3:51 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. His partner or companion, “Frack,” waited on a park bench at the edge of Capitol grounds while Frick took a brief jaunt. The pair left Capitol grounds some nine minutes later. U.S. Capitol Police CCTV

The men proceeded to Independence Avenue at 4 p.m. and walked west. A Capitol Police security camera atop the Rayburn House Office Building last showed the men on the plaza of the Hubert Humphrey Building at 4:24 p.m.

Based on how the DOJ has prosecuted more than 1,560 other cases, the behavior of Frick and Frack would likely be classified as incitement and rioting at the bottom of the Northwest Steps, where they apparently enabled dozens of people to climb onto the staircase and proceed to the Capitol.

Given their early entrance into the Capitol, mere minutes after the breach of the Senate Wing Door and windows, there is a good chance they could have been charged with obstruction of an official proceeding, a 20-year felony count that was all but taken off the table by the U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark June 28 decision.

Their behavior at a minimum would draw what defense attorneys call the “standard four,” basic misdemeanor charges for alleged trespassing, disorderly conduct, and “parading” at the Capitol.

Since the men do not appear to be a target of Capitol Police, the FBI, or the DOJ, the explanation for their presence and actions before, during, and after the fatal Babbitt shooting will likely fall to the attorneys at Judicial Watch and its $30 million Babbitt lawsuit.

The FBI and DOJ have said they will continue making Jan. 6 arrests leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Trump on Jan. 20, 2025.

Blaze News contacted the FBI, Capitol Police, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for more information on the men. The FBI and Capitol Police did not respond by press time.

Daniel Ball, a public affairs specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., said: “We don’t comment on the existence or status of investigations into specific individuals.”

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​Politis, January 6, Frick and frack, Politics 

UFC President Dana White explained that he believes Donald Trump won the 2024 election in the same manner he has built his brands.

During the post-fight press conference for UFC 309, White was asked what effect the election of Trump will have on his company, given that so many of his fighters relate to the president.

At the event, multiple fighters spoke to Trump ringside, including heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who even thanked the president and handed him his belt.

“If you saw the election, the entire country relates with Trump right now,” White said, noting Trump’s swing-state victories. “It feels like somebody hit the reset button.”

White added that his feeling was that the electorate wanted a “blowout” for one candidate or the other in order to avoid any discrepancies in which direction to take the country in.

“I think everybody’s tired of the bulls***, man. We’re all tired, we all just want to live our lives, and run our businesses, and raise our families,” the CEO went on.

‘Nobody trusts them and nobody believes them.’

Acknowledging that most of the media members in front of him weren’t Trump supporters, White carved out Trump’s path to victory, describing that it was through nontraditional means.

Explaining his “philosophy,” White said he has created relationships with online influencers and podcasters for years, allowing him to circumvent traditional media, which he said is greatly disliked by voters.

“The two most-hated people in this world right now; the media and the politicians. Nobody trusts them and nobody believes them,” White claimed.

The method of directly speaking to voters through podcasts, influencers, and social media is the exact same methodology that built White’s slap-fighting brand, Power Slap.

“The way Power Slap was built is the way this election was won,” the 55-year-old said.

UFC/YouTube

White described the difference he has seen in major “blue” cities like New York leading up to and after the election; citing experiences where random people are running up to him and offering their thanks.

This, coupled with a positive shift in energy, is what has led to the feeling of a “weight that’s been lifted off the country.”

“Things are already getting better [Trump’s] not even in there yet,” White said.

Trump has been heralded for his embrace of new media. Appearances on podcasts with comedians like Joe Rogan, Theo Von, and young influencers like the Nelk Boys and Adin Ross no doubt led to 18-29-year-olds showing up at the polls.

Exit polls showed huge gains among young men for Trump, where he won by 14 points over Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump also made gains with young female voters and increased his support by seven points over 2020 from 33% to 40%.

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President-elect Donald Trump
announced last week that he wants to replace Attorney General Merrick Garland with Florida firebrand Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). The prospect of a Republican AG willing to play hardball sent a great many Democratic lawmakers and liberal media personalities into fits of frenzy.

