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Judge Criticizes DOJ and FBI as He Rejects Argument to Keep Affidavit Under Wraps

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Marine One lifts-off after returning President Donald J. Trump to Mar-a-Lago Friday, March 29, 2019, following his visit to the 143-mile Herbert Hoover Dike near Canal Point, Fla., that surrounds Lake Okeechobee. The visit was part of an infrastructure inspection of the dike, which is part of the Kissimmee-Okeechobee Everglades system, and reduces impacts of flooding for areas of south Florida. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian) [Photo Credit: The White House from Washington, DC, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]

A federal judge criticized the FBI and DOJ as he rejected a DOJ argument to keep the affidavit for the search warrant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago under wraps.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said the DOJ did not meet the government’s required burden of proof to keep the document sealed, The Daily Caller reports.

Reinhart wrote in his ruling that the government had a to show if it has a compelling governmental interest and the denial of access is “narrowly tailored to serve that interest.” 

The DOJ argued that the unsealing “would jeopardize the integrity of its ongoing criminal investigation,” and that there were privacy concerns with unsealing it.

In response, unsealing the document would “unsealing the Affidavit would promote public understanding of historically significant events. This factor weighs in favor of disclosure.”

However, Reinhart has the government did show a compelling interest in not unsealing the whole affidavit but that there was an alternative between unsealing the whole thing or not unsealing anything.

Reinhart has given the agency until August 25th to propose the redactions of the document they would like.

[READ NEXT: Trump Makes Fun of Failed CNN Host and Liz Cheney]

Democrat Announces Revenge Campaign Against MAGA Congresswoman

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

Lauren Boebert is already facing a challenger in 2024’s campaign for what would be her third term in Congress.

On Tuesday, Adam Frisch, the Democrat who came within half a percentage point of unseating the conservative lawmaker, announced his 2024 campaign.

“November’s election results show us that Boebert is weak and will be defeated, which is why I have decided to launch my 2024 congressional campaign,” Frisch said in a statement.

Frisch drew widespread headlines in November for his unexpectedly close race against Boebert. According to The Hill, Frisch led the incumbent by 64 votes at one point during the race despite his lack of political experience.

“Lauren Boebert is everything that’s wrong with Congress,” he said in his announcement video, zeroing in on her vote against certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election and her stance against abortion.

“She’s part of the anger-tainment circus that’s tearing our country apart,” he said. “I’ll put Colorado first — Colorado energy, Colorado water and Colorado jobs.”

Despite Frisch’s early entrance to the race, a spokesperson for Boebert touted her legislative record

“The entire country watched as Congresswoman Lauren Boebert helped fearlessly lead the way in making historic improvements to how Congress operates,” Boebert spokesman Ben Stout said. “In just a matter of weeks since then, Congresswoman Boebert has cosponsored and helped pass 6 bills and authored 4 amendments, each one passing on the House floor with bipartisan support.”

Tim Scott Enters 2024 White House Race

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Michael Vadon, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

The 2024 Republican primary field is growing.

Popular South Carolina Senator Tim Scott has officially declared himself a candidate for the GOP nomination for president.

Scott filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, ahead of an expected formal campaign launch on Monday.

Scott joins a growing primary field for the Republican presidential nomination against Trump, former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, among the party’s most high-profile contenders.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is widely expected to announce his presidential campaign next week.

Other Republicans who have widely been speculated to be running but have not yet officially entered include former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.

NYC Mayor Ditches Democrats – Announces Re-election Bid As An Independent

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via Wikimedia Commons

Shaking things up…

New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced his re-election campaign but with a big caveat: he’s running as an Independent.

Adams told Politico on Monday that he wants to “mount a real independent campaign,” saying that the federal bribery charges, which have been dismissed, “handcuffed him.” The New York City Mayor said he’d be “uninhibited” while campaigning.

“I’m in the race to the end. I’m not running on the Democratic line. It’s just not realistic to turn around my numbers and to run a good campaign (from) where we are right now,” Adams said. “It hurts like hell.”

Adams faces an uphill battle in his re-election campaign. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on March 1 that he’d be running for New York City mayor.

U.S. District Judge Dale E. Ho on Wednesday dismissed federal charges against Adams, which alleged he used his position to receive luxury travel and illegal campaign contributions from Turkish foreign nationals.

Adams has maintained his innocence and argued that the case was politically motivated by his criticism of the Biden administration’s immigration policy. 

A Quinnipac University survey that was conducted just before and just after Cuomo announced his run for mayor found the former governor enjoying 31% support among New York City Democrats, while Adams garnered 11%.

