Category: blaze media

An Arizona man sort of came back from the dead to address his killer in court, thanks to artificial intelligence, leaving his family with a sense of peace but others with a sense of horror.

On Monday, the friends and family of the late Christopher Pelkey gathered in the courtroom of Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Todd Lang for the sentencing of Gabriel Horcasitas, who had been convicted of manslaughter in Pelkey’s death.

In November 2021, the two men got into a road-rage battle that escalated quickly. At a red light, Pelkey, 37, exited his vehicle and confronted Horcasitas, 50, outside of his car, at which point Horcasitas drew a weapon and fired several rounds at Pelkey, killing him, KNXV-TV reported at the time.

Now, three and a half years later, Pelkey made a return of sorts after his sister, Stacey Wales; her husband, Tim; and Tim’s friend Scott Yentzer created a video that included a simulacrum of Pelkey giving a statement written by Wales.

“I’m a version of Chris Pelkey recreated through AI that uses my picture and my voice profile,” the simulacrum said on a clip that can be viewed here.

The simulated Pelkey then addressed Horcasitas, offering forgiveness and a message of hope and redemption.

“To Gabriel Horcasitas, the man who shot me: It is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” Pelkey’s image said. “In another life, we probably could have been friends.”

“I believe in forgiveness and God who forgives. I always have, and still do,” the image continued.

The simulated Pelkey even drew attention to his digitally aged appearance, encouraging listeners not to lament the natural aging process. “This is the best I can ever give you of what I would have looked like if I got the chance to grow old,” AI Pelkey said. “Remember, getting old is a gift that not everybody has, so embrace it and stop worrying about those wrinkles.”

‘AI can … hinder or even upend justice if inappropriately used.’

Even though Pelkey’s loved ones submitted nearly 50 victim impact statements, “there was one missing piece,” Wales said. “There was one voice that was not in those letters.”

So Wales’ husband and friend Yentzer, who have worked with artificial intelligence technology for years, put their heads together to find a way to give Chris a voice. Wales said the two men created “a Frankenstein of love” using several different tools mashed together. The result is believed to be the first AI-generated victim impact statement used in an American court.

The video of Pelkey’s image had a profound emotional impact on many in the courtroom, including Pelkey’s brother John. “To see his face and to hear his voice [talk about forgiveness], just waves of healing washed over my soul. Because that was the man that I knew,” John said.

Judge Lang was likewise moved. While prosecutors had recommended a nine-and-a-half-year sentence, Judge Lang sentenced Horcasitas to 10 and a half years and professed admiration for the AI-generated victim statement.

“I love that AI,” the judge said at the hearing. “Thank you for that. I felt like that was genuine, that his obvious forgiveness of Mr. Horcasitas reflects the character I heard about today.”

Not everyone was so enthusiastic about the video, however. The New York Post described it as “eerie,” and Arizona Chief Justice Ann Timmer noted that while AI may have an important role to play in American courtrooms going forward, it should be monitored carefully.

“AI can … hinder or even upend justice if inappropriately used,” Timmer explained in a statement. “A measured approach is best. Along those lines, the court has formed an AI committee to examine AI use and make recommendations for how best to use it. At bottom, those who use AI — including courts — are responsible for its accuracy.”

Others online were similarly wary:

“This is highly inappropriate and I cannot believe it was allowed to happen in a court of law,” quipped Michigan journalist James David Dickson.”This doesn’t seem … healthy for anyone or anything involved,” said the Scottish Law Librarians Group.”The most distressing technological development of the year,” added another user.”Not sure what’s worse: the sister presenting the AI of her dead brother in court [or] the judge’s reaction to it,” said yet another user.

One X user warned loved ones against even thinking about pulling such a stunt. “If I die and you do this s*** to me I will haunt your a** like you would not believe,” the user promised. “I’m talkin VERY spooky antics.”

Peter Gietl, managing editor of Return at Blaze Media, is likewise disgusted that an “AI ghost” was admitted into an American court of law.

“I can’t believe a judge would allow a kangaroo court to occur in a court of law. The defendant should try to get a mistrial declared,” he told Blaze News in a statement. “Unfortunately, these AI ghosts are going to become more common. However, they aren’t the real person any more than a cartoon is.”

“An AI creation of a deceased family member is not your family member, and disturbing at a core level of our humanity.”

Still, Wales seems at peace with the video and statement she helped create on her late brother’s behalf. “I want the world to know Chris existed,” she said. “If one person hears his name or sees this footage and goes to his Facebook page or looks him up on YouTube, they will hear Chris’ love.”

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​Ai, Simulacrum, Simulation, Chris pelkey, Gabriel horcasitas, Judge todd lang, Road rage, Politics 

The WNBA’s newest star claimed white athletes have more “marketability” and receive more coverage than black athletes.

Paige Bueckers was an NCAA star at the University of Connecticut with huge endorsements from companies like Nike, Taco Bell, Nerf, and Gatorade. After being selected No. 1 in the WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings, Bueckers has another great opportunity to star on a team that just made a move to a larger arena.

While her past success, basketball IQ, and perseverance through injuries were the focus of a lengthy piece in Time, Bueckers took the opportunity to confess that she believes she, and all white people, have “white privilege.”

Bueckers said black women are under covered by the media, noting, “It’s still an issue, every single day.”

“There’s not ever equal coverage,” she told the outlet. “There’s white privilege every single day that I see.”

The 23-year-old continued, “I feel like I’ve worked extremely hard, blessed by God. But I do think there’s more opportunities for me. I feel like even just marketability, people tend to favor white people, white males, white women. I think it should be equal opportunity. I feel like there is privilege to what I have, and to what all white people have. I recognize that, I want to counteract that with the way I go about my business.”

Bueckers has been making strange, racially driven comments since a young age; at just 19, she accepted an ESPN award and said she wanted to “show a light on black women” because they “don’t get the media coverage that they deserve.”

“They’ve given so much to this sport and the community and society as a whole, and their value is undeniable,” Bueckers said in 2021.

‘It doesn’t matter how hard I work. It doesn’t matter what we all do as black women.’

This narrative has been mentioned consistently by players in the WNBA. For example, Las Vegas Aces player A’ja Wilson claimed in a 2024 interview that WNBA superstar Caitlin Clark is more popular and more marketable because she is white, while black women are ignored.

“They don’t see it as marketable,” Wilson said of the unnamed powers that be. “It doesn’t matter how hard I work. It doesn’t matter what we all do as black women, we’re still going to be swept underneath the rug. That’s why it boils my blood when people say it’s not about race because it is.”

After conducting the interview but before it was published, Wilson was signed to a signature shoe deal by Nike and an endorsement with Gatorade.

Clark herself has spread similar sentiments, participating in a Nike marketing campaign that said women are not able to succeed, despite the campaign receiving massive 50-foot banners in Chicago.

Clark had previously told Time that she cannot attribute all of her success to her hard work but said a bulk of it was due to her white privilege.

“I want to say I’ve earned every single thing, but as a white person, there is privilege,” she said at the time. About a day later, Clark contradicted her statements again while speaking with Time.

“I feel like I’ve earned every single thing that’s happened to me over the course of my career.”

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​Fearless, Wnba, White privilege, Woke, Paige bueckers, Sports 

The employment law firm Littler
recently surveyed 349 executives, in-house lawyers, and senior human resource professionals across various industries about their chief concerns in view of the federal government’s shifting priorities. The Trump administration’s clampdown on illegal immigration was apparently top of mind — a potential wink at big business’ reliance on illegally imported labor.

When asked how great an impact the expected “enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement/Homeland Security Investigations and the Department of Homeland Security, and compliance with their respective requirements” will have on their workplace over the next 12 months, 26% of respondents said they anticipate a “significant impact,” and 44% said they anticipate a “moderate impact.” The remainder suggested there would be no impact at all.

When asked to what extent their organizations were concerned about “workforce staffing challenges as a result of the Trump administration’s immigration policies,” 32% of respondents answered “slightly concerned,” 20% answered “moderately concerned,” and 6% said “very concerned.”

“Large employers are more concerned than their counterparts about ICE/DHS enforcement (84% expect a significant or moderate impact on their workplaces) and workforce staffing challenges (69% expressed concern, versus 58% overall),” said the report.

Employers in manufacturing and retail/hospitality were apparently the most concerned about the other shoe dropping when it comes to the administration’s enforcement of federal immigration law.

‘There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force.’

