Attorney General Pam Bondi and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky shared a heated exchange over Epstein file redactions during a Wednesday congressional hearing.

Massie was one of the handful of Republicans who pushed Congress to pass legislation mandating the Department of Justice to release all files pertaining to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in an attempt to reveal the real extent of his deviancy.

‘Literally the worst thing you could do to the survivors, you did.’

Massie and his Democratic colleague Rep. Ro Khanna of California expressed outrage over the DOJ’s alleged concealment of suspected co-conspirators after viewing the unreacted files over a month after they were supposed to be made public. Their legislation did allow the redaction of victims’ names, but even then the DOJ failed to conceal the names of the victims in certain documents.

After Massie and Khanna shed light on suspected co-conspirators whose names were protected, the DOJ removed the redactions.

RELATED: ‘This isn’t a CIRCUS!’ Bondi fends off attacks from Democrat lawmakers in combative hearing

Photo by Heather Diehl/Getty Images

“To my right is an email that was sent by the victims’ lawyers to the DOJ … a list of names not to release,” Massie said. “What did the DOJ do with this email? They released this email in the document production! Literally the worst thing you could do to the survivors, you did.”

“We know you touched the document, because you redacted one name,” Massie added. “You redacted the lawyer’s name, but you left the survivor’s name there.”

One redaction Massie was particularly focused on was that of Les Wexner, the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret, who the congressman implicitly alleged was a co-conspirator. Wexner was long associated with Epstein, even allowing him to take charge of his finances.

“Within 40 minutes, Wexner’s name was added back in,” Bondi said.

“Within 40 minutes of me catching you red-handed!” Massie replied.

Wexner stated in July 2019 that he had long since severed any connection with Epstein and “would not have continued to work with any individual capable of such egregious, sickening behavior as has been reported about him.”

“When Mr. Epstein was my personal money manager, he was involved in many aspects of my financial life. But let me assure you that I was NEVER aware of the illegal activity charged in the indictment,” added Wexner.

This week, a spokesperson for Wexner told the Columbus Dispatch: “The assistant U.S. attorney told Mr. Wexner’s legal counsel in 2019 that Mr. Wexner was neither a co-conspirator nor target in any respect. Mr. Wexner cooperated fully by providing background information on Epstein and was never contacted again.”

RELATED: ‘Smoking Gun’: Yale prof nearly blown up by Unabomber defends his Epstein emails

The interaction between Bondi and Massie escalated to a shouting match, in which Bondi rebuked Massie for being a thorn in the Trump administration’s side.

“There was one redaction out of over 4,700,” Bondi laughed.

“This guy has Trump derangement syndrome! You’re a failed politician!”

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A star of the “Real Housewives” franchise went on a tirade against the Bad Bunny halftime show and got fired from a reunion show soon afterward.

Jill Zarin is known for being a member of “The Real Housewives of New York City” and was scheduled to be on the E! series reuniting cast members, but she has since been removed from the lineup.

‘To me it looked like a political statement because there were literally no white people in the entire thing. I think it was a political statement, and I’m not taking a side one way or the other. I think it was an ICE thing; I think the NFL sold out.’

“In light of recent public comments made by Jill Zarin, Blink49 Studios has decided not to move forward with her involvement in ‘The Golden Life,'” reads a statement from the show’s production company. “We remain committed to delivering the series in line with our company standards and values.”

Zarin had posted a video of her complaints about the halftime show on her Instagram account. Although she deleted it soon afterward, a recording of the video was captured and circulated online.

“So we all agree … it was the worst halftime show ever. It’s 250 years that we’re celebrating right now in the United States, and I just don’t think it was appropriate to have it in Spanish,” Zarin said.

“And quite frankly, I didn’t need to see him grabbing his g-area,” she added. “I think it was totally inappropriate. You’ve got all these young kids watching the Super Bowl, and he doesn’t have to be grabbing himself every five seconds. Is he so insecure?”

She went on to complain that she didn’t understand any of the lyrics because they were in Spanish and noted the absence of white people.