During the interview, the incumbent New York City Mayor slammed Cuomo for signing bail reform measures into law which he says led to a rise in crime during the coronavirus era.

“Look at bail reform — that’s Andrew,” Adams said. “He can’t say, ‘I’m going to save the city from the far left’ when he surrendered to the far left.”

Adams told the outlet that he would submit the required 3,750 signatures on May 27, which would put him on the ballot for November’s election.

“Now I need this runway until November to redefine and remind people: This is why you elected me in the first place,” Adams said.

Georgia Governor Quietly Mulling 2026 Senate Run

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Georgia National Guard from United States, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp could be quietly positioning himself for a future Senate campaign or even a bid for the White House as his political profile continues to rise.

Kemp, who earned the ire of former President Trump after the 2020 election, just began his second term as governor in the Peach State after handily defeating Democrat Stacey Abrams for a second time.

The Georgia Governor is attracting attention after successfully surviving Trump’s best attempts to exact revenge for refusing to meddle in the 2020 presidential election. According to The Washington Examiner, Kemp was able to turn Trump’s taunts in his favor, managing to win credibility with centrists and independent voters who have become increasingly skeptical of Trump’s evidence surrounding the 2020 election results.

Democratic state Rep. Al Williams told reporters ahead of Thursday’s inauguration that Kemp is “at the height of his powers” heading into his second term. He also credited him with a number of conservative policy wins including permitless firearm carry legislation, as well as tougher restrictions on state election rules and abortion. Kemp also curried favor with voters by fanning out billions of dollars in COVID-19 federal relief funds across the state.

“He spent it very effectively and spread the net wide,” Williams said.

In November, Kemp filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to create Hardworking Americans, a political action committee that could set him up for a federal run. Having a federal PAC not only helps Kemp keep his name out there but also allows him to influence elections and donate money to candidates.

“The runoff for U.S. Senate gave Brian Kemp an excuse to open a federal PAC,” Democratic strategist David McLaughlin told the Washington Examiner. “Kemp could say he was using it to support the woefully underqualified Herschel Walker, but it likely is a means to get an early start on a 2026 bid against Jon Ossoff who will be up for reelection. People should keep in mind Kemp has never run for federal office and Ossoff will be a full-term incumbent and running as a ‘family man’ for the first time in his career.”

However, Kemp’s rising profile could make him a formidable opponent for the Senate seat. A potential Senate seat would likely propel Kemp to be considered a future presidential contender.

Woman Who Admitted Trump Death Threats To Secret Service Released By Judge

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A woman arrested last month for allegedly making death threats against President Donald Trump has been released by a federal judge who has clashed with the Trump administration several times this year.

Federal Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered the release of 50-year-old Nathalie Rose Jones under electronic monitoring and instructed her to visit a psychiatrist in New York City once she obtains her personal belongings from a local police station.

Her release comes after U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya had ordered her held without bond, citing alarming conduct, including online posts proclaiming willingness to “disembowel” Trump and stage his arrest, and statements admitting she would kill him with a bladed weapon at “the compound.”

Jones took part in a “dignified arrest ceremony” for Trump at a protest in Washington, D.C., which circumnavigated the White House complex and was arrested following an investigation into her series of concerning Instagram and Facebook posts. 

In early August, Jones labeled Trump a terrorist, referred to his administration as a dictatorship, and stated that Trump had caused extreme and unnecessary loss of life in relation to the coronavirus. 

“I am willing to sacrificially kill this POTUS by disemboweling him and cutting out his trachea with Liz Cheney and all The Affirmation present,” an Aug. 6 post directed at the FBI states.

The next day, Jones voluntarily agreed to an interview with the Secret Service, during which she called Trump a “terrorist” and a “nazi,” authorities said. 

She said that if she had the opportunity, she would kill Trump at “the compound” if she had to and that she had a “bladed object,” which she said was the weapon she would use to “carry out her mission of killing” the president.

Following the protest in Washington, D.C on Aug. 16, Jones was interviewed again by the Secret Service, during which she admitted that she had made threats towards Trump during her interview the previous day. 

She was charged with threatening to kill, kidnap, or seriously hurt the president and sending messages across state lines that contained threats to kidnap or harm someone.

However, Jones’s lawyers argued their client was unarmed and had no real desire to follow through with the threats, appealed Upadhyaya’s detention decision, and Boasberg overturned Upadhyaya’s detention order.

U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeanine Pirro, whose office pushed for the indictment, blasted the jury’s refusal on Tuesday.