Eighty-three percent of employers in manufacturing, compared with 75% of all employers, listed immigration at the top of the policy changes that would impact their businesses over the next year.

Where retail/hospitality employers were concerned, 89% indicated ICE and DHS enforcement will have a significant or moderate impact on their workplaces.

The Pew Research Center indicated that as of 2022, there were roughly 8.3 million illegal aliens in the workforce. The largest share of illegal aliens in the workforce reportedly serve in construction.

“Though employers have reasonable cause for worry — it is anticipated, after all, that Trump 2.0 will increase ICE/HSI I-9 audits to up to 15,000 a year and ICE raids to more than 100 a year — workplace enforcement actions as of the writing of this report have not yet resulted in any formal ICE raids of employer worksites,” said the report.

The report strongly insinuated that these concerns pertain to the impact of the administration’s targeting of illegal aliens, as it notes “employers may be underestimating the impact of Trump 2.0 on legal immigration, which declined by about 40% during the president’s first term and could have costly consequences for employers that are unable to bring in the necessary talent.”

Jorge Lopez, chair of the firm’s immigration and global mobility practice group, told Axios, “I was just flabbergasted by how high the concern was among our clients.”

White House spokesman Kush Desai framed the potential staffing shortages as an opportunity to draw from neglected depths of the American talent pool.

“Over 1 in 10 young adults in America are neither employed, in higher education, nor pursuing some sort of vocational training,” Desai told Axios. “There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force, and President Trump’s executive order to modernize workforce training programs represents this administration’s commitment to capitalizing on that untapped potential.”

The survey also found that nearly 85% of respondents anticipate that changes to workplace regulations and policies regarding DEI will impact their businesses during President Donald Trump’s first year back in office.

According to Littler, 60% of organizations with over 10,000 employees are concerned about DEI-related litigation.

Despite these concerns, only 55% of respondents are considering making some changes to their DEI policies and programs, and the remainder are not contemplating new or further rollbacks.

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​Labor, Work force, Workforce, Big business, Illegal immigration, Illegal aliens, Business, Working, Ice, Immigration enforcement, Immigration, Politics 

The president has told his team to start looking into writing an executive order to limit the amount of money in college sports, a new report has claimed.

President Donald Trump met with legendary college football coach Nick Saban last Thursday when the president was in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to give a commencement speech at the University of Alabama.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Saban spoke to the president about “NIL” deals and told him he thought the influx of money into college sports has been damaging.

Trump reportedly agreed with Saban and said he would have his aides begin to study what a potential executive order could look like.

Furthermore, Saban’s suggestions allegedly did not include ending NIL payments, but “reforming” them, according to a person who was said to have direct knowledge of the meeting. Saban reportedly suggested the NIL payments were causing an uneven playing field and have resulted in an arms race among the bigger schools.

This echoed Saban’s comments from January, when he claimed on a radio show that the NIL “model is unsustainable.”

‘There’s some parity. Now that everybody can pay their players.’

It should be noted that Saban has been widely criticized for hoarding talent when he coached in Alabama and that name, image, and likeness rules have since leveled the playing field so that players at other schools can still receive compensation.

Even comedian Shane Gillis, a staunch Notre Dame supporter, said in January that Saban was sensitive to criticisms that he is upset that other schools can now pay their players.

“This feels different. Feels like we can win it. You know? There’s some parity. Now that everybody can pay their players, Notre Dame has a shot. It’s not just the SEC. It’s not Coach Saban,” Gillis said at the time.

The comedian revealed weeks later that Saban did not care for the comments when they both appeared on an episode of “ESPN’s College GameDay.”

Gillis said Saban exploded when he approached him, saying, “You think the SEC dominated because we cheated?! That’s bulls**t!”

“He spazzed on me,” Gillis laughed.

Shane Gillis said Nick Saban was not happy with accusations of the coach paying players. Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images

The NCAA declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal regarding a potential executive order. However, the outlet cited NCAA spokesman Tim Buckley, who said the governing body was confronting some of the challenges facing college sports.

The vast majority of the NCAA’s money does not come from college football, though. As Blaze News reported, over 85% of the NCAA’s revenue comes from college basketball’s March Madness tournament. However, college football has some of the country’s biggest young stars, who now generate impressive revenue streams for themselves through endorsements.

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​Fearless, Ncaa, Football, Alabama, Executive orders, Sports 

President Donald Trump’s administration recently removed the Democratic vice chair of the National Transportation Safety Board.

A White House official told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Alvin Brown had been removed from the board.

‘We’re going to build a brand-new air traffic control system.’

Brown was appointed to the five-person safety panel by former President Joe Biden in December 2024, after the November presidential election and just weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

An internet archive shows that Brown was removed from the NTSB’s website sometime after May 1. The now-removed webpage stated that Brown had served as a board member since March 2024 and as a senior adviser for the Department of Transportation’s Community Infrastructure Opportunities since August 2022. Brown served as the mayor of Jacksonville, Florida, from 2011 to 2015.

“Brown began his career as a senior member of the White House leadership team under President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. As Vice President Al Gore’s Senior Advisor for Urban Policy, and Vice Chair of the White House Community Empowerment Board, he advised President Clinton and Vice President Gore on a wide range of domestic issues, including community revitalization, job creation, new business development, and affordable housing,” the website previously read. “As Executive Director of the White House Community Empowerment Board, Brown led the Administration’s $4 billion community empowerment initiatives, including the Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community programs.”

The NTSB’s website now lists only four members: Chairman Jennifer Homendy and members Michael Graham, Thomas Chapman, and J. Todd Inman.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigator, told WBAL that he has never seen a president remove a board member. It is typical for members to remain on the board past their five-year term when an administration has not selected a replacement.

“That happens a lot over the years, but that’s normal and expected because you served your term and now it’s time for someone else to serve in there,” Guzzetti said. “But this wasn’t that. This was just more abrupt and directly from the administration, and I don’t know what the impetus is.”

While the White House did not provide a reason for Brown’s termination, Trump has previously commented on independent agency’s lack of oversight and slow aviation investigations, which may have influenced the recent NTSB shake-up.

In February, Trump signed an executive order to ensure more accountability within federal agencies.

A White House fact sheet detailed the “reining in” of several independent agencies. However, it did not specifically name the NTSB, an independent government agency tasked with investigating transportation accidents.

“So-called independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have exercised enormous power over the American people without Presidential oversight,” it read.

Following the January aviation disaster at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that resulted in the deaths of 67 people, Trump appeared to slam the federal government for historically slow investigations.

During a press briefing, he stated, “We do not know what led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas, and I think we’ll probably state those opinions now because, over the years, I’ve watched as things like this happen and they say, ‘Well, we’re always investigating.’ And then the investigation, three years later, they announce it.”

Earlier this week, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy told Fox News that the administration will “radically transform the way air traffic control looks.”

“We’re going to build a brand-new air traffic control system,” he added.

Duffy stated that the Trump administration will unveil the details of its plans on Thursday.

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​News, Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, National transportation safety board, Ntsb, Alvin brown, Aviation industry, Aviation, Joe biden, Biden, Sean duffy, Department of transportation, Dot, Politics 

A young conservative influencer recently sparked a massive debate online when she recorded a video of herself claiming that stay-at-home mothers are not intellectually stimulating — which she insinuated a man requires in order to be satisfied.

“Guess what, baby girl? That lifestyle working out — a man, a provider, you just get to sit at home, bake bread every day — slim to none. I would say none. And that’s going to work out for you? Or quite literally anyone you know?” the influencer ranted.

“You guys are cringe,” she continued, adding, “Let’s bring some other things to the table besides sourdough. Guys want to be mentally stimulated as well as physical.”

Among those who took issue with the influencer’s rant is Joel Berry of the Babylon Bee.

“My wife was trad before it was a trend. We were willing to be poor to make it happen. Totally worth it. Stay-at-home moms contribute more than ‘sourdough.’ They are doing the most important work of all, the formation of the souls of our children. Everything a man does is to serve that end,” Berry wrote in a post on X.

As a wife, mother, and Christian, Allie Beth Stuckey of “Relatable” also is no fan of this woman’s statement.

“I am all for moms staying at home full-time,” Stuckey says. “Most moms that I know who stay home are also doing other things with the other talents that God has given them while still prioritizing their kids and their family, and I think all of that is great.”

However, Stuckey isn’t a fan of the trad wife trend on social media that prioritizes the aesthetic of being a stay-at-home mom over the actual work it entails.