“To me it looked like a political statement because there were literally no white people in the entire thing. I think it was a political statement, and I’m not taking a side one way or the other. I just do. I think it was an ICE thing, and I just think that the NFL sold out,” she continued.

“Shame! Shame!” Zarin added.

Some have noted that Lady Gaga, a white person, sang in the show with Bad Bunny.

RELATED: ‘Holy racism you dumb f**k’: Left-wing influencer peddles false narrative about Bad Bunny halftime show — and gets obliterated

She also criticized Lady Gaga for her appearance.

“And Lady Gaga got a facelift — I didn’t recognize her! I literally had to Google her face to see who it was. We all couldn’t agree who it was,” Zarin added while laughing. “So that was kind of fun in the middle of halftime. At least it gave me something to do because it was so hard to watch.”

After she was taken off the show, Zarin said the producers of the show “didn’t even give me a chance” in a statement to InTouch.

“I took it down right away,” she added, referring to the video. “People make mistakes. I’m human.”

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TPUSA’s All-American Halftime Show revealed that Christians are now creating an alternative to progressive agendas — and BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock could not be more pleased.

“The National Football League has chosen wickedness. And Kid Rock and that halftime show is going to be that rock that humbles the National Football League and sends a message to all of sports that fans are owed respect,” Whitlock says on “Fearless.”

“The NFL and sports have become so arrogant that they thought they were untouchable. And finally, we touched them through Kid Rock, through this TPUSA Super Bowl halftime,” he continues.

And while some might argue that Kid Rock is a “degenerate” just like Bad Bunny, Whitlock believes that doesn’t “give you license to ignore the message.”

“God chooses screwed up messengers every single time because we’re all screwed up. And I hear you. ‘God choosing Kid Rock? Whitlock is crazy, this is just like Trump. These guys are evil,’” Whitlock says.

“God chooses messed up people every single time to do His will. I’m messed up. Any of you listening to this show, watching this show right now, and me sitting here professing any part of the gospel, me sitting here, you know, supporting or praising Jesus Christ. Trust me, I’m the wrong messenger,” he continues.

“I’m as screwed up as anybody watching this show, listening to this show, or whatever. But I’ve been chosen. We’ve all been chosen to help execute the great commission. We’ve all been chosen to push back against the forces of iniquity and power and corruption and just the arrogant people that pollute our culture with corruption, with degeneracy,” he explains.

And Kid Rock has done his part well.

“He didn’t need to involve himself with the TPUSA event. It could have been a flop. He could have been a laughing stock. He could have taken that halftime platform that TPUSA built and he could have spewed a bunch of political rhetoric. He could have cursed out the left,” Whitlock says.

“But he didn’t do that. He stuck to the music. He stuck to a consistent message,” he continues.

“I believe this Super Bowl halftime deal is going to have long-lasting impact and is going to change part of American culture,” he adds.

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​Camera phone, Free, Sharing, Upload, Video, Video phone, Youtube.com, Fearless with jason whitlock, Fearless, The blaze, Blazetv, Blaze news, Blaze podcasts, Blaze podcast network, Blaze media, Blaze online, Blaze originals, Trump, Kid rock, Tpusa halftime show, Tpusa, Bad bunny, Jason whitlock, Conservative, Democrat 

The chair of President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission announced on Wednesday that he has removed a Christian member from the group after she made anti-Zionist comments at a hearing earlier this week.

During the commission’s fifth hearing on Monday, Carrie Prejean Boller — a recent convert to Catholicism who was stripped of her Miss California USA Crown in 2009 after criticizing gay “marriage” — repeatedly asked whether anti-Zionism is necessarily anti-Semitic; stated that “Catholics don’t embrace Zionism”; asked a panelist whether he would “condemn what Israel has done in Gaza”; and questioned whether the modern state of Israel is one and the same as the biblical Israel.

‘Represents no one but herself.’

