Category: blaze media

Federal officials said they rescued a 13-year-old girl from sexual and physical assault from a man who groomed her online and lured her to a California motel.

Eighteen-year-old Matthew Edward Pysher of Bangor, Pennsylvania, traveled by plane to Los Angeles on Feb. 20 to meet the victim near her home and take her to a motel in Castaic, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.

In the motel room, investigators found condoms, a knife, lubricant, razor blades, bloody tissues, and a boarding pass.

Pysher had been grooming the girl for several months after meeting her in a chat room on the Discord app for people suffering from mental illness, according to prosecutors.

The girl’s mother contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Feb. 10 because she believed her daughter was being coerced into harming herself by a man named Matthew.

A suicide note from the girl was found by her family, according to the criminal complaint.

Investigators were able to trace Pysher to the motel room, where they found the teenager hiding in the bathroom. She allegedly told them that Pysher had used a knife to repeatedly cut her and that they had engaged in sexual conduct.

In the motel room, investigators found condoms, a knife, lubricant, razor blades, bloody tissues, and a boarding pass. They also found near the girl’s cell phone a Faraday bag, which is used to block electric transmissions.

The girl said he told her they were going to commit suicide together by jumping off the top of a hotel.

Investigators said Pysher had groomed the girl to send him material of herself committing sexual acts and also images of herself committing self-harm in the months before flying out to meet her. The criminal complaint had screenshots of texts he allegedly sent her where he explicitly discussed cutting instructions.

Pysher was charged with travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

RELATED: ‘Pure evil’: Feds charge alleged leader of ‘unthinkably depraved,’ violent group involved in child sextortion

Investigators determined that Pysher was a part of a “nihilistic violent extremist” ideology that sought to manipulate vulnerable young people into self-harm. Members of an NVE group called 764 have coerced victims into hurting others and even committing suicide.

First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said the case should serve as a warning to parents with children on the internet.

“If your children have access to use the internet, sadistic predators may have access to your kids,” he said. “Law enforcement will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who seek to harm children. We advise parents to keep their kids offline.”

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Frida Baby, a top-selling baby and postpartum care brand, came under significant public criticism and backlash early this month for its use of sexual innuendos in its marketing.

The controversy erupted in early February 2026 when a now-deleted social media post promoting Frida Baby’s rectal thermometer with the caption, “This is the closest your husband’s gonna get to a threesome,” sparked intense backlash, prompting the rapid resurfacing and viral spread of other old advertisements, posts, and packaging with similar suggestive phrases on platforms like X and TikTok.

“This story is extremely disappointing to me because I and every other mom I know has used the Frida Baby products,” says BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey.

On this episode of “Relatable,” Allie breaks down the controversy, exposing what’s really fueling Frida Baby’s “sick campaign.”

“You just have to wonder what is going through the mind of someone that is, like, creating the packaging and marketing for something that, you know, detects a fever in your child and thinks threesome,” Allie says of the social media post that triggered the controversy.

She also displays other resurfaced controversial Frida Baby marketing examples, including packaging for a touchless thermometer that reads “How about a quickie?”; humidifier instructions titled “I get turned on easily”; and a nasal aspirator box featuring the phrase “I’m a [power] sucker.”

But the advertisement Allie finds most “disturbing” comes from an Instagram post promoting the brand’s nose sucker. The since-deleted post features a baby with snot on his/her face with the caption, “What happens when you pull out too early.”

“People kind of dug up who their marketing team was. … It’s men and women on this team, but it did seem like it was a male team that was in charge of marketing, which I just think is odd,” says Allie. “Like this is obviously a female brand. I’m not saying that you can’t hire men at all, but why would men know what attracts a woman to a particular product?”

Frida Baby responded to the backlash, but “they certainly didn’t apologize,” she adds.

“I just don’t understand when it became acceptable to use kids as fodder for sexual jokes — like publicly, commercially. … There are just perverts out there who love this kind of stuff, and it just ends up like infesting people’s brains, and it changes how we talk about children and how we think about this stuff,” Allie laments.

“I really just think it’s glossing over one of the biggest evils in the world, which is the sexualization [and] objectification of children.”

Christians for the last 2,000 years, Allie says, have been the ones to call out child exploitation for the evil that it is, and she encourages current believers to continue this tradition.

“We still have a responsibility to do that,” she urges.

“We really shouldn’t have any level of tolerance of this kind of stuff, which is really a bummer because some of [Frida Baby’s] products are super effective, and it just wasn’t necessary. I think they could have been very successful without this, and unfortunately they’ve normalized something really wicked.”

To learn more, watch the episode above.

Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?

To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture, news, and theology from a Christian, conservative perspective, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

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The president told Americans that their electricity prices will drop if they live near Big Tech data centers.

During his State of the Union address, President Trump spoke on the electrical bills of Americans who live near hubs where tech companies are quickly building AI infrastructure that require massive amounts of energy.

‘They’re going to produce their own electricity.’

Over the last two years, companies like Amazon, Apple, and Meta have all announced plans to build sprawling campuses that will require dedicated power sources or risk overwhelming local grids. In some cases, states have begun planning small modular nuclear reactors to supplement power and therefore attract tech companies (like Amazon). Where these reactors aren’t built, the consumer will pay downstream.

During the State of the Union, Trump explained surging energy costs from heightened demand is a big concern for Americans in those areas, and he plans to do something about it.

“Tonight, I’m pleased to announce that I have negotiated the new rate payer protection pledge,” Trump began.

“We’re telling the major tech companies that they have the obligation to provide for their own power needs.”

“They can build their own power plants as part of their factory so that no one’s prices will go up, and in many cases, prices of electricity will go down for the community, and very substantially down,” the president continued. “This is a unique strategy never used in this country before.”

RELATED: Melania’s bold AI message to America’s youth: ‘Use AI as a tool, but do not let it replace your personal intelligence’

Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images

“I’m telling them, they can build their own plant,” Trump added after saying the current electrical grids could never handle the power that is needed.