“So I’m not necessarily against all criticism of this whole trad trend. What I am against is this critique that if you are a stay-at-home mom, or if you are a quote unquote ‘traditional wife,’ that you are not being intellectually stimulated, and that you are not able to bring anything intellectually to your home or to your husband, because that is just not true,” Stuckey says.

And while this conservative influencer seems to believe that being a “girl boss” is what makes someone intellectually stimulating, Stuckey thinks that couldn’t be further from the truth — and with good reason.

“Many professions actually reward you for falling in line, following protocol without asking questions, pleasing your boss, and that’s it. In fact, in corporate America, you are expected to censor your thoughts, police your speech, limit your creativity so that you don’t rock the boat,” Stuckey says.

“Intellect, critical thinking, creativity are not required in many, many jobs today,” she continues. “Working outside the home or having additional hobbies outside of being a wife and mom does not guarantee that you are going to be smart, that you are going to be challenged intellectually, and that you’re going to be able to bring more to the table regarding intelligence.”

“There’s just no guarantee of that because so many realms of the world today outside of the home do not reward being smart and thinking critically,” she adds.

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​Video phone, Upload, Camera phone, Sharing, Free, Video, Youtube.com, Relatable, Allie beth stuckey, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Christianity, Biblical motherhood, Trad wife trend, Trad, Traditional values, Sourdough, Joel berry, Babylon bee, Relatable with allie beth stuckey 

CNN contributor Scott Jennings went toe-to-toe with progressive writer Jemele Hill over the Supreme Court allowing the Trump administration to implement its ban on transgender individuals in the U.S. military.

Hill claimed on CNN’s “NewsNight with Abby Phillip” that by targeting transgender individuals, the ban will lead to the purging of other minority groups, such as black people, from institutions like the armed forces.

“There‘s a few things that bother me about this, and mostly it was the language of the policy, right? When looking — reading some of these words, transgender people as ‘inherently untruthful, undisciplined, dishonorable.’ That’s, like, a very weighty thing to say about people who are courageously deciding to protect this country. The other problem, Scott, is that it’s never enough. It’s bathrooms today, it’s sports tomorrow. It’s the military today,” Hill said.

Scott interjected, claiming that men using women’s bathrooms and men playing women’s sports are already major issues. When Scott then noted the vast majority of Americans do not support such crazy policies, Hill said it’s no different than when the civil rights movement was unpopular.

‘Well, he has an opinion because he won the election.’

“That’s fine. And guess what? The majority sometimes is wrong. That also happens, right? Because the majority used to believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was somebody who was a threat, somebody who was not a good American,” she replied. “The majority of people used to be against civil rights. Were they right? No, they weren’t.”

“I’m not saying he’s coming for black people tomorrow, but considering that this is a military or this is a leadership that is already using ‘DEI’ as code word for black people already when it comes to the military, suddenly, when you don’t protect the most vulnerable, you wind up making it worse for everybody else,” Hill continued.

When Scott asked Hill if she really believes President Trump should recruit people who are “vulnerable,” she said Trump should allow people to join the military if that is what they want.

“It’s really kind of ironic considering he dodged the draft that he suddenly has an opinion” on who gets to be in the military, Hill said dismissively.

“Well, he has an opinion because he won the election,” Jennings shot back.

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​Politics, Media 

A recent New York Times hit piece titled, “The Podcaster Asking You to Side With History’s Villains,” is a prime example of why many Americans no longer trust the mainstream media.

The piece criticizes “The Martyr Made Podcast” host Darryl Cooper’s revisionist history — which Glenn Beck of “The Glenn Beck Program” believes couldn’t be more hypocritical, as the New York Times was behind the “1619 Project” written by Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Some of Cooper’s claims that the New York Times took grave issue with were that “Winston Churchill was the ‘chief villain’ of the war, not, by implication, Adolf Hitler,” and that “millions had died in Nazi-controlled Eastern Europe because the Nazis had not adequately planned to feed them.”

The New York Times also took issue with Cooper being platformed by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, who have had the podcaster on their own podcasts.

“They go on and on and on to talk about how ‘this just can’t stand, I mean, there’s got to be some sort of filter, and you know, Joe Rogan just can’t have on whoever he wants to have on,’” Glenn comments.

“That’s the problem, is it, New York Times? Is that the problem?” Glenn asks. “Let me just look in the past here and see if we’ve had this exact same problem with anybody else, because the person that came to mind was not Darryl Cooper, but Nikole Hannah-Jones, because I think those two are the same coin, and the coin’s counterfeit.”

“Jones, she did the ‘1619 Project.’ She did the same thing in reverse, except I think she’s actually worse, I mean, because I think she made up almost everything in that. She recasts American history as racist from the very inception of the country. Neither one of them is telling the whole truth,” he continues.

“They clutch their pearls because he has an audience, and only the New York Times can have that audience. But where was that concern when they gave an audience to Nikole Hannah-Jones and gave her a Pulitzer for a project now so discredited by the very historians that are now talking about Cooper?” he says.

“Where was the caution when they declared that 1619, not 1776, was the true founding of the nation? They didn’t question her authority; they didn’t say, ‘Well, she’s not a historian.’ They printed it. In fact, they taught it and endorsed it. They platformed it in schools,” he adds.

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​Sharing, Video phone, Video, Upload, Camera phone, Free, Youtube.com, The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, The new york times, 1619 project, Revisionist history, Martyr made, Joe rogan, Tucker carlson, Darryl cooper 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced last month the formation of the Director’s Initiatives Group, a new task force dedicated to ending the weaponization of the federal government.

In addition to declassifying and releasing the John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. assassination files, Gabbard indicated that the DIG had set about reviewing other documents for potential declassification, including information related to “the Biden administration’s domestic surveillance and censorship actions against Americans.”

One of the documents declassified under this initiative has provided critical insights into how the stage was set in 2021 for the Biden administration’s subsequent treatment of traditional Catholics and concerned parents who spoke out at school board meetings as potential terrorists.

A memo titled “Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism” assigned the FBI, the Department of Justice, and other agencies various tasks with the overarching aim of countering perceived domestic terrorism and violent extremism. The memo was reportedly developed by the FBI, the DOJ, and Biden’s National Security Council.

The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center were directed, for example, to provide state and local law enforcement agencies with resources “that cover relevant iconography, symbology, and phraseology used by many domestic terrorists, as well as data-driven guidance on how to recognize potential indicators of DT-related mobilization.”

One such “resource” appears to have been the FBI’s “Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide,” which associated the Betsy Ross flag, the Gadsden flag, the Gonzales cannon with accompanying “Come and Take It” caption, Revolutionary War imagery, and Second Amendment-related imagery with “Militia Violent Extremism.”

‘A broad brush to start spying on Americans.’

The declassified memo also tasked the Domestic Policy Council with driving “executive and legislative action, including banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines”; reining in the “proliferation of ‘ghost guns'”; mitigating “xenophobia and bias” in COVID-19 responses; and supporting “interventions to foster resiliency to disinformation.”

Lawmakers and legal experts suggested to Just the News that the more concerning element of the memo was its apparent loosening of the requirements for opening criminal and national security investigations — a drop in standards that may have helped pave the way for fishing expeditions into groups disfavored and/or critical of the Biden administration.

Whereas for decades FBI agents needed “an articulable factual basis” that “reasonably indicates” a crime or a threat has or will occur in order to launch an investigation, experts told Just the News that the memo substantially lowered that standard such that behavior deemed “concerning” was sufficient to begin probing.

The memo tasked the DOJ and the FBI with DHS to “enhance public understanding of the role of federal law enforcement in responding to incidents of concerning non-criminal behavior.”

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) told Just the News that the memo amounted to “merely a broad brush to start spying on Americans.”

‘The types of tools and responses that they have been making for people who are engaged in some type of violence actually applied to non-violent individuals.’

“It doesn’t have to be criminal, for sure. But it doesn’t have to be heterodox,” said Biggs. “It just has to be something that some agent, or some local agent, says, ‘Oh, we got a beef about this. We’re going to check it out.'”

“It’s spying on Americans,” added Biggs, “violating the Fourth Amendment.”

John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, told “John Solomon Reports” that “back in June 2021, the Biden administration put out its plan for dealing with domestic terrorists. The one that they put out at that time talked about how they were going after criminal activity. And of course, everybody, anybody who’s espousing violence or trying to or committing violence, one wants the government to get a handle on that.”

