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Appeals Court Rejects Trump Request To Stay Criminal Sentencing

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Just in…

The New York Court of Appeals has denied a motion filed by President-elect Donald Trump to stay the Jan. 10 sentencing in the New York v. Trump case.

New York Judge Juan Merchan set Trump’s sentencing date in the case earlier this month, ahead of his inauguration as president on Jan. 20. 

Trump filed a motion to stay the Jan. 10 sentencing with the New York State Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court. 

The New York Court of Appeals denied Trump’s request Thursday morning. The status of his appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court is pending.

Trump remains set to be sentenced on Friday, Jan. 10, at 9:30 a.m., pending the Supreme Court’s decision. He plans to attend virtually. 

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

Multiple House Democrats Report Bomb Threats On Thanksgiving

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On Thanksgiving Day, three House Democrats reported receiving bomb threats prompting law enforcement to investigate the concerning trend.

In each case, Reps. Jahana Hayes (D-CT), Jim Himes (D-CT), and John Larson (D-CT) reported they were threatened with explosives early in the morning. After police got involved, each was deemed safe and the threats did not appear to be credible.

Himes said in a statement:

This morning, I was notified of a bomb threat targeting my home where I was celebrating Thanksgiving with my family. Thankfully, after a swift and thorough response from the United States Capitol Police, the Greenwich Police Department, and the Stamford Police Department, no evidence of a bomb was found. Mary, Emma, Linley, and I extend our utmost gratitude to our local law enforcement officers for their immediate action to ensure our safety. There is no place for political violence in this country, and I hope that we may all continue through the holiday season with peace and civility.

Hayes also released the following statement:

At 7:47am I was notified by Chief Edward Stephens of the Wolcott Police Department that they received a threatening email stating a pipe bomb had been placed in the mailbox at my home. State police, U.S. Capitol Police, and the Sergeant at Arms were immediately notified. The Wolcott Police Department and State Police responded and no bomb or explosive materials were discovered and the scene was cleared.

At this time the investigation is ongoing. I thank law enforcement for their swift attention to this matter, their actions demonstrate there is no place in our country for political violence. On this Thanksgiving, I am grateful for my family and loved ones. I plan to spend the day with them and hope you all do the same. May you have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Larson said in a statement he was visited early Thursday at his home by officers in East Hartford.

“The police determined no bomb was present at the property and the Larson family is safe,” the congressman said. “I would like to thank the East Hartford Police Department for their swift and professional response in ensuring the safety of my family. I am grateful that my colleagues in the Connecticut Congressional Delegation, who received similar threats, are also safe. Thanks again to law enforcement at every level, from local, to state, to federal.”

The trio of threats comes days after incoming White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reported that multiple Trump Cabinet nominees have also received death threats.

Nearly a dozen of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other appointees tapped for the incoming administration were targeted Tuesday night with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” prompting a “swift” law enforcement response.

The “attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,’” according to Karoline Leavitt.

“[Tuesday] night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” she told Fox News Digital on Wednesday. “In response, law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.” 

Suspect In Tesla Arson Attacks Facing 40 Years In Prison

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He’s done…

A man linked to arson attacks at the Tesla Albuquerque Showroom and the Republican Party of New Mexico (RPNM) headquarters is facing 40 years behind bars after being indicted this week.

On February 9, two Tesla vehicles were damaged in an arson attack at the Tesla Albuquerque Showroom. The building was also damaged that day with graffiti reading “Telsa Nazi Inc.,” as well as swastika symbols spray-painted in red and black paint on the showroom’s exterior walls.

Nearly two months later on March 30, Albuquerque’s RPNM office was damaged in an arson attack which damaged the entrance. At both scenes, investigators located matching glass containers of improvised flammable mixtures with distinctive green lids.

Wagner was linked to the fires through surveillance footage, along with video of a white Hyundai Accent and matching scene evidence, federal investigators said.

Agents from the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) raided Wagner’s house in Albuquerque on April 12.