“They’re going to produce their own electricity. It will ensure the company’s ability to get electricity, while at the same time, lowering prices of electricity for you.”

Two weeks prior, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) announced the Guaranteeing Rate Insulation from Data Centers Act, aimed at preventing price increases for Americans via data centers.

According to Hawley’s website, the act will “guarantee consumers [are] first priority” on the grid, ensuring new data centers get their power from separate sources, while establishing new transparency measures around data center utility usage.

“Data centers never sleep,” said James Poulos, editorial director of Return. “They eat energy to run the computers, and they drink water to cool the computers.”

The more the public uses AI services and apps, he explained, “The more energy they require.”

“Trump is moving to make assurances that, whatever your relationship to AI, you won’t be priced as a consumer out of local energy markets wherever data centers appear.”

A Department of War contractor told Return that Trump’s plan could turn what is a potential strain on the grid into a “long-term advantage” if handled correctly.

“Instead of massive AI data centers pulling huge amounts of electricity from an already aging system and driving up costs for everyday customers, requiring major tech companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to build and supply their own power forces them to take responsibility for the energy they consume,” explained Tyler Saltsman, CEO of EdgeRunner AI.

Saltsman added, “That means private money, not taxpayer dollars, would fund new power plants, whether natural gas, nuclear, or large-scale renewables, which could ease pressure on the public grid and even add extra supply in some regions.”

RELATED: Watch the State of the Union tonight on BlazeTV’s YouTube Channel

The Trump administration has been incredibly open about its pursuits in artificial intelligence in the president’s second term.

Last November, the Department of Energy launched Genesis Mission as a “national effort to accelerate the application of AI for transformative scientific discovery focused on pressing challenges.”

Then in December, the federal government launched the Tech Force and asked for the public to apply for 1,000 advanced roles. The job listings procured a whopping 25,000 applications.

This has all transpired as the administration has partnered with different American AI companies — including Elon Musk’s xAI — to help with the handling of government operations as well as the aforementioned goal of American AI supremacy.

The latter has been of particular focus for government agencies like the Department of War, which has been focused on getting ahead of the Chinese communist government, which has appeared to have made leaps and bounds in AI over the last year.

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In President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union speech of his second term in office, his tariff policies were sure to be mentioned. And, as President Trump noted, February has been a significant month for tariffs, with many new developments occurring just days before the anticipated speech.

On Tuesday night, President Trump explained his plan for tariffs in the future and explained his critique of the recent Supreme Court decision striking down a particular use of a particular type of IEEPA tariffs.

‘Congressional action will not be necessary; it’s already time-tested and approved.’

Trump began by recounting the overall success of his administration’s tariff policies since the beginning of his second term, noting that the United States is “making a lot of money”: “The big story was how Donald Trump called the economy correctly and 22 Nobel Prize winners and economists didn’t. They got it totally wrong. They got it really wrong.”

However, these policies faced a challenge from the Supreme Court last week, as Trump lamented in his speech: “And then just four days ago, an unfortunate ruling from the United States Supreme Court. It just came down. Very unfortunate ruling.”

RELATED: Trump finally gets his answer on legality of tariffs in new SCOTUS decision

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Despite this potential setback, Trump offered his assurances that many companies wish to “keep the deal that they already made … knowing that the legal power that I, as president, have to make a new deal could be far worse for them, and therefore they will continue to work along the same successful path that we had negotiated before the Supreme Court’s unfortunate involvement.”

Last Friday, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump ruled that Trump’s tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were not within the president’s authority. As a result, Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs seemed doomed less than a year after they were announced.

Trump emphasized on Friday that despite his disagreement with the court over the IEEPA tariffs, the ruling had in fact clarified and strengthened the president’s authority under other statutes, including the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the Trade Act of 1974, and the Tariff Act of 1930. On Tuesday night, he said:

So despite the disappointing ruling, these powerful, country-saving … peace-protecting — many of the wars I settled was because of the threat of tariffs … will remain in place under fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes. And they have been tested for a long time. They’re a little more complex, but they’re actually probably better, leading to a solution that will be even stronger than before. Congressional action will not be necessary; it’s already time-tested and approved.

On top of that, Trump signed a proclamation ordering the initiation of a temporary 10% global tariff, which he announced on Saturday would be raised to 15%. The 10% import surcharge will be effective for 150 days to “address fundamental payments problems.”

However, as of Tuesday, the BBC reported that the additional tariff rate was only instated at the previously established 10%, citing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection document published Monday.

RELATED: Watch the State of the Union tonight on BlazeTV’s YouTube channel

Concluding his remarks on tariffs, Trump said, “And as time goes by, I believe the tariffs, paid for by foreign countries, will, like in the past, substantially replace the modern-day system of income tax, taking a great financial burden off the people that I love.”

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During President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night, he highlighted his administration’s successful immigration enforcement efforts as the Department of Homeland Security shutdown entered its 11th day.

Trump called the past year “a turnaround for the ages” in the United States after the prior administration allowed “11,888 murderers” to enter the U.S.

‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’

“After four years in which millions and millions of illegal aliens poured across our borders, totally unvetted and unchecked,” Trump stated, “we now have the strongest and most secure border in American history by far. In the past nine months, zero illegal aliens have been admitted to the United States. But we will always allow people to come in legally, people that will love our country and will work hard to maintain our country.”

ICE has hired 12,000 additional officers and agents. During Trump’s first year back in office, his administration has removed an estimated 3 million illegal aliens, including 2.2 million self-deportations and 675,000 deportations.

Trump was joined at the SOTU address by the parents of Sarah Beckstrom, a 20-year-old National Guard soldier who was fatally shot in Washington, D.C., allegedly by an Afghan man allowed into the country during former President Joe Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal.

Dalilah Coleman, a child who was left with critical and life-altering injuries at 5 years old as a result of a multi-car wreck caused by an illegal alien truck driver, also attended the event. Trump called on Congress to pass Dalilah’s Law, which would bar any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.

