Baltimore police said officers responded to the unit block of South Eutaw Street for a report of a shooting around 2 p.m. on Nov. 30, 2024.

Police said officers located an unidentified male suffering from apparent gunshot wounds, and medics transported the victim to an area hospital where he died.

‘I’m not going to let you live.’

Days later, detectives arrested 61-year-old James Richburg of Baltimore in connection with the fatal shooting of 30-year-old William Womack on a bus in the unit block of South Eutaw Street after a dispute, police said.

Richburg was taken to the Central Booking Intake Facility where he was charged with first-degree murder, police said.

RELATED: Armed 17-year-old carjacker rolls the dice, promptly meets his match when victim pulls his own gun and opens fire

It wasn’t Richburg’s first go-round with the law, WMAR-TV reported, adding that online court records indicate he was sentenced to five years in 2021 for firearms possession and was convicted in connection with a 1996 robbery.

As for last year’s case, charging documents indicate Womack bumped into Richburg on the bus without apologizing, the station said, which led to an argument between the pair.

Police said Womack got back on the bus as the argument continued, after which Richburg opened fire, WMAR said.

Richburg fled, and Womack collapsed, the station said, adding that soon witnesses came forward, and police identified Richburg as the shooter.

WMAR reported that a jury last week found Richburg guilty of second-degree murder, use of a firearm in a crime of violence, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.

But while prosecutors said Womack was shot in cold blood, Richburg said it was self-defense, WBAL-TV reported.

During Thursday’s closing arguments, prosecutors told the jury, “The defendant did kill William Womack with a firearm. He fired a gun from near-point-blank range into Mr. Womack’s chest,” WBAL said.

The assistant state’s attorney said MTA transit bus surveillance video clearly shows Womack bending down to pick up a bottle he dropped and then bumping into Richburg and not saying “excuse me” or apologizing, WBAL reported.

The pair exchanged words, Richburg got off the bus, then got back on, WBAL said, adding that charging documents indicate Womack was annoying Richburg before Richburg said, “I’m not going to let you live.”

RELATED: Watch what happens after Democrat witness tells Rep. Brandon Gill Baltimore is a safe city

But Richburg’s defense claimed that even if Richburg said those words, he was concerned about his safety, WBAL said.

“Mr. Womack, he has committed a battery under the laws of the state of Maryland. Mr. Womack continues to harangue and harass Mr. Richburg. Mr. Richburg’s fight or flight instinct was already heightened because he was on the bus,” the defense argued, according to WBAL.

The defense claimed the shooting was in self-defense, WBAL said: “It is Mr. Richburg trying to warn Mr. Womack off. It is in response [to] Mr. Womack continuing to threaten and harangue Mr. Richburg. In the moment, Mr. Richburg understood Mr. Womack coming to harm him.”

However, WBAL added that Womack didn’t have a weapon.

Richburg’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 10, WBAL said, adding that he could receive up to 75 years in prison.

Mark Crosby — a pro-life Baltimore resident who was brutally beaten up in 2023 in front of a Planned Parenthood in the city, only for the culprit to walk away without any jail time — told Blaze News that the killing of Womack and how it started is no surprise to him given where it took place.

“There have been so many instances of that,” Crosby told Blaze News before adding that Baltimore recently was ranked the third-most dangerous city in the United States.

“Houses are boarded up, there’s graffiti on buildings, trash everywhere,” Crosby noted, adding that “all I can do is shake my head and say it’s business as usual.”

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​Guilty verdict, Bus, Baltimore, Fatal shooting, Bump, No apology, James richburg, Use of a firearm in a crime of violence, Murder, Possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, Repeat offender, Convicted felon, Crime 

Within hours of brokering a historic peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15 to discuss similarly resolving the war in Ukraine, which is now five months into its third year.

Trump’s plan is to join Putin for a “feel-out meeting,” confer afterward with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders, and then at a later date, meet with both Putin and Zelenskyy in hopes of ironing out the details and ultimately sealing the deal.

‘He’s got approval to go to war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap.’

Zelenskyy was evidently peeved that the initial summit would take place without him as well as by Trump’s suggestion to reporters that the peace deal would likely involve “some swapping of territories to the betterment of both.”

Following Trump’s announcement, Zelenskyy said in a video statement that “Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier” and that “any decisions that are against us, any decisions that are made without Ukraine, are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not achieve anything. These are unworkable decisions.”

Trump, who has made no secret of his frustration with Zelenskyy and who in February accused the foreign leader of “gambling with the lives of millions of people,” did not respond well to this apparent effort to sabotage the upcoming summit.

“I get along with Zelenskyy, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done — very, very severely disagree,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday.

RELATED: Vance makes one thing abundantly clear ahead of Trump’s big ceasefire meeting with Putin

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying that ‘well, I have to get constitutional approval.’ I mean, he’s got approval to go to war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap,” said Trump. “There will be some land swapping going on. I know that through Russia and through conversations with everybody.”

European officials who have spoken to U.S. officials about their talks with Putin claim that Moscow wants Ukraine to cede the eastern portion of the country known as the Donbas, reported the New York Times.

‘The money that’s been spent and the death is incredible.’

Russia occupies around 20% of the entire country and most of the Donbas — including all of the Luhansk region, most of the Donetsk region, much of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and parts of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

Trump noted that “Russia’s occupied a big portion of Ukraine. They’ve occupied some very prime territory. We’re going to try to get some of that territory back for Ukraine.”

According to the Institute for the Study of War’s latest assessment of the Russian offensive campaign, the “prime territory” that Trump was referencing was likely the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

“The money that’s been spent and the death is incredible. It’s the worst thing that’s happened — by far the worst that’s happened — since World War II. So I’m going in to speak to Vladimir Putin, and I’m going to be telling him, ‘You gotta end this war.'”

