Nearly a week from Election Day and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon has been released from Federal custody.
On Tuesday, Bannon walked out of the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut with his head held high after serving his four-month sentence.
Bannon’s conviction stemmed from his refusal to cooperate with the House committee’s investigation into the January 6th Capitol riots in 2021. In 2022, a jury found Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress: one for failing to provide requested documents and another for refusing to testify before the committee.
According to his representatives, Bannon is expected to hold a press conference in Manhattan late Tuesday. He is also expected to resume his War Room podcast.
Bannon’s legal battles, however, continue. In December, he faces a New York state trial on separate charges, where he is accused of defrauding donors in a campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy.
WASHINGTON — Chaos exploded just steps from the White House Saturday evening when a gunman allegedly opened fire at a Secret Service checkpoint, triggering a rapid exchange of gunfire that sent journalists diving for cover and locked down one of the most heavily guarded places on earth.
The suspect — identified by Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department as 21-year-old Nasire Best of Dundalk, Maryland — was shot by Secret Service officers after authorities say he pulled a weapon from a bag and began firing near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW shortly after 6 p.m.
“Secret Service police officers returned fire, striking the suspect, who was transported to an area hospital, where he later died,” the agency said in a statement.
One bystander was also hit during the mayhem, though officials said investigators are still trying to determine whether the individual was struck by the suspect’s gunfire or during the exchange with officers. The victim was later reported in serious but stable condition.
No Secret Service personnel were injured.
The terrifying scene unfolded while President Donald Trump was inside the White House working in the Oval Office with aides, according to administration officials.
But for reporters outside, the eruption of gunfire turned a routine evening into a mad scramble.
ABC News correspondent Selina Wang said she was filming a social media segment on the North Lawn when the shots rang out.
“I was in the middle of taping on my iPhone for a social video from the White House North Lawn when we heard the shots,” Wang wrote on X. “It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now.”
I was in the middle of taping on my iPhone for a social video from the White House North Lawn when we heard the shots. It sounded like dozens of gunshots. We were told to sprint to the press briefing room where we are holding now. pic.twitter.com/iqdQwh4soq
Witnesses described an eruption of rapid gunfire that shattered the calm around the White House grounds. Journalists and staff members were quickly rushed inside as security teams locked down the area.
Trump praised the officers involved and pointed to the incident as another reminder of mounting security threats.
“Thank you to our great Secret Service and Law Enforcement for the swift and professional action taken this evening against a gunman near the White House, who had a violent history and possible obsession with our Country’s most cherished structure,” Trump wrote on social media.
“The National Security of our Country demands it!”
Sean Curran also commended the response, writing: “Our officers continue to operate heroically in a heightened political threat environment.”
Authorities say Best was already known to the Secret Service.
Court records show a stay-away order involving the White House had been issued against him in July 2025 after he allegedly tried to breach security and enter the White House complex. During that encounter, records indicate Best told officers he was “Jesus Christ” and allegedly said he wanted to be arrested. In a separate incident weeks earlier, he had reportedly been involuntarily committed.
The shooting also adds to a troubling recent pattern around the White House and President Trump.
Saturday’s incident marked the third gun-related security event in the president’s orbit in roughly the last month, according to reports, following another shooting tied to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner area and a separate armed security incident.
Federal investigators, including the FBI, remain on scene as authorities continue trying to determine what drove the attack and whether warning signs were missed.
For a few minutes Saturday night, the heavily fortified White House grounds looked less like a tourist landmark and more like an active war zone.
On Thursday evening, President Trump issued pardons to five former NFL players.
White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson announced this week that several former professional football players have been granted presidential pardons, underscoring what the administration described as the power of redemption and second chances.
Among those granted clemency were Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry and the late Billy Cannon.
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation,” Johnson wrote in a post on X.
Johnson also said that Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones shared the news “personally” with Newton, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Cowboys during the team’s 1990s dynasty.
Klecko, a former New York Jets standout and Pro Football Hall of Famer, pleaded guilty to perjury after lying to a federal grand jury investigating an insurance fraud scheme.
Newton, a six-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro offensive lineman, pleaded guilty to a federal drug-trafficking charge in 2001 after authorities found $10,000 in cash in his pickup truck and 175 pounds of marijuana in a vehicle traveling with him.
Lewis, who won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens and was named NFL Offensive Player of the Year in 2003, pleaded guilty in 2000 to using a cellphone to attempt to facilitate a drug deal shortly after being selected with the No. 5 overall pick in the NFL draft.