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who chairs the commission, desperately attempted to manage flaring tempers on the stage, at one point recommending Boller have a coffee with one of her interlocutors.

Following the hearing, one of the witnesses, Shabbos Kestenbaum, criticized Boller, expressing disappointment about her decision to “focus exclusively on Israel.”

After stating in reply that she would not resign or “be bullied” and then suggesting in a separate message that the hearing had systematically excluded “Jewish and Christian voices that dissent from Zionism,” Boller leaned harder into her criticism of Zionism online, tweeting, for example, “I will never bend the knee to the state of Israel. Ever. I am more determined than ever to speak plainly about political Zionism and the lies we’ve been sold to justify endless war, dead children, and blank checks.”

While Boller made appeals in her messaging to the Catholic Church’s teaching that the new Israel “is called the Church of Christ,” she found critics among those Catholics she claimed to speak for, including Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.

Donohue noted that while “it is possible for someone to oppose Zionism yet not be anti-Semitic,” those “who are activists for the anti-Zionist cause invariably harbor an animus against Jews.”

RELATED: Michael Knowles explains why he isn’t a Christian Zionist

Photographer: Callaghan O’Hare/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Donohue stressed that Boller “does not run a Catholic organization, has no Catholic credentials as an author or instructor, and indeed represents no one but herself.”

Among the other outfits and organizations that condemned Boller was the Wall Street Journal, whose editorial board characterized her as a dingbat and suggested the purpose of her theatrics was to gain online followers.

The National Review piled on, dubbing Boller “a lunatic antisemite.”

Among those who alternatively voiced support for Boller was the group Jews United Against Zionism and Candace Owens.

On Wednesday morning, Patrick noted, “No member of the Commission has the right to hijack a hearing for their own personal and political agenda on any issue. This is clearly, without question, what happened Monday in our hearing on antisemitism in America.”

“I am grateful to President Trump for having the vision and boldness to create this Commission,” continued Patrick. “Fighting for the Word of God and religious freedom is what this nation was founded upon. Leading this fight will be one of his greatest legacies.”

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Federal officers are detaining and arresting anti-ICE agitators who call themselves “legal observers” under a statute forbidding interference of law enforcement operations.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have arrested about 655 people under the statute, which is double the number of similar arrests from the same period a year ago, according to a Reuters review.

The statute forbids anyone from assaulting, resisting, intimidating, or interfering with federal officials engaged in ‘the performance of official duties.’

“When agitators willingly involve themselves and inject themselves in law enforcement operations, they are risking arrest as well as jeopardizing the safety of themselves and those around them,” said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin to Reuters.

The statute forbids anyone from assaulting, resisting, intimidating, or interfering with federal officials engaged in “the performance of official duties.”

Just what constitutes interfering is being challenged in the courts. U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez of Minnesota had ruled that federal agents could not stop vehicles if they were a distance deemed “safe” and “appropriate.” The Department of Homeland Security appealed the ruling.

Illegal alien advocates claim that federal officers are acting unlawfully by arresting observers.

“As seen in Minneapolis and elsewhere, anyone who encounters immigration agents and attempts to criticize or even simply to record them — or who is just on the scene observing or trying to help — can be subjected to aggressive questioning or other retaliation,” reads a statement from the American Immigration Council.

“Federal agents have attempted to charge protesters and observers with ‘obstructing’ or ‘interfering with’ law enforcement operations, sometimes arguing that by being in the way of federal agents or vehicles they are violating federal law,” the group added.

RELATED: Sex toys, other objects allegedly thrown at cops at Minneapolis ICE facility, prompting dozens of arrests — but not by DHS

Some politicians, like California Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat, have conducted classes to train people as legal observers.

“Unless the American public sees the killing of Alex Pretti, the killing of Renee Good, it wouldn’t penetrate,” Gomez said to CBS News. “They wouldn’t believe it, that agents meant to protect them are harming them.”

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Several dozen anti-ICE protesters were arrested at the Whipple Building in Minneapolis on Saturday, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office.