RELATED: Zelenskyy — still holding onto power a year after his term ended — commandeers anti-corruption bureau, sparking protests

Antonio Masiello/Getty Images

The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated in June that upwards of 250,000 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine and hundreds of thousands more have been wounded — leaving Moscow with a potential fatality rate five times the number of all Russian and Soviet wars combined since World War II. Ukraine has seen upwards of 100,000 soldiers killed with a total of 400,000 casualties.

The war, which the U.S. has sunk hundreds of billions of dollars into, has also resulted in the displacement of over 3.7 million people and an exodus of around seven million Ukrainians.

“I’d like to see a ceasefire. I’d like to see the best deal that could be made for both parties,” continued Trump. “It takes two to tango, all right.”

When asked whether Zelenskyy is expected to soften his position on this matter, the State Department referred Blaze News to the White House for comment. Blaze News has reached out to the White House.

Zelenskyy may not presently want to make any concessions, but recent polling suggests Ukrainians are growing increasingly desperate to negotiate an end to the conflict.

According to a Gallup poll conducted last month, 69% of Ukrainians said that they favor a negotiated end to the war as soon as possible. Only 24% said they support continuing to fight until victory.

‘I believe he wants to get it over with.’

This is nearly a total reversal of the responses to a 2022 poll, where 73% of Ukrainian respondents said they favored fighting until victory and 22% said they wanted to see a negotiated end as soon as possible — a peace that was spiked during negotiations in Turkey.

Despite the U.S. propping up Kyiv and Trump’s efforts to broker a peace, pollsters found that 73% of Ukrainians signaled disapproval of “the job performance of the leadership of the United States.” Only 16% of respondents signaled approval, which spiked in 2022 then began to plummet during former President Joe Biden’s term.

A trend that might make negotiations simpler is the Ukrainian sense that NATO membership is a bridge too far.

Whereas 64% of respondents said in 2022 that they expected Ukrainian NATO membership within 10 years, that optimism has dissipated such that now only 32% of Ukrainians expect acceptance into the organization, which Moscow has indicated would be intolerable.

Although Trump indicated Putin has disappointed him before, he said that this time around, “I believe he wants to get it over with.”

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​Ukraine, Kyiv, War, Endless war, Moscow, Russia, Putin, Vladimir putin, Volodymyr zelenskyy, Zelenskyy, Ukrainian, Donald trump, Peace, Foreign policy, Politics 

OpenAI and AI techno-cult proselytizer Sam Altman recently shouted out an AMC television series called “Pantheon,” which pivots its narrative around the merger of human consciousness and digital technology. In “Pantheon,” the catharsis on offer to viewers appears to be that after exploring themes of corporate diabolism, all will be well for, as the kids say, reasons. Maybe this is why Altman liked it so much.

The show pivots on the creation and insinuation into human experience of a variety of nonconsensual simulated environments. Evil geniuses beam consciousness (“uploaded intelligences”) into sim-world systems, while other geniuses (closer to how we might presumably, but unsuccessfully, imagine ourselves) sort things out a bit. But the latter geniuses retain the ultra-tech-saturated worldview that AI founders like Altman work to make real.

In its vision, there’s no God, or if there is, it’s an inaccessible divinity. There’s no nature, either, so life is essentially a sort of Disneyland game.

“Pantheon” was canceled back in 2022 but nevertheless managed to achieve favored status among Silicon Valley types. Perhaps Altman, an individual with plenty on his plate, is picking up recommendations from locals and is lately just getting around to watching, enjoying, and posting about something he feels deserves a little notoriety.

Fair enough. Billionaires should do a great deal more in terms of supporting the arts. Even if those arts are designed by, built for, and all but advocating for a slow transition from a generally human-based social paradigm to one riven with tech implants, upgrades, and systemic alterations made upon human nature.

For the curious, the first pilot episode is more than enough to get the gist, especially when coupled with the now-inevitable online backgrounder of reviews, synopses, and X.com replies. If “Pantheon” hoped to reconcile the human race with runaway technology, its approach leaned on delegitimizing humanity in a way that felt all too convincing.

The kernel for the series comes from a Gen-X Chinese-American computer scientist turned lawyer turned mid-life author named Ken Liu who has said he became a writer so he might “turn values upside down and inside out to gain new perspectives.” Mission accomplished, Ken: “Pantheon’s” characters are depicted as possessing something like divine reason or intuition coupled with what amounts to a disturbed child’s emotional understanding of existence.

RELATED: The AI ‘Stargate’ has opened — and it’s not what you think

Photo by Nurphoto / Contributor via Getty Images

Given the great many interpersonal and moral difficulties Altman has faced, it isn’t surprising that he confessed to Theo Von, “I’m scared. … I don’t have an answer yet” with regard to AI psychosis and related mental health concerns.

Perhaps that’s why Altman acts so able to take recreational comfort in “Pantheon.” It ultimately encourages us to respond only to a “number go up” value system. In its vision, there’s no God, or if there is, it’s an inaccessible divinity. There’s no nature, either, so life is essentially a sort of Disneyland game with emo-high-school-level stakes and consequences, as empty inside as the players themselves. Bigger is the only better. Sounds like the stock market to me.

There is one memorable moment in “Pantheon’s” opening episode. In a brief, unconsciously propagandistic conversation between a father and child, the epistemological possibilities attached to “conspiracies” are situated inside a frame that could generously be termed insufficient to the realities. The father, a San Francisco tech-yuppie cartoon character in cartoon slim-fit designer jeans and a nice henley (organic cotton, surely) reframes the child’s questions about evil to conclude that conspiracy theories are most probably the result of dysfunctional minds.