There, investigators reported finding assembled fire-starting devices, ingredients matching the flammable mixtures found at the scene, a jar with a similar green lid, black and red spray paint, and a stencil bearing the phrase “ICE=KKK,” which matched the graffiti sprayed at the RPNM headquarters.

Wagner now faces two counts of malicious damage or destruction of property by fire, and will stay in custody while he awaits his detention hearing on April 16. If convicted, Wagner faces between five and twenty years behind bars for each count.

“All of these cases are a serious threat to public safety, therefore there will be no negotiating. We are seeking 20 years in prison,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who had previously labeled vandalism of Tesla dealerships to be “domestic terrorism.”

“Let this be the final lesson to those taking part in this ongoing wave of political violence,” Bondi said. “We will arrest you, we will prosecute you, and we will not negotiate. Crimes have consequences.

“Hurling firebombs is not political protest,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche added. “It is a dangerous felony that we will prosecute to the maximum extent.

Former Democrat Candidate Charged With Domestic Battery

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Back in the spotlight…

A former Democrat candidate for the Virginia legislature, whose X-rated movies with her husband were exposed before the election, was charged with domestic violence this week.

Susanna Gibson Payne, 42, was arrested on September 22 for “assault and battery” against a family member. Payne claimed that her husband, 44-year-old John David Gibson, has been harassing her amid their divorce since last year.

“After my estranged husband, arrested three times since I filed for divorce, assaulted me during a June 2025 custody exchange while I protected our son, he filed a retaliatory criminal complaint against me,” she said.

Payne said she turned herself in after a misdemeanor warrant was issued.

The Democrat’s husband denied ever assaulting his wife. Mediaite reported that Gibson was arrested in December for violating a protection order and using threatening language with his wife. He said the incident stemmed from a tense argument with his wife’s new boyfriend.

Payne and Gibson grabbed headlines in 2023 when Payne was running for office, and videos the couple had posted on the porn site Chaturbate were discovered and exposed.

The couple was accused of making the videos for “tips,” though they denied that the videos were for profit. At the time, Payne said she was determined to stay in the race.

“My political opponents and their Republican allies have proven they’re willing to commit a sex crime to attack me and my family because there’s no line they won’t cross to silence women when they speak up,” she said.

Bill Bar Calls On Prosecutors To Drop Cases Against Trump

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The United States Department of Justice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr encouraged prosecutors to drop pending charges against President-elect Trump.

“The American people have rendered their verdict on President Trump, and decisively chosen him to lead the country for the next four years,” Barr said in an interview with Fox News, after the White House race was called for Trump.

“They did that with full knowledge of the claims against him by prosecutors around the country and I think Attorney General Garland and the state prosecutors should respect the people’s decision and dismiss the cases against President Trump now,” he added.

Trump was convicted in New York on 34 felony charges related to his hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and still faces indictments in three other trials. His actions to block the peaceful transfer of power after his 2020 loss sparked federal charges as well as a case in Georgia, while the former president also faced federal counts for retaining classified documents at his Florida estate, before the case was indefinitely postponed by the judge.

Trump is set to face sentencing in the New York case later this month but has also sought to toss the case after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents retain broad immunity after leaving office.

The Justice Department (DOJ) under a second Trump administration, is widely expected to move to drop both federal cases against the president-elect.

The Florida case was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon on technical grounds involving Smith’s appointment.

The GOP presidential nominee has pledged to fire special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the election interference cases, “within two seconds.”

“He’ll be one of the first things addressed,” Trump said last month.

Barr added that Smith and the DOJ should drop the cases before Trump even takes office.

“Further maneuvering on these cases in the weeks ahead would serve no legitimate purpose and only distract the country and the incoming administration from the task at hand,” he said.

“The public interest now demands that the country unite and focus on the challenges we face at home and abroad. Attorney General Garland and all the state prosecutors should do the right thing and help the country move forward by dismissing the cases,” the former attorney general added.