RELATED: Exclusive: ‘Best of the best’: DHS torches leftist media myths about ICE training

Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

Trump slammed Democrats for the ongoing DHS shutdown, which prompted the agency to implement emergency measures to conserve resources, including halting all Federal Emergency Management Agency non-disaster-related response efforts, Global Entry, and airport police escorts for members of Congress.

“As we speak, Democrats in this chamber have cut off all funding for the Department of Homeland Security. … Now they have closed the agency responsible for protecting Americans from terrorists and murderers. Tonight, I am demanding the full and immediate restoration of all funding for the border security, Homeland Security of the United States,” Trump said.

The president urged lawmakers to demonstrate their commitment to prioritizing the protection of American citizens.

“If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens,” Trump told lawmakers.

Republican lawmakers stood up in response, while most Democrats remained seated.

“You should be ashamed of yourself,” Trump told Democrats who refused to stand. He also called on lawmakers to “end deadly sanctuary cities” and pass the SAVE America Act, which aims to keep noncitizens from voting in federal elections.

RELATED: Watch the State of the Union tonight on BlazeTV’s YouTube channel

Photo by DOMINIC GWINN/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

The DHS previously criticized Democratic lawmakers for causing three shutdowns that have impacted the agency.

“This is the third time that Democrat politicians have shut down this department during the 119th Congress,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem stated Sunday. “Shutdowns have real-world consequences, not just for the men and women of DHS and their families who go without a paycheck, but it endangers our national security.”

Negotiations to end the shutdown appear to be stalled, with Democrats demanding ICE reforms.

“It is our view that immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, it should be just, and it should be humane,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) stated last week.

“That’s not what’s happening now in the United States of America, and that’s why ICE needs to be reformed in a dramatic, bold, meaningful, and transformational manner,” Jeffries continued. “And if that doesn’t happen, the DHS funding bill will not move forward.”

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Partap Singh, an Indian national who illegally stole into the United States in 2022, reportedly managed to obtain a commercial driver’s license from California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

On June 20, 2024, Singh allegedly caused a multicar pileup that left numerous Americans grievously injured, including then-5-year-old Dalilah Coleman.

‘Against all odds, she is now in the first grade, learning to walk.’

During his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, President Donald Trump recognized Dalilah and her struggle for a normal life after the horrific incident, adding that legislation is in the works that would hopefully spare future Americans from a similar fate.

“Doctors said Dalilah would never be able to walk or talk have a good life,” said the president.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Dalilah suffered a broken femur and skull fractures in the accident; was left in a coma for three weeks; and has since been diagnosed with both diplegic cerebral palsy and global developmental delay for which she will require lifelong therapy.

“But against all odds, she is now in the first grade, learning to walk — and she’s here this evening with her dad, Marcus — a fantastic man.”

Trump added that Dalilah is a “great inspiration.”

Dalilah, lifted and kissed by her father, smiled and waved to the president and officials below.

RELATED: Watch the State of the Union tonight on BlazeTV’s YouTube Channel

Department of Homeland Security

“Dalilah Coleman’s life was forever changed when an illegal alien driving an 18-wheeler slammed into her and her family. This tragedy was entirely preventable,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in September.

“How many more innocent people must become victims before Gavin Newsom stops playing games with American lives? DHS is working around the clock to remove dangerous aliens — like Singh — who have no right to be in the U.S.,” added Noem.

After noting that many of the illegal aliens who have taken to American roads “do not speak English and cannot read even the most basic road signs as to direction, speed, danger, or location,” Trump called on congressional lawmakers to “pass what we will call the Dalilah Law, barring any state from granting commercial driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.”

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During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Donald Trump referred to some of the historic peace deals that he has brokered between warring nations, then turned his attention to Iran and its “sinister ambitions.”

The president suggested that Iranians want to make a deal but have yet to say “those secret words: We will never have a nuclear weapon.”

“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy,” said the president, “but one thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number-one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can’t let that happen — and no nation should ever doubt America’s resolve.”

Trump noted further, “I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must.”

Recent polling indicates that American voters are not particularly keen on getting embroiled in another Middle Eastern conflict. Their elected representatives, on the other hand, appeared receptive to the president’s discussion of possible military actions against the Shiite country.

In recent weeks, Trump has assembled the greatest U.S. military air presence in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq invasion.

‘It will be something easily won.’

Negotiators from Tehran and the U.S. are scheduled to convene in Geneva on Thursday for what some suspect might be the last attempt at a deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

A regional source familiar with the talks told CNN, “This Thursday will decide everything — a war or a deal.”

A potential sticking point might be whether the Iranians are willing to commit to putting off uranium enrichment entirely.

RELATED: Watch the State of the Union tonight on BlazeTV’s YouTube Channel

Abbas Araghchi, the country’s foreign minister, recently suggested that is a nonstarter, as the county has invested heavily in the technology and its progress to date is supposedly a matter of national pride.

Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, noted last week, “The Americans say, ‘Let’s negotiate over your nuclear energy, and the result of the negotiation is supposed to be that you do not have this energy!'”

“If that’s the case, there is no room for negotiation,” continued Khamenei.

Trump has reportedly received several briefings on military options, including decapitation strikes on Iran’s political and military leaders with the goal of regime change and/or strikes on nuclear and ballistic-missile facilities.

Multiple reports have alleged that Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and other military leaders warned the president and top officials in such briefings that a military campaign against Tehran carries significant risks, including another protracted conflict.

Trump noted in a Truth Social post on Monday, however, that “if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is [Caine’s] opinion that it will be something easily won.”

“Everything that has been written about a potential War with Iran has been written incorrectly, and purposefully so,” wrote Trump.

The president added, “I am the one that makes the decision, I would rather have a Deal than not but, if we don’t make a Deal, it will be a very bad day for that Country and, very sadly, its people, because they are great and wonderful, and something like this should never have happened to them.”

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Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas briefly interrupted the State of the Union address Tuesday and was quickly kicked out of the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.

The Democrat was ushered out of the chamber, and one Republican grabbed at the sign on his way out.