Henry, a Pro Bowl running back who played for the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans and Denver Broncos, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine in connection with financing a drug ring that operated between Colorado and Montana.
Cannon, the 1959 Heisman Trophy winner at LSU who later starred for the Houston Oilers and Oakland Raiders, admitted in the mid-1980s to his role in a counterfeiting scheme. He died in 2018. His pardon was granted posthumously.
Presidential Pardons and Clemency
Under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, the president has broad authority to grant pardons and commutations for federal offenses. The power has long been used by presidents of both parties to extend mercy, correct perceived injustices, and offer individuals a second chance after they have served their sentences.
President Donald Trump made use of that authority throughout his first term, often highlighting cases he believed reflected excessive sentencing or personal rehabilitation. His clemency decisions ranged from high-profile political figures to criminal justice reform cases, including Alice Marie Johnson herself. Johnson, who had been serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, was granted clemency by Trump in 2018 after serving more than two decades in prison. Her case became a symbol for advocates of criminal justice reform and second chances.
Since then, Johnson has played a visible role in clemency advocacy, working with the administration to review cases and elevate stories of individuals seeking pardons.
An Iran-linked hacker group is claiming to be in possession of a trove of stolen emails from President Donald Trump’s inner circle is threatening to publish the material in what U.S. officials describe as a politically motivated “smear campaign.”
The group, operating under the alias “Robert,” said it has over 100 gigabytes of emails from key Trump allies, including White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, longtime confidant Roger Stone, Trump attorney Lindsey Halligan, and even adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
Reuters broke the story Tuesday after direct communication with the hackers, who hinted at potentially selling the material, though the group offered no specifics.
The threat comes just days after Trump abruptly reversed a tentative effort to ease sanctions on Iran, following Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s downplaying of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. A top Iranian cleric has issued a fatwa against Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling the pair “enemies of God.” (RELATED: Iranian Grand Ayatollah Issues Fatwa Targeting Trump)
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a leading Shiite cleric in Iran with authority to issue legal rulings under Islamic law, has issued a fatwa — an Islamic legal decree — escalating regional tensions and offering religious justification for violence against Western and Israeli leaders.
As Newsweek rightly notes, the development highlights the Islamic Republic’s ongoing use of religious decrees as political tools — a strategy Iran has long used to project power beyond its borders.
While a fatwa is not legally enforceable, it can influence judicial decisions in countries with Sharia-based legal systems.
Khosro K. Isfahani, senior research analyst at the National Union for Democracy in Iran wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the fatwa issued by Shirazi against Trump was similar to the murder fatwa issued against the author Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses which led to a number of assassination attempts.
“This so-called cyber ‘attack’ is nothing more than digital propaganda,” said Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) spokesperson Marci McCarthy. She described the effort as a “calculated smear campaign” designed to “damage President Trump and discredit honorable public servants.”
— Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (@CISAgov) July 1, 2025
According to Mediaite, the hackers claim the breach was triggered by recent U.S. involvement in the 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, a war Trump claimed credit for ending via a negotiated ceasefire. Despite claiming to have halted new attacks, the group says it resumed operations in response to that military intervention.
Federal prosecutors have already linked the hacker group to Iran.
Two brothers from Absecon, New Jersey, were arrested Tuesday and charged in connection with alleged online threats targeting Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs and a top public-facing spokesperson for Secretary Kristi Noem, authorities said.
Ricardo Antonio Roman-Flores and Emilio Roman-Flores, who are twins, were taken into custody after investigators alleged they posted violent statements on X about McLaughlin and federal immigration officers, including an alleged call to “Shoot ICE on sight,” according to the account of the case shared by law enforcement officials.
Investigators allege one brother responded to McLaughlin with: “[The Second] Amendment is in place for moments like this. Shoot ICE on sight,” followed by: “We Americans should find you, tar you, feather you, and hang you as we did to anyone serving tyrants before the Revolutionary War.” A second, partially redacted post attributed to the other brother reportedly read: “Shoot ICE on sight.”
Prosecutors say the threats went further—allegedly escalating to talk of torturing and killing McLaughlin “in a medieval fashion.” McLaughlin has been front-and-center defending DHS enforcement actions on TV and online, and she’s repeatedly framed threats against officers as downstream of increasingly incendiary politics around immigration.
The charge sheet, as described, splits like this:
Emilio: unlawful possession of an assault weapon, possession of prohibited weapons, conspiracy, terroristic threats, criminal coercion and cyber harassment.