“What Tulsi Gabbard declassified was the rest of the document that was there,” continued Lott. “What was shocking to me is that the types of tools and responses that they have been making for people who are engaged in some type of violence actually applied to non-violent individuals, non-criminal activity.”

The FBI’s scrutiny of conservative Catholics appears to have been prompted not by past or anticipated crimes but by “concerns” regarding “non-criminal behavior.”

The House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government revealed in a 2023 report titled “The FBI’s Breach of Religious Freedom: The Weaponization of Law Enforcement Against Catholic Americans” that the FBI field office circulated an internal memo in January 2023 warning that violent extremists are attracted to “radical traditionalist Catholic ideology.”

The committee report stated, “Under the guise of tackling the threat of domestic terrorism, the memorandum painted certain ‘radical-traditionalist Catholics’ (RTCs) as violent extremists and proposed opportunities for the FBI to infiltrate Catholic churches as a form of ‘threat mitigation.'”

“There was no legitimate basis for the memorandum to insert federal law enforcement into Catholic houses of worship,” said the committee’s report. Nevertheless, “this single investigation became the basis for an FBI-wide memorandum warning about the dangers of ‘radical’ Catholics.”

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​Fbi, Weaponization, Declassified, Tulsi gabbard, Doj, Dhs, Catholics, Conservatives, Bureau, Dni, Joe biden, Biden administration, Politics 

A South Carolina teacher is facing a criminal charge for having an alleged sexual relationship with a student, according to police.

Victoria Katherine Montgomery — a 32-year-old woman from Bluffton — was arrested Friday and charged with a felony count of sexual battery with a student who is 18 years of age or older, where there is direct supervisory authority; no aggravated force, according to Beaufort County jail records.

‘We are taking this very seriously.’

Despite the student being 18 or older, Montgomery reportedly was charged with a felony because she had “direct supervisory authority” over the alleged victim.

Montgomery reportedly was released from the Beaufort County Detention Center on Saturday morning on a personal recognizance bond.

Montgomery is a dance teacher at Hilton Head Island High School. She is the head of the school’s arts department, according to the school’s website.

A since-deleted Facebook post from the high school stated that Montgomery began teaching there at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year after relocating from Flint, Michigan.

The Island Packet reported that an individual last Wednesday tipped off principal Steve Schidrich about an alleged teacher sex scandal.

School officials immediately notified the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and placed Montgomery on paid administrative leave after the sexual abuse allegations surfaced.

WCBD-TV obtained the following statement from the Beaufort County School District: “We have become aware of a situation involving a staff member and student at HHIHS. Because this involves both a personnel matter and a law enforcement investigation, we are unable to provide additional details or comment further.”

The statement continued, “We recognize that situations like this can raise concern, and we are taking this very seriously. The situation is being addressed accordingly in cooperation with law enforcement.”

Lt. Danny Allen of the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that there is an active investigation into the accusations of an inappropriate relationship between a teacher and a student at the high school.

However, police did not offer any further details about the alleged sexual abuse.

The Daily Mail reported that investigators believe the alleged victim is a student of Montgomery.

District spokesperson Candace Bruder noted that all of Montgomery’s classes will be taught by a “certified educator or a substitute teacher, and families of students enrolled in these courses will be notified via email.”

Depending on the outcome of the investigation, Montgomery could face disciplinary action or even termination. The South Carolina Department of Education also may revoke her teaching license.

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The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened a Title IX investigation into a New York school board that issued guidance to its schools to allow students to choose their gender.

According to the federal government, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to inform her that the Saratoga Springs City School District had passed a resolution that defied President Trump’s executive order to keep men out of women’s sports.

The resolution, passed March 27, was titled, “Affirming Our Support for Every Student.”

The document declared that the school district would continue to allow boys in women’s sports and facilities, which is in direct violation of the president’s order.

‘It is a clear violation of federal civil rights law, and of women’s dignity …’

“Recent federal executive orders and communications targeting transgender students, immigrant youth, and important educational policies are antithetical to the principles of access and inclusion that define our schools and our community,” the board stated, falling back on state law as their basis for defiance.

Specifically, the district said it would not only continue to use fake names and preferred pronouns for children, but it would “ensure their right to use facilities and participate in activities and sports consistent with their gender identity.”

“The Trump administration has been unrelenting in our effort to ensure that women and girls’ educational experiences are not marred by sex discrimination. It is a clear violation of federal civil rights law, and of women’s dignity, to allow males to participate in female sports and occupy female-only intimate facilities,” Secretary McMahon stated.

The Saratoga Springs school district did not stop its guidance at transgender students, however.

The document also reaffirmed the district’s commitment to “equity, inclusivity, and diversity,” despite federal mandates to phase out such departments in public institutions.

“We will continue to support our educators as they provide age-appropriate, accurate, and equitable education in our schools,” the document stated.

Furthermore, the school district said it would continue to shield illegal immigrants from federal law enforcement and declared that “every student” has the right to an education, even if they are illegal aliens.

“Law enforcement officers may not question students on school property except under very specific conditions,” the guidance read.

According to a press release, the Department of Education has requested information from the district, which included its written policies regarding male students’ access to female teams and locker rooms, as well as district definitions regarding “sex,” “gender,” and/or “gender identity.”

The federal agency also specifically asked for the rosters of any female sports teams that have a male playing on it.

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Retiring U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger took some parting shots at the late Ashli Babbitt on his way out the door, claiming in a May 2 internal memo that she “attacked the U.S. Capitol” and ignored police orders to stay out of the Speaker’s Lobby hallway where she was shot to death by Lt. Michael Byrd.

The two-page letter was read at all roll calls, posted on bulletin boards, and distributed by email. It expresses Manger’s disdain for the U.S. Department of Justice agreeing to settle the Babbitt family’s $30 million wrongful-death lawsuit filed against the federal government on Jan. 5, 2024.

Attorneys for Judicial Watch Inc. and the DOJ told a federal judge on May 2 they had reached a “settlement in principle” that should be finalized within weeks. No financial terms were disclosed.

Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton said the settlement is “going to be historic!” Judicial Watch represents Aaron Babbitt and his late wife’s estate in the lawsuit against the federal government.

A status report that Judicial Watch and the DOJ filed with U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on May 6 did not include an update on the expected timing to finalize the settlement.

It did, however, propose that Babbitt’s former attorney, Terrell N. Roberts III, enter into fee arbitration with the Attorney Client Arbitration Board of the District of Columbia Bar. Roberts opposes that solution, the court filing said. Roberts’ attempts to secure a restraining order and a 25% lien on the final settlement were rebuffed by Judge Reyes. Roberts withdrew from the Babbitt case in late February 2022.

Manger’s letter makes several questionable contentions, including that Babbitt ignored orders by police to stay out of the Speaker’s Lobby.

Ashli Babbitt punches rioter Zachary Jordan Alam in the nose after he smashed out several windows in the entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Babbitt was fatally shot seconds later.
Blaze News graphic from Sam Montoya photograph. Used with permission.

According to video shot by journalist Tayler Hansen, he and Babbitt freely walked into the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby at 2:36 p.m. On the way, they passed Jason Gandolph, a plainclothes House Sergeant at Arms officer. Hansen greeted him and said, “Stay safe.” Gandolph was walking and looking at his phone at the time.

Three U.S. Capitol Police officers were standing at the end of the hall outside the Speaker’s Lobby: Officer Kyle Yetter, Sgt. Timothy Lively, and Officer Christopher Lanciano. Hansen offered the officers a water bottle while Babbitt talked to the trio. They were the only ones in the hall with Babbitt and Hansen until other protesters began filling the space a short time later.

‘We’ve got to start thinking about getting the people out.’

Gandolph told investigators that Babbitt helped to smash the glass in the doors and windows of the Speaker’s Lobby entrance. Video from the hallway shows, however, that Babbitt did not touch the doors or the glass, but she did shout at the officers to “call f**king help!”

“In 2021 the DOJ said there was no evidence to show law enforcement broke the law, yet now the DOJ is agreeing to pay a settlement,” Manger wrote.

A 14-page DOJ memo on the killing of Babbitt by then-Lt. Byrd, now a captain, was released in June 2022 by Judicial Watch as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

The memo said there was “insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Lt. Byrd violated Ms. [Babbitt’s] civil rights by willfully using more force than was reasonably necessary, or was not acting in self-defense or the defense of others.”