But … while conspiracy theories are almost always not true, the father suggests, it’s possible that a conspiracy theory might have merit when “we” don’t quite agree with the moral framing …

Of course, as the narrative unfolds, conspiracies do exist, and the viewers are presented with the possibility of revisiting this narrow frame. Only they won’t, because the wider framework has already reduced the world to tech, more tech, tech machinations, and still more tech that feels good only for people who already loooove tech. What is a conspiracy to an NPC?

Meanwhile, back in reality, childbirth still hurts, the world still depends on fathers, and Ecclesiastes still hits like a ton of bricks. The conspiracy that would have made the show interesting would have been one weaving human pride into machinations of agentic evil within microprocessors and without. What are the transactions going down in such a vision? How might it work without a technological interface? What are its time constraints, if any?

The questions that would raise about what’s really so excessively bad about tech overload are uncomfortable indeed. Is it possible that my pride, my deficiencies of character and deformity of soul, have made me the unwitting pawn in a much wider game — perhaps one where I am rewarded by massively inflated riches for my childlike capacities for delusional self-interest? Am I myself complicit in an open conspiracy of bribes?

Maybe the Palantir moguls angling to restore the American Cinematic Universe will take a heavier swing at the subject matter with Founders Films. One may hope!

​Tech 

A late-night talk show host says President Trump’s second term has been so bad that it inspired him to acquire citizenship abroad.

The president has been a favorite target of late-night hosts for years, with network comedians recently accusing him of being the mastermind behind plots to silence them.

‘Like, I feel like it’s probably even worse than he would like it to be.’

Stephen Colbert, host of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” recently blamed his firing from CBS on parent company Paramount bending the knee to Trump in order to obtain approval for its $8 billion merger. Likewise, “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart said Paramount was trying to “censor and control” its hosts over Trump.

Now, another one of the president’s longtime late-night enemies says the current term has been too “unbelievable” to bear.

On a recent episode of “The Sarah Silverman Podcast,” comedian and host Sarah Silverman interviewed ex-boyfriend and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

Kimmel has hosted “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for more than 20 years but has become a ruthless critic of the president over the past decade. Kimmel has called Trump “disgusting,” mocked him for being banned by Twitter in 2021, and even cried on air about the possible repeal of Obamacare by Trump.

On Silverman’s podcast, Kimmel revealed that he dislikes Trump’s second presidency so much that he sought out foreign citizenship.

“A lot of people I know are thinking about, where are they going to get citizenship?” Silverman said.

“I do have Italian — I did get Italian citizenship,” Kimmel replied.

Elated, Silverman stated, “You do? Oh, that’s amazing!”

Kimmel confirmed, “I do have that. And what’s going on is as bad as you thought it was going to be. Way worse. It’s so much worse,” he said about Trump. “It’s just unbelievable. Like, I feel like it’s probably even worse than he would like it to be.”

RELATED: Trump says Colbert is to blame for his show’s cancellation — but adds Kimmel and Fallon are next

Silverman revealed that she sometimes seeks out news articles about Trump voters regretting their support for the president and that reading them gives her hope that Trump’s mistakes will “bring people together.”

Kimmel agreed and said he does not want to shut people out who have regret about voting for the president.

“I don’t believe the ‘f**k you, you supported him.’ I think everybody has to have — the door needs to stay open. That’s why if you want to change your mind, that’s so hard to do. If you want to admit you were wrong, that’s so hard and so rare to do … you are welcome.”

The duo went on to discuss left-wing activists gatekeeping their party, boiling it down to the idea that they repel new voters.

RELATED: ‘Made in America blame’: Talk show hosts point fingers at TRUMP for the LA fires

Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman at the AFI Film Fest 2005 in Hollywood, California. Photo by John Heller/WireImage

“The left, I’m on the left,” Silverman explained. “I find, in general, the party that is about inclusivity is incredibly elitist.”

Kimmel quickly defended the Democrats and said it is not the “majority” but rather “loud voices” who “scare people from saying what they believe.”

The 57-year-old pinpointed that those who “make you think twice about a joke” are to blame for being “no fun.”

While he admitted a lot of those voices have “valid” points, Kimmel said they are also “repulsive” to other voters.

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​Trump, Jimmy kimmel, Late night host, Colbert, Talk show, Democrat, Liberals, Politics 

There’s a ghastly photograph of an 18-month-old Palestinian boy named Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq that’s gone viral. In the image, he appears severely malnourished, his spine protruding from his back while he lies in his mother’s arms in Gaza.

It’s a gut punch of a photo that makes even the staunchest Israel supporter wince.

That’s why major media outlets — including the New York Times, the Daily Express, the Guardian, CNN, and the Daily Mail, among others — have circulated the image. It’s top-tier pathos to push the narrative that Gaza’s humanitarian crisis is the fault of genocidal Israel.

Except the photo is a lie.

“That child was dying, but he was dying from a disease that he had at birth,” says Mark Levin, condemning the framing of the photograph as “horrendous propaganda.”

While Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq’s condition is a tragedy — no child deserves such a fate — it adds insult to injury to use his predicament to further the lie that Israel is responsible for Gaza’s starvation.

“That photo made it around the world. Western media covered it. American media covered it. Prime ministers used it. Presidents used it. Everybody was using it to condemn Netanyahu and the Israelis as committing genocide and war crimes,” says Levin.

While it’s true that Gaza is indeed suffering from starvation, it’s Hamas who has blood on its hands, not Israel.

Levin plays a recent clip of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sharing the truth about Gaza’s crisis on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“Israel, since this war began, has supplied over 94,000 truckloads full of food. It’s enough food to feed 2 million people for two years. [They’ve been] trying to get that into Gaza, but Hamas has stolen the food. … In 2024, the numbers are that Hamas profited over $500 million in stolen food aid that was supposed to go to these poor people who needed it,” he told Kristen Welker.