Woman Arrested After Traveling To D.C. While Threatening To Assassinate Trump

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

An Indiana woman has been arrested after threatening to assassinate President Donald Trump.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Nathalie Jones, 50, of Lafayette, Indiana, was arrested in the District of Columbia on Saturday in connection with making a series of threats on social media in which she threatened to kill President Trump.

“Hi everyone, it’s Judge Jeanine. I just wanted to let you know here from the United States Attorney’s Office in D.C. that an individual by the name of Nathalie Rose Jones is now in custody, charged with two federal crimes for knowingly and willfully threatening to take the life of the President of the United States,” Pirro said in a clip she released on social media.

“She did come from New York to Washington, D.C. and she has been threatening and calling for the removal of the president and even worse as she got to D.C. Her threats were on Facebook and Instagram and she continued to call the president a terrorist and was working to have him eliminated. She is now in custody. She will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Make no mistake about that,” Pirro said with a hint of a smile.

On Facebook between August 6 and August 15,  “Nath.Jones” allegedly continued to post threatening comments about President Trump. In an August 6 post directed at the FBI, Nath.Jones wrote that “I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea with Liz Cheney and all The Affirmation present.”

            On August 14, in a post directed to U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Nath Jones allegedly wrote “please arrange the arrest and removal ceremony of POTUS Trump as a terrorist on the American People from 10-2pm at the White House on Saturday, August 16th, 2025.”

            On August 15, the U.S. Secret Service conducted a voluntary interview with Jones, during which she stated the President was a “terrorist” and a “nazi,” that if she had the opportunity, she would take the President’s life and would kill him at “the compound” if she had to, that she had a “bladed object,” which she said was the weapon she would use to “carry out her mission of killing” the president, and that she wanted to “avenge all the lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic,” which she atrributed to President Trump’s administration and its position on vaccinations.

            On August 16, Jones joined a protest demonstration that started at Dupont Circle, and circumnavigated the White House complex. Following the march, the U.S. Secret Service interviewed Jones for a second time, during which she admitted that she had made threats towards President Trump during her interview the previous day. She denied having any present desire to harm the President of the United States. Law enforcement arrested her and she confirmed that she was the owner of the Facebook user account “Nath Jones” and that she had posted the threatening statements.

Pirro, who was best known in recent years for her hot takes on The Five, is now the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Her office also put out a statement on the arrest, which read, “Nathalie Rose Jones, 50, of Lafayette, Indiana, was arrested in the District of Columbia on Saturday, August 16, and charged in connection with making a series of threats on social media in which she threatened to kill President Trump, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.”

“Jones was charged in a complaint in U.S. District Court with threatening to take the life of, kidnap, or inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, and transmitting in interstate commerce communications containing threats to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person of another,” added the statement.

Georgia Man Arrested Over Alleged Threats To Kill Tulsi Gabbard

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FBI agents arrested a Georgia man after making numerous death threats against Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard.

Aliakbar Mohammad Amin, of Lilburn, Ga., was charged on Friday with “transmitting interstate threats to injure” Gabbard and her family, according to the DOJ press release.

“Threatening to harm public officials is a criminal act that cannot be excused as political discourse,” acting U.S. Attorney Richard Moultrie, Jr. said in a statement. “Our Office, in coordination with our law enforcement partners, will vigorously prosecute individuals who commit these acts of violence.”

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Prosecutors allege Amin sent text messages between March 29 and April 1 that contained threats against Gabbard and her husband, including, “You and your family are going to die soon,” and “I will personally do the job if necessary.”

“The home you two own . . . is a legitimate target and will be hit at a time and place of our choosing,” Amin wrote in another text, according to the DOJ.

Other texts allegedly included, “Prepare to die, you, Tulsi, and everyone you hold dear. America will burn,” and “Death to America means death to America literally, Tulsi is living on borrowed time.”

Federal agents later found a firearm at Amin’s house while executing a search warrant, the DOJ said.

“The FBI sees all threatening communications as a serious federal offense. We will employ every investigative tool and resource available to identify those responsible and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Paul Brown, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office, said in a statement.