The protesters were damaging property and throwing ice chunks, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office. Videos on social media showed protesters waving sex toys at officers, while another report said bottles were thrown at them.

‘Police had given multiple orders to disperse.’

At least some of the sex toys were able to attach to police cars as they drove by, another video shows.

“A deputy was struck in the head, and a squad vehicle windshield was broken,” police said. “This is not the first time our vehicles have been damaged at this location.”

Police said they declared the demonstration to be unlawful and ordered the crowd to disperse, and while most complied, about 100 protesters defied the order and continued to protest.

The sheriff’s office told Blaze News via email that 43 arrests were made and seven were booked into custody at the Hennepin County Jail. The sheriff’s office also confirmed that the DHS was not a part of the arrests.

One of the protesters admitted to KSTP-TV that they were given plenty of time to disperse.

“The police had given multiple orders to disperse, had moved back the line three times, another set of SWAT came in from the back, popped out of a van over there, and then they just all rushed everybody and started arresting everyone around me,” said the protester.

RELATED: Judge orders release of two church-storming anti-ICE activists

“I don’t agree with what’s going on with ICE, but I feel like protesters were given ample opportunity to leave and chose not to,” he added.

He also said the situation was made worse by a pro-ICE agitator who allegedly maced protesters before driving away.

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You don’t need to be a former prince of Denmark to play Hamlet, actor Kelsey Grammer recently explained.

The “Cheers” and “Frasier” star pushed back against a growing trend in acting — particularly in theater — that insists performers should only play roles that directly reflect their own lived experience. Taken to its logical conclusion, Grammer argued, the idea is both limiting and absurd.

‘So, unfortunately, there will be no more acting careers. … Because you’ll just play who you are.’

Grammer was addressing the claim that certain characters — “trans” people, for example — should only be played by actors who share those identities. Speaking on “The Megyn Kelly Show,” he questioned where such rules would end.

“How many straight men do we have to have in the theater to allow us to have straight relationships?” Grammer asked.

Make believe

He pointed out the inconsistency of the standard. Theater has always relied on performers playing roles that don’t mirror their personal lives: Unmarried actors routinely portray married couples without controversy.

“In the world of the play, a man and a woman are married,” he said. “A lot of people doing those roles — that’s not the case, but it is acting. We’ve now entered a world where people say you have to be the person in order to play the person.”

“So, unfortunately, there will be no more acting careers,” he said. “Because you’ll just play who you are.”

Grammer reminded his colleagues that acting has always depended on imagination. None of today’s performers lived in the 1800s, nor have they been wounded by a poisoned sword — yet actors still line up to play Shakespeare’s tragic prince.

“They all want to play Hamlet,” he said.

RELATED: Kelsey Grammer honors faith with upcoming ‘Bernadette: The Musical’

Manufactured outrage

Turning to Hollywood more broadly, the 70-year-old actor also addressed what he sees as the failures of woke ideology in politics and the media.

“The woke thing is really a manufactured outrage that has been used as a lever for political change — when … it probably doesn’t have the teeth for that,” Grammer told Kelly.

The movement’s lack of credibility, he suggested, ultimately limits its influence. “It probably doesn’t have the chops to make it all the way to, ‘Oh, we have to define our lives by this,'” Grammer said.

Grammer’s disconnect from Hollywood, he added, extends beyond politics.

Party pooper

“I wasn’t invited to those parties. Oh, I’m glad I wasn’t,” he told the host.

While it was not immediately clear what kinds of parties he meant, Kelly allowed him to continue.

“A few years ago, I was on a flight with a fairly famous actor who shared some stuff with me,” Grammer said. “And I thought, ‘Holy moly — this actually goes on in Hollywood.’ And he was a participant and a fairly knowledgeable fellow. And I thought, ‘My goodness, I really dodged a bullet there.'”

Kelly interjected to ask whether he meant “sex stuff or drug stuff.”

RELATED: Kelsey Grammer says he still supports Donald Trump

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

“Sex … just all of it. All the stuff,” Grammer replied.