“The U.N. needs to work with Israel to make sure that the food is getting to the people that need it most. … That’s Israel’s intention. That’s the U.S.’ intention and the U.N. as well,” he added.

While Levin praises Johnson for speaking the truth about Hamas being the cause of Gaza’s starvation, he corrects the narrative that the U.N. seeks to help starving Gazans.

“The U.N.’s working with Hamas, just like UNRWA worked with Hamas. The U.N. wants all the food to go through the U.N. so the U.N. can then work with Hamas,” he says.

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

Want more from Mark Levin?

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​Levintv, Mark levin, Gaza, Gaza humanitarian crisis, Viral photo, Blazetv, Blaze media, Mike johnson, Israel, Genocide 

The Democrats’ media allies are arguing that President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., was unwarranted due to sharply decreasing crime rates. However, these reports do not provide a complete and accurate picture of the crime crisis in the area.

Since February, Trump has repeatedly warned D.C. leaders, including Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), that the federal government will intervene unless the nation’s capital is cleaned up.

‘Unfortunately, while Fake News journalists and politicians go out of their way to claim otherwise, the reality is that our nation’s capital is anything but safe.’

Trump declared Monday “Liberation Day” for D.C., unveiling a plan to rescue it from “bedlam and squalor.” His decision to place the Metropolitan Police under federal control and deploy National Guard troops was apparently prompted by the recent mugging of a former Department of Government Efficiency employee.

“The murder rate in Washington today is bigger than that of Bogota, Colombia; Mexico City — some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on Earth,” he said. “Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate probably ever.”

The legacy media was quick to portray Bowser as the victim, yet during a Sunday interview with MSNBC, the mayor admitted that D.C. needs assistance.

“We do need the federal government’s help,” Bowser said, listing several ways the Trump administration could assist, including “making sure that federal law enforcement is doing all of the policing that they can do.”

RELATED: ‘Knock the hell out of them’: Trump federalizes DC police, readies National Guard to crack down on crime

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

While Bowser thanked several federal law enforcement agencies for their assistance, she has still maintained that D.C. is “not experiencing a spike in crime but a decrease in crime.”

Many legacy media reports attempted to debunk Trump’s claims about high crime rates by referring to statistics from the Metropolitan Police Department. However, they failed to mention that the D.C. Police Union has long accused the MPD of manipulating its crime data to appear lower. MPD Police Commander Michael Pulliam was reportedly placed on paid administrative leave in May following the union’s allegations.

Gregg Pemberton, the chairman of the D.C. Police Union, explained how the MPD was allegedly altering the data. He stated that some of the department’s lieutenants and captains were instructing officers to file reports for lesser offenses.

“Instead of taking a report for a shooting or a stabbing or a carjacking, they will order that officer to take a report for a theft or an injured person to the hospital or a felony assault, which is not the same type of classification,” Pemberton told WRC-TV.

He alleged that crimes that should be reported as involving a suspect armed with a dangerous weapon have instead been documented as felony assaults. He noted that felony assaults are not listed on the MPD’s daily crime stats, and they are not a requirement of the FBI’s uniform crime reporting program either.

Pemberton claimed that there is “absolutely no way” crime in D.C. has declined as significantly as reported by the MPD.

RELATED: DC police commander under investigation for allegedly manipulating crime stats

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

As of Tuesday afternoon, the department’s website indicated that violent crime has decreased by 26% compared to last year. The MPD reported a 35% decline in violent crime from 2023 to 2024.

Yet FBI crime data indicated that by June 2024, reported aggravated assaults reached 375, a figure not seen since before 2020.

The FBI’s data revealed that homicide rates have been steadily increasing over the past decade, peaking at 33 in August 2023. Reported robberies also reached a high of 501 in July 2023. Motor vehicle thefts have significantly risen since 2015, exceeding 700 incidents for three consecutive months in 2023. The most recent data shows 425 reported thefts in December 2024, which represents a 48% increase compared to the same period in 2014.

Initial data from the FBI is based on reports from local departments. Therefore, if the MPD manipulated its crime stats, those inaccuracies would likely still be reflected in the FBI’s recent reports. Additionally, FBI crime reports do not include data from D.C. for 2021 and 2022 because the federal agency was transitioning from its older Summary Reporting System to the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Timothy H.J. Nerozzi, a foreign correspondent for the Washington Examiner, disputed claims that D.C. is safe.

“I am the man on the ground in DC here to tell you all that any journalists claiming the crime problem is anything less than horrific is intentionally lying to you. It is omnipresent from the Metro to the city outskirts. It is obvious and unignorable,” Nerozzi wrote in a post on social media.

Blaze News senior politics editor and D.C. correspondent Christopher Bedford claimed that just six weeks ago, he was “menaced” by “a dangerous, high vagrant while eating lunch.”

“I lived here 18 years before I sold my house because violence and open-air gun markets had made my once-decent neighborhood unlivable for my family. I now commute,” Bedford added.

A Washington Post report attempted to partially debunk Trump’s claims, but it was brutally mocked for quoting a resident who insisted that D.C. is “a safe city” but who chose to remain anonymous “over concerns of personal safety.”

“Washington, D.C., should be a symbol of pride and patriotism for the American people — and a safe location for tourists, residents, and public servants. Unfortunately, while Fake News journalists and politicians go out of their way to claim otherwise, the reality is that our nation’s capital is anything but safe,” a White House report read.

“Many residents don’t feel safe reporting crime,” it continued. “More than half of all violent crime in the U.S. goes unreported in the first place.”