Ricardo: one count of conspiracy—terroristic threats.
ICE Director Todd Lyons said the arrests came within three days of the alleged posts and warned that threats against federal officials will be prosecuted. “We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. We are not afraid of you,” Lyons told Fox News Digital. He added: “If you threaten our law enforcement or DHS officials, we will hunt you down, and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
FOX NEWS ALERT: Two New Jersey brothers have been arrested and charged with threatening to torture, hang, and kiII DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin.
Twin brothers Ricardo Antonio Roman-Flores and Emilio Roman-Flores from Absecon, New Jersey,… pic.twitter.com/78dl6SVmZr
DHS is trying to make a broader point: this isn’t just one ugly thread online—it’s part of a threat environment they say has intensified alongside the administration’s border crackdown. In a DHS release dated Oct. 30, 2025, the department claimed ICE personnel have faced an “8,000% increase in death threats,” citing harassment and threats aimed at officers and their families.
The issue has also surfaced in recent disputes over whether public-facing tools that track immigration enforcement activity endanger federal officers. In a Reuters report published Monday, a developer sued the Trump administration after an app that let users share locations of immigration agents was removed from Apple’s store; the administration cited safety concerns for federal officers, while the developer argued the app relied on public observations.
Former New York Republican congressman George Santos walked free on Friday after President Donald Trump commuted his federal sentence — but the move may not end his legal ordeal. A local prosecutor on Long Island appeared to signal that state-level charges could be used to sidestep the president’s act of clemency.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said on the social platform X that her office had been “at the forefront” of the effort to “bring Santos to justice.” Donnelly’s jurisdiction includes part of the district Santos once represented in Congress.
“I am proud of the work my office has done, and the conviction achieved in partnership with the U.S. Attorney’s office,” Donnelly said. “While the office cannot comment on ongoing investigations, suffice it to say that I remain focused on prosecuting political corruption wherever it exists regardless of political affiliation.”
Her statement — vague but pointed — has fueled speculation that prosecutors could seek state charges mirroring the federal case, a move critics say would effectively undermine Trump’s commutation and keep Santos entangled in the court system despite his early release.
A spokesperson for the Nassau County D.A.’s office declined to elaborate when asked whether an investigation was ongoing.
Trump’s Message: “Unequal Justice” and Political Targeting
Announcing the commutation on Truth Social, President Trump praised Santos’s “Courage, Conviction, and Intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN,” suggesting the former lawmaker’s punishment was disproportionate.
“George Santos was somewhat of a ‘rogue,’ but there are many rogues throughout our Country that aren’t forced to serve seven years in prison,” Trump wrote.
Santos had served just 84 days of a seven-year sentence after pleading guilty last summer to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors had accused him of multiple financial and campaign-related offenses — including money laundering and falsifying records — but supporters argue that he faced harsher treatment because of his party affiliation and outspoken loyalty to Trump.
Possible State Move Seen as Political
Republicans are already warning that a state prosecution would represent another example of “lawfare” — the use of legal mechanisms to target political opponents.
Santos himself, who had initially said he wouldn’t seek clemency before later telling interviewer Piers Morgan he’d accept “whatever the president is willing to give me,” has yet to comment on Donnelly’s remarks.
For now, the former congressman is free — but the signals from Nassau County suggest that the battle between Trump’s justice reform message and New York’s prosecutors may be far from over.
A man was arrested Tuesday night after driving his vehicle into a security gate at the White House complex, the United States Secret Service (USSS) announced. According to the agency, at approximately 10:37 p.m. on October 21, the individual drove his vehicle into the Secret Service vehicle gate located at 17th and E Streets NW in Washington.
Arrest image via Pixabay
Uniformed Division officers of the Secret Service immediately arrested the driver. The vehicle was assessed in coordination with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and was “deemed safe.”
The agency said the investigation into the cause of the collision is ongoing, and no motive has yet been publicly identified.
While officials noted there was no known breach of the core residence or threat to the President’s safety at the time, the incident raises fresh questions about security.
Since President Trump returned to office for his second term, the nation has witnessed a number of alarming incidents—some narrowly averted, some still under investigation. Two recent events in particular stand out:
1. The hunting-stand incident near Air Force One Over the weekend, the Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) launched a federal probe after agents discovered a “hunting stand” positioned in a tree with a direct line of sight toward where Air Force One touches down at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, ahead of President Trump’s arrival at his estate in Mar-a-Lago.