Despite being out of step with many of his Hollywood peers, Grammer has long been open about his views. Kelly noted that her production team had uncovered a clip from a 2012 appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” in which Grammer described himself to the audience as an “out Republican.”

That stance wasn’t new. Born in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Grammer had been defending right-leaning views even earlier. In 2011, he defended the Tea Party during a CNN appearance opposite host Piers Morgan. While he said he didn’t agree with the movement on everything — describing himself as more libertarian on issues like gay marriage — he added that he found none of its views egregious.

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A lone Republican broke with President Donald Trump and his party Wednesday, nearly derailing GOP leadership’s push to advance the SAVE Act, a bill requiring proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

The House narrowly approved a procedural rule in a 216-215 vote, clearing the way for debate and a final vote on the legislation. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote no. All Democrats opposed the rule.

‘A central issue for conservative voters.’

The vote was not on the SAVE Act itself. In the House, lawmakers must first adopt a rule that sets the terms for debate, including how long members may speak and whether amendments are allowed, before a bill can receive final consideration. If the rule fails, the legislation cannot move forward.

By approving the rule, the House advanced the SAVE Act to the floor despite Massie’s vote.

RELATED: ‘This isn’t a CIRCUS!’ Bondi fends off attacks from Democrat lawmakers in combative hearing

T.J. Kirkpatrick/Getty Images

Republicans say the measure strengthens election integrity and addresses concerns about noncitizen voting, a central issue for conservative voters and aligned with Trump’s broader election security agenda.

Conservative commentator Greg Price said that Massie was “the only Republican who voted against advancing the SAVE America Act to the House floor,” sharing a screenshot of the tally. Commenters accused Massie of undermining a key GOP priority.

RELATED: Olympic ski jumpers may be injecting their penises with acid to jump farther

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images

Massie has previously supported citizenship verification requirements. He has co-sponsored related legislation and criticized leadership for failing to attach SAVE-style provisions to must-pass spending bills. At the same time, he has objected to procedural maneuvers he considers symbolic or unlikely to become law without broader structural reforms.

The SAVE Act now moves toward a final House vote. Its prospects in the Senate remain uncertain, particularly without changes to filibuster rules.

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February is Black History Month, and BlazeTV host John Doyle has been dedicating much of “The John Doyle Show” to, in his words, “debunking … mainstream narratives about black history,” including Rosa Parks’ famous bus protest, the slave trade, and potential controversies surrounding Thomas Jefferson’s dealings with slave women.

In the latest episode, he dove into a related subject President Trump was recently criticized by the media and several politicians for addressing: the reality of crime in America.

In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly made claims that 2% of the population is responsible for 90% of the crime rate, using this statistic as justification for his administration’s immigration enforcement, including policies like expanding ICE actions and National Guard deployments in certain cities.

While some media figures and politicians have accused him of targeting marginalized groups with misleading claims, Doyle says Trump is “absolutely right” to point out the reality of crime in America, even if his numbers aren’t exact.

“There are criminals from every racial background. That is obviously true. … It’s just the reality of our fallen nature,” he says, “but while we all may share that fallen nature, it is also true that some groups are committing crime at higher rates than others, and that does affect the quality of life — the social fabric of the the society in which we all live.”

By claiming that 2% of the population is responsible for 90% of the crime, Trump is “drawing attention to the reality of repeat offenders, and the truth is that a lot of crime in America is done by, yes, a relatively small group of people, but also a relatively small group of people who have just been like running that for their entire lives,” Doyle explains, “and I’m not referring to like black people overall. Talking about a much smaller subset of the population, which, admittedly, yes, is also overwhelmingly black.”

If we further break down Trump’s numbers or the more commonly cited 13/50 statistic — which posits that black people make up 13% of the population but commit 50% of the crime — we arrive at the “glaring problem,” says Doyle: “Most of the black people that are going around murdering are men,” specifically younger men.

But homicide is just the tip of the iceberg.