“Let this arrest serve as a clear warning: if you engage in this kind of criminal behavior, you will be caught and you will go to prison,” Brown added.

Gabbard thanked the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and local law enforcement on Friday after the FBI announced the arrest.

“Thank you @FBI, @USMarshalsHQ, and local law enforcement for your service and dedication in apprehending this radicalized, dangerous criminal who repeatedly threatened the lives of me, my family, and @realDonaldTrump. Thank you for your tireless work every day keeping the American people safe,” she wrote in a post on X.

Threats against political officials have been on the rise, during the 2024 campaign cycle Donald Trump survived multiple assassination attempts.

A recent study by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) has revealed a concerning trend: a significant portion of left-leaning Americans believe that political violence, including assassination, is justifiable against figures such as President Donald Trump and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk. The study surveyed over 1,200 U.S. adults and found that 38% of respondents felt that assassinating Trump would be at least “somewhat justified,” with this figure rising to 55% among those identifying as left-leaning. Similarly, 31% of overall participants, and 48% of left-leaning individuals, expressed some level of justification for assassinating Musk.

This data suggests a troubling normalization of violent political rhetoric within certain segments of the population. The NCRI report highlights that this shift has been particularly pronounced following the December 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, allegedly by Luigi Mangione. Mangione’s actions have been glamorized in various online communities, leading to a proliferation of memes and discussions that endorse political violence.

Screenshot via X [Credit: Elon Musk]

Ghislaine Maxwell Submits Plea To Supreme Court, White House To Intervene In Criminal Case

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Duncan Lock, Dflock, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

On Monday, Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein, called on the Supreme Court to overturn her sex trafficking conviction.

“We are appealing not only to the Supreme Court but to the President himself to recognize how profoundly unjust it is to scapegoat Ghislaine Maxwell for Epstein’s crimes, especially when the government promised she would not be prosecuted,” attorney David Oscar Markus said in a statement. 

Maxwell’s attorney argues her conviction violates a nonprosecution agreement Epstein signed with federal prosecutors. The appeal turns on the scope of the 2007 deal, which let Epstein avoid federal charges for pleading guilty to state-level sex crimes in Florida and serving 18 months in prison. 

The deal was signed by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Lower courts ruled the deal only covers that district and doesn’t apply to federal prosecutors in New York, where Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for aiding Epstein in abusing underage girls. 

“Rather than grapple with the core principles of plea agreements, the government tries to distract by reciting a lurid and irrelevant account of Jeffrey Epstein’s misconduct,” Markus wrote in the new brief. 

“But this case is about what the government promised, not what Epstein did.” 

Last week, Maxwell sat for a two-day interview with the Justice Department’s No. 2 official, Todd Blanche. (RELATED: Justice Department Seeks Meeting With Ghislaine Maxwell In Epstein Case)

The new statement came as Maxwell made her final plea to the Supreme Court on Monday before the justices decide whether to take up her case. Maxwell filed the appeal in April, and the justices are poised to consider it upon returning from their summer recess.

The Justice Department has so far opposed Maxwell’s Supreme Court appeal.

Markus’s latest comments mark his most direct suggestion yet of Trump intervening. Markus said Friday he hadn’t spoken to the president yet about a pardon and “we’re going to take one day at a time.”

Trump has punted on whether he would pardon Maxwell. Trump said Monday that “I’m allowed to give her” a pardon, but “nobody’s approached me.” 

“I’m allowed to give her a pardon,” Trump insisted, repeating a claim he made on his way to Scotland on Friday. “Nobody has approached me with it or asked me about it. It’s in the news about that, that aspect of it. But right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”

Police Arrest Man For Disturbing Act At Charlie Kirk Memorial

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Arrest image via Pixabay

A sick individual…

Law enforcement authorities arrested a man for desecrating a memorial honoring the late political activist Charlie Kirk over the weekend.

Fox News cameras were rolling as the man walked through the memorial, kicking over items including flowers, vases and flags. A mourner gathered at the memorial stepped in to stop the man’s sick actions. A man in a blue polo shirt is seen yanking the man out of the memorial and throwing him to the ground. 