Sunny Hostin of Disney’s “The View,” the co-host who unwittingly
helped derail the Harris campaign, handled the news worse than others. Unlike other talking heads, Hostin had to immediately walk back her baseless smears Tuesday — likely out of fear of a crushing defamation lawsuit.

Days after
blaming “uneducated white women” and Hispanic men for Trump’s landslide victory, Hostin launched into an unhinged rant and characterized Gaetz as a sex offender.

‘These are baseless allegations.’

“Within the Department of Justice, you know, you have the sex crimes unit, which is what I was a part of. Child sex crimes and child trafficking. How could you nominate someone with allegations of child trafficking across — or trafficking across state lines and having sex with a 17-year-old?”
said the former federal prosecutor. “My understanding further on in the interview, they discuss the fact that once he finds out that she’s 17, he stops having sex with her.”

Hostin appears to have been referring to Florida attorney Joel Leppard’s
recent claims about what one of his unnamed clients alleged in a 2017 testimonial.

Trump transition spokesman Alex Pfeiffer
told ABC News, “These are baseless allegations intended to derail the second Trump administration. The Biden Justice Department investigated Gaetz for years and cleared him of wrongdoing.”

A source familiar with the DOJ’s investigation
suggested that case was dropped in part because there were significant doubts on the part of the prosecutors that they could prove that Gaetz actually had relations with the supposed woman or knew of her age.

Just minutes after uncritically regurgitating Leppard’s unsubstantiated claims as fact, Hostin was given a legal notice to read and
did so with a sullen face:

Matt Gaetz has long denied all allegations, calling the claims “invented” and saying in a statement to ABC News that “this false smear following a three-year criminal investigation should be viewed with great skepticism.” That DOJ investigation was closed with no charges being brought.

Whoopi Goldberg subsequently announced, “We’ll be right back,” and the show cut to commercials.

Gaetz
responded on X only with the eyes emoji.

Responding to Hostin’s required reading of the legal notice, “The Chad Prather Show” host Chad Prather
wrote, “Make her do it every day.”

Although also an expert in talking nonsense, former Republican Rep. George Santos was less than sympathetic,
writing, “I love when ABC humiliates this witch! LOL.”

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The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t just wake American citizens up to corruption in the health care industry but to the figureheads intentionally leading them away from the truth, and ultimately, health.

“When I’m looking around in America, I see ordinary Americans becoming very suspicious of the health care industry, very suspicious of vaccines, they feel like there’s not much they can do other than just say no to things, say no to the junk food, say no to the vaxes,” James Poulos of “Zero Hour” tells Sen. Rand Paul.

“The government needs to turn over a new leaf and try being honest. Because of their vast dishonesty, people are hesitant. People don’t believe the government anymore,” Paul responds.

And that distrust is for good reason.

“It appears as if the government perhaps is more concerned with the profit of Pfizer and Moderna than they are actually with the truth,” Paul explains. “There never was proof actually with children or adults that the vaccine stopped transmission, but there was also never any evidence for children that it reduced hospitalization or death.”

“Why? Because no children were going to the hospital or dying to begin with,” he continues. “In fact, when Anthony Fauci was challenged on this, he said, ‘Well, they show that kids will make an antibody if you give them a vaccine,’ and I informed him that I could give your kid a hundred vaccines, they’ll make antibodies every time. It doesn’t mean they need them.”

While the Democrats are now afraid that RFK Jr. will do away with vaccines all together, their fear is misguided — as RFK Jr. does not plan to eradicate vaccines but rather offer families choice.

“This is the problem with these people,” Paul says. “They’re now advocating for things that seem to enrich a billion dollar company but don’t seem to have factual evidence that it’s beneficial to your child. So now people are distrusting them on everything.”

“There probably are vaccines that your kids should probably take, and it still should be your choice. I’m a big person on voluntarism and choice, but at the same time, people are suspecting everything the government tells them, because we’ve had such a spate of dishonesty,” he adds.