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​News, Crime, Washington dc, Washington d.c., Dc, D.c., Donald trump, Trump, Trump administration, Trump admin, Muriel bowser, Crime rates, Fbi, Federal bureau of investigation, Metropolitan police department, Mpd, Michael pulliam, Legacy media, Corporate media, Mainstream media, Msm, Politics 

The newly declassified Durham annex released by CIA Director John Ratcliffe confirmed last month that the intelligence community was aware in 2016 of an alleged Clinton campaign plan to smear Trump, falsely link him to Russia, then have the deep state carry the ball down the field.

The newly declassified House Intelligence Committee majority staff report released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revealed that the consequential January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment appeared to be a work of fiction drawn up by the Obama administration that served to give the Clinton campaign’s narrative a patina of legitimacy and set the stage for years of attacks and two congressional impeachments.

While these documents made clear that the intelligence community and the liberal media played critical roles in the hoax, newly released FBI memos highlight they had a helping hand from Congress.

‘SCHIFF stated the information would be used to Indict President Trump.’

FBI 302 interview reports provided to Congress by FBI Director Kash Patel and obtained by Just the News detail allegations that beginning in 2017, then-Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) approved leaking classified information to undermine President Donald Trump and push the Russia hoax.

The whistleblower — a Democratic career intelligence officer who worked for the Democrats on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for over a decade and considered Schiff a friend — raised concerns about the Democratic lawmaker’s actions as early as 2017.

While working with the committee, the whistleblower attended a February 2017 meeting where Schiff “stated the group would leak classified information which was derogatory to President of the United States Donald J. TRUMP. SCHIFF stated the information would be used to Indict President Trump,” said the FBI interview report.

RELATED: Durham annex proves Russiagate was a coordinated smear

William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images

“[Redacted] stated this would be illegal and, upon hearing his concerns, unnamed members of the meeting reassured [redacted] that they would not be caught leaking classified information,” continued the document.

The whistleblower alleged that this was “not a one-time thing” but “rampant” and that damaging notes would be floated to Schiff “after which a decision was made as to who would leak the information,” said an FBI memo.

‘SWALWELL previously had been warned to be careful because he had a reputation for leaking classified information.’

When the information was leaked to the media, it was apparently flagged “on background,” meaning that the information would be published without a reference to the source. The interview report singles out NBC News as one of the outlets in contact with the committee offices.

There was one particular leak that struck the whistleblower as particularly egregious. He told the FBI that in early 2017, “a particularly sensitive document” was viewed by a small contingent of staff along with Schiff and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.).

“Within 24 hours, the information appeared in the news almost verbatim and [redacted] officials descended upon HPSCI’s offices, threatening to stop providing information unless the leaking ended,” said the report. “[Redacted] suspected that SWALWELL played a role in the leak and noted that SWALWELL previously had been warned to be careful because he had a reputation for leaking classified information.”

RELATED: Liberal media is dead silent about the damning revelations in the declassified Durham annex

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

The whistleblower suggested that this alleged leaking operation was energized by Schiff’s fury over Trump’s win “as he believed he would have been appointed as Director of CIA had HILLARY CLINTON won the election,” said the interview report.

Schiff was allegedly desperate to push the “Russian involvement” narrative into something akin to the 9/11 Commission, and the purpose of the classified information leaks was apparently to “compel public opinion.”

Schiff — who also pushed bogus claims from the Steele dossier in Congress around the time of this alleged leak campaign — was long suspected of leaking classified information.

Ex-CIA Director Mike Pompeo publicly accused Schiff in 2023 of doing so, noting that when information was provided to the then-Democratic congressman and his staff, that information found its way into places where it did not belong “with alarming regularity.”

After determining that this activity was “unethical and treasonous,” the whistleblower reportedly went to the FBI to raise his concerns.

Despite the bureau briefly humoring his concerns, the whistleblower was ultimately informed that “the issue would not be investigated further by the DOJ, as Congressmen have immunity to all speech and actions made on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Under new leadership, the Justice Department may take greater interest even though the alleged leaks likely fall outside the statute of limitations for prosecution.

“We found it. We declassified it,” Patel noted on X with regards to the FBI interview memos. “Now Congress can see how classified info was leaked to shape political narratives — and decide if our institutions were weaponized against the American people.”

“For years, certain officials used their positions to selectively leak classified information to shape political narratives,” Patel told Just the News. “It was all done with one purpose: to weaponize intelligence and law enforcement for political gain.”

“The FBI will now lead the charge, with our partners at DOJ, and Congress will have the chance to uncover how political power may have been weaponized and to restore accountability,” added Patel.

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​Adam schiff, Democrat, Russia hoax, Russian collusion, Kash patel, Fbi, Doj, Treason, Coup, Schiff, Pencil neck schiff, Whistleblower, Politics 

Vance Luther Boelter says he went to the home of Democrat Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman on June 14 to make a citizen’s arrest but ended up shooting at the senator, his wife, and his daughter when all three laid hands on him to push him out the door, the assassination suspect told Blaze News.

In an exclusive interview, Boelter told Blaze News that it was never his intention to shoot anyone that night, but his plans went wrong as soon as Sen. Hoffman, 60, opened the door to his Champlin home just after 2 a.m.

‘I kept shooting until I realized I was outside the door.’

Boelter said he did not expect the Hoffmans’ daughter Hope, 28, to be at the home that night, so his original plan to detain the senator and restrain his wife went off the rails. So he told the family instead, “This is a robbery.”

“As soon as I said it was a robbery, the senator got wide-eyed and closed the five feet between us and started to grab me,” Boelter said. “… After he grabbed me, then his wife came over and grabbed me, too. I still didn’t shoot because I didn’t go there to shoot people, just to do a citizen’s arrest.

“After his wife grabbed me, then his daughter came forward and grabbed me also,” Boelter said. “So I had six arms on me and realized I’m going to lose control of any shots [that] were fired.”