Lt. Michael L. Byrd, who killed Ashli Babbitt at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has ‘significant’ discipline history including gun incidents, U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) disclosed in November 2024.

Photos by Judicial Watch, John Sullivan

The DOJ memo has been criticized because it cited the wrong legal standard for determining whether police use of lethal force is justified. The “gold standard” is the 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Graham v. Connor. The High Court said police use of force should be judged on the Fourth Amendment’s “objective reasonableness” standard without regard for the officer’s subjective state of mind.

“An officer’s evil intentions will not make a Fourth Amendment violation out of an objectively reasonable use of force; nor will an officer’s good intentions make an objectively unreasonable use of force constitutional,” the court said.

Even if the force Byrd used in killing Babbitt was unreasonable, “the government must show that an officer acted willfully, that is, with the specific intent to deprive the victim of a constitutional right,” the DOJ report said. In this context, “willfully” means that an act “was done voluntarily and intentionally, and with the specific intent to do something the law forbids; that is with a bad purpose either to disobey or disregard the law.”

‘I asked for permission to evacuate. I heard no response.’

Stanley Kephart, a police use-of-force expert who has testified in court cases more than 350 times, said use of the term “willfully” is from a 1985 U.S. Court of Appeals case from the Fifth Circuit, United States v. Garza. He said it should not be applied to Byrd’s killing of Babbitt.

“The highest culpable mental state in committing a crime is ‘knowingly’ and Captain Byrd did just that,” Kephart said. “Willingly does not apply.”

Byrd did not write any reports on the shooting and refused to make a statement to internal affairs investigators. His only public statement on the shooting was made in a televised August 2021 interview with NBC anchor Lester Holt. Byrd said he feared for his life at the time he fired his service weapon. He said, however, he could not tell if the person climbing into the broken window was armed or even what sex the person was.

Kephart said he believes the Biden DOJ had a pre-ordained conclusion to the shooting probe. He called the DOJ report a “total miscarriage of justice.”

“The glaring thing about it, they picked the Garza decision, which was an aged decision. Graham v. Connor is the newest Supreme Court finding and that’s why it is the gold standard,” Kephart said. “For them to go back in time and pick an aged decision that was friendly to them is a clear indication of what they were attempting to do.”

Video from the hallway where violence broke out shows Babbitt tried to stop the rioting and shouted at officers to call for backup. Just before she climbed into the broken side window and was shot, she punched rioter Zachary J. Alam in the nose and knocked off his glasses. Alam had just used a black riot helmet to smash the glass out of the side window. Had Alam climbed into the broken window before Babbitt punched him, he most likely would have been shot.

“While illegally inside the building, she disregarded the orders of police to stay out of the Speaker’s Lobby and instead climbed through a broken window, which had just been smashed by a fellow rioter, in her attempt to access members of Congress who were being evacuated from the Capitol,” Manger wrote.

New Judicial Watch video covers 19 minutes in the Jan. 6 life and death of Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt.
Photos by Aaron Babbitt, Jayden X, Judicial Watch, and Sam Montoya

Byrd told Holt that he repeatedly screamed at the rioters to “get back.” Byrd was wearing a black COVID mask at the time. Other officers in the Speaker’s Lobby gave conflicting reports on whether commands were shouted to those outside the entrance.

Witnesses along the outside of the lobby entrance said they did not hear warnings or other statements from inside the Speaker’s Lobby. The crowd, which had grown to at least 55-60 people, made considerable noise. The three USCP officers posted at the door said they did not hear any commands from inside the Speaker’s Lobby. Nor were any commands heard on videos filmed in the hallway.

Aaron Babbitt said his wife, 35, who was a military policewoman in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, would not have continued through the window if she had seen or heard Lt. Byrd.

Video showed the members of Congress were going downstairs toward the subway when Hansen and Babbitt first walked into the hallway outside the Speaker’s Lobby. A few members remained in the House Chamber to help guard the main House entrance, but the evacuation was otherwise complete by the time Babbitt jumped up into the window.

Manger said the lawsuit settlement “is insulting to every officer who protected the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and those who feared for their life on that dark day.”

Former lieutenant raps Manger

One former Capitol Police officer went public with his opposition to Manger’s memo. Former Lt. Tarik K. Johnson, who first posted Manger’s letter May 5 on X, called the document “partisan.”

“How should he (Manger) be allowed to take a partisan position from the chair of a police chief when some could easily articulate his behavior as an abuse of power as his rant was put on USCP letterhead and distributed,” Johnson said.

— (@)

In March, Manger announced he was retiring after nearly four years on the job. His announced last day was May 2, but a Capitol Police source told Blaze News that Manger was still on duty on May 6.

“How do we tolerate Manger criticizing the current administration in a civil matter without questioning his judgement and ability to lead a police agency that has a requirement to remain neutral and protect all members of the congressional community and visitors to the Capitol complex,” Johnson wrote, “not just those who share his political views.”

Johnson was suspended by Capitol Police for nearly 18 months after Jan. 6, ostensibly because he wore a red MAGA cap while he and and two Oath Keepers evacuated 16 police officers from inside the Capitol’s Columbus Doors. Johnson has said the cap made the crowds more receptive and helped him move up and down the east steps unmolested. He said the cap was like having a helmet for protection.

Capitol Police Lt. Tarik K. Johnson asks for assistance from retired police Sgt. Michael Nichols (right) and Steve Clayton (center). Both Oath Keepers, Nichols and Clayton helped Johnson evacuate 16 police officers from inside the Columbus Doors on Jan. 6, 2021.Rico La Starza

The suspension that Johnson said made him a virtual prisoner in his own home was really meted out because he ordered the evacuation of the U.S. Senate on Jan. 6 after the USCP Command Center failed to answer repeated radio transmissions seeking authorization, he said. Video shows just as the last senators hustled down the stairs, a raucous crowd was moving toward the Senate entrance from an adjacent hallway.

Johnson then headed toward the House and ordered members to evacuate the building. He gave Sgt. Nelson Vargas instructions over the radio on which door and stairway to use to reach the Capitol Subway System. It isn’t known why Byrd did not evacuate the House after rioters smashed the Senate Wing Door windows at 2:12 p.m. and crowds poured into the building. Byrd was the Capitol Police commander for the House and Senate on Jan. 6.

“There was no response from anybody at the Command Center,” Johnson said in a January 2023 interview. “I say even before I initiated evacuation, I say specifically, ‘We’ve got to start thinking about getting the people out before we don’t have a chance to.’ I heard no response. Then I asked for permission to evacuate. I heard no response.”

In addition to Johnson’s pleas for help, the Capitol Police dispatcher repeatedly asked for authorization for the evacuation. He was met with radio silence.

Johnson said if the evacuation of Congress had started when he first asked Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman and the Command Center for help, Byrd wouldn’t have been near the Speaker’s Lobby entrance, and the House chamber would have been empty if the crowd had breached the barricaded doors.

“I made the evacuation order at approximately 2:28 for the Senate, and then I did it maybe six to eight minutes later for the House,” Johnson said.

Manger said his department and the Metropolitan Police Department did a “comprehensive review of all the available evidence” in the shooting.

Shortly after shooting Babbitt at 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, Byrd made a false broadcast on Capitol Police radio claiming that he was taking gunfire and was preparing to return fire. The false assertion was never corrected on the air, leaving SWAT officers streaming into the Capitol to wonder if the scene was secure or if a shooter was on the loose in the Capitol. Neither the DOJ report nor the MPD shooting investigation report made reference to Byrd’s radio transmission.

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. Officer Rick Larity (lower right) and Sgt. Sarah Smithers approach Frick and Frack for a meeting inside the squad car.

U.S. Capitol Police/CCTV security video

Police did not attempt to detain any of the more than 50 people in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway to take witness statements. 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 DOJ shooting investigation reports.

Two men, nicknamed “Frick and Frack” by a YouTube personality in 2021, stood behind the police line down the stairs from the lobby entrance as four Capitol Police SWAT officers came up from the first floor.

After protesters and rioters were forced to exit, Frick and Frack approached USCP Deputy Chief Eric Waldow in the hallway and volunteered to be witnesses. As a 2024 Blaze News investigation showed, the men were escorted from the building by Capitol Police K-9 technician Bruce Acheson and taken to meet with Capitol Police detectives in an unmarked squad car at the edge of Capitol grounds.