The president later said that he did not see the video before it was posted.

Green held up a banner reading, “Black people aren’t apes,” in an apparent reference to a video depicting former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes that was posted to the president’s Truth Social account.

“These people are crazy! I am telling you, they’re crazy!” the president later said in the address while pointing to Democrats.

Green interrupted the president’s address last year before Congress and was escorted out at that time as well.

“You have no mandate!” he yelled at one point, while shaking his cane at the president.

Many Democratic members of Congress later joined Republicans in a vote to censure him for the incident. The resolution passed 224-198.

Republicans and Democrats both condemned the anti-Obama video, including Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. The president later said that he did not see the video before it was posted and blamed a staffer for the incident.

RELATED: Rep. Al Green of Texas releases statement on sexual assault allegations from 2008

Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images

Green blamed racism for his ejection after the interruption last year.

“There is invidious discrimination in the House of Representatives. I’m a son of the segregated South. The rights that the Constitution recognized for me — my friends and neighbors deny it. I had to sit in the back of the bus, the balcony of the movie, drink from a colored water fountain,” he said in an interview.

“When the speaker decided that I would be removed and then there was this motion,” he added, “this resolution to censure me, it became obvious to me that I was not being treated as others were, and candidly speaking, it is invidious discrimination.”

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President Donald Trump vowed to reassert American dominance against the “murderous” cartels in Mexico during the State of the Union Tuesday.

“As president, I will make peace wherever I can, but I will never hesitate to confront threats to America wherever we must,” Trump said.

‘We’re also restoring American security and dominance.’

Trump’s remarks come just days after Mexico went up in flames following the death of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, one of the country’s “most sinister cartel kingpins.”

Oseguera Cervantes was the head of the notorious Jalisco New Generation cartel, whose vast and violent criminal enterprises prompted the Trump administration to classify it as a terrorist organization.

RELATED: Watch the State of the Union tonight on BlazeTV’s YouTube channel

Photo by Kenny Holston-Pool/Getty Images

“We’re also restoring American security and dominance in the Western Hemisphere, acting to secure our national interests and defend our country from violence, drugs, terrorism, and foreign interference,” Trump said.

“For years, large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico, … have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. That’s why I designated these cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.”

The cartel boss was captured by Mexican special forces on Sunday with the help of complementary American intelligence in Jalisco, igniting chaos across the country. In the moments after his elimination, footage showed a Costco engulfed in flames as well as firefights and roadblocks in the streets across Mexico.

The chaos prompted a shelter-in-place advisory from the State Department, leaving many tourists no other option but to hunker down at their resorts.

RELATED: ‘Start driving north’: US tourists stranded in Mexico after slaying of top cartel boss ‘El Mencho’ sparks chaos

Trump’s warnings to cartels was not unique to Mexico. Tuesday night, the president reflected on the military campaign he led against alleged Venezuelan drug boats leading up to Nicolas Maduro’s capture, joking that his intervention impacted the drug business and the fishing business.

“Nobody wants to go fishing anymore!” he said.

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President Donald Trump garnered loud applause and cheers when he recognized the gold medal-winning Olympic men’s hockey team at his State of the Union speech Tuesday night.

The team walked down the aisles of the press gallery and waved as the members of Congress applauded and chanted.

‘What a special job you did, what special champions you are!’

“Here with us tonight is a group of winners who just made the entire nation proud: the men’s gold-medal Olympic hockey team! Come on in!” said the president.

“USA! USA! USA!” chants erupted from the members.

“I just want to say … a very big congratulations to Team USA,” said the president.

The president praised the team before announcing that he would be giving goalie Connor Hellebuyck the highest civilian honor: the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“What a special job you did! What special champions you are!” said the president. “Thank you very much!”

The men’s team won a thrilling match against the Canadian team in overtime Sunday to take the gold for the U.S. for the first time in 46 years.

Earlier Tuesday, the team visited the White House as guests of the president. While some expressed anger that the team accepted the invite from the president, New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes defended the decision.

RELATED: Trump personally congratulates Olympic men’s hockey team, tells them he would be ‘impeached’ if he doesn’t do THIS

“Everything is so political. We’re athletes,” he said Monday evening. “We’re so proud to represent the U.S., and when you get the chance to go to the White House, meet the president, you know, we’re proud to be Americans, that’s so patriotic. No matter what your views are, we’re super excited to go to the White House and just be part of that.”

The women’s hockey team also took the gold at the Olympics, but they declined the invite from the president after citing previously scheduled commitments.

Hughes also defended the decision from the women’s team.

RELATED: ‘It’s the greatest country in the world’: USA hockey’s Hughes praises America after epic win

“People are so negative out there, and they are just trying to find a reason to put people down and make something out of almost nothing,” he said.

“I think everyone in that locker room knows how much we support them, how proud we are of them. And we know the same way we feel about them, they feel about us,” he added.

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Former presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Monday that she was considering running for president a second time.

The former vice president made the comments while being interviewed on a live video call with author Sharon McMahon.

Harris has been keeping a low profile since the election and resurfaced to announce she would not be running for governor of California.

McMahon was asking a series of light questions in a lightning round when she asked whether Harris would consider running again.

“Everybody here wants to know the answer. Will you run again?” she asked.

“I haven’t decided,” Harris responded.

“You’re still thinking about it?” McMahon replied.

“I might,” Harris said.

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” McMahon replied. “I closed the book, and I’m like, ‘Oh, she wants to. She’s just thinking about it.’ That was my impression. I don’t know if that’s what you intended, but that was my impression.”

Harris has been keeping a low profile since the election and resurfaced to announce she would not be running for governor of California.

“Over the past six months, I have spent time reflecting on this moment in our nation’s history, and the best way for me to continue fighting for the American people and advancing the values and ideals I hold dear,” she said at the time.

An Axios report in December said party donors and other leaders worried that Harris would likely mount another losing campaign after she dropped some hints she might run again.