RELATED: How did a religious, small-town Minnesota boy morph into an alleged political assassin?

An image from the home security system of Melissa and Mark Hortman shows Vance Luther Boelter wearing a mask with goatee and a wig as he rang the doorbell at 3:30 a.m. June 14, 2025, the FBI said. FBI image from Boelter indictment

Boelter said if it was his plan to kill people, he would not have stood at the Hoffmans’ front door talking to them prior to the shooting.

“If I had gone there just to shoot people, I could have just did three head shots and walked away,” Boelter said. “And if that was my intention, I would have had a suppressor and I sure would not have been standing around talking to people.”

Blaze News has reached out to acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson for comment on Boelter’s new statements about June 14.

In his first extended comments since being arrested June 15 after the largest manhunt in Minnesota history, Boelter said his original plan was to restrain Sen. Hoffman and his wife with zip-tie cuffs and place eye masks on each to prevent them from seeing what was going on. But Hope Hoffman’s presence at the door made it evident that would not work, he said.

“When the senator answered the door, I soon found out it was him, his wife and daughter,” Boelter said from the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, Minn., where he is being held pending federal trial on murder and attempted murder charges. “So I was trying to figure out and say, ‘This is a robbery.’

“My assumption was that the senator would put up his hands and say something like, ‘Take what you want and leave,’” Boelter said. “Especially when his wife and daughter were right there. I quickly [did] what I could do to get his wife and daughter out of the room just long enough to secure the senator and get him to the car.

‘I think about both of those families every day, and every night.’

“The only thing I could think of at the moment was to pull out my gun,” Boelter continued. “Had my gun out. Then my thought was I could tell his wife and daughter to go get whatever money they had and bring it to me. Just to get them out of the room. That was the only idea I had.”

Boelter said Hope Hoffman’s public comments that her life flashed before her eyes because a gun was in her face are accurate, but the gun was not aimed at her.

“If you read the quote of the daughter when they first started talking about it, the daughter said she saw her life flash before her eyes because the gun was right in front of her face,” Boelter said. “That was a true statement because the gun was inches from her face but pointing down when I started shooting.

Aimed at the ground

“They later said they pushed her out of the way, but that wasn’t true,” he said. “They all three had grabbed me before my gun in a matter of seconds. So I could have started shooting at people’s heads because they were all right by me, but I just aimed my gun down between them and me at the ground and started shooting.

“I started aiming in between us at the floor, hoping I would not shoot my own foot,” Boelter said. “But there were six arms on me at that point and one also on my shooting arm. My guess is if it ever comes out where the senator and his wife were hit will be in their arms, legs, and feet, but I have no idea.”

In a series of text messages with Blaze News between Aug. 8 and Aug. 11, Boelter began revealing more details of his alleged role in the crime that ended the life of state Rep. Melissa Hortman (DFL-Brooklyn Park) and her husband, Mark Hortman.

Boelter said he knew prosecutors would be monitoring the text conversation, but added, “I’m just wanting the truth to get out. People can believe it or not believe it. God knows everything that happened.”

When asked by Blaze News if he ever thinks about Melissa Hortman or her husband, Boelter said he does.

“I can’t talk about my case, but I think about both of those families every day, and every night,” Boelter said on Aug. 8. “I also think about the hundreds of other Minnesota citizens that have died in the last several years that have not been talked about but should have.”

RELATED: Suspected Minnesota assassin claims he was part of a 2-year undercover investigation

Photos by FBI, Praetorian Guard Security Services

Boelter said his plan to make citizen’s arrests of state lawmakers grew out of a two-year undercover investigation he did while working for two Minneapolis-area funeral homes and the University of Minnesota eye bank. That investigation, he said, confirmed that the mRNA shots taken by millions of Americans in response to the COVID-19 virus were killing people.

The investigation involved what Boelter said were the sudden and unexpected deaths of some 400 Minnesota residents that were being covered up by the state government.

In the exchange of hundreds of text messages with Blaze News through the jail’s NCIC Correctional Services inmate communication system, Boelter said he went to work in the funeral industry to investigate the alleged mRNA deaths after seeing people he knew die prematurely after receiving the controversial shots.

Boelter earlier told Alpha News that his original plan to make citizen’s arrests of state lawmakers had gone “horribly wrong.” He insisted that it was never his intention to shoot or kill anyone.

The FBI said Boelter was dressed as a police officer and drove a 2015 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor SUV to visit or attempt to visit the homes of four Democrat state politicians in the predawn hours of June 14.

Boelter reportedly first pounded on the door of Sen. Hoffman just after 2 a.m. He was wearing a “hyper-realistic” silicone full-head disguise, the FBI said. Although he was shining a tactical flashlight in their faces, the Hoffmans realized Boelter wore a mask and told him he was not a police officer, the FBI said.

When the Hoffmans tried to push Boelter out of the home, he fired on them, striking Sen. Hoffman and his wife 17 times, the FBI and the Hoffmans said. Prosecutors said Boelter also fired at Hope Hoffman and intended to kill her, but her parents shielded her and she was able to call 911 at around 2:05 a.m.

The Hoffmans underwent emergency surgery and survived the bullet wounds.

RELATED: Accused Minnesota assassin: ‘If you want to save the country you have to get your hands dirty’

A confession letter the FBI said was written by Vance Boelter makes references to being trained by the U.S. military and ordered to commit murders by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Image via FBI

The FBI said Boelter first told the Hoffmans there was a report of a shooting and asked them if there were any guns in the home. Senator Hoffman said there were guns present but they were secured, prosecutors said in charging documents.

Although Boelter was shining his tactical flashlight in the Hoffmans’ faces, Yvette Hoffman noticed he was wearing a mask and told him he was not a real police officer, the FBI said. At that point, Boelter then apparently said, “This is a robbery.” Audio of the interaction was caught on a home security camera, along with a terrifying image of the perpetrator in a disguise.