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Conservative CNN contributor Scott Jennings mocked chief media correspondent Brian Stelter’s reporting that offered a new explanation for why “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski met with President-elect Donald Trump after years of unhinged criticisms against their former friend.

Stelter reported that according to “two sources,” Scarborough and Brzezinski wanted to meet with Trump because they were “credibly concerned that they could face governmental and legal harassment from the incoming Trump administration.”

As Stelter talked about his reporting, Jennings chuckled at the reasoning offered by the unnamed sources. Jennings pointed out the two hosts did not say that fear was the reason for the meeting when they revealed what happened at at Mar-a-Lago.

‘So there is an environment, Scott, where there are understandable concerns.’

“If that’s what happened and if that’s what they truly believed, why didn’t they go on TV and say that? ‘We went down there to meet with the president to tell him that, hey, anyone who’s been critical of you, you know, you should treat us like journalists and not like the enemy,'” Jennings said.

“They didn’t go on TV and say that. They went on TV and portrayed it much differently. So what I hear you saying in your reporting is they had a motive that they weren’t willing to disclose to their audience, which I think should get them more scorn today than they were already getting to begin with,” he continued.

“I understand some people might think this is paranoia inside MSNBC, for example. There are some people who think these fears I’m describing are way overblown. But then there’s others who are worried about prosecution. So there’s a wide range of concerns right now,” Stelter explained.

When Jennings asked what exactly people in the media industry are so afraid of, Stelter said, “Last week, Steve Bannon said, ‘Lawyer up, you MSNBC producers.’ So there is an environment, Scott, where there are understandable concerns.”

Scarborough and Brzezinski’s sit-down with Trump at his South Florida estate has been met with laughter from MAGA supporters and intense criticism from the liberal camp. For years, especially in the days leading up to the election, both hosts used their program to claim Trump was very dangerous for the country.

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Last week, Jason Whitlock made a bet that Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes will lose two of their last three games of the season. If he is proved wrong, however, Jason promised he would fly himself to a bowl game and cheer on Sanders’ team decked out in Buffaloes gear.

After the Buffaloes’ 49-24 victory over the Utah Utes last weekend, it looks like Whitlock might be packing his bags soon.

“I’m being inundated over the weekend with people suggesting I owe Deion Sanders an apology,” he says.

While he’s willing to admit that he was “wrong about what their record would be this year,” Jason is not willing to apologize.

“I am going to be transparent and say I’m wrong, but I’m not apologizing,” he says.

“After they lost to Nebraska, after they should have lost to Baylor, I was real confident that the wheels were going to fall off, and the wheels did not fall off. This team has improved throughout the course of the season,” he admits. “Hats off to Deion; hats off to Colorado.”

However, Jason still doesn’t “respect the way Deion has gone about” running his football program and never has.

From the gold chains he wears and the rappers he brings into the locker room to the flagrant materialism he promotes and his lack of humility — “none of it’s consistent with my values; none of it’s consistent with Christian values,” says Whitlock.

He also doesn’t approve of the media’s celebration of Sanders when it’s not deserved.

“You went 4-8 last year, and Sports Illustrated named you Sportsman of the Year; you were in last place in the Pack 12 last year, and Sports Illustrated called you Sportsman of the Year; ‘60 Minutes’ did two features on you in a year’s span,” Jason criticizes.

On top of that, players like Travis Hunter begin to take on an “egomaniacal” demeanor under Deion’s leadership.

“Travis Hunter has started to mimic Deion’s attitude and Deion’s lack of humility,” says Jason.

Even still — if the Buffaloes win another game, Jason will keep true to his word and cheer on the Buffaloes at a bowl game this year. Next weekend when the team takes on the Kansas Jayhawks, Jason will know whether or not he’ll be ordering Colorado gear.

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Lorie Smith is the owner of 303 Creative, a graphic design firm based in Colorado.

While generally happy to produce work for any paying customer, Smith
wanted to offer wedding-related services exclusively to straight couples because complicity in the celebration of homosexual unions would otherwise “compromise [her] Christian witness.” Since Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act would have forced her to do just that, she took the Democrat-run state to court — and won.