Harris also published a book titled “107 days,” which chronicled her experience on the very brief and unsuccessful presidential campaign against President Donald Trump.

RELATED: Kamala Harris’ claim about her teenage activism doesn’t survive a timeline fact-check

Harris lost the 2024 campaign by 2 million votes and gave Trump a second term in the Oval Office. Since then, various former staffers have placed the blame on former President Joe Biden for hanging on too long to his re-election hopes.

“It’s all Biden. … He totally f***ed us,” said David Plouffe, a former top adviser to the campaign.

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Last Sunday at the Milano Cortina Winter Games, the United States men’s hockey team won Olympic gold for the first time in 46 years, defeating rival Canada 2-1 in overtime, with Jack Hughes scoring the golden goal.

This victory, Glenn Beck says, felt profoundly different from other American athletic triumphs in recent years.

“[The team was] proud to be there representing us. That is what felt so good. We don’t feel that very often anymore,” he declares, displaying the iconic picture of Hughes — bloodied mouth, chipped teeth exposed in a triumphant grin, fist raised, the American flag draped proudly over his shoulders.

But the team’s pride is just part of the story.

On this episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn breaks down the five powerful reasons this U.S. hockey gold-medal triumph wasn’t just a win but a defining, soul-stirring moment that reignited the American spirit.

1. A new era of homegrown dominance

“This is a new generation of American hockey,” Glenn says.

“When I was growing up, we lived in the shadow of Canada and the old Soviet Union, and that was a machine. And the miracle of 1980? That was just blue-collar grit,” he reflects.

But hockey in America today is defined by athletic excellence.

“Hughes is different. He is speed. He’s skill. He’s flash. He’s confidence,” Glenn says.

“He is the guy who represents the American hockey player development,” where American competitors “don’t just compete internationally” but are actually “dominating” the hockey world, he explains.

Why does this matter?

“Because we’ve always kind of been this borrowed excellence. … We didn’t dominate. We borrowed,” Glenn says. “Now it’s all homegrown.”

2. The fearless American spirit

“[Hughes] has a style that I think Americans recognize,” Glenn says. “He plays like a modern American athlete. He is creative; he is fast; he is fearless; he walks off with no teeth in the front. I mean, he’s willing to take over.”

“Gold medals mean more to us … when they’re won by players who feel distinctly American in their temperament.”

Assertiveness, confidence, and even a little defiance are in America’s DNA, Glenn says. When Hughes doesn’t “just compete” but “[imposes] himself” on the other teams, it reminds us of who we are as a country: “We’re the people who cross the Rocky Mountains.”

3. Momentum against hockey’s giants

Unlike basketball, football, and baseball, hockey is a sport in which America rarely dominates.

“Hockey still carries an old weight to it. It feels like you’re taking something back from the old powers of Canada and Sweden and Russia,” Glenn says.

“When the U.S. wins gold in hockey, it’s earned the hard way. And when a young American star is at the center of that — I don’t know, it just kind of feels like momentum.”

4. A clean, unifying moment

“Timing” is another reason this victory “feels different,” Glenn says.

“We are in the weirdest place of my lifetime. We are culturally divided; we are cynical; we’re exhausted by politics. And sports, at least this sports moment — it was clean. It was earned. It was unified,” he praises.

In such a bleak time as this, a gold medal “hits harder,” Glenn says.

“There was a time when America felt like a team, and I don’t know about you, but I’m longing to feel like a team again.”

5. Family legacy

The story of Jack Hughes is Glenn’s final reason for celebrating this victory as a standout among others.

Jack hails from one of America’s most storied hockey dynasties: His brothers Quinn and Luke are both high first-round NHL draft picks and current pros; his father, Jim, is a former college standout turned longtime coach and player development guru; and his mother, Ellen, is a former U.S. national team star who earned silver at the 1992 IIHF Women’s World Championship.

“That speaks to us about our family in a deeper way — discipline, structure, parental investment, people who work hard. This family obviously works hard, trains hard, and is a unit. That’s the American ideal: Build it at home, take it to the world stage,” Glenn says.

To hear more of his commentary, watch the video above.

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As President Donald Trump delivers Tuesday’s State of the Union, lawmakers will applaud calls for economic strength, innovation, and American competitiveness. Many of those same politicians, however, attack the very policies that make those goals possible. Their favorite target: so-called “tax loopholes,” routinely described as corruption or favoritism.

That label distorts how tax policy works.

What critics dismiss as ‘loopholes’ often serve as the incentives that help ordinary Americans — not just the rich — build, grow, and prosper.

Politicians denounce “loopholes” as if businesses are exploiting accidental gaps in laws Congress never meant to create. The implication follows: close the loopholes, collect more revenue, spend more money, and the country improves.

That framing misses the point. Most so-called loopholes are not accidents. Congress created them on purpose to encourage behavior that strengthens the economy.

Tax credits and deductions are not tricks. They are policy tools. In many cases, they work better than direct spending programs because they rely on private-sector decision-making instead of bureaucratic discretion.

That distinction matters during a period of rapid technological change. Consider artificial intelligence.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed last year built on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act by making full and immediate capital expensing — commonly called bonus depreciation — a permanent feature of the tax code. That provision allows businesses to deduct the full cost of qualifying capital investments in the year they make them, rather than stretching deductions over many years.

Critics call that a “giveaway.” It is better understood as a growth policy.

In practical terms, full expensing matters whenever a company makes a large upfront investment — servers, advanced manufacturing equipment, or specialized hardware needed to build AI systems. Under traditional depreciation rules, a business recovers those costs slowly. That delays the tax benefit and discourages large productive investments.

Full expensing removes that penalty. It aligns the tax code with economic reality by letting businesses recover costs when they take the risk. It also works automatically, without bureaucrats deciding which firms or industries deserve support.

That design is intentional. If Congress wants more of a productive activity, it can tax it less.

The AI boom illustrates the point. The United States is competing to lead the world in private AI investment. Data centers are going up at record speed. Venture capital is funding startups that did not exist a few years ago. Large firms are racing to expand computing infrastructure for next-generation models. That kind of investment grows where policy rewards risk-taking.