“A Washington D.C. grand jury refused to indict someone who threatened to kill the President of the United States. Her intent was clear, traveling through five states to do so,” Pirro told Fox News in an exclusive statement. 

“She even confirmed the same to the U.S. Secret Service. This is the essence of a politicized jury. The system here is broken on many levels. Instead of the outrage that should be engendered by a specific threat to kill the president, the grand jury in D.C. refuses to even let the judicial process begin. Justice should not depend on politics,” Pirro added.

Judge Boasberg’s Background
Judge Boasberg, a Barack Obama appointee, has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration. In March, he issued a restraining order halting deportations of Venezuelans under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, ordering planes to return to U.S. soil and demanding an investigation into compliance. He later threatened contempt proceedings, prompting appellate review and momentum that led to Supreme Court rulings affirming due‑process requirements. Trump publicly labeled Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic” and sought his impeachment. Additionally, Trump‑aligned officials, including AG Pam Bondi, filed a complaint over Boasberg’s remarks warning of a constitutional crisis and criticizing the administration—remarks Bondi argued had no factual basis and undermined judicial impartiality. (RELATED: DOJ Files Complaint Against Judge Boasberg Over Anti-Trump Comments, Deportation Case Actions)

Recent Assassination Attempts Targeting Donald Trump

1. Butler, Pennsylvania Rally — July 13, 2024

  • What happened: Former President Trump was addressed at a campaign rally near Butler, PA, when 20‑year‑old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop with an AR‑15‑style rifle. Trump was grazed in the upper right ear; one attendee, firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed, and two others critically injured. Secret Service counter‑snipers neutralized Crooks seconds after he began firing.

Aftermath & investigations: A House task force released a report by December 2024. A Government Accountability Office audit (July 2025) found that the Secret Service failed to share vital threat intelligence internally, and suffered planning and communication breakdowns. Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley criticized entrenched mismanagement and cited funding under a recent bill to help rebuild the agency. Meanwhile, six Secret Service agents received suspensions—the longest up to 42 days—for their roles in the security failure. The agency has since overhauled protocols, including deploying drones and increasing law enforcement coordination.

2. West Palm Beach, Florida Golf Course — September 15, 2024

  • What happened: While golfing at his Trump International Golf Club, Trump was threatened by 59-year‑old Ryan Wesley Routh. The suspect was seen aiming a rifle from shrubbery. A Secret Service agent intervened, no shots were fired at Trump, and Routh fled but was later detained.
  • Legal proceedings: Routh faces federal charges including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate. He remains in custody, and a federal trial is scheduled to begin September 8, 2025.

READ NEXT: Trump Calls for RICO as the Answer to Sanctuary City Chaos

Ex-Congressman Madison Cawthorn Launches Bid For Florida House Seat

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He’s back…

Former North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn is jumping back into politics, this time launching a bid in Florida’s 19th Congressional District.

Cawthorn pointed to the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk as a core reason behind his return to the political scene, though the 30-year-old former congressman said he had been “juggling” the idea of running for Congress since Florida’s 19th District Representative Byron Donalds announced he would be vacating the seat to run for governor. 

“After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, I knew that there was really no option. I’ve decided to run for Congress again,” Cawthorn told Fox News. “I want to make sure [the people of Florida] have amazing representation in Washington, D.C., because I know exactly what happens in the swamp.”

The former Congressman also said his experience with hurricane relief in the district, which includes Naples, Cape Coral, Ft. Myers and Marco Island, as well as seeing the community come together also played a part in his decision to run. 

Cawthorn burst onto the national stage in 2020 as one of the youngest Republicans ever elected to Congress, winning his North Carolina seat at just 25 years old. He quickly became a symbol of youthful conservative energy and unapologetic defiance of the Washington establishment.

But his meteoric rise ran into turbulence during his lone term. In early 2022, he alleged that some D.C. elites had invited him to a cocaine-fueled “orgy,” a claim that drew sharp criticism from GOP leadership. Weeks later, police body camera footage showed him being pulled over while driving a car he mistakenly believed he owned, and he was also cited for bringing a firearm through airport security — his second such incident in less than a year.

Republican leadership, once supportive, gradually distanced themselves. The controversies overshadowed his legislative work and contributed to his loss in the 2022 Republican primary.

As for the scandals and legal trouble Cawthorn faced during his term, he told Fox News he was “railroaded out of Washington, D.C., by the radical left and members of [his] own party” for telling “the truth” about the city. 

“You can start looking at things that happened months after I left, and I think it proves the things I was talking about,” Cawthorn told Fox. “There’s a lot of people in Washington, D.C., who enjoy just having talking points” that members have used for “decades and decades.”