Months after the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled 6-3 in Smith’s favor and a federal circuit court barred the state from enforcing the CADA’s communication and accommodation clauses against the designer, Colorado officials have come to a settlement, agreeing Tuesday to pay a hefty sum to the guarantors of their defeat.

“As the Supreme Court said, I’m free to create art consistent with my beliefs without fear of Colorado punishing me anymore,” Smith
said in a statement. “This is a win not just for me but for all Americans — for those who share my beliefs and for those who hold different views.”

Smith’s
original complaint filed in 2016 claimed that Colorado law stripped her and her organization “of the freedom to choose what messages to create and to convey in the marriage context.”

‘The First Amendment’s protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy.’

The complaint cited a
section of the CADA that prohibits a person to refuse, withhold from, or deny the “full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages or accommodations of a place of public accommodation” to an individual on the basis of sexual preference, “gender identity,” and “gender expression.” Another clause in the CADA prohibits individuals from advertising that refusal.

The lawsuit asked the U.S. District Court to restore the constitutional freedoms of Smith and 303 Creative “to speak their beliefs and not be compelled to speak messages contrary to those beliefs, and to ensure that other creative professionals in Colorado have the same freedoms.”

The case ultimately got kicked up the Supreme Court, which decided in June 2023 that the First Amendment bars Colorado from coercing a website designer to create content with which she disagrees.

Justice Neil Gorsuch noted in the high court’s majority opinion, “The First Amendment’s protections belong to all, not just to speakers whose motives the government finds worthy. In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance.”

“All manner of speech — from ‘pictures, films, paintings, drawings, and engravings,’ to ‘oral utterance and the printed word’ — qualify for the First Amendment’s protections; no less can hold true when it comes to speech like Ms. Smith’s conveyed over the Internet,” wrote the conservative justice.

“Consistent with the First Amendment, the Nation’s answer is tolerance, not coercion,” added Gorsuch.

‘No government has the right to silence individuals for expressing these ideas.’

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in her dissenting opinion for the leftist minority that the ruling was “profoundly wrong” and will “mark gays and lesbians for second-class status.”

Other social liberals similarly bemoaned the court’s affirmation of free speech, including CNN talking head Van Jones, who
said, “If you care about inclusion and equal opportunity and care about folks who don’t have much and are trying to make it today, this is a tragedy.”

Colorado Attorney General Philip Weiser, who unsuccessfully represented the state,
said at the time that the ruling was “far out of step with the will of the American people and American values.”

According to Alliance Defending Freedom, the legal group that represented Smith, the Supreme Court’s decision has already been cited nearly 1,000 times in court opinions, briefs, and various legal publications.

Colorado’s Civil Rights Division agreed this week to pick up the bill for the CADA’s defanging, covering over $1.5 million in attorneys’ fees.

Weiser’s office
confirmed to the Denver Gazette the settlement over the fees but declined to comment.

Kristen Waggoner, the CEO and president of Alliance Defending Freedom, stated, “The government can’t force Americans to say things they don’t believe, and Colorado officials have paid and will continue to pay a high price when they violate this foundational freedom.”

“For the past 12 years, Colorado has targeted people of faith and forced them to express messages that violate their conscience and that advance the government’s preferred ideology. First Amendment protections are non-negotiable,” continued Waggoner. “Billions of people around the world believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and that men and women are biologically distinct. No government has the right to silence individuals for expressing these ideas or to punish those who decline to express different views.”

Smith expressed hope that “that everyone will celebrate the court’s decision upholding this right for each of us to speak freely.”

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In anticipation of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, the Los Angeles City Council rushed to approve a “sanctuary city” ordinance on Tuesday.

The city council passed the measure in a unanimous vote, with council member Hugo Soto-Martinez (D) calling it “a very clear message” that the city refuses to “cooperate with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] in any way.”

‘That’s not in the interest of public safety in Los Angeles or California.’