By making bonus depreciation permanent, lawmakers reduced uncertainty and signaled that America intends to remain the best place to invest capital.

RELATED: At Trump’s State of the Union, remember the free-market miracle in your pocket

Shutthiphong Chandaeng via iStock/Getty Images

This provision does not benefit only trillion-dollar corporations with armies of accountants. Any business making qualifying investments can use it: a mid-sized manufacturer installing robotics, a regional logistics company upgrading its fleet, or a startup buying high-performance computing equipment. The tax treatment is the same.

In fact, the largest long-term effect may land far from Silicon Valley. Small and medium-sized businesses make up roughly half the U.S. economy. For those firms, cash flow often determines whether they can hire, expand, or modernize. Immediate expensing can make the difference.

This is not a “loophole.” It is deliberate economic policy.

Critics often argue that provisions like full expensing “cost” the government money. That view ignores the broader effect. When businesses invest more, they produce more. More production supports hiring, wages, and taxable income across the economy.

I work directly with small and medium-sized businesses navigating a tax code that is often caricatured in political debate. I have seen how these so-called loopholes function in real life. They are not exclusive perks for the wealthy or giant corporations. Their benefits extend to workers, customers, and communities through jobs, innovation, and competition.

What critics dismiss as “loopholes” often serve as the incentives that help ordinary Americans — not just the rich — build, grow, and prosper.

Uncle Sam does not always get tax policy right. But when Congress uses the tax code to encourage productive behavior instead of punishing it, the results can be transformative.

The next time a politician thunders about “tax loopholes,” ask a simple question: Is it really a mistake — or a policy designed to make the American economy stronger?

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The outside of the Kennedy Center and Lincoln Memorial became a stage this Presidents’ Day for a group of dancers protesting the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers — and a clip of the performance is giving BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales “secondhand embarrassment.”

“That’s what they will pass off as art. It’s why you shouldn’t let your kids major in liberal arts. They’ll end up on the steps of the Kennedy Center performing that bulls**t,” Gonzales comments.

“I just have to wonder how many hours they spent working on that, rehearsing that all for this big moment that led them to absolutely nothing. Like great, you got the social media video. How many hours of your life did you waste that you could have been actually working?” she asks, adding, “Actually, we know liberals don’t work.”

But that’s not the only ridiculous video Gonzales came across this week.

In another clip, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) claims that the left is now guilty of being racist to her alongside the right.

“The thing that is not normal is for me to be attacked from the left. That is the, like, new wild card in this scenario. But it’s just interesting. And you know, I’ve been asked a couple of times, a couple of things about it,” Crockett began.

“I look at this specifically as a civil rights lawyer, and I see when they’re sending out ads, and they’re darkening my skin, and I’m just like, ‘I know what this is,’ right? And the reality is that yes, I woke up a black woman. I was born a black woman. I know I’m a black woman, for everybody that didn’t think I didn’t know. Just FYI,” she continued.

“But I am not running on the fact that I’m a black woman. I am running on my credentials,” she added.

“That’s all you talk about,” Gonzales comments.

“Jasmine Crockett cannot go five minutes without telling someone, ‘I’m a strong independent black woman,’” she adds.

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Oregon Rep. Maxine Dexter (D), a woke physician who downplayed the risks associated with COVID vaccines and has since championed so-called “gender-affirming care,” recently raised eyebrows by characterizing an innocent Make America Healthy Again initiative as racist.

After repeatedly calling for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be “dismantled” during a town hall on Saturday, Dexter launched into an unhinged attack on the Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“RFK Jr. is one of the biggest threats to our community and to the health of this country,” said Dexter.

“When you don’t follow the science, and you just follow your vibes or your whatever it is that he’s doing, it is absolutely the truth that you lose trust,” continued the congresswoman. “I have every reason to believe that we’ll be able to get that man at least delegitimized, hopefully fired.”

‘Drinking whole white milk has played a big role in racist and far-right thinking.’

Dexter characterized the government as a “fascist regime,” advised doctors not to “do what they are telling us to do,” and suggested that patients should “ask for the science-based regimens, not whatever RFK Jr. is getting kickbacks on or whatever whole milk, white supremacy dog-whistling that’s happening.”

The Republican National Committee’s RNC Research account noted in response to Dexter’s assertion, “Democrats’ unhinged hatred for President Trump has broken their brains.”

The Make America Healthy Again Commission released the Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy in September, identifying hundreds of initiatives that could help reverse “the failed policies that fueled America’s childhood chronic disease epidemic.”

RELATED: ‘Hold Big Pharma accountable’: Vaxx giants are sure to be nervous about Rand Paul’s new bill

Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The strategy noted that the HHS and other agencies would “remove restrictions on whole milk sales in schools, allowing districts to offer full-fat dairy options alongside reduced-fat alternatives.”

The National School Lunch Program of the Department of Agriculture long required participating schools to provide milk that was consistent with the latest Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which meant the milk offerings either had to be fat-free or low-fat.

Trump, helping the MAHA strategy along, ratified the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act last month, thereby modifying the NSLP requirements such that whole and reduced-fat milk would be added to the offerings at schools across the country.

The USDA and Kennedy have since shared a number of videos and pictures promoting whole milk, touting it as a “protein, strength, and a class choice that never goes out of style.”

While whole milk and the government’s campaign promoting it appear to be innocuous, Dexter presumed the worst — but she’s apparently not alone.

For instance, Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at New York University Grossman School of Medicine, recently suggested that the consumption of the universally appreciated liquid food “is political. Drinking whole white milk has played a big role in racist and far-right thinking.”

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A 12-year-old Florida girl was arrested after she posted online a “detailed manifesto” about carrying out a mass shooting at a middle school due to bullying, authorities said.

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said it got word overnight Monday about the manifesto “describing at length a plan to carry out a mass shooting at Southwestern Middle School due to bullying. Deputies acted quickly to investigate the threat and identify the student responsible.”