Had intended August arrests

Boelter said despite claims by the FBI and prosecutors, the full-head silicone mask he wore as a disguise cost only $38, not $350 or more. The lower-quality mask became a problem during the scuffle with the Hoffmans, he said.

“The other thing is that mask wasn’t this high-end $350 mask,” Boelter told Blaze News. “I had looked at web sites that had high-end masks but wasn’t expecting to do these citizen’s arrests until August. So the one I had was just a $38 mask. Pretty poor.

“So as they grabbed me, the mask was getting shifted, so my ability to see was getting less and less,” Boelter said. “That is why I kept shooting until I realized I was outside the door.”

Once Hope Hoffman shut and locked the door, Boelter retreated to his Ford SUV and left the area. She told 911 dispatchers that her parents were shot and that her father is state Senator John Hoffman.

During the three-minute call placed at about 2:05 a.m., Hope Hoffman said, “My dad has been shot.” After being asked to repeat her address several times, Hoffman exclaimed, “SHOT. SHOT. MY PARENTS HAVE BEEN SHOT!”

After the dispatch center transferred the call to paramedics, Hope Hoffman indicated that her father is a state senator. Police said that detail was key, because word was sent to area law enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for the shooter in case the crime was targeted.

Boelter told Blaze News that he knew the Hoffmans had an adult daughter but did not expect her to be at her parents’ home on June 14.

“I had expected just two people at the first location,” Boelter said. “I was aware they had an adult daughter but thought she would be living somewhere else.

“I had probably a dozen sleeping masks, the kind you wear when you want to sleep,” he said. “Those were to restrict what people were seeing. I also had a bunch of long, thick wire ties for restraining people. But when I went to the first house, I just had two sleeping masks and four wire ties on me because I was only expecting two people.”

RELATED: Accused assassin clarifies that President Trump, pro-life views did not motivate shootings

Hundreds of police officers search for Vance Luther Boelter in Sibley County, Minn., a day after Boelter allegedly killed a top Minnesota lawmaker and her husband, and grievously wounded a state senator and his wife.Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Boelter said he held his fire when Sen. Hoffman and his wife put hands on him because he did not want to shoot anyone. “If I had gone there to just shoot people, I could have just shot him in the face or in the heart,” Boelter said. “But I just held my fire because I didn’t go there to shoot anyone.”

During a brief arraignment in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis on Aug. 7, Boelter entered not-guilty pleas to six charges included in a grand jury indictment handed up July 15. Charges include stalking, murder, attempted murder, and firearms violations. Boelter could face the death penalty if convicted on the charges of murdering the Hortmans.

He also faces second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder charges in Hennepin County District Court, but those charges will wait for disposition of the federal criminal case against Boelter.

Blaze News learned that the 2015 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor SUV Boelter allegedly drove on June 14 was from his security company, Praetorian Guard Security Services, and was originally owned by the Osceola Police Department in Polk County, Wisconsin.

At 2:24 a.m. that night, Boelter also drove to the home of Rep. Kristin Bahner (DFL-Maple Grove), but she and her family were not at home, according to the FBI.

Twelve minutes later, Boelter was apparently seen parked a block away from the home of state Sen. Ann Rest (DFL-New Hope). A New Hope police officer tried to get his attention, but she drove away to check on the safety of Sen. Rest. Boelter, meanwhile, slipped away, the FBI said. In an alleged confession letter left in the suspect’s getaway vehicle on June 15, he said he did not want to harm police that night either.

“Cops were pulling up right next to me in their vehicles and I had an AK pistol aimed right at her head and I could have left a pile of cops dead, but I did [sic] shoot 1 bullet towards law enforcement,” the letter said. “You can ask them because I support the police and didn’t want to see them hurt.”

Boelter allegedly next drove to the home of the Hortmans in Brooklyn Park, ringing the doorbell and shouting, “Police! Welfare check!” After Mark Hortman answered the door, Boelter shone the flashlight in his eyes and said there had been a report of shots fired, police said.

Around 3:35 a.m., two officers from the Brooklyn Park Police Department arrived in front of the home. Boelter then allegedly began shooting Mark Hortman, opened fire on the officers, and forced his way into the home, the FBI said. As Melissa Hortman tried to flee upstairs, the perpetrator shot her to death, according to a federal indictment.

COVID death investigation

Boelter told Blaze News he took several jobs in the funeral industry to gather evidence that COVID shots were killing people.

“One hundred percent of [my] work in the funeral industry was all for the investigation,” Boelter said. “Only reason for doing all that. Had heard and read a lot about people dying after getting the Covid-19 shot.

“Then several who I was aware of personally died and saw the devastation on the families,” said Boelter, who declined to identify the deceased individuals.

Boelter said he had increasing access to the operations of the funeral homes and the deceased individuals whom he was in charge of picking up and transporting to the mortuaries. He also had access at hospitals and the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, he said. He did not say what evidence he gathered at those locations.

After a career in the food industry, Boelter said he had no experience working for funeral homes doing transport, embalming, cremation, or other roles. He enrolled online in the mortuary science program at Des Moines Area Community College, which allowed him to start as a transfer specialist and eventually move up to working by himself doing body pickups.

RELATED: Accused assassin Vance Boelter ordered held for trial, tells judge he looks forward to the facts coming out

Vance Luther Boelter just after being captured June 15 in Sibley County, Minn., and (right) as he was booked into the Hennepin County Jail.Alpha News/Hennepin County Sheriff

His first job in 2023 was at Wulff Funeral Homes, a division of Dignity Memorial with locations in Woodbury and St. Paul. Dignity Memorial is a brand owned by Service Corporation International, based in Houston. In August 2023, he began working for Metro First Call LLC based in Savage, Minn. In 2023 he also enrolled in mortuary classes at DMACC, the college said in a statement.