While officials stressed that no individuals, ammunition or explosives were found at the site, the discovery of an elevated platform within view of the presidential aircraft sparked serious concern. It comes on the heels of past assassination attempts targeting the Republican President.
2. The July-and-September 2024 assassination attempts On July 13, 2024, while President Trump was speaking at a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, a gunman climbed onto a rooftop and fired multiple shots; one grazed Trump’s ear and a spectator was killed.
Then on September 15, 2024, at the Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach in Florida, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was spotted hiding in shrubbery with a rifle aimed at Trump. Secret Service agents intervened and arrested him later that day.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem receives a tour of the Terrorist Confinement Center CECOT with the Minister of Justice and Public Security Gustavo Villatoro in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 26, 2025. (DHS photo by Tia Dufour)
Prominent Democrats are escalating calls to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, accusing her of rushing to defend federal officers involved in two separate fatal shootings — a push that Republicans are likely to view as more partisan pressure on law enforcement than a serious, evidence-based accountability process.
According to Axios, a House Democratic caucus phone call on Sunday “lit up” with demands to impeach Noem after the death of Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday.
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) reportedly warned colleagues that if Noem refuses to step down, “we will have no other option but to begin impeachment,” according to anonymous sources cited by Axios.
House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Bennie Thompson (D-MS) — “who was once reticent about impeachment” — also called for Noem to be impeached during the same call, Axios reported.
Outside Washington, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) also demanded Noem’s removal, writing, “@Sec_Noem has forfeited her right to lead. I’m calling on her to resign.”
Hochul went further, adding, “Gregory Bovino must also be fired,” referring to a senior Border Patrol official who publicly defended the shooting at a press conference Sunday.
Democrats point to pattern; Republicans see familiar impeachment politics
Democrats argue Noem is showing a troubling pattern of defending federal officers before facts are fully established, pointing to a similar incident earlier this year.
The article notes that Renee Good was “shot four times and killed” on Jan. 7 by “officer Jonathan Ross,” and that Noem also immediately said the officer acted in self-defense.
Noem’s supporters — and many Republicans — are likely to counter that federal officers operating in volatile environments, including protests and border-related enforcement actions, deserve the presumption that they were responding to a real threat until evidence proves otherwise, especially amid increasingly aggressive anti-police rhetoric.
Republicans have also criticized Democrats for using impeachment as a political weapon in recent years, arguing that removing Cabinet officials should be reserved for clear misconduct, not disputed narratives still under investigation.
Border Patrol official calls Pretti “assaultive,” claims he interfered with federal action
At Sunday’s press conference, Bovino described Pretti as an “assaultive subject” who was “assaulting” officers and interfering with a federal action — language that underscores how federal officials are framing the encounter as a fast-moving confrontation rather than an unprovoked shooting.
Bovino’s comments, however, are now being disputed by Democrats and major media outlets that reviewed video from the scene.
Video review raises questions about the Trump administration’s initial account
Major news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, reviewed bystander footage and reported that “Bystander footage appears to tell a different story” than the Trump administration’s claims.
The Journal reported: “A frame-by-frame review by The Wall Street Journal shows a federal officer pulling a handgun away from Pretti. Less than a second later, an agent fires several rounds. Pretti died at the scene.”
Both The Journal and The New York Times concluded that “At least 10 shots appear to have been fired within five seconds.”
Political fallout likely to intensify as facts emerge
The dispute is now shifting into familiar political territory: Democrats are pressing for impeachment and firings, while Republicans are likely to insist that the federal government should not allow high-pressure incidents involving officers to be immediately adjudicated by political opponents — especially before investigators have fully reviewed evidence, witness statements, and body camera footage, if available.
Yes, Kristi Noem should be impeached. What we're seeing in the news scares me to death.
DHS got $191 billion in the Big Ugly Bill, and she has not come before @HouseJudiciary to explain to the American people and Congress how she's using that money. pic.twitter.com/ttxkjw0IsN
— Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (@RepKamlagerDove) January 25, 2026
Under Secretary Noem, ICE is no longer about immigration enforcement. It's about terrorizing communities.
The incompetence surrounding President Trump is unbelievable.
Secretary Noem and fellow minions follow President Trump blindly, no matter the harm.