When detectives spoke with the suspect, she first denied any involvement but later admitted to making the plan and posting it online, the station said.

The school is in DeLand, which is about 45 minutes north of Orlando.

The student was “placed under arrest for making written threats to kill and misuse of a 2-way communications device,” the sheriff’s office added.

Blaze News is not naming or showing the face of the suspect due to her age.

RELATED: 2 Florida 15-year-olds accused of threatening to shoot up high schools

Image source: Volusia County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office

According to WOFL-TV, a friend gave the tipster the information about the manifesto, and the tipster wanted to report the information.

The station said the mass shooting plan was posted to a website — but while the plan had been taken down, the comments and username remained, the station said.

Investigators traced the IP address to DeLand and identified the suspect — a student at Southwestern Middle School, WOFL said.

Citing the arrest affidavit, the station noted that the mass shooting plan detailed when to arrive at school, where to meet up, what time to start the shooting — and even identified a teacher who “gave me an F- on my test” and named students.

WOFL said that when investigators spoke with the teacher in question, she looked at her grades to see which students had received an F, and investigators verified that the suspect was one of those students.

The station, citing the affidavit, said investigators also asked the student named in the plan if there were any students who made fun of him or didn’t like him — and he recalled the suspect, who was in his math class.

Investigators also spoke with the boy whom the suspect said would help her with her plan, WOFL said, and the boy later admitted his friend — the suspect — was the one who made the plan to shoot up the school.

When detectives spoke with the suspect, she first denied any involvement but later admitted to making the plan and posting it online, the station said.

Deputies arrested the suspect around 1:30 a.m. Monday, WOFL reported, adding that she soon was taken to the Volusia Family Resource Center.

Blaze News over the last several months has reported about Florida authorities accusing teens — and those even younger — of making similar threats and arresting them. What’s more, law enforcement agencies frequently have released the names and images of the young suspects, a decision that hasn’t made every observer happy.

Earlier this month, a pair of 15-year-olds were arrested after being accused of threatening to shoot up high schools, police said.In late October, an 11-year-old girl was arrested after writing a “kill list” at her desk at school, police said. Then just two weeks later, an 11-year-old boy from the same school district was arrested after allegedly creating a “kill list” at school, police said.Also in October, a Florida sheriff’s office came under fire for posting 9-year-old male’s mug shot on Facebook after his felony arrest for allegedly bringing a knife into his elementary school.Just a week prior, that same sheriff’s office said a 10-year-old was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill, a third-degree felony, after bringing a pocketknife to school and threatening another student. The sheriff’s office posted the suspect’s name and mug shot.

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The six Democrats who participated in a video calling on military members to refuse illegal orders will likely no longer face the possibility of prosecution, according to sources who spoke to numerous news outlets.

President Donald Trump excoriated the Democrats and accused them of committing “sedition” over the video they posted in Nov. 2025.

‘It was sedition at the highest level, and sedition is a major crime.’

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, a longtime Trump ally, decided against seeking the indictments, according to the sources, after a Washington, D.C., grand jury refused to indict the Democrats earlier this month. Whether federal prosecutors will attempt to indict in another district is unclear though unlikely.

“The traitors that told the military to disobey my orders should be in jail right now, not roaming the fake news networks trying to explain what they said was OK,” Trump wrote after Democrats released the video.

“It was sedition at the highest level, and sedition is a major crime. There can be no other interpretation of what they said!” he added.

CBS News reported that Pirro’s spokesperson declined to comment.

Sec. of War Pete Hegseth threatened one of the Democrats involved, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, with a court martial and suspension of his military retirement benefits. That effort was also blocked by a federal judge, who said such official consequences violated Kelly’s constitutional right to free speech.

“This will be immediately appealed. Sedition is sedition, ‘Captain,'” Hegseth wrote in response on social media.

RELATED: Pentagon says court-martial possible for Sen. Mark Kelly after Trump calls him a ‘traitor’ for ‘seditious’ video

The Democrats have denied allegations that they were encouraging disobedience and argued that they were merely reiterating military rules allowing troops to deny orders they believe to be illegal.

“President Trump continues to weaponize our justice system against his perceived enemies,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) previously said about the investigation into the video.

“It’s the kind of thing you see in a foreign country, not in the United States we know and love,” she added. “No matter what President Trump and Pirro continue to do with this case, tonight we can score one for the Constitution, our freedom of speech, and the rule of law.”

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The Department of Homeland Security dispelled false claims from the legacy media about Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Frio County, Texas.

A NBC News report on Feb. 13 described the Dilley center as a “remote, prison-like facility” with “inhumane conditions,” according to human rights advocates. The article claimed that the center has unsanitary conditions and lengthy wait times for medical care. A recent ProPublica article and another from the New York Times echoed similar allegations.

‘The fact is being in detention is a choice.’

A DHS press release exclusively obtained by Blaze News debunked falsehoods about the Dilley facility.

The agency stated that the center has a full medical staff, including physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, psychologists, pharmacy staff, and medical support personnel.

The facility reportedly provides detainees a thorough medical screening within 12 hours of arrival. Children undergo pediatric assessments that include evaluations of growth, development, behavior, and nutrition. Additionally, specialized off-site services such as hospitalization, specialty consultations, and lab testing are available.

Families are provided with life-sustaining medication immediately, the DHS stated.

RELATED: Vance crushes false narrative about ICE ‘arresting’ 5-year-old boy

Photo by Jabin Botsford/the Washington Post via Getty Images

“Medical services, including mental health and dental, are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and if necessary, medical providers refer residents to outside specialists or hospitals,” the agency’s press release read.

The staff accommodates special diets and allergies as needed.

“The Dilley facility is retrofitted for families. Children have access to teachers, classrooms, and curriculum booklets for math, reading, and spelling. They have access to age-appropriate books, toys, and outdoor activities. All of this is generously funded by the U.S. taxpayer,” the DHS stated. “Infant care packages include formula, baby food, bottles, diapers, wipes, and hygiene items; the facility also provides sippy cups and cribs. Adults with children are housed in facilities that provide for their safety, security, and medical needs.”