Timothy Koch, owner of Metro First Call, said he knew nothing about Boelter doing an investigation.

“We have never heard of such an investigation,” Koch told Blaze News. “We had no idea that his time at our company was part of an investigation.”

“There was at least a three-month period, maybe four months, I can’t remember, where every two weeks I was working seven days at SCI [Wulff], and seven days at MFC, so basically seven days a week no days off for three or four months straight,” Boelter told Blaze News. “And these were eight-hour shifts at SCI [Wulff] and mostly 12-hour or 10-hour shifts at MFC.”

During this time, Boelter began renting a room from a childhood friend in north Minneapolis because his home in Green Isle was too long a long commute while working a demanding schedule, said David Carlson, who grew up with Boelter in Sleepy Eye, Minn.

“During that time I was probably transferring 28+ bodies a week,” Boelter said. “Then Minnesota created a new position called transfer care specialist. Which if you were trained in that role you were allowed to go by yourself to pick up bodies from places of death without having a funeral director go. So when that happened I became a transfer care specialist and no longer needed to be enrolled at DMACC and be taking classes there.”

Boelter declined to say what his investigation learned. He said doing so now could jeopardize the evidence he gathered.

“What I found confirms what I had heard when I started my investigation two years ago,” Boelter said, “that Covid-19 shots were directly causing the death of some people. That is all I’ll say on that.”

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​Vance boelter, John hoffman, Melissa hortman, Assassination, Minnesota, Politics 

Even skeptics now hail President Trump’s tariffs on foreign goods as a major win for the American economy. Goods and services form the backbone of economic activity and trade. As groundbreaking as Trump’s tariff policies have been, the next step to secure a new American golden age is clear: Target the theft of American service-sector jobs.

Trump’s America First doctrine reshaped the U.S. political and economic landscape. It put the forgotten worker back at the center of policy, revived domestic manufacturing, and challenged the long-entrenched dogma of globalist free trade. But one glaring weakness remains — the mass offshoring of service-sector jobs, especially in call centers and customer support, to low-wage countries.

Mr. President, make the service sector American again.

Trump can fix this. The most effective tool is a targeted tariff on companies that ship service jobs overseas.

Most Americans know about the loss of manufacturing jobs. Fewer realize the scale of the service-industry exodus.

Pick up the phone to call customer service and the odds are high you’ll hear a voice thousands of miles from U.S. soil. Companies offshore call centers, IT help desks, software engineering, and back-office support to places like India and the Philippines, where workers earn a fraction of U.S. wages.

These jobs once anchored communities across the Midwest and South, providing stable, middle-class incomes without requiring a college degree. Today, millions of American workers — especially women, rural residents, and non-college-educated individuals — have been displaced. Many now settle for lower-paying, unstable, often part-time work.

At the same time, offshoring heightens data privacy risks, and foreign call centers operate with little or no U.S. oversight.

The practice isn’t limited to a few bad actors. Many Fortune 500 companies — Amazon, AT&T, Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Walmart, Wells Fargo, Target, and Verizon — all run offshore call centers in India and the Philippines. Many smaller firms do the same. For every call center in the United States, at least 10 operate overseas.

The numbers are staggering. The Philippines leads with an estimated 1.3 to 1.5 million call center workers. India follows closely with 1.1 to 1.3 million. Mexico, another popular outsourcing hub, employs more than 700,000 in the field.

RELATED: Main Street’s silent plea: Exempt us from the next tariffs

Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Trump has already proven tariffs can work, using them to force China to the negotiating table and to secure America First trade deals with the U.K., EU, and others. A service-import tariff would build on those wins.

Such a tariff could be assessed on every foreign-based call center employee serving U.S. customers. Companies that move jobs offshore after taking taxpayer bailouts or contracts could face additional tax penalties.

This isn’t protectionism — it’s patriotism. American tax dollars shouldn’t subsidize the destruction of American jobs.

Tariffs on offshored service-sector jobs could bring millions of positions back to U.S. soil. Trump has already targeted foreign goods. Now, it’s time for the second shoe to drop: Target foreign services.

Mr. President, make the service sector American again.

​Opinion & analysis, Donald trump, Tariffs, Trade, Philippines, India, Mexico, Call centers, Customer service, Jobs, Employment, College, High school diplomas, Wages, Tax dollars 

President Trump is doubling a $25 million reward to $50 million for the arrest of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro — after accusing him of being one of the world’s biggest narco-traffickers.

Trump has also accused Maduro of working with cartels to pump fentanyl-laced cocaine into the U.S.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice, and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video announcement.

During Trump’s first presidency, Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020 on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. There was a $15 million reward for his arrest.

The Biden administration raised it to $25 million. Now Trump has doubled it.

“Oh, that’s so cute that you guys want to even pretend like you give a s**t about what Nicholas Maduro is importing into the country,” BlazeTV host Sara Gonzales says about the Biden administration. “That’s very, very cute. Clearly, you don’t, ’cause the borders are wide open.”

“And so, now you have President Trump, apparently, with this coupled with the using military force to engage with drug cartels, he’s getting serious,” she continues.

“I mean, we’ve already closed the border. It’s what? President Trump said, like, 99.3% down from when Joe Biden was there. I mean, he’s pretty much solved that problem. But there are still problems that exist from that era, and it looks like he is putting a lot of time and energy into solving that problem,” she adds.

Want more from Sara Gonzales?

To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Upload, Video, Camera phone, Video phone, Free, Sharing, Youtube.com, Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, President trump, President of venezuela, President maduro, Fentanyl, Nicolas maduro