“We want people to feel protected and be able to have faith in their government and that women can report domestic violence, crimes,” Soto-Martinez said.

Before the ordinance is enacted, the city council will vote on it one last time. Mayor Karen Bass (D) has the authority to veto the measure but has already been vocal about her support, the Associated Press reported.

“This moment demands urgency. Immigrant protections make our communities stronger and our city better,” Bass said.

The news outlet noted that it remains to be seen whether the newly passed ordinance will have any significant impact, given that the Los Angeles Police Department has for decades adhered to Special Order 40, a policy that prevents officers from asking about immigration status or making arrests based on an individual’s immigration status.

Additionally, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has vowed to protect illegal aliens. He told KTTV this week that he can guarantee that his department will not be working with ICE to detain foreign nationals who are unlawfully in the country.

“That’s not in our interest to do that. That’s not in the interest of public safety in Los Angeles or California,” McDonnell claimed.

The state also has sanctuary policies in place to shield illegal immigrants from deportation efforts.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) stated last week that he and other state leaders are working to “Trump-proof” the state.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta said, “I can promise to the undocumented immigrant community in California that I and my team have been thinking about you for months and the harm that might come from the Trump administration 2.0. We’ll do everything in our power and use the full authority of our office to defend you.”

Tom Homan, the incoming border czar for the Trump administration, has committed to deploying additional ICE agents to sanctuary jurisdictions, aiming to expedite the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants with or without local authorities’ cooperation.

“If they’re not gonna help us, then we’ll just double the manpower in those cities. They don’t want ICE agents in their neighborhoods, but they don’t let ICE agents in the jail. They don’t understand, if you let us in the jail, that’d be less agents in your neighborhood,” Homan told “Fox News Live” on Saturday.

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President-elect Donald Trump has begun applying pressure to Republican senators in an attempt to ensure his Cabinet picks get confirmed.

In the past two weeks, Trump has announced over a dozen nominations to various Cabinet and federal positions, most notably tapping Republican former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida for attorney general. Although his candidates have the wholehearted support of the president-elect, the Trump transition team is doing the legwork to ensure Gaetz gets confirmed.

‘They want someone who’s gonna shake up Washington, D.C.’

Republicans took back the Senate majority this election cycle, flipping seats in West Virginia, Montana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. If Trump’s nominees were to be confirmed during the next Congress, they would be able to afford to lose only three Republican votes, assuming that Vice President-elect JD Vance would also weigh in.

This leaves little wiggle room for nominees like Gaetz, prompting Trump’s pressure campaign to secure GOP Senate votes.

Several senators have already expressed skepticism about Gaetz. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Gaetz was not a “serious nomination” and said she was “shocked” by the pick.

There has been a mounting effort, particularly from Vance, to persuade GOP senators who may have reservations about Trump’s nominees. Earlier on Wednesday, Vance was spotted ushering Gaetz and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida around Capitol Hill, making their pitch to senators in the form of phone calls and closed-door meetings. Trump has reportedly even placed some of these calls himself to ensure Gaetz is confirmed.

These efforts have paid off in some respects. Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma came out in support of Gaetz despite historically being a critic of the nominee.

“I think the president wants a hammer at the DOJ, and he sees Matt Gaetz as a hammer,” Mullin said in a CNBC interview on Tuesday.

“His picks have been maybe unconventional, but we hired an unconventional president,” Mullin continued. “The American people wanted that. They don’t want politics as usual. They want someone who’s gonna shake up Washington, D.C.”

Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, a Trump ally, warned his own conference about voting against nominees like Gaetz.

“Republicans: If you’re not on the team, get out of the way,” Tuberville said following Gaetz’s nomination.

“If you want to get in the way, fine,” Tuberville continued. “But we’re gonna try to get you out of the Senate too if you try to do that.”

The Trump transition team is facing an uphill battle with some of its nominees, but that has not deterred the president-elect.

Trump was asked by a reporter at Tuesday’s SpaceX launch in Texas about whether he was reconsidering Gaetz’s nomination.

Trump’s one-word answer was, “No.”

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