I’m impeaching Secretary Noem for breaking due process by directing her agents to conduct warrantless arrests and use excessive… pic.twitter.com/uuL6nBurz3
First Lady Melania Trump participates in the Senate Spouses Luncheon at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, May 21,2025. (Official White House Photo by Andrea Hanks)
Things are about to get ugly…
First Lady Melania Trump is threatening to sue former President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, for $1 billion over “defamatory” claims linking her to late financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Melania’s attorney Alejandro Brito demanded that Biden “immediately retract the false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements made about Mrs. Trump,” which were contained in a video interview with Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan and posted to Youtube in early August.
Read the full letter:
“Failure to comply will leave Mrs. Trump with no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to her to recover the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that you have caused her to suffer,” Brito wrote.
In the video interview, titled “Hunter Biden Returns” video earlier in August, the former first son claimed “Epstein introduced Melania to Trump. The connections are, like, so wide and deep.”
Biden also claimed that “Jeffrey Epstein introduced Melania, and that’s how Melania and the first lady and the President met.”
“If you do not comply with the above by August 7, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. EST, Mrs. Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce her legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for over $1 Billion Dollars in damages,” Brito wrote. “You are on notice.”
A source close to the matter told Fox News that Biden did not comply with the requests by the set deadline.
After Fox News published the piece, however, Melania Trump got Biden’s reply addressing the attorney’s letter when Callaghan posted a further interview with him to YouTube on Thursday.
Callaghan, holding up a copy at the interview’s opening, declared: “The day of presidential litigation has arrived!”
“We’re here, maybe, to give you the platform to apologize to the first lady for your statements that you made about her possible connection to Jeffrey Epstein,” the host said to Biden.
“F*ck that! That’s not going to happen,” Biden laughed.
Defending his comments as citation, Biden continued:
First of all is that, what I said was what I have heard and seen reported and written, primarily from Michael Wolff but also dating back all the way to 2019 when the New York Times – I think Annie Carney and and Maggie Haberman – reported that sources said that Jeffrey Epstein claimed to be the person to introduce Donald Trump to Melania at that time.
Biden added that he would not bow down to pressure or lawsuit threats: “I also think they’re bullies and they think that a billion dollars is going to scare me.”
I have this to say to them: If they want to sit down for a deposition and clarify the the nature of the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein, if the president and the First Lady want to do that and all of the known associates around them at the time of whatever time that they met, I’m more than happy to provide them the platform to be able to do it.
The letter comes after the Daily Beast pulled the article detailing allegations by journalist Wolff that Melania Trump was introduced to her husband Donald Trump via a modeling agent connected to Epstein, after a challenge from the first lady’s lawyers.
“Editor’s Note. After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trump’s attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding,” The Daily Beast posted in place of the article. The url for the article appears to have been amended to remove the original headline and now reads: thedailybeast.com/epstein-this-story-has-been-removed.
It also comes after famed Democrat strategist James Carville apologized to the first lady after repeating the same claim.
“In last week’s podcast episode, we spoke with Judd Legum,” he said. “After the episode, we received a letter from Melania Trump’s lawyer. He took issue with our title of one of those YouTube videos from that episode and a couple of comments I made about the first lady. We took a look at what they complained about, and we took down the video and edited out those comments from the episode. I also take back these statements and apologize.”
An aide to the first lady, Nick Clemens, told Fox News in a statement, “First Lady Melania Trump’s attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods. The true account of how the First Lady met President Trump is in her best-selling book, ‘Melania.’”
On Thursday, President Trump’s Justice Department sued the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago, and local officials over laws creating a so-called “sanctuary city.”
The lawsuit filed in Illinois, against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and others, claimed that several state and local laws are “designed to and in fact interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law in violation of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.”
🚨 JUST IN: The Trump DOJ has just SUED the the state of Illinois and City of Chicago for interfering in ICE’s deportation operations, per NYP
Pam Bondi’s laying down the law, and this is the “first of MANY” lawsuits to be filed, per DOJ officials.
“The challenged provisions of Illinois, Chicago, and Cook County law reflect their intentional effort to obstruct the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law and to impede consultation and communication between federal, state, and local law enforcement officials that is necessary for federal officials to carry out federal immigration law and keep Americans safe,” the lawsuit states.
The complaint cites Pritzker’s comments on CNN late last month, when he said he’s eager to cooperate with federal immigration officials to “get rid” of criminals but questioned the basis for targeting undocumented migrants that are “law-abiding” and have integrated into communities.
“In rejecting congressionally authorized means of enforcing federal immigration law, including detainers and administrative warrants, these provisions constitute unlawful direct regulation of the Federal Government,” the lawsuit states.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for update