Phoenix police identified the alleged vandal as 19-year-old Ryder Corral. In video of Corral’s arrest, he appears to be wearing a shirt similar to the one worn by the man suspected of assassinating Kirk. 

Watch:

Corral was wearing a black shirt featuring an American flag and an eagle. The shirt resembles the shirt worn by Tyler Robinson when he allegedly shot and killed Kirk while he was speaking at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. 

Police also reported that neither Corral nor any of the witnesses who held him on the scene had sustained any injuries — and that the 19-year-old would face multiple charges, including “criminal damage and disorderly conduct.”

Local law enforcement then escorted Corral away from the area. He is now in custody at the Maricopa County Jail on one count of criminal damage and one count of disorderly conduct, according to Phoenix Police Department Public Information Sergeant Philip Krynsky.

On Friday, law enforcement officials arrested the man accused of shooting and killing Kirk, in Utah after a frantic 33-hour manhunt. 

Kirk, a husband and father, was fatally struck by a single bullet Wednesday while speaking at an event on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem. Kirk was rushed to Timpanogos Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was 31 years old.

President Donald Trump said the young man who shot and killed Kirk had been “totally radicalized” and made “crazy” by liberal ideology, and also expressed sympathy for the suspect assassin’s parents, saying they seemed like “very nice people.”

The president’s comments were made while addressing a small crowd at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Saturday evening.

“So many things have been learned about [the shooter] so quickly,” Trump. said. “He’s become totally radicalized and crazy and it must have been traumatic. Because the parents are conservative people, supposed to be very nice people living in Utah.”

Trump continued: “The father turns in the son. Boy, that’s a tough deal.”

Additional information about Tyler Robinson, the 22-year-old suspected killer, has been reported over the weekend.

Fox News and other outlets on Saturday reported Robinson was living with his trans partner at the time of the slaying, and that partner is now “fully cooperating” with the FBI on its investigation. The New York Times reported Robinson had scrawled the phrases “hey fascist! CATCH!” and “Bella Ciao,” which it said was “popularized as an antifascist anthem,” on bullet casings. And in a video clip that has went viral on X and elsewhere, a young man who said he was a former classmate of Robinson’s said he was a “Reddit kid” who had his brain warped by the social platform.

President Trump has said that he will attend Kirk’s funeral in Arizona this week, saying he has an “obligation” to do so.

Escaped Louisiana Inmate Releases Video Pleading With Trump For Help: Watch

Donald Trump via Gage Skidmore Flickr

A desperate plea for help…

The man identifying himself as Antoine Massey, one of 10 escapees from the Orleans Justice Center (OJC) last month, claimed he was “let out” — and showed papers to the camera in a viral video supposedly backing up his story. The men fled the jail through an opening behind a toilet. Graffiti was left near the point of escape that read, “To Easy LoL.”

Eight of the 10 men have been apprehended by authorities.

“They say that I broke out,” he said. “I didn’t break out. I was let out.”

Massey claimed he has a signed affidavit clearing him of an assault charge, alleging the person who accused him of the assault swore previous statements given were false.

“If the individual depicted in the video is indeed Antoine Massey, we strongly urge him to come forward and turn himself in to the proper authorities,” the Orleans parish sheriff’s office said in a statement about the video. “Cooperating with law enforcement is in his best interest and may help avoid additional charges. It is important that justice is served appropriately and that due process is followed.”

Massey has a history of being on the run. According to NOLA.com, Massey, 32, has made multiple escape attempts from detention centers dating back to 2007 when he was a minor.

Massey also sought help from rappers like Lil Wayne and Meek Mill when he’s back in “custody.” He denied allegations of threatening a maintenance worker as part of the latest escape. There is a $50,000 reward being offered for information leading to Massey’s arrest.

“I’m saying people that been through the system that know it’s corrupt. Lil Wayne, Donald Trump, please, I’m asking for help. You know what I’m saying?” he said.