Frack gave police a short video clip taken in the Speaker’s Lobby hallway at the time of the shooting, but was apparently allowed to leave without providing all of the extensive video he shot on the Capitol west front, inside the building, and from the front rows of the Speaker’s Lobby hallway during the melee. The man’s name was redacted in the MPD shooting report. Some brief information on him was included in an MPD investigation memo.

Video showed Frick and Frack set up makeshift ladders out of police barricades to allow protesters to more easily climb onto the balustrade of the Northwest Steps and proceed into the Capitol. They have not been publicly identified and were never arrested or charged.

Kephart said the 2021 DOJ report should have delved more into Byrd’s service and discipline record. He urged that Byrd’s shooting investigation be reopened by the Trump DOJ.

The DOJ report includes nearly a dozen factual errors, some of which were repeated in the Manger letter.

‘Significant’ discipline history

In November 2024, U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), chairman of the Committee on House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, sent Manger a letter outlining Byrd’s “significant” history of discipline cases.

In one 2004 incident, Byrd was found by the Office of Professional Responsibility to have fired his Capitol Police service weapon into the rear of a van that was fleeing his Maryland neighborhood. His neighbor was in the line of fire, Loudermilk said. Byrd told investigators he shot into the windshield as the van drove directly at him.

U.S. Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd appears to have his finger on the trigger of his service weapon while walking on the U.S. House floor as rioters broke windows at the House entrance at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Photo by Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images. Graphic overlay by Blaze News

The OPR investigation found Byrd violated the USCP weapons and use-of-force policies by firing his gun in a “careless and imprudent manner.” Byrd appealed the finding to the Disciplinary Review Board, which overturned the OPR findings, according to Loudermilk.

In another discipline case revealed in a Blaze News exclusive, Byrd was recommended for termination in 2001 for abandoning his post in House Speaker Denny Hastert’s office for a card game in a nearby cloakroom, then lying about it to Internal Affairs Division investigators.

Loudermilk’s Nov. 20 letter also detailed the favorable treatment Byrd has received by USCP since Jan. 6, including $36,000 in unrestricted retention funds, $21,000 in security upgrades at his Prince George’s County, Md., home, and a GoFundMe campaign that raised $164,206 for Byrd.

Capitol Police paid to house Byrd at the Joint Base Andrews military facility from July 2021 until late January 2022 at a cost of more than $35,000, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch Inc.

Capitol Police general counsel Thomas A. “Tad” DiBiase met with Jamie Fleet, staff director for then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), to discuss options to help Byrd, according to email uncovered by congressional investigators, Loudermilk said. Pelosi had earlier said she wanted Byrd “taken care of,” according to a Blaze News source who directly witnessed the statement during a meeting.

Loudermilk gave Manger a long list of questions and document requests at the close of his letter. The deadline was Dec. 4, 2024. A congressional source said Manger never replied to Loudermilk’s letter. The 118th Congress ended on Jan. 3, 2025. Five months after the start of the 119th Congress, the House has not yet established a successor committee or subcommittee to investigate Jan. 6.

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The left — the party of rainbows, inclusivity, and tolerance — is ironically also the party of violence and riots.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than on college campuses, which have become woke indoctrination mills.

The days of “academic freedom and knowledge and learning and the competition of ideas” are over, says Mark Levin. Today, “if you have a minority opinion, and I mean intellectually or ideologically, you are in the crosshairs.”

Take Washington State University junior Jay Sani, who was assaulted for wearing his MAGA hat on campus earlier this year, as an example. Levin plays the surveillance footage capturing Sani being brutally kicked and punched by two men identified as Patrick Mahoney and Gerald Hoff.

Sani claims he had never met Hoff, a WSU student and research assistant, before the attack. Mahoney, however, was someone he’d encountered on campus numerous times. Sani is a Republican activist who volunteers with conservative groups, while Mahoney was a graduate student and political science instructor, notorious for his far-left activism — including his regular attendance at pro-Palestine protests, his strong ties to the Democratic Socialists of America, his affiliation with progressive pro-labor groups, and his frequent praising of the Communist Party.

When police detained both alleged perpetrators shortly after the assault, they downplayed their actions and even tried to blame Sani, who had bruises and scrapes all over his body. Thankfully, police didn’t buy their story.

Both were arrested and charged with fourth-degree misdemeanor assault and fired from their campus duties. Mahoney and Hoff are now scheduled to appear in court in late May 2025.

Meanwhile, Sani has continued to boldly wear his MAGA hat and promote conservative values on campus.

This story, Levin says, is just further proof that it’s the left that’s “violent” and “riotous.”

To see the footage of the assault on Jay Sani, watch the clip above.

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To enjoy more of “the Great One” — Mark Levin as you’ve never seen him before — 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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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made blistering accusations against Anthony Fauci, the former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, regarding gain-of-function research.

During a Tuesday interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Kennedy accused Fauci of deliberately betraying a ban on bioweapon development and attempting to conceal his nefarious activities.

‘There is no other way to receive this but @SecKennedy is accusing Fauci of crimes against humanity.’

On Monday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order restricting funding for overseas gain-of-function research, which many argue led to COVID-19.

“These measures will drastically reduce the potential for lab-related incidents involving gain-of-function research, like that conducted on bat coronaviruses in China by the EcoHealth Alliance and Wuhan Institute of Virology,” a White House fact sheet read.

During this week’s interview with Ingraham, Kennedy addressed the administration’s recent actions to protect Americans from dangerous research and connected the dots on Fauci’s involvement.

“Gain-of-function studies is the kind of science that is designed to make microbes and pathogens more virulent, more transmissible, and more deadly,” Kennedy stated.

He explained that the U.S. military and intelligence agencies began gain-of-function research in 1947 to develop bioweapons. However, President Richard Nixon (R) banned the research in 1969, and the ban held through 2001 until the anthrax terrorist attack.

“After the anthrax attacks, Anthony Fauci began — essentially, restarted the arms race and the bioweapons arms race and did it under the pretension of developing vaccines. Because it’s the same science they use to develop bioweapons and vaccines,” Kennedy told Ingraham.

However, the research took a turn in 2014 when “three of [Fauci’s] bugs escaped,” he explained.

As a result, hundreds of scientists urged then-President Barack Obama to stop Fauci’s research, Kennedy said.

“President Obama declared a moratorium, but instead of shutting down his experiments, [Fauci] moved them offshore, mainly to the Wuhan lab,” he claimed. “And now the principal institutions are coming — the CIA, the FBI, the State Department, Department of Energy — all say that it is most likely that those experiments resulted in the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in 2019.”

“So President Trump today moved to shut down this kind of research in this country and to stop funding it abroad,” Kennedy added.

BlazeTV host and Blaze News columnist Steve Deace reacted to Kennedy’s allegations against Fauci, calling for a Department of Justice referral.

“There is no other way to receive this but @SecKennedy is accusing Fauci of crimes against humanity. This is a direct accusation. Shouldn’t this now be referred to DOJ for prosecution?” Deace wrote in a post on X.

In the days before leaving office, Biden issued Fauci a sweeping pardon “for any offense against the United States” since January 2014.

Fauci stepped down from his NIAID position in 2022 and now holds a “Distinguished University Professor” position with the School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine at Georgetown University.

Neither Fauci nor Georgetown University responded to a request for comment from Blaze News.

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A viral road-rage video out of Oregon shows an SUV driver slam a motorcycle rider across busy highway Monday morning, then make a speedy getaway.

The Beaverton Police Department said the incident took place around 6:16 a.m. on westbound Highway 26 between Highway 217 and Cedar Hills Boulevard and “may have been the result of a road-rage interaction between the driver of a blue late-model Kia Carnival and a motorcycle rider.”

After speaking to numerous community members, investigators ‘have reason to believe Pazzoto-Filho [was] driving recklessly in the days prior to this incident,’ police said.

Police said the Kia “sideswiped the motorcycle, causing the rider to lose control. The driver of the Kia then fled the scene.” Police said investigators believe the actions of the Kia driver “were intentional,” and they were looking for vehicle and the driver.

You can view video here of the incident.

Suspect arrested

The Beaverton Police Department said police arrested a suspect Monday evening in connection with the hit-and-run incident.

Police said Samir Helio Pazzoto-Filho, a resident of Washington County, was taken into custody after officers responded to a community member’s tip, which led them to Pazzoto-Filho’s residence near Highway 26 and Southwest 185th Avenue.