RELATED: ‘Quite literally insane’: DHS responds to new scheme from LA activists to warn illegal aliens about ICE

Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Families have access to religious services, visits from clergy, a law library, attorney visitation, and mail services.

“Being in detention is a choice,” the DHS noted, adding that all foreign nationals illegally in the U.S. are encouraged to self-deport immediately.

“The media and sanctuary politicians have repeated false claims about the ICE Dilley facility, including that children are denied medical care and don’t have educational resources,” DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis stated. “The truth is this facility provided proper medical care for all detainees, including access to a pediatrician. Children have access to teachers’ classrooms, books, and toys. The fact is being in detention is a choice. We encourage all parents to take control of their departure by using the CBP Home app and receiving a free flight home and $2,600.”

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At the Munich Security Conference earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio didn’t mince words. He told European leaders that mass migration is not, was not, and will not become “some fringe concern of little consequence.” It was and remains a crisis that is transforming and destabilizing societies across the West.

Rubio also made the point that should be obvious but too often goes unsaid: Controlling who enters a country — and how many people enter it — is not xenophobia. It is not hatred. It is a basic act of national sovereignty. Failing to do it is not merely a policy mistake. It is an abdication of one of government’s first duties to its own people and an urgent threat to social order and civilizational stability.

We need to confront sanctuary employers, sanctuary farms, and sanctuary factories.

That is bold. It is also correct.

Yet special interests continue to pressure President Trump to abandon his promise to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history” into a much smaller project focused only on “the worst of the worst.”

Violent criminal illegal aliens must be removed, and the administration was right to begin there. Public safety comes first.

But that was always the opener. It was never the endgame.

The American people did not vote for President Trump because he promised a narrow immigration enforcement strategy. They voted for the restoration of the rule of law. They voted for what the president himself promised: to deport the illegal aliens Joe Biden unlawfully allowed to enter the United States.

The mas -deportation coalition, of which I am a proud member, exists to help the president accomplish that goal.

Two hundred thousand or even 300,000 interior removals per year may sound significant. Put it beside an illegal population that could approach 20 million, however, and the number shrinks fast. At the current pace, the math does not get you to the largest deportation operation in American history over four years.

President Trump needs help keeping his promise, and he needs a strategy calibrated to the scale of the problem.

RELATED: ‘Phase one’ was quality control. ‘Phase two’ needs to be quantity control.

Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

When President Eisenhower enforced immigration law in the 1950s, he did not limit enforcement to select criminal categories. The message was clear: Unlawful presence would not be tolerated. That clarity changed behavior. People left because they knew they had broken the law and would face consequences if they stayed.

That is the kind of clarity we need now.

It means expanding worksite enforcement, not merely fighting over sanctuary cities. We need to confront sanctuary employers, sanctuary farms, and sanctuary factories.

It means taking on industries that rely on and exploit illegal labor at the expense of American workers and their families. It means making clear that unlawful presence in the United States carries consequences — not selectively imposed, but consistently and uniformly applied.

As someone who led ICE and CBP under President Trump in his first term, I can say this with confidence: The machinery and capability exist to achieve 1 million interior removals by the end of 2026.

The real question is political will.

Opponents of the president’s campaign promise are trying to box him into a narrower and narrower enforcement lane. Special interests, campaign consultants, and media talking heads want enforcement to stall — and then to end in amnesty.

If enforcement remains confined to this narrow lane and eventually grinds to a halt, amnesty will come next.

RELATED: Two ‘I’ agencies, one Democratic double standard

Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The State of the Union is the president’s golden opportunity to make clear to supporters, detractors, and, above all, the American people that he intends to fulfill the promise he made on the campaign trail.

It is time to move to phase two: enforcement at scale, without fear or favor.

That may sound bold to some. I know firsthand that it can be done — and must be done.

The American people returned President Trump to the White House after he made that promise. They will reward him with a historic legacy if he keeps it.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, State of the union, Immigration, Mass deportations, Immigration and customs enforcement, Border security, Illegal aliens, Workplace enforcement, Business, Employment, Sanctuary cities, Agriculture, Farms, Factories, Dwight d. eisenhower 

In a case that has stretched over several years, a federal judge has seemingly put a nail in the coffin of a major report, the release of which President Donald Trump has consistently opposed.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who has served the Southern District of Florida since 2020, permanently barred the Department of Justice from releasing former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report regarding Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, Politico reported.

‘Special Counsel Smith and his team went ahead for months, undeterred, preparing Volume II using discovery collected in connection with this proceeding and expending government funds in the process.’

Trump’s motion to bar the release of the special counsel’s report — which Cannon previously determined Smith and his office had unlawfully prepared during the Biden administration — was granted in full on Monday.

“The Court has reviewed the Motions and the full record pertinent to the Motions, including the United States’ position that ‘Volume II should not be released outside of the Department of Justice’ due to the unlawful appointment of Special Counsel Smith and Attorney General Bondi’s deliberative-process determination. Fully advised in the premises, Trump’s Unopposed Motion is GRANTED,” the Trump appointee wrote in the ruling.

RELATED: ‘Flagrant violation’: GOP lawmaker grills Jack Smith for ‘spying’ on former House speaker

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Cannon’s ruling on the “complex” case, which she said “generated close to 800 docket entries since the filing of the initial indictment in June 2023,” will ostensibly put to rest the impending release of Volume II of Smith’s report.

Following the order, the current Department of Justice and its successors are “enjoined from (a) releasing, sharing, or transmitting Volume II of the Final Report or any drafts of Volume II outside the Department of Justice, or (b) otherwise releasing, distributing, conveying, or sharing with anyone outside the Department of Justice any information or conclusions in Volume II or in drafts thereof.”

However, a second motion filed by two co-defendants alongside Trump was rejected in part. This separate motion requested that Volume II be destroyed, but this request was denied.

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