“According to the same FBI data, blacks are committing like 27% of all rapes, 53% of all robberies, 33% of all aggravated assaults, like 30% of burglaries, 42% of weapons charges, 42% of prostitution charges. In fact, if you actually account for their population size, there is not a single crime category in which they are not over-represented,” says Doyle, referring to FBI arrest statistics. The state of New York has reported that arrest and conviction data in the state often results in slightly higher conviction rates for black defendants.

Part of the problem, he says, is the “Soros-installed, libtard-installed DAs, prosecutors, judges” whose soft-on-crime policies permit repeat offenders to freely roam the streets.

“We should not have to live this way. Well-to-do people should not be forced to deal with insane violent freaks as they’re going about their day-to-day,” says Doyle, praising the Trump administration’s crime-fighting agenda as “spectacular.”

“But that is what leftism is at the end of the day, right? You are reorienting society to accommodate the worst of the worst.”

To hear more, check out the full episode above.

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A judge in Jefferson County, Kentucky, is receiving criticism after she drastically cut the sentence of a man who was was convicted of kidnapping, robbing, and sodomizing a woman.

Rather than following a jury’s recommendation of a 65-year sentence for 24-year-old Christopher Thompson, Judge Tracy Davis instead sentenced him to 30 years behind bars, WDRB-TV reported.

‘I don’t have sympathy for nobody. I don’t have sympathy for you, the victim, the victim’s family, I don’t care. Boo hoo.’

Thompson was convicted in December in connection with a 2023 attack in which prosecutors said he abducted a woman, robbed her, and sodomized her twice, the station said.

WDRB, citing court documents, reported that Thompson kidnapped the victim in her own vehicle and forced her to perform oral sex on him in a school parking lot. The station said Thompson then drove her to an ATM, robbed her, drove back to the school lot, and sodomized her at gunpoint again.

What’s more, the station said Thompson during his sentencing hearing earlier this month punctuated the proceedings with repeated disruptions, profanity, and direct insults directed toward Judge Davis.

“Before we even get appearances, Mr. Thompson, I’m going to need you to be respectful,” Davis said, according to WDRB.

“I ain’t doing nothing. Eat my d**k,” Thompson responded, according to the station.

WDRB said the intensity only became more extreme moments later.

“It’s fine. OK? It’s fine,” Davis said, according to the station.

“If I could spit on you, I would,” Thompson replied, according to WDRB.

“At the end of the day, I’m the one with the pen,” Davis added, the station said, after which Thompson replied, “I don’t care.”

The hearing continued into the sentencing phase despite Thompson’s outbursts, and WDRB said prosecutors urged Davis to impose the jury’s recommended 65-year sentence.

Thompson didn’t exactly support his own cause, as the station said he stated, “I don’t have sympathy for nobody. I don’t have sympathy for you, the victim, the victim’s family, I don’t care. Boo hoo.”

Davis soon imposed a 30-year sentence, WDRB said, citing Thompson’s age and the possibility of rehabilitation.

But Thompson apparently was unmoved. The station said he interrupted by saying, “I don’t care. I don’t care.”

RELATED: Trio jailed for rape of mostly unconscious 14-year-old girl — recorded on video because ‘it was funny’ — given probation

“Unfortunately, he fell through the cracks and ended up in this court as an 18- or 19-year-old,” Davis said, according to WDRB. “This court does not believe Mr. Thompson, if given the resources that he can get while incarcerated, is beyond being rehabilitated.”

The station said the reduced sentence has elicited criticism from Louisville Metro Council members, including Minority Caucus Chair Anthony Piagentini: “Where is the concern for the victim? Do we think she’s going to get over this in 30 years? Where is the concern for the safety of the public when he does get released from jail?”

WDRB said Piagentini also raised concerns about judicial transparency and pointed out Davis’ use of shock probation in dozens of cases since 2023: “My next step, in addition to condemning her decision, is to request for all of her shock probation cases to have the public learn about who she is releasing from the sentences that are given. That’s the minimum I can do for the electorate of this community, so that they can … understand the decisions that she’s making.”