Arriving officers saw Pazzoto-Filho driving his blue Kia Carnival, and police said it matched the vehicle involved in the incident:

Image source: Beaverton (Ore.) Police

Police said Pazzoto-Filho has been charged with:

attempted assault;second-degree assault (felony);hit-and-run (felony);reckless driving;unlawful use of a weapon.

Police said the motorcycle rider was discharged from a hospital after suffering serious injuries.

After speaking to numerous community members, investigators “have reason to believe Pazzoto-Filho [was] driving recklessly in the days prior to this incident,” police said.

Those with additional information about the suspect are urged to contact the Beaverton Police Department at 503-526- 2261.

Pazzoto-Filho, 41, on Wednesday morning remained in the Washington County Jail, according to records, which didn’t show bail information or a release date.

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Vice President JD Vance put in a good word for his brother’s mayoral bid in Cincinnati, likely helping him secure enough votes to advance to the general election in November.

Cory Bowman, 36, is the founder and pastor of the River Church in the West End of Cincinnati as well as a co-owner of the Kings Arms Coffee shop just up the street. He also happens to be Vance’s half-brother.

‘When it comes to that relationship, I’ve said it over and over, but I’ll repeat it, he’s an amazing role model of mine.’

Though a long shot, Bowman decided to make a run to unseat incumbent Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. On Tuesday, Bowman, Pureval, and a third candidate, Brian Frank, competed against one another in the primary to secure one of the top two spots. The top two will then face off in November.

Vance took to social media to give his brother an extra boost.

“Hey Cincinnati! My brother Cory Bowman is running for mayor and is on the ballot today for the primary. He’s a good guy with a heart for serving his community. Get out there and vote for him!” Vance tweeted just before 1 p.m.

— (@)

The last-minute endorsement by the VP may have done the trick. While Pureval carried the day with 18,505 votes, more than 82% of the vote, Bowman eked out a second-place finish, gathering 2,894 votes to Frank’s 1,022.

Bowman said his older brother’s foray into politics, especially his inauguration into the second-highest office in the land in January, inspired him to become involved as well.

“When it comes to that relationship, I’ve said it over and over, but I’ll repeat it, he’s an amazing role model of mine,” Bowman said, according to WCPO. “I look up to him as a big brother.”

Still, Bowman noted that while his brother is busy tackling national and even international problems, he remains focused on local issues. “Our job isn’t to copy and paste what’s going on in the nation. Our job is to say, however the nation’s going, what’s going to be best for the city of Cincinnati?” Bowman stated, according to WVXU.

Bowman listed infrastructure issues like potholes and snow removal as well as crime and the city budget as his main concerns.

“When you see the roads, when you see the infrastructure, when you see our snow plows that are kind of not in perfect position, when you see even like our police cruisers that need to be updated … whether it be for good intention or not, we’re seeing that the priorities haven’t been the streets,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Pureval, who was first elected in 2021, claimed Cincinnati has improved drastically under his leadership and that he wants to help the city continue on that trajectory. “This is our moment, and I’m more determined than ever to keep building on the progress we’ve achieved together,” he said when announcing his re-election bid.

Though mayoral and city council races in Cincinnati are technically nonpartisan, the city is overwhelmingly Democratic. All nine city council members who won in 2023 were endorsed by the Democratic Party.

While Vance and teammate President Donald Trump carried the state of Ohio comfortably over Kamala Harris and Tim Walz by nearly 600,000 votes last fall, the Democratic ticket trounced Republican opponents in Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located, 233,000 to 172,000.

The general election in Cincinnati will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4.

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Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and several other Republican lawmakers were practicing for a charity baseball game on June 14, 2017, when a leftist terrorist took aim at them and opened fire. Alexandria police officers and U.S. Capitol police officers were able to permanently neutralize the shooter, a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — but not before he hit Scalise and three others.

Days after the shooting, the FBI acknowledged that the shooter, James Hodgkinson, had repeatedly espoused “anti-Republican views”; identified six members of Congress as targets; prepared for months; and ensured that the individuals on the field were Republicans before his attack. However, the FBI concluded there was “no nexus to terrorism” and ultimately spun the attack as suicide by cop.

A newly released congressional report claims that the bureau “used false statements, manipulation of known facts, and biased and butchered analysis to support a narrative that Hodgkinson committed suicide by cop without any nexus to domestic terrorism.”

The majority staff report from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released Tuesday noted that years after this mischaracterization, “based upon no new information or evidence gathering, the FBI changed its previous decision that this case was a purely criminal matter involving suicide by cop,” and recognized the attack as a “domestic terrorism event.”

‘This report definitively shows the FBI completely mishandled the investigation.’

“The FBI arrived at the obvious conclusion four years too late,” continued the report. “Unfortunately, the timing of the changed position indicates politics rather than Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity by an agency that should be guided by an apolitical commitment to uphold the Constitution.”

Scalise, who took a bullet to the hip and suffered fractured bones, damaged organs, and severe bleeding, said in a statement, “This report definitively shows the FBI completely mishandled the investigation into the Congressional baseball shooting of 2017 — ignoring crucial and obvious facts in order to sell a false narrative that the shooting was not politically motivated.”

Scalise thanked FBI Director Kash Patel and the committee “for finally getting to the truth of the matter: this was a deliberate and planned act of domestic terrorism toward Republican Members of Congress.”

Patel enabled the committee to review the FBI case file, which congressional investigators received in two tranches, altogether amounting to roughly 4,400 pages.

Congressional investigators determined on the basis of the case file that the FBI investigation failed to substantively interview eyewitnesses to the shooting, failed to develop a comprehensive timeline of events, and improperly classified the file at the Secret level, “which may have assisted the FBI in obfuscating its substandard investigative efforts and analysis.”

‘Based upon one erroneous factual conclusion and two false premises.’

The House report also picked apart the FBI’s preferred narrative as well as some of the bureau’s public statements, noting for instance that:

whereas the FBI publicly stated Hodgkinson told a family member he was traveling to Washington, D.C., but had not provided “any additional information on his travel,” the case file indicates the bureau had by that time interviewed five of the terrorist’s family members, “all of whom provided considerable additional information”;
the FBI gave undue weight to the suggestion by Hodgkinson’s brother that the terrorist wanted to commit suicide by cop, which was apparently based not on a discussion with his brother but on a post-action opinion on his brother’s “poor markmanship during the attack”;
“since there were no uniformed officers present at the time of the
attack and Hodgkinson had no reason to believe there were police
present, the suicide by cop determination does not make sense”
especially since he took “several actions that may indicate he hoped to
survive the firefight”;

a desire to die is not mutually
exclusive with domestic terrorism — after all, “suicide bombs are a
routine tactic of terrorism”;

whereas the FBI claimed “no context was included” on Hodgkinson’s kill list, the list included physical descriptions of Republican lawmakers as well as the names of two Republicans on the congressional baseball team present for the fateful practice;the FBI’s assertion that “Hodgkinson’s list of six congressmen found in his vehicle does not appear to be a ‘hit list'” is “based upon one erroneous factual conclusion and two false premises”;
the
FBI intimated there were only two documents in the terrorist’s
possession when in fact there were pages of notes “demonstrating his
political thoughts and motivations”;

the FBI claimed the terrorist “was not a member of any extremist organization and did not have contact with individuals who were affiliated with extremist organizations” but glossed over his membership in a Facebook group called “Terminate The Republican Party”; and
the FBI claimed it “found no information to indicate Hodgkinson chose to act to impact government policy or the political system” despite the terrorist claiming before leaving Illinois with his weapons that he was going to D.C. to protest government policy.

The committee recommended that Patel figure out how the FBI arrived at its 2017 decision to frame the attack as suicide by cop — as well as whether then-acting Director Andrew McCabe or another senior leader pushed for that conclusion.

The committee also suggested the possibility of pursuing legislation that “establishes criminal liability for the politicization of intelligence analysis.”

Democrats on the committee agreed with the majority’s finding that the shooting was a “domestic terror attack motivated at least in part by political animus” and suggested the FBI should have made that determination sooner. However, the Democratic members cast doubt on whether political considerations factored into the FBI’s failure to immediately recognize the attack as domestic terrorism and advocated against considering criminal charges against intelligence analysts.

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The Department of Homeland Security has announced a new initiative to help solve the immigration crisis, which would give undocumented immigrants a $1,000 stipend if they choose to self-deport from the United States.

“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said about the initiative. “DHS is now offering illegal aliens financial travel assistance and a stipend to return to their home country through the CBP Home App.”