Retired Conservative Judge Says American Democracy ‘In Peril’ Due to Trump

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Gage Skidmore Flickr

Retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig says that America’s democracy is at risk due to the current state of the Republican Party.

Luttig, a conservative-leaning former judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals, joined CNN This Morning on Wednesday to discuss the “decay” of the Republican Party under Donald Trump’s leadership.

“What do you think has happened to your party?” Harlow asked Luttig.

His answer:

Frankly, I don’t care about the Republican Party at all, except to the extent that the two political parties in America are the political guardians of democracy in our country. American democracy simply cannot function without two equally healthy and equally strong political parties. So, today, in my view, there is no Republican Party to counter the Democratic Party in the country. And for that reason, American democracy is in grave peril.

“There is no Republican Party?” Harlow asked him. Luttig explained by outlining his view that “a political party is a collection, an assemblage of individuals who share a set of beliefs and principles and policy views about the United States of America.”

“Today there is no such shared set of beliefs and values and principles, or even policy views, within the Republican Party for America,” Luttig determined. “Until or unless the Republican Party can pull itself together into a credible Republican political party, we simply don’t have two competing parties in America.”

Mitch McConnell Will Not Seek Senate Re-election

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A stunning development…

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Thursday will announce that he is not seeking reelection in 2026, bringing an end to the longest-serving Senate leader’s political career.

“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell will say, according to prepared remarks.

“Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”

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

Man Arrested After Chilling Ben Shapiro Countdown

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Arrest image via Pixabay

A Kansas man is behind bars in Florida after authorities say he unleashed a string of antisemitic death threats against conservative commentator Ben Shapiro — including a countdown that appeared to point toward Yom Kippur.

Korby Aaren Strube, 29, of Horton, Kansas, was arrested Sept. 12 and charged with 25 felonies in Palm Beach County, according to court records cited by JNS and local reporting.

The charges include 23 counts alleging written or electronic threats to kill or cause bodily harm with evidence of prejudice, plus two counts alleging the use of a two-way communications device to facilitate a felony with evidence of prejudice.

A judge ordered Strube held without bond following a court appearance one day after his arrest, according to reporting based on Palm Beach County court documents.

Posts Allegedly Targeted Shapiro’s Faith

The case centers on a series of social media posts allegedly published between July 31 and Aug. 2.

In one post quoted in an arrest affidavit obtained by JNS, the account said it would be “giving the world a boost by killing Ben Shapiro for being Jewish.” Another allegedly threatened to kill the Daily Wire co-founder while using an antisemitic slur.

Investigators said the messages also leaned on antisemitic conspiracy theories, invoking “semites,” “Tel Aviv” and a “foreign government” as supposed justification for the threats.

Two of the posts allegedly included countdowns of 52 and 51 days. Authorities believed those messages pointed toward Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

Shapiro told investigators he considered the threats serious, believed he was being targeted because of his Jewish faith and wanted to pursue charges, according to the affidavit. He also reportedly said he had never communicated with the person behind the account.

Security Team Sounded The Alarm

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office opened its investigation Aug. 4 after a private security firm protecting Shapiro alerted authorities and supplied screenshots of the posts.

Investigators traced the account to Strube using records from technology, telephone and internet companies, the sheriff’s office said. The account was later suspended.

The case reflects a danger Shapiro has said follows him far beyond the studio. In a recent CBN News interview, the commentator described the personal toll of years of public controversy and rising antisemitism. Additional reporting from the New York Post said Shapiro has relied on round-the-clock security for a decade, including during routine family outings.

A Separate Threat Investigation

Authorities were also examining Strube over alleged threats involving President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama and his family.

According to the Palm Beach County affidavit, Secret Service agents and Brown County sheriff’s deputies went to Strube’s Kansas home on Aug. 4 as part of that separate inquiry. Strube allegedly acknowledged making a threatening post about Trump and the Obamas but denied wanting or intending to kill Trump.

Strube also admitted controlling the social media accounts at issue, authorities said, while claiming they had been hacked. Investigators wrote that the hacking claim was contradicted by both his own statements and the digital evidence they gathered.

Law enforcement officers found firearms secured inside a gun safe at the home, but Strube did not have access to them, according to the affidavit. His parents reportedly told investigators he had no history of mental illness.

The New York Post reported that Strube had previously worked in information technology but had been unemployed and living with his parents for roughly two years.

Strube has not been convicted, and the allegations against him remain to be tested in court. It was not immediately clear whether he had entered a plea or retained an attorney.