According to the U.S. Justice Department, “shock probation” provides a short prison time — between 30 to 180 days — for a convicted felon after which the remainder of the sentence is served on probation “in the community.” The justice department notes that corrections and probation personnel view shock probation as having a future deterrent effect on criminal behavior, and lawyers view it as a level in plea bargaining.

Louisville’s Chief Prosecutor — Commonwealth’s Attorney Gerina D. Whethers — said in a statement that her office is “disappointed” by the reduced sentence, WDRB noted.

RELATED: ‘Sex offender’ to be replaced by ‘adults who commit sexual offenses’ in Colorado since latter is less stigmatizing for sex offenders receiving treatment

Commonwealth’s Attorney Gerina D. Whethers. Image source: Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Jefferson County, Ky.

“Due to the defendant’s actions and inappropriate outbursts in court, the jury recommended a sentence of 65 years in prison. While we recognize that the court has discretion in the final sentence, we are disappointed that the court deviated from the sentence for less than half of what the jury of his peers determined was appropriate for this dangerous defendant,” Whethers said, according to the station. “The jury’s recommendation was the most appropriate outcome in this case.”

WDRB said Whethers added that “our pursuit of justice is unwavering. As prosecutors, our responsibility is to take to trial and present before the jury cases like these, where dangerous individuals pose a severe threat to the community and, as a result, need to be removed from it for as long as possible.”

The station noted that Judge Davis imposed an additional sentence of more than four years for Thompson’s statements in court and that he must serve that time before his 30-year sentence commences.

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) touted big plans to go after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. However, the city’s top prosecutor is calling out Johnson’s anti-ICE executive order as a “wholly inappropriate” disaster, while alleging the mayor’s claims of collaboration are “not true.”

In late January, Johnson signed the “ICE on Notice” executive order, which directed the Chicago Police Department to investigate and document any alleged illegal activity by federal agents, then refer that evidence to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office for potential prosecution.

‘Mayor Johnson’s statement is not true.’

Johnson claimed that Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s office was “in complete support of this executive order.”

“Our office worked closely in collaboration with the state’s attorney’s office to ensure that this executive order will have the ability to do exactly what it is designed to do,” the mayor told reporters in January.

O’Neill Burke rebuked Johnson’s claims, writing in a post on X, “Mayor Johnson’s statement is not true. The CCSAO did not receive the Executive Order until it was released to the public. We do not provide legal approval of any matter until we’ve reviewed it. On such a critical issue, it’s important we get it right.”

Yvette Loizon, the CCSAO’s attorney for policy and external affairs, issued a two-page staff memo criticizing provisions listed in Johnson’s order, according to a Saturday report from CWB Chicago. Loizon reportedly called some aspects of the order “wholly inappropriate” and warned that it “jeopardizes our ability to effectively prosecute and secure convictions when federal agents have committed a crime.”

RELATED: ‘ICE on Notice’: Chicago Mayor Johnson threatens to prosecute federal agents enforcing immigration laws

Eileen O’Neill Burke. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

The memo also allegedly stated that O’Neill Burke is “deeply concerned” about federal immigration agents “who have been wreaking havoc in communities across the country and in our own neighborhoods.”

“The Mayor’s recent Executive Order introduces additional hurdles,” it reportedly read.

Loizon criticized Johnson’s executive order for instructing police to refer matters for prosecution “at the direction of the Mayor’s Office,” arguing that it tainted a process that was intended to be non-political, CWB Chicago reported. Loizon also reportedly contended that defense attorneys may argue that any charges were politically motivated and illegitimate.

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Brandon Johnson. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Johnson’s office responded to the criticism, claiming that it had “reviewed the language with the State’s Attorney’s Chief of Policy and made edits based on their feedback.”

“The CCSAO’s public statements do indicate complete agreement with the objectives of the executive order,” the mayor’s office insisted.

The CCSAO did not respond to a request for comment.

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