The CBP Home App was originally the CBP One App, which under the Biden administration helped illegal immigrants find their way into the United States. Now, under Trump, it’s helping them find their way out.

Illegal immigrants have also been offered free airfare on their journey home.

“They said that this is going to save taxpayers significantly, because it would cost $4,500 per person, compared to over $17,000 that we are spending for arrest, detention, and then, of course, the forced removal,” Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” explains.

And considering $4,500 is much less than what it costs for an illegal immigrant to live in the United States indefinitely, Gonzales finds this “more than fair.”

“You came into our country, you broke our laws, you continue evading capture, and still, President Trump is kind and gracious enough to be like, ‘You know what, let’s let bygones be bygones. I’ll pay you $1,000 and give you a free flight home,’” Gonzales says.

“That’s way more generous than I probably would be,” she adds.

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With lawmakers back on the Hill, reconciliation talks are back in full force — and so are their critics.

Republicans have repeatedly emphasized the importance of spending cuts, many of which they are looking to accomplish in the reconciliation process. At the same time, Democrats are drumming up false narratives to try to derail reconciliation, but House Republicans are not having it.

In a sit-down interview obtained exclusively by Blaze News, Republican Reps. Brandon Gill of Texas, Beth Van Duyne of Texas, and Erin Houchin of Indiana debunked the Democrat-led misconceptions on Medicaid and spending cuts.

‘There is a misconception that 100% of that has to come out of Medicaid, and that’s just not true.’

Currently, House committees are combing through the budget recommendations outlined in reconciliation in order to identify appropriate spending cuts.

“They were each given instructions of how much they were expected to cut, but that was a floor, not a ceiling,” Van Duyne said. “We wanted to make sure that as part of reconciliation, if we gave them a number and they didn’t hit it, basically the entire bill is null and void, so we gave them a floor.”

Houchin, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said they were tasked with finding $880 billion in cuts. Although many critics have claimed that these cuts will come right out of Medicaid programs, Houchin insists that is not the case.

“It’s probably the biggest piece of reconciliation in terms of spending reductions, finding savings,” Houchin said. “But the $880 billion, there is a misconception that 100% of that has to come out of Medicaid, and that’s just not true.”

“We’re finding savings in our energy sector,” Houchin added. “We’re finding savings in other sections of code that aren’t in the health care sector. And so we are going to be working diligently again to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, to find savings, and to protect these programs for the very most vulnerable people.”

Houchin also pointed out that cuts made to Medicaid would work to uproot fraud taking place within the system.

‘Let’s put forward policies that promote American citizens, that put American citizens first and prioritize our people.’

“Right now, we have illegal immigrants that are accepting benefits, that are on benefits, even though they’re not supposed to be people that don’t even live in the country here, that are taking away from the health care of people who really do need it,” Houchin said. “Low-income, pregnant moms, the disabled, seniors, and children.”

Gill reiterated that no matter how much Democrats try to dig their heels in, President Donald Trump was elected to fulfill his campaign promises, like cutting wasteful spending, and it’s Congress’ job to codify these promises.

“They see all the great things that President Trump is doing every single day, a new executive order, sometimes three or four or five every day,” Gill said. “They want to see us codify those into law, which we can do via reconciliation, which, of course, is privileged in the Senate. So we don’t need to work with Democrats there, which is a huge plus.”

Republicans need a simple majority to get reconciliation through the Senate. Because of their 53-seat majority, Republicans are confident they will be able to do just that.

“Let’s put forward policies that promote American citizens, that put American citizens first and prioritize our people,” Gill said.

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Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is actively sabotaging President Donald Trump’s pick for Washington, D.C.’s top prosecutor, derailing the hard work to restore safety, law, and order to the capital city — and also threatening to upend the president’s ultimate (and more important) legislative agenda.

Ed Martin currently serves as acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and has been nominated to keep the job permanently. In just a few months, he’s begun dismantling the political weaponization of the office that flourished under his predecessor, Matthew Graves.

This fight is bigger than Ed Martin. If not handled correctly, it all threatens to bleed over into the far more important budget reconciliation battle.

Graves spent four years refusing to prosecute 67% of arrests in Washington, D.C. Even felony arrests rarely led to charges. If police arrested you for a serious crime, your odds of walking free were better than your chances of facing trial. When Graves did take action, he often downgraded charges — reducing assaults on police officers to simple misdemeanors. Meanwhile, he directed his office’s full attention toward prosecuting rioters, trespassers, and innocent bystanders caught up in the Jan. 6 chaos.

Under his leadership, D.C. became one of the most violent and lawless major cities in America.

Republicans barely put up a fight when Graves was nominated. The Judiciary Committee approved him by voice vote. The Senate confirmed him the same way.

Now compare that to Martin.

In his first three and a half months,
Martin flipped those numbers, prosecuting 65% of all arrests in the D.C. His efforts didn’t stop at charging criminals. He also demoted and fired the partisan loyalists who turned the office into a political operation over the past four years. CNN and the New York Times have responded with their standard meltdowns — a reliable sign that he’s doing something right.

Tillis doesn’t see it that way. He especially opposes Martin’s reforms related to Jan. 6 prosecutions and has made it his mission to stop the nomination.

This showdown didn’t happen by accident. Martin can serve as acting U.S. attorney for only 120 days. To avoid a lapse, the Senate Judiciary Committee needed to advance his nomination by Monday. Trump made calls and publicly reaffirmed his support. But the committee still didn’t move.

Why?

Because Tillis — no stranger to obstructing conservative priorities — vowed to oppose Martin. And he didn’t stop there. The Beltway Brief has learned that Tillis has been actively whipping fellow Republicans to sink the nomination. He’s likely targeting senators such as Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, John Curtis of Utah, and Todd Young of Indiana.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a conservative but also a Senate institutionalist, wants to avoid a messy intraparty fight — even behind closed doors.

This nomination battle has become a litmus test.

On one side stand Trump and his base, who’ve rallied behind Martin. On the other side are Tillis and the Republicans, who’d rather side with Beltway politics than back the president. The moment reveals who’s really prepared to obstruct the White House’s agenda over the next four years — and who’s just pretending to govern.

“This is far from over,” Oversight Project founder and Martin ally Mike Howell
promised Tuesday morning.

The fight has put the White House in a brutal bind. The president backs Martin, and making D.C. a clean and safe city once again is one of his top priorities, but Martin’s confirmation is far from the most important objective his administration is working to achieve.

The administration’s number-one goal is passing the budget, which would fund and power Trump’s agenda and the U.S. economy through tax cuts, deportations, border enforcement, new energy policies, etc. The last thing his Office of Legislative Affairs needs is a battle with Republican senators — even the squishy ones more eager to fight conservatives than Democrats.

Tillis is apparently counting on this reality. He knows the White House needs his vote on the budget, so he feels empowered here, as well. His goal for his own political future is less clear. He was already censured by his state GOP two years ago and faces party voters in a primary contest a short 10 months from now. Even if he’s expecting his state, which Trump carried by three points in 2024, to shift purple in the coming years, Tillis needs to survive a primary. Though, by all insider accounts, his dislike of Martin runs more on personal animus than calculated politics.

If Tillis refuses to budge even under White House pressure, he’ll leave the president with just three real options.

Option 1 is surrender to Tillis, drop Martin, and nominate some Federalist Society-approved Republican who won’t cause any trouble. This is an ugly path and essentially admits that Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)
and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) run the committee with Republican help. More: It wouldn’t contribute remotely as much to cleaning up Washington.

Option 2 would be to nominate a placeholder and let Martin run the show from behind the scenes. This is still an ugly option, but it has its merits.

Option 3 is for Trump to say he’ll let Tillis block the nomination and say he’ll allow anti-Trump Judge James Boasberg to appoint the next U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, then see if Tillis has the guts to take it that far. This sort of brinksmanship comes with obvious risks for Trump, the capital, and Tillis himself.

This fight is bigger than Ed Martin. The base is activated, the talk-show hosts and writers are cranking away, and, if not handled correctly, it all threatens to bleed over into the far more important budget reconciliation battle.

But this fight can be useful, too. It’s best to know your opponents early and engage them if necessary. They’re not planning on fading away on their own.

Blaze News: Republican senator turns against key Trump nominee, potentially empowering activist Judge Boasberg

Blaze News: Reconciliation or capitulation: Trump’s final go-for-broke play

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